Transformative Principal

Mr. Jorge Ruiz is the Head of School of the International School of Sosua. He has been in the field of education for 20+ years. Mr. Ruiz has been a teacher in the Primary, Secondary, and University levels; as well as an administrator for Primary and Secondary. Mr. Ruiz is an educational consultant, specialized in Project-Based Learning, Professional Learning Communities, and Shared Leadership. He received the National Merit Award for Contributions to Education of the Dominican Republic in 2018. Mr. Ruiz has also hosted and served on Cognia Engagement Reviews in several countries of Latin America.

• Northern area of Dominican Republic - North coast of expats
• Less than 250 students
• 27 nationalities
• Many different points of view.
• Accredited by US and DR
• Got rid of homework and semester exams
• Comparison with theater and sports - it’s about the practice
• Pandemic changed a lot of things, let’s make it for the better!
• Learning gaps always exist - good we’re talking more about SEL
• Rebuilding relationships - sports are not as intricate piece of schooling in international school.
• What’s your biggest priority? 1. relationships, 2. depth of knowledge
• Inquiry based to cover more ground and getting the things you really need.
• go beyond knowing all kids’ names!
• So much talk about learning gaps, but we always have them
• How to be a transformative principal? get out of your office and go be with kids.

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.

Last month I talked about the TBD framework for making career decisions, and as I teased at the end of that episode, I was evaluating a current opportunity for myself.

Today, I’m going to walk you through my thought process using the TBD framework.

First, a little review, because maybe you don’t listen to every single episode! Gasp!

TBD stands for Tribe, Brand, and Domain. I learned about it because a friend shared this article on LinkedIn with me called "[[Tribe, Brand, Domain (TBD)–How to Think about Building Career]] (link) It is written by David Boyce.

This strategy is effective in evaluating where you currently are in your career, and can also be used to evaluate a specific position.

The tribe part refers to the people that you are working with. Who are you surrounded by. I had a job just after I graduated high school, and I did not like the people that I was around. The owner seemed super shady, I never trusted my paychecks. My coworkers were very negative and vulgar. I knew that I didn’t want to be around them long term.

In this new position I am looking at currently, I thought, who will be there? Who are the people that I’ll work closely with. Thankfully, I’ve known this company for almost 6 years and I have had many interactions so I could feel reasonably confident that I would be surrounded by great people. In fact, if I had to identify the people that I would want to work with, several of them would already be employed at this company.

You know that’s a good sign right?

I know people who have left this company, and I have seen how there is still respect for them. They weren’t tossed to the wind when they left. Articles and videos by these people are still up, still promoted and still relevant.

In thinking of the kind of people that I want to be around, these seems like my tribe.

Honestly, the hardest part of being out on my own for the last two years is that I haven’t really had a tribe. Well, it’s just been very small!

I’ve been very fortunate to work with great districts and great principals, but those have not been working side-by-side with people on the same things. And, I’ve been extremely fortunate to work with Dr. Courtney Orr on some specific projects the last few months as well.

I realized that one thing that was lacking in my current solopreneur efforts was a tribe. I’m part of a coaching program, so I have some peers, but they’re all working on their own stuff, and I’ve really missed working collaboratively on specific projects.

The next piece is Brand. It’s not just name brand recognition. It is really about do they align with my own personal brand. In the article, David Boyce asks if you would be excited to talk about this company at holiday parties and over the weekend hanging out with your friends. Are you excited to say that you work for this company?

Well, the exciting part for this company is that I have been consistently positive in talking about them for the last several years. I’ve referred many people to them for resources and support. Furthermore, I have also seen how this company works first hand. I worked with them when I was up in Fairbanks, Alaska.

I know their value, their work ethic, and their contribution. All of those things align with my brand.

In fact, when I was talking with someone about this the other day, I said, “I can’t think of a company more aligned with who I am that isn’t my own company!”

Honestly, when I left the principalship two years ago, I was pretty certain that I wouldn’t work for anybody besides myself ever again.

