What if we asked our students to help design the way their school functions? At St. Vincent Ferrer, that's exactly what they do. Our guest today is their Dean of Students, Eric Keiper.

He’s here to tell us all about their House System and how student leadership has meant success for the Houses and the individual students. But it’s also meant much more than that, it’s helped to create the kind of culture we all should be striving for:

If you’re looking for a way to change the culture within your school, Eric just might have the key you’ve been searching for.

Links:

You can contact Eric here: [email protected] or you can check out Eric’s full webinar if you’d like more details on How to Build a Student-Led House Points Program!

We have a mailbag episode coming up and we want to feature your questions!

Leave us a question by clicking here!

Or you can subscribe to the LiveSchool Leader by clicking here!

Want to see our smiling faces?  Subscribe to our Youtube Channel

Or Follow us on Instagram: @getliveschool   Or TikTok: @whyliveschool for incredible resources on School Culture check us out at www.whyliveschool.com

Congratulations! You’ve just accepted a job as the Principal of a new school! Your new home comes with some concerns though. Student attendance is low, the school has a tough time keeping staff, and student behavior is off the charts.

If you’re thinking those conditions sound familiar you are not alone. Those are 3 of the most common concerns in schools all across the country coming out of the pandemic and that's why we chose those specific circumstances for a hypothetical exercise with our guest AJ Bianco.

AJ is a father, husband, assistant principal, and podcast extraordinaire who was kind enough to join Jordan on the show today to create the playbook for new leaders at new schools. If you are a school leader, an aspiring school leader, or a teacher who would like some insight into the thought processes behind leadership actions then this is an episode you don’t want to miss!

Links:

You can find AJ on Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn! 

You also should check out AJ’s podcasts: The ReflectEd Podcast, Podcast PD, and The Chase for 28 Podcast!

We have a mailbag episode coming up and we want to feature your questions!

Leave us a question by clicking here!

Or you can subscribe to the LiveSchool Leader by clicking here!

Want to see our smiling faces?  Subscribe to our Youtube Channel

Or Follow us on Instagram: @getliveschool

Or TikTok: @whyliveschool for incredible resources on School Culture check us out at www.whyliveschool.com

Welcome to our School Spotlight Series! In this series, we will be dropping episodes dedicated to sharing the good works, special programs, and unique culture wins that are happening all around the country so you can take them back to your school community!

This week we are joined by Kanetha Callahan, who is the Community Achieves Site Coordinator for Margaret Allen Middle School in Nashville, Tennessee. Kanetha shared the great ways they are supporting international students, building community partnerships, and how they are aligning MAMS’s behavior expectations with the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People using LiveSchool.

Links:  You can find MAMS on Instagram and on Twitter.

Or you can reach out to Kanetha by email at [email protected]

And don’t forget to check out MAMS Behavior Rubric by heading over to our Instagram!

We have a mailbag episode coming up and we want to feature your questions!

Leave us a question by clicking here!

Or you can subscribe to the LiveSchool Leader by clicking here!

Want to see our smiling faces?  Subscribe to our Youtube Channel

Or Follow us on Instagram: @getliveschool   

Or TikTok: @whyliveschool for incredible resources on School Culture check us out at www.whyliveschool.com

Community involvement is so much more than hosting an open house and scheduling parent-teacher conferences. Your school is uniquely positioned to bring positive, measurable change to your community. But how do you unlock that potential? Today’s guest is Principal Rashaad Pitt and he's here to share some helpful advice on how you can unleash that potential to close the gap between your school and the community it serves.

In addition to community engagement, Principal Pitt also chatted with Anna and Jordan about behavior solutions like restorative practices, mediation, and family outreach.  We finished up the discussion by chatting about climate walks and Rashaad even gave us a rundown of his favorite tech tools in the classroom.

Links:  You can find Rashaad on Instagram and on Twitter. We have a mailbag episode coming up and we want to feature your questions!

Leave us a question by clicking here!

Or you can subscribe to the LiveSchool Leader by clicking here!

Want to see our smiling faces?  Subscribe to our Youtube Channel  

Or  Follow us on Instagram: @getliveschool   Or TikTok: @whyliveschool for incredible resources on School Culture check us out at www.whyliveschool.com

If you're going to be a very successful school leader you need to not only be comfortable living in the gray, you also need to be comfortable leading in the gray. That means not only being comfortable solving complex problems but it also means leading others through complex situations. Today's guest on the show is a leader who is not only comfortable leading his school but has also developed 22 Principals from within his own admin team.

Gary Davison is the Principal of Lambert High School in Suwannee, Georgia as well as the host of The Lodge of Leaders Podcast. Gary joined Jordan and Anna to chat about new schools, parent involvement, student centered schools, and why developing leadership within your school is the best thing you can do for the students in your school.

Links: 

You can find Gary on Instagram @thelodgeofleaders and you can listen to his show on Spotify.

You can find out more about the whisper movement we discussed by heading to this link.

Want to see our smiling faces? 

Subscribe to our Youtube Channel  

Or  Follow us on Instagram: @getliveschool  

Or TikTok: @whyliveschool for incredible resources on School Culture check us out at www.whyliveschool.com

It’s easy to get in the mindset that what you’re doing is normal or routine. But if you start thinking like that it’s easy to lose sight of the greatness happening all around you.  

If you’re a leader it’s also easy to lose the great people around you if you don’t get in the habit of celebrating those who are doing great things for the students in your school.  

Todd Nesloney (@techninjatodd) joined us today on the show to chat with Jordan about how you can start spotlighting the greatness in your school.

Todd and Jordan went in-depth on school leadership, recruiting staff, teaching without assigning homework, and why we need to take the lesson planning obligations off our teacher’s plates.  

Links:   

You can find Todd on Instagram (@techninjatodd) and on Twitter (@TechNinjaTodd) or you can find all of his books and speaking engagements at www.toddnesloney.com 

Want to see our smiling faces? 

Subscribe to our Youtube Channel  

Or  Follow us on Instagram: @getliveschool  

Or TikTok: @whyliveschool for incredible resources on School Culture check us out at www.whyliveschool.com

We have all studied the importance of the first days of school when it comes to classroom management and student behavior. If you get it right early, you can set yourself up for a successful year. That makes sense.

But what if you don’t? What if you’re several months into the year and your class has veered totally off the rails? 

If you're a teacher whose class has ever gotten out of hand in October or November, this is the episode for you!

Katie is an Interventionist and Instructional Coach who is here on the pod today to give you some sound advice that just might help you win back a lost class and save your educational year.

Links:

For more Classroom Intervention Ideas from Katie, you should check out: www.whyliveschool.com/authors/katie-Neumeier

And as promised you can find Katie's famous pup on Instagram by following boomer_not_sooner

Want to see our smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube Channel

Or

Follow us on Instagram: @getliveschool

Or TikTok: @whyliveschool

and for incredible resources on School Culture check us out at www.whyliveschool.com

Shifting your discipline plan to a positive approach centered around positive interactions, rewarding good behavior, and utilizing logical consequences can be a dramatic change.

It can be met with some opposition.

Who is the strongest champion for this approach? Who stands to benefit the most from this work?

Your Students.

The PBIS program in Huntingdon, PA really started to take off when the staff began to guide and empower their students to advocate for it and take ownership of the culture in their school. Nick Payne is the Principal at Huntingdon Middle School and he’s here to chat with Jordan and Matt on PBIS, student leadership, school culture, solving the teacher shortage, and why we need to reward our students more for doing the right thing.

Links:

For more PBIS questions you can reach Principal Payne at [email protected]

Want to see our smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube Channel

Or

Follow us on Instagram: @getliveschool

Or TikTok: @whyliveschool

and for incredible resources on School Culture check us out at www.whyliveschool.com

Do your students feel safe in your school? Can they be their authentic self without consequence?

What stories will they tell of the experiences they had in your school? Those are the culture and climate questions we need to be asking ourselves.

Baruti Kafele joined us on the pod today to chat with Jordan and Anna on school culture, turnaround schools, defining equity, developing AP’s, and looking past the test scores.

Principal Kafele is one of the most sought-after school leadership and classroom equity presenters in America. If you are a school leader or an aspiring leader this is a CAN'T-MISS episode!

Links:

You can connect with Baruti on Twitter @PrincipalKafele, Instagram @millionmileman, or through his website principalkafele.com, and you can find the Virtual AP Leadership Academy on YouTube!

You can see the video we referenced here:  A Day in the Life of Newark Tech principal, Baruti Kafele - NJ Classroom Close Up Profile

Want to see our smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube Channel

Or

Follow us on Instagram: @getliveschool

Or TikTok: @whyliveschool

and for incredible resources on School Culture check us out at www.whyliveschool.com

~ BONUS EPISODE~ Technology can be a battle in the classroom. Students come to school with more experience using tech tools than some of their teachers!

But it doesn’t have to be a fight, it can be an opportunity.

An opportunity to meet students where they are and increase engagement levels in our schools.

Our guest today is Justin McElwee who has committed his career to preparing teachers to become masters of the tech in their own classrooms. Justin is a Learning Resource Specialist in Chicago, Il, host of The Baseball and Whatever Podcast, a published author, and also the producer for our show!

On today’s episode, Justin is turning the Mic on to chat with Jordan and Anna on tech in the classroom, the SAMR Method,  project-based learning, creating your own podcast, and surviving The Oregon Trail.

Links:

You can connect with Justin on Twitter @mcelwee_justin or @baseballandwhat  & don’t forget to listen to The Baseball and Whatever Podcast (you might even recognize a guest host in one of Justin’s most recent episodes).

Want to see our smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube Channel

Or

Follow us on Instagram: @getliveschool

Or TikTok: @whyliveschool

and for incredible resources on School Culture check us out at www.whyliveschool.com