Épisodes

  • 124 S8 E9 Building trust matters, and it matters deeply in schools
    Jan 3 2025

    Megan Tshannen-Moran and Jenn had a delightful conversation about the power of trust in schools. It is one of three factors that is so powerful that it oustrips SES in predicting student achievement. Far from being a "soft skill," building trust has become a must-have skill for educational leaders.

    In this conversation Megan not only defines trust for us, but she also gives us lots of concrete strategies and tidbits to build and keep trust alive in schools.

    We discussed what happens with betrayals of trust and Megan outlines in detail how leaders can bring their school through a step-by-step Appreciative Inquiry process to help when a school is experiencing a low-trust moment.

    You can learn more about Megan Tshannen-Moran and her work here: https://schooltransformation.com/

    She also kindly offered to answer your emails here: mxtsch@wm.edu

    As always, send your comments, questions, and show ideas to mike@schoolleadershipshow.com. Consider rating the podcast in iTunes and leaving a comment. And please pass the show along to your colleagues. Additionally, if you have other non-education books with implications for school leaders, send those suggestions our way, too. And finally, If you or someone you know would like to sponsor the show, send Mike an email at mike@schoolleadershipshow.com.

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    44 min
  • 123 S8 E8 Is A.I. the teaching assistant we've all been waiting for?
    Dec 14 2024

    What a great conversation about the new book, The Artificial Intelligence Playbook: Time-Saving Tools for Teachers that Make Learning More Engaging! Jenn got to talk to all three of the authors: Meghan Hargrave, Douglas Fisher, and Nancy Frey and learned so much.

    We discussed everything from what AI is and isn't, to the reasons leaders should address teachers' emotions around AI, to whether AI is going to take over our jobs! (Spoiler alert, the authors quoted Ethan Mollick who says, "AI won't take your job, but someone who uses AI will!" ... so listen to this podcast to be the person who knows how to use AI!)

    There are, however, things to be careful of — like students using AI for plagiarism — so we discussed some great ideas to address this.

    We also got into some concrete examples of the ways AI can help teachers with the important work they're doing:

    1. managing content
    2. fostering student engagement
    3. meeting students’ instructional needs
    4. assessing student learning
    5. providing effective feedback, and
    6. lifelong learning for educators

    The authors share examples of prompts you can feed into AI and some of the tips they have for making sure you get the best possible answers from AI.

    Since our listeners are mostly ed leaders, they also shared that on Corwin's website there's a school leader's guide to the book. There's also a study guide for teachers and a boot camp with self-paced modules on the website. The authors are all over social media. You can't miss them.

    If you've been shy about diving into AI, this conversation and this book are two great places to start!

    As always, send your comments, questions, and show ideas to mike@schoolleadershipshow.com. Consider rating the podcast in iTunes and leaving a comment. And please pass the show along to your colleagues. Additionally, if you have other non-education books with implications for school leaders, send those suggestions our way, too. And finally, If you or someone you know would like to sponsor the show, send Mike an email at mike@schoolleadershipshow.com.

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    54 min
  • 122 S8 E7 How to Supercharge Your Communication
    Nov 26 2024

    You probably know Charles Duhigg from his book, The Power of Habit. Or maybe Smarter Faster Better. Now he has a newer book out that is another great resource for school leaders — Supercommunnicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection.

    Charles shares with Jenn how people mess up communication and how to improve it. He says that most miscommunication happens when we are having different conversations, and when we fail to connect. There are basically three conversation types: decision-making, emotional, and social relationships.

    You don't want to miss this conversation because you'll see how Jenn uses Charles's own techniques to connect with him emotionally in just ONE minute. And later in the podcast, Charles and Jenn role play a teacher and principal and how to diagnose and address a typical conflict.

    There are so many nuggets of wisdom for educational leaders in this podcast. One small thing you can do tomorrow? Ask deeper questions with staff. Instead of asking WHAT questions, like "What is happening today?" Ask, "How are you feeling about how things went today?"

    You can find more information at CharlesDuhigg.com or sign up for his Substack. He suggests supporting a local bookstore by picking up this book there. Also, Penguin Random House has a free guide for teachers and students on their website.

    As always, send your comments, questions, and show ideas to mike@schoolleadershipshow.com. Consider rating the podcast in iTunes and leaving a comment. And please pass the show along to your colleagues. Additionally, if you have other non-education books with implications for school leaders, send those suggestions our way, too. And finally, If you or someone you know would like to sponsor the show, send Mike an email at mike@schoolleadershipshow.com.

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    42 min
  • 121 S8 E6 The Secret to Turning Conflict into Collaboration
    Nov 13 2024

    Jenn had an outstanding conversation with Robert Feirsen, one of the two authors of From Conflict to Collaboration, along with author Seth Weitzman. They chatted about the tough stuff – like how prevalent conflict is in schools and a number of the sources of that conflict. But then Robert shared the positive way he thinks about conflict and how we, too, can use conflict as an opportunity for learning and growth.

    Robert shared the idea that design thinking – an approach that comes from the discipline of engineering – can be used to address conflict effectively. First you put together a team of people with diverse roles and perspectives, and then they go through the stages of design thinking – empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test – in order to collaboratively come up with and test possible solutions to address a major conflict your school community is facing. To learn more about the authors you can go to TeacherEdge.net.

