Transformative Principal

In this episode, Jethro and Damon Hargraves talk about ChatGPT. This is from a Twitter Spaces that they did in early January. And this has led to some pretty interesting conversations.

Jethro has been contracting with a startup to do user research interviews about how we could use AI in schools. If you are intersected in this and would like to chat with us, please schedule a time here.

We’ve done about 70 interviews since this Twitter space happened, and we are looking for more, so don’t be shy!

We’re proud 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.

In this episode, we are continuing our coaching conversations with Eric. Please check in our previous episodes 510, 506, and 501

• trying to make it a focus to be aware of people
• What’s on your mind? What’s the challenge you’re facing today.

Today we focus on teacher evaluations.

• 5 informal observations
• 2 formal observations
• 2 formal observation post-conferences
• 2 summative conferences
• start, mid, and end of year with goals
• 14 touchpoints per teacher.

• 3 informal
• 1 formal
• start, mid, and end of year with goals
• 8 total touch points.

Evaluation system is homemade. Current concerns: - Hard to make them meaningful - Less confident writing up evaluations because it’s my first year seeing everyone. - Feedback: is it accurate and in alignment with what is really happening? - What value does Eric see? - Good to give teachers feedback on a regular basis. - Good to give formal feedback - Post observation conferences are good to go over feedback. - From a teacher’s perspective - Some staff aren’t used to having observations and evaluations. - Picked one area on the rubric and only scored and gave feedback on that one thing. - Try chunking it, and then get some feedback.

• Johari Window
• The only feedback that matters is what people can’t see
• Purpose is to make them meaningful - finding blind spots.
• 1. Jump through the hoops.
• 1. Is the vision for the school actually happening.
• Self-evaluations at the beginning of the year.

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

Just Right Reader Decodables are a great way to help your students learn how to read, with research-based strategies that are proven to be effective. Each grade level has over 100 books. Send books home in packs of ten, with video lessons accessible via QR codes on each book, with lessons in Spanish and English. Learn more at https://justrightreader.com

We’re proud 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.

Ryan Mackey is the principal of Douglas High School and is beginning his ninth year as a school administrator. Wyoming Principal of the Year 2022–2023.  He is also a certified McGrath Solutions TRUE-SPEAK trainer that allows him to work with other school administrators and frontline staff on communication within various organizations. He has been in education for 16 years and began his career teaching social studies while coaching football, basketball, and track. After teaching and coaching for seven years, his wife (Jessica) and two children (Brooklyn and Conlan) moved to Douglas as the middle school assistant principal and activities director. He then became the principal of the middle school in 2016 where he worked on transforming school culture through standards-referenced grading and reporting. In 2019, he was named the principal of Douglas High School and has worked to develop and establish a safe and supportive school climate and culture. He is passionate about continuous learning as well as creating and maintaining a transformative school climate and culture. Lastly, Ryan recently obtained his superintendent certification and is working on his dissertation for his doctoral degree in Educational Leadership at the University of Wyoming.

Ryan Mackey shares his three phase plan for leaders focusing on the culture of their schools.  Starting with the adults in the building, then students, and finally focusing on the families and community members.  He emphasizes the importance of the school’s mission and vision driving everything the adults in the building do, having a collaborative approach, and his rallying cry is “we’re going to work hard and do what’s best for kids!”

Best way for listeners to reach out to Ryan: 

1. Email- [email protected]

2. Call- (307) 358–2940

Improve your school dismissal and safety response with Pikmykid, the Schools Safety and Dismissal Platform. Help move your dismissal from chaos to calm, get kids to their families faster and safer.  Visit pikmykid.com/be to learn more

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

We’re proud 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.

Brad Gregorich is a proud alum of Rocky Mountain College in Billings, MT.  He earned both his undergraduate and master’s degree in educational leadership as a Battlin’ Bear.  He has been a classroom teacher, junior high assistant principal, and elementary principal.  Brad is currently the principal of Hillcrest Elementary School in Gillette, WY.  On today’s episode Brad discusses how he prioritizes culture over strategy as a building principal.  He has focused on the culture their school is working toward through communication and staff leadership.  We also discuss some of his advice to building principals when trying to maintain a healthy balance between school and family time.  The best way for listener’s to get in touch with Brad is through his school email: [email protected]

Improve your school dismissal and safety response with Pikmykid, the Schools Safety and Dismissal Platform. Help move your dismissal from chaos to calm, get kids to their families faster and safer.  Visit pikmykid.com/be to learn more

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

We’re proud 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.

Eric Bransteter is a former 5th grade teacher, media specialist, and building-level administrator. Eric has always had a passion for technology integration in the classroom, which led to him co-founding the EdTech company iAspire. Eric now hosts The Employee Experience in Education podcast where he speaks with educational leaders, former educators, and industry experts to better understand the employee experience in education. Eric’s goal is to equip school leaders with realistic and actionable strategies to keep more teachers in the classroom.

Eric discusses how schools can improve teacher retention by focusing on the employee experience.  By aligning the employer’s expectations, needs, and wants with those of the employee, schools can prevent turnover and retention in the classroom.  The four principles of the employee experience are connection with themselves, connection with others, connection with their role, and connection with the organization.  Happy teachers don’t quit!

Best way for listeners to reach out to Eric Bransteter: 

1. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericbransteter/

Improve your school dismissal and safety response with Pikmykid, the Schools Safety and Dismissal Platform. Help move your dismissal from chaos to calm, get kids to their families faster and safer.  Visit pikmykid.com/be to learn more

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

We’re proud 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.

In this episode, we are continuing our coaching conversations with Eric. Please check in our previous episodes 506 and 501

This week we check in on what Eric has going on, and talk about how to be a people leader instead of an instructional leader.

Checking back in on Eric: - Canned responses going so well, I’ve shared it with teachers - Email war: the war that you’ll never win! - Didn’t talk with superintendent about exiting - Staff moving past something

Being the Instructional Leader - Are you an instructional leader or a people leader?

How to be a people leader? - Focus on the individual. - Check up on people informally. - Morning lap - Being visible to being impactful - “I didn’t talk to them all week.” - Feelings of guilt

Where can teachers learn to be better teachers? - Colleagues - Themselves - Principal - Technology - Conferences

Teachers don’t really don’t need us to tell them how they can be better!

How does your day change as a people leader? - Laps during prep - Finding those who cruise under the radar - What is a need that is unknown? - Materials and resources for new teachers - Find a way to buy the support they need.

How do you find out if they need something? - Ask, What do you need? - What else? - What is your specific challenge? - How can I help? - What was most valuable today?

Focus on the individual, not the data.

Improve your school dismissal and safety response with Pikmykid, the Schools Safety and Dismissal Platform. Help move your dismissal from chaos to calm, get kids to their families faster and safer.  Visit pikmykid.com/be to learn more

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

We’re proud 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.

Dr. Erika Garcia-Niles is a principal in MIssouri.

• Erika Garcia on Twitter  we don't remember our impact but they sure do.
• behind the scenes at new district
• better than I could have imagined.
• Focus on people - It's all about the people.
• People by day, paperwork by night.
• It's about surrounding yourself with the right people.
• Leave before you're ready.
• Don't find the next thing, find the right thing.
• Use coaching to help someone reflect on themselves.
• Ask questions of them to get them to reflect
• We can get hung up on the things we don't believe, rather than what we do believe.
• Every single child should have a person.
• I feel like school was made for me!
• Eric Makelky
• Special Education
• What teachers need from principals right now?
• How to be a transformative principal? Check in with your teachers!

Improve your school dismissal and safety response with Pikmykid, the Schools Safety and Dismissal Platform. Help move your dismissal from chaos to calm, get kids to their families faster and safer.  Visit pikmykid.com/be to learn more

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

We’re proud 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.

Dr. Henry J. Turner is an award-winning high school principal, author, and nationally renowned speaker.  He is most proud of the collaborative community he works within to empower students to fight hate and bigotry in their school. Pointing to his unwavering commitment to equity and a student-centered culture, Henry was named 2020 K12 Principal of the Year by K–12 Dive.

Henry is the author of the newly released book, Change the Narrative: How to Foster an Antiracist Culture in Your School, published by DBC inc. As a national speaker, he shares his experience as an innovative instructional leader, passionate advocate, and committed antiracist educator with educators and organizational leaders. Henry works with educators, leaders, and communities on how to create a culture that commits to diversity, equity, and inclusion empowers students’ voices and addresses economic and racial disparities.

He has a biweekly newsletter, “Lessons on Social Justice Leadership” that can be found at HenryJTurner.com.

• Race is a social fabric that has been created in our society.

• If we believe in all students succeed, then we need to respond to students’ needs.

• School was founded on separating students and what systems were excluded.

• 25% of students were on IEP, 50% of black students were on IEPs.

• Racism - system of advantage based on race

• Who are we blaming for these disparities? What is wrong with these students vs. what is wrong with these schools?

• 80% of educators want to do racial justice work in their schools.

• Leaders are nervous about diving into this - how

• Teaching students to stand up for someone else.

• Start small

• How do you make sure students are seen?

• How do you pronounce your name?

• Intent is good, impact is bad.

• The way to make students feel included is to empower them.

• How do you get started?

• Creating agreements with students

• Name activity - sharing the history of your name

• This is the way to begin to talk aboutt he work.

• Talking about race really begins with talking about us.

• Focus on relationships.

• Who are we blaming for the problem?

Improve your school dismissal and safety response with Pikmykid, the Schools Safety and Dismissal Platform. Help move your dismissal from chaos to calm, get kids to their families faster and safer.  Visit pikmykid.com/be to learn more

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

We’re proud 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.

Al Kingsley has spent the last 30 years in the EdTech space and 20 of those as a school trustee and governor. He is co-chair of Workstream 4 at the Foundation for Educational Development, an organization developing a framework for long-term vision and sustainable planning in England. Al is Group CEO of NetSupport Ltd, an internationally acclaimed EdTech vendor. As a firm supporter of lifelong learning, he is also a regional Apprenticeship Ambassador and Chair of the Employment & Skills board for his region’s combined authority. An active writer about all things EdTech, Al is a member of the Forbes Technology Council and sits on the advisory council for the Foundation for Education Development. He authored a book, My Secret #EdTech Diary, released in July 2021 that is a road map to a new way of thinking about technology in education.

• Many similarities - Local authority schools, state run, and private/independent school.
• Two checkpoints in year 2 and year 6
• Internal (teacher-based) and external assessments (formal assessments marked and moderated externally).
• GCSE - age 16 in a range of subjects.
• Types of assessments
  • Attainment - comparative score
  • Progress - how much they grew.
  • A Levels - final exam before college.
• What is the purpose and the outcome of these measures?
• external serves only 2 measures - certificate of completion or accountability for schools
• Are those results where they are in attainment, or are there other reasons.
• Whether our measure of a successful education is acquisition of knowledge or something more?
• Staff retention
• PISA is suggesting some changes in how to assess students.
• Sugata Mitra ted talk
• NAEP scores for last 15 years - 15–16 jurisdictions in US that were low consistently.
• Educational decisions are made in political cycles.
• We don’t want quick change, we want long term embedded money.
• What are the indicators that might vary the funding for schools?
• Respect and trust our school leaders.
• Who knows our students best? Do we trust those people?
• The skills being acquired in the workplace are actually the things we’re putting more weight on in the world.
• Key skills that could be applied anywhere.
• Education for Human Flourishing
• Aesthetic appreciation -
• How do you measure if people value their learning process at your school?
• Test less and Don’t make the test 100% percent of the assessment.
• Breadth of offerings.

Improve your school dismissal and safety response with Pikmykid, the Schools Safety and Dismissal Platform. Help move your dismissal from chaos to calm, get kids to their families faster and safer.  Visit pikmykid.com/be to learn more

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

We’re proud 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.

This week is our next installment of seeing how Eric is doing in his new school. As a refresher, here is  last month’s update.

Last time, we gave him three strategies: - Strategy 1: add 15–30 minutes to however long you think each meeting will be. - Strategy 2: You seem upset, what’s the best way to contact you when he gets back at X? - Strategy 3: intentional Drive-bys - Schedule time to go be visible.

We checkin on those ideas and then talk about what he’s facing today.

Eric shared a great strategy today:

Strategy #1: Create a “canned response” in your email provider to send to people when they are upset inviting them to talk in person or on the phone.

It’s never a good idea to get in an email war. Much better to have a conversation with a person who is upset. Creating a response you send that always invites someone to meet with you and resolve differences is a sure-fire way to stop email wars and keyboard warriors.

Strategy #2: Schedule to send out that email! Don’t send it immediately after you write it. Give everyone time to cool down.

Today, Eric asks the question, “How can I help teachers have confidence that I’ll stick around so they’ll stop avoiding digging into the work?”

This is a valid question.

Teachers want to know you’ll stick around before they commit, but that is really just smokescreen for trust issues. They don’t trust you yet. People don’t actually care how long you’ll be around if they can trust you now.

Eric and I discuss some ways to make sure they are experiencing that trust, including doing the exact opposite of what a teacher specifically requests.

We highlight how to deal with past issues of traumatic experiences and how to do better in the future.

We also share one of the great books i’ve read recently: What happened to you.

Finally, I gave Eric two pieces of advice: 1. Preplan how you will exit when you do exit the school (spoiler alert: everyone leaves the school!) 2. Create different experiences around what were bad experiences!

We’ll be back with another interview with Eric at the beginning of December! 

We’re proud 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.