Thomas R. Hoerr, PhD retired after leading the New City School in St. Louis, Missouri for 34 years and is now the Emeritus Head of School. He is currently a Scholar In Residence at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and teaches in the Educational Leadership program, preparing prospective principals. He also led the ISACS New Heads Network and founded the Non-Profit Management Program at Washington University in St. Louis. Hoerr has written several books, and his newest, _Taking Social Emotional Learning Schoolwide: The Formative Five Success Skills for Students and Staff_, was published in December of 2019. He has written more than 150 articles, including “The Principal Connection” column in Educational Leadership Magazine from 2004 to 2017. He was previously on the Transformative Principal Podcast episode 224 where we talked about who you are is more important that what you know, and episode 225 where we talked about his book, The Formative Five. - Why does Empathy matter so much? - If there were more empathy in schools, we’d be in better shape. - If you don’t have empathy, it’s hard for people to follow you. - If you do have empathy, it’s easier for people to follow you. - Empathy is a muscle. You can make it stronger - intentional and transparent - Voluntary - making it voluntary is having empathy. - listening, aggressive, pursuing. - One of your problems - you look too busy. - I was working; I was being accessible. - Who are you closest to in your school. - Even if my idea is the best, it’s not the best if nobody is on board. - Breakfast with Tom - agenda is yours. - Empathetic Conversations - extension of this notion that I really want to get to know people as people, not just teachers. - I know you as a student, I want to know you as a student - Leadership is about relationship. - Teacher observations - school principals should use them as a way to build trust and observations. - Educators are underpaid. - Herzberg’s theory of motivation - Teaching is far too siloed - If people can just read one part of the book, what is it? The part about listening.

Lead a school everyone can be proud of.

Being a principal is tough work. You’re pulled in all kinds of directions. You never have the time to do the work that really matters. Join me as I help school leaders find the time to do the work they became principals to do.

I help you stop putting out fires and start leading.

Learn more at https://transformativeprincipal.com

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Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks, IXL Renaissance Learning:

We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.

If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. 

These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation. 

We’re also 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 technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve 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’s episode is sponsored by Renaissance Learning. Renaissance helps schools accelerate learning with solutions that make it easier to assess progress, personalize support, and help every student succeed. Visit Renaissance Learning to learn more.