Do You Want To Be An Elementary Principal?

Welcome to What Do You Want to Be?

I'm Marc.

And I'm Joy.

Today, we're talking to someone who has one of the most important jobs in the entire

school.

Please welcome an amazing elementary school principal.

And she used to be a PE teacher.

Ms Unruh.

Hi Ms Unruh.

Hi Joy.

Hi Marc.

I'm so excited to be here.

Well, let's get started with some questions.

Joy.

What's your favorite part of being in the, of being a principal?

I would have to say that my favorite part of being a principal is building relationships

with kids and helping them to get better at being amazing people.

What is the hardest part of your job?

I think the hardest part of my job is being a good communicator.

So I have to communicate a lot in my job with students and parents and teachers, other

principals, sometimes with people who help support the school and making sure that

I communicate in a clear way that is understood by everyone.

And even thinking about how I communicate, should I send a chat message or an email?

Should I talk to that person in person or maybe send out a Google Doc with some information?

It takes a lot of effort to make sure that I'm communicating well.

What do you do all day?

Do you just sit in your office?

That's a really good question.

I walk around a lot.

I have a lot of meetings.

I do sit in my office.

Usually when I'm in my office, I'm answering emails or planning, but my favorite thing

to do in my office is when I get to meet with kids, whether it's because they're

having a problem or even just because they need help with something.

When I get to talk to kids and grownups in my office, that's my favorite thing

to do.

What's the silliest reason a student has ever been sent to your office?

That's a good question, Joy.

Well, I'm not sure that they got sent to my office, but I definitely had to talk

to kids on a lot of occasions about wearing their bare feet into the bathroom.

I thought that was pretty silly.

I'm a little gross.

That's hilarious.

What's something that would surprise us about your job?

Well, would it surprise you to know that for my job I need fidget toys?

I keep a whole basket of fidget toys in my office that I use whenever someone's

having really big feelings to help them be able to calm down, and maybe every

once in a while I even use the fidget toy if I'm having a big feeling.

Or to focus.

Or to focus.

Sometimes I use them to focus.

What's one thing you wish all your students knew?

Well, I wish all students knew that other kids have really good reasons for their

own feelings, and that sometimes when we think something is on purpose, most of

the time it's just an accident.

I think giving other people the benefit of the doubt is something I wish everyone

did more of at school.

What's the most rewarding or happy experience you've ever had as a principal?

Well, I am thinking about sometimes when I've had kids who were having really,

really big feelings, and they needed a grown-up to help them, and maybe they

were having a really big friendship fire with someone, and I got to help them

solve this problem with the other person.

So I listened to both people.

I had them say their own perspective.

They talked about what the problem was and what they thought the solution was,

and they came in having really big feelings that were at a 10, and when

they left, they were able to forgive each other.

They understood each other better, and they were calm, and that helped me.

I felt really like that was really rewarding for me to be able to help

someone else work through a big problem and feel better at the end of the day.

Okay, it's time for our interactive segment, and this one's a classic.

We call it principle for a day.

Joy gets to be the principal for a moment and make a fun new rule for the school.

Ms Unruh, your job is to tell us, as the real principal,

how would you announce the silly new rule to all the students?

Are you ready, Principal Joy?

Okay, my new rule is every Tuesday, everyone has to...

Huh?

On one foot in the hallway.

Okay, let me make sure I got this right.

Our new rule is that on Tuesdays, you can only off on one foot

when you're in the hallway. Is that right?

Yes.

Can I pretend that I'm your administrative assistant

and I'm making the announcement for you, Principal Joy?

Yes.

All right, here we go.

Good morning, boys and girls.

This is Ms Unruh coming to you from Principal Joy's office.

I have an announcement.

From here on out every Tuesday, all students, staff, and parents

will be required to hop on one foot

all throughout our hallways.

Remember, if you need any support with this new rule,

come see Principal Joy in her office and she'll be happy to let a hand or a foot.

Oh, that's amazing. I think students would love that.

Well, thank you. I think we have just a couple more questions.

Isn't that right, Joy?

Yep. Before we let you go, we have two final questions.

First, what is your favorite part about your job?

My favorite part of my job is the kids at my school.

I think I said this before, but anytime I get to talk to a kid, help a kid,

anytime I get to even tie somebody's shoes, any interaction I have with a kid,

that's my favorite part of my job.

Nice. And last, what advice would you give a kid who might want to be

a principal when they grow up?

Oh, this is a really good question.

I have two things I would give as a piece of advice.

Number one, be empathetic and practice empathy.

As a principal, it's really important to be able to empathize with the people around you.

So I might need to empathize with a kid who needs help.

I might need to empathize with the teacher, but being empathetic really helps make

the school not just a place where kids can learn a lot, but where there's a lot of kindness

and everyone's having a good time.

And my second piece of advice is to learn to be a good listener.

This was a surprise to me, but I really have to listen a lot.

And one of my favorite listening skills is paraphrasing,

which means saying back to someone what they just said to you.

It's important for me because then when I say back to you what you just said to me,

if I misunderstood you, you can correct me and then we'll both be on the same page.

And so since listening and communication are so important, I practice that a lot.

And I think for a kid who wants to grow up to be a principal,

you can start practicing your listening skills even now.

All right.

Well, Ms Unruh, thank you so much for giving us a peek behind the curtain of the principal's office.

This was so much fun.

Thank you.

The pleasure was all mine.

Keep being curious and keep learning.

And a huge thank you to our listeners.

Join us next time for another episode of What Do You Want To Be?