Matt Shea is the Matt portion of Personalized Learning with Matt and Courtney, a podcast about, well, personalized learning. It is one of my favorite new podcasts and you can find it at plearnmc.com or in your favorite podcast player of choice!

• Matt is a district administrator in Maine
• Courtney is an instructional coach in Maine
• Worked in Maine for his whole career
• 10 schools in five communities
• Goal: set up same systems in schools - it didn’t work
• tenets of learning: applied learning
• How do we design that culture so that there’s a balance between kids taking advantage of their own learning and teachers providing a range of options?
• What teachers can provide in their place
• What works for you?
• District administrator as more of a support role
• Talk about the tenets a lot.
• “Cultivating hope in all learners”
• Culture is a number 1 thing for all of us.
• Designing a culture that involves the learners in their learning
• Progression of learning
• Social grade levels not academic grade levels
• Place students on an academic progression where they are, and help them move forward.
• Continuous flexible grouping - School building and schedules create a challenge for them.
• Tried to do schedules in all the same way.
• 15:16 We are the problem. We are the ones that have all the issues!
• How do we get adults to be more like kids?
• What’s our ultimate goal?
• Guiding principles: They’ll find that information when they need it!
• Interview with Seth Godin
• You don’t really fail, you just are where you are.
• It’s not just about the 80% of our kids that will do well no matter what, but about all the students
• When she’s ready to take the next step, she’ll be ready for it.
• End College Career Readiness
• Many teachers have been teachers only.
• The “real world“ is something different to everyone.
• Provide kids with the skills and attitudes.
• How to be a transformative leader? Design a culture in your building where it is ok to fail in a positive way. Failing upward. Failing forward. Take away some of the negative aspects of what school is.

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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!

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Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show.

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