Adminfo
Adminfo is published five times per year by the BC Principals' & Vice-Principals' Association.
Issues are mailed to all BCPVPA active members (and archived on the website) in October, December, February, April and June.
Write for Adminfo: Adminfo welcomes your submissions. We are particuarly interested in best practices, school success stories and educational research. For information email your questions or submission to Richard Williams.
February 2012
The complete issue includes all of the articles below plus BCPVPA President Jameel Aziz on The School Community. Download the entire issue.
Engaging Curiosity
by Shannon Shields
Can a single subject hold a student's interest for 13 years? A vice-principal engages Learning in Depth and reflects on the experience. Continue reading.
Access to academic databases
by Leslie Dyson
Buying software licences in bulk reduces costs for school districts and delivers materials that are carefully evaluated. Continue reading.
Networks of Inquiry and Innovation
by Judy Halbert and Linda Kaser
Two BC educators write about Innovative Learning Environments and outline how they can lead to new designs and improved outcomes. Continue reading.
After All These Years:
Still Not Keen on Homework
by Peter Jory
[From the blogs: What our members are writing online]
A principal reflects on his own experiences as a student in grade nine and offers practical reasons why homework may be over-rated. Continue reading.
February cover art by Riikka Iivanainen, Clearwater Secondary
December 2011
The complete issue includes all of the articles below plus BCPVPA President Jameel Aziz on Multi-level Advocacy. Download the entire issue.
On Becoming Connected
by Chris Wejr
When I first began promoting the use of Twitter and blogging as a tool for professional learning, I heard all of the comments like "Twitter-boy that is Twittering, Twittling, and Tweetering" and "we have no time for this." Continue reading.
Eat Well, Study Better
by Leslie Dyson
The introduction of the Farm to School program in Langley brings a host of benefits: well-fed students, sustainability and a better understanding of the food chain. Continue reading.
Identity and the Principalship
by Simon Blakesley
This article presents findings emerging from a study of the principalship in Canada's Yukon Territory. Sepcifically, it identifies the seemingly under-examined roles that life experience and identity play with respect to how Yukon principals construe and enact educational leadership. Continue reading.
Media Literacy and Questioning Credibility
by Arlene Anderson and Brooke Moore
Media literacy means thinking critically about the messages we create and consume. To be literate in this way means that students question author credibility, the evidence and rhetoric behind messages ... Continue reading.
Why I Write
Natasha Miles
They say that there is a novel inside eah and every one of us and 'they' are quite right. Any novel is a tale in some form or another of the human experience and what better place than to start with our own life ... Continue reading.
December cover art by Megan Graw, Dawson Creek Secondary School
October 2011
The complete issue includes all of the articles below plus BCPVPA President Jameel Aziz on The Many Forms of Leadership. Download the entire issue.
Intense Moral Purpose
by Jill Jensen
As a principal, one of my greatest challenges is staying focused on what is the more important and eliminating, or at least limiting, distractors. Continue reading.
Farewell to the Lone Ranger
by Greg McNally
We were often surprised by how many principals operated like the Lone Ranger, searching the landscape entirely on their own, hoping to find the solution for the challenges that faced them. Continue reading.
Integrating and Celebrating Culture
by Leslie Dyson
The staff and students of Sk'aadgaa Naay Elementary School in Skidegate on Haida Gwaii have a clear sense of place. "As much as possible, the Haida language and culture are integrated into the regular curriculum," said Principal Vicki Ives. Continue reading.
From To to With
by Eileen Phillips
I have recently had time to think about some of the educational initiatives of the past 40 years that I have seen and I have started to write about ones that I believe have really made a difference. Continue reading.
Already on our Way
by Deborah Koehn
Under the guidance of Dr. Linda Kaser and Dr. Judy Halbert, members of the Network of Performance Based Schools understand that they already have a tool that is moving them into 21st Century Learning. Continue reading.
