Transformative Principal

Dr. Robert Feirsen is currently associate professor and coordinator of the Educational Leadership Program at Manhattanville College. Previously, he was assistant professor and chair of the Education Department at New York Institute of Technology. A former SAANYS member,  Dr. Feirsen enjoyed a distinguished career in P-12 schools. As a school building leader in Westchester and Nassau Counties, he served as an elementary school principal, a middle school assistant principal, and a middle school principal. At the central office level, he served as an assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, deputy superintendent, and superintendent of schools. Dr. Feirsen taught at the elementary, middle, and high school levels as a social studies and special education teacher in schools in New York City before moving into supervisory roles. Dr. Feirsen holds an Ed.D. from Fordham University.Dr. Feirsen’s research interests include addressing organizational conflict, the school principal-school counselor relation

Maxwell Roach is the founder of JonAyves Learning Club. He’s toured the world as a musician sharing stages with artists such as Beyoncé and the Rolling Stones, directed operations for a multi-million dollar tech company, created and sold health products into grocery stores, and was the  CEO of a child care organization with over 250 children across 4 centres.In today’s episode, we discuss the role of tutoring, the negative connotation it can carry with students and families, and how it can fit the current need of addressing post pandemic learning across the world.  His experiences with his own children learning to master the Rubik's cube and Abacus help illustrate the power of harnessing technology and welcoming those outside of the classroom to help achieve the mission of all students learning at high levels.Max can be reached by going to jonayveslearningclub.com

Dr. John Schembari is an Improvement Coach through which he supports teachers and school leaders by performing on site evaluations, identifying data informed trends, reviewing curriculum/assessment materials, creating improvement plans, coaching individuals one-on-one, developing and delivering group training to educators, and implementing evidence-based instructional strategies that improve teaching practices and increase student learning. JOHN SCHEMBARI Senior Education Executive  In today’s episode, we discuss everything curriculum.  John shares his answer when teachers say “I’m just going to hurry up and teach all of the curriculum” and  “I’m done with the curriculum work”.  Instead of teaching the curriculum, John explains how we should be focused on student learning, and he describes the importance of curriculum review cycles.  We also explore the role textbooks play and what teachers need if they are going to be tasked with developing their own curriculum and assessments. Best way for listeners to reac

Matt Chaussee is the CEO of Be More Colorful, a Midwest-based immersive media production studio whose platform, CareerViewXR, is rapidly gaining national attention. Matt, along with his wife (and company owner) Katie, lead an innovative team of creatives who are laser focused on making career exploration affordable, accessible, and fun! CareerViewXR provides students and adult career seekers across the country with an unprecedented opportunity to experience real-world careers through virtual reality technology. Recently selected from a field of over 2,000 applicants to be one of 33 Semifinalists for the prestigious Yass Prize, Matt will discuss the significance of the award, and how he sees tools like CareerViewXR transforming how we guide students on their educational journey.Please add questions that we would ask here, and you can add anything that you would like to add as well.  STOP Principles of the Yass Prize Help us connect with students in new and different ways.  How do we use tried and true strategi

The Bridging to Resilience conference is about coming together with educators, social workers, health care professionals, religious communities, and other helping professionals to share conversations, ideas, strategies, tools, and connections to help build resilience and heal trauma in our own communities. November 6-8 in Wichita, Kansas. Register to attend this conference today! James Anderson is an Australian-based international speaker, author, and educator who is passionate about helping us become better learners. His Mindset Continuum builds on Carol Dweck's work on Growth Mindsets to give us practical tools to nurture a deeper understanding of ourselves as learners. His description of  Learnership - the skill of learning, then gives us a powerful way to understand and improve how we engage in the learning process.  The result: we get better at getting better!Originally a teacher and school leader, for the past 20 years, James has been working with schools to make classrooms more thoughtful places. He ch

The Bridging to Resilience conference is about coming together with educators, social workers, health care professionals, religious communities, and other helping professionals to share conversations, ideas, strategies, tools, and connections to help build resilience and heal trauma in our own communities. November 6-8 in Wichita, Kansas. Register to attend this conference today! Andrea Gribble is the master of all things social media for schools.  Her first book recently launched: Social Media for Schools: Proven Storytelling Strategies & Ideas to Celebrate Your Students & Staff - Without Losing Your Sanity  and she is the host of a podcast called Mastering Social Media for SchoolsIn today’s episode, Andrea shares where staff can start when they are handed the social media duties for the school or district.  She describes the systems she uses to schedule content and keep followers engaged, how to keep the content going during the summer months, and how to keep it positive.Andrea can be reached by goi

