Have a Good Life

Kara is an assistant principal at Edwin Lowe Elementary in New Town North Dakota.

• Her generation doesn’t feel that people are coming in to take away their culture.
• There’s nothing we can’t learn from each other.
• How to help kids choose to be in education: Be that outstanding teacher!
• Having authentic conversations.
• History of Indian Education in America.
• Boarding schools were opened up. Goal was to assimilate the natives.
• Have to be willing to learn to respect their culture.
• Pow-Wows are very vital.
• Community
• Being fair, being willing to learn from others.
• To help students, you need to have a good relationship.
• Pair people up with support staff.
• Providing resources for students as they are growing and developing.
• Mediators help bridge the gap.
• How paraprofessionals can help. They need lots of training.
• In the eyes of the student, there is not much difference between paraprofessionals and teachers.
• How to be a transformative principal: Maintain work-life balance, be authentic and have authentic conversations.
• Expect teachers to be accountable for their work.
• Twitter is a educational toolbox.

Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher. 

Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools.

Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show.

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Kara is an assistant principal at Edwin Lowe Elementary in New Town North Dakota.

• Grew up Cheyenne-Sioux South Dakota.
• Foster education.
• Emancipated as a young adult.
• Knew what it took to survive in life.
• Dropped out of High School.
• Started school again in her 20s.
• Life on the reservation due to socio-economic and other issues.
• She saw the world starting to pass her by.
• Writing a paragraph sounds so simple to most people, but it is very difficult if you haven’t done it in 14 years.
• Working on a Doctorate.
• So much to give back now to others.
• No student cannot succeed when they have the resources to be successful.
• Uncle was a good mentor.
• Making connections instructors.
• Not being afraid to ask questions that were on my mind.
• Most people want to help others.
• You have to be open to saying “I don’t know”
• You have to be reflective.
• Be reflective in your successes.
• Need to relax, slow down, and wait for things to happen.
• Felt drawn back to the reservation.
• Groomed to teach in Bismarck, but felt that working on a reservation would be more appropriate.
• Throw-away kids - Kara wants to advocate for them.

Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher. 

Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools.

Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show.

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New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

Teacher-led Professional Development with Nathan Adams Transformative Principal 107

Nathan has been a special education teacher for 8 years. He has taught in middle, high, and elementary levels.

• Teacher led professional development
• Sponsored by the local teacher’s union.
• Joined the union that has supported him, in an effort to give back.
• Idea of helping general education teachers and special education teachers understand the needs of each other.
• Brotherhood of professionals.
• Need to find a way to offer this for credit to improve skills but also have incentive.
• NEA grant that supported professional development for teachers teaching teachers.
• Institute for Professional Development.
• Will align in the future to make the district PD calendar aligned with what the association is wanting.
• Surveyed members to determine what they wanted to learn.
• This is a perk/benefit for the members of the association.
• Challenge is finding the time to make this happen.
• Highlights: Teachers posted what they found beneficial from the courses.
• Google Certified Teacher, Level I and II.
• Teachers were responsive to the things they were learning.
• Advice: Continue to use good teaching strategies. But don’t be demeaning.
• District started doing magnet schools.
• Principal that just started in the position.
• Teacher leader for educational technology.
• Personable leader, understands the field, understands the kids.
• Ambassador as a teacher.
• Weekly email from the principal.
• Staff meetings are held in a different teacher’s classroom each week.
• What are we going to do that week that is interesting?
• Principal asks how he can support us.
• How to be a transformative principal: Trust the people that are working for you.

Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher. 

Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools.

Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show.

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New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

Kristin Bentley is a 2nd grade teacher in a Title I school.

She created an awesome app that helps manage classroom behavior: Color My Day

Introductory Video

• Why use this rather than Class Dojo.
• Think Time forms and Office Discipline Referrals are built-in to the app.
• Shoutout to Tricia Skyles
• ODRs going down means nothing if teacher morale is going up.
• The process of creating an app from the ground up.
• Crayons and paper
• Lucidchart
• Found a graphic designer.
• Found a programmer.
• Tell people about your ideas, find out what people are looking for in their schools.
• Do something to make people’92s lives easier.
• Make sure it is not something extra for teachers or admins to implement.
• Need 3 people: Expert, designer, and developer.
• Three ways to get it off the ground: pay someone, find someone to buy into your vision, find investors.
• Planbook
• Support teachers who are building apps to support students.

Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher. 

Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools.

Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show.

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New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

Kristin Bentley is a 2nd grade teacher in a Title I school.

She created an awesome app that helps manage classroom behavior: Color My Day

• Using card pulls is not very effective.
• Clip charts use separate clips to show that positive and negative behavior.
• The two clips gave the ’93naughty’94 kids a chance to have a good day.
• Goal for card pulls is to stay positive.
• Card pulls don’92t give chances for kids to see what they can accomplish.
• Clips change kids self-esteem.
• Physical chart helps kids see and experience changes. Digital version allows teachers to collect and analyze data.
• Think Time form allows student to fill out the form with teacher and record it in the app.
• Data is collected school-wide and allows teachers to customize their individual reasons for clips up and down.
• Digital version of clip chart allows teachers to have data to collect and prepare for RTI, special ed referrals, and more.
• The app keeps track of the ratio of positive to negative ratios.
• Very powerful for teachers to see how they are interacting with their students.
• Teaches them a truth that we are both good and bad, and not just one or the other.
• Discounts available by mentioning this podcast. Huge discount for teachers.
• colormydaykids.com colormydaykids@gmail.com.

Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher. 

Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools.

Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show.

Buy Communication Cards

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Download Paperless Principal.  

Sponsor: Sanebox

Web Site

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New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal