Transformative Principal

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12.Welcome to another episode of Transformative Principal! In today’s episode, we have the privilege of speaking with Dr. Brett Jacobsen, the CEO of The Mount Vernon School, Mount Vernon Ventures, and Mount Vernon Online – The Global Online Campus. With over 15 years of experience leading Mount Vernon through a transformational period, Dr. Jacobsen has gained a national reputation for innovation in education.In our conversation, Dr. Jacobsen shares his insights on creating a venture to fund your school. He discusses how Mount Vernon School, established in 1972 as a PK–8 school, has embraced an innovation mindset, even though they have been around for a long time. Driven by a desire to be known as an innovative school, Mount Vernon has experienced significant growth over the last decade.Dr. Jacobsen introduces the concept of the Blue Ocean Strategy, emphasizing the importance of shaping your school’s narrative

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12. Perhaps large language models could solve some challenges in schools.  Teacher attrition - how can you build excellence if you can’t keep teachers? Time is not enough to do deep work, which is required for effective planning.  The AI can’t do everything (nor should it).  Source it, shape it, share it. AI as a creative collaborator - Lesson seed Look at generative content like a sculptor would look at a block of marble.  Elaborative explanation is a best practice in education.  Prefer to pull methods from cognitive sciences Students engaging in essay evaluation rather than essay writing.  Artificially intelligent tutors - Khanmigo and others.  Training against chess bots.  Chess is a closed system, so perhaps not the best idea.  Proficiency vs aptitude vs  Hard to get quality feedback -  What are the parameters you need to be in to access the highest level of success?  Embedding best practices into our  One

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12.Priten Shah is the CEO of Pedagogy. Cloud, which provides innovative technology solutions to help educators navigate global challenges in a rapidly evolving world, as well as founder of the civics education nonprofit United 4 Social Change. His book is AI and The Future of Education: Teaching in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, published by Jossey-Bass (Wiley).In this episode, Ross and Priten discuss: The cloud of rumors, confusion, and fear surrounding the rise of artificial intelligence Defining AI and machine learning Why it’s important to get not only to accept but embrace these technologies Ethical concerns to consider What should schools do around teacher training?  How AI can either solve or widen the achievement gap depending on how schools proceed What can teachers automate and make more efficient? The potential of AI that most excites Priten Find AI and The Future of Education: Teaching in the

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12.Teens can use artificial intelligence to help them rock their homework. AI shouldn't be something parents and teachers are afraid of, and I had a great conversation with Transformative Principal Jethro Jones on how teens can use AI to TERMINATE their homework! And by terminate, I mean complete it. Obviously.--See what Jethro is up to at www.jethrojones.com--Register for my new Drop-In Coaching offer for this fall semester by going to www.joeymascio.com/drop-in-coaching--Follow me on Instagram! www.instagram.com/sidekicktohero Support our SponsorsSchoolAI: The Classroom Operating System: Help your teachers save 10 hours a week. Sign up for a free account and see new AI-generated experiences that will change the way you teach.Scrible: Worried about AI Plagiarism? Take the high road and improve your students' skills before they feel the need to cheat with this modern research and writing platform for schoolFoc

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12. Generative AI offers many advantages for educators, for use in and out of the classroom. When I prompt for images of "a focused student," the first three are boys, two are white, the third is an Asian boy, and the fourth is an apparent high school female. If my anecdotal examples haven't convinced you, try for yourself, or refer to a respected resource on this subject, which characterizes how bias is becoming a more obvious concern while producing these realistic images. In essence, this makes collected information static, yet dynamic in how AI returns the content. In the first example, I added one word, "diverse." "Write a song that promotes understanding and empathy between people from different walks of life." Support our SponsorsSchoolAI: The Classroom Operating System: Help your teachers save 10 hours a week. Sign up for a free account and see new AI-generated experiences that will change the way you

