Have a Good Life

Sam Brooks is honored to have worked for Putnam County Schools (TN) for the past 27 years. Brooks leads all student/teacher personalized learning opportunities in the district, which includes online, dual enrollment, dual credit, and industry certification options. Mr. Brooks is a Google Certified Trainer and was recognized by the Center for Digital Education as a national Top 30 Technologists, Transformers, Trailblazers in 2014 and his program has been identified in several national publications.

• Director of Personalized Learning - started as credit options for kids. Now is for so much more.
• How can we meet the individual needs of each child in the classroom?
• State level personalized learning.
• VITAL - virtual instruction to accentuate learning
• Personalized learning task force.
• Mimic task force in our own district.
• Doing a lot with credit recovery.
• Pockets of innovation.
• Future Ready - Getting a student to be ready for whatever they want their future to be.
• I only saw how things affected me as a teacher within my four walls.
• How to be a transformative principal? Be open minded and take on the mindset of working for the students.

New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

Zachary Hartzman is a high school Economics & English teacher in New York City.

• Taught many different social studies classes.
• International and transfer school. 100% immigrant & ELL students.
• Passionate about videos games.
• Getting kids to interact with games
• Florence - great app for relationships.
• Using games to deal with discussing heavy issues.
• Whenever I teach one of these lessons, I write a post showing how it went.
• It’s been really hard to find engaging content that
• 3 days a week, I teach an ELA course using video games as the main text.
• Gone Home
• What Remains of Edith Finch?
• One student playing while everyone else is talking about the gameplay.
• Regents exam required for graduation - read a text and identify the central idea, so we use the videos games to focus on those literary events.
• You have to give them time to learn how to use the controller.
• Positive outcomes: Whenever I teach with a game, there’s never a head down that day.
• Expanding the curriculum, but would love to get more science and math.
• How to be a transformative principal? If a teacher comes to you with a potentially wacky idea, hear them out.

I'd love to work with you! To learn more about working with Jethro, go here.

New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

I've got some exciting news to share with you....

But first, a little context.

The last few months have been pretty exciting.

I've started a student driven learning newsletter in partnership with ASCD.

I spoke at the ReWire conference in New Jersey.

I've been at FETC this week, and have some amazing interviews coming out on the podcast soon.

The podcast is at 600,000 downloads for its six-year anniversary. (click here to get an email each Sunday when it is released!)

I am a New Team Habits Champion!

My wife and I have started coaching families on how to set goals in a family setting! How cool is that?

I'm giving a keynote at a conference in February, more details soon...

And here's the big news:

At the end of this school year I will be leaving Fairbanks and start supporting principals directly full time through the mastermind, speaking, and consulting.

I'm pretty excited about our new adventure, and I hope that I can work with you! If you've got a need for a speaker in the next six months, please reach out.

New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

This is an amazing story of how Kimberly's district set them up for success so they could find time for the important things in life. What a cool and unique approach. 

Kimberly Dixon is principal in Toronto

• Took a year off to take some coursework.
• Mother had supported her at the beginning of her career.
• Lacking balance.
• Four over 5. Paid 80% over four years then paid 80% for fifth year.
• Typically accept about a dozen people for that in our district.
• Became principal and started coursework to become a superintendent at the same time.
• I realized I had been working really hard so travel was definitely a goal.
• I had to operate within the parameters of
• Principal of a summer school program in South Korea, kids met in South Korea and then went to the Philippines.
• Be present as a mother and take care of myself.
• The year was very unplanned.
• School seems very Eurocentric, but our schools are so diverse.
• Families are always excited
• The balance needed in life to be your best.
• Without balance, we run into issues of burnout
• It’s about putting myself well into the time I have.
• Not having that rushed approach. Respecting my time when I’m not in school and not “on.”
• Giving a lot of yourself to other people’s children.
• Having a purpose for my days.
• Be in each classroom before every major break in the day.
• None of my goals could happen unless I built the relationships.
• No more than one evening event each week.
• More balanced for my own kids and the kids at school.
• How to be a transformative principal? I’ve discovered who being me is! Try to center yourself in some way to figure out what makes you peaceful.

Work with Jethro

New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

This is an amazing story of how Kimberly's district set them up for success so they could find time for the important things in life. What a cool and unique approach. 

Kimberly Dixon is principal in Toronto

• Took a year off to take some coursework.
• Mother had supported her at the beginning of her career.
• Lacking balance.
• Four over 5. Paid 80% over four years then paid 80% for fifth year.
• Typically accept about a dozen people for that in our district.
• Became principal and started coursework to become a superintendent at the same time.
• I realized I had been working really hard so travel was definitely a goal.
• I had to operate within the parameters of
• Principal of a summer school program in South Korea, kids met in South Korea and then went to the Philippines.
• Be present as a mother and take care of myself.
• The year was very unplanned.
• School seems very Eurocentric, but our schools are so diverse.
• Families are always excited
• The balance needed in life to be your best.
• Without balance, we run into issues of burnout
• It’s about putting myself well into the time I have.
• Not having that rushed approach. Respecting my time when I’m not in school and not “on.”
• Giving a lot of yourself to other people’s children.
• Having a purpose for my days.
• Be in each classroom before every major break in the day.
• None of my goals could happen unless I built the relationships.
• No more than one evening event each week.
• More balanced for my own kids and the kids at school.
• How to be a transformative principal? I’ve discovered who being me is! Try to center yourself in some way to figure out what makes you peaceful.

Work with Jethro

New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

Turner is the principal of Tristate State Christian Academy in Elkton Maryland.

• Rewire conference - really powerful conference in New Jersey
• It’s easy to get the ideas of a person by reading their blogs or listening to a podcast
• Most recent fascination is Disney.
• Disney does this better than anyone else in the world.
• Creating Disney Magic podcast.
• Parents are church leaders and they read diverse materials.
• We are all aiming for the same thing: becoming great leaders
• The one thing podcast interview referenced.
• The Way Of The Shepherd book.
• Building a Storybrand book.
• businessmadesimple.com
• Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders
• How to be a transformative principal? Check in on your teachers because you care

Work with Jethro

New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal