
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

Feb 12, 2017 • 27min
The Gift of Failure with Jessica Lahey Transformative Principal 161
Jessica Lahey (Twitter) is the author of “The Gift of Failure” and writes for The Atlantic and the New York Times, and other publications. Here are a bunch of other great books she recommends. Drug and alcohol rehab teacher. The things that work for well-behaved kids are what is needed for kids that are really struggling. Autonomy and competence Connection is the most important part. Make what we’re teaching relevant to them. The role of touch in the classroom. The Professor in the Cage: Why Men Fight and Why We Like to Watch Student questions that needed to be answered. False sense of investment in sports or activities. Malleable brains allow kids to learn quickly. Standards-based grading Formative until I put it in the gradebook. 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! Join my group coaching program 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. 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.

Feb 5, 2017 • 30min
Routines to Make Yourself More Successful with Karine Veldhoen Transformative Principal 160
Karine Veldhoen, M. Ed. is the founder of Learn Forward and a creative force in education. She’s also the Chief Learning Officer at Willowstone Academy, the CEO/Founder of Niteo Africa, a former Education Consultant for Fresh Grade and a modern day pilgrim. Learn Forward represents a lifetime of her professional study, action research, and meaning-making within the context of education. Driven by her passion for making a difference in the lives of others, Karine’s been exploring the most important journeys of children through serving as the Chief Learning Officer at Willowstone Academy for the last 10 years and as an educator for over 20 years. In her talks about the transformation of education, she emphasizes the importance of cultivating a connection between school and home and uses the Table of Learning as a metaphor for where we can begin. Twitter @Learn_forward What do children need universally? The need is endless. Human need is endless. Matching our greatest gift to fulfilling the human need. Refined self-care. Sustainability. Design a self-care plan. Using design-thinking process. Designing for thriving. Daily, weekly, monthly, yearly practices Success of morning routine depends on setting yourself up for success the night before. It’s not perfect, sometimes nights are rough. When it does work well, it is awesome. If you have a spouse, take time each Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. GTD by David Allen. Review days on Friday. Review upcoming dates for the week on Friday. Teachers are doing the heroic work, leave on Friday and go home and rest. Empowering our team of teachers in their work is incredibly important. They need information and communication to do that well. Monthly routines reflect on what goals were achieved. The 12 Week Year by Brian Moran Michael Hyatt’s Free to Focus Course Visioning Retreat yearly with spouse - Nest Building for Parents How to be a Transformative Principal? WIN: do What’s Important Now! 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! Join my group coaching program 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. 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.

Jan 29, 2017 • 23min
Imagination Creativity Innovation and Entreprenuership with Don Wettrick Transformative Principal 159
Don Wettrick is a teacher in Noblesville, Indiana and founder of StartEdUp Innovation. He can be found on Twitter at @donwettrick, and his podcast on iTunes He is the author of “Pure Genius: Building a Culture of Innovation and Taking 20% Time to the Next Level” How to make standards real. Begin in Elementary school 2 negatives to this Grades go down in other classes! Kids can get full of themselves. Pockets of teachers vs. teachers being innovative vs. principals being innovative. How to get leaders to buy in. We need to push out the awesome things that we are doing in our schools. Is 20% time enough time? Imagination, Creativity, Innovation, Entrepreneurship. How to be a transformative principal? Go to people and say do something amazing. It gets worse before it gets better! Loading… 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. Sponsor: Sanebox 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.

Jan 22, 2017 • 21min
True Genius Hours with Don Wettrick Transformative Principal 158
Don Wettrick is a teacher in Noblesville, Indiana and founder of StartEdUp Innovation. He can be found on Twitter at @donwettrick, and his podcast on iTunes He is the author of “Pure Genius: Building a Culture of Innovation and Taking 20% Time to the Next Level” Innovation class, teaching kids to innovate Daniel Pink’s innovation time Ted Talk. Pure Genius Book Why can’t my child have this class? 20% time for ourselves. How to think like a startup/entrepreneur. Mindset Course We like to complain about things. How do we change things? It is easier to complain than to do hard things. Collect and Connect ROTH IRA Deliberately take social media seriously. Rule of thirds (1/3 personal interest, 1/3 skill acquisition, 1/3 benefit to others) Innovation is an idea. Loading… 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. Sponsor: Sanebox 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.

Jan 15, 2017 • 25min
Kids Can't Learn When They Don't Trust with Zaretta Hammond Transformative Principal 157
Zaretta Hammond is the author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students. Second phase - building capacity of teachers. Learning partnerships. We can’t learn when we don’t trust. How to quickly build trust through trust generators. Selective vulnerability. Social pain and physical pain are equal as far as the brain is concerned. Power of acknowledging students out in the community. Culturally responsive teaching isn’t about just relationships. We have the relationship so the teacher can push when the learning gets hard. 4 cultural learning tools. Understand there is a common thread through most cultures - collectivism. Individualism vs. Collectivism - figuring out a problem together. This is not a subject area you need to tackle, but something that you need to bring into the meeting. World cafe - strategy for teacher discussion. How to be a transformative principal? Facilitative leadership. How do you create an agenda that is equity focused? Loading… 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. Sponsor: Sanebox 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.

Jan 8, 2017 • 21min
Culturally Responsive Teaching with Zaretta Hammond Transformative Principal 156
Zaretta Hammond is the author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students. You can find her on the web at Ready4rigor.com and on Twitter at @ready4rigor Culturally responsive teaching is seen as classroom management or one-off - both of these are wrong. It is really about learning. Dependent vs. Independent learners Brains aren’t any different, but the system is stacked against them. It’s about getting students to take control of their own learning. Once learning is relevant, then students can be engaged. Multi-cultural education vs. culturally responsive education. Where to start (Thanks to @feedurmind_read) in culturally responsive teaching. Leader to create the conversation to talk about our students. Counter-narratives - acknowledge the dominant narratives. Not about preaching from the leader. Trust undermines culturally responsive teaching. Here’s the three things we believe about our X students. What’s being said in the media about those students? Teachers are mirroring what they are seeing in the media. Starts with relational trust and creating counter-narratives. Take the Fall Listener Survey Loading… 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. Sponsor: Sanebox 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.

Jan 1, 2017 • 23min
How to Help Kids Stay Away from Drugs with Dr. Stephen Sroka Transformative Principal 155
Dr. Stephen Sroka (Twitter grew up in poverty and is now an educator and keynote speaker. Be sure to check out his great YouTube page. Drugs and alcohol exposure to kids. Perceived risk of harm is minimized because of decriminalization. Addiction rate doubles when kids use marijuana and alcohol in high school or before. The reality is that you don’t know if it is a gateway drug. Marijuana is not good for the adolescent brain. If you get addicted to opiates in high school, you will likely relapse. Focus on coping skills to help them deal with life. Give kids options. What do you want to get high on? Trauma-informed strategies for students. Predictors of success: when every staff member learns every student’s name. If you don’t have relationships, kids won’t trust you and kids won’t do what you ask. What can we do to be a transformative Principal? Know kids by name. Honest, humor, hope. Look and Listen. Smile and Say Hi to everyone. Take the Fall Listener Survey Loading… 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. Sponsor: Sanebox 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.

Dec 25, 2016 • 35min
The Gift in a Toxic Society with Dr. Stephen Sroka Transformative Principal 154
Dr. Stephen Sroka (Twitter grew up in poverty and is now an educator and keynote speaker. Be sure to check out his great YouTube page. Steve describes his life growing up and the challenges he faced. Overcoming welfare to become a chemist and eventually a teacher. The Gift in a Toxic Society - the perfect gift you can give this year. PDF format. Dear …, I don’t want to die, but if I do, I want you to know that…. Tell that person what they mean to you. It will change the person you love for life. It matters because you put everything you have into it. Write the gift now because you don’t know when you won’t have a chance. The Power of One Speaker That time when Steve died. Take the Fall Listener Survey Loading… 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. Sponsor: Sanebox 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.

Dec 18, 2016 • 18min
The Power of Relationships with Christopher Kai Transformative Principal Special
Christopher Kai (Twitter) has given over 1,000 speeches or workshops to a global audience from more than 30 countries. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies like American Express, New York Life, and Microsoft and notable non-profits like the Milken Family Foundation. Christopher has spoken alongside some of the most prominent global business leaders like Atari and Chuck E. Cheese’s founder Nolan Bushnell, MySpace co-founder Chris DeWolfe, and Tesla Motors and SpaceX founder Elon Musk. His keynote experiences have been described as “life-changing,” “absolutely amazing” and a “breath of fresh air” because he consistently delivers actionable ideas and strategies based on research and experience all wrapped up in inspiring and insightful stories. Christopher also has an uncanny ability to customize his speeches for each of his unique clients. Here he talks about how to create unique and powerful relationships with those you meet.
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.

Dec 11, 2016 • 21min
Starting Small Going Big with Derek Rhodenizer Transformative Principal 153
Derek Rhodenizer (Twitter Web site) is a principal in Ottawa Canada. He is also the host of the eduthoughts podcast. Whiteboard by the table Legowall 4’x3’ the video Modeling as administrators. Giving ownership of the office to other people models giving ownership of the classroom to the students. Audio/visual recording studio. Weekly updates, drawing Teaching parents to read with their kids. Empower parents to ask questions. Sometimes you have to jump and start building your wings on the way down. Start small. What am I good at? Start there. What can you do to be a transformative principal? Go into the hallway and give kids high fives! You don’t need a reason to give a high five! Take the Fall Listener Survey Loading… 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. Sponsor: Sanebox 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.