Bob Dillon Twitter Web Site is the Director of Technology and Innovation for Afton School District. He has been a middle school principal for 15 years in three different places and currently helps many other principals improve their practices. Join the PrincipalPLN Voxer group 1st order change - simple, fixit types of problems, typically exciting that help people feel good about things, but don’t really move the needle in improving a school. 2nd order change - moving from management to leadership. Changes that will last after you are gone. People start to feel like they are part of a special organization. Sometimes it is messy, people don’t know how things will play out. Doug Timm Principal in Delaware. Need to focus on what matters in the long term. 1st order change - painting over water stain on a house you just bought. 2nd order change - taking off the drywall and cleaning (or replacing) studs and insulation. Playing the short and the long game. Higher-level conversations Difficulty of dealing with minor problems. If you are working hard daily, people will be more likely to give you a break. Build up key communicators in the building. Trust your teachers to say things in a way that you know will be beneficial. People need to hear the same in multiple ways. How to help teachers be comfortable taking risks. Need to scaffold to the higher level of risk-taking. Part 2 Loading… Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. 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.   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.

David Long, CEO of My Employees. Started the company from Author of Built to Lead: 7 Management R.E.W.A.R.D.S Principles for Becoming a Top 10% Manager.. This book is amazing, and I learned a ton from talking to David. He is a businessman, and not an educator, but he is really on point here. Top 1% in all three industries he has participated in, so topics relatable to all industries. Employee recognition programs. It’s not just plaques for employee recognition. It is normal to procrastinate, forget, or otherwise delay awards and recognition for employees. Great intentions last only 3 months. Recognize 2 people from each department. 20% or higher growth per year because of this employee recognition. Employee recognition is the greatest way to get people to buy into your vision for the school. Teachers will only be successful if the kids are successful, so we need to make our teachers and kids successful. Metrics for schools: Don’t want it to be a popularity contest! Measure what you are already using. Recognition has to be administered every 7–10 days. Employee recognition reminder chart. - Digital Version Recognize everyone 3 times a month! If you can’t find something to recognize them for, you’re dropping the ball as a leader. We do not outgrow the desire to be shown that we are significant. If teachers don’t feel like they are part of the team, they want to leave you. Two reasons people want to leave your school: 1) Not getting recognition or 2) the leader is forcing them to work with incompetent people. You have to show the teachers that they matter. People will listen to you because you care. You will lose good people sometimes if you focus on them Many employees receive no recognition for months at a time. Find as many metrics as you can. Demotivator: not using metrics to determine employee recognition, i.e., If someone comes in late and leaves early every day, and you reward that person. Don’t make recognition about “It’s this person’s turn.” 80/20 rule. Recognize top 20% of each department. Part 2 Student engagement surveys for teachers. Simplistic questions: How well do you feel the teacher teaches…? How well do you feel your teacher encourages you…? (What would be good) Interview and assess what the kids are getting from their teachers. Metrics he uses: Dollar/ticket, renewal sales, how many calls they answer, answering the phones by the third ring, Kaizan - continuous improvement, monitoring something causes the production of it to increase by 10 percent. TEDxCSDTeachers - increase attendance by 10%. shoutoutcards.com - stubs or something to remind you of what someone did well. Let your people shine. Book clubs - teach your teachers how to improve their lives - personal development, not books related to our profession. Dr. Tony Zeiss - 12 Essential Rules for Becoming Indispensable Book clubs help teams that don’t usually work together work together. Side note: teach kids how to use money and have their money spent effectively. What can principals do? Use the recognition chart to make sure you are checking in on your teachers. Invest in your own education, learn how to be a better principal, teacher, speaker, etc. davidlong@top10manager.com 800–489–0230 Buy the hardback copy, get the kindle version free by emailing Copy of workbook from the “You’re impacting lives every day, or you’re not!” Loading… Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. 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.   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.

