The Interview Chair

In this final episode of 2024, Jimmy discusses his thoughts as we close out the year and shares some exciting news about changes coming to The Interview Chair in 2025!

In this episode, Jimmy shares a recent conversation with a principal who felt his feedback was dismissed, leading to a missed opportunity by his director. 

In this week's episode, Jimmy shares an excerpt from Shane Saeed, ConnectEDD author of Be the Flame – Sparking Positive Classroom Communities. Learning can happen in a classroom when we not only make time to build connections and relationships among our students but also normalize mistakes.

It is November and educators have a right to be tired. In this episode, Jimmy gives thanks to all the educators who continue to impact students by finding time to interact with them in meaningful ways. By doing so, we learn they often impact us in even greater ways.   

In this Part 2 episode, Jimmy continues sharing his perspective on the change process from last week's episode and describes his Layering the Change process in order to avoid the favoritism undercurrent and achieve a better result.

In this Part 1 episode, Jimmy breaks down the change process and shares the disconnect between those who are driving it and those who are implementing it.

In this week's episode, Jimmy shares how students may sometimes behave in less desirable ways that are outside of our control. However, we can examine the elements well within our control, such as our tasks, activities, and how we assess our students, which can directly impact how kids respond in our classrooms.

In this episode, Jimmy shares a personal story about a former student to remind us of the impact we can make when we see the best in others and expect the best from ourselves.

In this episode, Jimmy discusses the school leader's role and the impact of leadership on student outcomes, both inside and outside the classroom.    

In this episode, Jimmy shares 3 Essential Elements in developing checkpoints that must occur for us to create a high-performing classroom and school culture.    

In this episode, Jimmy shares valuable examples of Culturize Checkpoints to help bring clarity to what being a Champion for Students truly looks like in our classrooms, and more importantly, what it leads to when it comes to observable impact. 

In this episode, Jimmy shares his perspective on organizational culture. He believes that if we truly want to understand and impact the culture of our organizations, we must dive deeper below the surface to see what’s lurking. In other words, why do people behave the way they behave?

In this week’s episode Jimmy encourages us to replace the word “gotcha” with “I've got you.”

In this episode, Jimmy shares an excerpt from the best-selling book, The Educator's ATLAS by Weston Kieschnick, sharing 4 methods for engaging students in your classroom.     

In this episode, Jimmy shares an excerpt from The 6 Literacy Levers by Brad Gustafson, highlighting what it takes to overcome imposter syndrome and become a Literacy Leader in your classroom and school. 

In this episode, JImmy discusses the impact negative noise can have on us as educators and how we can confront these experiences and take back control by owning our own moments.

In this episode, Jimmy shares 10 ways to positively address negative chatter in our workplace to slow down the gossip train and create a healthier culture for everyone. 

In this episode, Jimmy shares an experience he had on social media where he was challenged to reflect on the impact leadership has on the overall culture of a school.  

In this week's episode, Jimmy shares his views on why we must always provide honest feedback when students and staff are not meeting our expectations. As a bonus, he also shares a 4-step Framework to help listeners navigate a critical conversation with staff members who are underperforming.   

In this latest episode, Jimmy discusses his thoughts on change. Although inevitable, we also should not change for the sake of change. Instead, implementing change should be strategic, transparent, and follow a clear framework - The Six Drivers of Successful Change is one you may want to consider.   

Dress codes continue to be a topic of debate in schools across the country. In this episode, Jimmy shares his thoughts on how dress codes can impact a school's culture and why complaining about them won't solve the problem.

In this episode, Jimmy challenges us to think about where we teach and lead from when we walk into our classrooms and schools and shares 5 Benefits of Using a Framework to guide us in our daily work. 

In this episode, Jimmy shares his experiences where he believes he and his staff failed a student, even though they had the best of intentions; reminding us that our job as educators is rarely easy, but always worth it. 

Jimmy reminds us that most of what we have learned we have learned from others, regardless of their roles or titles. In this episode, he shares 10 ways in which others have influenced his thinking throughout his career.

School leaders often find themselves in management mode. In this episode, Jimmy shares 13 ways leaders can intentionally recalibrate themselves to lead the learning in their schools.