Most school leaders are running around putting out fires. I help leaders stop putting out fires, and start leading.
Part 1
Part 2
In this episode I have the great opportunity to interview Melinda Miller (@mmiller7571). I have followed her for a long time on Twitter, and I loved the podcast she did with @ScottElias called Practical Principals. That great podcast partly inspired me to start this podcast. I still haven't found a podcast that talks about the real issues that are facing to
Our conversation covers these topics:
- How she gets teachers on board with technology.
- How she allows teachers to filter out what she says and when.
- She gives her thoughts on requirements for teacher's blogs, which are a requirement for her.
- How Melinda deals with the roadblocks of implementing new things (including technology).
- How she knows how hard to push her teachers, and what to focus on when she is pushing her teachers.
- How she allows her faculty to talk to her about when she is pushing too hard.
- How she implemented 1:1 Chromebooks in 4th grade when a bunch of other stuff was coming down the pike.
- How she prepares for the beginning of a new school year. (And here is the ASCD article on her flipped faculty meeting.) Keep your flipped faculty meetings short, to the point, and give teachers plenty of time to look at the information.
- Most important tip for starting flipped facutly meetings.
- How important it is to have video or audio to help people not misunderstand what they are doing wrong.
- Positive intentions - how she approaches teachers who need to be corrected.
- Turnover and how she gets great people to come to her school.
- Her quick-start personality and how she shares results of her evaluations with the teachers.
- Adaptive schools trainings were conducted at her school, and here is more information about it.
- How she uses Twitter for her own learning and how she teaches others, she is a Twitter grandmother according toSpike Cook.
- How she uses Pinterest to help her teachers.
- Using a Voxer group of principals to talk a little more privately about topics that are
- Jethro's Twitter failure when he was a teacher.
- What is one thing a principal can do to be a transformative principal like you are?
- What is something in her office that is meaningful to you?
- She has a lot of great information on her blog. If you read blogs by principals and you aren't reading hers, you are missing out.