About: Jon Konen

Jon Konen is a high school principal and freelance writer in Columbia Falls, Montana. He has been a superintendent and has taught most all grade levels K-6, and has been an instructional coach. In addition, he has been an elementary and middle principal. As a 5th grade teacher, in 2010 he won the Presidential Award for Elementary Math and Science Teaching (PAEMST). As a principal, his school won the 2012 Blue Ribbon Award. In 2018, he won the National Distinguished Principal Award (NDP). In 2019 he won the National No Kid Hungry Breakfast Hero Award. He is the author of three guides published on teacher.org: An Educator's Guide to Combat Bullying & Bully Prevention; Teacher Evaluation: A Transition Guide to Exemplary Performance; and You are the Wild Card: Infusing Fun Back into Curriculum. He has authored a children's picture book that was released January 2019 titled Benjamin’s Visit to Principal Reads Office…again! (available at www.archwaypublishing.com)

5 Ways To Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is In Building Supportive Relationships with Your Students

Relationships, relationships, relationships! We know that having positive, trusting relationships in their lives this is the number one indicator of student success... Then why don’t we double down on relationships? We push the curriculum. Many of us are getting students ready for the first assessment, then the next assessment, and then we change our instruction…

Chalkboard graphic with chalk lettering: October is National Principals Month, Have you thanked a principal today?

National Principals Month runs the entire month of October. It is organized by the National Principals Association, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, and the American Federation of School Administrators. It is a separate observance from School Principals' Day, which falls on May 1. [xyz_feat_school] In my experience, the hardest job in education is…

24 Future Forward Ideas: The Final Installment in Our 4-Part Series Exploring Practical Strategies for Better Teaching Based on What We Are Learning in the Pandemic. Part 4 of 4: What We Know to Be True! At this point, we all recognize that the pandemic brought to the forefront a lot of background issues that…

24 Future Forward Ideas: Part 3 in a 4-Part Series Exploring Practical Strategies for Better Teaching Based on What We Are Learning in the Pandemic Part 3: The Power of Being Flexibly-Virtual When educational leaders transitioned to virtual offsite learning last year, some of the implications of what it meant to hold class remotely…

24 Future Forward Ideas: Part 2 in a 4-Part Series Exploring Practical Strategies for Better Teaching Based on What We Learned in 2020-21 Part 2: Reasons to Be Positive About the Future... In part one of this series, we started looking at what it might mean to return to “normal” after a pretty strange and scary…

24 Future Forward Ideas: A 4-Part Series Exploring Practical Strategies for Better Teaching Based on What We Learned in 2020-21 Part 1: Before We Rush to Get Back to Normal... “In a rush to return to normal, use this time to consider which parts of normal are worth getting back to.” -Author and life…

smiling teacher holding a piggy bank in a classroom with students in the background

Teacher benefits add real value beyond salary. BLS reports that, for primary, secondary, and special education school teachers, benefits accounted for 35.0 percent of total compensation as of December 2025. For a High School Teacher earning the median $72,040, health insurance, a pension, and paid time off add real value on top of that, though…

hiker standing on a suspension footbridge with arms outstretched below snow-capped mountains

Teaching during the pandemic meant improvising with almost no notice. Three teachers describe last-minute policy changes, classes taught to muted black squares, and public goodwill that evaporated by fall. They also found gains worth keeping: flexible scheduling helped some students, and masking cut the sick days teachers had long accepted. [xyz_feat_school] Teaching was one of…

Graduating seniors in blue caps and gowns toss their caps at an outdoor commencement in a mountain valley

The 10 pieces of advice for graduating seniors in this commencement speech are: own your actions, show compassion, take risks, make connections, be alone sometimes, be reflective, make strong friendships, love your family, make your own decisions, and be thankful. The full speech and the countdown template behind it follow. [xyz_feat_school] Giving a graduation speech…

a group of hands making a heart shape with the sky in the background.

Moving to a new state as a teacher comes down to eight honest questions: distance from family, your real reason for going, lifestyle fit, what you're trading for the paycheck, what you know about the school, retirement and license reciprocity, real cost of living, and what your gut says. Answer those before you sign a…

About: Jon Konen

Recent Posts by Jon Konen

5 Ways To Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is In Building Supportive Relationships with Your Students

National Principals Month: 45 Ways to Celebrate Your Principal

How the Pandemic Has Taught Us to Get Back to Basics and Embrace the Concept of Total Wellness

Powerful Educational Technology Solutions That Will Outlive the Pandemic

How The Challenges Created By COVID Will Be Good For The Future Of Education

Before We Rush to Get Back to Normal, Let’s Think About Which Part of Normal is Actually Worth Getting Back To

Ever Wonder What Your Teacher Benefits Are Really Worth?

What Teaching Was Like During the Pandemic: Three Teachers on 2020-21

Top 10 Pieces of Advice for Graduating Seniors: A Speech

Moving to a New State as a Teacher: 8 Questions to Ask First

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