Monday morning was a little bit different for Oberlin Elementary School student Harlo Johnson. For starters, she didn’t even report to her classroom. Instead, she sat in the principal’s office, chatting with OES Principal Mrs. Felicia Webber. After a quick chat, Harlo started talking into a recording device for the morning announcements. And, after she recorded the morning announcements, Harlo walked through the school, popping into different classrooms as she handed out birthday cards, stickers and pencils to students.
“Hello Principal Harlo,” a class called out to her as she walked.
As she walked into another classroom, a friendly face appeared at her side. Her younger brother.
“Bye everyone! Have a good day!” Harlo said.
For one day, Harlo was the principal of Oberlin Elementary School. She was the last of six students who were selected for the special honor. The quest to be principal for a day began in January after Mrs. Webber shared the announcement at the RISE assembly. OES utilizes the District RISE motto as part of everyday learning where being “Responsible, Involved, Safe and Empathetic” are keys to not only success, but can be used in different scenarios.
“As part of our winter benchmarking and diagnostics, any student who showed any progress, even one point, on their iReady assessments were entered into a drawing to be principal for the day,” Mrs. Webber said. “If they improved on both their reading and math assessments, they were able to get two tickets.”
A winner was pulled from every grade level.
“All of the students were really excited about the opportunity. Some ‘principals’ were more shy than others, others were ready to do the announcements and visit classrooms,” Mrs. Webber said. “Something that really made this more meaningful was students being excited and eager to tell me about the growth they made on their diagnostics and their hope of being principal of the day. I want every student to feel proud and excited to share their progress.”
“Principals” for the day recorded announcements, greeted students, passed out birthday wishes/shout-out cards, visited classrooms, had a special lunch with a friend in the conference room, made surprise phone calls home to family members and other district administrators, and helped prepare for the end of the day.
“I was excited and surprised to be picked,” Harlo said. “I often wondered what Mrs. Webber did during the day. Now I know!”
The idea of serving as principal for the day came from our staff thinking of creative ways to help encourage and motivate students, Mrs. Webber said.
“One common saying students always hear me use is ‘Progress not Perfection’ or ‘Practice makes Progress,’” Mrs. Webber said. “When announcing the principal for the day’s opportunity, I stressed the importance of being proud of progress because it is something ongoing and different for everyone. When we focus too much on perfection, it can feel unattainable.”
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