October cover art by Daniel Hoffman, Edward Mile Community School, Sooke
June 2011
The complete issue features all the articles below plus BCPVPA President Jameel Aziz hearing from members.
A Rwandan experience
by Mark Thiessen
Looking back on it, I would have rather been Medevac’ed out of Rwanda in a helicopter. Two paramedics would have jumped out of the chopper with their heads ducked low to avoid the propeller as they rushed a stretcher to the waiting ambulance. There, they would have found their patient on death’s door, whisking him off to Kenya or South Africa or maybe, just maybe, to a jet that would take him home to Canada. Continue reading.
Book Review: Pyramid of Behavior Interventions
by Dani Garner
Ever since I was a teenager, I’ve collected quotations or lines from books that have stuck with me. I’m picky; not just any quote is going to get a spot in the cranium. The quote must be relevant to my current reality, must inspire me to do “right,” and must be short enough to remember. Continue reading.
Getting rights to the hear of school culture
by Bill McGovern and Kelly Quinlan
A school in Coquitlam becomes the first in Canada to adopt a UNICEF initiative designed to improve school culture for students and adults. Continue reading.
Bearing down on independent study
by Leslie Dyson
The nearest airport is two hours away, Vancouver is a 15-hour road trip, but the isolation doesn't hinder achievement in Tumbler Ridge, where student leadership is strong and independent study opens a world of opportunity. Continue reading.
Working to educate the impoverished in a troubled land
by Bruce Nicholson and Stan Peterson
It was a sweltering 43 degrees when we stepped onto the tarmac at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. This was our first trip back to Haiti since the devastating January 2010 earthquake that ravaged most of the country and left more than 300,000 people dead. The oppressive heat, while typical for a July 7th, was not the most noticeable part of our trip from the airport to the city of Grande Goave about 70 kilometers away. Standing on the open deck of a truck rolling along almost impassable roads, the scenes of destruction were hard to comprehend. How could buildings still be leaning; why were there still piles of rubble on the streets; and why was the new looking machinery, that filled a football sized parking lot, sitting idle behind locked fences? Continue reading.
April 2011
The complete issue features all the articles below plus BCPVPA President Jameel Aziz on setting priorities in a technological age.
April cover art by Thomas Nelles, Sullivan Heights Secondary, Surrey.
Assessment for Learning Strategies
in a Sheltered Learning Block
by Peter Jory
In a small school like ours, each cohort can have a very distinct personality, and that year's grade tens were clearly not going to raise our results out of any inherent love of learning. Continue reading.
The Visioning Process in a Secondary School
by Rod Perrault
One of the risks of discussing vision in a school is that the term vision is often perceived as jargon and has been equated with time consuming processes that have often been divisive and have merely produced statements full of platitutes that carry little or no relevence to the functioning of an organization. Continue reading.
Students as Living Books —
With stories to tell
by Leslie Dyson
Scott Wallace, principal of Chilliwack Central Elementary Community School, can barely contain his enthusiam about the schoo's Living Library, a relatively simple, but powerful learning tool. The Library is engaging students in this inner city school who had been showing an alarming degree of apathy, especially in the higher grades. Continue reading.
A Trip to Nepal
by Nancy Campbell
A retired principal journeys to Nepal and reports on the progress being made to bring education to the world's most needy children. Continue reading.
February 2011
The complete issue features all the articles below plus BCPVPA President Jameel Aziz on research on instructional leadership.
Walking Together for a Better Future
by Linda Kaser and Judy Halbert
Until fairly recently, Aboriginal education was often perceived as the responsibility of the Aboriginal department within a district or the Aboriginal support workers within a school. The development of Aboriginal Enhancement Agreements is help to create a sense of shared responsiblity — walking together. Continue reading.
A League of Writers, Poets & Filmmakers
by Leslie Dyson
Staff at a tiny school employ engaging and imaginative strategies for developing their students' literacy skills. Continue reading.