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12.Mary Howard is a Nationally Board Certified Teacher and teaches 6th grade ELA and Science in Grand Island, New York.  She has found success using digital tools that not only make learning fun for her students, but encourage critical thinking, collaboration, and create a life-long passion for learning.  Whether the digital experience is related to Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics or promotes literacy, Mary believes passionately in the potential that technology has for reaching and engaging ALL learners. In pursuit of this passion, Mary has spent the past 15 years presenting at dozens of technology conferences including NYSCATE, STANYS and, ISTE among others.  She has become a globally recognized speaker on the topics of augmented reality and virtual reality and the Next Generation Science Standards and shares her strategies through her blog, yoursmarticles.com.  She has published numerous educat

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12. Episode adapted from this article  The use of AI chat tools has rapidly increased this year. AI chat tools have a difficult time with voice since they lack the emotional context that humans can interpret through the nuances of tone, pitch, expression, and most of all, uniqueness. More significantly, AI chat tools cannot express a person’s point of view because they lack the complex beliefs, values, and opinions that form a person’s consciousness. Educators should make this clear to people accessing AI chat tools in their schools. While AI chat tools have some limitations such as capturing voice and eyes, it has remarkable productivity opportunities educators can leverage while navigating around imperfections to increase their efficiency and effectiveness. Support our SponsorsSchoolAI: The Classroom Operating System: Help your teachers save 10 hours a week. Sign up for a free account and see new AI-genera

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12.AI Edcamp for facultySchools are opening and AI looms as a BIG  question mark. How will teachers and administrators use it? What about students? How can we start to understand the complexity of AI in schools? This brief, chock-full episode offers a prescription for busy administrators and teachers. Use the simple formula of an Edcamp and bring the expertise to your school community today!Concepts adapted from my book:Radical PrincipalsMore info:How to run an Edcamp virtually Listen to Mike, a principal, author, and podcaster, share quick, actionable strategies, bite sized solutions that have sustainable impact. Each episode gives you a take home approach you can use today. You'll hear about a study, a story, and a strategy that are linked together. Educators face more challenges than ever. Stop spinning your wheels and listen to refreshing answers backed by 25 years of experience, interviews, and research.

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12.Vriti Saraf is the CEO & founder of k20 Educators where she builds metaverse spaces for learning. She is also a co-founder of the first community organization on blockchain for educators, by educators, called Ed3 DAO. Both organizations aim to reimagine learning.Vriti has served as a teacher, a professor, a dean, & a director in public, private, & charter schools both locally & internationally across K-12 & higher education.Join us for this conversation about Web3, what it is, how it is transforming education, and why we should embrace it.IN THIS EPISODE, WE DISCUSS: Web3 and how it’s shaping the future of education.  How blockchain allows us, instead of institutions, to own our credentials.  Decentralized credentials and flexible learning paths.  Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO) allow for democratic school environments.  Fears and concerns about Web3. When educators should u

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12.Jethro Jones is interviewing Kiran Athota, CEO of FocalPoint Education, and Dr. Wendy Oliver, Chief Learning Officer at FocalPoint,K12, Inc. The discussion centered around the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education and its impact on student engagement and personalized learning.Athota and Oliver delved into the distinction between AI assistants and human teachers, emphasizing the importance of teachers in catching plagiarism and guiding students. They acknowledged the fear surrounding new technology but highlighted the benefits of AI in understanding student knowledge better than ever before.The conversation also touched on the role of AI in assessing student progress and skills. Athota and Oliver stressed the need for authentic and personalized measures of growth, moving away from traditional assessments. They emphasized the importance of partnerships in education, with teache

