It’s not just you. Really, it isn’t. Many principals don’t praise anyone.
That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt when you’re ignored or your good work goes unnoticed.
Whether you’re a veteran or brand-new teacher, everyone appreciates well-earned recognition. Everyone appreciates positive feedback.
After all, it lets you know if you’re on the right track.
Oh sure, they expect you to do it. They want to hear you praise everything that moves. But for them, it’s as if they lose a piece of their soul every time they say a kind word.
Why is that? Why are so many principals unable or unwilling to praise the very lifeblood of the school?
It’s baffling, but I have a few ideas:
They’re a poor leader.
According to research, recognition is one of the biggest keys to job satisfaction. When an employee feels valued and appreciated, they’re more motivated and confident in their abilities.
Which, within a school setting, trickles down to the students and support staff and improves the esprit de corps of the whole community.
Effective leaders, regardless of industry, know this and make it a point of emphasis. Poor leaders, on the other hand, believe that they should be above such trivials.
They crave respect and mistakenly think they can only achieve it through an aura of importance and even fear.
Their ego, or insecurity, gets the best of them.
Some people just don’t handle being in charge very well. It goes to their head. It causes them to think that their own unique specialness got them to their position.
Although there are principals who were excellent teachers—and thus often excellent principals—it isn’t a requirement. Going back for more schooling is the only requirement.
Furthermore, those who want the job tend to also want out of the classroom. They’re attracted to the extra money or power or the idea that they don’t have to directly serve students.
They like the perceived importance of the job, of being unavailable and busy with more important matters like budgets, policies, meetings, and data.
The best, most effective principals, however, are those who love teaching and care for students so deeply that they selflessly decide to pass that passion and commitment on to others, modeling and inspiring every member of their staff to love it too.
They don’t know what effective classroom management looks like.
Few principals are experts in classroom management. Fewer still were experts when they were in the classroom. Oh, they know what it doesn’t look like—as would any parent or person off the street.
Therefore, they have no trouble telling teachers that they need to straighten up and have better control. They just don’t know how to help them do that.
Because they fear being exposed, and must maintain a posture of invulnerability, they avoid the subject altogether. They talk about policies and procedures. They wax lyrical about the latest instructional methods the district is rolling out.
They enthusiastically mandate a school-wide rewards system without ever questioning whether it’s the right thing to do.
But they’re stingy with direct and pointed praise. They’re mum about strategies that motivate students intrinsically to want to listen, learn, and behave.
Because they don’t know what they are or how to go about implementing them.
It’s Not You
I’ve known some amazing principals.
As a new teacher, low in confidence, one former boss used to leave cards and notes in my mailbox assuring me I was doing well. She would point out specifically what she liked, guiding me down the right and effective path.
She was also a teacher for thirty years before becoming a principal.
I knew another, much younger, who was a sponge, wanting to learn everything he could about effective teaching and classroom management. He would come to me—as well as others—for advice and sit in my classroom, asking questions and participating like a student.
Both praised generously and specifically.
They avoided the cliquish, inner-circle cabal so many principals surround themselves with. They avoided wasting teacher prep-time and used email memos whenever possible.
They avoided making teachers feel like just another cog in the machine.
They were also masters of time management so they could be visible and accessible, out in the hallways, eating lunch with students, saying hello to teachers and parents and asking about their personal lives.
They were people, first and foremost, and knew that they were the chief engine that drove positive school culture, morale, and pride in being a Ram or Eagle or Viking.
So if your principal won’t make eye contact, if they walk right by you without saying hello or showing even the mildest appreciation for your hard work or skill level, if they fail to help and provide real advice when you’re struggling, it isn’t about you and your shortcomings.
It’s about them and theirs.
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When I read the title to your article, I thought you were going to somehow explain away the behavior of some of these principals and I was prepared to vigorously disagree with you. Thankfully, we agree. Strong leadership is respectful and helpful and acknowledges both good work and good effort!
