Episode 42 - PrincipalED - New Principals Need This
Join Adam & Jeff for episode #42, where we chat with three phenomenal educators who are also recent authors - Rachael George, Kate Barker and Kourtney Ferrua!
EDUCATOR/AUTHOR BIOS:
Rachael George - Elementary Principal
PreK-5 Principal of ‘19 ICLE Model School. Past MS Principal of a 2x Model School. Author #PrincipalED leaders Speaker. ASCD Emerging Leader, NAESP Fellow
Kate Barker - Elementary Principal
Mom~Wife~ Principal~Author of PrincipalED~Professor~Mentor~Speaker~Food Rescuer. . . Committed to high expectations infused with love.
Kourtney Ferrua - Director of Curriculum K-12
National Distinguished Principal. Relentless believer in children. Growth mindset champion. Social Justice warrior. Educator. Author. Mom. Wife.
Tell us about your leadership journey?
Rachael: Goldilocks effect, from forest service to the classroom, to a principal role.
Kate: 30 years in the same district, Portland, OR, and includes many experiences in between.
Kourtney: Studying in San Fran, started in prison teaching, developed a lifelong passion for social justice, high school teacher, then kindergarten, principal. The transition: moved out of the focus, loves curriculum and the processes.
How are each of your schools navigating the different instructional models during this pandemic? Have there been any innovations or aha moments?
You don’t have to choose - you have to have both
“Our goal as educators is to lift up other educators”~Kate
Move away from academic and focused on social-emotional
“A humanity every single day”
Causing more problems with these interventions; Get all the grownups on the same page
The Book Story
From a conference and talking about how their fall was going. Many visitors attending their schools due to growth. Aligned their work for the book. Chat with Dave and Shelly Burgess, and it took off from there
How do you write a book with 3 different people?
Trial and error. Wrote chap. 1 in hopes of merging all three, didn’t work. Chapter leads took over as the model.
Leadership Struggle/Opportunity
Kate - Staff didn’t feel like they had a voice; if you want to have that dialogue, you have to create the systems and protocols for that discussion; transparency
Rachael - Communication. Learning how communication is received at high school vs. elementary. Flex & Shift depending on who you’re working with
Hopeful
Kourtney - Relentless capacity for students to learn.
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