Transformative Principal

Communicating to Create Happy Families with Jennifer Larson Transformative Principal 290 Social media: If you have a good communication system and everyone is engaged, there’s a positive buzz to the school. Jennifer Larson is he co-founder and CEO of Hive Digital Minds, which provides parent-school communication solutions through schoolbzz.com Completely overwhelmed Couldn’t keep up. Shift towards personalized learning means there are a lot of different adults supporting a student. “I don’t even read the newsletter anymore.” Parents want to know what the two or three places for information. Grades communication is an important part of it as well. School website is a great marketing tool to recruit students, teachers, and families to your school. Figure out what information you want to share with the public and put that on the web site. Find tools that work well for your enrolled families. Build a communication strategy that gets information to the families quickly and efficiently. Do a communication audit to see what you are currently using. Which have information that parents might want access to. Need to implement a multi-year strategy. Talk to your parents. When schools jump into parent engagement, they are probably meeting the needs of those who were already having their needs met. Challenges around native languages spoken. Focus on mobile. Recognize that not all parents can be there physically at the school. Parent engagement is about making sure the families understand the value of education. Volunteer hours. Parents want to be engaged but they don’t know how. If you have a good communication system and everyone is engaged, there’s a positive buzz to the school. If you have happy families at your school, there is no other better testimonial. How to be a transformative principal? It all comes down to communication. Connect with each of your staff members and parents. Schedule a call with Jethro Are you feeling like you are always behind at school? Do you feel like you need about 2 more hours each day to accomplish everything? Here’s how I help principals work manageable hours: Create your ideal week, so that you can leave work at work and enjoy your life! Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show. Buy Communication Cards Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com Download Paperless Principal.   Take Control of your email Web Site Transformative Principal on Stitcher Refer A Principal Best Tools for Busy Administrators Survey     LinkedLeaders: You need support. Get just-in-time mentoring at LinkedLeaders.comWe’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.

Danielle Nuhfer is a teacher who helps other teachers focus on self-care and you can find more information about her at teachingwell.life Teacher for 16 years. Not sure she was going to go back to teaching. Second burnout at year 10. Sabbatical in 2015 and 2016. What led to the second burnout. Lots of additional work responsibilities being taken on. Hard saying no to things. Reframe the No. “Let me say no for now.” Summer of Self-Care. - Deep dives into self-care What teachers need to start doing: Burnout and stress is common, but it doesn’t have to be normal. How we feel begins with us. Nothing needs to change, but everything can change when we change. How to be a transformative principal? Start with yourself. What can you do to take care of yourself? Back to School Bundle - Stress care solutions, how to get a 40-hour workweek, and more!   LinkedLeaders: You need support. Get just-in-time mentoring at LinkedLeaders.comWe’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.

My wife told me she just couldn't do it anymore. "It's too hard," she said. "Every time I drop him off, the tears, the yelling, and the crying. I just can't take him to school anymore. We've got to figure something out." We had talked about different things, from counseling to medication to other options. For the time being, our solution was that I would drop him off at school. For some reason, his reactions to his anxiety seemed to be less when dad dropped him off. Any parent who has experienced this knows how difficult it is to deal with the intensity of the emotions on a daily basis. This was especially challenging for me, because I struggled with this as well. All the way until I was 19, any new change was especially difficult. My heart broke for him every day, because I knew how powerless he felt. When he started kindergarten, we were living on a small island in the gulf of Alaska, and the community didn’t have the resources to offer a lot of help. We did all kinds of things to try and help, meditation apps, calming techniques, praying, blessings, and more, and nothing really seemed to work. When we moved to Fairbanks, we were ready to get more serious, but then he took care of this himself. Before I get to what actually happened, let me back up a bit. I read a book when I was 21 called “Write it down. Make it Happen.” Actually, I think I just read the first chapter or so. That was all I needed. It talks about the power of writing things down to make them come to fruition. Well, I wrote down a bunch of goals that I wanted to accomplish when I turned 30, and guess what? I accomplished them all. I’ve been a big believer in goals for a long time, and this really solidified what I knew. So, I decided to start setting goals with my family each week. My four kids would set their own goals every week, and my wife and I would set our goals. We share them with each other and track them on a piece of paper. Eventually, that has now grown into yearly and monthly goals we set with each other, and help hold each other accountable. Back to my son. We had set goals as a family for a couple years, and after we moved to Fairbanks, he started taking an interest in setting meaningful goals for himself. It started with little goals. We are pretty strict that we don’t tell the kids what goals they should set, but rather help them set their own goals. So, my son spent some time setting little goals like play with certain toys each day, or do his chores when he first got up, or play Minecraft. Then, one day, it happened. “My goal this week is to go to school without complaining.” My wife and I looked at each other in stunned silence. For over two years, this had been a battle, and now, he was saying he wasn’t going to complain. We played it cool, and said, “Good goal. Let’s see how it goes.” Honestly, we didn’t think he would do it. But sure enough, he got out of the car on Monday, without a single complaint. And each day after that, he has done the same. I’m not going to lie, having some AMAZING teachers who really cared about him and helped him has been a really powerful experience. But the thing that really made the difference has been him setting his own goal to be in control of his life.   Get our goal sheet from OurFamilyCoach.com LinkedLeaders: You need support. Get just-in-time mentoring at LinkedLeaders.comWe’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.

