Principal Literacy Series: It's Okay to Leave Some Things Unresolved [Amy Bell, Big Piney & LaBarge, Wyoming]

Summer is here and I still have (let me count them) 28 tabs open on my browser. As a principal of two elementary schools, I’ve had more, I’ve had fewer, but through the school year this number is typical. I find these open tabs a good analogy for the life of a school Principal - we have so many irons in the fire at all times; students to guide, meetings to attend, parents to call, teachers to observe, scheduling and coordinating of assessments and activities, and a school to lead.

Big Piney, Wyoming, Elementary School

This life of multitasking can be (and often is!) overwhelming for a school leader! When do we find time for professional learning, growth, and, God forbid, some self-care? It’s officially the first day of my summer vacation and while I’ve planted flowers, taken my dogs for a walk, and enjoyed a Roxor ride, I have also spent time today reflecting on the past year while planning for the next one. 

Last fall, my Guiding Coalition had determined we’d select a new ELA curriculum during the school year. We surveyed the staff to determine what we wanted in a new program, we read the research (looking at you, SOR!), reviewed our data, discovered what ELA resources our fellow Wyoming districts had adopted, and we ordered samples to preview.

As the year went on and we couldn’t seem to find the ‘right’ resource, I felt the pressure of the end of the year looming and along with it, an impending decision that would need to be made. After reviewing and discussing the strengths and weaknesses of several programs, we seemed to be at a loss and it occurred to me that it’s okay if the time-frame we’d set for ourselves needed to be adjusted.

The adage “Act in haste, repent in leisure”  (props to William Congreve, 1692) kept coming to mind. Once the team discussed the disadvantages of making a hasty decision versus the potential benefits of waiting to see what new resources would be available next year, we all breathed a collective sigh of relief, agreeing to see what next year will bring in terms of new resources.

Though I wasn’t able to completely close that tab, I was able to minimize that window on my desktop and I learned a valuable lesson in the process: After 10 years as a school principal, I’ve learned that it’s okay to leave some things unresolved for a while. There are always items that will demand attention and sometimes checking something off the list isn’t the answer; it’s okay to put it on the back burner and focus on other issues; there’s always another tab that needs attention! (Summer, for example!) 

~Amy Bell calls herself the “joyful lead learner” of Big Piney and LaBarge Elementary Schools, both located in Southwest Wyoming. She has worked as a classroom teacher, an Instructional Facilitator, and an Elementary Principal, and she’s been with the same school district for nearly her entire career, from 1992 to present. She will serve as President of the Wyoming Association of Elementary and Middle School Principals during the 2024-25 school year.

She’s also looking for new SOR-based ELA resource ideas!