Transformative Principal

Dr. Robert Feirsen is currently associate professor and coordinator of the Educational Leadership Program at Manhattanville College. Previously, he was assistant professor and chair of the Education Department at New York Institute of Technology. A former SAANYS member,  Dr. Feirsen enjoyed a distinguished career in P-12 schools. As a school building leader in Westchester and Nassau Counties, he served as an elementary school principal, a middle school assistant principal, and a middle school principal. At the central office level, he served as an assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, deputy superintendent, and superintendent of schools. Dr. Feirsen taught at the elementary, middle, and high school levels as a social studies and special education teacher in schools in New York City before moving into supervisory roles. Dr. Feirsen holds an Ed.D. from Fordham University.Dr. Feirsen’s research interests include addressing organizational conflict, the school principal-school counselor relationship, principal and teacher retention, the relationship between psychological ownership and professional learning, college readiness, and the applications of design thinking. His research and other articles have been published in a number of academic journals, as well as Educational Leadership and Education Week. Dr. Feirsen has led workshops at such venues as ASCD, the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), and the American Educational Research Association (AERA). With Seth Weitzman, he has presented at national and statewide conferences including ASCD, the New York State Council of School Superintendents (NYSCOSS), and the New York Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (NYACTE). Seth Weitzman, he is also the co-author of From Conflict to Collaboration: A School Leader’s Guide to Unleashing Conflict’s Problem-Solving Power and How to Get the Teaching Job You Want.Dr. Seth Weitzman sat in a middle school principal’s chair for 27 years in Nassau and Westchester counties. Leadership positions included co-president of the Mamaroneck administrators’ union, president of the Nassau County, and later, the Westchester County Middle School Principals’ Association, and a New York State Middle Level Liaison (a working group of principals representing every county and BOCES in New York State meeting with NYSED officials). Together with Dr. Robert Feirsen, he is co-author of two books: How to Get the Teaching Job You Want and From Conflict to Collaboration: A School Leader’s Guide to Unleashing Conflict’s Problem Solving Power. He is either author or co-author of a number of articles published in national education journals including Educational Leadership and American Middle Level Education Magazine.Drs. Feirsen and Weitzman have presented in numerous professional association conferences at the county, state and local levels (e.g. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, American Association of School Personnel Administrators, New York State Middle School Association, New York State Association of Teacher Educators) and graduate-level classes (Teachers College, Bank Street College of Education). He is currently a Senior Instructor in the Mercy College Educational Leadership Department. His 40-year education career began teaching elementary school and middle school in Connecticut and New York City. He holds an EdD from Teachers College, Columbia University.Questions to ask:  Why did you write this book? Why is there conflict in schools? What is the impact of conflict in schools? Your book suggests leaning into conflict. Can you explain? How do school leaders typically respond to conflict?  What strategies do you suggest to deal with conflict? Can you give us some examples of how this might work? Your book makes a connection with design thinking, which comes from the field of engineering. Can you explain? We’re all aware of the political climate in many schools today. Does your book help?  In today’s episode, we discuss the topic of conflict.  Rob and Seth describe how it keeps principals up at night, but can be harnessed for good when we address conflict instead of avoiding it or getting angry about it.The best way for listeners to reach out to Seth Weitzman and Robert Feirsen:  info@teacheredge.net sethweitzman@yahoo.com robert.feirsen@mville.edu 

Maxwell Roach is the founder of JonAyves Learning Club. He’s toured the world as a musician sharing stages with artists such as Beyoncé and the Rolling Stones, directed operations for a multi-million dollar tech company, created and sold health products into grocery stores, and was the  CEO of a child care organization with over 250 children across 4 centres.In today’s episode, we discuss the role of tutoring, the negative connotation it can carry with students and families, and how it can fit the current need of addressing post pandemic learning across the world.  His experiences with his own children learning to master the Rubik's cube and Abacus help illustrate the power of harnessing technology and welcoming those outside of the classroom to help achieve the mission of all students learning at high levels.Max can be reached by going to jonayveslearningclub.com

Dr. John Schembari is an Improvement Coach through which he supports teachers and school leaders by performing on site evaluations, identifying data informed trends, reviewing curriculum/assessment materials, creating improvement plans, coaching individuals one-on-one, developing and delivering group training to educators, and implementing evidence-based instructional strategies that improve teaching practices and increase student learning. JOHN SCHEMBARI Senior Education Executive  In today’s episode, we discuss everything curriculum.  John shares his answer when teachers say “I’m just going to hurry up and teach all of the curriculum” and  “I’m done with the curriculum work”.  Instead of teaching the curriculum, John explains how we should be focused on student learning, and he describes the importance of curriculum review cycles.  We also explore the role textbooks play and what teachers need if they are going to be tasked with developing their own curriculum and assessments. Best way for listeners to reach out to John Schembari: 908-442-6636  johnaschembari@msn.com John Schembari | LinkedIn 

Matt Chaussee is the CEO of Be More Colorful, a Midwest-based immersive media production studio whose platform, CareerViewXR, is rapidly gaining national attention. Matt, along with his wife (and company owner) Katie, lead an innovative team of creatives who are laser focused on making career exploration affordable, accessible, and fun! CareerViewXR provides students and adult career seekers across the country with an unprecedented opportunity to experience real-world careers through virtual reality technology. Recently selected from a field of over 2,000 applicants to be one of 33 Semifinalists for the prestigious Yass Prize, Matt will discuss the significance of the award, and how he sees tools like CareerViewXR transforming how we guide students on their educational journey.Please add questions that we would ask here, and you can add anything that you would like to add as well.  STOP Principles of the Yass Prize Help us connect with students in new and different ways.  How do we use tried and true strategies to help us change things True transformation is going beyond the books.  How do we all learn best?  Transformation is change with a purpose.  Yass Prize celebrates innovation in education, with over 2000 applicants Career Exploration - CareerViewXR - How do we challenge others to become better?  Vote in the Yass Prize Other companies as the 32 semi-finalists: are ASU Preparatory Global, Burbella Learning Academy, CompSci High, Create Conservatory, Indi ED, Sora Schools, Verdi EcoSchool, and VictoryXR. CareerViewXR - Our focus is really on taking that tried and true real job experience to help kids have real-life experiences - immersive media, showing what that real work is like. Virtual reality and virtual tours.  Bricklayer’s experience - I wanna try that bricklayer’s experience in 4th grade.  Most of the time an adult’s pathways really never gave them an opportunity on which pathway they could choose.  There are so many careers out there.  It doesn’t have to be interesting or exciting, it has to be authentic to someone at the right time.  Helping kids see the excitement of what jobs could be.

James Anderson is an Australian-based international speaker, author, and educator who is passionate about helping us become better learners. His Mindset Continuum builds on Carol Dweck's work on Growth Mindsets to give us practical tools to nurture a deeper understanding of ourselves as learners. His description of  Learnership - the skill of learning, then gives us a powerful way to understand and improve how we engage in the learning process.  The result: we get better at getting better!Originally a teacher and school leader, for the past 20 years, James has been working with schools to make classrooms more thoughtful places. He challenges teachers to think deeply about their own Mindsets and how their beliefs are communicated to students in often subtle and unintended ways. His Growth Mindset Style Guide takes us beyond catchphrases and cliches to provide practical and easily implemented strategies that change learners' mindsets.  In today’s episode, we discuss leadership.  Although James made the word up, he defines it as the skill of learning.  His work connects the habits of mind and Dweck’s Fixed vs Growth Mindset, but he’s developed ways to take these concepts further and make them applicable to students and schools.  It was a refreshing perspective instead of discussing the traditional focus of teaching and achievement.  James describes the role of the student, teacher, administrator, and even the parent in developing skilled learners. The best way for listeners to reach out to James Anderson: jamesanderson.com.au

Andrea Gribble is the master of all things social media for schools.  Her first book recently launched: Social Media for Schools: Proven Storytelling Strategies & Ideas to Celebrate Your Students & Staff - Without Losing Your Sanity  and she is the host of a podcast called Mastering Social Media for SchoolsIn today’s episode, Andrea shares where staff can start when they are handed the social media duties for the school or district.  She describes the systems she uses to schedule content and keep followers engaged, how to keep the content going during the summer months, and how to keep it positive.Andrea can be reached by going to https://socialschool4edu.com/

