This is one of the most difficult times for a department chair. There are so many things going on that it is easy to become seriously frustrated. There are times at meetings where you just want to scream, FUCK!! Stop talking to me, I have things to do! (Under Pressure, Queen, 2008)

In the days prior to the return of teachers, the hallways are blessedly quiet. A department chair can walk the halls and accomplish tasks. But after that first day, there is no walking the halls. Every doorway becomes a stop along the way. “Can you help me?“, “I was thinking of of doing something like this…”, “Can you believe what we are being asked to do this year? Why are you chairs not advocating for us?”

Don’t get me wrong, I think I have fantastic teachers in my department, but it is difficult to help them all at the same time. It is like snack time in a kindergarten classroom and everyone wants their chocolate milk at the same time.

The best a chair can do is be prepared. You know what it is going to be like. Have your own shit done so that you can devote most (think all) of your time to your teachers. You know that most of the time will be in required meetings, but have a plan to help teachers in the hours outside of the meetings. And don’t candy-coat your responses. If a teacher is advocating for a 50-foot power cord to stretch across the room creating a safety issue, them tell them what you think. Sometimes they need to hear it out loud before they realize that what you are saying makes sense.

Do not make the rookie mistake of trying to get your department to love you. A chair I know spends over a hundred dollars to buy her teachers gifts to welcome them back to school. Markers, post-it notes, a pencil box. This is not the way to get teachers to follow your plan for the year. Not to mention that it makes other chairs look bad when teachers compare notes at the happy hour that first week.

A strong vision for the year, and leading by example are the best ways to get teachers on board with your plan.

 

 

 

A thousand things begin to go through your mind shortly after July 4th when you are a high school department chair. Schedules, class sizes, materials, textbooks, new teachers, retiring teachers, new administrators, new duties, projectors, printers, computers, enough desks and chairs for each room! Where does the “to do list” end?

As most teachers “roll over, and go back to sleep” in the early to mid-July time frame, department chairs are often in the beginning stages of “school mode”. That is a phrase my wife uses when I begin to drift off into a fugue state where my mind is racing with things that I need to work on when I return to school before my teachers do. I believe that “school mode” gets triggered with the first of the school supplies that hit the store shelves in early July. I usually start with buying a new planner for the school year. (although this is quickly being replaced by an online tool)

My first days back in school usually happen in early August, so that I have time to check on things.

I begin to make lists like crazy. I have about 15 people in my department that teach a total of 20 courses. I start my summer with a quick inventory of what we have on hand. I try to ask each teacher to anticipate needs for the coming school year.

Each teacher has needs, each teacher’s classroom has needs, each course has needs. I start with how many sections of each course are running and think about books, projectors, document cameras. Those are the items that I need to make sure are in-house and ready when school starts. These are the big money item and can take the longest to reach the building (like furniture).

I usually bring my tool kit to school in those early days of August. Sometimes I can fix a wobbly leg, or loose desk top with a little glue, and a screwdriver. We have some heavy resin-topped lab tables that seem to take a beating when the custodial crew gets through with the summer cleaning. I have fixed quite a few broken table legs.

If the schedule is done, I start looking at class numbers, and the schedule of the department members. I look for class sizes, common planning time, and start to think about the observation calendar. I would like to think that I can contribute to some small changes but this usually depends on when the schedule is ready and if the scheduling AP is open to a few small tweaks.

Once school starts for teachers my life is a whirlwind of activity. There is little time for repairs, inventory, and analyzing the schedule.