Have a Good Life

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

Tessa works with teenagers, and has decided to take on parenting from a new perspective.   While patiently waiting for her book’s completion "For the Sake of Our Youth: A Therapist's Perspective on Raising Kids in Today's Culture" (due to hit the shelves Spring 2020) Tessa coaches and presents to parents her research on today’s teen depression, anxiety and suicide rate focusing on parent/child connection. You can connect with her at her website Tessastuckey.com or follow her on instagram @themomtherapist.

• Why she wanted to work with teens and parents.
• Kids came to me with suicidal thoughts.
• It scared me that they were going to grow up in a world where suicide was so common.

6 cultural influences that are happening in today’s world.

1. Social Trend - people see it and so they think it. Not being balanced with appropriate preventative care.
2. Immediate gratification - everything is just a click away. Teaching our kids how to struggle. There is no instant fix for an emotional hardship. You have to think a little unnaturally to slow things down a little bit.
3. Lack of personal connections are being made. Social media is meant for connection but it doesn’t create the same closeness and bond.
4. Attention seeking - longing to feel important. It has become an acceptable way to get attention in our society. Reacting to a lack of attention and lack of resilience.
5. Social media - 5 categories: don’t need to connect face to face, comparison, kids can’t turn their social life, cyberbullying (hurt people hurt people), phone addiction.
6. Pressure - we live a go-go-go lifestyle. No mercy and no grace. Everyone is striving to be perfect.
7. Be the supporter and helper for your child and not the fixer for all their problems.
8. How to be a transformative principal? Understand your own philosophies on the kids you interact with. What are the core values you want kids to have when they leave your school? This is not just mental illness anymore.

New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

Rachel Brown is a Curriculum, Instruction, & Professional Growth Strategist for Douglas County School District.

• Power in the missed opportunities
• You have the power of leading culture in your building.
• Even the opportunity of saying hello to a kid is really powerful.
• Each teacher had to own making a positive interaction with each child.
• When things were going unsaid, they festered
• Confronting with Kindness
• the things you don’t say could have a big impact on the climate and culture.
• Emotional intelligence - Elena Aguilar work on the art of coaching teams.
• Have to get rid of your ego, go in in a way that you open yourself up like a book.
• Buy the Communication Cards
• We didn’t do our best work.
• Kids couldn’t tell who was the principal
• New principal was very communicative and it changed the culture.
• How to be a transformative principal? This is a rough time for some kids and you can take the time to be an impactful person and not miss the opportunity to make a little adjustment to make your school feel like the safest home for those kids.

Turmoil with change in leadership because of lack of communication and emotional intelligence.
* Talking with team about how to make things better.
* People coming to say

• Lost sight of standards - using the standards as our base.
• student centered coaching - to try to come
• http://calendly.com/jethro-jones/transformative-principal-interview
• https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/10/03/personal-best
• http://www.jethrojones.com/presentations
•  

New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal