Transformative Principal

Melissa Emler is the Director of Community at Modern Learning Online media company to help schools change and be better. Really powerful conversations are happening regularly. The Testing Emperor Finally has no Clothes Modernlearners.com/jethro All of the onus for learning is placed on the teacher. It is the responsibility of teachers to create the conditions for learning to happen. Communication beats compliance, every time. Learning happens through feedback and questioning. It is the student to communicate questions and understanding. Going gradeless or standards based grading doesn’t really communicate learning. We haven’t really had a conversation about what we mean by “learning”. Seymour Sarason’s “What do you mean by learning?“ People are learning when they want to learn more. It requires co-creating the curriculum Our practices do not match our beliefs. The amount of time we spend thinking, talking, planning for standardized tests. Giving prizes for testing= :( Belief

  Dr. Will Deyamport Instructional technologist, consultant, and podcaster. Click here to learn how to be a social media ninja Everyone has a brand. Jeff Bezos “Your personal brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.“ You can’t control what other people think about you, but you can control what people see when they search for you. If someone googles you and they don’t see you, you don’t exist. Creating content can enrich your current life and your future. Twitter connects you in powerful ways. It’s about the learning, and the network you can learn from. It’s also about the building a network of people who know you and know what you can do. How to do well on Twitter: Upload a profile picture. Know your why and your what for being on social media. Be intentional with the people you follow. Use your hashtags. Share what’s going on in your world. obvious to you, amazing to others Don’t take it personally. Don’t be afraid to unfollow. Dr. Will does some courses as well, so you can get CEUs

  Spike Cook is the principal at Lakeside Middle School in New Jersey. We are going to talk about Developing a leadership platform with Mindfulness, Gratitude, and Balance. Blogging, Twitter, and all that. Spike took a break, and now he is coming back in gently. Social media can be a time and energy suck. Mindful school leader - Kirsten Olsen and Valerie Brown Brene Brown - Braving the Wilderness The road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom. Resonant Leadership Book Cycle of Sacrifice and cycle of renewal Inbox zero and the challenges associated with that. Ideal Week - Sign up to transform your week. SAMs Time Trackers: How you use your time. Find an accountability partner for your most important work Daily perspective of gratitude. The Magic Book Transformative Mastermind - Schedule a call with Jethro today! How to be a transformative principal? Start your day focusing on three things you are thankful for in your work. * Schedule a call with Jethro Are you feeling like you are always behind at sch

Jeff Sandefer started his first business at 16 and has run 5 successful companies since then. Now, most of his time is spent developing innovate educational curriculum for the Acton Academy and My Entrepreneurial Journey and teaching at the Acton School of Business. The Courage to Grow - By Laura Sandefer, about the journey of creating Acton Academy How Acton started, powerful story. Socratic teacher at the graduate level for 20 years. Confident that we could pull off pieces Sugata Mitra - Not in the school reform business, just trying to do our own little thing. Frankenstinian mashup of pieces. Montessori, socratic methods, game-based method. Pods of 36 students interacting with each other throughout the day. Multi-age campus. Age levels tend to disappear. Middle schoolers who may have finished calculus. Self-management and self-government. We are like game makers. We are not allowed to utter a declarative statement. There is an entropy among human beings to do nothing and waste time. Auto-didacts are fa

Jeff Zoul and Anthony McConnell are the authors of The Principled Principal: 10 Principles for Leading Exceptional Schools. Anthony followed in Jeff’s role as assistant superintendent and is now going to be the superintendent of the district. Being part of the development process for four years set Anthony on the right course. How Jeff helped prepare Anthony for success in moving into his new role. I believe in always being innovative and always getting better. The Harmony principle. Some people think they thrive when they are in crisis mode, but their schools do not. Thinking I was supporting the teacher, I was equally elevated with the teacher. How to stay calm when inside you are seething. You get better with practice. Focus on the real issue. Don’t come with the answer already decided on in your head. How can I help? Ask this question often. What you have to leave the conversation with is integrity. It’s not about the nail. Trust - if you don’t have trust, you don’t have a whole lot. Address underperform

  Dan Kreiness is an aspiring administrator who hosts the Leader of Learning podcast. He focuses on educational leadership. dan@leaderoflearning.com. Challenges with becoming a principal. There is a lot of good to be done. What is your number 1 strength that you bring to a school leadership position? How did you find that strength out? Disrupting, changing, going away from the status quo. Our students are ready to move and change faster than we are. Looking to be resourceful. The power of connecting with Twitter. How to be a transformative principal? Really be present. 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

  Dan Kreiness is an aspiring administrator who hosts the Leader of Learning podcast. He focuses on educational leadership. dan@leaderoflearning.com. Aspiring administrator Mark Crowley Lead from the Heart Instructional coach is the sweetest gig in all of education. Tricky position to be a coach. Really hone in on the things they identify as what they need to be working on. How to get teachers to jump on a technology bandwagon. The power of reflection. The Edumatch 2017 book 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 Paperle