David Long, CEO of My Employees. Started the company from Author of Built to Lead: 7 Management R.E.W.A.R.D.S Principles for Becoming a Top 10% Manager.. This book is amazing, and I learned a ton from talking to David. He is a businessman, and not an educator, but he is really on point here. Top 1% in all three industries he has participated in, so topics relatable to all industries. Employee recognition programs. It’s not just plaques for employee recognition. It is normal to procrastinate, forget, or otherwise delay awards and recognition for employees. Great intentions last only 3 months. Recognize 2 people from each department. 20% or higher growth per year because of this employee recognition. Employee recognition is the greatest way to get people to buy into your vision for the school. Teachers will only be successful if the kids are successful, so we need to make our teachers and kids successful. Metrics for schools: Don’t want it to be a popularity contest! Measure what you are already using. Recognition has to be administered every 7–10 days. Employee recognition reminder chart. - Digital Version Recognize everyone 3 times a month! If you can’t find something to recognize them for, you’re dropping the ball as a leader. We do not outgrow the desire to be shown that we are significant. If teachers don’t feel like they are part of the team, they want to leave you. Two reasons people want to leave your school: 1) Not getting recognition or 2) the leader is forcing them to work with incompetent people. You have to show the teachers that they matter. People will listen to you because you care. You will lose good people sometimes if you focus on them Many employees receive no recognition for months at a time. Find as many metrics as you can. Demotivator: not using metrics to determine employee recognition, i.e., If someone comes in late and leaves early every day, and you reward that person. Don’t make recognition about “It’s this person’s turn.” 80/20 rule. Recognize top 20% of each department. Part 2 Student engagement surveys for teachers. Simplistic questions: How well do you feel the teacher teaches…? How well do you feel your teacher encourages you…? (What would be good) Interview and assess what the kids are getting from their teachers. Metrics he uses: Dollar/ticket, renewal sales, how many calls they answer, answering the phones by the third ring, Kaizan - continuous improvement, monitoring something causes the production of it to increase by 10 percent. TEDxCSDTeachers - increase attendance by 10%. shoutoutcards.com - stubs or something to remind you of what someone did well. Let your people shine. Book clubs - teach your teachers how to improve their lives - personal development, not books related to our profession. Dr. Tony Zeiss - 12 Essential Rules for Becoming Indispensable Book clubs help teams that don’t usually work together work together. Side note: teach kids how to use money and have their money spent effectively. What can principals do? Use the recognition chart to make sure you are checking in on your teachers. Invest in your own education, learn how to be a better principal, teacher, speaker, etc. davidlong@top10manager.com 800–489–0230 Buy the hardback copy, get the kindle version free by emailing Copy of workbook from the “You’re impacting lives every day, or you’re not!” Loading… Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. 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.   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.

Brian Edmister is the principal of Genesee Valley Elementary School in Genesee Valley New York. Brian was a fellow participant of the Model Schools Conference. Attended many different colleges to complete his degree. Design your own session. Standards based grading. Must create your culture before you change anything. When you create a grade, you create a label. Giving the kids a chance to be in charge of their own learning. Schools Attuned Giving teachers permission to fail at something. 1 page of all academic, 1 page of social development on report card. Levels of access can be unlocked with badges for showing digital citizenship. Robot Farm Allowing kids to demonstrate proficiency. Communication build trust. How to be a transformative principal: Build culture. Loading… Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. 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.   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.

Kyle Palmer is the principal of Lewis and Clark Elementary School in Liberty, MO. Kyle was a presenter at the Model Schools Conference in Atlanta, GA. Here are the handouts from his session: Presentation and PDF It’s about relationships, not programs. Transformed school in last year. Competition with others helps him be better. Let’s not change the world, let’s just do our best. Fostering belief in staff. Growth mindset. Katie Lawson, principal extraordinaire. Need to know the “why” behind everything. The Art and Science of Teaching Angela Rosheim - Genius hour in the library, received grant of $8,000 of $10,000 of available resources, makerspace. Focusing on being ready for the future. Project Lead the Way - STEM Solution for schools. Moving away from the sage on the stage mentality. How to be a transformative principal: Looking into yourself first, before looking at others. Loading… Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. 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.   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.

Today I am speaking with Ron Fortunato, President of Trillium Learning and employee of NASA AMES research center. Listen to learn how you can get more information about to get your students more engaged in REAL projects! Project-based vs activity-based projects. Coupling students with real-life working projects. If students are able to keep up with the real-world work, they are given an opportunity to be at the table. Relationships with NOAA, NASA, and other institutions. Identify real problems, and get students involved in those projects. How Ron got involved with NASA. Winning a proposal with NASA: Pick a project they would have done. Meeting with the scientists that put Viking on Mars. How predicting earthquakes works. First earthquake sensor ever created installed in Kodiak. Real world projects cross many disciplines. “We don’t learn a darn thing when we do something right!” Rapid prototyping process - iterate and learn piece by piece. How students have actually discovered that earthquakes were coming with up to 48 hours notice. NASA gave actual reviews to high school students. Life-saving potential of predicting earthquakes is very important. Kodiak, Ketchikan, Craig, Copper River, and Old Harbor have the earthquake systems installed. Tasks and organizations for students are similar to tasks given to scientists. NASA Directors sit in with students on status reviews. Other projects kids can get involved with. Nano-agriculture It looks like chaos at first, but then it becomes transformative. Challenges of doing real-time and real-world project-based learning. Teachers need to adapt to this new way of doing things. School board has to support the project. Build a foundation so the entire district can participate. Ramp Up! How to make it for more than just the gifted or smart kids. 6th grade class suggesting how to improve the sensor. The process of learning how to learn. Trainer of Trainers model. You move at the speed you can go. Contact Ron What to do to start: Look at local organizations and what problems they’re trying to solve. Loading... Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. 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.   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.

Today I am speaking with Ron Fortunato, President of Trillium Learning and employee of NASA AMES research center. Listen to learn how you can get more information about to get your students more engaged in REAL projects! Project-based vs activity-based projects. Coupling students with real-life working projects. If students are able to keep up with the real-world work, they are given an opportunity to be at the table. Relationships with NOAA, NASA, and other institutions. Identify real problems, and get students involved in those projects. How Ron got involved with NASA. Winning a proposal with NASA: Pick a project they would have done. Meeting with the scientists that put Viking on Mars. How predicting earthquakes works. First earthquake sensor ever created installed in Kodiak. Real world projects cross many disciplines. “We don’t learn a darn thing when we do something right!” Rapid prototyping process - iterate and learn piece by piece. How students have actually discovered that earthquakes were coming with up to 48 hours notice. NASA gave actual reviews to high school students. Life-saving potential of predicting earthquakes is very important. Kodiak, Ketchikan, Craig, Copper River, and Old Harbor have the earthquake systems installed. Tasks and organizations for students are similar to tasks given to scientists. NASA Directors sit in with students on status reviews. Other projects kids can get involved with. Nano-agriculture It looks like chaos at first, but then it becomes transformative. Challenges of doing real-time and real-world project-based learning. Teachers need to adapt to this new way of doing things. School board has to support the project. Build a foundation so the entire district can participate. Ramp Up! How to make it for more than just the gifted or smart kids. 6th grade class suggesting how to improve the sensor. The process of learning how to learn. Trainer of Trainers model. You move at the speed you can go. Contact Ron What to do to start: Look at local organizations and what problems they’re trying to solve. Loading... Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. 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.   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.

This is my second interview with Will Parker. Will wrote a book called Principal Matters: the motivation, courage, action, and teamwork needed for school leadership, and so we talk about his wisdom that is contained therein. Go ahead and buy it. I interviewed Will in Episode 24 of Transformative Principal. A little discussion about technology. Some information on his book. How to make decisions. Write things down when they are still fresh so you know how to do it next time. Write processes down now so that you have them next time. Make a list and prioritize. How to delegate effectively. Importance of taking time off to recharge. The power of good mentors. Writing a letter of resignation. How to live without putting out fires all the time! Give instruction on the front end to make expectations more effective. Great teachers teach with both sides of their brains at once. More about KRAs (which we spoke about in Episode 24). Part 2 Dealing with difficult people. Make sure you are not the difficult person. Seek to understand before being understood. Be firm but friendly. Change your posture or use humor when appropriate. Agree to disagree. Consider bringing all parties to the table. What can I do to help you? Sometimes it is inevitable to have difficult conversations. Communicate privately with staff members when there is a difficulty. Big fan of just being honest. Talk straight with each other. Relationships are so important for every teacher and staff member. “It’s not an issue of me and you, it’s an issue of you and you.” Buy his book! Loading… Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. 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.   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.

  This is my second interview with Will Parker. Will wrote a book called Principal Matters: the motivation, courage, action, and teamwork needed for school leadership, and so we talk about his wisdom that is contained therein. Go ahead and buy it. I interviewed Will in Episode 24 of Transformative Principal. A little discussion about technology. Some information on his book. How to make decisions. Write things down when they are still fresh so you know how to do it next time. Write processes down now so that you have them next time. Make a list and prioritize. How to delegate effectively. Importance of taking time off to recharge. The power of good mentors. Writing a letter of resignation. How to live without putting out fires all the time! Give instruction on the front end to make expectations more effective. Great teachers teach with both sides of their brains at once. More about KRAs (which we spoke about in Episode 24). Loading… Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. 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.   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.

Today I am interviewing Assistant Principal, Entrepreneur, Father, and Hot Mess Brendan Hufford (Twitter). Thea Bowman Leadership Academy - only successful school in Gary, Indiana. OKkimonos.com and Entrepreneurs and Coffee Podcast are a couple side gigs that Brendan has going on. * Gary, Indiana is a struggling city, but full of amazing people. * Showing trust to students * Leading with trust - people want to give back trust when you give it to them. * It’s not as easy to build relationships as an admin than it is to build relationships as a teacher. * If you care about the students, they’ll do what you need them to do. * When you get frustrated, your care is the first to go away. * Kids aren’t afraid of things happening in the school that make them unsafe, they are likely afraid of things happening on the way to or from school that make them feel unsafe. * Resting vs. sleeping. * Getting up at 3 am helps him be his best. * Need to teach entrepreneurism to help US compete globally. * The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield * College vs. Entrepreneurism. * College Bubble is going to Burst - College is a great chance to mature, party, and have fun. If you want to go to college for an actual education, you are overpaying. * Entrepreneurism is not for everybody. Part 2 Working as a first grade teaching assistant. There is no better gift you can give a human being than self-education. Teaching kids how to be entrepreneurial could be almost as important teaching them to read. Can’t do education just as a paycheck. Pushback when innovating. Using Twitter for real purposes. Transparency at Buffer If you want to learn something, spend 0 time focusing on your own industry. Free tools at Brendan’s website. Loading… Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. 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.   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.