The Big Rocks

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The Big Rocks

• Time Management for Principals

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Covey, 1989 pg.161

• The key is not to prioritize whats on your
  schedule, but to schedule your priorities.

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What are the Big Rocks?
Big Rocks for any principal should be the actions
that drive student achievement.
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10 Big Rocks for Principals

• Mission
• Giving staff members and students a clear sense
  of direction
• Climate
• Making the school a safe place that runs smoothly
• Alignment
• Meshing curriculum and assessments with state
  standards
• Resources
• Getting teachers the tools they need to be
  successful
• Instruction
• Nurturing the best possible teaching in every
  classroom

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• Hiring
• Using every vacancy to bring in excellent
  teachers
• Interim Assessments
• Using data to continuously improve teaching
• Collaboration
• Fostering constant sharing of ideas and resources
• Results
• Keeping supervision, professional development and
  teams focused on outcomes
• Parents
• Maximizing family support to students education

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Making it all work can be tough
The Jar Activity Not an original idea but a
terrific visual aid to bring the point home to
truly prioritize to make room for those Big Rocks!
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The Empty Jar

• The glass jar in the demonstration is the amount
  of time available in a typical work week.
• No matter who you are, what you do, your status,
  your fame, your powerwe all have the same size
  jar meaning we all have the same amount of time
  in any given day or week or month.
• First fill that jar with Big Rocks that matter
  the most.

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The Big Rocks

• The Big Rocks are those activities that matter
  most in our lives.
• They have the most profound consequences, either
  good or bad, that result from their completion or
  non-completion.
• In terms of our work in schools, these Big Rocks
  drive student achievement.

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The Pebbles

• The pebbles are the little things that may add up
  to be something significant at some point down
  the line, but if we miss one or two, no big deal.

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The Sand

• The sand represents all the non-essential things
  that tend to fill up our days and our work lives.
  
• Sand represents wasteful, non-value-producing
  activities that fill up our jar and prevent us
  from fitting in the large rocks that are
  meaningful for our work.

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Remember the order
Big Rocks Pebbles Sand
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Remember

• We talked at the orientation session about
  deciding what is truly important and then making
  those things your priority.
• In terms of leading your staff, the following
  suggestions will greatly aid in that effort

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Set Clear Expectations

• Making certain everyone knows your expectations
  for their work makes your work that much easier

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Decide on a Planning System

• How you organize your time will decide both how
  you will spend your time and how impactful that
  time will be for those around you.

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Schedule Key Meetings

• Unless you schedule them first, your most
  important meetings (team meetings leadership
  teams planning period meetings) they will get
  lost in the shuffle.
• Establish a set system and stick to it!

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Write It Down

• You simply cannot remember every detail of every
  day so you must have a system for writing it
  down!

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Delegate, Delegate, Delegate

• Hire good people, nurture them, turn them loose,
  and get out of their way.

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Get Into Classrooms

• Teachers thrive on feedback and they want to know
  what you think of their work. Schedule the
  time to see them and interact with them.

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Avoid Time Wasters

• Your work usually falls into three piles
• Activities that add value and support student
  achievement (planning professional development)
• Activities that are behind the scene but keep
  the school running (ordering supplies, managing
  resources)
• Activities that are a waste of time (fixing
  something not done right the first time)
• Avoid the last one at all costs

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Take Care of Yourself

• In such a demanding job as that of a principal,
  it is imperative to schedule and honor time for
  yourself, your family, your hobbies, your peace
  of mind.
• Take the time to take care of yourself. The work
  will be there when you return and you will be in
  a better frame of mind to deal with it all.

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Take Stock

• Regularly review and revise your time management
  until you find the perfect system for you.
  Perhaps it is color coding your calendar or
  revisiting your Big Rocks weekly. No matter the
  process, keep working on it until you find one
  that works for you!

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Covey, 1989 pg.161

• The key is not to prioritize whats on your
  schedule, but to schedule your priorities.

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Big Rocks
Kentucky Principals Academy Adapted from work
by Stephen Covey and Kim Marshall