This is a cross-post for the PrincipalPLN podcast that I was on last week. I talked a lot about masterminds. Get started on that today. Give me a call! Here are the podcasts that I have been on lately: Planning Period Podcast with Brad Shreffler “Jethro and Brad talk about the importance of leaders being in classrooms and coaching teachers, that we need to ask “why” way more often, being reflective and outwardly recognizing your mistakes, the power of MasterMind groups, and unlocking the genius in all of our students. It is a really great conversation, and you’ll notice a few times in there that I am literally left speechless by what he says. So, sit back and enjoy episode 37 of the Planning Period Podcast, my interview with Jethro Jones.” Leaders of Learning with Dan Kreiness “In this episode, I talk to principal and host of the Transformative Principal podcast Jethro Jones and talk to him about making the transition into the role of a school administrator, how to create buy-in with followers, and how to emp

  Richard Kincaid Twitter is EcoRise’s Chief Innovation Officer and is the lead designer for project-based learning professional development program, which integrates sustainability & design thinking methodologies into the Buck Institute's PBL framework. Richard has extensive experienced in K-12 public education, as a former CTE director, campus leader, and teacher in Texas. Richard's linked in profile is here: Linkedin Hill elementary eco-audit Green building and performance measures. Aikens high school action plan. Ongoing improvements to make sustainable projects. How to teach kids to get in touch with the right people. Design studio - helps teachers facilitate conversations in their classroom. Empower students to seek out the right people. Microgrants for kids. Up to $500 per student project. Small enough that kids can actually do something. Looking for every reason possible to fund an application. The average project funded is about $470. Average return on investment is about $4500 of bottom-line sa

  Richard Kincaid Twitter is EcoRise’s Chief Innovation Officer and is the lead designer for project-based learning professional development program, which integrates sustainability & design thinking methodologies into the Buck Institute's PBL framework. Richard has extensive experienced in K-12 public education, as a former CTE director, campus leader, and teacher in Texas. Richard's linked in profile is here: Linkedin Ecorise.org is a non-profit that helps schools implement sustainable education. Richard’s educational background. Microgrants directly to students. Elementary literacy coaches, and K-12 curriculum director, and CTE director. Helping teachers not knowing the path to make that happen. Helping students focus on a challenge local to their community. Giving kids tools to focus on making change happen in their area. Project-based training program. PBL programs don’t sound very accessible. We want to be facilitators, but then daily life in the classroom is overpowering, and we can easily give up

  Matt Miller is the Founder of School Spirit Vending. Top 10 school fundraising ideas. CASH! 4 Questions to Ask Before Your Next Fundraiser! Finding the right choice for school fundraising is challenging. schoolzonepodcast.com for the top fundraising ideas. School Spirit Vending - stickers placed in schools Different needs for school fundraising. checks come in monthly, varies based on how much school embraces program. Giving kids access. Doing the same thing they’ve always done. Why not tie it all together? Incentivize the teachers and students. Leadership opportunity. Matt’s passion project - stickers that have cardboard backing. Matt prints a comic series on the backing Marlin and Percy Inspire-a-kid providing additional inspiration for kids. Read-a-thon - Collect pledges for the amount of reading that they do. Scrip fundraising - affiliate relationships with local (and non-local) companies. get movin’ crew We Fund For You It’s important to be better educated. How to be a transformative principal? Do a

Pedro Noguera is a sociologist by training and is a professor at UCLA. Center For The Transformation Of Schools. Once we have trust and respect, we can start having hard conversations. You can only have conversations like that that don’t come off as judgment if you have trust. We should ask parents to do things for which they have adequate resources. How do we find the kids that need the most help. The challenge is getting to know each child. None of this is easy. Meets with each student every day. When kids are known, they behave differently. The sense of belonging is so essential to kids’ success. Forging relationships through extra activities. John’s Hopkins University Talent Development High School. Robert Belfants. Interest inventory to start kids. Age and class determines where they go. The model we have created does not allow us to meet the needs of children. Any kid who came in with a criminal record in the high school would get a mentor. First days of school community building days. It’s part of bui

Pedro Noguera is a sociologist by training and is a professor at UCLA. Center For The Transformation Of Schools. Author of many books. If ideas are too abstract and we can’t address the practical needs of kids then academia is in trouble. Address both the academic and non-academic needs of kids. Equality vs. Equity. Equality is treating everyone the same. It makes no sense in education because we know all kids are different. Equity is about understanding differences. It is not about lowering the standards. Compensate for needs that kids that bring. Adjust how we do homework to meet the needs of kids that are in front of us. Don’t penalize kids because they don’t have the same circumstances as someone else. Many kids are relational learners and they will learn better with people they trust and care about. You start from the premise that we do best when we are in a community. The conditions for learning Community More likely to punish kids with the greatest needs. What sorts of things must we do to make edu e

