#PrincipalPLN

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. 

Episode 108 - It's the end....of the year

Episode 107: Transitions

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.

Episode 104: Back to School Part II

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.

Episode 97: Staff Meeting Ideas

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.