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Janna Cochrane is principal of North Greenville Elementary School (NGES), located in Greenville, Wisconsin, and part of the Hortonville Area School District.  She has spent her career exclusively at the elementary level with 22 years’ experience as an elementary principal.  Prior to being a principal, she taught fourth grade for 9 years.  The daughter of a retired elementary principal, Janna knows the importance of establishing a quality school community for elementary students, staff, and families. Janna has been recognized as a 2020 Herb Kohl Educational Foundation Principal Leader in the state of Wisconsin, as the 2020 Wisconsin Elementary Principal of the Year, and as Wisconsin’s 2020 Elementary NAESP National Distinguished Principal.

As Lead Learner of North Greenville Elementary, Janna has assisted the Hortonville Area School District in gaining the esteemed honor of being a Model PLC District.  As part of this journey, Janna generated collaboration time for elementary teams, assisted in the establishment of essential standards in efforts to achieve a district-wide guaranteed and viable curriculum, supported teams in the regular use of data protocols to plan for meeting the needs of all learners, and tended to the development of a positive, collaborative culture of learners as stated in their school vision statement.

At NGES, Janna has been keenly aware of the importance of school culture and fostering teacher leadership in the continuous improvement efforts.  She describes her role as Lead Learner, Team Member, and Keeper of the Family.  The forward-thinking staff at NGES have a total commitment to the three big ideas of Professional Learning Communities and work to support the four essential questions with their frequent collaborative team meetings.  She lives and leads the NGES mantra Kids. First. Always. in her work each day.

Janna holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and music, and she earned her master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.

• Janna’s dad was a principal.
• Her first year teaching was the year he was recognized as NDP!
• Principals have the greatest job because they help everyone
• Power of prioritizing her own schedule as a principal
• What does it mean to be the Keeper of the Family?
• Our work is really personal.
• The collaborative spirit and that we work as a team.
• The power of trust. I can trust you to help me and be vulnerable in front of you.
• Teacher trying to connect with a student.
• Team “Student Name”
• Allowing people to come up with their own answers
• Going to drive and pick up the student.
• Include conversations with team regarding new hires.
• Include grade level teams about what their team specifically needs?
• An interview only gives you so much.
• Listen for the things people don’t ask.
• Elementary - literacy and math
• SEL - even if you don’t ask a specific question about that.
• How to be a transformative principal? Really connect with individual kids that need an extra. To make sure you are visible and approachable, and then really listen.

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

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: - The Coach’s Guide to Teaching by Doug Lemov

• The Feedback Pendulum: A manifesto for enhancing feedback in education by Michael Chiles

• Putting Staff First: A blueprint for revitalising our schools by John Tomsett and Jonny Uttley

• 10 Things Schools Get Wrong (And How We Can Get Them Right) by Jared Cooney Horvath and David Bott

• Let’s Talk About Flex: Flipping the flexible working narrative for education by Emma Turner

• A Parent’s Guide to Powerful Teaching by Patrice Bain

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

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