Darrin Peppard is a school district superintendent, speaker, author, publisher, and consultant focused on what matters most in leadership. Darrin’s an expert in school culture and climate as well as coaching and growing emerging leaders. He is known for his keen insight, culture-first leadership style, and dynamic personality.  In 2016, Darrin was named Wyoming Secondary School Principal of the Year by WASSP/NASSP and was the 2015 Jostens Renaissance Educator of the Year. In 2017, Darrin earned his Doctorate Degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Wyoming. This past summer, Darrin was inducted into the  Jostens Renaissance Hall of Fame. On today’s episode, we discuss school culture and the road to awesome.  Darrin describes the moment he knew his school had a culture problem and how he started down the road less traveled instead of the “gotcha” road.  He started by changing what he controlled, himself, and then focused on empowering the students and staff to join him and take ownership in thei

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12.Scrible is about the writing process.- Impact of AI on writing.- What does “embrace it” actually mean?- It’s important to define it appropriately.- We talk about teaching and learning together, but they diverge a little bit here.- How does embracing it mean that students are using cognitive skills.- Litmus test for the use of automation in education: Does it help develop or bypass the development of a skill?- It’s ok to have automation as skills are increasing.- Granularity is key.- Map activities in the writing process to skills along the way.- The “I use it myself” reason may not be good enough for our rising generation.- Conflation of cognitive development mode with productivity mode.- Education isn’t about being productive.- When compliance is gone, they realize it’s all fake.- Good writers and not good writers.- Don’t let what it does for you strongly shape what we should be doing for the next generati

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12. What is journey modeling?  Take a look at what decisions people make and what it means for your potential people to look for you What brings true value to your School/District? Where are you bringing value to your employee and where are they bringing value to you?  What skill sets are you looking for and are articulated in the  Bringing people into your fold before you really get them in the door.  You want to appeal to the individual and create a customer experience. Weird to think of these future employees as a customer of your district.  How are people seeing you? And what are they seeing?  Are your messages being seen in a positive way?  Identify a friction point and how you could turn that into a touchpoint How could you use LinkedIn in a more effective manner?  Engage with your constituents - go and ask what people are saying.  It’s valuable to know each student’s name, but have you talked to every p

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12.Generative AI in k12 education and it's impact on teacher prep and planning, assessments, writing instruction, and other subjects. Ethical use of generative AI and importance of transparency and demystifying it. Also, contrast generative AI tools with instructional AI, and how high can be leveraged to improve teaching and learning. Also, a conversation on civics and history instruction and it's impact on society and polarization. Student data privacy laws.  DigLitCon - AI Literacy 4300 kids in 9 schools in Chicago area.  AI literacy - Generative AI is just round 1.  Demystify what AI is and that it’s not magic Feels like magic MIT’s Day of AI We need to know about it, but not everyone needs to be an expert.  What do kids need to know in relation to AI Literacy We pretend that people should know a lot of things Will we call AI friends or supports.  Harnessing AI for a Human-Centered Education We can’t find

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12.Welcome to another episode of Transformative Principal! In today’s episode, we have the privilege of speaking with Dr. Brett Jacobsen, the CEO of The Mount Vernon School, Mount Vernon Ventures, and Mount Vernon Online – The Global Online Campus. With over 15 years of experience leading Mount Vernon through a transformational period, Dr. Jacobsen has gained a national reputation for innovation in education.In our conversation, Dr. Jacobsen shares his insights on creating a venture to fund your school. He discusses how Mount Vernon School, established in 1972 as a PK–8 school, has embraced an innovation mindset, even though they have been around for a long time. Driven by a desire to be known as an innovative school, Mount Vernon has experienced significant growth over the last decade.Dr. Jacobsen introduces the concept of the Blue Ocean Strategy, emphasizing the importance of shaping your school’s narrative

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12. Perhaps large language models could solve some challenges in schools.  Teacher attrition - how can you build excellence if you can’t keep teachers? Time is not enough to do deep work, which is required for effective planning.  The AI can’t do everything (nor should it).  Source it, shape it, share it. AI as a creative collaborator - Lesson seed Look at generative content like a sculptor would look at a block of marble.  Elaborative explanation is a best practice in education.  Prefer to pull methods from cognitive sciences Students engaging in essay evaluation rather than essay writing.  Artificially intelligent tutors - Khanmigo and others.  Training against chess bots.  Chess is a closed system, so perhaps not the best idea.  Proficiency vs aptitude vs  Hard to get quality feedback -  What are the parameters you need to be in to access the highest level of success?  Embedding best practices into our  One

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12.Priten Shah is the CEO of Pedagogy. Cloud, which provides innovative technology solutions to help educators navigate global challenges in a rapidly evolving world, as well as founder of the civics education nonprofit United 4 Social Change. His book is AI and The Future of Education: Teaching in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, published by Jossey-Bass (Wiley).In this episode, Ross and Priten discuss: The cloud of rumors, confusion, and fear surrounding the rise of artificial intelligence Defining AI and machine learning Why it’s important to get not only to accept but embrace these technologies Ethical concerns to consider What should schools do around teacher training?  How AI can either solve or widen the achievement gap depending on how schools proceed What can teachers automate and make more efficient? The potential of AI that most excites Priten Find AI and The Future of Education: Teaching in the

