The Assistant Principal Podcast

Power Quote: Am I a manager of priorities or a builder of people? Teaser: After recording today’s episode, I realized I needed to record the episodes on Strategic Action Cycles. Those episodes were a primer for this episode. If you haven’t yet listened to past two episodes on Strategic Action Cycles, I encourage you to do it now as this episode will have a bigger impact if you are already familiar...

Teaser: Today we dig into the second of our three-part series on the power of small change. Last week I covered some of the major challenges with BIG Change and then shared the four principles of leverage. I’ll give a quick recap of the principles of leverage in a few minutes, but if you did not listen to part 1 I strongly urge you to go to it before listening to this episode.  Sponsor Spot 1: If...

Teaser: We’ve all experienced it – BIG change. Not change as in the pandemic or a hurricane, or even NCLB. I mean BIG change initiatives that we do to ourselves. The programs or solutions we implement to great fanfare, that we pour money and time into, that almost inevitably fade out to be replaced by the next big thing. PBIS, Leader in Me, block scheduling, PLCs/teaming, standards-based assessmen...

Wow! 300! Power Quote: It’s all about the people and the relationships Teaser: You are about to listen to the 300th episode of the assistant principal podcast. We released our first episode on August 26, 2021 with the topic of Strategic Leadership and, honestly, that episode was so bad I pulled it from our platform. Producing this show has been such an incredible experience and I wanted to do some...

The Systems Supporting Teacher Growth with Isiah Williams Teaser: If you’ve listened to this show for longer than a month you have likely heard me talk about the flywheel – the “magic” system for driving continual teacher growth. In December I was at an administrators’ conference in Pinehurst, NC and happened to sit at a table with an enthusiastic and passionate young AP who shared with me some of...

Guiding Change with Dr. Christie Cooper Teaser: Building on DiSC styles and how they influence change processes. 50-70% of change initiatives Fail! Sponsor Spot 1: I’d like to thank Kaleidoscope Adventures for sponsoring today’s show. Lots of companies can help you organize class trips, but Kaleidoscope helps you organize adventures – because isn’t that what student trips should be? Kaleidscope is...

Leadership Styles with Dr. Christie Cooper Teaser: The leadership style activity I do with groups… Sponsor Spot 1: I’d like to thank Kaleidoscope Adventures for sponsoring today’s show. Lots of companies can help you organize class trips, but Kaleidoscope helps you organize adventures – because isn’t that what student trips should be? Kaleidscope is a full-service tour company offering a range of...

Five Change Lessons March 17, 2026 Sponsor Spot 1: I’d like to thank Kaleidoscope Adventures for sponsoring today’s show. Lots of companies can help you organize class trips, but Kaleidoscope helps you organize adventures – because isn’t that what student trips should be? Kaleidscope is a full-service tour company offering a range of adventure opportunities and they excel at customizing trips base...

Show Title: Make Every Moment Count with POY Jason Johnson Power Quote: Make Every Moment Count Teaser: The R word – relationships. Sometimes it feels like we talk about it too much but not enough. It doesn’t make sense, but I hope you know what I mean. In a digital world, it feels like relationships are an analog concept, but I think they are more important now than ever. Sponsor Spot 1: - If you...

Support, Don’t Solve Teaser: Becoming a strategic leader is a journey – a long one. It’s a journey full of stops and starts, and slow incremental improvement. But there are also some inflection points – places where leaders make a great leap forward. Those inflection points usually have more to do with changes in perception than the acquisition of knowledge or skills. Today’s topic is an inflectio...

When there are “I’s” in TEAM with Dr. Chad Dumas Teaser: I’m really excited about today’s episode. I had so much fun recording it and I think that lightness and positivity come out in the interview. It’s a great combination of high-level stuff and some really fundamental truths about teams and leaderships. This might be one of those episodes that you want to listen to twice and take notes. I hope...

What a Ford Mav-Wreck Can Teach Us About Leadership Sponsor Spot 1: Travel can positively impact students in a big way - but if your first thought is, “who is going to plan all of this?”, don’t worry because that’s where Kaleidoscope Adventures comes in. The KA team has been planning student group travel for more than 30 years! They handle the logistics from start to finish, so you can focus on yo...