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12.This episode discusses the potential of artificial intelligence in education and how it can empower both students and teachers. Cahlan Sharp talks about his experience building the micro school platform Prenda and how it aims to empower learners. He discusses how AI tools like chatbots and pulse check activities can help teachers gain insights into how students are doing and where they need help. However, Cahlan stresses that AI should be used as a tool to enhance the learning experience rather than as a source of truth. Transparency and teacher oversight are important to ensure student safety and privacy when using AI tools.  Startup Failures: Reddit before Reddit.  Draw My Doll Prenda started with after-school programs with librarians.  How to teach something that you’re not totally familiar with.  Helping kids learn something that was focused around the student.  Focused on the method rather than the co

We are excited to have SchoolAI as a sponsor for the Summer of AI Series on Transformative Principal. Please visit schoolai.com to save your teachers 10 hours per week.  You have a long background in AI so you’ve seen the ups and downs of that field and the over-hype cycles of the past. Why are the warnings about AI credible now, and what do you see as the biggest dangers?   AI as a tool to remove drudgery It’s just doing a repetitive task over and over. Behavior has emerged from abstractions. These systems are babies. Questions schools should be asking about AI Services they adopt. AI companies don’t exactly know what they are selling. Impossible to test what all the software can do. Having ways to monitor what is going on. Bring students into the process. Productive Struggle - Jo Boaler APLUS Framework: Moving toward a realm where general cognitive skills will matter more than domain-specific expertise The way we are doing school is not the best way to get there. How you divide up your functions drives the

We are excited to have SchoolAI as a sponsor for the Summer of AI Series on Transformative Principal. Please visit schoolai.com to save your teachers 10 hours per week. Richard Gerver is a sought-after speaker, bestselling author, and world-renowned thinker on human leadership and human transformation. His career began in education, first as a teacher and then as a school principal, when he turned the fortunes of a failing school and its pupils around in just two years. Since the success of his first book, focusing on his experience in frontline education, Richard has devoted himself to advancing society’s thinking on learning, change, and how best to realize our full potential.He has worked with an extraordinary range of people, from elite athletes to former US President Barack Obama. Named UK Business Speaker of the Year three times, Richard has been invited to speak on the world’s biggest stages, including TED, the RSA,, and the BBC.Today, it’s our pleasure to welcome Richard to The Authority for an enligh

We are excited to have SchoolAI as a sponsor for the Summer of AI Series on Transformative Principal. Please visit schoolai.com to save your teachers 10 hours per week. What does it mean to maintain humanity?  - To practice the forgotten art of being the ordinary.  - We are ok as the messy, complex meat machines we were born with. Don’t have to be personal brands. Don’t have to elevate or project or photoshop.  - Reverence for the base model.- Technology does train us, regardless of what we think about that.- Have an understanding of the basis of what we have as a human.- We’ve lost the drive to imagine apart from entertainment and convenience.- We don’t have a vision of what a profile of a graduate looks like.- We need imagination for education, housing, energy.. the areas that would benefit ordinary people the most  - 9 beatitudes of media technology- “Let’s just wait until the data is conclusive”- Kayfabe vs. Collective journey- Jerry Springer - Brilliant politician in Cincinnati.- Personal brand prohibite

We are excited to have SchoolAI as a sponsor for the Summer of AI Series on Transformative Principal. Please visit schoolai.com to save your teachers 10 hours per week. Janessa Fletcher, Content Director for Education to the Core, discusses the future of AI in primary education. She explores the potential of AI in teaching reading skills, the need for supplemental resources, and the impact of technology on reading habits. Fletcher emphasizes the importance of the science of reading and personalized approaches to support students’ diverse needs. Dabbling in ChatGPT Using it to write emails Cons - science of reading - following a scope and sequence. still figuring out what to type into chatgpt to get what It can be trained to do what we need, eventually. How bullish she is on developing it Aligned to orton-gillingham or full foundations. Need for supplemental resources in addition to Upper elem and secondary schools. How genuine is that feedback? How does the science of reading help Read Naturally This is resea