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12.Teens can use artificial intelligence to help them rock their homework. AI shouldn't be something parents and teachers are afraid of, and I had a great conversation with Transformative Principal Jethro Jones on how teens can use AI to TERMINATE their homework! And by terminate, I mean complete it. Obviously.--See what Jethro is up to at www.jethrojones.com--Register for my new Drop-In Coaching offer for this fall semester by going to www.joeymascio.com/drop-in-coaching--Follow me on Instagram! www.instagram.com/sidekicktohero Support our SponsorsSchoolAI: The Classroom Operating System: Help your teachers save 10 hours a week. Sign up for a free account and see new AI-generated experiences that will change the way you teach.Scrible: Worried about AI Plagiarism? Take the high road and improve your students' skills before they feel the need to cheat with this modern research and writing platform for schoolFoc

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12. Generative AI offers many advantages for educators, for use in and out of the classroom. When I prompt for images of "a focused student," the first three are boys, two are white, the third is an Asian boy, and the fourth is an apparent high school female. If my anecdotal examples haven't convinced you, try for yourself, or refer to a respected resource on this subject, which characterizes how bias is becoming a more obvious concern while producing these realistic images. In essence, this makes collected information static, yet dynamic in how AI returns the content. In the first example, I added one word, "diverse." "Write a song that promotes understanding and empathy between people from different walks of life." Support our SponsorsSchoolAI: The Classroom Operating System: Help your teachers save 10 hours a week. Sign up for a free account and see new AI-generated experiences that will change the way you

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12.Mary Howard is a Nationally Board Certified Teacher and teaches 6th grade ELA and Science in Grand Island, New York.  She has found success using digital tools that not only make learning fun for her students, but encourage critical thinking, collaboration, and create a life-long passion for learning.  Whether the digital experience is related to Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics or promotes literacy, Mary believes passionately in the potential that technology has for reaching and engaging ALL learners. In pursuit of this passion, Mary has spent the past 15 years presenting at dozens of technology conferences including NYSCATE, STANYS and, ISTE among others.  She has become a globally recognized speaker on the topics of augmented reality and virtual reality and the Next Generation Science Standards and shares her strategies through her blog, yoursmarticles.com.  She has published numerous educat

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12. Episode adapted from this article  The use of AI chat tools has rapidly increased this year. AI chat tools have a difficult time with voice since they lack the emotional context that humans can interpret through the nuances of tone, pitch, expression, and most of all, uniqueness. More significantly, AI chat tools cannot express a person’s point of view because they lack the complex beliefs, values, and opinions that form a person’s consciousness. Educators should make this clear to people accessing AI chat tools in their schools. While AI chat tools have some limitations such as capturing voice and eyes, it has remarkable productivity opportunities educators can leverage while navigating around imperfections to increase their efficiency and effectiveness. Support our SponsorsSchoolAI: The Classroom Operating System: Help your teachers save 10 hours a week. Sign up for a free account and see new AI-genera

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12.AI Edcamp for facultySchools are opening and AI looms as a BIG  question mark. How will teachers and administrators use it? What about students? How can we start to understand the complexity of AI in schools? This brief, chock-full episode offers a prescription for busy administrators and teachers. Use the simple formula of an Edcamp and bring the expertise to your school community today!Concepts adapted from my book:Radical PrincipalsMore info:How to run an Edcamp virtually Listen to Mike, a principal, author, and podcaster, share quick, actionable strategies, bite sized solutions that have sustainable impact. Each episode gives you a take home approach you can use today. You'll hear about a study, a story, and a strategy that are linked together. Educators face more challenges than ever. Stop spinning your wheels and listen to refreshing answers backed by 25 years of experience, interviews, and research.

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12.Vriti Saraf is the CEO & founder of k20 Educators where she builds metaverse spaces for learning. She is also a co-founder of the first community organization on blockchain for educators, by educators, called Ed3 DAO. Both organizations aim to reimagine learning.Vriti has served as a teacher, a professor, a dean, & a director in public, private, & charter schools both locally & internationally across K-12 & higher education.Join us for this conversation about Web3, what it is, how it is transforming education, and why we should embrace it.IN THIS EPISODE, WE DISCUSS: Web3 and how it’s shaping the future of education.  How blockchain allows us, instead of institutions, to own our credentials.  Decentralized credentials and flexible learning paths.  Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO) allow for democratic school environments.  Fears and concerns about Web3. When educators should u

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12.Jethro Jones is interviewing Kiran Athota, CEO of FocalPoint Education, and Dr. Wendy Oliver, Chief Learning Officer at FocalPoint,K12, Inc. The discussion centered around the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education and its impact on student engagement and personalized learning.Athota and Oliver delved into the distinction between AI assistants and human teachers, emphasizing the importance of teachers in catching plagiarism and guiding students. They acknowledged the fear surrounding new technology but highlighted the benefits of AI in understanding student knowledge better than ever before.The conversation also touched on the role of AI in assessing student progress and skills. Athota and Oliver stressed the need for authentic and personalized measures of growth, moving away from traditional assessments. They emphasized the importance of partnerships in education, with teache