This article has helped me pull my head back above water again. I have a principal like this who I have been battling with since last year. Thank you for reminding me it is “not me.” It is ok to be close to my students, to laugh and have fun in class, to read with and to them. I wish she would look at my classroom for what it is… what the students see it as, rather than a picture of adherence to dictates, and policy enforced through fear instead of praise and positive redirection. Sounds a bit like we should treat our students doesn’t it?
Wow! I wish I had read this 5 years ago when I was in a restrictive, challenging district, with a divisive, unsupportive principal that was obsessed with power, and “ruling” the school, instead of leading it. I now have an amazing principal, with the very qualities described in the last few paragraphs of your article. What a difference! We are the school that everyone at the district wants to be at, parents, students, and teachers. Not only am I happier, and more satisfied with my job, but I am also a better teacher. I am getting confirmation of my strengths, and feel safe to express a desire to strengthen areas of need. Thank you for so many inspiring articles. I appreciate your insight and expertise.
I totally and ABSOLUTELY Agree! I had an Administrator that NEVER knew she wanted to be an Administrator someone else told her she should… SMH… As one she ONLY Looked at her cell phone and students werent even aware she was the Principal until the 3rd Six Weeks…. So tragic.
My current Administrator completely doesnt know how to speak to people. He’s very Over the top… Being a Sub would be Better.
I’m a new teacher and I’ve assumed that the principal is basically overwhelmed with his own responsibilities. In my first year I was called out many times for not doing a good job but it was not balanced with positive feedback. It’s so ironic to me given that we are a PBIS school. Friends have put in a good word for me at a nearby school and the principal there seems interested in me. The only thing I am missing in my current school is administrative support. Not sure what I will do.
I started your plan on Monday. On Tuesday, my difficult student did not like being told, “You broke rule number 2, go to time out”. He began throwing things around the room kicking and spitting on other students backpacks. I called for assistance. The principal, who hasn’t been in my classroom all year walks in. She asked if he was asked to go to the peace corner. He has been allowed to wander around, every morning for two years. Doing as he wishes. No consequences. Administration blames teachers for poor classroom management but they are the ones who have created this mess. I will follow the plan for my students sake, even if it means I lose my job.
You’re exactly right! You are the first education writer to notice the elephant in the room. I’ve been waiting for someone to acknowledge this fact for years and years now. Thank you! Any thoughts on why school systems keep creating more administrative positions? Why are they abandoning the laboratory classroom concept where the teacher shows best practice in action?
Well said. Personally, I’ve survived 8 principals in my lifetime. Only one was wonderful in practically every aspect. All the others have fallen very short, with one being the ultra worst, yet she was adored in the city because she was great at smiling and kissing but, but knew very little about everything. This same woman wasn’t only totally incompetent, but she was a liar, a sneak, and a cheat….her assistant wasn’t much better, btw. The next up by a small notch, didn’t like teachers laughing. She was viaibly irritated by it. All the others got their jobs by who they knew and how many favors were owed. But they all had their cliques and favorites and didn’t feel badly about letting the world know. Plus, each one would listen to gossip and believe it as gospel. It’s such a shame that our educational system is run like this with such inferior brains. And they want to know why our kids’ educations are not so hot…. That’s why I left the profession!
Elementary principals have a elementary brain!I’ve seen it all!
👍👍👍
Ha! I LOVE this post. Thanks for always saying out loud what others are afraid to say. I’m reading your latest book right now. Keep it coming Michael! Kristin
Thank you for these thoughts. Many principals went into administration because they were poor teachers, but still wanted to remain in education. I have had one amazing principal over the last eighteen years, and I recall his words and support frequently. Lately, I am bothered by lack of reciprocal respect and support. Admin demands that of their teachers, but rarely gives it back.
I needed to read this article. Thank-you so much.
In my 20 years of teaching, I have had only one principal who was toxic (That one word encompasses every issue she had). All the other principals praised and took time to get to know faculty, staff, students, and parents. I’ve learned a great deal in those 20 years about relationships in the work place.
Michael,
I’ve loved your blog for years. It has saved me from quitting the teaching profession. But this article seems way off track. What’s the purpose of targeting a large group of people with negative generalizations? I’ve had some bad experiences with principals, but I know that writing them all off would do me no good. In fact, it would preclude finding a positive way forward. I feel like this article will do nothing but provide fodder for teacher frustration, discouragement, and complaining.
