Judy Bertram Tomlinson

What's Shaking the School: a Principal's Retrospective Judy Bertram Tomlinson

What really goes on in the principal's office?

What's Shaking The School reveals the school community through the eyes of a seasoned educator and school leader. With candor and caring, humor and pathos, the experiences of one elementary principal shed light upon other questions we have all pondered:

How do students at school react to home situations, outside events, teacher personalities and curriculum?

What do young people want to know about maturation?

How do they view the adults who work with them?

What is the most positive, powerful thing that can happen for a child at school?

How do parents react when their child is affected by school situations?

How do teachers and administrators cope with curriculum changes, student challenges and "difficult" parents?

Are all those hours teachers spend over report cards really worth it?

How does the school secretary keep smiling?

Is there any power in the principalship?

How one person dealt with the forces that impact our schools is the main theme of What's Shaking The School. This school principal kept a daily journal as she worked through her twelve years in two large Victoria schools. Memos, letters, student work and journal entries give immediacy and integrity to this very personal account of a role everyone has opinions about and few actually understand. Neither a manual nor a simple collection of amusing anecdotes, What's Shaking The School will appeal to anyone who has pondered the real work of its appointed leader.