It’s Hard To Be A Jerk When You Care with Gina Davenport Transformative Principal 620

In this episode of the Transformative Principal podcast, Gina Davenport, a seasoned educator with over 30 years of experience, shares her insights on creating a student-centered learning environment. Davenport emphasizes the importance of building strong relationships between teachers and students, highlighting the often-overlooked need for social-emotional learning (SEL) in secondary education.

Davenport discusses the success of the AVID program at her school, describing it as "SEL on steroids." She also introduces the "Arundel Attributes," a framework designed to foster ownership and responsibility among students. The implementation of Restorative Practices led to a significant decrease in disciplinary issues, demonstrating the effectiveness of a caring and supportive school culture.

The conversation also touches on the challenges faced by educators, including the misconception that students' frontal lobes are fully developed and the lack of support for secondary students. Davenport shares her experience of navigating a controversial incident involving a music video filmed at her school, emphasizing the importance of clear communication and decisive action.

Finally, the podcast explores the positive impact of COVID-19 on SEL development and the innovative practice of onboarding freshmen with a "first practice graduation." Throughout the episode, Davenport's passion for education and commitment to student well-being shine through, offering valuable lessons for school leaders everywhere.

• Pattern for students with discipline behaviors - they were missing something. 
• When they struggle with reading, you teach, when they struggle with math, you teach, when they struggle with 
• Teachers and students were missing out on building relationships. 
• We’re under the misconception that their frontal lobe has developed. 
• There’s not a lot of support for secondary students. 
• They want to teach their subject, not their students. 
• People lose their jobs because they can’t get along with other people. 
• Formative Five podcast interview with the author. 
• AVID Program as the helpers for creating the program. 
• AVID is SEL on steroids. 
• What attributes should a successful student have in our school? 
• Arundel Attributes - Ownership
• Brainstorm and share how the attributes will be applied to their day-to-day life
• The Arundel Way
• How you can tell when kids are really taking it to heart. 
• Kids who are struggling don’t get the experiences that help them learn resilience. 
• How COVID was beneficial for the school and the SEL development of students. 
• It’s hard to be a jerk when you care about someone. 
• Onboarding students to the high school, first practice graduation on first day of school as freshmen - pledge, swag, and tour. 
• Students teach SEL lessons with the teacher as backup. 
• The Music Video disaster.
• How it went down
• Gina was already being moved to a different school before this was happening. 
• On being instructed to not comment. 
• Mistake was not escorting the student out. 
• Gina and Larry King

About Gina Davenport

With over 30 years of experience in the field of education, Gina Davenport is most proud of her work as the principal of a diverse suburban high school that is truly student centered. By employing Restorative Practices, discipline referrals dropped to under 50 per year for a student population of over 1,700 with less than 15 out of school suspensions each year since 2021. In this learning community, adults and students share ownership to build a culture of trust, respect, and authentic caring. Gina leverages student voice as a cornerstone of a positive learning environment.  Her school boasts a 96% graduation rate. 

Davenport is currently pursuing her doctorate in Educational Leadership for a Change Population at Notre Dame of Maryland University.  To participate in her study of principals’ perspectives on student voice as a culturally responsive leadership practice, please complete the survey linked here.  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5ZDCT59

Connect with Gina On LinkedIn

Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks, IXL, and Renaissance Learning:

As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. We believe that technology can unlock a more effective learning experience, ensure that students get the personalized teaching they need to thrive, and help educators and administrators to truly, fully, See Every Student. Learn more at renaissance.com.

We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.

If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. 

These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation.

We’re also thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.