But then, I found this TBD framework, and thought about things a little more strategically. Part of this brand piece is what kind of impact it enables.

As you probably know, I want to impact the lives of 100 Million kids in the next 10 years. That’s a big task. I want to make a bigger impact than I currently am making. Could I make a bigger impact with a company that is already making a big impact? I think so.

Another part of my brand is that I want to learn constantly. I have gaps in my capabilities, and I want to improve them. I’ve thought long and hard about how to improve them. I could spend more time and energy learning academically and through coaches, or I can work with someone and learn by doing.

Which of those aligns with my personal brand? I’ve learned just about everything I know by doing. This podcast is a perfect example of that. I have learned so much by doing this that it is crazy. Ironically, this podcast is also an example of learning by seeking mentors and coaching as well. The interviews that I have done have always been about finding a solution to a problem that I or one of my clients was having.

Basically, I felt that I could go either way: more private coaching or working with someone else. Either way, I could still make growth happen, which is exactly what I want.

That leads into the third part of the framework: Domain. What do I want to get good at?

I want to get better at thinking strategically at a high level. I want to get better at looking at district level solutions, not just school level. This company really only operates at the district level.

Furthermore, I want to know how a larger-than-me small business operates. This is not a one-man shop, but it is a lot bigger than I am on my own.

What I would like to see is greater opportunity in understanding how to make things work at a bigger scale. It’s one thing for me to serve schools by myself, with no or little support. It’s another thing to serve districts with tens of thousands of students with a team behind you.

I’ve been doing well in my entrepreneurial journey. I’ve been able to support my family, but I’m learning more and more that I don’t really want it to be just me. I want a team. I want a tribe.

As I always do, I’m going to look back at this later and think how quaint I sound. But that’s just what happens when you grow!

Before I get to my final decision, I want to share something that I am sponsoring: The Equity Awards.

Transformative Principal is proud to sponsor the inaugural Excellence in Equity Awards, presented by the American Consortium for Equity in Education.

This award program, designed to spotlight and celebrate high-impact work across K–12 education, features 27 different award categories covering all angles of equity – 10 categories for educators and support staff from every role in our schools, and 17 categories for companies and nonprofits. 

Educators of all roles and backgrounds –including school and district leaders, technology leadership, teachers, mental health professionals, librarians and media specialists, and more – can self-nominate or nominate a colleague. All companies and nonprofits – including publishers and authors – can submit nominations as well.

You can find all the information at ace-ed.org/awards. Get your nominations in before June 30!

As you have probably guessed by now, this new position fills all the criteria using TBD. Naturally, I used other criteria as well. It’s remote, so I don’t have to move again. The compensation is fair, benefits are good and there is room for growth. Perhaps most importantly for me right now is the idea of making a bigger impact by working with whole districts. I love my work with principals who are in my mastermind, but as I have just completed spending a year with a district in Wisconsin, I can see how much more powerful it is to work with a whole system and support them in making those changes.

The services they provide are in line with what I want to be talking about in education, as well...

Dr. Kyle Palmer is Author of the new book Parentships in a PLC He is an HR Administrator in Kansas City in Central school district. Kyle was on Episode 79 of Transformative Principal.

• Parents are so important
• Teachers who are afraid to reach out to
• If parents truly understood teachers roles.
• Education triangle - teachers and parents working together with students.
• For 2 years, we’ve put up a giant wall and closed doors to parents.
• Parent engagement vs parent enragement
• We want parents to be a voice, not just have a voice.
• Norms around parent engagement
• Parentship success team
• Strategies: Schoolwide norms
• How to be a transformative Principal? It begins and ends with how you treat people.

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.

Melissa Sherman grew up in rural Virginia playing in the woods and streams.

