Making Mondays the Best Day of the Week with Jonathon Wennstrom

About this episode

Jethro Jones interviews Jonathan Wennstrom about the impact of school-wide weekly meetings on school culture and community.

In this episode of Transformative Principle, Jethro Jones sits down with Jonathan Wennstrom, principal of Rosedale Elementary in Livonia, Michigan, to discuss the power of school-wide weekly meetings. Jonathan shares how he launched "Celebrate Monday" assemblies — 20-minute, student-centered gatherings held every Monday morning to kick off the week with positivity and purpose. Inspired by ideas from fellow educators Sean Gallardo and Jessica Bartha, Jonathan walks through how these assemblies work, what they include (pledges, literacy shares, themed videos, and calls to action), and how they've transformed school culture by reducing behavior referrals and building community. He also shares practical advice on logistics, staff buy-in, parent communication, and planning themes aligned with character education — all while emphasizing that the assemblies are just the spark, and the real magic happens in the classroom. We’re proud to be sponsored by IXL . IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from…

People in this episode

Host: Jethro Jones

Guest: Jonathan Wennstrom

Topics covered

• school culture
• weekly meetings
• student engagement
• character education
• community building
• educational leadership

Keywords

• Celebrate Monday
• assemblies
• positivity
• behavior referrals
• logistics
• staff buy-in
• parent communication

Sponsors

IXL

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Rosedale Elementary

Places: Livonia, Michigan

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