Urgent versus Important Self-Assessment

You are heading to a classroom to observe teacher instruction. The class begins in three minutes. While walking down the hallway, another teacher approaches you and tells you he has just discovered an act of vandalism in the boys’ washroom. Is this issue urgent or important or both? Can it be delegated or put off until a later time?

You are facilitating a curriculum meeting with a team of teachers when you are informed that a teacher and student have been involved in a physical altercation in a classroom and the student has been injured. Is this issue urgent or important or both? Can it be delegated or put off until a later time?

You are meeting with a parent who is quite anxious about the suspension of their child due to the bullying of another student. An administrative staff member informs you that the district office has called asking for a report the Superintendent requested that is due today. Is this issue urgent or important or both? Can it be delegated or put off until a later time?

As state testing for grade six students begins, you are informed that two parent monitors have not shown up and need to be replaced right away or the testing will be delayed. Is this issue urgent or important or both? Can it be delegated or put off until a later time?

You are preparing a draft of revisions for the school’s discipline policy in advance of a meeting of the school discipline committee that will be held in two days. The meeting is chaired by a teacher with whom you have a meeting scheduled in three hours. You are informed one of the lunch duty aides has had to leave due to illness and has been replaced by a student teacher but a replacement must be found for her bus duty that day.

You have an interview scheduled with a candidate for an instructional aide position when a teacher brings two boys to the office who have been found setting a fire in a recycling container next to the parking lot. Is this issue urgent or important or both? Can it be delegated or put off until a later time?

The district office has issued a survey document you are requested to complete by the end of the semester on the effectiveness of changes to the student data collection system. It arrived at your desk today, while you are in the process of reviewing the field trip requests from your teachers. Is this issue urgent or important or both? Can it be delegated or put off until a later time?

Visibility is a priority for you as a school leader and you regularly visit classes and walk the hallways to interact with teachers and students. During one such classroom visit you receive a text that the deputy superintendent for instruction has unexpectedly stopped by to say hello. The text indicates that he is hoping to take you for coffee. Is this issue urgent or important or both? Can it be delegated or put off until a later time?

Students are playing outside at recess when a parent monitor enters the office to report that an unidentified male was seen taking a jacket that belongs to a grade three female student. She had taken it off and was playing nearby when the theft occurred. You overhear the conversation while you are in the midst of reviewing initial grade 5 standardized test data. Is this issue urgent or important or both? Can it be delegated or put off until a later time?

Your grade level team is meeting to examine reading progress. The team is made up of, and led by teachers and you participate as an adviser. During the meeting, one of the teachers approaches you and asks if you could step outside for a minute to discuss a problem they are having with one of their colleagues who is in the room. Is this issue urgent or important or both? Can it be delegated or put off until a later time?