Have a Good Life

This second part of the interview with Tom Whitford delves deeper into the great things he is doing. We discuss the following:

• Working with 3 different schools
• How he manages dealing with all that they have going on.
• Dealing with the new teacher evaluation system using the Danielson model
• What he has been focusing on as a leader in the three schools: PBIS and RTI.
• What RTI looks like on a day-to-day basis in his school(s).
• What ICE looks like at his school(s). What data they use, and how fluid their groups are.
• Why some students might get less support by entering Special Education than if they stay in their intervention groups.
• How to create opportunities for fluid movement and appropriate support between groups to meet the needs of the students.
• WADITW (We’ve Always Done it this Way)
• What advice would he give to principals? Relationships
• How being out in the hallways is beneficial (even during parent teacher conferences).
• What is in his office to motivate him? Great sayings in his office and his kids.
• Voxer usage helping him communicate with other principals.
• Shoutout to @gcouros and @mmiller

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Sponsor: Sanebox

New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

This week’s interview is with Tom Whitford, an amazing principal of 3(!) schools in Wisconsin.

• His mentor that taught him a lot about how to be a leader and how to push yourself and others to be better, book reads, and more.
• Professional Learning Communities in Tom’s ideal world.
• PLCs require a whole philosophy change to be effective.
• How to set the stage to be successful in having discussions with teachers. Power of change comes from stories.
• Create opportunities for conversation.
• How can administrators tell stories? Start with true stories. (Don’t make things up.) Provide opportunities for real conversation.
• What can we do to make this work, and what will prevent us from being successful?
• It is too easy for things to get said behind closed doors, and we need to address challenges early on, and then address issues as they arise.
• Focus the conversations on continuous improvement on faculty meeting time.
• “Jumpstart Fridays” - aides and others work with kids so they can do collaboration times.
• How Tom gets teachers to feel comfortable sharing their stories with Tom and the other teachers.
• “Speed of Trust” By Stephen M.R. Covey
• We don’t get better, unless we can talk about the mistakes that we made.
• How Tom figured out that his faculty did not like his strategy for getting them to have fun with his emails. (Background blog post - “Learning with your mistakes”)

Sponsor: Sanebox

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Transformative Principal on Stitcher

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New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

My second part interview with the great Alice Peck. In this episode we focus on her new assignment as a principal of a Title I school in our district.

• What is Alice going to take with her to her new Title I school?
• What is Alice anxious about in going to her new school?
• Why Alice is excited about change.
• “If you’re not nervous, you probably shouldn’t be doing this!”
• How Alice is going to overcome her fears.
• “The greatest way to overcome fear is to face it and address it!”
• How Alice will deal with building trust as fast as she can. Hint: you can’t speed up trust.
• The importance of visibility as a school leader.
• Modeling the kind of work ethic she wants her staff to have.
• What advice does Alice have to be a transformative principal? Surround yourself with smart people.
• What helps Alice focus on what is most important? (I forgot to take a picture before I left her office! I’ll see if you can send me one.)

Sponsor: Sanebox

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Transformative Principal on Stitcher

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New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

Today, I have the pleasure of introducing you to Alice Peck, one of the best principals I have ever worked with. You’ll love to get to know her in this episode.

• How she came to be where she is at.
• What she noticed coming from Texas to Utah.
• What she really enjoys about how things have changed since she came to her current position.
• How she got her staff on board right from the beginning with PBIS.
• The art program at Oakdale.
• The process of starting PBIS at her school. Practical advice of how to get things going.
• How important it is to have the whole staff involved in school-wide initiatives (speaking of PBIS specifically).
• Why an actual form for Office Discipline Referral form is important.
• Where to go when processes are established and ready to maintain.

Sponsor: Sanebox

Web Site

Transformative Principal on Stitcher

Refer A Principal

New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

Sponsor: SaneboxWeb Site

Transformative Principal on Stitcher

Refer A Principal

Best Tools for Busy Administrators Survey

• How to manage time on social media with being a principal, doctoral student, etc. How to connect with others.
• It is about connections that is most beneficial.
• Connecting with Bill Ferriter and John Pederson
• It isn’t about the tech itself, it is about the real.
• Technology just helps you connect with others.
• What Curt is most proud of that is happening at his school right now.
• Remodeling his school thanks to a funding referendum his community.
• Student-produced newscast. (Led by Crystal Brunelle)
• His school’s Facebook page
• Going out in the school and snapping pictures.
• International Happy Day “Wouldn’t this be cool to do?” - said a teacher at his school.
• People make stuff up on the Internet
• Humility - Curt is constantly deferring praise to others and deflecting praise and comments to his staff and other people around him.
• Strengths-Based Leadership Great book!
• Great leaders need to be excellent listeners.
• How Curt grew to learn about himself. Evaluating others.
• Giving feedback that is based on what is seen in other classrooms, rather than, “When I was a teacher…”
• We have to notice others around us.
• Spend time to get to know people. Make sure you’re winning hearts and minds before you try to do anything.
• We aren’t a bunch of independent contractor.
• Techlandia podcast. And on Twitter - If you listen to this on Sunday, you’ll find something that you can put to use on Monday.
• How to be a Transformative Principal: Be well read.
• What motivates him: Nice notes from teachers, parents, students.
• “You are responsible for the energy you bring into this space.”

Shoutouts: Bill Ferriter Solution tree Crystal brunelle

New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal