Jeff also served as a teacher and coach in the State of Georgia for many years before moving into school administration. Zoul has taught graduate courses at the university level in the areas of assessment, research, and program evaluation. Jeff has been recognized as a local Teacher of the Year and as an outstanding principal in the State of Georgia. He also served as principal at a national School of Excellence in Illinois.He is the author/co-author of more than a dozen books, including What Connected Educators Do Differently, Start. Right. Now. - Teach and Lead for Excellence, Improving Your School One Week at a Time, The Principled Principal, and Leading Professional Learning: Tools to Connect and Empower Teachers. Zoul has spoken at conferences and school districts in more than thirty states. Jeff has earned several degrees, including his undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts and his doctoral degree from the University of Alabama. In his spare time, Jeff enjoys running and has completed over a dozen marathons. 

Great Educators Teach and Lead for Excellence: Start. Right. Now.

Excellent teachers lead and excellent leaders teach. Excellent teachers and excellent leaders have much more in common, including the 4 key behaviors they exhibit on a daily basis: They Know the Way, Show the Way, Go the Way, and Grow Each Day. Whether leading students or staff, these amazing educators know that in order to teach and lead effectively, we must Start. Right. Now. In this session, we will explore the importance of teaching and leading from a framework of core values and discover ways to act upon these values to improve the climate and culture of your classroom, school, or district. Learn new ways to inspire others, build capacity, model success behaviors, and grow professionally each and every day.

Leading with Principles

“When you base your life on principles, most of your decisions are already made before you encounter them.” Successful educators lead their districts, schools, and classrooms with core principles and values to which they adhere consistently. In this session, we will examine ten principles for leading exemplary schools, including the Priority Principle, The People Principle, The Outcomes Principle, and the Self-Leadership Principle. We will learn what each principle means, why it matters, and how we can monitor our actions to ensure we are leading principled professional lives. In addition we will examine “culture crushers” associated with each principle, identifying what negative behaviors to look for and how to address them in order to maintain a positive and productive school culture.

Connecting, Innovating, and Leading for Excellence

Excellent leaders challenge the status quo by connecting, innovating, and leading intentionally. In this session we will examine 4 key leadership principles and behaviors that truly exemplary leaders exhibit on a daily basis: Know the Way, Show the Way, Go the Way, and Grow Each Day. To inspire, empower, motivate, and lead others while navigating the change process effectively, truly excellent leaders know they must Start. Right. Now. We will explore the importance of leading from a framework of core values and discover ways to act upon these values to improve the climate and culture of your school and/or district. Learn new ways to inspire others, build capacity, model success behaviors, and grow professionally each and every day as a school leader. Learn what it takes to raise expectations schoolwide and create an environment in which everyone—students, staff, parents, and the community—takes pride in supporting each other in their journey to excellence.

Great Educators are Change Agents

As school leaders, we must regularly ask ourselves:  Have we grown complacent? Have we settled for the status quo? Rather than asking how we can simply function more effectively, we must ask ourselves how we must function differently. Doing things better is good. Doing better things is even better. In education, we always have and always will strive to do things better. The time is now, however, to also do better things. You will learn what it takes to raise expectations schoolwide, foster the belief in one’s ability to achieve, and create an environment where everyone—students, staff, parents, and the community—takes pride in supporting each other through inevitable times of change to ensure a commitment to excellence and ongoing improvement.

Personalizing Professional Learning 

Schools around the country are trying to make learning as meaningful as possible by personalizing the learning experience for students. If we know this is best for students, why aren't we personalizing the learning experience for our teachers? This session will share strategies for designing a personalized professional learning experience for teachers that uses a hands-on facilitated workshop structure. Participants will leave this session with a plan to provide personalized PD to educators in their school or district.

Building Culture and Leading Learning

This is a session designed for all current school administrators (and other school leaders) as well as aspiring administrators. Two main responsibilities of any school leader are: 1. Building Culture and 2. Leading Learning. In this session, we will facilitate a conversation centered on these two leadership responsibilities. Participants will work together to discuss why these pillars of educational leadership matter, and how we can best fulfill our responsibilities in these two critical areas.

Teaching and Leading as Coaching

Excellent teachers and leaders do not merely “teach” those they serve; they “coach” them, too. Much like athletic coaches, they provide opportunities for targeted practice, offer specific feedback, make every second count during the lesson, and “chunk” learning by breaking down large amounts of learning into smaller units. In this session, you will explore the characteristics of effective coaching and how we can translate these practices into the classroom and professional learning. We will share and practice intentional teaching techniques designed to promote results-oriented classroom lessons and professional learning sessions. We will focus on techniques that create a rigorous and engaging learning environment.

Connecting to Innovate

Changes in education are occurring like never before. In order to keep up with everything that is happening, we need to learn from colleagues both near and far. In this session, you will learn what connected educators do differently to learn and grow with fellow educators around the world and how, by doing so, you can change your life--and the lives of those you teach and lead--for the better. Learn 8 key differences that help connected educators thrive, including how to create and maintain a meaningful Personal Learning Network, the power of blogging, using Twitter for professional growth, and establishing personalized learning opportunities not only for students but for staff.