Taught PK–7th grade in public and independent school in VA, AL, TN for 17 years before becoming a principal

Was a title I reaching coach/interventionist for much of this time

Now am a principal of a small independent PK–5th grade School, The Fay School in Houston

We have chickens, a 3 acre forest and have kids spend lots of time outside

• Play in the woods and dig in the dirt for nature’s sake.
• Forest recess, incidents of injury are lower than regular recess
• Last child in the woods
• Give kids
• Free Forest Schools
• Obstacles to kids going outside.
• Raised bed gardens just take cinder blocks, dirt, and sunflower seeds.
• State parks have free or low-cost field trips
• Master gardener
• How Trust-based observations has helped Melissa.
• How to be a transformative principal? Go to recess and watch kids play!

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.

• Spike and Jethro discuss how to set goals as a school around
• test scores related to academics.
• Using surveys to assess culture.
• Climate data based on discipline records
• Got to be collaborative
• how2be: Learning walk through school.

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.

Strategic and focused progression of themes align with the book text and allow participants to easily create connections between them and book characters and one another. Themes: 1. Identity 2. Empathy 3. Belonging

Art projects also scaffold along with the themes and the reading. Working from individual,  to small group, and finally large group projects.

Our in person pilot showed a significant increase in student belonging at school and an almost unanimous sense of belonging in the book club itself.

Virtual program during Covid also successful and brought together family members for our closing celebration from as far as Egypt.

Giving Tuesday fundraiser has created opportunities for us to expand this program to other areas outside dc are where currently focused. We are looking for 5 new schools to partner with.

Criteria for partnership: * A core team at the school willing to work with us. Admin, educators, school counselor. * Two School staff willing to facilitate book club and work through training. 20 hours total (training & program) and $750 stipend. * All materials and teacher stipend are covered from through fundraising efforts * Fee for teacher training that Ed/administrators can use as SEL professional development.

• Increase kids sense of belonging
• Work with educators
• Art & literature transcend time and place.
• Celia Perez’s First Rule of Punk
• How to decide what books to read.
• Culturedkids.org
• MOSAIC - My Own Strengths Amplify Inclusive Communities

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.

I’m dedicating this episode to my friends who are looking for something, so imagine that we are in a coffee shop and I’m having this conversation with you. If you do want to have this conversation, because, admittedly, it is easier to have over the phone with someone, or in person. I’m going to ask some questions in here, and when I do that, if you take the time to pause the podcast and actually answer the questions, it will be a valuable experience. Just saying them out loud while you’re driving or exercising will be valuable. Bonus points if you actually write out your answers.

And, if you want to go through this with me, just give me a call. (801) 7-JETHRO. Seriously, that’s my phone number. You’re probably not going to take me up on that because you’ll think I’m too busy, or you don’t matter enough. That’s baloney! If you don’t call me, call someone else you trust!

Before we get into the rest of the episode, I want to recognize a new partner for the Transformative Principal Podcast. This is Just Right Reader at justrightreader.com

When I was an elementary principal, I saw firsthand how important reading was. If kids can read, they can do anything. But our decodable readers were not great. There are boring, repetitive and kind of bland. A few weeks ago, Sarah, from just right reader, shared her decodables with me. Kids see themselves in these books.

They are enjoyable and actually funny. I’m going to talk more about this in the future, but in the meantime, check out just right reader.com for some decodables that kids will love reading.

Recently, a friend shared this article on LinkedIn with me called “[[Tribe, Brand, Domain (TBD)–How to Think about Building Career]] (link) and I want to highlight some pieces. It is written by David Boyce, who ”is a serial software entrepreneur who has helped build and sell four companies. Currently he is Chief Strategy Officer of XANT and board member for Forrester (NASDAQ: FORR). Dave is an adjunct professor of marketing at Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Business and a frequent guest lecturer at Harvard Business School."

I regularly have given similar advice to what Dave offers here, but he did it much more eloquently than I have. I encourage you to check out this article

First and foremost, let’s remember what a job is. David describes a job as “a transitional arrangement with an employer that has certain features easy to measure and compare: title, compensation, benefits, etc. ”

A job is just a thing. They come and go. They are largely out of your control, no matter how secure you think that job may be. I would have used the word Transactional (because you’re trading time for money) but I like how Dave uses the word Transitional because it connotes that it is a time of transition, not a permanent thing.

A career is different than a job. Dave says, “A career is something you invest in over the long term. It takes shape longitudinally, layer upon layer. While the person in charge of your job may be your boss, the person in charge of your career is you.”

Two important things:

1. Your career is your responsibility.
2. No Career can only be defined with a specific path. For example, let’s say in your career, you want to be a superintendent. There are some people who say that in order to be a superintendent, you have to have X years experience as a teacher, then X years as a principal, then X years as curriculum director, then X years assistant superintendent. Then you can “qualify” for that role. That is made up. If I took a poll of superintendents, I am sure many would have followed a similar path to that, and that could be the tried and true way to do it, but that doesn’t mean it is the only way to be a superintendent.

I recently shared a sad story on my other podcast, Cybertraps, where a superintendent in a district in Massachusetts started out as a substitute teacher and eventually became the superintendent. Unfortunately, we were talking about her situation because she got caught in a cybertrap and allegedly sent threatening messages to a police officer to dissuade him from applying to be police chief.

I only bring this weird story in to illustrate that you are in charge of your career, while you may not always be in charge of your job. Your career and how you talk about it is completely up to you.

Dave says, “Who will decide how to sequence jobs, layer experiences, and develop facets of your professional self? Nobody but you.”

When I left being a principal in 2020, I told my wife that even if I went back into schools, I would never define myself by my role again. I get to decide who I am and what that means. So do you. And that’s exactly the point that Dave is making. You are in charge of your career.

When you’re making a choice about a job, Dave continues, “it’s important to focus on things that will matter over the long run. Starting salary doesn’t matter. Starting title doesn’t matter (much). Benefits don’t matter… so what does matter?”

Dave calls the things that matter TBD, Tribe, Brand, Domain.

Let’s talk about each of them:

The 2008 book Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin really brought this idea of tribes to our collective consciousness. I’m sure others have thought and written about it, but that’s when it really became apparent to me.

Dave talks about Tribe like this: “Look to your left and to your right. Who do you see? People who inspire you? Challenge you? Stretch you? Do you get energy from your peers, or do they suck energy from you? Do they encourage you to do your best work or do they bore you? Are you your best professional self among your workmates?”

Your best professional self! That doesn’t mean you are perfect, but it does mean that your peers encourage you to strive. I remember working for one district where we were in a principal meeting, and as soon as the district person left, the other principals started ragging on the district as a whole and complaining about anything and everything. This group of principals did not inspire me to be my best professional self. I knew I had to get out of there.

That’s the negative part, but let me talk about when I worked with Damon, Courtney, and Carla. These were my three assistant principals when I was in Alaska. Although they were all very different, they truly brought out my best professional self. And that made all the difference. I still talk to all three of them regularly, and anytime I’m thinking of something new, they’re some of the first people I talk to about it. They’ve always set me up for success.

And this is the point of the tribe, truly: “If one of your peers finds the opportunity of a lifetime, and they need the best and brightest to join them and reap the rewards of an amazing product, market, etc., who will they call? The people they know and respect. If one of those people is you–lucky you!”

Earlier on when Dave mentioned that salary and title don’t matter, he was right. He says, “On the other hand, if you look to your left and see Sleepy, and to your right and see Dopey, you may be in trouble. It almost doesn’t matter how much an employer pays you–no amount is enough to sacrifice the opportunity to build relationships with best-and-brightest peers.” Thankfully, shortly after I got hired in Fairbanks, I got to interview for an assistant principal. Courtney was clearly the best and brightest.

The next piece in this framework is Brand. And we’re ag...