Darrin Peppard is a school district superintendent, speaker, author, publisher, and consultant focused on what matters most in leadership. Darrin’s an expert in school culture and climate as well as coaching and growing emerging leaders. He is known for his keen insight, culture-first leadership style, and dynamic personality.  In 2016, Darrin was named Wyoming Secondary School Principal of the Year by WASSP/NASSP and was the 2015 Jostens Renaissance Educator of the Year. In 2017, Darrin earned his Doctorate Degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Wyoming. This past summer, Darrin was inducted into the  Jostens Renaissance Hall of Fame. On today’s episode, we discuss school culture and the road to awesome.  Darrin describes the moment he knew his school had a culture problem and how he started down the road less traveled instead of the “gotcha” road.  He started by changing what he controlled, himself, and then focused on empowering the students and staff to join him and take ownership in their school’s journey. www.roadtoawesome.net307-371-89447 

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12.Scrible is about the writing process.- Impact of AI on writing.- What does “embrace it” actually mean?- It’s important to define it appropriately.- We talk about teaching and learning together, but they diverge a little bit here.- How does embracing it mean that students are using cognitive skills.- Litmus test for the use of automation in education: Does it help develop or bypass the development of a skill?- It’s ok to have automation as skills are increasing.- Granularity is key.- Map activities in the writing process to skills along the way.- The “I use it myself” reason may not be good enough for our rising generation.- Conflation of cognitive development mode with productivity mode.- Education isn’t about being productive.- When compliance is gone, they realize it’s all fake.- Good writers and not good writers.- Don’t let what it does for you strongly shape what we should be doing for the next generation.- Lived experience bias - because I lived this, i have this experience.- What’s best for students?- First principles perspective- If we don’t give them the opportunity to gain skills early on, we run into a situation where people won’t know what good looks like.- What if you stop teaching math and just give kids calculators.- Connect on LinkedInAbout Victor KarkarMeet Victor Karkar, the brains behind Scrible, a game-changing startup that’s shaking up the way we do web-based research and collaboration. Victor’s been around the block in both the Internet and biotech sectors, mainly focusing on product management and business development. He was an instrumental part of the early team at insuranceOrder.com, a startup that got snapped up by the Fortune 500 giant, Marsh & McLennan. Oh, and he even dipped his toes into the venture capital world with a gig at New Enterprise Associates. So yeah, he’s seen the startup life from all angles.But what really makes Victor tick? He’s a modern-day Renaissance person. In the startup world, you’ve got to be a jack-of-all-trades, and Victor’s worn every hat you can think of—designer, product developer, tester, marketer, you name it. He’s a tech nerd at heart, with a deep respect for the engineers and scientists who are pushing us into the future. He’s got a keen eye for clean, thoughtful design and is borderline obsessive about the details. Victor’s a debate geek turned entrepreneur who loves nothing more than a well-crafted argument or a slick presentation. He’s a dreamer who believes that a few good people can really change the world. But he’s no pie-in-the-sky idealist; he knows that to make lasting change, you need a rock-solid operation to back up those big ideas." 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 schoolFocalPointK12: Manage student portfolios that they can take with them with blockchain technology and AI assisted grading. Listen to our interview with the founder and chief learning officer here.

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12. What is journey modeling?  Take a look at what decisions people make and what it means for your potential people to look for you What brings true value to your School/District? Where are you bringing value to your employee and where are they bringing value to you?  What skill sets are you looking for and are articulated in the  Bringing people into your fold before you really get them in the door.  You want to appeal to the individual and create a customer experience. Weird to think of these future employees as a customer of your district.  How are people seeing you? And what are they seeing?  Are your messages being seen in a positive way?  Identify a friction point and how you could turn that into a touchpoint How could you use LinkedIn in a more effective manner?  Engage with your constituents - go and ask what people are saying.  It’s valuable to know each student’s name, but have you talked to every parent?  Collaborative Job descriptions from old-school approaches.  Key drivers for specific generations.  Value talents and skillsets in that job description Expectations around the job and the process How do you make people feel wanted?  Relationships and setting expectations. HR does have the opportunity to grow here.  You can still communicate.  You can automate many of these sequences.  Automate what you can New Hire Onramp Email Template Journey Model - teachers saw that they weren’t hearing from districts during a period of time over the summer.  People expect a certain level of interaction with schools and districts to understand what is going on.  Showing them what it is to be in the community.  Journey Model components - catalyst, question-asking, touchpoints (community, benefits, etc.), decision-making process, after acceptance, on ramping, continuing Identifying key focus areas About Molly McGowan Gorsuch, APRDirector of Client Engagement at Rhodes BrandingMolly is the liaison between education leaders and Rhodes Branding, connecting the K-12 community with services designed to accelerate performance and market position. She leads content and partner engagement strategy and is a frequent conference presenter and podcast/blog guest.You can find me on LinkedIn, or @MollyMGorsuch on Twitter.  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 schoolFocalPointK12: Manage student portfolios that they can take with them with blockchain technology and AI assisted grading. Listen to our interview with the founder and chief learning officer here.

This episode is part of the Summer of AI Series, brought to you by SchoolAI, Scrible, and FocalPointK12.Generative AI in k12 education and it's impact on teacher prep and planning, assessments, writing instruction, and other subjects. Ethical use of generative AI and importance of transparency and demystifying it. Also, contrast generative AI tools with instructional AI, and how high can be leveraged to improve teaching and learning. Also, a conversation on civics and history instruction and it's impact on society and polarization. Student data privacy laws.  DigLitCon - AI Literacy 4300 kids in 9 schools in Chicago area.  AI literacy - Generative AI is just round 1.  Demystify what AI is and that it’s not magic Feels like magic MIT’s Day of AI We need to know about it, but not everyone needs to be an expert.  What do kids need to know in relation to AI Literacy We pretend that people should know a lot of things Will we call AI friends or supports.  Harnessing AI for a Human-Centered Education We can’t find our life inside of a fake reality It is a tool, and it can do great things when it is with people.  Can’t hide from AI. Cheating What can we do with planning education guidelines Academic integrity policies and policies in place for Generative AI.  Assessment has to be redefined as a process. Packback, writable, character.ai Clearly articulating where you can and can’t use AI.  Have to teach them how to use it.  How to teach and use it ethically, model ethics, be transparent when we use it, make sure it’s not taking away from the learning process.  “This X was created with use of Generative AI tools.” We need to be professionally humble.  We need to have local policies that reflect policies 6 tenets of post-plagiarism This is only round one of a potential fourth revolution.  Just because it is almost right doesn’t mean that it is right.  Data privacy - byte About Micah Miner: Micah J. MinerDistrict Administrator Instructional Technology & Social Studies at Maywood, Melrose Park, Broadview School District 89, American Consortium for Equity in Education Contributing Writer , Times 10 Publications Author of the book Harnessing AI for a Human-Centered Education 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 schoolFocalPointK12: Manage student portfolios that they can take with them with blockchain technology and AI assisted grading. Listen to our interview with the founder and chief learning officer here.

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 and brand. Rather than trying to compete with other schools, Mount Vernon Ventures focuses on consulting with other schools and developing accessible products and tools. They have also ventured into business development with Mount Vernon Online.Dr. Jacobsen explores the challenge of separating funding from the backs of their people and finding alternative markets to support their initiatives. He also highlights the importance of creating multiple pathways for students and implementing an inquiry-based, competency-driven system. Portfolio of three different areas 1972 school established PK–8 School Felt Like a startup even though they’ve been around for a long time. Giving more tours than serving our own community. Over the last decade school has grown by 60% Blue Ocean Strategy Cirque du Soleil is it high art or circus? Didn’t want to be known as a traditional school. Didn’t want to be known as a progressive school. how do you shape your narrative around your school’s brand? Wanted to be known as an innovative school. We would lose every time if we tried to compete with others Mount Vernon Ventures Consulting with other schools Value proposition - current practitioners leading change. What is your innovation intention? Ventures work on developing products and tools that are accessible. Business development as well - Mount Vernon Online. Multiple Pathways R&D Report around AI Funding is generated from Mount Vernon Ventures Traditionally generated from Non-tuition generating activities. Externally, how could we reinvest back into the school? How do you separate from funding being on the backs of our people? Find another market that funds things. How do we create multiple pathways for our students? Learning outcomes explored in an inquiry model - assessed based on proficiency. Inquiry, Competency-based system. Lego-bricking courses - systems taken Mod System is based on 9-week time periods - students take four courses during a mod. They have to have more math courses at the backend of their high school course. Did a lot of open share when we started. Agnostic about things they implement with schools. Ventures are about birthing opportunities that expand the Mount Vernon Ecosystem. Training and investing in professionals in school Identify market segments - creating more pathways for students. Would look very different from the three we’ve talked about today. About Brett JacobsenEntering his 15th year, Dr. Brett Jacobsen is CEO of The Mount Vernon School, Mount Vernon Ventures, and Mount Vernon Online – The Global Online Campus. Leading Mount Vernon through a transformational period since 2009, the School with 1,250 students strong, has gained a national reputation for innovation in education, As a result, Dr. Jacobsen launched a Transformation R&D consulting company known as Mount Vernon Ventures, partnering with schools throughout the world. Most recently, in August 2022, Mount Vernon Online, Mount Vernon’s online high school, welcomed its first cohort of students to the School. Outside of overseeing a portfolio of business units, Dr. Jacobsen frequently shares his journey of innovation and entrepreneurial impact at national and international conferences. Dr. Jacobsen was recognized by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as one of the 2017 Most admired CEOs in the education category. He is also a proud member of Leadership Atlanta, Class of 2013.LinkedinThe Mount Vernon School | Mount Vernon Ventures | Mount Vernon Online 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 schoolFocalPointK12: Manage student portfolios that they can take with them with blockchain technology and AI assisted grading. Listen to our interview with the founder and chief learning officer here.

