Dr. Kirk Wheeler has been the STS Head of School since July 2005 and has been in education for thirty years. Previously, he served as the Preschool – 12 Curriculum Coordinator and Lower School Principal at the American School of Rio de Janeiro, a classroom teacher at Vail Mountain School, and supervisor for the summer mountain program for the Town of Vail. His teaching experience includes physical education, Spanish, first through fourth grades, and middle school language arts. His leadership philosophy is embodied in the phrase, “Educational Leadership through Partnership.“ Dr. Wheeler believes that two elements define 21st century schools: relationships and ”edgework."

Dr. Wheeler is a former member of the Board of Governors for the Northwest Association of Independent Schools (NWAIS) and founding member of the Rubicon Educational Foundation Board of Directors. He currently serves on the Accreditation Committee for NWAIS and the CustomED Board of Directors. Dr. Wheeler holds a Doctorate in Education, with an emphasis in Policy and Administration, Master of Arts, with an emphasis in international education, and Bachelor of Arts, with an emphasis in Elementary Education.

As a recipient of the Klingenstein Fellowship for School Heads, Dr. Wheeler has continued to pursue his passion for developing schools and brings together emerging schools of thought, collaborative experiences, and a sense of history to create powerful partnerships for 21st century education. He is proud to have the opportunity to collaborate with an exceptional leadership and teaching team at STS, which has resulted in the School being recognized as being one of 33 Microsoft Showcase Schools worldwide, LEED Gold certification, and WA Green School status.

• St. Thomas School founded in 1951, preschool through 8th grade
• How to have spiritual growth even though they are not affiliated to a church anymore.
• Our role is to affirm families’ values and beliefs.
• Edge work
• Comfort Zone
• Growth Zone
• Edge is between comfort and growth zone
• Professional experiences related to edge work.
• Pandemic has really helped us all experience
• Need others, need relationships.
• Celebrate corporations that fail fast and fail forward.
• We want kids to take risks, but we forget they are watching us.
• Being vulnerable and transparent about the fear that I’m experiencing
• How to implement edge work in your school?
• Structures that reward risk taking.
• Look for alignment in what you’re. assessments look like and what you want kids to learn.
• Naming it and calling it out.
• Give students leadership opportunities.
• How to be a transformative principal? 5 year journal.
• 5 lines to reflect on your day - year over year

In Control created an effortless social and emotional, character development video curriculum for your students that’s ZERO-TEACHER-PREP AND it’s so cool looking- it feels like a Youtube or Netflix Series- and that’s purposeful, they meet students right where they’re at.

The videos are 5-6 minutes, kids love them, teachers love them, and you will too. There’s no guesswork in the program because there’s a 21-video progression for each grade level.

They’ve thought of everything-- because it’s a group of award winning counselors, teachers, and principals that came up with this thing. It’ll help you save tons of time and headaches.

Take it from me, it’s time to check that social-emotional learning box, the empty one that’s been keeping you up at night--and it’s time to do it in a meaningful, measurable, magnetic way.

If you go to www.InControlSEL.com/jethro you can check out some of the videos and even receive 20% off if you pre-order for next school year

Today’s Transformative Principal sponsor, John Catt Educational, amplifies world-class voices on timeless topics, with a list of authors recognized globally for their fresh perspectives and proven strategies to drive success in modern schools and classrooms.

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.

Learn more about 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/. Learn more about some of the newest titles: - The Coach’s Guide to Teaching by Doug Lemov

• The Feedback Pendulum: A manifesto for enhancing feedback in education by Michael Chiles

• Putting Staff First: A blueprint for revitalising our schools by John Tomsett and Jonny Uttley

• 10 Things Schools Get Wrong (And How We Can Get Them Right) by Jared Cooney Horvath and David Bott

• Let’s Talk About Flex: Flipping the flexible working narrative for education by Emma Turner

• A Parent's Guide to Powerful Teaching by Patrice Bain

John Catt is also proud publisher of the new book from Transformative Principal host Jethro Jones: SchoolX: How principals can design a transformative school experience for students, teachers, parents – and themselves 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

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:

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• 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.