Trevor Goertzen –15th year in education Building Principal at Spring Hill Middle School, Spring Hill, Kansas –5yrs Teacher & Instructional Coach Blue Valley School, Overland Park, Kansas –10yrs National Board Certified Teacher

• Kansas Podcast - KPA Listen Up!
• Communication director of Kansas Principal Association.
• Teachers in emergency learning environment.
• Didn’t have a way to ensure learning was taking place.
• You asked, we answered session in the summer focusing on best practices for learning in a pandemic.
• August planning to support good remote learning.
• Extra 12 days of professional development. And COVID precautions.
• High Yielding Remote practices.
• Prioritizing content standards
• Integrating past content. Flashback flash forward.
• What we didn’t want to do is front load all the work for the kids. Just in time learning.
• Technology training and professional training
• It’s not the way people thought it was going to be done.
• Specific questions to help teachers articulate the challenges they were facing.
• What support can we provide?
• How to help teachers articulate their feelings.
• Gave questions a few days in advance to help them be prepared.
• Met with 20 teachers over the course of a week.
• Worried about specific kids.
• It’s really hard to support kids that are around. Kids aren’t retaining it as well as they could.
• Got leadership together and asked what makes sense going forward?
• Allowed them time to talk about kids.
• Go slow to go fast.
• Pivoted this week to prioritize what teachers were doing.
• Give them time to talk with each other.
• The things you would have done, you’re not even thinking about right now.
• I just miss kids talking.
• Prioritize their standards.
• Make it a culture week.
• Giving people time to be honest and talk.
• We’ve got to find a way to create opportunities for people to have fun with each other.
• How to be a transformative principal? Reach out to a colleague that you haven’t spoken to in a while and connect with them.

Innovative school leaders across the country have started tracking online student participation using TeachFX because it’s one of the most powerful ways to improve student outcomes during COVID — especially for English Learners and students of color. Learn more about TeachFX and get a special offer at TeachFX.com

Today’s Transformative Principal sponsor, John Catt Educational, amplifies world-class voices on timeless topics, with a list of authors recognized globally for their fresh perspectives and proven strategies to drive success in modern schools and classrooms.

John Catt’s mission is to support high-quality teaching and learning by ensuring every educator has access to professional development materials that are research-based, practical, and focused on the key topics proven essential in today’s and tomorrow’s schools.

Learn more about professional development publications that are easy to implement for your entire faculty, and are both quickly digestible and rigorous, by visiting https://us.johncattbookshop.com/. Learn more about some of the newest titles:

• Michaela: The Power of Culture by Katharine Birbalsingh
• Teaching WalkThrus: Visual Step-by-Step Guides to Essential Teaching Techniques by Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli
• Putting Staff First: A blueprint for revitalising our schools by John Tomsett and Jonny Uttley
• The Teaching Delusion: Why Teaching In Our Schools Isn’t Good Enough (And How We Can Make It Better) by Bruce Robertson
• Stop Talking About Wellbeing: A pragmatic approach to teacher workload by Kat Howard

John Catt is also proud publisher of the new book from Transformative Principal host Jethro Jones: SchoolX: How principals can design a transformative school experience for students, teachers, parents – and themselves Visit this page to learn more about bulk orders and how to bring John Catt’s research-based materials to your school: https://us.johncattbookshop.com/pages/agents-and-distributors

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

As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. We believe that technology can unlock a more effective learning experience, ensure that students get the personalized teaching they need to thrive, and help educators and administrators to truly, fully, See Every Student. Learn more at renaissance.com.

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...