Transformative Principal cover image

Transformative Principal

Latest episodes

undefined
Apr 11, 2021 • 55min

Proving them Wrong with Chloe Sutterfield Transformative Principal 403

  Chloe Sutterfield is a student at Virginia Commonwealth University. Chloe is studying to become a journalist and wants to travel the world. She also really loves making music and playing sports. Her favorite type of music is rock’n’roll and pop. Her favorite sport is skiing. Chloe believes that everyone has a purpose in the world and her purpose is to give people a different perspective on life. This podcast is also available as a video here. Proving them Wrong with Chloe Sutterfield Transformative Principal 403 from Jethro Jones. What are some of the things that you like doing?  Sports, music, travel What got you to where you are? A particular moment? A certain mantra? Family, especially mom saying if you want to do it, do it, but you’ll have to be the one who does it Please share a story about a principal who made a big difference in your life.  Sr. year got a new principal who was very involved in what I wanted to do at school. He saw me as a student, not someone with a disability. Mr. Mark ? Videos for Disability awareness month –>student of the month. Music & Journalism are two forms of communication. I’m interested in hearing more about why you chose these paths and why we don’t see more people with your communication style in these professions? Music - as a way to get my voice out; a way of expression that allows me to more fully express myself Journalism - as a way to connect to that love of music and be able to tell the stories of other artists How have you dealt with people who don’t believe that you can do things that you want to?  Just proves them wrong People don’t listen, so it’s better just to show them through my actions Growing up with CP presents different challenges than what many of us experience. What do you think school leaders should know when it comes to helping people with disabilities? Everyone is different, so you can’t treat them like you’ve met them before. Go in with a completely open mind. Don’t assume I’m just like every other student, just a little different.  Why is it important to have more patience and slow down in education?  How are you going to help someone who’s doing their best and is trying to get an education if you don’t slow down and listen? What is one thing that a principal can do this week to be a transformative principal?  Have an open mind and then take action Were you involved in helping to lead your IEP or with creating goals for your IEP?   What about barriers? Even if people have good intentions and they don’t start by assuming anything, unforeseen barriers often pop up. How do you handle the barriers that you are faced with? You have to confront and break down the barriers that exist.  It doesn’t matter how fast people go, it matters that they get there.  Sponsors TeachFX Innovative school leaders across the country have started tracking online student participation using TeachFX because it’s one of the most powerful ways to improve student outcomes during COVID — especially for English Learners and students of color. Learn more about TeachFX and get a special offer at TeachFX.com InControl SEL for Middle School 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 John Catt 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: Michaela: The Power of Culture by Katharine Birbalsingh Teaching WalkThrus: Visual Step-by-Step Guides to Essential Teaching Techniques by Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli Putting Staff First: A blueprint for revitalising our schools by John Tomsett and Jonny Uttley The Teaching Delusion: Why Teaching In Our Schools Isn’t Good Enough (And How We Can Make It Better) by Bruce Robertson Stop Talking About Wellbeing: A pragmatic approach to teacher workload by Kat Howard 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 teach...
undefined
Apr 7, 2021 • 35min

