As I close in on nearly 30 years in education, I recently reflected with my wife (also a principal here in Colorado) about our teacher preparation programs—and how much I didn’t enjoy them as much as my principal preparation coursework. The relevance of courses like School Law, Budget & Finance, and Instructional Leadership, combined with the engaging and thoughtful instructors I had the privilege of learning from, planted a seed that I could see myself teaching those courses someday.
That “someday” came about 15 years later, when my wife talked about the instructors she had at Regis University in Denver while she was pursuing her principal’s license—and I realized that I knew over half of them personally! Some were colleagues of mine in the Boulder Valley School District; others I had worked with in other districts. That led me to set up a few coffee dates to learn from my colleagues about how they got teaching positions at the university and if they had any guidance or advice for me.
Clearly, the timing of those coffee talks was impeccable; a position teaching in Regis’ Educational Leadership program opened that spring, and I jumped at the opportunity to apply. I interviewed with the program coordinator and the dean of the Education Department, and it was more of a conversation than an interview. It clearly was a great fit for both the university and for me, because I’m now in my seventh year of teaching aspiring principals throughout the state.
I’ve taught four different courses, and I’m now primarily teaching the Fiscal Leadership course, which covers how schools and districts get funded in Colorado, and tips and tricks for school budgeting. The courses are typically six to eight weeks, meeting one evening a week via Zoom. (Zoom isn’t just a relic of the pandemic; it enables us to teach students from all over the state, so they don’t have to drive to campus.)
In addition to planning each weekly class, the largest time commitment is grading submissions and providing meaningful feedback to each student. Class sizes range from a dozen to the low 20s, so the larger the class, the more time I spend grading and providing feedback.
I also am an evaluator for the culminating Capstone Project presentations, where students put together a 30-minute talk on a problem of practice and how they apply the knowledge they’ve learned in the Educational Leadership courses to plan their leadership moves. I typically evaluate alongside another instructor at Regis, and that evaluation takes place on a Saturday morning twice a year.
These experiences at Regis have been worth the time, as teaching at the university level is affirming for my own career journey. A 30-year career in education has taught me many lessons, and I believe that the wise person learns from other people’s mistakes—and I have shared many lessons others can learn from. It’s also encouraging to see the rising talent pool of future school leaders, giving me confidence that our profession will be in good hands with these passionate educators. I continue to have contact with past students, some of whom work in my school district today.
I’m sure that your state has colleges and universities with openings for affiliate faculty positions like mine. You don’t necessarily need a doctorate to teach these courses; in fact, the preference is for students to learn from current practitioners rather than the highest degree holders. If you’re seeking a way to pay it forward, take advantage of the opportunity to teach the next generation of principals.
