John Fleischman is the Assistant Superintendent of Technology Services at the Sacramento County Office of Education and is responsible for all of the information and educational technology operations for the SCOE districts. John has an extensive background creating and implementing informational and instructional media for use in a variety of educational environments. Working at the regional, state and national level he is currently guiding development and enhancement for several major technology initiatives including the Outreach and Technology Assistance Network and U.S.A. Learns, a comprehensive online program for teaching English to older adolescents and adults. John serves on a number of advisory boards and committees for a variety of different projects and organizations such as the Internet2 K20 Initiative, California K12 High Speed Network, California Education Technology Task Force, California County Superintendents Educational Services Association, Computer Using Educators (CUE), and the Sacramento Educational Cable Consortium.

 

John talks about his background and unusual path to being an educator, his family, and love of cycling and international travel (2:20)

How hitchhiking through Europe and Africa gave John a unique perspective on the power of technology, and sparked his interest in education as a career (8:30)

How to meet the challenges of keeping up with new technology as an educator (11:09)

The focus should be on student outcomes, not on how you achieve them, but you have to keep up with and embrace new technologies as they come along in order to help you achieve those positive student outcomes, so you’ll need to be ready to deal with constant change (13:40)

Making the decision to move into school administration (20:05)

Don’t worry – as you get more experience in school admin, you’ll learn how to deal with all the politics, but here are some tips to give you a head start (24:08)

One of John’s favorite stories from his long career in education is about the incredible power of technology to change thousands of lives every year (30:36)

The key to writing grant proposals that get funded is relationships (39:30)

“Listen before you speak” is the best leadership advice John ever received (41:07)

Don’t ask your staff to do anything you wouldn’t be willing to do (41:27)

Two books John thinks all school leaders should read (41:57)

Some ways admins can improve the way they serve their students (43:27)

Ideas for helping your teachers do their very best (45:00)

Nelson Mandela’s “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” is John’s favorite leadership quote (46:11)

If John had a time machine, here’s the advice he would go back and give his younger self when he was just starting out in administration (46:56)

 

Books mentioned in this episode

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey

The Tech-Savvy Administrator: How do I use technology to be a better school leader? by Steven W. Anderson and Deborah Siegel

 

Connect with John Fleischman

OTAN

USA Learns

Sacramento County Office of Education

 

 

About EducatorsLead:

Educators Lead is a podcast created to help launch educators into the next level of leadership. This show is for you if you are interested in educational leadership as an assistant principal, principal, superintendent, teacher or someone who hopes to be a school leader one day. Educators Lead offers inspiration and practical advice to help you lead more effectively. Jay Willis interviews school leaders three days a week to discuss why and when these educators made the decision to move into school leadership, challenges along the journey, and stories that made it all worthwhile. Educators Lead is a great resource for any educator looking to make a greater impact.

Educate. Inspire. Lead.

www.educatorslead.com