 Dr.
Todd Whitaker is a Professor of Educational Leadership at Indiana State
University in Terre Haute, Indiana. Prior to coming to Indiana, he taught
at the middle and high school levels in Missouri. Following his teaching
experience, he served as a middle school and high school principal for
eight years. Dr. Whitaker also served as a middle school coordinator in
Jefferson City, Missouri.
Dr. Whitaker's work has been published in the areas of teacher leadership,
instructional improvement, change, leadership effectiveness, technology,
and middle level practices. His books include Dealing With Difficult Teachers,
Motivating & Inspiring Teachers, Dealing With Difficult Parents, Feeling
Great!, Teaching Matters, and What Great Principals Do Differently. His
latest books are the number one best seller, What Great Teachers Do Differently
and Great Quotes For Great Educators. Dr. Whitaker is internationally
recognized as an inspirational and distinguished speaker.
He is married to Beth, a former teacher and principal, who is an associate
professor in the Elementary Education Department at Indiana State University.
They are the parents of three children,
Katherine, Madeline, and Harrison.
Topics Include:
- It's A Wonderful Life!
- Remember when it was so exciting to go to work you would tingle? Do standardized tests, dealing with the same old kids, paperwork, and red tape have you down? Here is a chance to get you and your entire school revitalized, reenergized, and maybe even resuscitated!
Included in this motivational presentation are ideas to rekindle those feelings of why you chose education. This session will provide strategies for educators to recharge their batteries by reminding them education really is a wonderful life. Specific ideas will be presented that allow all administrators to be more effective dealing with students, parents, and staff.
- Win-Win Discipline
- How can a principal be seen as supportive to teachers, fair with students and parents, and yet keep issues at the building level and not involving the central office? This workshop focuses on the principal’s role in effective school wide discipline in a proactive, positive way that allows everyone involved to learn and practice effective communication and decision making skills that can be applied in you schools immediately. Also included is information that can assist in developing the capability of your faculty to effectively manage their own classrooms and minimize the office involvement in classroom disruptions.
- Dealing with Difficult Teachers
- Call them resistant, negative, or mediocre. Whatever we call them they are still our most difficult staff members to work with. How do we motivate, regulate, or eliminate these troubled teachers? How can we get other staff members to help us? How can we work on the weaker members and still keep the respect of all teachers? Why should we even bother?
This workshop provides tips, guidelines, and motivation for improving, controlling, and/or eliminating the most difficult staff members in your building. Included are ideas to lessen their influence and put the good guys back in control of the school. Every building has them, and every principal has the power to improve their school by effectively dealing with these most challenging faculty members.
This program will provide specific tools which allow you, in a non-confrontational manner, to reduce the influence of your negative leaders, motivate your less effective teachers, eliminate non productive staff members while keeping the respect of your faculty.
- Dealing With Difficult Parents
- (And With Parents In Difficult Situations)
Do you have parents that you just dread dealing with? When they call on the phone or walk in your office do you get a sinking feeling? Do you ever have to deliver bad news to nice parents?
This workshop will provide valuable tools for administrators to deal with hostile parents, build relations with all parents, and learn new techniques that can help you effectively deliver tough news in a positive manner. You will develop skills which will allow you to help everyone in your organization be more effective in dealing with these most challenging people.
- Change Through Leadership
- Society is changing more rapidly than ever. Change is an issue all schools face. Leadership, both formal and informal, is the key to successful change. How does a school leader get their staff to head down the road to successful change? How can we get a new program to be implemented and supported by everyone? How do we get reluctant teachers on board? How can we get others to be as motivated as we are? This session will provide guidance and useful tips for you to take back and utilize for an effective change process in your school. You can and do make a difference!
- Building & Enhancing Staff Morale
- Having high energy staff members is critical to the success of every school. Everyone who works with students must come to work in a positive frame of mind each day. This session will focus on ways for principals, teachers, and parents to enhance the environment of their school. Participants will learn how to motivate themselves and everyone in their building. They will learn how to build staff morale in their school, learn how to help themselves be more motivated at work every day, and be reminded of the importance of education.
- The Friday Focus: A Weekly Staff Memo That Works!
