Transformative Principal

By Jethro JonesEducation Self-Improvement

Transformative Principal episodes

May 11, 2014Being Weird with Doug Robertson AKA He’s The Weird Teacher Transformative Principal 023
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Doug Robertson (Twitter) teaches 3rd grade in Southern Oregon.
Here’s his blog or media empire homepage.
Youtube Channel
Facebook Fan page
He is the author of “He’s the Weird Teacher” (paperback) (Kindle edition).
I interviewed Doug because I read his book and was really fascinated by it. I have learned that not everyone teaches the same way (DUH!). But, also, our own life experiences have taught us and shaped us into the people we are today. To be a great teacher, you don’t need to be like [Enter Great Teacher’s Name]. Doug and every excellent “popular” or famous or movie teacher have two things in common:
A strong desire to be your own person, regardless of the status quo or anybody else’s judgments.
A passion to help kids learn.
As part of this podcast, I want to start interviewing master teachers who are really great at what they do. I am especially interested in teachers that are great at making their kids enjoy class and learn life lessons, not just making sure they are acing the tests. ;)
Notes from my conversation with Doug:
He used to teach in Hawaii, so we talked a little about that before the official interview started, but it was fascinating, so I included it.
Teaching is a performance art
Acting vs. Teaching.
Importance of trust in teaching.
What happens in my classroom happens because I want it to.
To Principals: You hired me to do my job, now let me do it.
Chris Hardwick
How he takes away the opportunity to make excuses.
How swimming helped him learn to stop making excuses.
Why you can’t keep complaining without doing something to fix it.
It is OK to vent about kids. “But, my kids don’t give me much to complain about.” (That is because if they did, he would take responsibility for it!)
“My classroom is noisy because it has to be noisy.”
“My students are weird, what am I doing to make them weird.”
I give two cents on why I like a noisy cafeteria.
Some discussion on the term “digital native”.
We should call what we do “Practicing Education” just like lawyers practice law and doctors practice medicine.
How being a good teacher and establishing the basics allows us to know how we can change things up as we go along.
What kind of an environment does Doug need to thrive? Trust!
How trusting students is an extension of the trust from administration.
Teach Like Your Hair is on Fire by Rafe Esquith
How to have your own style. Don’t teach like someone else. Teach like yourself.
Some kids don’t respond well to the style of Doug’s teaching.
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.
1 hr 18 min
May 04, 2014What Makes it all Worth it with Chris Wejr Transformative Principal 022
Sponsor: Sanebox
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In this second part of my interview with the amazing Chris Wejr, we go deeper into the ideas of student discipline and learning. We also discuss some other cool things that are happening at his school.
Punishment. How to approach it correctly.
How do we help students with disabilities.
How to deal with parents of victims that are upset that there are not visible consequences for misbehavior.
If we don’t teach this child, he will continue doing this.
Following up with parents a couple weeks after an incident to ensure it is not still happening.
Restorative practices - should be tied to negative behaviors.
Finding opportunities for kids to serve others.
Be proactive to find opportunities to prevent problems that may arise.
FedEx Prep - giving teachers time to be innovative and productive on their own with their own passions.
Advice for being a transformative principal. “It comes from the teachers, of course. I can’t transform something in a classroom.”
Something in his office that motivates him. I asked him to send me the picture of him with the paddle.
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.
35 min
April 27, 2014Positive Behavior with Chris Wejr Transformative Principal 021
Sponsor: Sanebox
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I was super excited to interview Chris Wejr. He is one of those principals that I have been following for a long time and his take on discipline and behavior is inspiring.
Moving from a lower SES school to a higher SES school.
If kids are driven by rewards, then they are across all areas.
It is very easy to go too far with rewards, and focus only on providing rewards for kids to “get us through the day.”
The problem with determining how to properly implement PBIS.
The complexities of correcting a student’s behavior by giving them a reward when they behave correctly.
How important it is to have sense of belonging to help students avoid negative behaviors.
Strategies to help students who struggle with negative behavior overcome those struggles.
It sometimes takes 2 years to get kids to overcome their struggles.
How to buy yourself some time to make decisions and help get through the day to make sure you help kids who are struggling.
The bouncy ball trick that worked for me every time after I interviewed him.
The difference between a program and a system.
This is a great interview. Chris is amazing!
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.
31 min
April 20, 2014Making sure the Brand Experience Matches the Brand Promise with Tony Sinanis Transformative Principal 020
Why are we going to let other people tell our story?
What they believe in.
Every choice they make is thoughtful.
How Tony shares his story daily.
Storify - An example of how Tony uses Storify.
Cantiague Hashtag
Video updates
Touchcast app
How he shifted brand management from him to the staff and the kids
How to make sure the brand experience matches the brand promise. For example, here is an exchange between Tony and someone who knows what his school’s brand promise is:
@TonySinanis @mrkempnz I know you do!! :) All groups are equally respected and treated at #Cantiague. — Lisa (@lisaodavis)
April 17, 2014

Transparency has changed the relationship between the school and community.
PTA meetings have taken a new direction since they are so open.
Build it from the inside.
Faculty Enhancement opportunities instead of faculty meetings
How to be a transformative principal like Tony.

It’s not about you!

Stay current on research.

Don’t take yourself too seriously, but take the work you do seriously.

What he has in his office to keep him focused on how to be the best principal he can be.
Jericho Schools
You have to make sure the brand experience matches brand promise As the principal, you need to be learning the most.
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.
23 min
April 13, 2014Recognizing Your Own Skills with Tony Sinanis Transformative Principal 019
Sponsor: Sanebox
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A few weeks ago I had the great pleasure of interviewing Tony Sinanis. Little did I know, that he would be named the New York Elementary Principal of the Year! So, I interviewed him before he was famous. Tony Twitter is a great principal and one who is eager to share what he is doing well. He is also incredibly humble and self-aware. I hope you enjoy his interview. I sure learned a lot from him. Here is his BrandED podcast
Tony discusses his background and how he is a first-generation college graduate, and not only that, he is working on his PhD and already has two Masters!
Tony still keeps in contact with his first year’s class. Wow!
Moving into his first school. Tony’s humility recognizing that he wasn’t the right fit for the school.
Separating Tony the principal from Tony the Person.
Recognizing that his cultural perspectives that were wrong for his school.
The difference between white guilt and recognizing differences.
Education is more than just the Common Core and High-Stakes Testing. We are disconnected from what the real world is.
We try to make kids fit into this little box, totally discongruent to how the world works.
He calls himself the Lead Learner, not the principal, because there is a real difference between the two.
How Cantiague gives voice to the students.
He demonstrates his learning whenever he can. He pushes himself out of his comfort zone as often as he can.
The post about the term Lead Learner by Pernille Ripp
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.
26 min
April 06, 2014It is about Relationships with George Couros Transformative Principal 018
Sponsor: Sanebox
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Transformative Principal on Stitcher
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I had the great pleasure to attend (and present) the UCET (Utah Coalition for Educational Technology) Conference this last Thursday and Friday. While it was a lot of fun, it was also ver powerful and transformative for me. I solidified some educational philosophies and had some time to actually think about what I am doing every day and how I am inspiring (or not) my teachers. George’s keynote was very inspiring, but it was also practical, and I love practical presentations. I loved meeting George after following him for so long. This was a great interview.
One thing that was really awesome was that he made me wait a few extra minutes to ensure that he had gone through and read every single tweet about his keynote, and replied to those that he felt needed a response. it was amazing to hear him say three or four times, "Just a minute, I need to get through all these tweets. There were a ton of tweets!"
His keynote called “Innovate! Create! Voice!” and what he was trying to communicate with that.
The importance of creating and sharing with others.
How he encourages teachers and principals to create and share.
What the remix culture is about.
Why it is important to focus on what is really helping kids.
What it means to be a school teacher.
If you don’t know what a hashtag and twitter are, you are illiterate. Why does George believe this?
How you can leverage your network to make things happen.
Why Twitter is about learning and sharing.
How do we do things when our leaders aren’t on board, yet?
We need people who are willing to push.
The one thing you can do to be a transformative principal.
Connected Principals ([#cpchat](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23cpchat)) and how to get in touch with him (follow him on Twitter: @gcourous)
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.
26 min
March 30, 2014Building Up Teacher Leaders with Dr. Fidel Montero Transformative Principal 017
Sponsor: Sanebox
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I had the great pleasure of speaking with Dr. Fidel Montero, the principal of Alta High School (Twitter) in Sandy, Utah. Fidel is inspiring from the first moment that you speak with him. He is incredibly smart, very caring, and wants students to be the most successful people they can be. Here is his TEDxCSDTeachers talk: Care. This is part two of my interview with him. I hope you enjoy it. We barely scratched the surface of what makes him transformative.
How he counsels teachers and puts them in their areas of strength.
How he evaluates himself and the initiatives he implements.
How he delegates and guides the implementation of his vision.
Michael Barber - Deliverology
Some missteps the school took as they rolled out some new initiatives.
How he responds when people complain about being overworked.
How he gets feedback from teachers.
What you can do to be a transformative principal. The President’s Club
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.
26 min
March 23, 2014Engaging Multicultural Families with Fidel Montero - Transformative Principal 016
Sponsor: Sanebox
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Transformative Principal on Stitcher
Refer A Principal
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I had the great pleasure of speaking with Fidel Montero, the principal of Alta High School (Twitter) in Sandy, Utah. Fidel is inspiring from the first moment that you speak with him. He is incredibly smart, very caring, and wants students to be the most successful people they can be. Here is his TEDxCSDTeachers talk: Care.
The Doctoral research that Fidel conducted for his degree in urban school management.
Parents pick up on who is being supportive, regardless of whether or not they spoke the native language of the parents.
The demographic shift that Utah is currently experiencing, and why he wanted to conduct his research in Utah.
Specific strategies for engaging and supporting Latino families in your school.
Microagression
The balance of talking about race when your race is either the same as your demographics or different.
How including multicultural families in your school and recognizing their heritage and history actually encourages them to feel more pride in your country.
His work with Greta Pruitt in Los Angeles Unified School District to teach parents to work together.
His thoughts on School Improvement versus CSIP plans.
Thanks for tuning in! Have a Good Life.
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.
37 min
March 16, 2014Awesome Professional Development with Andy Greene - Transformative Principal Episode 015
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Show Notes
Andy Greene is a transformative principal at Candlewood Middle School. We talk mostly about professional practice and professional development. Andy is a master at these two things. I learned so much from Andy, and I am so thankful he took the time to speak with me.
Here are some bullet points from our discussion:
How he ensures that teachers are continuous learners
How he ensures that faculty meetings are like miniature college courses.
How he uses backwards design for his faculty meetings.
How he ensures that teachers come to faculty meeting and make sure that they all get something out of it.
Mission and Vision Document
Professional Expectations Document
How he helps everyone see they are a member of a team.
What it means to bow low.
This:
How he has hard conversations with teachers and balances that with positive feedback.
When he decides to divulge information to teachers about how they are perceived.
The importance of having staff that can tell you how things are really playing out among the staff.
The intentional things Andy does to make sure his staff feels that they are in a comfortable learning atmosphere.
Seek first to understand before being understood.
How Andy would approach a staff that he needs to “clean up.”
He sent a bunch of stuff over to me, and sharing is caring, so here it is for you. First, he sent two files that I read from in the interview:
Expectations 2014 (Word Doc) - This document goes over the expectations he has for the staff at his school. Updated as often as needed, and discussed just as often. There are some great gems in this document.
Mission and Values (Word Doc) - This document discusses what the mission and values of Candlewood Middle School are. Again, there is some great information here.
PLCs (Word Doc) - We didn’t get a chance to discuss this document, but it includes a lot of great information about PLCs and some great quotes to get people thinking about them.
The following are emails that Andy sends out to his staff after each mini-university-course faculty meeting. You can tell that he spends time thinking about what to say to his staff, how to motivate them, and encourage a culture of learning. He pretty much never lets up.
An example of a “post-discussion” faculty meeting conversation
Good discussion on objectives yesterday…[refer to the packet from yesterday for other examples]
A personal example to help clarify!
Faculty Meeting
Big Idea For the Year-Staff will understand that standards are not curriculum: curriculum needs to reflect best practice and user needs while also honoring standards. Essential Question-What is understanding? What follows for curriculum and unit writing? Faculty Meeting Instructional Objective-At the end of the meeting, staff will be able to identify the three types of “learning” for their upcoming unit: acquisition, meaning-making, and transfer.
Other example
Big Idea: Student should understand that good readers employ specific techniques to help them make meaning of what the text says.
Essential Question-What do good readers do, especially when they don’t comprehend a text?
Lesson Instructional Objective-Student will be able to use identify the two persuasive techniques the author employs in _____.
Let’s continue the discussion! A reminder…please have a manila folder for each faculty meeting so you can keep the handouts that are given out… Yesterday, there was a packet that we did not have a chance to get to but we will use it in October. To save paper, I do not want to make other copies!
Thanks
Andy
Another example of CC vocabulary for all classes…
Good Morning,
As I start to look at some of the assessments that faculty members are sending in, I want to encourage everyone to use the verbs we have discussed not only as you ask student questions in class, but how you frame your questions on assessments. Here are some suggestions:
Instead of saying “Which inequality is represented in the graph below,” add the word “Evaluate” at the start of the sentence [e.g., “Evaluate which inequality is represented in the graph below, and pick the best response from the choices listed.”
Instead of saying “Which is the best title for the series of maps at right,” add the word “Suggest” [e.g., “As you look at the graph to the right, what would you suggest would be the best title from the choices below.”
In music, tech, art, LOTE, etc, use sentences such as “What conclusion can you draw from the information presented?” “In measures 15–20, cite the key signature and dynamic levels.” “Summarize the information regarding the best tool for this particular job and explain why it is the one you would recommend.” “Distinguish between the choices below; which country is considered to be the birthplace of the Spanish language.” I encourage everyone to plan your lessons keeping the vocabulary words “upfront and center.”
(:
Andy
Cognitive/Conative
Per our discussion at the faculty meeting…
Whenever you can integrate the cognitive and the conative skills identified below into your unit plans, please do so. In addition to the vocabulary terms we have discussed, these are skills that every teacher can incorporate [where applicable]. Use your creative juices to determine where-in your content area-these would work best.
Cognitive skills are traditionally defined as those needed to effectively process information and complete tasks. Cognitive skills are required for tasks involving retrieval, comprehension, analysis, and utilization of knowledge. The majority of the practice standard skills from the CCSS are best classified as primarily cognitive in nature.
Conative skills are traditionally defined as the skills that allow a person to examine his or her knowledge and emotions in order to choose an appropriate future course of actions. A useful way to think about conative skills is in terms of interacting with others and controlling oneself.
Within the framework, Marzano and Heflebower (2012) identified specific classroom strategies that teachers can employ to teach cognitive and conative skills in their classrooms. This category included key words and phrases such as:
Construct arguments
Develop ideas
Build on others’ ideas
Integr...
50 min
March 09, 2014Community Engagement with Sharyle Karren Transformative Principal 014
Sponsor: Sanebox

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In this second part interview, Sharyle and I discuss the following:
Community helping out those who need it.
What the best parts are of having a new intern every year.
She answers the question of how to be a transformative principal. Look at the big picture.
She answers the question of what is in her office that inspires her. Then we talk about all the great ways she has involved her community in her travels, and how she gets them to see the big picture of helping others.
Because she is so involved in her community, she knows what skills and
Partnership with Apa Sherpa Foundation and Healthy Draper. Article about Apa Sherpa’s retirement
Going to Peru and involving the whole school.
Going to Africa and involving the community and school.
How she convinces parents and her community to get on board with her ideas.
How she connected Meet the Masters art program with music and dance.
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.
26 min

About Transformative Principal

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Jethro Jones interviews instructional leaders from around the nation to learn and teach what it takes to become a transformative principal. Episodes address topics like Response to Intervention (RTI),…