Teaching Walkthrus with Tom Sherrington Transformative Principal 402

  Tom Sherrington (Twitter) is a former principal and teacher and is now a writer and trainer. He is the author of Teaching WalkThrus: Visual Step-by-Step Guides to Essential Teaching Techniques by Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli Walkthrus professional learning package. Visual guide to key instructional practices that most instructors should know about it. Each page represents 1 technique in 5 steps. ADAPT - Attempt, Develop, Adapt, Practice, Test You’ve got to have a go at something to see if you can get some mileage out of it. Properly evaluate after trying something out. If teachers think you’re telling them what to do, they tend to not do it. You’ve got to get that teacher to feel that the thing you’re suggesting is something they can sustain. Focus on the learning problems. Sometimes teachers are made to think about their performance. It is often not a fair judgment of their performance. I’m not here to judge you, but I’m here to help your students learn more. The strategies you focus on are the things that will help the teachers be successful. If you get along side someone they feel trusted, respected, and understood. Principals are under pressure to assure that their schools are doing well. This isn’t a soft approach, it’s the only approach. If a teacher is really struggling, you really get to the things that are preventing them from being successful. The challenge of teachers having good self-awareness. You get a little bit of tunnel vision; you don’t always see everything. You miss the fact that some kids have no idea what was going on? It’s a problem when someone feels judged. People fear being observed. Learning objectives written on board. Process dominating too much over what evidence-base is. Writing down learning objectives isn’t always the best day to make that happen. Positive framing - behavior management language. Checklisting helps people form shared understanding of terms. How to be a transformative principal? Go and make sure you’ve spent as much time as possible to observe your school performing. Don’t judge them, think of it through the lens of how can I help them. Filter out your judgments and tendencies.   Sponsors TeachFX Innovative school leaders across the country have started tracking online student participation using TeachFX because it’s one of the most powerful ways to improve student outcomes during COVID — especially for English Learners and students of color. Learn more about TeachFX and get a special offer at TeachFX.com InControl SEL for Middle School 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 John Catt 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: Michaela: The Power of Culture by Katharine Birbalsingh Teaching WalkThrus: Visual Step-by-Step Guides to Essential Teaching Techniques by Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli Putting Staff First: A blueprint for revitalising our schools by John Tomsett and Jonny Uttley The Teaching Delusion: Why Teaching In Our Schools Isn’t Good Enough (And How We Can Make It Better) by Bruce Robertson Stop Talking About Wellbeing: A pragmatic approach to teacher workload by Kat Howard 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:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove 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.
undefined
Apr 4, 2021 • 54min

The Addiction Inoculation with Jessica Lahey Transformative Principal 401

The Addiction Inoculation with Jessica Lahey Transformative Principal 401 Jessica Lahey is a teacher, writer, and mom. Over twenty years, she’s taught every grade from sixth to twelfth in both public and private schools. She writes about education, parenting, and child welfare for The Atlantic, Vermont Public Radio, The Washington Post and the New York Times and is the author of the New York Times bestselling book, The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed. She is a member of the Amazon Studios Thought Leader Board and wrote the educational curriculum for Amazon Kids’ The Stinky and Dirty Show. Jessica earned a B.A. in Comparative Literature from the University of Massachusetts and a J.D. with a concentration in juvenile and education law from the University of North Carolina School of Law. She lives in Vermont with her husband and two sons. Her second book, The Addiction Inoculation: Raising Healthy Kids in a Culture of Dependence, will be released in April 2021. Why did you write this book?  amwriting podcast The Deepest Well - Nadine Burke-Harris Shame - associated with alcoholism. Giving up a sense of control Personality, Genetics, and more. Epigenetics - how our genes are expressed. How our genetics are expressed based on what we have experienced. Scales vs. risk factors.   How do we raise kids to be healthy?  What does work in drug prevention? Spoiler alert - SEL programs Inoculation theory - the more a kid feels like they can say no Certain things we need to look for: Early learning issues Early aggression Bot Violates Life skills training. Gateway drugs and activities Kids and drug use is going down. But vaping is not. Not all kids are going to go on to be addicts if they use early on. The adolescent brain is uniquely vulnerable to substances. If we can keep kids away from drugs and alcohol until their early 20s, we can nearly eliminate Consistent messaging to kids, “We do not take drugs or alcohol until we are of age.“ What if we fear we’ve already lost our kids? How do we get them back to square one? If you know your kids have abused, what should you do? Kids overestimate how much substances mean to other people. Boys will raise consumption to meet peer levels. Girls will start to socially isolate. People avoid creating sober events. Sports drive alocohol consumption. It’s about prevention, not treatment. Recovery doesn’t look the same in teens as it does in adults. Medication-based addiction recovery can be helpful. Talking with counselor at school. Identifying it early. Kids use [substances] to cope with whatever they are feeling. Community-based support Maia Salovitz Something’s gotta give Joseph Lee MD. Recovering my kid. David Scheff and Nick Scheff - High Recovery High Schools (one affiliated with University of Texas) 16 and in recovery on MTV. Start a recovery high school Evaluate your substance abuse prevention program. Blueprints substance abuse prevention University of Colorado Boulder. If you’re starting in middle school you’re starting too late. Sponsors TeachFX Innovative school leaders across the country have started tracking online student participation using TeachFX because it’s one of the most powerful ways to improve student outcomes during COVID — especially for English Learners and students of color. Learn more about TeachFX and get a special offer at TeachFX.com InControl SEL for Middle School 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 John Catt 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: Michaela: The Power of Culture by Katharine Birbalsingh Teaching WalkThrus: Visual Step-by-Step Guides to Essential Teaching Techniques by Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli Putting Staff First: A blueprint for revitalising our schools by John Tomsett and Jonny Uttley The Teaching Delusion: Why Teaching In Our Schools Isn’t Good Enough (And How We Can Make It Better) by Bruce Robertson Stop Talking About Wellbeing: A pragmatic approach to teacher workload by Kat Howard 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...
undefined
Mar 31, 2021 • 31min

The BEST PD out there for Principals with Jethro Jones Transformative Principal 400

Links I talk about: Join the Mastermind How to Be a Transformative Principal Cybertraps Podcast Webinar this month will be with Julia King Pool around communication Where I’m at now. Consulting - mastermind leadership team trainings, cybertraps. Talk about student driven learning academy Kids wanting schedules for themselves (and unique) Center for Cyberethics Cybertraps podcast Mastermind - single best Pd for principals. Links to other podcasts about it. Got some stuff in the hopper. Episode 400 This is that special time where I give some updates about what is going on in my life. As you may know, several of my podcast episodes are recorded ahead of time. So, I like to give these updates at around the 50-show mark. First things first, last June, I left being a principal to focus entirely on serving principals and schools through consulting. It’s been awesome. I’m really enjoying it, although I was a little nervous to leave education when Coronavirus hit and there was time to do things so differently. But, thankfully, I’ve been able to help others through this challenge this last year. Consulting So, what does my consulting look like? Well, first and foremost, the mastermind has doubled in size since last year. It’s the best professional development out there for principals. We have talked so much about all the powerful stuff that people have learned during the pandemic and it has really been good. In fact, Bill Clouse, who you may remember said this, just last week in our mastermind. The mastermind is the best professional development out there. Period. It’s amazing. We help leaders overcome imposter syndrome, make better decisions, have more empathy, and so much more. Oh, and by the way, they are happier at work than ever before. If you’re listening to this, you’ve probably thought about the mastermind, and you’ve probably had some trepidation about whether or not you should join it. Maybe the times haven’t worked out, maybe the cost seemed too high. Well, I have just the thing for you. You see, I’m in the process of writing my next book, How to be a Transformative Principal, and I’ve discovered through the 399 previous episodes of this podcast that there are some key strategies that all transformative principals have in common. It’s quite fascinating, actually. There are 12 things that all transformative principals have in place, and each month, I teach one of these four things in my “How to be a Transformative Principal” group. If you’re not quite ready for the mastermind. Maybe you’re an aspiring principal, maybe you’re an AP. or maybe you’re working on your doctorate! This is the program to help you get there. On the shownotes for this podcast, jethrojones.com/400! you can find the links for this. Here’s what comes in that: 1. 1 Monthly coaching call with me and all the other participants (including mastermind members, who get this for free) 2. A newsletter describing each strategy and what you action items you can take to make it better. 3. A monthly webinar about the topic we are studying. For March, we were focusing on our people, and Dr. Greg Gardner gave a wonderful webinar about how he has removed obstacles for his people during Coronavirus. For April, we are talking about Communication. Communication is HUGE, right? Our coaching call will be all about improving communication. Our webinar this month will be with Julia King Pool around communication. She is the founder at burninmindset.com, so you’ll definitely want to register for that session! Then, in May, oh, my goodness, I am so excited! Cassandra Williams actually does teacher observations for a living. Like, that’s her whole job. She comes into your school and works specifically with your teachers to help them improve. it’s like having an instant instructional coach. So, she’s going to talk about what you need to focus on with observations. And we’re doing that at the end of the year to help you set a good intention for next school year. I’m also doing consulting and speaking around the topics of Trauma-informed practicies and Leadership team development. If you’d like to get in touch with me about those opportunities, please reach out at jethrojones.com/speaking and I’ll be happy to plan something with you. I already have two weeks in August booked out, so get in touch soon. Student Driven Learning You know also, that I am very interested in student driven learning. Well, this year, when we moved to washington, we knew that online school for my three younger kids wouldn’t be great. Kids just went back hybrid this last week. So, we did something a little different. I started a micro school for just my kids, called student driven learning academy. It’s been amazing to see my three youngest really strive in different ways there. Is it perfect, you know it’s not! But, after a couple months, we thought it would be beneficial for them to have some other support, so we hired a learning consultant to help them. That’s been great. Her name is Hannah Costello, and you heard her on this podcast. In fact, when she said, on that podcast, “I don’t want to teach a class, I want to facilitate learning,” I was sold. That’s exactly what I was looking for. She’s done a great job sharing resources with my kids, but letting them own their learning. A couple things that have been great about my kids doing homeschool like this: They are developing their own personalities and learning interests. Each one of them has said they enjoy being in charge of what they are learning. They are learning the power they have to determine their destiny. This is a little esoteric, but I think it is so important. They are starting to understand more and more that the course their life takes is up to them. This is a really important skill that I know will help them more and more as life goes on for them. It’s something I hope they never forget. What’s that going to look like in the future? I’m not sure, but I’m excited about where it can go! Center for Cyberethics You have probably also heard that I have another podcast I started called Cybertraps. That’s with my friend Frederick Lane, author of the Cybertraps books. I’ve always loved technology, but I got tired of teaching how to use google docs pretty quickly. I want to talk about big ideas in technology and that’s what we do on that podcast. We’ve delved into a bunch of amazing discussions and I have really enjoyed it. We’ve had some amazing guests on there, and I’ll share a few of the favorite things we’ve heard here. First up is an excert from Tony Anscombe, an evangelist at technology company ESET, who provides cybersecurity support. where he talked about parents believing that there child is not one who is going to be doing something inappropriate online. Tony Anscombe 1 Another interview that was just amazing was with Dr. Jeff Temple, and he does research on preventing sexual violence. He’s out of the Univeristy of Texas Medical Branch, and he has some really great information to share. He talks about the real problem with sexting is the coersion that happens when kids sext. [Jeff Temple 7] Also, Dr. Eric Stephens talked about what critical thinking is. What is amazing about his story is that he wanted to help prison population...
undefined
Mar 28, 2021 • 30min

