The Assistant Principal Podcast

“Every day I do what I’m best at, and every day I do my best. Some days my best is better than others.” Paraphrase from BB King

Show Notes, Episode 40: Team Coaching with John Willis About this show: Today, I am joined by John Willis, the founder of the Teaming Edge. John is here with us today to explore Team Coaching. Notable Quotes John Willis “We’re not trying to fix anybody, because nobody is broken”   “Team coaching is a team leader who has the expertise of the best practices in coaching to help a team meet their goal...

If relationships, with others, but also with ourself, is really what it is all about, how should we be living? This weekend, and into next week, please be intentional about one thing: being fully present with others. Focus, ask questions, listen to the answers, look, smile, and laugh. Give 100% of yourself when you are with another person. Try it. It isn’t easy, but it is oh so rewarding.

Show Notes, Episode 38: Just Put the Key in the Door with Maddie Jurek About this show: Yay! You finally found time to get into a classroom and do a big observation! You sit down, congratulating yourself for prioritizing, and the teacher and students dive into a lesson on quantum physics. Wait! What? Of course, this is an exaggeration, but most of us have found ourselves tasked with observing a te...

Today’s episode of Five for Friday recaps the week’s daily leadership emails for the week of July 4-8, 2022. If you already get my daily leadership emails, then I hope you’ll find some added value here and if you don’t already subscribe you can find a link on my home page at frederickbuskey.com. Many readers like to begin their mornings by reading the email and setting a leadership intention for t...

Show Notes, Episode 36: Parent Partnerships with Dr. Leigh Ann Alford-Keith   About this show: “We talk a lot about social emotional learning and the whole child, but the whole child includes the family.” These aren’t my words. They came from today’s guest when she appeared on the show back on episode 25. We went on to discuss what a partnership is, and how teachers’ thinking needed to change. We...

A recap of the week's five Strategic Leader emails. This week featured a sequence around the theme of "five things you can do now for a more productive fall." A bonus at the end is how I turned some negative thinking around to rewrite my own (flawed) story.

Show Notes, Episode 34: Persistent Growth with Emily Parks   About this show:   We are all teachers here, right? So, I can be honest, Right? We love all children equally and we have no favorites. That said, there are always those students who give us energy. They bring a passion for learning that inspires us to be at our best. I had those kinds of learners when I was a middle school teacher, when...

Link to the daily email: https://mailchi.mp/c15c68e6df32/specialedition  

Show Notes, Episode 32: The Flywheel with Dr. Melissa Burns   About this show: In Jim Collins’ Iconic book, “Good to Great”, he describes the flywheel. An organization’s flywheel consists of some core practices that, when executed consistently, drive organizational excellence. If you’ve been listening for a while, you ‘ve heard me reference the flywheel, but we’ve never done a deep dive. The basic...

Show Notes, Episode 31: Prioritizing Your Own Leadership Development with Maria Werner   About this show: Dealing with discipline, being the test coordinator, and taking care of a million things for everyone else. Somehow you find the time. But do you find – or make – that time for yourself? What are your strategies for nurturing your own growth? Today, Maria Werner talks with us about how she jug...

Show Notes, Episode 30: Six Ways to Eliminate Interruptions About this show: In a noisy world, is it possible to find the quiet necessary to do work that moves us forward? In this episode, we cover six suggestions for creating a saner and more productive leadership life   Notable Quotes Frederick:  “I have been out of higher ed for three years now, and I had just forgotten how disruptive and reall...

Show Notes, Episode 29: Culture with Brad Coleman About this show: Culture. What is it? How do we shape it? Why is it so critical? You could fill an entire library with books related to culture and how leaders influence it. Or you could listen to this episode of The Assistant Principal Podcast with our special guest, Brad Coleman. Notable Quotes Brad Coleman: “it’s okay to complain and be frustrat...

Show Notes, Episode 28: The Ship is Sinking About this show: Imagine you’re on a nice little boat, floating along a gentle river or out on a calm lake. Everything is fine until you hear a gurgling sound. You look down and are astounded to see water pouring in from a how in the bottom of the boat. You grab your red Solo cup and begin scooping out water, but it isn’t enough. You look around for some...

Show Notes, Episode 2: Why is Instructional Leadership so Hard? About this show: Have you noticed how many first-year teachers have trouble managing their classrooms? And if they never receive really good support, they become 5 and 10-year teachers who can’t manage their classrooms. And then they leave the profession.   But guess what? We have a similar problem in the principalship. Most (not all)...

Are you living your leadership journey courageously? Before Dr. Mary Hemphill became the Director of Academic Standards for the North Carolina Department of education she was a passionate and innovative principal. Before that, she was an assistant principal with the courage to stand up for her convictions. The assistant principalship is loaded with values conflicts. How do you stay true to your va...

Show Notes, Episode 25: Parents and Community   About this show: “We need to increase family engagement.” I hear this all the time. We know what we want from families, but do we know what families want from us? Today’s episode will take us beyond reading rallies and pizza nights and even beyond my favorite parent event - donuts for dads. Today we focus on what teachers can do to build stronger par...

I’m asking for your help. I’ve put together an MVP (minimally viable product) training video and am looking for a few people to pilot it. In exchange for access to this mini-PD, you would be committing to the following: • Watching the video (about 45 minutes, but can be chunked into six parts) • Completing the feedback form (5-15 minutes) • Providing your email address knowing that I will not spam...

Show Notes, Episode 23: Testing Coordination with Carrie Prochaska   About this show: April showers bring May flowers and May flowers bring…. Testing in schools! Many of the assistant principals I work with also serve double duty as test coordinators. It is a challenging job, but today’s show should contain some tips that make the job a bit easier.   Notable Quotes   Carrie Prochaska “I think it i...

Show Notes, Episode 22: Growth Mindset   About this show: If you have ever played buzz-word bingo, and had “growth mindset” on your card, you knew you odds of winning were good. But what is “growth mindset” all about? As an assistant principal, you probably already know where this is going. Yes, we want our kids to have a growth mindset, but if we can get our teachers to also have that growth mind...

Show Notes, Episode 21: Meeting the Needs of New Teachers   About this show: In today’s episode, guest host Mara Buskey leads us through a discussion with two relatively new teachers about what they need from their assistant principals, how they view leadership, and what kind of feedback and style of coaching best meets their needs. This is an inspiring episode that may yield some surprising but v...

Show Notes, Episode 20: Change Starts from Within   About this show: The topic of this show is restorative practices, but the show title is the key to implementing such practices: Change starts from within. In this episode we take a detour from the common one-two-three approaches to kicking off a restorative justice program in your school. Instead, we focus on you. Or more accurately, we focus on...

Show Notes, Episode X: Title   About this show: Serving exceptional students can be one of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of school leadership. In this episode Elizabeth Schumpert, Director of Student Support Services for Saluda County Schools, helps us gain some insights into supporting exceptional students and their families, and working with the variety of support services and perso...

Show Notes, Episode 18: The Math of Leverage   About this show: The four principles of leverage, described last week in episode 17, can guide us to creating progress in our organizations. A key to progress is focusing on incremental progress as opposed to big changes to fix things. In today’s episode, we will apply leverage to a real school situation.   Notable Quotes   Frederick “If you invest 5...

Show Notes, Episode X: Title   About this show: Ever wonder why we are always driving change in our schools? Ever wonder why change initiatives rarely seem to produce the promised results? What if there was a better way? What if, instead of making sweeping changes, we just made tomorrow a little bit better today? If the concept of incremental yet immediate change appeals to you, then listen to tod...