In this episode, host Jethro Jones welcomes Shenita Perry, an assistant principal from Montgomery Public Schools, Alabama. They discuss the unique challenges of educating gifted students, Shenita's experience with the SchoolX book study, and valuable insights on empathy and perspective in education. Shenita also shares practical advice for transformative leadership.

• Magnet Middle School
• Academically and artistically gifted children
• Awkwardness of being middle schoolers and gifted can be challenging
• Principal Matters Listeners
• The School Experience vs the Traditional Experience
• Design thinking process
• What does the school look like through the other peoples’ viewpoints.
• Treating kids as if they’re not human.
• We forget the humanity of every other part.
• Day to day work - Looking at things through other peoples’ eye.
• How to be a transformative principal? Have a listening ear and an open eye to see from different perspectives. Listen to understand instead of listening to respond.
• Join the book study here.

We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL.

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

In this episode of Transformative Principal, host Jethro Jones welcomes Dr. Melinda Bier, the Theresa M. Fisher Endowed Professor for citizenship education at the University of Missouri St. Louis. They discuss the character education program, the impact of a national cohort, and faculty changes during the pandemic. They also delve into the design of the new cohort at UMSL, the importance of practical learning, and the integration of character education and social emotional learning into school leadership.

• Having a national cohort, online only program
• Really interesting what people learned from each other
• The design of the program
• Adaptive to the needs of students
• Urban university with a history
• Loss of faculty members
• Modeling is an important part of our theoretical basis
• Next cohort - character development, social-emotional learning, and leadership
• Faculty team to walk through this with people.
• Who You are is More Important with Tom Hoerr Transformative Principal 224
• Formative Five with Tom Hoerr Transformative Principal 225
• Chief Empathy Officer with Dr. Tom Hoerr Transformative Principal 495
• Character Education is a focus on the whole person
• Adults need to model the behaviors they want to see in the kids.
• Kids need opportunities to experience all the virtues.
• Use your power for the common good.
• Kids get gains in academics when you start with character.
• Schools have changed a lot over the last few years.
• Dissertation in Practice is a different kind of dissertation
• Retrospective pretest.

About Mindy Bier

Mindy Bier is currently the Teresa M. Fischer Endowed Professor for Citizenship Education at University of Missouri, St. Louis. Mindy’s expertise spans the fields of Character Education, teacher preparation and professional development, and the design and use of instructional technology for enhanced teaching and learning. She has extensive experience in the adoption of K-12 educational innovations, providing and managing professional development for geographically and culturally diverse teachers, and in the philanthropic sector. Mindy is the principal investigator for a series of cross-disciplinary service learning projects that address the social determinants of health disparities called Youth Empowerment in Action (YEA!)

We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL.

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

Are your teachers overwhelmed with busywork and disconnected mandates? In this episode of Transformative Principal, Jethro Jones sits down with Emily Makelky, Vice President of the Curriculum Leadership Institute, to tackle the real problem facing schools: how to create a meaningful, locally-developed curriculum that actually improves teaching and learning.

Discover:

• The difference between curriculum, standards, and resources (and why it matters)
• Why local, district-wide curriculum is essential for student and teacher success
• How to involve teachers in meaningful work that energizes them (not just more paperwork)
• The role of principals in supporting—not micromanaging—curriculum development
• How to keep curriculum relevant, flexible, and focused on what students really need

Whether you’re a principal, teacher, or education leader, you’ll walk away with practical ideas to make curriculum work for your school community.

We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL.

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.