Transformative Principal

  Tom Sherrington (Twitter) is a former principal and teacher and is now a writer and trainer. He is the author of Teaching WalkThrus: Visual Step-by-Step Guides to Essential Teaching Techniques by Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli Walkthrus professional learning package. Visual guide to key instructional practices that most instructors should know about it. Each page represents 1 technique in 5 steps. ADAPT - Attempt, Develop, Adapt, Practice, Test You’ve got to have a go at something to see if you can get some mileage out of it. Properly evaluate after trying something out. If teachers think you’re telling them what to do, they tend to not do it. You’ve got to get that teacher to feel that the thing you’re suggesting is something they can sustain. Focus on the learning problems. Sometimes teachers are made to think about their performance. It is often not a fair judgment of their performance. I’m not here to judge you, but I’m here to help your students learn more. The strategies you focus on are the things that will help the teachers be successful. If you get along side someone they feel trusted, respected, and understood. Principals are under pressure to assure that their schools are doing well. This isn’t a soft approach, it’s the only approach. If a teacher is really struggling, you really get to the things that are preventing them from being successful. The challenge of teachers having good self-awareness. You get a little bit of tunnel vision; you don’t always see everything. You miss the fact that some kids have no idea what was going on? It’s a problem when someone feels judged. People fear being observed. Learning objectives written on board. Process dominating too much over what evidence-base is. Writing down learning objectives isn’t always the best day to make that happen. Positive framing - behavior management language. Checklisting helps people form shared understanding of terms. How to be a transformative principal? Go and make sure you’ve spent as much time as possible to observe your school performing. Don’t judge them, think of it through the lens of how can I help them. Filter out your judgments and tendencies.   Sponsors TeachFX Innovative school leaders across the country have started tracking online student participation using TeachFX because it’s one of the most powerful ways to improve student outcomes during COVID — especially for English Learners and students of color. Learn more about TeachFX and get a special offer at TeachFX.com InControl SEL for Middle School In Control created an effortless social and emotional, character development video curriculum for your students that’s ZERO-TEACHER-PREP AND it’s so cool looking- it feels like a Youtube or Netflix Series- and that’s purposeful, they meet students right where they’re at. The videos are 5–6 minutes, kids love them, teachers love them, and you will too. There’s no guesswork in the program because there’s a 21-video progression for each grade level. They’ve thought of everything– because it’s a group of award winning counselors, teachers, and principals that came up with this thing. It’ll help you save tons of time and headaches. Take it from me, it’s time to check that social-emotional learning box, the empty one that’s been keeping you up at night–and it’s time to do it in a meaningful, measurable, magnetic way. If you go to www.InControlSEL.com/jethro you can check out some of the videos and even receive 20% off if you pre-order for next school year John Catt Today’s Transformative Principal sponsor, John Catt Educational, amplifies world-class voices on timeless topics, with a list of authors recognized globally for their fresh perspectives and proven strategies to drive success in modern schools and classrooms. John Catt’s mission is to support high-quality teaching and learning by ensuring every educator has access to professional development materials that are research-based, practical, and focused on the key topics proven essential in today’s and tomorrow’s schools. Learn more about professional development publications that are easy to implement for your entire faculty, and are both quickly digestible and rigorous, by visiting https://us.johncattbookshop.com/. Learn more about some of the newest titles: Michaela: The Power of Culture by Katharine Birbalsingh Teaching WalkThrus: Visual Step-by-Step Guides to Essential Teaching Techniques by Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli Putting Staff First: A blueprint for revitalising our schools by John Tomsett and Jonny Uttley The Teaching Delusion: Why Teaching In Our Schools Isn’t Good Enough (And How We Can Make It Better) by Bruce Robertson Stop Talking About Wellbeing: A pragmatic approach to teacher workload by Kat Howard John Catt is also proud publisher of the new book from Transformative Principal host Jethro Jones: SchoolX: How principals can design a transformative school experience for students, teachers, parents – and themselves Visit this page to learn more about bulk orders and how to bring John Catt’s research-based materials to your school: https://us.johncattbookshop.com/pages/agents-and-distributors