21st Century school leaders walk the walk – or in Sunny William’s case, blog the blog.

The Principal’s Blog at Hewitt-Trussville Middle School averages dozens of comments about each posted entry, and the vast majority come from the middle school’s own student body.

That’s because principal Sunny Williams addresses many of her blog entries directly TO students – and her comments are not directives but questions. As school wound down in late May 2007, Williams posted this item:

I am sure that you are all very sad to end the school year and will spend the summer missing everything about HTMS. :) I am going to spend the summer getting the school ready for next year, reading, and hopefully finding time to spend with friends and family. What are your plans for the summer? Check the blog out this summer as I make posts every week or so.

Williams received 33 responses to this vacation query. Not bad, but far from her record of 89, when she asked students to share their ideas about improving the middle school schedule.

Bubba said he liked the school’s seven-period schedule but “I would also like to have maybe one more elective.”

Morgan identified a problem and offered a specific remedy: “One thing…I would want to change is how long we have between classes. Some people are coming from PE and have to be at the end of the 8th grade hall and are late. We do have time to get from PE to a class, but I’m pretty sure we don’t want to run to class. Also, it’s pretty difficult to go to the bathroom between periods. I think it would be a good idea to add one more minute and make it five instead of four minutes.”

Our favorite dialogue between principal and students took place when Williams asked veteran middle schoolers to post their “Advice to New 6th Graders” who will be arriving in the fall.

Alex shared the big picture: “Tell them to be ready to get to work. The work picks up as soon as you hit Middle School.”

Connor offered a warning, likely based on personal experience: “I would tell them not to go to their locker after every period, and if they are going to P.E. they need to leave their book in their next class. They also need to stay away from the 8th grade hall because they will get trampled.”

Williams says her regular blogging with students helps send out the message to her faculty that Web 2.0 tools can both engage learners and push them to analyze and synthesize.

“A lot of my attitude about it is that if I learn how to use these tools, then it’s easier for me to expect the teachers to learn to do it, too. And because our blog is public, students, parents and the community can all see that we can learn together – that learning is a group enterprise.”