- This workshop presents the “Friday Focus,” a weekly staff memo that motivates, organizes, sensitizes, and can be the impetus for change throughout the school. Principals will improve school communication, energize all faculty, and expand their circle of influence utilizing a tool that most principals already use - the weekly staff bulletin. Samples will be shared, along with specific techniques that will enable all workshop participants to help their schools of all sizes and grade levels come alive.
- Supervision, Evaluation, and Instructional Improvement
- The role of teacher evaluation is essential for an effective principal. This session will focus on evaluation of all teachers - from our superstars to our less than superstars. Principals will have a chance to practice conferencing, note taking, and to examine the most effective ways to evaluate and improve our teachers. This session will also include ways to improve instruction on a daily basis in your school. Included will be videotaped lessons, information on differentiated supervision, and how to focus on instructional leadership on a daily basis in your school.
- Middle Level Development
- An area that I work in a great deal is the middle level school. Topics in this area include adolescent development, advisory programs, developing interdisciplinary curriculum, discipline, transitioning to a middle level school, interdisciplinary teaming, effectively teaching middle level students, developing a schedule, etc. I have had the opportunity to work with teachers, administrators, parents, and school boards on all aspects of middle level programs and practices.
- The Power of Positive Communication
- One of the most essential aspects of being an effective educational leader is being able to communicate successfully with everyone we come in contact with. Understanding what to say and how to say it are critical components in building relationships with parents, students, and other educators. This workshop will help you develop and refine your skills in effectively communicating every day. You will also be able to help everyone in your organization improve these critical skills. You will leave with specific things that will enable you to handle challenging people, initiate communication more confidently, and self-evaluate your personal communication ability.
- What Great Principals Do Differently: 15 Things That Matter Most
- What are the specific qualities and practices of great principals that elevate them above the rest? This workshop reveals what the most effective principals do differently than their colleagues. Blending school centered studies and experience working with hundreds of administrators, this workshop will focus on 15 things that the most successful principals do . . . that other principals do not. Participants will leave knowing what great principals do differently, why these things make them more effective, and how to immediately implement each of these practices into your school.
- Three Rules Of Leadership
- Making good decisions is one of the toughest and most stressful challenges principals face. Not only do we have to make the right choice, but we also need to get everyone to support our decisions. Is there a better way to manage this tough task? This session provides three guiding questions we need to ask before we ever make a decision. Participants will learn how to make better decisions, have more confidence in our outcomes, and gain credibility with everyone in our organization.
- Bringing Everybody On Board: 7 Keys To Unlocking Change
- Identifying changes we want to make is easy. The challenge is getting everyone in our system to accept and embrace change. This session describes 7 essential keys to implementing any change.
Participants will learn specific strategies to neutralize resistors, develop informal leaders, and get system wide enthusiasm and support for any change you want to make. Learn how to apply the 7 keys to leading effective change in your organization and bring everybody on board.
- Dealing with Change
- Change is an issue all schools face. Leadership, both formal and informal, is the key to successful change. We can all take the reigns of leadership and help guide our school to effectiveness. How does a teacher get their peers and/or an administrator get their staff to successfully change? How can we get a new program to be implemented and supported by everyone? How do we get reluctant teachers on board? How can we get others to be as motivated as we are? This session will provide guidance and useful tips for you to take back and utilize for an effective change process in your school.
- Win-Win Classroom Management
- The workshop is focused on effectively working with all students at any grade/age level. The purpose is to help teachers build and refine their skills in order to manage their classrooms and empower them to successfully work with all students. Information is also included on contracting and involving parents and raising the parents level of responsibility.
- Cultivating A Culture Of Caring
- It is essential that in each of our schools every teacher and every student feels important and cares about those around them. This presentation will assist all educators in assisting their schools to have a culture where every staff member and student feels valued and productive.
- What Great Teachers Do Differently: 14 Things That Matter Most
- What are the specific qualities and practices of great teachers that elevate them above the rest? This workshop reveals what the most effective teachers do differently than their colleagues. Participants will focus on what the most successful educators do . . . that others do not. Everyone will leave knowing what great educators do differently, why they make them more effective, and how to immediately implement each of these into your own classrooms and schools.
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To request information on Todd Whitaker, e-mail
twhitaker@educationspeakersgroup.com
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