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-shot prompt vs. leading the language model into learning.  Unit plans - 4-6 weeks of instructional planning.  Distributed & interleaved practice Assessments & quizzes.  AI lowers the cost of evolution.  Open Educational Resources compared to Teacher Pay Teachers.  Things open up in ways you couldn’t imagine simply because you did something. Foundational models are not particularly useful in their basic form for what we’re trying to do in education.  Having granular control that teacher can make changes in the workspace How to take Smart Notes Obsidian note taking app You learn in relation to what you already know.  The intersection of Ai, instructional design, and backend classroom administration—opportunities and tradeoffs. The limits of the technology, boundary conditions Broad institutional implications - Foundational flaws in education Ludwig Wittgenstein - blue and brown books. The Wittgensten Reader, the tractatus About Thomas ThompsonThomas Thompson is the founder and CEO of eduaide.ai, which boasts over 100,000 users. Eduaide is an AI tool to help eliminate teacher burnout and make high-quality teaching resources universally accessible.Thomas has a Master in Educational Technology from Johns Hopkins School of Education and is still a teacher in the Maryland area. Martin Gurry - Public2001 data produced more in one year than we’ve every produced before.  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 schoolFocalPointK12: Manage student portfolios that they can take with them with blockchain technology and AI assisted grading. Listen to our interview with the founder and chief learning officer here.

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 Age of Artificial Intelligence at https://prtn.me/book Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.About today’s guestPriten Shah, M. ED, and B.A, Harvard, is the CEO of Pedagogy. Cloud provides innovative technology solutions to help educators navigate global challenges in a rapidly evolving world. He is the author of Wiley’s Jossey-Bass publication, “AI & The Future of Education: Teaching in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.“Priten is also the founder of United 4 Social Change, a civics education nonprofit that focuses on helping teachers integrate interdisciplinary education into their curricula through animated videos, lesson plans, and innovative classroom activities.Connect at instagram.com/pedagogycloud and linkedin.com/in/pritenhshahAbout the hostRoss Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC. He is a leadership development and performance coach for professionals in a range of industries and consults with organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry to help communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano and LinkedIn 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 schoolFocalPointK12: Manage student portfolios that they can take with them with blockchain technology and AI assisted grading. Listen to our interview with the founder and chief learning officer here.

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 schoolFocalPointK12: Manage student portfolios that they can take with them with blockchain technology and AI assisted grading. Listen to our interview with the founder and chief learning officer here.

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 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 schoolFocalPointK12: Manage student portfolios that they can take with them with blockchain technology and AI assisted grading. Listen to our interview with the founder and chief learning officer here.

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 educational technology articles and has provided webinars on Virtual Environments, Virtual Reality, 3D Design, QR codes and digital engagement strategies.  Mary’s accolades include recognition as the 2018 International Society for Technology in Education’s Virtual Pioneer of the Year and 3 Silver Presidential Volunteer Service awards.  She was a New York State Teacher of the year finalist for 2018 and 2020 and is a New York State Master Teacher.  When Mary isn’t elbows deep in her technology initiatives, she is a mother of 3 boys and devotes her free time to refereeing youth hockey and volunteering within the hockey community.  She is an avid runner, Adirondack 46er and recently cycled across New York State on the Erie Canal. Mary is a newly published author with her new release, Artificial Intelligence to Streamline Your Teacher Life: The ChatGPT Guide for Educators.Key Takeaways: AI is a tool that will help give teachers more time, reduce burnout, and improve teaching. Technology is about amplifying teachers' ability to reach all students. Reluctance to integrate technology doesn't come from a place of fear rather a place of this is, "one more thing". The more we streamline teachers' everyday tasks, the more we can get them in front of students and spending more quality time facilitating student learning. ChatGPT still needs to be checked once the product is finished. We need to make sure we follow age and privacy concerns because ChatGPT is collecting data on the users. Education still has to focus on thinking rather than retrieval of information. This will help the integration of ChatGPT as a useful tool rather than a tool used to get good grades. The perfect classroom still has a teacher who is helping guide rich discussions through the Socratic method and collaboration with AI helping streamline that in the background. Leaders need to celebrate every little success individuals have to continually build positivity. Stay Connected:Artificial Intelligence to Streamline Your Teacher Life: The ChatGPT Guide for EducatorsYour SmarticlesTwitter 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 schoolFocalPointK12: Manage student portfolios that they can take with them with blockchain technology and AI assisted grading. Listen to our interview with the founder and chief learning officer here.

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-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 schoolFocalPointK12: Manage student portfolios that they can take with them with blockchain technology and AI assisted grading. Listen to our interview with the founder and chief learning officer here.

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. Take the journey with Mike today and start helping children now!Mike's overarching goal: If I can help one child and one adult, this was all worth it! 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 schoolFocalPointK12: Manage student portfolios that they can take with them with blockchain technology and AI assisted grading. Listen to our interview with the founder and chief learning officer here.

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 use virtual spaces or the metaverse. The benefits of hybrid learning. AI, ChatGPT, and how they’re teaching us what skills our students should learn. 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 schoolFocalPointK12: Manage student portfolios that they can take with them with blockchain technology and AI assisted grading. Listen to our interview with the founder and chief learning officer here.

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 teachers and students actively involved in the development of AI tools. ChatGPT vs. Generative AI.  Georgia Tech’s Experiment Students not know the difference between AI assistant and professor.  Any student can plagiarize  The best tool is the teacher to catch plagiarism  Teachers and students should know how to use it.  We are afraid of new technology.  AudioPen AI Discussing plagiarism and how to make choices around it.  How FocalPoint is using AI.  Giving teachers back time for their work.  Using ChatGPT for scoring  Multi-dimensional score  Building a learner profile and informing the personalization of education  Student engagement  Standards work has already been there.  How to make it more engaging for kids.  “I already know the student is struggling, how do I get them from here to here?”  Generative AI is giving us engagement  Technology is at a point where we can understand what students know better than ever.  AI can pull in questions/assignments/activities/etc. for growth that are aligned to kids’ interests and skills.  Ugh, another diagnostic…  We need to find other ways to assess students  Parents found that they have a voice and choice in education.  We need partners, not vendors, in education.  Developed with teachers and students in mind.  If we have a good authentic way to measure student progress and skills, you don’t need the assessment.  - Starting to see trends and growth in policy and procedure in Education.About Kiran AthotaKiran Athota has always been at the forefront of edtech innovations. As chief architect for GADOE’s longitudinal data system, he won national attention from EdWeek and the Data Quality Campaign. He subsequently was the first to introduce single-sign-on to K12 education. As co-founder and CEO of FocalPoint Education, he led his team in groundbreaking developments in an xAPI-enabled adaptive learning platform, and assessment platform and overcame education data silos with FocalPoint’s proprietary data-interoperability model. Most recently, he and FocalPoint have introduced blockchain student credentialing to serve the CTE segment and national trade and professional credentialing associations.About Wendy Oliver, Ed.D.With more than 20 years of experience in digital education, Dr. Wendy Oliver, a Tennessee teacher and administrator, thrives when implementing innovative learning models and creating amazing learning experiences for students. Throughout her career, Wendy has had the opportunity to develop and pioneer a district, TN’s state-wide, and international digital learning programs.  She served as the Chief Learning Architect for Arizona State University’s digital charter network of schools and recently launched a network of private, for-profit schools.  Wendy created Oliver’s Frameworks for Blended and Online Instruction, and subsequently, a software that allows teacher to self-assess their knowledge of instruction in each respective environment, a software that has been implemented in multiple districts and states. Her leadership expertise, experience as a certified scrum master, hands-on knowledge of digital learning and curriculum design, paired with her expertise in assessment and evaluation, are leveraged to design innovative, learner-centered solutions in her role as Chief Learning Officer at FocalPoint,K12, Inc. 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 schoolFocalPointK12: Manage student portfolios that they can take with them with blockchain technology and AI assisted grading. Listen to our interview with the founder and chief learning officer here.