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)

Recent Posts by Jon Konen

Recruiting New Teachers: 5 Reasons Every Educator Should Start Now

Male preschool teacher smiling as he helps young children with a beading craft at a classroom table
Recruiting new teachers starts with the people already in the classroom. Students decide how they feel about teaching by watching their own teachers, so what they see matters. Named pathways like Educators Rising, Grow Your Own programs, and CTE education courses turn that influence into a real route into the profession. [xyz_feat_school] I recently watched…
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7 Strategies to Combat Community Opposition to Public Schools

Overhead view of a diverse group of adults standing in a circle with their hands stacked together
Community opposition to public schools is best answered with visibility, not rebuttal. Schools that publish what's working, host open forums, invite critics inside, and talk with neighbors directly build enough public trust that organized criticism struggles to gain traction. Arguing point by point on social media usually backfires and makes the responder the next target.…
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A Day in the Life of a Principal: 12,000 Steps

Stepz app screen showing a week of daily step counts, several days topping 13,000–14,000 steps
In this principal's account, the day runs from before 7 AM to after 5 PM, with much of it spent moving throughout the school: hallway patrols, playground supervision, lunchroom cleanup, classroom walkthroughs, and crisis support for at-risk students. He tracked his typical Monday step by step, and it added up to roughly 12,000 steps before…
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8 Ways Teachers Can Build a Positive School Culture

3 teachers standing in a school hallway
Teacher leaders build a positive school culture by owning what they can control: consistent behavior systems such as PBIS, deliberate staff and student recognition, shared expectations, and cross-grade connections such as buddy classrooms. None of these actions require a principal's initiative. A teacher who starts small in their own classroom or hallway can shift the…
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How to Talk to Your Kids About Snapchat: 7 Lessons in Responsible Use

A phone with the snapchat app open on kids desk
Start with Snapchat's own safety tools: its minimum age is generally 13, though it can be higher in some countries or regions, and its Family Center lets you see who your child talks to without reading the messages. From there, settle on a monitoring routine you can maintain consistently, teach the difference between reporting and…
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10 Reasons to Have a Teaching Collaboration Partner

2 passion partners shaking hands
A teaching collaboration partner is a fellow educator you check in with regularly to trade ideas, troubleshoot problems, and push each other's practice forward. The relationship works because both people bring solutions, not just complaints. One Montana elementary principal built this kind of partnership with a colleague 200 miles away, and it changed how both…
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Showing Professionalism as a Teacher: Danielson 4f Guide

School staff members in business attire standing together and smiling in a bright meeting room
Showing professionalism as a teacher comes down to three things Charlotte Danielson's Domain 4f looks at: honesty in every interaction, decisions made on student needs rather than adult convenience, and leadership that reaches past your own classroom. In my experience, those habits count for more when colleagues can see them, not just when you hold…
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Growing and Developing Professionally: Danielson Domain 4e

Illustrated coaching diagram with icons for integrity, vision, positive attitude, humor, communication, and inspiration
Growing and developing professionally means taking ownership of your own learning instead of waiting for a district to assign it: reading, reflective practice, peer feedback, and formal coursework all count. In the 2013 Danielson Framework for Teaching, this is Domain 4e, one of several teacher-practice frameworks districts use, and it's evaluated on how you enhance…
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Participating in the Professional Community: Danielson 4d

Overhead view of diverse hands with pens and coffee cups around the word COMMUNITY and a checklist graphic
Participating in the professional community is component 4d of Charlotte Danielson's Framework for Teaching, covering what you do outside your own classroom. In the framework, the component includes relationships with colleagues, a culture of professional inquiry, service to the school, and participation in school and district projects. The rubric you're scored against is your district's…
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Parent Teacher Communication: 6 Questions for Working With Families

Elementary teacher holding a tablet in her classroom as students work at desks behind her
Parent-teacher communication works best when it's frequent, two-way, and started before there's a problem. Make a positive contact early, ask each family how they prefer to be reached, and keep a record. Save phone calls and face-to-face meetings for anything that needs tone, nuance, or a hard conversation. [xyz_feat_school] Who are the greatest teacher partners…
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