This case study presents findings from a year-long ethnographic study of a principal of an elementary school in a stable, urban environment. It concludes one of seven studies conducted in elementary and intermediate schools in urban, suburban, and rural settings to investigate the instructional management role of principals. Although previous research is inconclusive, this series finds that principals can significantly alter their schools' instructional systems and students' social and academic experiences. Using observations of principals' activities and interviews with students and staff, the seemingly chaotic behavior of principals may be construed as purposive. Activities compose nine categories (goal setting and planning; monitoring; evaluating; communicating; scheduling, allocating resources, and organizing; staffing; modeling; governing; and filling in). The purposes or targets behind these actions include work structure, staff relations, student relations, safety and order, plant and equipment, community relations, institutional relations, and institutional ethos. Principal Frances Hedges exemplifies how principals can influence instruction through school culture. Most of her routine activities involved communication; governing; monitoring; scheduling, allocating resources, and organizing; and goal-setting and planning. Hedge's primary target was work structures. Hedge's child-centered approach to education, stressing the importance of a caring, nurturing environment, shaped the structure of the school program and her management style. (Contains 64 references.) (MLH)