Sara Sonnenschein is a principal in New Jersey for the past 8 years, and taught in the writing classrooms the previous 19 years. She writes a curriculum to help kids learn to write at Curriculumhq.com

• A day in the life of principal Sunshine - LinkedIn posts inspired by Akbar Cook.
• Forcing myself to write about them I help myself look for them.
• Lots of watching people do things the wrong way.
• Many negative experiences as a student.
• Big picture questions can be difficult.
• My legacy is that kids have fond memories of their school.
• The power of writing - writing gets them to own whatever subject they’re writing about.
• When kids have choice in what they’re writing about it changes their ownership of the content.
• How she teaches writing.
• How to be a transformative principal? be in classrooms on a daily basis.
• Passion to inspire and empower teachers to be the best they can be to transform how they’re teaching kids.

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.

Dr. Chris Jones has been an educator in Massachusetts for 21 years.  He has just finished his 13th year as a building administrator.  True to his “why” of improving the educational experience for as many people as possible by being purposeful, acting with integrity, and building character, he is currently the Principal of Whitman-Hanson Regional High School in Whitman, Massachusetts. Chris is also an Massachusetts Influence 100 Fellow focused on improving diversity, equity, and inclusion in the educational setting and a Vice President of the Massachusetts School Administrators Association (MSAA).

Chris is passionate about continuous improvement and the idea that success is not a destination, but a process.  Chris is a teacher centered Principal and his beliefs around the importance of a positive work environment, continuous growth, and a healthy family work life integration can be seen in the presentations/workshops he has given for the Massachusetts School Administrators Association (MSAA), Massachusetts Computer Using Educators (MassCUE), Massachusetts Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (MASCD), the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP); and his participation in the Better Leaders Better Schools Mastermind group.

Chris, who was recently a finalist for Massachusetts State Principal of the Year, is described by his past Superintendent as being “…wholly invested in the success of the school…a creative problem-solver who is able to deliberate yet be decisive, be creative yet accountable…calm and clear-headed even under the most trying of times…has built a strong collaborative and collegial school culture…he is a positive influence on teachers, teaching, and learning.”  Chris hosts a podcast, regularly appears as a guest on educational leadership podcasts, blogs, is active on Twitter, and vlogs on a weekly basis as a way to reflect on his progress, share his story, and get others to think about different perspectives.  His overarching goal is to positively model continuous improvement in all facets of life by being purposeful, acting with integrity, and building character.

• Previous episode with Chris.
• Chris’s New Book: SEEing to Lead: creating a world-class culture through a teacher-centered approach.
• No matter how many students I see, I can’t have as great an impact as my teachers.
• Delegating the impact we have on students to our teachers.
• Supporting teachers in process of growth to impact students.
• How to help teachers not have Sunday night anxiety.
• Bring out the reasons why they got into teaching.
• Belonging, giving them voice and choice in their lives as teachers.
• Tangible outcomes of what they are doing
• Tag other people to get them talking.
• In house conference
• All I had to do was some math!
• They need the space as well - you expect them to take risks.
• We get what we expect and we get what we model
• How to be a transformative principal? Step back, look at your teachers, create a map and help them get to where they need to go.

In Control created an effortless social and emotional, character development video curriculum for your students that’s ZERO-TEACHER-PREP AND it’s so cool looking- it feels like a Youtube or Netflix Series- and that’s purposeful, they meet students right where they’re at.

The videos are 5-6 minutes, kids love them, teachers love them, and you will too. There’s no guesswork in the program because there’s a 21-video progression for each grade level.

They’ve thought of everything-- because it’s a group of award winning counselors, teachers, and principals that came up with this thing. It’ll help you save tons of time and headaches.

Take it from me, it’s time to check that social-emotional learning box, the empty one that’s been keeping you up at night--and it’s time to do it in a meaningful, measurable, magnetic way.

If you go to www.InControlSEL.com/jethro you can check out some of the videos and even receive 20% off if you pre-order for next school year

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

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 stand...

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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

We’re proud to be sponsored by IXL. 

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• 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.