The Artful Classroom
by Don Ottosen
The brisk, heavy air of October is upon us. We are a relatively inexperienced crew aboard a grand vessel containing much precious cargo. Sailing along beautifully, we are oblivious to any menacing turbulence or obstacles, of anything that would impede our year long journey. In plain language, we are a typical grade six class that has been together for about a month. Our room is packed with friendly banter, laughter and vast potential. Continue reading.
A Collaborative Force
by Dani Garner
In his grade 8 year at Quamichan Middle School (grades 7-9), Joe was the only First Nations boy in his classes. He showed up every day, but was quiet, disengaged and showed no evidence of learning. For the first few months of the year, his teachers (Mrs. H, Ms. L and Mrs. G) struggled with finding ways to make a connection with him and build a relationship. At first, cooperative learning strategies were not working, as he chose not to engage with any group of peers his teachers sat him with; assessment for learning strategies were not working, as he was not doing any work that could be assessed; innovative instructional strategies were not working, as Joe chose not to participate in any style of learning. Continue reading.
December 2010:
The complete issue features all the articles below plus BCPVPA President Jameel Aziz on advocacy.
Putting Students on a Winning Streak
by Debbie Cullum
Historically, a major role of assessment has been to detect and highlight differences in student learning in order to rank students according to their achievement. This type of assessment worked for me as I was a student moving through the system. I was driven and motivated by the marks and grades but as Stiggins points out in his article Assessment Through the Student's Eyes (2007) this type of assessment has produced winners and losers and I was just fortunate to be a winner. Continue reading
The Power of a Student-based Curriculum
by Chris Wejr
In an education world dominated by mandated curricula and standardized testing, it is often difficult to imagine the effectiveness of a student-designed curriculum. Prior to my days as a principal of an elementary school, I had the privilege of working as a high school math, science and physical education teacher. As I currently try to get back into shape, I have begun to reflect on the motivation to be healthy as well as events that took place during my final year of teaching high school; in 2006, I was involved in one of my proudest accomplishments as an educator. Continue reading
Juggling Your Way to Confidence
by Ian Robinson
The Circus Arts Club is entering its 4th year at Lady Grey School. Students in grades 4 through 7 have the opportunity to participate in a noon-hour club to learn various activities including juggling, unicyling, Diablo, clowning and poi. Continue reading
At Home With Nature
by Leslie Dyson
Hartley Bay School students have felt the impact of a relatively small oil spill on their way of life. Now, they're concerned that hundreds of super tankers carrying crude oil could be plying the waters close to their homes. So they are helping to gather scientific evidence related to the impact of tides, currents and weather on items in the sea (whether bottles, young fish or spilled oil) and working with other groups to explain why it is so essential to preserve the habitats of northern communities on the coast and in the sea. Continue reading
Theory of Action
by Denise Eli-Mansueti
Who am I and where am I going? To fully understand my leadership work and my leadership plan one must first understand my moral purpose. I am not the formal leader at Douglas Fir Elementary School. Presently I am a grade four teacher and have worked at Douglas Fir 13 of my 23 years as an educator. I am also a parent who has had the experience of raising both a high achieving student and a low achieving student as defined by the British Columbia public education system. School has been a breeze for our son who is a logical, organized, critical thinker. On the other hand our daughter, who is creative and full of imagination, did not fare as well. Continue reading
October 2010:
The complete issue features all the articles below plus BCPVPA President Jameel Aziz on professional reading and BCPVPA Executive Director Ted Whiteland on an early learning initiative.
Mark Thiessen's about his ongoing experiences in Rwanda: Read the article.
Mary Laudien about the change process: Read the article.
Kerri Steel on how effective school administrators can use Universal Design for Learning to integrate technology into the fabric of the learning space: Read the article.
Leslie Dyson on a school in Port Alberni that takes a "wrap around" approach to improve student success: Read the article.
Sylvia Bell is your typical (well inasmuch as any school leader can be "typical") elementary school principal. She is also an author whose first novel, Truthstone, is now available through Amazon and Xlibris. Read the article.