Transferability of Learning with Janet Hale Transformative Principal 399

  Janet Hale Twitter is passionate about supporting educators in making curriculum decisions that ensure, enhance, and enrich learning and teaching experiences. She specializes in curriculum mapping; curriculum design using various models and frameworks; standards literacy and alignment; and documenting learning to assist schools, districts, dioceses, higher-ed programs, and educational organizations and businesses with their curriculum, instruction, and assessment needs and improvement plans. Her Masters of Arts degree in educational leadership and curriculum development; plus teaching in elementary, secondary, and special education classrooms, enable Janet to provide insights and information conducive to making decisions that improve curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices for all learners—including teachers and administrators. Beyond her own consultancy, Janet is a member of the Global School Consultant Group and works with clients worldwide to aid them in their curriculum decisions to create innovative learning environments while ensuring alignment to standards and accountability needs.  Janet has written professional books published by ASCD and Corwin Press that focus on curriculum mapping, upgrading units of study, and documenting learning. Personalized learning There are too many standards, so we must prioritize them. Looking at the standards structurally. All agree on which standards are the priority standards? Until we can get away from state testing we are going to be bound to what the state determines. We’re missing what it means to be student-focused. Testing isn’t the top priority, but it is a consideration. If we think of the standards, we need to allow for transferability. Trying to give kids real-world environments. A guide to documenting Learning How to be a transformative principal? A lot of teachers are experiencing a lot of lost time. Ask your students what they are wanting to learn! Karen Bailey - Sylvia Telesano Sponsors TeachFX Innovative school leaders across the country have started tracking online student participation using TeachFX because it’s one of the most powerful ways to improve student outcomes during COVID — especially for English Learners and students of color. Learn more about TeachFX and get a special offer at TeachFX.com InControl SEL for Middle School 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 John Catt 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: Michaela: The Power of Culture by Katharine Birbalsingh Teaching WalkThrus: Visual Step-by-Step Guides to Essential Teaching Techniques by Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli Putting Staff First: A blueprint for revitalising our schools by John Tomsett and Jonny Uttley The Teaching Delusion: Why Teaching In Our Schools Isn’t Good Enough (And How We Can Make It Better) by Bruce Robertson Stop Talking About Wellbeing: A pragmatic approach to teacher workload by Kat Howard 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:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove 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.
undefined
Mar 24, 2021 • 30min

Rapid Change with Kimberly Vaiana Transformative Principal 398

  Kimberly Vaiana is a principal in San Francisco, Education is her second career and she has spent most of the 20 plus years in middle school. She’s been an administrator in both high school and middle school. Currently she has been serving her middle school community, as principal, for the last three years. She was born and raised in San Francisco and have raised my children in the East Bay where she taught and worked in partnership with families and teachers for the future of our world. * The core of who I am is about meeting and getting to know people. * Getting kids to learn their story and share it. * Starting brand new with people she never met before. * The first thing you do as a principal is don’t change anything. * Getting to know their why. * I met with every single staff member. * It is every staff member, not just the teachers. * All staff members have an impact on our kids. * Status quo was easy. It was easy to just do your job. * Playing games. Sharing pictures. * once we got to know each other, we could then start to share the other things we were doing. * Why is it important to get to know people informally instead of formally? * It’s really about how we relate to one another. * When I was a teacher, I wanted people to come and see. * When I became an admin, visiting classrooms was crucial to me. * I can see the activities, and I can speak to those things. * Communication - newsletters. Making sure that every parent and guardian is in my newsletter. * Morning Virtual Visit with Vaiana! * Purple hair being out there. * I share the story of the things we are doing on this campus. * Recognition * Making a phone call and sending a text message. * Changes - Recognizing the students and their needs. Using advisory periods appropriately. * Grading - sticky area. * Why is it important, and is it something we should always hang on to? * Reworking the lunch system. * By building relationships first, we can make the changes needed. * How to be a transformative principal? Have a conversation with your staff, each person. See the people in front of you. We say hello and goodbye! Sponsors TeachFX Innovative school leaders across the country have started tracking online student participation using TeachFX because it’s one of the most powerful ways to improve student outcomes during COVID — especially for English Learners and students of color. Learn more about TeachFX and get a special offer at TeachFX.com InControl SEL for Middle School 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 John Catt 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: Michaela: The Power of Culture by Katharine Birbalsingh Teaching WalkThrus: Visual Step-by-Step Guides to Essential Teaching Techniques by Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli Putting Staff First: A blueprint for revitalising our schools by John Tomsett and Jonny Uttley The Teaching Delusion: Why Teaching In Our Schools Isn’t Good Enough (And How We Can Make It Better) by Bruce Robertson Stop Talking About Wellbeing: A pragmatic approach to teacher workload by Kat Howard 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:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove 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.
undefined
Mar 21, 2021 • 58min