  Kip Motta is a principal in Rich Utah. You have to deal with people. Everything is about relationships. Doing what’s best for the team. Everyone is different, and you need to adapt your leadership to that person. A history of four-day school weeks. Change based on school district transportation costs. Waiver to reduce day requirement (152 vs 182) and still meet 990 hour requirement (now meet over 1000 hours) Start school at 8 am, out at 3:30. Parent teacher conferences count as Very few breaks - Labor Day, thanksgiving, Christmas for 1 week. Student and staff attendance increased. Ask staff and community to do personal appointments on Fridays 4 day school week is much more difficult for elementary school. Helped us go down the road of standards-based instruction. Struggles with 4 day school week Finding coaches is difficult Daycare for Friday’s with no school. You have to do everything through the lens of what is best for the most children. Kids are more recharged after a 3-day weekend every week! March and April can be long months with no break. Restorative practices, mindfulness to help kids cope with added pressure. How to be a transformative principal? Find someplace to go and learn! Contact kmotta@kipmotta.com Schedule a call with Jethro Are you feeling like you are always behind at school? Do you feel like you need about 2 more hours each day to accomplish everything? Here’s how I help principals work manageable hours: Create your ideal week, so that you can leave work at work and enjoy your life! Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show. Buy Communication Cards Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com Download Paperless Principal.   Take Control of your email Web Site Transformative Principal on Stitcher Refer A Principal Best Tools for Busy Administrators Survey   LinkedLeaders: You need support. Get just-in-time mentoring at LinkedLeaders.comWe’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.

Revolutions Start with Relationships with Darren Ellwein Transformative Principal 286 Social media: Tailor everything to the learner - via @dellwein Darren Ellwein is my dessert bro and principal at the middle level in South Dakota! Revolution is about a group of people. From a staff culture standpoint: there was some kickback. It’s so much fun! Personalizing learning - what small steps do you need to take? Tailor everything to the learner. Mastery projects - success criteria You have to give up control. Relationships “it feels like my family.” Let the kids decide the norms. Waiting on content for 2-3 weeks. Done with our standards before we get to the standardized tests. personalizedlearningtools.com Personalized Learning is not about sitting in front of a computer all day. Starts with a relationship, then goes on to flexible content. Those kids broke in adults every year! Hannah and Alex - there was a pace set for everyone, even though it didn’t match. She would tell you she wouldn’t go back to the way it was. How to be a transformative principal? Be your own person. Hold on to your beliefs. Have the mindset of serving kids. Schedule a call with Jethro Are you feeling like you are always behind at school? Do you feel like you need about 2 more hours each day to accomplish everything? Here’s how I help principals work manageable hours: Create your ideal week, so that you can leave work at work and enjoy your life! Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show. Buy Communication Cards Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com Download Paperless Principal.   Take Control of your email Web Site Transformative Principal on Stitcher Refer A Principal Best Tools for Busy Administrators Survey   LinkedLeaders: You need support. Get just-in-time mentoring at LinkedLeaders.comWe’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.

