Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud

Christine Miles, the author of, "What’s it Costing You to Not Listen," shares insights on how as coaches and school leaders we need to move beyond active listening. Listening to understand is critical in building relationships and trust with those we coach. Christine identifies how our listening and questions assist a coachee in telling their story which increases our understanding. Connect with C...

"Managers who coach their employees report that they grow personally by becoming more vulnerable, self-aware, and empathetic. They learn to trust their employees, solicit feedback to improve their management, and in doing so improve job satisfaction and joy in their work." Dr. Nina Morel, Executive Director of Coaching and Leadership Development at Lipscomb University explores how leaders grow fro...

"The field of education has more research than ever before, yet teachers do not have the time to filter through that research to determine which strategies have the greatest impact,” - Sherry St. Claire. That thought initiated St. Claire’s work featured in Intentional Instructional Moves: Strategic Steps to Accelerate Student Learning. She sifted through the research to uncover the most impactful...

Deciding if or when to make a suggestion to a teacher during coaching conferences is a question that as coaches we continually ponder. I consider it a question to be answered during the coaching conference. The key is TIMING. Is the teacher ready (interested in) considering a suggestion. How can a coach read timing and increase the likelihood of the right timing? Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Pon...

Josh Ecker and Erin Cummings, from the Ed Tech and Learning Design Team at Chester County Intermediate Unit in Pennsylvania, explore AI’s current and future potential for the personalization of students pathways to success. They explore ways that school leaders and instructional coaches support teachers’ AI learning through PD, modeling, and policy.  Student AI Literacy is all discussed. Visit Che...

Marcela Andres, the CEO of designEDegagement and author of a post titled, "Moving Beyond Compliance: Building Relationships in Education," joined the podcast to share her experiences and recommendations for building connections with students. "Educators need to see students as individuals with unique backgrounds, dreams, and potential- despite challenges they may be facing. When we know students t...

Sherry St. Clair, the author of Intentional Instructional Moves: Strategic Steps to Accelerate Student Learning, shares her work identifying the research behind instructional strategies with the potential to elevate student learning and save teachers time. Sherry breaks the strategies into intentional steps so teachers can move efficiently from theory to practice. Instructional coaches and school...

In what ways can AI be a teacher’s assistant? How do you keep a "human touch" in the AI assessment process? How can AI empower students as they request assessment feedback? Josh Ecker and Erin Cummings from the Ed Tech and Learning Design Team at Chester County Intermediate Unit in Pennsylvania examine these and additional questions with Steve. Visit Chester County’s AI Support site here. Email Jo...

Both principals and teacher leaders lead from the middle, feeling pressure and demands from a system level and a classroom and community level. Dr. Katie Pekel, the director of Educational Leadership at the University of Minnesota, joins Steve to explore instructional leadership. They examine the need for administrators to guide the evaluation, supervision, mentoring and coaching of teachers. The...

How do teachers shift the focus from passive learning to active exploration, challenging students to think critically, solve complex problems, and apply their knowledge in authentic contexts. Experienced educator and CEO of WhyMaker, Liz Gallo, explores promoting deeper understanding by immersing students in meaningful tasks that mirror the challenges they’ll face outside the classroom, ultimately...

The author of Deconstructing Depth of Knowledge: A Method and Model for Deeper Teaching and Learning, Erik Francis, joins Steve to examine what teaching and learning for depth of knowledge (DOK) looks like. Francis describes ways to support staff with ways to use DOK for differentiating based on the demands of standards and building upon the strengths and successes of students. Visit the Maverik E...

Dr. Maggie Broderick who serves as a faculty lead for Social Emotional Learning at National University converses with Steve around the need to develop schools where staff and students build emotional well-being and develop interpersonal skills. What teacher dispositions are crucial? What roles do instructional coaches and leaders play in creating learning environments that are equitable, inclusive...

Liz Gallo, the CEO of WhyMaker, joins the podcast to explore the planning, delivery, and follow up of effective professional learning. Often, the knowing doing gap is caused by insufficient support for teachers as they experience the learning dip during the implementation of new instructional practices. Visit the WhyMaker website here.   Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on i...

"Phrasing and posing a good question can be just as complex and difficult as the process of answering. It involves critical, creative, and reflective thinking from both students and educators."(Erik Francis) As the author of Inquiring Minds Want to Learn: Posing GoodQuestions to Promote StudentInquiry, Francis explores strategies for how questions can set the stage for student engagement and learn...

Whether you are exploring the value (return on investment) of instructional coaching from the school board, central office, school principal or teacher perspective, an increase in student success must be central . Steve shares insights from his experiences with each of these perspectives with Kim Coffino on the @coachbetter podcast. Listen to the entire CoachBetter podcast here.     Subscribe to t...

While teaching in a team has always had benefits, today it is a requirement. The complexity of desired outcomes we are looking to produce can no longer be accomplished with the skills and resources of an individual. Almost all other industries and professions have recognized how employees and customers are best served by teams while schools have continued placing individual teachers in classrooms...

What do students need their teacher to know and be able to do to address social and emotional learning? Dr. Maggie Broderick, the faculty lead for Social Emotional Learning at National University explores this question and others with Steve. She explores the issue that “where a teacher lives and works”, impacts the approach to social emotional teaching. What’s possible in a school that doesn’t hav...

Two authors of Learning by Doing (Fourth Edition), Mike Mattos and Anthony Muhammad, discuss the powerful impact of PLCs. They define a PLC as an ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve. The discussion explores shifts in the fundamental purpose of PLCs, the use of ass...

While teams naturally build cohesion and effectiveness over time, it is possible to accelerate the team-building process. Research suggests that deliberate interventions, such as setting clear goals, establishing trust, and providing structured opportunities for collaboration, can help teams move through the stages  of team process faster and reach the “performing” stage more quickly. Consider int...

Listen in on a conversation as a school leader shares his experiences working with colleagues to continually increase teacher learning for student learning though professional growth plans. The process continually developed from year to year as insights were gained, and hypotheses were formed and implemented. Follow up with James Penstone on LinkedIn here. Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Ou...

Classrooms with less monologue and more dialogue are key to increasing student thinking and student learning. Peter Liljedahl recommends teachers using a strategy that publicly, randomly groups students. The students visually seeing the groups form is an important element.  When having these random groups work at easy erase vertical boards, engagement and thinking increases. Students seeing each o...

Steve Ventura, co-author of "Achievement Teams: How a Better Approach to PLCs Can Improve Student Outcomes and Teacher Efficacy," identifies Achievement Teams as a structured, collaborative model that helps educators improve teaching practices and student outcomes through data-driven decision-making.  Collective Teacher Efficacy supports that working together can have a greater impact on student a...

If teachers in PLCs are to function as teams, taking shared responsibility for student success, vulnerability is critical. A teacher needs to place his students’ work and his instructional practices on display for colleagues to share in structuring a plan to increase student success.  Teaching needs to be a public act for the trust of teams to be developed. Peer coaching among PLC members can prov...

Teaming and sharing workflow allow teachers to leverage each other's strengths, reduce redundancy, and build a supportive community, all of which contribute to lower stress levels. Teaming can increase a sense autonomy by providing teachers with a collaborative environment that supports shared decision-making, allows for flexibility in implementation, and fosters professional growth. Find Dr. Chri...

Whether you are an instructional coach, administrator, or teacher leader planning and supporting the growth of colleagues or designing your own personal improvement plan consider how to maintain momentum and push through the learning dips with implementation intentions, connections to beliefs and values, and a network of colleagues who provide reminders Visit John Cambell's website & find his...