Transformative Principal

Jethro Jones interviews instructional leaders from around the nation to learn and teach what it takes to become a transformative principal. Episodes address topics like Response to Intervention (RTI), Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS), Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS), the latest advances in educational research, standards-based grading, and interviews with industry leaders like Bill Daggett, Rick Wormeli, Todd Whitaker and even people outside the education like Seth Godin, JeVon McCormick, Liz Wiseman, and more.

Latest episodes

Dec 15, 2018 • 5min

Systems and Structures with Rachael and John George Transformative Principal 255

Rachael and John George Both principals in Oregon share their experiences of turning around schools. The Three Amigos Sandy Green Elementary School - lowest 10% of the schools. Working with a well-known publisher on reading and writing, and it wasn’t going as well as they thought! Year 1 from 10%ile to 50%ile. Year 4 82%ile. With highest Free and Reduced lunch rate in the district. Honed in on systems and structures Full staff turnover in those four years. 3-4 year plan First thing you need to do is establish relationships. You’ve got to be the examiner of systems and structures. Identify holes in intervention and enrichment. Each building has its own issues. Three changes in the first year: 1. Slow 2. Integrated with content, but lost on the students 3. No engagement Students were passively sitting there, while the teacher was doing all the heavy lifting. Level of community involvement. Need to do different because we are teaching different students. How do we do different different? It’s supposed to be hard. Be the filter: teach to cause a positive result. Modified Danielson Rubric for evaluation. I can’t evaluate you in Domain 1 unless I see your lesson plans. You can’t be good with what you do without a game plan. Look at the standards and make them meaningful. New teachers out perform due to effective lesson plans. Need guidance and coaching and mentoring around lesson plans. Provides the opportunity for reflection in lesson plans and it makes them better as teachers. Lesson plans provide feedback on Professional Development - if we can’t see it reflected in lesson plans. Keeping your lesson plans to reflect on later. Planning formative assessment. CoTeach model - special education & ELL population Be in classrooms a lot. 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 Join the Transformative Mastermind Today and work on your school, not just in it. Apply today. 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.

Nov 25, 2018 • 34min

Invitation Only Parent Teacher Conferences with Jay Posick Transformative Principal 254

Invitation Only Parent Teacher Conferences with Jay Posick Transformative Principal 254 Social Media: If you’re sitting in your office, trouble is going to come find you so you might as well go find it! Jay Posick is principal of Merton Intermediate school in Merton Wisconsin How our culture came to be here in Merton. Weekly nuts and bolts emails “Good Morning Merton Family“ Take care of kids… Connect with people face to face. There aren’t silver bullets. Get out of your office. If you’re sitting in your office, trouble is going to come find you so you might as well go find it! 3 all-staff meetings each year that I’m in charge of. First agenda item on grade level meetings is kids. There are times as educators where we focus more on the negative than on the positive Recognize kids that are going above and beyond. Be kind, be safe, do your job. Good news call of the day. #mertonproud Finding ways to recognize kids. Find a way for teachers to share more with others. Mark French came up with the idea. Have a positive phone call at the end of the week. Ordinary to you, amazing to everyone else. Invitation only conferences Pat on the back or a kick in the butt! Building Leadership Team. More on invitation only conferences. Great things, challenges, great things. How to be a transformative principal? Get out of your office! 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 Join the Transformative Mastermind Today and work on your school, not just in it. Apply today. 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.

Nov 18, 2018 • 38min

Four Step Process for School Change with Jethro Jones Transformative Principal 253