  Heather Staker is a former Mckenzie Consultant and coauthor of the book Blended Learning: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools. Download the “Getting Clear on Technology Purchases” guide. Questioning our own assumptions is a huge piece of opening up what learning can look like. Every child has their genius. There is value in finding the right path for each child. Some teachers can be great at different things. Allow teachers to specialize and micro credential. How to match kids up with the right kinds of teachers that really help them. Coming at the content in a variety of ways. Sustaining innovations allow us to serve our customer even better. Disruptive innovation completely changes the paradigm. Online learning - adults are not unlike children. When we are more engaged and active learners we are able to learn much better. Blended Learning Live seminars - not traditional sit and get instruction. Helps people learn in a different way. How to be a transformative Principal? Walk your building and

Heather Staker is a former Mckenzie Consultant and coauthor of the book Blended Learning: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools. Download the “Getting Clear on Technology Purchases” guide. Senior in High School as a state school board member Reasonable and balanced voice that represents the whole. Interested and well-versed in innovation Clayton Christensen Center for Disruptive Innovation It’s not just efficiency, it’s common sense to give kids information at their pace. Agency is so important. Disrupting Class Actin Academy program for core skills. 7 types of blended learning What challenges do we still face? Schools lead with 1:1 announcements. How to address 1:1 issues? Lead with a very clear plan for how they use online learning. District and vendor level must prevent teachers from having to be the tech wizard. Help teachers to reimagine their role. Factory model settings do not give teachers the opportunity to do increase the humanity that can be in our schools. Mentors and tutors for each chi

Amy Dujon is a Practice Leader at Learning Sciences International. Prior to joining the Learning Sciences team, Amy was the Director of Leadership Development at School District of Palm Beach County, FL, and principal of Acreage Pines Elementary School in Palm Beach, FL. Her current focus is on innovative school improvement through LSI’s Schools for Rigor initiative, where they embed within struggling schools to provide professional development and other long-term guidance to help schools achieve success. Through a partnership with Learning Sciences International, I changed instruction and skills at my school, and now I work with many leaders throughout the states. Main focus is a high school in Maryland, meeting weekly. Data cycles with teachers. I’m their lifeline. What stays the same and what is different in schools? Typical root causes. Instruction hasn’t really changed much in the last 100 years. Teacher is the gatekeeper of the learning. How to get kids to own their learning. Get teachers to identify l

  Meredith Allen, music educator and Iowa AEA instructional technology coordinator, and account manager for Soundtrap. Music is very powerful. Traditional music education. Giving kids an opportunity to expand on the seed in their head. Expand on the seed. Jon Churchville in Michigan. “Let’s make a song!“ Guide kids by pulling out what is inside them. How to coach teachers - Don’t tell teachers to do something different. Students to take control of their learning. How to benefit from the kids compiling information. I was the teacher who did things the way I did them because that is how we did them for 50 years. Junk Funk Help teachers have that moment where they see the value. Be connected - I go on Twitter and there’s always somebody doing it better. SAMR - Using technology and getting to R. trudacot On Twitter, people often show what their doing and share the steps so that you can do too. I didn’t know what I was clicking and two minutes later, I was bawling. GarageBand and Google Docs had a baby, and it i

  Mary Wegner is the Superintendent of Sitka Schools 1250 students. League of Innovative Schools. Is there support for innovation at a district level? Is the superintendent someone who can contribute to the national pool of leaders. Make learning group, competency based education. Monthly meetings to share and collaborate together on what needs to be done well in the area of focus. How to narrow down and focus on initiatives as a leader. Empowering student voice and choice. Rather than figure out by trial, we figure out by expertise. You must be an excellent talent scout. What are the unique contributions each teacher has to support kids? Give them a microphone. Whole system. How to be a transformative leader? Listen. Put systems in place so things are working well. 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 tha

  Mary Wegner is the Superintendent of Sitka Schools 1250 students. City school district Small community that knows excellence. Wonderful community partners. Great partnerships with local groups. Under 1/3 of staff are our graduates. 65% of elected officials are our graduates. Paris of the Pacific. They take a little bit of Sitka with them. Superintendent visits every single classroom. During the year, pick different areas of focus and visit those classrooms. Understand the K-12 curriculum in all areas. Superintendent’s Spotlight newsletter. There is great power in small school systems of being able to get close the work. 1:1 for each student is growing because the superintendent is in the schools How the work changes when you are focused on the classroom. Angst during budget time has decreased with more focus being put on the classrooms. Budget process which gives more transparency. See current budget Schedule a call with Jethro Are you feeling like you are always behind at school? Do you feel like you n

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   We're so grateful to our sponsor AI Coach by Edthena. AI Coach enables your teachers to go through coaching cycles based on their own needs. The virtual coach guides teachers to reflect on their teaching, set a goal, and create an action plan… all based on gathering classroom evidence. It gives support between PD days  and other