ClassLink had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Todd Whitaker, author of What Great Principals Do Differently, What Great Teachers Do Differently, Motivating and Inspiring Teachers: The Educational Leader’s Guide for Building Staff Morale, Dealing With Difficult Teachers and Dealing with Difficult Parents.  Dr. Whitaker is a former principal and is currently a professor at Indiana State University.

Dr. Whitaker, you emphasize the fact that great teachers make much more of a difference than new programs, and that school systems should get better teachers and improve the teachers they have.  Is there one tip you have for teachers that would help to make them great?

I have a couple of reactions to this question.  First of all, there’s an important clear difference that makes a great teacher.  Great teachers give respect to the students and treat them with great dignity 10 days out of 10, all the time, every day, no matter whether they’re a good student, a problem student or whoever.  They never argue, never yell, and never use sarcasm.

One tip to help make teachers great is to GO INTO OTHER TEACHERS’ CLASSROOMS.  Visit the classrooms in a non-judgmental way.  Teachers will only steal the best ideas, only take what works.  This is the single best and quickest way to learn to be great.  I would encourage principals to develop a plan to allow this to happen.

As you’ve been meeting with teachers in workshops, what concern or concerns currently top their list and how do you recommend easing those worries?

I wouldn’t say there’s one overwhelming concern – some of the usual worries of managing students, test scores, that type of thing.  The best way to overcome this is to be really, really good.  If you’re ineffective, the parents who were belligerent will continue to be belligerent.  Build trust.  If you’re having an Open House, contact the parents and invite them.  It takes eight times longer to unlearn trust than to learn it.  Be positive.  Initiate positive contacts with students and parents.      

Yes, I’ve read about your policy of a principal making “positive referrals” and actually contacting parents with good news about their son or daughter.  Is there another change that each principal could make that would have a similarly meaningful impact?

Be in the classroom on a daily basis and look for positive ways to interact with the teachers.  The positive phone calls to parents teach the teachers.  Great principals understand their job is clearly to teach the teachers.  Too many think they’re there to teach the students because that’s where they’re most familiar.  The students are gone the next year; the teachers remain.  Give the teachers the professional respect they deserve and teach them how to be great.

You’ve also been quoted as saying that “People are the problem and people are the solution.”  Since it’s very difficult to change human nature, is there anything else a principal can do to ensure peak performance?

Well, I disagree that you can’t change people’s behavior.  Their behaviors aren’t set.  You just need to teach them a new way.  Teach teachers not to yell, not to use sarcasm.  Help them understand why it’s wrong and this teaching must be done at the very beginning of the school year.  Too often teachers assume that’s the way it should be done just because they haven’t been taught differently.

Have you come across any new research lately that has changed your mind or given you new insight into an educational trend?

Lots of things take people in the wrong direction.  There’s something mythical and new, and everybody thinks that’s the answer.  The people who do the new thing well were most likely succeeding before and those who do it poorly were previously unsuccessful.  If I say “What’s the key word in ‘poor lecturer’?” most people answer that lecturing should not be done in schools.  Yet we’ve all had very dynamic and excellent lecturers at some point, so the operative word here is “poor.”  The core hasn’t changed; there can be new distractions but those who implement (the teachers and principals) make the difference.

If you had your preference, what would the role of technology be in the next five years in K-12 schools?

Technology should support great teachers.  Technology is support, a tool teachers can use.  It takes a teacher to make that connection.

Where do you see things headed in education?  What trends are emerging?

First, let me be clear.  Education is so much better than it was years ago that it isn’t even close.  Who reads better – 6th graders or 60 year olds?  It’s 6th graders by far.  The expectations are higher today.  It used to be OK for kids to drop out of high school; now it’s not.  The impact of education is stronger than ever.

If you had a wish list for each school, what thing or things would top the list?

A great principal – that would take care of it.  If you have a great principal, you end up with great teachers.  Great principals help keep an eye on what’s really important and there’s an awful lot of very good things going on in education.

Our thanks to Dr. Whitaker for his time and insights!  Dr. Whitaker’s books are available through Eye on Education, online at www.eyeoneducation.com or by phone at (888) 299-5350, 9-5 EST.