Hi, this is jethro, host of transformative principal! You can reach me @jethrojones on twitter or at http://transformativeprincipal.org/ Today is episode 253 and I am so excited about what I am going to share. My school is rocking and rolling in an amazing way! We are positively impacting kids not just academically, but socially, as well. It’s fantastic. In fact, I’m much more proud of our soft skills growth than I am of our academic success, because today, kids can learn anything anywhere! Much of that growth is happening in Synergy, which I will talk about later. But first, everyone is always asking, how do we get our schools to change. You’re listening to this podcast because that is what you want to know! In the fall listener survey there were about 90% of my listeners so far who said they wanted to learn more about the school change process. Well, I’m going to tell you the secret. Ready? Here’s my four-step process guaranteed to bring about school change: Vision Communication Empowerment of faculty, parents, and students Continuous improvement First, vision. Where there is not vision there is death. Do you want to be “just another school?“ No! That’s why you’re listening to some guy in Alaska describe how his school has dramatically changed over the last 18 months If you go back to episode 1001 of Transformative Principal you will see how we did a ton of stuff at my last school. The same is happening here, with one notable exception. Everything that we are doing is centered around a vision for personalized learning. If it doesn’t have to do with personalizing learning for our students, I don’t touch it. Our vision is clear. We are going to give kids what they need when they need it. That is personalized learning. Our vision is clear: if something doesn’t contribute to personalizing learning, we don’t waste time on it. Whatever training we do goes back to personalizing learning for our students. We have a ton of new stuff happening in our school this year. Why? Because we are personalizing learning. Math - project-based learning Science - switching between 7th and 8th grade teachers each quarter-long unit to give kids choice and voice in their learning. So, let’s talk about how all these things happened. Step 2: communication When I got hired, I came up and met the staff at the end of the school year. I talked at length with a few of them, and started communicating over the summer more extensively. There was a lot going on. When I got to the school, I met with every teacher I could to ask, “What should we start, stop, or continue doing?” I got a lot of feedback from that. There weren’t a lot of opportunities to talk with parents, yet, but those that I did shared some of their concerns. The biggest thing that I learned in my four months’ research was that there were a lot of problems. It was tough coming into the school. I did a survey at the end of the school year, and when I asked a question about culture at the school, only 2 responses were something positive. All the others were negative. ALL the others were negative. This was tough for me. As a side note, one of the ways you measure culture is through little things, like how many people sit together at district-wide professional development. At our PD on Monday, we had the biggest group we’ve had sitting together. It’s working. We also had a school district strategic vision and big push from the school board and superintendent to personalize learning for our students, which is what I really wanted to do in education anyway! After all this research, we needed a direction. Many teachers responded to another survey that they wanted to be known for something. They had different ideas, but they desperately wanted to be known for doing something that no other schools were doing. So, with their input, I created a vision for where Tanana would go in four years. Here it is: We would fulfill our school district’s strategic vision by becoming the most personalized school in the district. I announced to the teachers at the start of the year and then reviewed it again. I help monthly meetings with parents to explain where we were going to go in the future. Part of the challenge was that we would only have students for 2 years. Step 3: empowerment of faculty, parents, and students This one is really exciting. I could write a whole book about this! In our four year plan, there are outlines, and there is room for growth. There is room for personal accountability. I learned long ago that a leader’s job is not to cap the top end, but rather to help light a fire under someone else. Through this process parents and students and teachers may feel like they have a little too much power. The reality is you always have that power. It’s ironic that this piece is called empowerment, when we take that power away ourselves and think that we need permission to do good things. We don’t. Throughout this whole process, teachers and students have been given great latitude to make their own decisions and do things how they think is best. They are the people with the most information about what works for them, so why should I, as the principal, who doesn’t know a lot of what is going on, be making all the decisions. I do my best to teach them good principles, and then I let them govern themselves accordingly. One of the other things that I have learned is that if I am running the ship, when I turn my back the ship crashes. There are initiatives that are happening solely because I am in charge of them. This is a recipe for disaster! This will not continue if I am not working my tail off to make sure that happens. I need to distance myself from that so other people can take ownership. Right now, synergy is in that camp. But it is a school-wide effort and not many people have the capacity or opportunity to see all that there is to be seen! Even still, I need to move that away from me, and give more opportunities to others. *What is Synergy? You’d probably call it project based learning. And that would be pretty accurate. But it’s not exactly that. Synergy is a time for students to learn without limitations. Synergy is a time when students bring all their skills and knowledge together to do something that leaves an impact. I made a little video to explain it to my students, and I’d like to share it here. What makes synergy so awesome? It’s all driven by kids. They come up with the ideas. They do the work. Teachers are very much guides on the side supporting them. It’s so exciting to see what kids are creating. I’m working on a list that shows everything that kids are doing in Synergy, but it isn’t quite done, yet. Kids are writing novels, making scale models of battleships, organizing a step team, finding ways help homeless youth, raising awareness about LGBT issues, decorating our school, writing uplifting messages on origami to give to others, upcycling, organizing after-school programs (sports and chess) for a neighboring school, creating a smoothie company, a locker decorations company, a vinyl decal company, and so much more. It’s exciting! I can’t believe what I get to witness every week with these kids. Stay tuned for more to come about this exciting chapter in our school. Step 4: Continuous improvement This is where it get...

Nov 11, 2018 • 28min

School Leadership series and transformative Principal episode 252

Thank so much for taking the survey for listeners. Here is the link. Be sure to check out Danny Bauer's School Leadership Series. Join the Transformative Mastermind Today and work on your school, not just in it. Apply today. 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.

Nov 4, 2018 • 33min

Now Our Teachers Care About Us with Eric Chagala Transformative Principal 251

Eric Chagala is the principal of of Vista Innovation & Design Academy Twitter Changing with the same kids same teachers same place. Using the design thinking process to actually get there. There is no difference in design thinking between business and schools. Trying to create and add value for and in the community. Identifying who our users are and what their How do you get deep insights? Steve Jobs idea, they never would have come up with that idea. Listen deeply, and read between the lines of what people are asking for. What is it that they have not imagines. About 1000 educational visitors come through our school each year. Want to do better by and for kids. Looking for exposure. Trying to gain understand about what might exist in different capacities. What they understand from the perspective that they have. Important for the designers to have a really vast set of exposures. It’s not just visiting schools. Stopped reading about education stuff. Starting reading and focusing on things from industry. Subscribing to more things outside the context of education. discussion, reading, and some travel to other places. Quallcomm, Mindsets of founding leadership team. Translate what we were hearing from students and teachers. Looking at creative firms that touch the education sector. Diversity of the ecosystem. The more diverse an ecosystem the better Feb 2013 - spring smiling at each other, year long journey of trying to figure out what a new school would be. August 2014, after just 1 year. Taught all day at the old school afternoon and evening were spent learning and gaining empathy. Be centered around design thinking. Doesn’t translate very well into pedagogy. Pedagogical framework, buck institute on Project-based learning. That gave us a framework to insert design thinking into. PBL is more challenging in Math than humanities, so moved to Problem-based learning. Challenge-based learning. Design-based learning. Deeper learning & project based & challenge-based DBLe - including entrepreneurship to get them ready for the gig economy. The narrative we share about the experience that kids get when they come here. VIDA - Life - Narrative of life vs. school. It’s not design thinking or PBL, what sets us apart is our narrative. This is not school. You can’t just show up for 7.5 hours and think you’ll change your life. First year - students who were matriculating through. Found some of the kids who had struggled the most in the old school and were stars in the new school. Tell their story on video. Turnaround kids. Schools have the power to perpetuate or change the culture of the neighborhood. “Now our teachers care about us” Pursue challenging tasks with Love the hell out of every single person, every day. 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 Join the Transformative Mastermind Today and work on your school, not just in it. Apply today. 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.

Oct 29, 2018 • 32min

Working through the Problem with Robyn Harris Transformative Principal 250

Whaley School is a separate day school with about 100 students with behavioral needs. Some students stay through graduation, but goal is to get them back to a neighborhood school. Sister school closed down and opened an elementary wing, so now a k12 school! 100% special education population - level 4, level 5 is more like a residential treatment center. Tier 3 in MTSS/RTI behavior. Students can access neighborhood schools. No after-school activities at Whaley. Sometimes a parent goes with them to activities at other schools. Why not inclusion at Whaley school? Some of the behavioral needs are so intense that staff members do not have the support to deal with those severe behaviors. Our motto is working through the problem. Physical aggression they are showing towards others. Strategies: Crisis Recovery Hallway - able to talk with intervention coaches to walk them through the conflict cycle, with whomever that may be! What are you going to do when you go back? Teaching kids to advocate for themselves. We really believe in no suspensions We give the same curriculum that they get at the other schools, All of their communication becomes behavior. An intervention coach in each classroom and there in the CR room. Intervention with Strategies and Support To prevent recidivism, we need to teach skills to help them. CR1 - something blows up and you lose your cool. Quickly getting back to class. CR2 - spend a little more time talking about what is going on. Choose: mindfulness, exercise, or work. CR3 - stay there the rest of the day. How to help the teachers welcome kids back into class. Every 5 minutes is a new beginning. It’s ok to start fresh at the beginning of the next class. Also have a few items that are specifically going to put them in the ISS room, Threatening, posturing, etc. Eliminating behaviors A lot of times teachers may see reactions, rather than instigating actions. Suggestions, be very loud and say, “I don’t like that, don’t do that.“ Check in and check out. 1st period talking about goals that they have. When they go to checkout, tell how they did. Doing so many checkpoints throughout the day. Behavior data every week. Data review meetings can be called at any time to try to get a student back into the regular school. Data review with the team, then we call a meeting with neighborhood school. Meet at the neighborhood school. Sometimes self-sabotage - Extra help for kids that are getting close to transitioning. Make sure kids feel that they have support when they leave. Why not do a different curriculum with these students who are very different? Students could have access to resource classes in all subject areas. How to be a transformative principal? Build close relationships with students, be out there and make sure that kids know you think they are important. Join the Transformative Mastermind Today and work on your school, not just in it. Apply today. 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.

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