Transformative Principal

  Michael Horn is the co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute and author of Blended and Disrupting Class, and the new book coming out this week called “Choosing College!”, which is the book we are talking about today! The book is about more than just choosing college, right? Tell me about that. There are a few stats about college that are just appalling, so many people not finishing, so much debt. Why do we still support it? boost in wages, employers require it. military or college! Personally fulfilling A lot of people don’t know. What language do people use to describe what they did. A lot more students should be taking a gap year. Working on the newspaper in high school. Let’s talk about quality assurance. I hear people give advice that it doesn’t matter at all where you go or what you major in. What’s the value I’m getting from this experience? We don’t have enough data while we do have too much data! I am not a historian, even though my major was history. We don’t know what we don’t know. We hav

Brad Barber is a former business owner who is now an educator who founded a school called the Tesla Academy. At the Tesla Academy, they coach students rather than teach them. We are an academy, not a school. Agnostic about the school kids attend, it just needs to be good. We can react very quickly and give support to kids. We diagnose their problems. Sometimes they take notes to impress someone else. When you get into the business world, you have to learn really rapidly. Why would kids want to come to the Tesla Academy? It feels so weird to do something different. There’s a generation gap in parents: younger parents totally get it. How to be a transformative principal? My model could really take off in special education. My model would work perfect with 20-40 students. We're so grateful to our sponsor AI Coach by Edthena. AI Coach enables your teachers to go through coaching cycles based on their own needs. The virtual coach guides teachers to reflect on their teaching, set a goal, and create an action plan

Brad Barber is a former business owner who is now an educator who founded a school called the Tesla Academy. At the Tesla Academy, they coach students rather than teach them. * Business process outsourcing. * Went back to school as a teacher. * Started at a charter school. * Not the primary person who delivers the content. * Education is so inefficient. * I can teach it, but I want my students to learn how to learn. * The difference between a coach and a teacher. * They’ve been surviving school for 9 or 10 years. * The teachers become babysitters (in other classes) and that’s not what we’re about. * We’re observing the entire time. * Kids understand that the technique wasn’t right We're so grateful to our sponsor AI Coach by Edthena. AI Coach enables your teachers to go through coaching cycles based on their own needs. The virtual coach guides teachers to reflect on their teaching, set a goal, and create an action plan… all based on gathering classroom evidence. It gives support between PD days  and other coa

  Dr. Grayson Maas is the Director of Communications for the Art of Problem Solving, a unique solution to teaching math anytime, anywhere. Motivated students in grades 2–12. We are the place students come to to learn math that they aren’t going to learn in school. Instill motivation in kids to want to do math. By and large math is traditionally taught with an emphasis on procedures, memorizing, and pattern matching. We are losing the art and beauty of mathematics by how we teach math in schools. We challenge them and ask them to rise to the occasion. We give them puzzles. We get a flood of serotonin when we solve problems. It’s not wrong to have the wrote, it’s wrong if that’s all you have. If you don’t move beyond the basics, you won’t be able to apply it later. If you take a problem-solving approach… We need to carve out time for kids to be uncomfortable with a problem. But how do we make time for that? It limits the incentive for kids to take intellectual risks. We can do this together. Education doesn’t

Creating Better Learning Environments with Kevin Stoller Transformative Principal 291 Social Media: Every school has defined their vision, the space should reflect that. Over the past 10 years, Kevin has visited over 1,000 schools and spoke with educators and students to learn how student outcomes are impacted by the learning environment. As CEO of Kay-Twelve, a company committed to improving learning environments for 10,000,000 students, Kevin wants to share his findings with others involved with education. Came from a family of educators. Hesitant to get into education furniture business because it was all the same. If you’re implementing change, it’s really difficult to do without changing the environment. Start small, learn from it, and then make the changes needed. The furniture is preventing me from doing it. It’s not about the furniture. Every school has defined their vision, the space should reflect that. Need to establish some rules around chaotic furniture. Space can have a big impact on driving ch

Communicating to Create Happy Families with Jennifer Larson Transformative Principal 290 Social media: If you have a good communication system and everyone is engaged, there’s a positive buzz to the school. Jennifer Larson is he co-founder and CEO of Hive Digital Minds, which provides parent-school communication solutions through schoolbzz.com Completely overwhelmed Couldn’t keep up. Shift towards personalized learning means there are a lot of different adults supporting a student. “I don’t even read the newsletter anymore.” Parents want to know what the two or three places for information. Grades communication is an important part of it as well. School website is a great marketing tool to recruit students, teachers, and families to your school. Figure out what information you want to share with the public and put that on the web site. Find tools that work well for your enrolled families. Build a communication strategy that gets information to the families quickly and efficiently. Do a communication audit to

Danielle Nuhfer is a teacher who helps other teachers focus on self-care and you can find more information about her at teachingwell.life Teacher for 16 years. Not sure she was going to go back to teaching. Second burnout at year 10. Sabbatical in 2015 and 2016. What led to the second burnout. Lots of additional work responsibilities being taken on. Hard saying no to things. Reframe the No. “Let me say no for now.” Summer of Self-Care. - Deep dives into self-care What teachers need to start doing: Burnout and stress is common, but it doesn’t have to be normal. How we feel begins with us. Nothing needs to change, but everything can change when we change. How to be a transformative principal? Start with yourself. What can you do to take care of yourself? Back to School Bundle - Stress care solutions, how to get a 40-hour workweek, and more!   We're so grateful to our sponsor AI Coach by Edthena. AI Coach enables your teachers to go through coaching cycles based on their own needs. The virtual coach guides

My wife told me she just couldn't do it anymore. "It's too hard," she said. "Every time I drop him off, the tears, the yelling, and the crying. I just can't take him to school anymore. We've got to figure something out." We had talked about different things, from counseling to medication to other options. For the time being, our solution was that I would drop him off at school. For some reason, his reactions to his anxiety seemed to be less when dad dropped him off. Any parent who has experienced this knows how difficult it is to deal with the intensity of the emotions on a daily basis. This was especially challenging for me, because I struggled with this as well. All the way until I was 19, any new change was especially difficult. My heart broke for him every day, because I knew how powerless he felt. When he started kindergarten, we were living on a small island in the gulf of Alaska, and the community didn’t have the resources to offer a lot of help. We did all kinds of things to try and help, meditation a

  Kip Motta is a principal in Rich Utah. You have to deal with people. Everything is about relationships. Doing what’s best for the team. Everyone is different, and you need to adapt your leadership to that person. A history of four-day school weeks. Change based on school district transportation costs. Waiver to reduce day requirement (152 vs 182) and still meet 990 hour requirement (now meet over 1000 hours) Start school at 8 am, out at 3:30. Parent teacher conferences count as Very few breaks - Labor Day, thanksgiving, Christmas for 1 week. Student and staff attendance increased. Ask staff and community to do personal appointments on Fridays 4 day school week is much more difficult for elementary school. Helped us go down the road of standards-based instruction. Struggles with 4 day school week Finding coaches is difficult Daycare for Friday’s with no school. You have to do everything through the lens of what is best for the most children. Kids are more recharged after a 3-day weekend every week! March an

Revolutions Start with Relationships with Darren Ellwein Transformative Principal 286 Social media: Tailor everything to the learner - via @dellwein Darren Ellwein is my dessert bro and principal at the middle level in South Dakota! Revolution is about a group of people. From a staff culture standpoint: there was some kickback. It’s so much fun! Personalizing learning - what small steps do you need to take? Tailor everything to the learner. Mastery projects - success criteria You have to give up control. Relationships “it feels like my family.” Let the kids decide the norms. Waiting on content for 2-3 weeks. Done with our standards before we get to the standardized tests. personalizedlearningtools.com Personalized Learning is not about sitting in front of a computer all day. Starts with a relationship, then goes on to flexible content. Those kids broke in adults every year! Hannah and Alex - there was a pace set for everyone, even though it didn’t match. She would tell you she wouldn’t go back to the way it

After a career in innovation, Ted Dintersmith is most well-known to educators as the executive producer of the movie, Most Likely to Succeed, coauthor of the book of the same, and the man who traveled all fifty states to see What Schools Could Be. How to change schools? Changing everything overnight - the sharp knives come out. Thoughtful, supportive resources at innovationplaylist.org Have your community define essential competencies for your kids. Look for success points in your school. Encourage the innovators to do things. Ask them to keep an open mind. Native villages Carving up a moose carcass. How to be a transformative principal? Spend some time with young kids and recognize that this is the fight we can take on. change happens slowly right up until it happens quick What do teachers have in common that do innovative things within the system? What are you seeing China? Deleted scenes about kids not having homework from Most Likely to Succeed - share that story. http://teddintersmith.com/innovation-pla

After a career in innovation, Ted Dintersmith is most well-known to educators as the executive producer of the movie, Most Likely to Succeed, coauthor of the book of the same, and the man who traveled all fifty states to see What Schools Could Be. Education is the only antidote Machines are taking over so many jobs. Social media fueled technology is making it challenging to know what is real. What they could do vs. what they do. the people who get to the top of these bureaucratic systems are bureaucrats If we just focused on setting up the conditions for educators to do their best work. It’s time for us to be more like activists. What are you working on and why? The purpose of school is to rank kids. Why isn’t that the way we do it? New Hampshire portfolio assessment system. Schedule a call with Jethro Are you feeling like you are always behind at school? Do you feel like you need about 2 more hours each day to accomplish everything? Here’s how I help principals work manageable hours: Create your ideal week

Mia Pumo is a former teacher and math specialist and currently is the cofounder of Constructive Learning Design, which supports teachers and learners by making learning joyful. Partnering with community organizations. Schools often don’t know how to partner. Businesses don’t know how to join in the work with schools. Use coaching skills to build relationships. Learning is much more beneficial when they come together and make a real impact. Experiential learning - year long process developing a plan around a real issue. You never know what seeds have been planted through that experience. How to start the conversation. Focus on quality partnerships. How to be a transformative principal? Active listening to create a shared vision. We're so grateful to our sponsor AI Coach by Edthena. AI Coach enables your teachers to go through coaching cycles based on their own needs. The virtual coach guides teachers to reflect on their teaching, set a goal, and create an action plan… all based on gathering classroom evidenc

Mia Pumo is a former teacher and math specialist and currently is the cofounder of Constructive Learning Design, which supports teachers and learners by making learning joyful. Making learning joyful I was really starting to contemplate leaving the profession I love because the joy was not there. We believe that if we design and deliver powerful learning experiences for educators, they will design and deliver powerful learning experiences for students. Coaches can transform the learning and cultural experiences of a school. You can’t afford to not have coaches! There are many ways to incorporate coaching into a culture. Leaders with coaching skills are more effective and more impactful. Communication, active listening, developing a culture where coaching and feedback are part of the norm. Have leaders take on that coaching role as part of what they do. Developing culture falls on the leader. Set up protocols and structures to make that an enjoyable experience. Coaching cycles The best professional developmen

  Brittni Schroeder is the founder of Compassion Clubs, dedicated to the memory of her late son who passed away tragically at the age of 14. Started with a scholarship fund for students. Received hundreds of cards and letters from people who cared about Gage. The “Can Man” People wanted to be with our family. “We only suffer when we think about ourselves.” - Tony Robbins We have to serve. That’s how we heal. Gave kids pizzas and told them to sit with kids who didn’t have anyone sitting with them. Elementary and secondary curriculum. Secondary the kids lead it. Elementary is teacher/counselor/parent run. If they don’t know how to serve and think outside of themselves they are going to have a rough adult life. 12 different values: compassion, kindness, gratitude, charity, courage, etc. Teach about the value, share a story, then serve. Teenagers don’t seem to have coping skills. Nominate kids for scholarships and grants. My son’s legacy is compassion. Most successful club in Michigan. How to be a transformative

  Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath, @jchorvath is an educator and researcher with expertise in the areas of cognitive neuroscience, biological psychology, brain simulation, the learning sciences, and effective teaching/learning practices There is 1 learning process! It is the same for everyone. You don’t differentiate so students learn differently, you differentiate so students engage differently. If you want to learn something you have to engage in it, but not too much! Attenborough effect. Science of learning and craft of teaching. Thinking principle Learning principle - all learning has to begin with facts. Semantic memories for the key 10 or 15 facts. Three episodic memories for a fact. Episodic memories vs. semantic memories. All starting of learning builds episodic memories. How we use inquiry wrong in education. Surface learning is semantic facts. Binary. Conceptualization - how are you going to organize your facts. Forming a concept. Can’t be binary. Contextually emergent skills. Fear of failure Learning res

Michael Reichert is an applied and research psychologist who has long been an advocate for children and families. From counseling youth involved in the juvenile justice system through experiences leading treatment teams in a psychiatric hospital, all the while managing an independent clinical practice, Dr. Reichert has tested his understanding of children with practical, even life-saving, challenges. Every single kind of problem was transformed based on relationship. It’s the adult’s job to be the relationship manager. Live up to your goals. Relational breakdowns. How do we promote the relationship between the boy and the teacher. Breakdowns happen all the time. It’s the responsibility of the relationship manager to monitor whether it has broken down. The boy that simply checks out and underperforms. Book I Can Learn From You: Boys as Relational Learners I won’t learn from you You may have to develop new skills out of your repertoire to reach kids. Every type of boy can be reached. When a teacher reaches th

  Michael Reichert is an applied and research psychologist who has long been an advocate for children and families. From counseling youth involved in the juvenile justice system through experiences leading treatment teams in a psychiatric hospital, all the while managing an independent clinical practice, Dr. Reichert has tested his understanding of children with practical, even life-saving, challenges. The stereotypes of women has changed significantly in the last 40 years. There’s been very little to counteract stereotypes of men and boys. Stereotypes shape boys’ lives early on. We cannot say that women are limited because of biology, but we still say that about boys. When Boys become “Boys” - Judy Chu Started out as direct, authentic and able to articulate themselves. Traveled from presence to pretense by way of posturing. Inauthentic and less willing to articulate their feelings. Conditioning comes from everywhere: teachers, parents, peers. A man box study - messages about being a man. Stoic, unemotional,

  Derek McCoy is a middle school principal in Georgia, and a fellow Digital Principal of the Year. He is also the coauthor of “The Revolution: It’s Time To Empower Change In Our Schools” We still sit in rows, we still deliver everything the same as we always. The time for shifting is over. Shift gives comfort, but we’ve got to make some change for our kids. We’re asking adults to change. 3 R’s is how we conduct business, and it always has been. That’s not going anywhere. We also know better. Shifting from the three R’s Passion - finding something that you’re passionate about. You might have some parents that can’t get into all the fundamental three R’s. When you’re passionate about it, you don’t give up. There is a disconnect with schools and parents now. We know better. We know how the brain works. Learning is more social than it is memorization. Don’t be the teacher you had as a student, It’s about learning new, and trying new for our learners. Change is going to happen, so we can embrace that change for o

  Christopher is a principal at Whitman Hansen Regional High School. Transitioning to a new high school. A new position gives you the opportunity to reflect on where you want to go and who you want to go. Sharing yourself first. I’m not a student-centered principal! I’m a staff-centered principal. Build staff meetings around getting to know each other. Building relationships Every day, with some exceptions, I’m in classrooms giving feedback to teachers. Out in front playing music with kids. Using Voxer to give immediate feedback and face-to-face meetings. Three simple questions: What’s working? What do I need to stop doing? What can I do to make your life better or easier? Start by supporting, then you engage them, then you empower them. A good leader is a servant leader. A good leader becomes a better leader by making others more successful. Clear the road for others. Experience is so important and we have to fail to keep learning. We don’t know how good we can be. Every student leaving the high school with