Transformative Principal

Bob Sonju is the Director of K–12 Learning in Washington School District in Southern Utah. In this first part of the interview, we discuss the following: A little about Bob’s history and what he learned to help him become prepared for being a transformative principal. Bob focuses on making sure all students are doing their best, not just particular subgroups. What prepared Bob to be a principal: being a coach and a special education teacher. What barriers prevent a school from being ready for change. Three fundamentals that are needed to change: Why do we exist Describing a perfect school What are we going to do to make sure we get there! Conversations about structural change take time and informal and formal conversations with teachers, students, parents, and other stakeholders. All the voices have to be in the room! Establishment of norms are critical for the success of our school, and while we want to hear everyone’s concerns, we will move forward with the will of the group. The norms for Bob’s schools. The need for “critical friends”. How he deals with the fact of hearing that he is doing something wrong. One of the best interview questions: “Anticipate a mistake you are going to make, and how you will resolve that!” Web Site Transformative Principal on Stitcher Refer A Principal Best Tools for Busy Administrators Survey Sponsor: Sanebox 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.

This second part of the interview with Tom Whitford delves deeper into the great things he is doing. We discuss the following: Working with 3 different schools How he manages dealing with all that they have going on. Dealing with the new teacher evaluation system using the Danielson model What he has been focusing on as a leader in the three schools: PBIS and RTI. What RTI looks like on a day-to-day basis in his school(s). What ICE looks like at his school(s). What data they use, and how fluid their groups are. Why some students might get less support by entering Special Education than if they stay in their intervention groups. How to create opportunities for fluid movement and appropriate support between groups to meet the needs of the students. WADITW (We’ve Always Done it this Way) What advice would he give to principals? Relationships How being out in the hallways is beneficial (even during parent teacher conferences). What is in his office to motivate him? Great sayings in his office and his kids. Voxer usage helping him communicate with other principals. Shoutout to @gcouros and @mmiller Web Site Transformative Principal on Stitcher Refer A Principal Best Tools for Busy Administrators Survey Sponsor: Sanebox 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.

This week’s interview is with Tom Whitford, an amazing principal of 3(!) schools in Wisconsin. His mentor that taught him a lot about how to be a leader and how to push yourself and others to be better, book reads, and more. Professional Learning Communities in Tom’s ideal world. PLCs require a whole philosophy change to be effective. How to set the stage to be successful in having discussions with teachers. Power of change comes from stories. Create opportunities for conversation. How can administrators tell stories? Start with true stories. (Don’t make things up.) Provide opportunities for real conversation. What can we do to make this work, and what will prevent us from being successful? It is too easy for things to get said behind closed doors, and we need to address challenges early on, and then address issues as they arise. Focus the conversations on continuous improvement on faculty meeting time. “Jumpstart Fridays” - aides and others work with kids so they can do collaboration times. How Tom gets teachers to feel comfortable sharing their stories with Tom and the other teachers. “Speed of Trust” By Stephen M.R. Covey We don’t get better, unless we can talk about the mistakes that we made. How Tom figured out that his faculty did not like his strategy for getting them to have fun with his emails. (Background blog post - “Learning with your mistakes”) Sponsor: Sanebox Web Site Transformative Principal on Stitcher Refer A Principal 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.

My second part interview with the great Alice Peck. In this episode we focus on her new assignment as a principal of a Title I school in our district. What is Alice going to take with her to her new Title I school? What is Alice anxious about in going to her new school? Why Alice is excited about change. “If you’re not nervous, you probably shouldn’t be doing this!” How Alice is going to overcome her fears. “The greatest way to overcome fear is to face it and address it!” How Alice will deal with building trust as fast as she can. Hint: you can’t speed up trust. The importance of visibility as a school leader. Modeling the kind of work ethic she wants her staff to have. What advice does Alice have to be a transformative principal? Surround yourself with smart people. What helps Alice focus on what is most important? (I forgot to take a picture before I left her office! I’ll see if you can send me one.) Sponsor: Sanebox Web Site Transformative Principal on Stitcher Refer A Principal 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.

Today, I have the pleasure of introducing you to Alice Peck, one of the best principals I have ever worked with. You’ll love to get to know her in this episode. How she came to be where she is at. What she noticed coming from Texas to Utah. What she really enjoys about how things have changed since she came to her current position. How she got her staff on board right from the beginning with PBIS. The art program at Oakdale. The process of starting PBIS at her school. Practical advice of how to get things going. How important it is to have the whole staff involved in school-wide initiatives (speaking of PBIS specifically). Why an actual form for Office Discipline Referral form is important. Where to go when processes are established and ready to maintain. Sponsor: Sanebox Web Site Transformative Principal on Stitcher Refer A Principal 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.

Sponsor: SaneboxWeb Site Transformative Principal on Stitcher Refer A Principal Best Tools for Busy Administrators Survey How to manage time on social media with being a principal, doctoral student, etc. How to connect with others. It is about connections that is most beneficial. Connecting with Bill Ferriter and John Pederson It isn’t about the tech itself, it is about the real. Technology just helps you connect with others. What Curt is most proud of that is happening at his school right now. Remodeling his school thanks to a funding referendum his community. Student-produced newscast. (Led by Crystal Brunelle) His school’s Facebook page Going out in the school and snapping pictures. International Happy Day “Wouldn’t this be cool to do?” - said a teacher at his school. People make stuff up on the Internet Humility - Curt is constantly deferring praise to others and deflecting praise and comments to his staff and other people around him. Strengths-Based Leadership Great book! Great leaders need to be excellent listeners. How Curt grew to learn about himself. Evaluating others. Giving feedback that is based on what is seen in other classrooms, rather than, “When I was a teacher…” We have to notice others around us. Spend time to get to know people. Make sure you’re winning hearts and minds before you try to do anything. We aren’t a bunch of independent contractor. Techlandia podcast. And on Twitter - If you listen to this on Sunday, you’ll find something that you can put to use on Monday. How to be a Transformative Principal: Be well read. What motivates him: Nice notes from teachers, parents, students. “You are responsible for the energy you bring into this space.” Shoutouts: Bill Ferriter Solution tree Crystal brunelle 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.