We are excited to have SchoolAI as a sponsor for the Summer of AI Series on Transformative Principal. Please visit schoolai.com to save your teachers 10 hours per week. Kevin Shindel, a high school social studies teacher, discusses the impact of technology and AI in classrooms. He emphasizes the importance of understanding the purpose and potential of AI before fully adopting it. Shindel raises concerns about trust, privacy, and the need for collaboration with AI. He believes AI is not just a tool, but an ecosystem that requires careful consideration.About Kevin ShindelKevin Shindel is a high school social studies teacher with 28 years of experience. He has taken a keen interest in technology and its impact in classrooms. 10 years ago, he created a digital detox program for students, and he runs this experience every year with his kids. He’s very interested in the holistic impact of technology on students when adopted in schools.  Begin with purpose. What’s the purpose of AI? Skeptic by nature. Personalizatio

We are excited to have SchoolAI as a sponsor for the Summer of AI Series on Transformative Principal. Please visit schoolai.com to save your teachers 10 hours per week. Sarah Rubenstein, principal of OCEAN School, shares her experience using ChatGPT to write grant proposals. She highlights the time-consuming nature of grant writing and how ChatGPT helped her generate drafts quickly. Rubenstein believes that using AI for certain writing tasks is acceptable and efficient, freeing up time for more meaningful work. OCEAN School - 20 year-old school Family partnership program school. Some learning on campus with a teacher 30% in school settings. 70% with parents 6–12 online program. Experiential learning opportunities. Place-based learning Grant writing is needed for that job. If you want teachers to get kids out of classrooms, need school buses and time to plan. Some grants are straightforward. Super time-consuming, read, highlight, Didn’t always get the grant. writing 20–40 pages on the grant. 130K over 2 years.

We are excited to have SchoolAI as a sponsor for the Summer of AI Series on Transformative Principal. Please visit schoolai.com to save your teachers 10 hours per week. Today we are talking with Michael B. Horn about the impact of AI on K12 (and higher) education and it’s level of disruption.  Are students more disengaged because of the pandemic or AI taking over jobs? Anxiety from high school students because it is just far enough away. In every field entry level role becomes something much different. Intermediary places that employ apprentices. Theory of interdependence and modularity. In the early years of a system, different systems have to be done by the same entity. The nature of skills and work is moving so fast Book learning has to be done interdependently with the actual work. willfully blind to the reality. Google has changed the game and so will AI. Combination of human skills with the AI Hard things are still important. Habits of success, social emotional skills, soft skills, etc. What is hard may

We are excited to have SchoolAI as a sponsor for the Summer of AI Series on Transformative Principal. Please visit schoolai.com to save your teachers 10 hours per week. In this podcast episode with Caleb Hicks, the focus is on creating learning experiences with AI. The discussion revolves around empowering teachers to move beyond traditional methods and become designers of engaging environments for students. The use of AI-powered apps and FERPA-compliant chat platforms are highlighted as tools to enhance student experiences. The concept of “spaces” is introduced, allowing teachers to create personalized learning adventures for their students. The episode also touches on the benefits of using AI for tasks like SAT prep and streamlining administrative duties for teachers. Overall, the conversation emphasizes the importance of prioritizing meaningful connections with students and designing environments that foster engaging learning experiences. How do you make decisions around this for what you create for teache

We are excited to have SchoolAI as a sponsor for the Summer of AI Series on Transformative Principal. Please visit schoolai.com to save your teachers 10 hours per week. Dr. Paul Govani, an expert in human performance and coaching, emphasizes the importance of errorless learning and the role of AI in education. He believes that teachers need more practice and feedback to be effective, and that regular feedback for students is crucial for learning. Dr. Govani also discusses the need for tight feedback loops and the use of simulations to prepare teachers. Errorless learning Making sure that students don’t make mistakes Gradual release AI can play a huge part in improving education The human element cannot be removed from education. Learning happens from the environment. Replace learning Gives teachers a different role. Education holds the key to success We’re not doing a very good job educating our educators. Too much theory, too little modeling, too little feedback. Simulations hold the key to getting teachers