Principal Matters: The School Leader's Podcast with William D. Parker

In this week’s episode of Monday Matters, Will Parker and Jen Schwanke discuss the challenges that school leaders face as they navigate both the mundane and complex aspects of their job. They offer advice on how to lead through the ordinary and fight boredom in the job of a school leader by reconnecting to one’s purpose and finding joy in the day to day operations of a school. Below is a thoughtfu...

A Quick Note to Listeners: Before this week’s interview, Will Parker and Jen Schwanke take some time to answer a listener question. This week’s question is:  Do I HAVE to appease parents? How can I shut down a cycle of unproductive conversation?  (I’m referring to the most unreasonable situations) Listen in to hear their response! Meet Dr. Brandi Kelly: Dr. Brandi Kelly is an award-winni...

Welcome back to another episode of Monday Matters! This week, Jen Schwanke and I are talking about a post Jen wrote for her newsletter about staff meetings. Running a staff meeting can be a daunting task! We hope that this episode will provide principals with ideas to run staff meetings in a way that makes sure all staff members are engaged. Listen to the episode to hear all of our takeaways and r...

A Note to Listeners: Before this week’s interview, Will Parker and Jen Schwanke take some time to answer a listener question. This week’s question is: What tips do you have for someone transitioning to a support role without specifically defined responsibilities? Listen in to hear their response! Meet Tim Villegas: Tim Villegas is the Director of Communications for the Maryland Coalition for Inclu...

This week on Monday Matters, Will Parker and Jen Schwanke discuss the article below written by Will about left brain and right brain leadership. Listen in to hear their conversation! Left Brain and Right Brain Leadership, by William D. Parker There’s an old ad from Mercedes-Benz that shows an illustration of the human brain divided left and right. On the left side, the image is black and white. It...

Meet Crystal Williams: Crystal Williams is a dedicated instructional leader with 20 years of experience, currently serving as a District Literacy Coach in Houston, Texas. Originally from Albuquerque, NM, she holds a BA in Psychology and MA in Elementary Education. Now in her sixth year as an instructional coach, Crystal is passionate about equity, justice, and the transformative power of education...

This week on Monday Matters, Jen Schwanke and Will Parker discuss a post written by Will. Check out the post below and listen in to hear their thoughts on it! Random Moments, Major Outcomes by Will Parker I recently listened to an insightful episode of Hidden Brain that really provoked my thinking.  In the interview, host Shankar Vedantam shares the incredible story of Ivan, a man who was swe...

A Quick Note to Listeners: Before this week’s episode, Will and Jen take some time to answer the following listener question: Is achievement only dependent on the perfect leader happening along at the perfect time? Listen in to hear their response! Meet Tony Frontier: Tony Frontier, PhD, is an award-winning educator, author, and consultant who works with schools to improve curriculum, instruction,...

This week on Monday Matters, Jen Schwanke and I discuss happiness among educators. We cover an article by Elizabeth Dampf, The Cost of Happiness, and Jen talks about some articles she has written about joy in educators. School leaders face a lot of stress on the job. We spend a lot of time pouring into others. When you take time to pour into yourself, you have more to pour into others. How do prin...

A quick note to listeners:   Before this week’s interview, Jen Schwanke and Will Parker take a few minutes to discuss the following question: What is missing that keeps every school from moving forward at high levels all the time?  Listen in to hear their response! Meet Danny Bauer: Daniel Bauer is the founder of Better Leaders Better Schools and host of its top-ranked podcast, where he...

Welcome back to another episode of Monday Matters! This week, join Will Parker and Jen Schwanke for the final discussion about Jen’s new book, Trusted: Trust Pillars, Trust Killers, and the Secret to Successful Schools . Chapter 7 is about self-trust for principals. The work of a principal is inherently very self critical. When a principal spends their time dealing with self-doubt, they are breaki...

LaDonna Chancellor is the Executive Director of Teaching and Learning for Bartlesville Public Schools in Oklahoma. With over 25 years in education, she began as a special education teacher, later serving as assistant principal and principal at Central Middle School and Bartlesville High School. As a high school principal, she led major transitions, expanded STEM programs, and earned national recog...

This week on Monday Matters, Jen Schwanke and Will Parker are talking about building trust with students. Their conversation is a follow-up to last week’s episode, where they talk about what kills trust with students. If you haven’t already listened to that episode, go back and give it a listen!  Building trust with students is the key to successful schools. When students trust their teachers and...

Derek is the principal of Alleghany High School in Covington, Virginia, where he led the merger of two rival schools into a unified school community. Instead of allowing division to define the transition, he focused on building culture first, ensuring students, staff, and the community had a voice in shaping a new identity under a Better Together philosophy. Beyond fostering a strong school cultur...

Happy Monday Principal Matters listeners! This week, Will Parker and Jen Schwanke are discussing a topic from Jen Schwanke’s new book, Trusted: Trust Pillars, Trust Killers, and the Secret to Successful Schools . Today’s conversation is part one of a two part conversation about building trust with students. Building trust with students is an essential skill for school leaders and teachers, but bef...

Welcome back to another episode of Principal Matters Podcast! This week’s episode is a little different than our regularly scheduled content. A few months ago, Will Parker joined Dr. Jen Schwanke’s class on human capital management at Ohio State University to answer their questions about school leadership. This class is made up of students who are working towards getting their principal license. B...

This week on Monday Matters, Will Parker and Jen Schwanke talk more about a concept from Jen’s new book, Trusted: Trust Pillars, Trust Killers, and the Secret to Successful Schools . The topic of conversation this week is building trust with parents. Jen shares several components that are key to schools building a trusting relationship with parents. The first is strong communication; parents need...

A quick note to listeners:   Before this week’s interview, Jen Schwanke and Will Parker take a few minutes to discuss the following question: What feedback do you have for an AP who feels like they are carrying all the weight of the Principal? Listen in to hear their response! Leaning into Leadership with Darrin Peppard: Hi, Principal Matters listeners! This week’s episode is something...

Welcome back to another episode of Monday Matters! This week, Will Parker and Jen Schwanke are talking about building trust with teachers. Competency, openness, and honesty are three key building blocks to building trust with teachers. Teachers feeling that their principal is competent is key to having a trusting relationship between teachers and principals. Staying open to feedback from teachers...

A quick note to listeners:   Before this week’s interview, Jen Schwanke and Will Parker take a few minutes to share some feedback that Will has recently received after a PD session with teachers and staff.  Listen in to hear their conversation! Meet Kim Marshall and Jenn David-Lang: Kim Marshall is a veteran educator and writer known for his work on teacher development, leadership, and s...

Welcome back, Principal Matters listeners! This week on Monday Matters, Will Parker and Jen Schwanke are talking about trust pillars and trust killers, a concept covered in Jen’s new book . When it comes to school trust, there are a number of methods school leaders can employ to build organizational trust among teachers and staff members. Jen describes the pillars of trust that hold up the weight...

A quick note to listeners:   Before this week’s interview, Jen Schwanke and Will Parker take a few minutes to discuss the following question: What would a spouse tell a principal stepping into their first year on the job? Listen in to hear their response! Meet Kim Marshall and Jenn David-Lang: Kim Marshall is a veteran educator and writer known for his work on teacher development, leadership,...

Hello, Principal Matters Listeners! Welcome back to another conversation about Jen’s new book, Trusted: Trust Pillars, Trust Killers, and the Secret to Successful Schools , available August 17th. Pre-order your copy now! Today, Jen Schwanke and Will Parker will be talking about what sets this book apart from a lecture on how to be trustworthy. Their conversation goes over the difference between be...

A quick note to listeners:  Before this week’s interview, Jen Schwanke and Will Parker take a few minutes to discuss the following listener question: What other practical ways (like your student handbook) can you rethink for sending positive messaging to your students and school community? Listen in to hear their response! Meet Richard Culatta: ​​As the CEO of ISTE+ASCD, Richard Culatta is fo...

Hi, friends. Jen Schwanke is excited to announce that her new book, Trusted: Trust Pillars, Trust Killers, and the Secret to Successful Schools , will be released on the 17th of this month! Over the next several weeks, Jen and I will be using the Monday Matters episodes to dive into each of the chapters of her book. This week, we are talking about chapter one: Trust in schools, why it’s broken, an...