JC Pohl is the co-founder and CEO of TeenTruth.net/schoolculture

• Young filmmakers looked at coverage of Columbine, and we always saw adults telling the story of what happened.
• Look into teenage life.
• Giving students a voice.
• How to give kids voice?
• Control - told what to do, what classes to take, and everything else in between.
• Lack of control really causes a lot of stress in students.
• Are we doing a disservice to kids by not giving them control?
• Three major buckets (school assemblies, )
• These kids made a movie, what are you going to do?
• Students can take ownership by getting involved.
• How do you want to solve it?
• It’s about creating culture of agency and ownership for kids.
• There are so many kids on our campuses that it’s easy to get lost.
• Kids desperately want to be there.
• It’s up to us to create an environment that makes them want to be included.
• Finding their thing.
• Open up as many opportunities as we can for kids to get involved.
• What were some of the data points that came out.
• Principals get caught up in the data.
• One goal: work for Disney!
• If you have a school motto on your campus and you don’t hear your kids say it, it’s not working!
• If you don’t have a tight brand, your school culture is not as strong as it could be.
• Don’t mess with Texas.
• “We > I”
• We form an emotional connection with some brands.
• Got to involve students in the process.
• How to be a transformative principal? Your job is so important. Every principal needs to go all in, even with a slogan. Every student and every staff member is doing their best.

Today’s Transformative Principal sponsor, John Catt Educational, has been publishing high quality guidebooks, magazines and educator-focused professional development books since 1959. John Catt’s mission is to support high-quality teaching and learning by ensuring every educator has access to professional development materials that are research-based, practical, and focused on the key topics proven essential in today’s and tomorrow’s schools.

John Catt amplifies fresh voices on timeless topics, with a list of authors recognized around the world for their fresh perspectives and proven strategies to drive success in modern schools and classrooms. Learn more about these professional development publications that are easy to implement for your entire faculty, and are both quickly digestible and rigorous, by visiting https://us.johncattbookshop.com/. 

Visit this page to learn more about bulk orders and how to bring John Catt’s research-based materials to your school: https://us.johncattbookshop.com/pages/agents-and-distributors

Learn about some of John Catt Educational’s newest publications:

• What the Academy Taught Us: Improving Schools from the Bottom-Up in a Top-Down Transformation Era by Eric Kalenze

• Be More Toddler: Leadership Lessons From Our Little Learners by Emma Turner

• A Quiet Education: Challenging the Extrovert Ideal in Our Schools by Jamie Thom

• Rosenshine’s Principles in Action by Tom Sherrington

• The Thinking School: Developing a Dynamic Learning Community by Kulvarn Atwal

• The researchED Guide to Explicit and Direct Instruction: An evidence-informed guide for teachers by Various Authors

We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.