Reimagining School Leadership with Dr. Lindsay Whorton   Power Quote: “Leadership has to be a team sport.”     Teaser: I hope you enjoy listening to today’s episode as much as I did recording it. It’s a wonderful combination of big picture thinking and exploring some new ideas but then also getting down and making some really specific suggestions about next steps so this wonderful blend of 40,000...

Dr. Lindsay Whorton has served as president of The Holdsworth Center since 2019, leading its growth from seven Texas school districts to 89 districts serving over 1,900 educational leaders.    A native of Independence, Missouri, Lindsay graduated from Drake University with degrees in secondary education and English. She captained the women's basketball team to a 2007 Missouri Valley Conference Tou...

The Five Gives   Teaser: It’s that time of the year for assistant principals when it just feels like you’re completely underwater all the time the thought you had at the beginning of the year of engaging in teacher development of doing observations and coaching those are kind of long lost dreams at this point, but there is a way out we don’t have to sit in the space today I am going to do a quick...

289 When Fall Didn’t End Very Well   Teaser:  “I would love it if you would consider doing a podcast episode on what happens when a principal gets off track and needs to get the trains back on track... Just as our students get off track around October (the honeymoon phase is over), I found myself last fall losing sight of our mission and goals for the year. My AP and I got excited and started gett...

Oh, They are Mad! with Darrin Peppard   Power Quote: “Listen more, talk less.”     Teaser: Here’s the email I received that inspired this episode: I’m wondering if you have an episode of your podcast focusing on dealing with unreasonable parents. This year has been exceptionally difficult regarding the attacks I’m receiving from parents.  Either they are offended when I discipline their child beca...

Three Resolutions and One Word   Teaser: The New Year is a great time to refocus and gain some clarity, but New Years’ resolutions feels to me like something that sounds good in theory but doesn’t work in practice. At least it hasn’t for me. Instead of resolutions this year, I’m using one word to help me keep my priorities straight, and three intentions that, if I work them daily, will lead me to...

Teaser: At the end of each year, I re-air what I consider to be the best episode of the year, but my favorite episode for this year was released on Nov 11 (episode 279). Instead of re-airing something you’ve already heard, I decided to have my guest from that best episode, Darryall White, come back onto the show. I gave him some homework to complete the SWOT analysis and the Stop-Start-Continue-Co...

Sponsor Spot 1: I’d like to thank Kaleidoscope Adventures for sponsoring today’s show. Lots of companies can help you organize class trips, but Kaleidoscope helps you organize adventures – because isn’t that what student trips should be? Kaleidscope is a full-service tour company offering a range of adventure opportunities and they excel at customizing trips based on your unique context, needs, an...

Assistant Principal Podcast Content Episode Outline   #284: 5-Minute Coaching   Teaser: Today we are doing a deep dive into 5-minute coaching. This show is an adaptation of the 45-minute breakout training I frequently do at conferences, like NCPAPA earlier this month. I do have a handout that contains all of the information. If you’d like a PDF of the handout, just email me at frederick@frederickb...

Power Quote: “How does this make learning better?” Teaser: A couple weeks ago I had Simone Lieschke on. Simone is co-principal at the American International School of Lusaka in Zambia. I appreciated her different perspectives and it was a conversation that made me, and I hope you, step back and reflect more deeply on our own contexts. Today’s show is also with an international school leader, and,...

Power Quote: “What’s the point if I’m not willing to grow?” Teaser: As you will hear, I began my teaching career overseas through a serious of serendipitous events. For reasons I myself don’t fully understand, I’ve been feeling the echoes of international education on my thoughts, so I decided to listen and invite on some international school leaders. We can certainly learn a lot from people who w...

Thankfully Thinking with Frederick   Teaser: I’m planning on this episode being a little light. Honestly, I’m not sure how many people will tune in given we are dropping in a week where many of us are thinking more about dinner than data. We are not going to do any music this show, just acknowledging sponsors and diving into two themes. In part 1, we’ll look at the motivation equation. I first cov...

Power Quote: I am a teacher Teaser: I’ve made an intentional effort this year to feature the voices of practitioners. I find the conversations to always be interesting and informative. Some guests are more high energy than others and I want to comment on that before we get into today’s interview.  I am hesitant to say “all leaders should bring the juice” as people need to be able to be authentic a...