    As always, send your comments, questions, and show ideas to mike@schoolleadershipshow.com. Consider rating the podcast in iTunes and leaving a comment. And please pass the show along to your colleagues. Additionally, if you have other non-education books with implications for school leaders, send those suggestions our way, too. And finally, If you or someone you know would like to sponsor the show, send Mike an email at mike@schoolleadershipshow.com.

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    41 min
  • 120 S8 E5 How about some help with talking about the election in schools?
    Oct 28 2024

    Jenn made me do this episode. I really didn't wat to, but I'm glad we did.

    As we approach the upcoming presidential election, you may remember the fallout from the last two elections. Some school communities experienced heightened divisions, increased bullying, more tension in classrooms, and a general sense of uncertainty.

    Fortunately, there are some steps school and district leaders can take to proactively anticipate some of these challenges. We need to plan ways to communicate clearly, set expectations, and create a calm and inclusive school environment while also thinking through ways to address challenges that may arise (heightened emotions, legal issues, inappropriate behavior.)

    All of this while remembering that our purpose in schools is to educate! We need to remember this election brings plenty of opportunity (and responsibility!) to educate our students about civic issues, media literacy, and respectfully engaging in challenging and often contentious conversations.

    Take a look at this 2-page resource - 5 Ways School Leaders Can Prepare for a Contentious Election and listen to our conversation with the very thoughtful Debbie McFalone

    Dr. Debbie McFalone has a long and distinguished career in the field of education – after serving as a Teacher, Principal and Supe she now is a consultant and coach who works with both school-based and district-based individuals and teams across the state of Michigan. Her work focuses primarily on the areas of courage and integrity in leadership. Plus she has her 3rd book coming out in early 2025 Meeting The Moment: A Call For Courage. You can learn more about Debbie and her work at her website: https://www.livewellleadstrong.com/.

    As always, send your comments, questions, and show ideas to mike@schoolleadershipshow.com. Consider rating the podcast in iTunes and leaving a comment. And please pass the show along to your colleagues. Additionally, if you have other non-education books with implications for school leaders, send those suggestions our way, too. And finally, If you or someone you know would like to sponsor the show, send Mike an email at mike@schoolleadershipshow.com.

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    31 min
  • 119 S8 E4 Want better supervision? Listen to the source.
    Oct 8 2024

    Kim Marshall needs no introduction. He is the most recognized name in the field of educational leadership because he is the person behind the weekly Marshall Memo -- a subscription service that provides curated summaries of the most important articles in education each week.

    In this podcast Kim provides an overview of the three essential areas school leaders need to keep an eye on to be successful supervisors and coaches:

    • Supervising and coaching TEACHING

    • Supervising and coaching LEARNING

    • Supervising and coaching PLANNING

    Most know him because he is the guru of mini-observations. In our conversation he shares what you need to be sure to do to ensure your observations and feedback are effective.

    As always, send your comments, questions, and show ideas to mike@schoolleadershipshow.com. Consider rating the podcast in iTunes and leaving a comment. And please pass the show along to your colleagues. Additionally, if you have other non-education books with implications for school leaders, send those suggestions our way, too. And finally, If you or someone you know would like to sponsor the show, send Mike an email at mike@schoolleadershipshow.com.

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    38 min
  • 118 S8 E3 Leading When It’s Hard - A Cell Phone Ban.
    Sep 10 2024

    In this episode, Jenn and I interview Dave Blanchard, a seasoned superintendent from a school district in Upstate New York. Three years ago Dave’s district implemented a distraction-free environment, which included no cell phones during the school day. We talk about this leadership challenge in the context of Jonathan Haidt’s 2024 book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.

    If you would like a summary of the book along with discussion questions to use with families, email Jenn@TheMainIdea.net. If you would like to hear the research and ideas straight from the author, join a free webinar with Jonathan Haidt about The Anxious Generation on 9/24 at 3:00 PM EDT. RSVP here: https://home.edweb.net/webinar/mentalhealth20240924/.

    As always, send your comments, questions, and show ideas to mike@schoolleadershipshow.com. Consider rating the podcast in iTunes and leaving a comment. And please pass the show along to your colleagues. Additionally, if you have other non-education books with implications for school leaders, send those suggestions our way, too. And finally, If you or someone you know would like to sponsor the show, send Mike an email at mike@schoolleadershipshow.com.

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    40 min
  • 117 S8 E2 Learn what the BEST principals do differently than the AVERAGE ones.
    Aug 26 2024

    We were fortunate to get to talk to the renowned Todd Whitaker in today's podcast. He is one of the most influential thought leaders in educational leadership and has written 65 books on staff motivation, teacher leadership, and principal effectiveness!

    Today Whitaker talks about the latest edition of his classic book, What Great Principals Do Differently: Twenty Things That Matter Most.

    Todd shares 8 of the 20 things he has found (through research AND personal experience as a principal) the BEST principals do that the average ones don't.

    He was quite a hoot to talk to and you'll love his anecdotes. But most of all he helps school leaders with what may be the most important task, (and he says all of his books are about this important task) HOW TO GET PEOPLE TO DO WHAT YOU WANT THEM TO DO.

    To learn more about him, go to http://toddwhitaker.com/ or follow him on Twitter at @ToddWhitaker.

    As always, send your comments, questions, and show ideas to mike@schoolleadershipshow.com. Consider rating the podcast in iTunes and leaving a comment. And please pass the show along to your colleagues. Additionally, if you have other non-education books with implications for school leaders, send those suggestions our way, too. And finally, If you or someone you know would like to sponsor the show, send Mike an email at mike@schoolleadershipshow.com.

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    48 min