It seems you missed the section where Michael talks about wonderful principals and their characteristics!!
I agree with you, Liz. Education is the most important job and also the most challenging. To promote divisive actions or blaming is not a good practice. We all need each other! It is too important of a job.
Once again you’ve nailed it! Each and every key point in your article is spot on! I retired two years ago after teaching for 32 years and I know first hand that everything you’ve written in this article to be true! Keep up the good work Michael! Thank you for “keeping it real!”
Here’s my take after a decade and a half teaching (never been an admin, by choice): some don’t even want to be a principal—their eye is to be at the state capital on some lucrative and elite education board if not higher, but being a principal is a required step stone. Actually I’m surprised anyone would want to be a principal in a modern public school where your workday is filled with putting out fires caused by the attitudes of the worst students, the worst parents, and the worst teachers.
It doesn’t upset me at all if I’m not praised by my principal or if he barely noticed me in passing because my district recently denied any campus with fewer than 650 students a vice principal and we have about 625 at risk kids, so that poor man is dealing each day with the three worst aforementioned subspecies, plus campus finances, plus district, state and federal mandates, plus the late school buses, the leaky lawn sprinkler, the upcoming fall carnival, etc. One great guy of a principal in our district who I think was barely in his 40s suddenly dropped dead of a heart attack.
In lieu of principal praise, my cup way overflows when I hear, or even better overhear, one of my students, present or past, saying how much s/he loves or loved being in my class. Luckily I hear that often 🙂
Thank you for this article. I’m sure there are many good principles out there. Our school has the worst principal and human being I could have ever had The Misfortune to meet. All teachers wrote the any egregious acts and behaviors of this principle, sent it to the school board and higher-ups in the district and nothing was done. They believed everything she said. Many of us thought that she had something on someone higher up in the district and that’s how she was protected. It was a sad State of Affairs and as a new teacher who saw and heard so many complaints about other principles so many wonderful teachers who loved their students and their profession, that I left the profession. This principal was very good at cozying up and saying the right things to the higher-ups, and even the university believed her lies about many of us who were working on our credential. Eventually I cleared my credential and earned a master’s in education. But Shell shocked from the bully at work for a long time, I became a substitute teacher and love it.
I feel so grateful to have the principal I do right now. I had one years ago who was a micro manager, to the point of standing over a secretary’s shoulder while she typed a letter (pre-computers) and she even showed the janitor “the proper way” to clean a toilet!
This woman once literally took over a class period of mine during an observation, to show me “what good teaching looks like.” My mistake? I didn’t emphasize good posture and we were having “entirely too much fun!”
My current principal spends our two lunch periods circulating between the cafeteria and the teachers lounge. He smiles and says hi when he sees me (or any other teacher) and says, “I appreciate you… and adds a positive note. And it’s not just empty words. This guy (and the assistant vp) will go to the wall to back teachers. YAY!!
Liz, I don’t feel that Michael is writing off all principals. He took time to highlight two great principals he worked for, while highlighting just one bad one. I think his goal is to reassure teachers who are never praised that it’s not their issue, it’s the principal’s, and give them hope that it can change when a new principal comes in.
Michael, I loved the new book! Very streamlined and easy to understand. Thanks!
I just finished one of your books and will soon start a second. You emphasize that we shouldn’t cheer for kids who do what is expected of them. The management plan is light on praise. Isnt that what happens with some admin? They dont want to throw a parade for the teacher who is always working wonders. Dont want people to perceive favorites. Dont want to praise for expected work.
I am blessed to have an AMAZING principal, after having had a very toxic one. She constantly praises us, gives us small tokens of appreciation (usually food!) and takes Teacher Appreciation Week to heart! She is a breath of fresh air!!!
I love this blog and I love the comments.
You are so right. I’m a season veteran teacher, so if she speak she speak, if she don’t she don’t. Maybe, she has a mind on more important things.
