In this week's episode, Theresa and Spike discuss how they are preparing for the upcoming school year. They begin by talking about how each of their district's update discipline and dress codes. Even though this may seem to be a boring or redundant activity, Theresa and Spike try to put a lot of thought into the process. They also discussed how policies should be updated to create an inclusive environment including updates to reflect equity and diversity in terms of gender.

In this episode Jessica and Spike discuss a bunch of different things going on in the life of a Principal. They begin by discussing the summer responsibilities and how to complete the end of the year, manage the day to day and plan for the upcoming year. They discuss the role of the vice/assistant Principals, student use of cell phones, and summer learning. 

In this episode, Spike and Jessica catch up on the new initiatives in their school and how things are going. Jessica discussed the progress of PBIS and Playworks in her school. Spike discussed how his school is going through the revalidation process to continue being an AVID National Demonstration School. Based on the feedback from a prior visit, the staff have been working on increasing Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS).

In this episode, Theresa and Jessica discuss what they're up to with welcome staff back to school. Jessica finally tried out Flipgrid. Theresa shared some other awesome ideas she's seen Flipgrid used for. They then took a deep dive into Social and Emotional Learning.

In this episode, Theresa and Spike sit down to discuss the first week of school and reflect on their openings. Spike discussed the First Three Days project he did with his school. This was an idea that was inspired by the Significant 72 by Greg Wolcott. The Lakeside staff and students spent a significant amount of time building relationships with each other as well as reviewing the expectations of the school. Theresa shared ideas to make the weekly communication more collaborative.

In this episode, Spike and Jessica talked about their school plans for the first days of school. Spike talked about the Significant 72 and Jessica talked about Playworks.    Spike and his staff took the Significant 72 and used it as an outline for the first 3 days. They made a Google Slides presentation for all staff to use period by period. Within the presentation are "get to know you" activities as well as instructions to cover all expectations. The Significant 72 places emphasis on...

In this episode, Spike and Jessica catch up on what they’ve been doing to relax in the final days of summer and had a discussion about how we welcome kids back to school. A post that started some interesting discussion on Twitter was: Your Back to School Message is Hurting Teachers. 

In this episode, Theresa, Spike, and Jessica catch up from the summer break. They each discussed how July goes so quickly and provides a much needed down time from the business of the school year. Now, as they are quickly realizing, is the time to make sure all of the Back to School lists are completed such as scheduling, the organization of the school and the most important part... the first few days of the school year.

We want to start out by thanking everyone who has ever listened to the PrincipalPLN podcast. We are very grateful to have had the opportunity to share our learning with you over past 5 years. Throughout the show, we were able to catch up and reminisce about our favorite PrincipalPLN episodes. We talked about running, job changes, Donkey Basketball, Time Zones as well as educational issues.

Jessica talked about the upcoming Coach Approach Institute taking place this summer in Chicago and New Jersey www.coachapproach4schools.com/register. You should read The Power of Positive Leadership by Jon Gordon. Jessica shared a couple of her favorite books, but she has been creating many images of quotes from the book so check out the blog post for some end-of-the-year inspiration!  https://principalpln.blogspot.com/2018/05/party-like-its-episode-99.html

In this episode, Jessica and Spike talk about the weather during this month of Apruary. They also chatted about Snapchat and want to learn more about how teachers are using snapchat to engage students. Are you using snapchat as a student engagement tool? Please let us know. Our conversation also touched on communication and how many different ways information needs to be shared. Spike shared all about being an AVID school.

All 3 of the PrincipalPLN crew were here today, so we started out catching up on Influenza recovery and post Spring break updates. We talked about our morning routines to start each day out on the right foot and the importance of having a gratitude habit. In our random discussions, we mentioned the hot new games kids are playing: Fortnite and Prodigy. Why is Fortnight so popular? Here's an article that discusses this: TomsGuide We talked about staff meeting ideas and building collective...

In this episode, Jessica and Spike continue the conversation from Episode 95 regarding next year. Throughout the conversation, both shared the various plans for overcoming budgeting and staffing obstacles as well as how to stay positive with the additional requirements of being a Principal.

Theresa and Spike discuss how each school is focusing on planning for next year. Describing the specific schedules for their middle school and the high school. Theresa's school operates on a Trimester schedule and Spike's is on a block schedule. As they plan for next year, both schools are looking at initiatives that will foster student learning and prepare students for the 21st century. How does this work in the confines of the school? How do you get buy-in? How much change is too much change?

In this episode we are fortunate to be joined by Jeff Zoul and Anthony McConnell, the authors of the hot new book, The Principled Principal: 10 Principles for Leading Exceptional Schools. The Principled Principal examines ten guiding principles, using stories and real-life examples to make them relevant and applicable for every school leader.

We discovered Justin Ashley in this article: He was a classroom star. But CMS teacher’s success masked depression, addiction and just knew we had to have him join us on the podcast to help us learn from his journey and be able to support our teachers to prevent them from burnout. If you’re ready to inject more joy into your personal life, get more meaning from your job, strengthen your body and mind, and break free financially then you will want to listen to him on the podcast and read his...

In this episode, Spike talked about his big takeaways from attending the national SAMS conference Theresa shared email tips Boomerang and Astro, and Unroll to tame the subscription emails you receive. Jessica mentioned this must-watch TED Talk: TED Talk: 10 Ways to Have a Better Conversation We are scheduled to have Justin Ashley, author of The Balanced Teacher to join us. Jeff Zoul and Anthony McConnell, Ben Gilpin and Jethro Jones

In this episode, Theresa and Spike discuss how 2018 is going while Jessica is Ice Fishing!

In this episode, we chat with Lindsy Stumpenhorst, elementary principal in Illinois, also known as “Principal in Boots.” Lindsy shares all about leading an amazing staff, living in the country, balance, using social media, and her one word for 2018: Awe. Have you heard of Instagram? Spike and Lindsy both work hard to convince Jessica to revitalize her Instagram account and connect where the action is.

In this episode, we warm up with hot coffee and blankets to stay warm in this frigid winter. We also talked about what happens when staff have a countdown or stir up excitement for a snow day...what message does that send our students and families? Thank you Tom Murray for this tweet: Jessica shared a discussion activity she used in a recent staff meeting with the purpose of building shared understanding and then brought up an issue that happens in staff meetings...do you have this issue?

In this special end of the year episode, Theresa, Jessica and Spike discuss their Winter Break. We chatted about New Year's Resolutions and goals for balance. A podcast recommendation shared by Jessica included Lead to Win by Michael Hyatt.