What Do We Want Our Kids to Be with Ira Socol Transformative Principal 397

  Ira Socol is a former Technology Director and special education teacher. He is also He is the author of Timeless Learning and The Drool Room. The driver of change is where we want our kids to get to vs. where they currently end up. We’re not accomplishing 99% of what we want our kids to accomplish. We need to judge our work by how many choices kids have when they are 30. We focus on all the wrong things. We focus on content acquisition, when that has always been secondary. We’re not teaching the wonder of intrinsic motivation. I watch kids learn all sorts of things not in school. School without walls. Judo principle of education - use what the student is passionate about to everyone’s advantage. There are different choices we can make. What should we be focusing on measuring? 50% of kids who go to college don’t go back for the second year. They can’t assess anything without a standardized assessment. We need to look for very specific evidence. Step 1: Are you understanding what our responsibilities are in school/culture/society? See kids having a maximum level of freedom? If kids are in the halls, it means adults trust the kids. I’ve never seen learning happen where kids didn’t trust adults, and kids never trust adults that don’t trust them. You kids better get to work! Said one student to another. This is a win that will pay dividends forever. Changed summer school into maker camps. Teacher: “Tell me, is there a problem you have in baseball you would like to solve?” He can’t sit in a classroom. That’s our problem, not his problem. Music construction studios We didn’t define kids by any deficit. Talent development - Gifted and Special education working together. We found ways to make our kids succeed based on what mattered to them. Why don’t more schools do this kind of work? In many cases you can hear them spinning excuses from the moment they arrived. I don’t know how to make people more courageous. Your expectations of risk are very overrated. Because they were learners, they did fine. Kids live up to your expectations, just as they will live down to them. What do you have to lose? They just need to take the leap. All we ask is that they take a little leap each time from where they are. What do we want our kids to be? Lifelong learning competencies Wouldn’t it be easier if you were teaching all 8 year olds? How would he learn to be 9? How would he learn to care for the wee ones? They can learn anything they need to learn to go forward. Coder dojo Kids can do so much more. We just need to have the guts. Someone who is fearless is either uninformed our stupid. Courage is knowing you’re afraid and doing it anyway. Passion-based learning high school started with just 30 kids. Aim small miss small. How to be a transformative principal? Turn off the bells. Ask your teachers to open their doors and keep them open. Change your grade book so nobody can give below a failing grade. Sponsors TeachFX Innovative school leaders across the country have started tracking online student participation using TeachFX because it’s one of the most powerful ways to improve student outcomes during COVID — especially for English Learners and students of color. Learn more about TeachFX and get a special offer at TeachFX.com InControl SEL for Middle School 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 John Catt 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: Michaela: The Power of Culture by Katharine Birbalsingh Teaching WalkThrus: Visual Step-by-Step Guides to Essential Teaching Techniques by Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli Putting Staff First: A blueprint for revitalising our schools by John Tomsett and Jonny Uttley The Teaching Delusion: Why Teaching In Our Schools Isn’t Good Enough (And How We Can Make It Better) by Bruce Robertson Stop Talking About Wellbeing: A pragmatic approach to teacher workload by Kat Howard 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 teac...
undefined
Mar 17, 2021 • 40min

Growing Up in the Workplace with Jennifer Abrams Transformative Principal 396

Formerly a high school English teacher and a new teacher coach in Palo Alto Unified School District (Palo Alto, CA), Jennifer Abrams is currently a communications consultant and author who works with educators and others on new teacher and employee support, being generationally savvy, effective collaboration skills, having hard conversations and creating identity safe workplaces.   Jennifer’s publications include Having Hard Conversations, The Multigenerational Workplace: Communicate, Collaborate & Create Community, Hard Conversations Unpacked - the Whos, Whens and What Ifs, and Swimming in the Deep End: Four Foundational Skills for Leading Successful School Initiatives.  Her upcoming book on being our best selves in our workplaces will be out in 2021.   Jennifer has been invited to keynote, facilitate and coach at schools and conferences worldwide and is honored to have been named one of the “18 Women All K–12 Educators Should Know,” by Education Week’s ‘Finding Common Ground’’ blog.  More about Jennifer’s work can be found at her website, www.jenniferabrams.com, and on Twitter @jenniferabrams. Writing books so you can learn something. There wasn’t a book out there to help me find how to say something. Robert Keegan Author & Psychologist Eliie Drago Severson If your way of meaning-making suits where you’re at, there is no reason to move forward. As a responsible educator, we need to stretch ourselves. We have to know our identities and where we might see bias How our upbringing affects how we perceive work Suspend our certainty Take more responsibility, not just for work product but also how we speak Engage with reciprocity. Build our own resiliency. Recognize how to deal with ambiguity. How to deal with our own emotional issues. How to reconcile how our upbringing affects what we do now? There are limitations to what you are seeing as you wake up in the world. Growthedgecoaching.com It’s like a fish in water. Externalizes the issues. If you mess it up, you clean it up. Framework: I did ____. Here’s why it was wrong: and here’s how I would like to make it right: Peter Bregman “13 Ways We Justify, Rationalize, or Ignore Negative Feedback” Humility and vulnerability of apology and responsibility. The thing that gets in the way is that we are the expert. How to provide accountability when you didn’t know that things were happening? You apologize for the impact. It’s about the shame and the guilt. Suspend certainty. Can we be humane and growth-producing? How to be a transformative principal? Slow down and say “say more”. Sponsors TeachFX Innovative school leaders across the country have started tracking online student participation using TeachFX because it’s one of the most powerful ways to improve student outcomes during COVID — especially for English Learners and students of color. Learn more about TeachFX and get a special offer at TeachFX.com InControl SEL for Middle School 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 John Catt 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: Michaela: The Power of Culture by Katharine Birbalsingh Teaching WalkThrus: Visual Step-by-Step Guides to Essential Teaching Techniques by Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli Putting Staff First: A blueprint for revitalising our schools by John Tomsett and Jonny Uttley The Teaching Delusion: Why Teaching In Our Schools Isn’t Good Enough (And How We Can Make It Better) by Bruce Robertson Stop Talking About Wellbeing: A pragmatic approach to teacher workload by Kat Howard 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:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for the...
undefined
Mar 14, 2021 • 47min

Reflect Grow and Do It Again with Travis Lape Transformative Principal 395

Travis Lape is entering his fourth year as Innovative Programs Director for Harrisburg School District in Harrisburg, South Dakota. In this role Travis has helped shift the Harrisburg School District to a system of personalized learning. In 2015 Travis was recognized for his work with integrating technology into classrooms by being named TIE Technology Leader of the Year. Travis believes that by empowering learners to drive their learning we can start to create a new system that honors all learners and their cultures. Creating a virtual school for learners in Harrisburg - Face to face since august, but offering other options. Zoom sessions all day wouldn’t work well. Distance learning playbook. We really partnered with out parents. What does the model look like today? Math, reading, writing time, experiential flex time. 20–30 minutes small group instruction. New weekly schedule personalized for each child. Really careful with how we schedule families. How to make our schools nimble. Lots of fighting with kids when they are home. Kids can be in breakout rooms to have some additional support. We need to think about what is important. We are moving at a snail’s pace compared to what we can do in a classroom. It has really forced our kids to ask questions. With any shift in education, it really comes back to our mindset. How can we still provide a learning opportunity for these kids? The “What if” question changes our perspective. We need to allow teachers to make decisions Lead Like a Pirate - People are less likely to destroy something if they help build it. Kinder teacher distance learning - morning and afternoon group. Reflect, grow, and do it again It comes down to feeling valued Giving them time to wrestle with what is and isn’t working. That love of learning is going to be gone. It’s not about your kid vs the rest, it’s about their own personal growth. If anything, the comparison hurts some of our kids by preventing them from reaching their fullest potential. How to be a transformative principal? Pause and go into classrooms and watch staff do what they do. Enjoy what your staff is doing and recognize that through a note. “Thanks for daring to fly!” Sponsors TeachFX Innovative school leaders across the country have started tracking online student participation using TeachFX because it’s one of the most powerful ways to improve student outcomes during COVID — especially for English Learners and students of color. Learn more about TeachFX and get a special offer at TeachFX.com John Catt 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: Michaela: The Power of Culture by Katharine Birbalsingh Teaching WalkThrus: Visual Step-by-Step Guides to Essential Teaching Techniques by Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli Putting Staff First: A blueprint for revitalising our schools by John Tomsett and Jonny Uttley The Teaching Delusion: Why Teaching In Our Schools Isn’t Good Enough (And How We Can Make It Better) by Bruce Robertson Stop Talking About Wellbeing: A pragmatic approach to teacher workload by Kat Howard 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:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove 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.
undefined
Mar 10, 2021 • 39min

Vertical Development with Ryan Gottfredson Transformative Principal 394

Ryan Gottfredson, Ph.D. is a cutting-edge leadership development consultant, author, trainer, and researcher. Ryan is the Wall Street Journal and USA Today best-selling author of “Success Mindsets: The Key to Unlocking Greater Success in Your Life, Work, & Leadership.” He is also a leadership professor at the College of Business and Economics at California State University-Fullerton. Vertical development vs. horizontal development. Horizontal development is like adding an app onto an iPad - allows us to do more. 95% or more of all development is horizontal. Elevating who we are as a person. Vertical development is upgrading the operating system. At some point in time, we are relevant to the marketplace. 2 things that lead to vertical development - crisis or deep learning We have control over one of those factors. Necessary but not sufficient. There needs to be heat to lead to this happening. child development vs adult development. Child development is a function of their age. 3 main stages of adult development. Most adults do not get past the first stage of adult development. Adult development is a function of effort. Almost all leadership development approaches are rooted in philosophies dated pre–2005 Growth development practices often overlook the mind. Add the mind to our developmental components. The circuit board for the mind is our mindset. Global Neuronal Workplace. How do we work on mindsets? Just talking about other mindsets helps people start to focus Fixed - Growth Closed - Open Prevention - Promotion Inward - Outward Positive desires Trauma can inhibit them from wanting to look inward. When we experience trauma, we try to cut off that pain. Childhood trauma and the impact it has on kids’ ability to learn. Integrating the mind is a form of vertical development. Someone is more likely to leave if they don’t feel like the system is open to change. Focus on what is being measured. Lagging indicators are test scores. Leading indicators. Which is better to focus on? Personal mindset assessment. There is no time that vertical development is more important than right now. Those who have navigated well, have vertically developed well. How to be a transformative principal? Listen to teachers specifically. Sponsors TeachFX Innovative school leaders across the country have started tracking online student participation using TeachFX because it’s one of the most powerful ways to improve student outcomes during COVID — especially for English Learners and students of color. Learn more about TeachFX and get a special offer at TeachFX.com John Catt 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: Michaela: The Power of Culture by Katharine Birbalsingh Teaching WalkThrus: Visual Step-by-Step Guides to Essential Teaching Techniques by Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli Putting Staff First: A blueprint for revitalising our schools by John Tomsett and Jonny Uttley The Teaching Delusion: Why Teaching In Our Schools Isn’t Good Enough (And How We Can Make It Better) by Bruce Robertson Stop Talking About Wellbeing: A pragmatic approach to teacher workload by Kat Howard 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:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove 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.

Get the Snipd
podcast app

Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
App store bannerPlay store banner

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode

Save any
moment

Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways

Share
& Export

Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode