Episode Details

Tony Sinanis, principal of Cantiague Elementary School in Jericho, New York, explains how a rough first principalship shaped his leadership mindset. He took the job before he was ready, took everything personally, and struggled to connect with his community. He now calls himself the lead learner of his school.

Sinanis says he went home crying three or four times a week that first year. He lacked intestinal fortitude, reacted instead of reflecting, and did not have the experience his diverse community needed. Now in his sixth year at Cantiague, he builds on student voice, using writer's notebooks in place of a traditional writing approach.

What you'll learn

• Enjoy the assistant principal role longer if you can, because being the place where the buck stops is a different job.
• Separate who you are from the role, so a complaint about an issue does not land as an attack on you.
• Pause before you react, since people learn that they can get a reaction out of you.
• Find a place in school for the experiences your students bring with them, as writer's notebooks do at Cantiague.
• Model learning in public by reading blogs, writing your own and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.

Chapters

• 0:00 Why Tony Sinanis is on the show
• 3:59 From first-generation college student to teacher
• 8:51 Moving from teacher to assistant principal
• 10:04 Taking the principalship before you are ready
• 11:10 Why you cannot take feedback personally
• 12:19 The cultural disconnect with a diverse community
• 20:19 Student voice and personalized learning at Cantiague
• 22:26 What it means to be a lead learner

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Questions this episode answers

How do I stop taking feedback personally as a principal?
Sinanis says a leader cannot take things personally, because even a personal-sounding complaint is about an issue someone feels strongly about. In his first principalship he could not separate Tony the person from Tony the principal, and he went home upset several nights a week.

What does it mean to be a lead learner instead of a principal?
Sinanis says the word principal brings to mind a manager and paper pusher. He calls himself the lead learner because he models learning through Twitter, blogging, reading and doctoral study, while his staff and students often lead the learning themselves.

What should I do if I took a principal job before I was ready?
Sinanis took a principalship after one year as an assistant principal and says he was not ready. He admitted he lacked the experience and skill set his community needed, owned it, and says experience could have bridged most of those gaps.

About Tony Sinanis

Principal of Cantiague Elementary School in Jericho, New York, co-host of the BrandED podcast on the BAM Radio Network, and a doctoral student at Penn.

Links and resources

• Sanebox sponsor link
• Sponsor: Sanebox
• Transformative Principal website
• Transformative Principal on Stitcher
• Refer a principal form
• New York Elementary Principal of the Year
• Tony Sinanis on Twitter

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