After a career in innovation, Ted Dintersmith is most well-known to educators as the executive producer of the movie, Most Likely to Succeed, coauthor of the book of the same, and the man who traveled all fifty states to see What Schools Could Be. How to change schools? Changing everything overnight - the sharp knives come out. Thoughtful, supportive resources at innovationplaylist.org Have your community define essential competencies for your kids. Look for success points in your school. Encourage the innovators to do things. Ask them to keep an open mind. Native villages Carving up a moose carcass. How to be a transformative principal? Spend some time with young kids and recognize that this is the fight we can take on. change happens slowly right up until it happens quick What do teachers have in common that do innovative things within the system? What are you seeing China? Deleted scenes about kids not having homework from Most Likely to Succeed - share that story. http://teddintersmith.com/innovation-playlist/ * Schedule a call with Jethro Are you feeling like you are always behind at school? Do you feel like you need about 2 more hours each day to accomplish everything? Here’s how I help principals work manageable hours: Create your ideal week, so that you can leave work at work and enjoy your life! Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show. Buy Communication Cards Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com Download Paperless Principal.   Take Control of your email Web Site Transformative Principal on Stitcher Refer A Principal Best Tools for Busy Administrators Survey     LinkedLeaders: You need support. Get just-in-time mentoring at LinkedLeaders.comWe’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.

After a career in innovation, Ted Dintersmith is most well-known to educators as the executive producer of the movie, Most Likely to Succeed, coauthor of the book of the same, and the man who traveled all fifty states to see What Schools Could Be. Education is the only antidote Machines are taking over so many jobs. Social media fueled technology is making it challenging to know what is real. What they could do vs. what they do. the people who get to the top of these bureaucratic systems are bureaucrats If we just focused on setting up the conditions for educators to do their best work. It’s time for us to be more like activists. What are you working on and why? The purpose of school is to rank kids. Why isn’t that the way we do it? New Hampshire portfolio assessment system. Schedule a call with Jethro Are you feeling like you are always behind at school? Do you feel like you need about 2 more hours each day to accomplish everything? Here’s how I help principals work manageable hours: Create your ideal week, so that you can leave work at work and enjoy your life! Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show. Buy Communication Cards Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com Download Paperless Principal.   Take Control of your email Web Site Transformative Principal on Stitcher Refer A Principal Best Tools for Busy Administrators Survey     LinkedLeaders: You need support. Get just-in-time mentoring at LinkedLeaders.comWe’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.

Mia Pumo is a former teacher and math specialist and currently is the cofounder of Constructive Learning Design, which supports teachers and learners by making learning joyful. Partnering with community organizations. Schools often don’t know how to partner. Businesses don’t know how to join in the work with schools. Use coaching skills to build relationships. Learning is much more beneficial when they come together and make a real impact. Experiential learning - year long process developing a plan around a real issue. You never know what seeds have been planted through that experience. How to start the conversation. Focus on quality partnerships. How to be a transformative principal? Active listening to create a shared vision. LinkedLeaders: You need support. Get just-in-time mentoring at LinkedLeaders.comWe’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.

Mia Pumo is a former teacher and math specialist and currently is the cofounder of Constructive Learning Design, which supports teachers and learners by making learning joyful. Making learning joyful I was really starting to contemplate leaving the profession I love because the joy was not there. We believe that if we design and deliver powerful learning experiences for educators, they will design and deliver powerful learning experiences for students. Coaches can transform the learning and cultural experiences of a school. You can’t afford to not have coaches! There are many ways to incorporate coaching into a culture. Leaders with coaching skills are more effective and more impactful. Communication, active listening, developing a culture where coaching and feedback are part of the norm. Have leaders take on that coaching role as part of what they do. Developing culture falls on the leader. Set up protocols and structures to make that an enjoyable experience. Coaching cycles The best professional development is the teacher down the hall. Position coaching to the staff as a support, not another observation. Why is there a stigma related to coaching? LinkedLeaders: You need support. Get just-in-time mentoring at LinkedLeaders.comWe’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.

  Brittni Schroeder is the founder of Compassion Clubs, dedicated to the memory of her late son who passed away tragically at the age of 14. Started with a scholarship fund for students. Received hundreds of cards and letters from people who cared about Gage. The “Can Man” People wanted to be with our family. “We only suffer when we think about ourselves.” - Tony Robbins We have to serve. That’s how we heal. Gave kids pizzas and told them to sit with kids who didn’t have anyone sitting with them. Elementary and secondary curriculum. Secondary the kids lead it. Elementary is teacher/counselor/parent run. If they don’t know how to serve and think outside of themselves they are going to have a rough adult life. 12 different values: compassion, kindness, gratitude, charity, courage, etc. Teach about the value, share a story, then serve. Teenagers don’t seem to have coping skills. Nominate kids for scholarships and grants. My son’s legacy is compassion. Most successful club in Michigan. How to be a transformative principal? Look for those kids that need to belong. LinkedLeaders: You need support. Get just-in-time mentoring at LinkedLeaders.comWe’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.