This was the best year ever for Transformative Principal content.
If you’ve been listening all year, you’ve heard amazing stories of schools that are doing incredible things throughout the world.
Here are the top ten podcasts from this year:
10: Formative Five with Tom Hoerr Transformative Principal 225 - In this podcast, I talk with Tom Hoerr about his book Formative Five, which highlights the five characteristics kids need to develop. I also make a bold claim that maybe that is all schools should teach!
9: How to have inclusive schools with Alysson Keelen Transformative Principal 238 - Alysson talks about the need for inclusive schools and inspires me. This conversation played a big role in our school having an inclusive approach.
8: Design39Campus School Visit Overview - This is a short podcast which is actually better as a video on YouTube. I took some pictures of a visit to Design39Campus in Poway, CA and it was awesome and inspiring.
7: Learner Centered Innovation with Katie Martin Transformative Principal 241 - While Katie and I talked briefly of her book of the same title, we talked mostly about how to do that actual work of being focused on learners, something many schools pretend to do, but don’t.
6: The First Days of School with Jethro Jones Transformative Principal 240 - I love these rare episodes where I talk about what I am actually doing at my school. It’s so much fun. I hope you enjoy it, too. We took a big step in being student-focused this year, and we are seeing some great results.
5: Finding Balance with Dr. Spike Cook Transformative Principal 220 - It’s always fun to talk with Spike, and this one was no different. Spike is so genuine with what he is learning about and how to make himself more impactful.
4: Can Do U with Jeff Becker Transformative Principal 232 - Jeff Becker has become a true friend after I met him on this interview. He is an awesome guy who is doing great work with kids. He came up and did a speech to students at a high school here in Fairbanks, and it was great to meet him in person, and hear his awesome speech. You know how high schoolers are sometimes too cool for whatever is in front of them, right? Well, there were certainly some kids who were acting that way, but then he reeled them into his story eventually, and it was powerful to see in person. You should totally reach out to him to have him speak to your kids.
3: Changing assessments with Melissa Emler Transformative Principal 1048 - This is a great interview with Melissa Emler about assessments. She is doing a lot of work with Modern Learners and we talk about assessments in this episode.
2: Results Matter with Karl Rectanus Transformative Principal 237 - Karl Rectanus founded LEARN to help schools streamline ed tech tools. We talk about how his company helps schools know if the technology they are thinking about purchasing.
And finally, the #1 downloaded podcast this year was:
1: Creating a Gradeless Math Classroom when grades are still required with Andrew Burnett Transformative Principal 231 - In this episode I interview Andrew about how he doesn’t use grades, even though they are still required in his district.