Sponsor: Sanebox Web Site Transformative Principal on Stitcher Refer A Principal Curt Rees Twitter is a tech-minded principal at Northern Hills Elementary School in Onalaska, WI. He is also one of the hosts of the Techlandia Podcast, a great education podcast. Experience as a principal and a teacher around the country. Why he has moved around so much. Doctoral Program and how he balances that with being a principal and what he hopes to get out of it. Clay Shirky Cognitive Surplus Every single day I learn something about being a school leader. The 4 C’s: Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Creativity Ninja video by his kids. (And the Harlem Shake) Technology as a tool that supports the kind of learning we want for our kids. Voxer App. Sharing things a little more privately and allowing for a little more emotion. 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.

William D. Parker is the principal of Skiatook High School. His web site and Twitter. He has also done some amazing interviews himself. I have learned a ton from reading those, and I am sure you will, as well. Due to technical difficulties, we recorded our phone conversation, so the quality is a little old school. But, I almost felt like a radio DJ with a call-in show. What he learned as the Assistant Principal to the Principal at his school, who recently retired. Bonuses for students who take all the assessments they are required to. What skills he had to learn as an educational leader, that he wasn’t taught in school. Key Responsibilities Areas from Entreleadership tells people who is in charge of what area. Here is his blog post about KRAs. Michael Hyatt leadership podcasts. How he has dealt with student loss. They have tragically had 2 student deaths this year. Excellent and a lot of communication. Be visible. Maintain as much stability as possible. Open to creative and spontaneous. Show appreciation to the kids who are present. Tried to communicate well to media. Allow yourself to grieve. How he knew what the right thing to do was. Be part of a good team. Trust your people. How he has established collaborative culture of trust. Hiring great instructors and compassionate people. Treat teachers how you would want to be treated. Shotgun blast of directives is not effective. Relationships matter. His blog rocks! Give him some more followers on Twitter, because he has great things to say. I have learned so much from Will. 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.

Sponsor: Sanebox Web Site Transformative Principal on Stitcher Refer A Principal Doug Robertson (Twitter) teaches 3rd grade in Southern Oregon. Here’s his blog or media empire homepage. Youtube Channel Facebook Fan page He is the author of “He’s the Weird Teacher” (paperback) (Kindle edition). I interviewed Doug because I read his book and was really fascinated by it. I have learned that not everyone teaches the same way (DUH!). But, also, our own life experiences have taught us and shaped us into the people we are today. To be a great teacher, you don’t need to be like [Enter Great Teacher’s Name]. Doug and every excellent “popular” or famous or movie teacher have two things in common: A strong desire to be your own person, regardless of the status quo or anybody else’s judgments. A passion to help kids learn. As part of this podcast, I want to start interviewing master teachers who are really great at what they do. I am especially interested in teachers that are great at making their kids enjoy class and learn life lessons, not just making sure they are acing the tests. ;) Notes from my conversation with Doug: He used to teach in Hawaii, so we talked a little about that before the official interview started, but it was fascinating, so I included it. Teaching is a performance art Acting vs. Teaching. Importance of trust in teaching. What happens in my classroom happens because I want it to. To Principals: You hired me to do my job, now let me do it. Chris Hardwick How he takes away the opportunity to make excuses. How swimming helped him learn to stop making excuses. Why you can’t keep complaining without doing something to fix it. It is OK to vent about kids. “But, my kids don’t give me much to complain about.” (That is because if they did, he would take responsibility for it!) “My classroom is noisy because it has to be noisy.” “My students are weird, what am I doing to make them weird.” I give two cents on why I like a noisy cafeteria. Some discussion on the term “digital native”. We should call what we do “Practicing Education” just like lawyers practice law and doctors practice medicine. How being a good teacher and establishing the basics allows us to know how we can change things up as we go along. What kind of an environment does Doug need to thrive? Trust! How trusting students is an extension of the trust from administration. Teach Like Your Hair is on Fire by Rafe Esquith How to have your own style. Don’t teach like someone else. Teach like yourself. Some kids don’t respond well to the style of Doug’s teaching. 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.

  Sponsor: Sanebox Web Site Transformative Principal on Stitcher Refer A Principal In this second part of my interview with the amazing Chris Wejr, we go deeper into the ideas of student discipline and learning. We also discuss some other cool things that are happening at his school. Punishment. How to approach it correctly. How do we help students with disabilities. How to deal with parents of victims that are upset that there are not visible consequences for misbehavior. If we don’t teach this child, he will continue doing this. Following up with parents a couple weeks after an incident to ensure it is not still happening. Restorative practices - should be tied to negative behaviors. Finding opportunities for kids to serve others. Be proactive to find opportunities to prevent problems that may arise. FedEx Prep - giving teachers time to be innovative and productive on their own with their own passions. Advice for being a transformative principal. “It comes from the teachers, of course. I can’t transform something in a classroom.” Something in his office that motivates him. I asked him to send me the picture of him with the paddle. 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.