Michael, speaking of unappreciated teachers, I have noticed there is one word you seldom or never use: substitute. Much of your advice could not be implemented in a single day, it’s true, but surely there are a few words of advice or encouragement you could offer, if only to classroom teachers on how to help subs help their kids.
Examples: Never assign a project or exercise and tell the sub, “The kids know how to do this.” They don’t, or won’t admit it if they do. And please never tell the sub to use audio/visual equipment which is unique to your classroom. Ten seconds into the sub’s battle with the machine, the class will be out of control.
And we’re not all “Here today and gone tomorrow”. I’ve subbed at one elementary school since I was 71; I’m now 84. I always ran laps with my kids at PE until I was 80.
This article boosts my morale and this is what I feel every time I would work hard for my students as well as my other auxillary tasks as subject group head and head committee of some school programs. I would long for a simple personal act of appreciation just to know I am doing well and despite my failures I have goodness within. Now I am convinced that I can do more even without appreciation.. I should know my worth and if others don’t see it perhaps it is them who may appear to be the problem not me.
Being a Principal, I appreciate your work.
Trust me when I say that eversince I completed my T.T.C at St Mary’s Junior College of Education, in 1986 (I was Head Girl🤗) , I have changed four schools .
The first school I worked with was post T.T.C in 1986. Then I moved on to improve my prospects in 1990. In 1997 I moved on due to relocation, once again I got married and relocated with my husband in 2005 Currently I’ve been with a School since 2007 (post pregnancy).
In all these years, I worked with four Principals, Headmistresses, Coordinators whatever…and trust me when I say that I never ever had even an argument with the first three schools!! My overall talents and qualities were always praised and the best was brought out in me as a teacher. I grew as a teacher beautifully. However, I have faced a few ups and downs in the the school I’m working with currently. ‘People Politics’ rule this school . Initially when I joined ,I was highly appreciated and my work was appreciated by the Principal ,staff, students and parents…but… I wasn’t aware of the fact that this school played ‘People Politics’ . There existed hidden envy, jealousy, malice and pride. I wouldn’t entirely blame the principal of the school but he just started believing in everyone’s politics except my hard work and labour as a teacher. Honestly, I would give my life for my work . I wanted to resign and move on once again but age is against me now. I’m 51.
After reading your article, I was overwhelmed with the hope and encouragement you portrayed via your article.. ‘It’s not you , it’s them’.
I will continue on as a Teacher with Rudyard Kipling’s ‘IF’ in mind.
Thank you and God bless you all.
Michael please contact me on email I would like to thank you and talk.
Christina Georgiana Bruce
I’ve learned so much about classroom management from your work. It’s made me a much better teacher. Unfortunately, I have now decided to resign from the school I’ve been with for 9 years because we have precisely the kind of principal you describe here. It took me a long time to come to terms with the “it’s not actually my fault” issue, but I’ve got other career options and have decided not to subject myself to that toxic environment any more, even though I will really miss my students.
Thank you, for affirming my thinking on this matter.
Thank you. I needed this.
Please read the chapter in ‘The Elephant in our classrooms’ (Amazon.com ) ‘Is your principal a psychopath ? for further discussion on this excellent article.
Really nice description of leadership qualities in the field of school education. Respect is earned not demanded.
I taught some of the most disfunctional pupils in the school..in 5years the female head never once came into my classroom…In one of my Ofsted I got A1, She then stole my thunder..
She only communicated with me when something went wrong..
Thank god that the school closed
At Luke’s Portsmouth..
A disgusting school, with disgusting leaders..
Very true and well put.
Yep. People quit leaders, not jobs. Thanks for the article!
Great post thanks for posting such valuable information with us all. It’s nice to see such valuable information with such nice presentation. Good work keep it up.
I think I know someone like this.
Now rewrite this to draw attention to the micro-managing administrative people who lay on more and more busy work to the point educators don’t feel like they have time for teaching anymore!
This article has made me realize how very lucky I am. My principal and super are very careful to make sure they show appreciation to our staff as a whole and individually.
I wonder how often principals get praise and appreciation from their staff.