The Making Schools Work Podcast

Send us Fan Mail At Westside High School in Anderson, South Carolina, teaching looks different now — and students can feel it. Last week, we talked to leadership at Westside to see how this process worked. In this episode of the Making Schools Work podcast, SREB’s Daniel Rock and Donn Kirkwood talk with Claire Armstrong and Chelita Greenley , two classroom teachers at Westside who helped turn prof...

Send us Fan Mail At Westside High School in Anderson, South Carolina, teachers aren’t just attending professional development — they’re designing it. In this episode of the Making Schools Work podcast, SREB’s Daniel Rock and Donn Kirkwood talk with Principal Kory Roberts and MTSS Specialist Taria McIntosh about how the school’s Visible Learning Leadership Team transformed Westside’s approach to gr...

Send us Fan Mail How does a school move from silos to shared success? At Indian Valley Elementary in Sylacauga, Alabama, the leadership team and teachers worked together to create a culture of collective teacher efficacy—and the results are transforming student learning. In this episode of the Making Schools Work podcast, principal Paula Bruno, assistant principal Cindy Cleveland and reading speci...

Send us Fan Mail Richland High School in Mississippi has restructured its schedule to give students more opportunities for growth — and the results are impressive. In this third episode featuring Richland, we hear directly from two teachers about how Flex Block and career-connected learning are changing classrooms and student lives. Social studies teacher Joycelyn McDavid and career readiness teac...

Send us Fan Mail Floyd D. Johnson Technology Center in York, South Carolina, is proof that small communities can make big changes for students. By embracing honest data, personalized improvement goals and strong community partnerships, the school has transformed student outcomes — and earned recognition as an SREB Pacesetter School. In this episode, Daniel Rock and Marsha Moseley talk with Directo...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Season 2 of the Making Schools Work podcast! In this episode, Daniel Rock, Jason Adair and Ashley Shaw kick off the season by exploring one of teaching’s most powerful truths: beginnings and endings matter. From first-day activities to closing strategies, the hosts dive into research and classroom-tested ideas that help teachers capture students’ attention, build curios...

Send us Fan Mail  In this final episode of our special AI series, Ashley Shaw is joined by Leslie Eaves to discuss the crucial "AI Checklist" – a practical guide for educators and leaders looking to implement artificial intelligence tools in their K-12 classrooms. This episode wraps up our deep dive into the "Guidance on AI and K-12 Instruction" report and its practical applica...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Daniel Rock and Jason Adair delve into the remarkable journey of Bryant Park Elementary, an SREB Pacesetter School in Jefferson County, Alabama.  We talk to Principal Cortney Slaughter and teacher Alex Wilson about how they built a thriving school from the ground up since its opening in 2020. In this episode, you'll learn about: Embracing the "Why"...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we're joined by Aimee Wyatt, SREB's director of leadership and professional learning, and our special guests from PENCIL: Alayna Cate, director of partnerships, and Bob Kucher, chief partnerships and programs officer. PENCIL is a Nashville-based non-profit dedicated to connecting businesses and the community with Metro Nashville Public Schools.  In this...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to Part 2 of our special episode with Richland High School in Mississippi! In this continuation, Principal Marcus Stewart and Assistant Principal Heather Bryan delve deeper into the strategies and systems that have driven their school's remarkable growth.  In this episode, you'll learn about: Boosting AP Enrollment and Proficiency: Discover how Richland High...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to a special two-part episode of the Making Schools Work podcast! In this first installment, we're joined by Richard Morrison, senior leadership coach at SREB, as he discusses his three-year partnership with Richland High School in Mississippi. We also hear directly from Richland High School's principal, Marcus Stewart, and assistant principal, Heather Bryan, abo...

Send us Fan Mail In this short announcement, Ashley and Dan sit down to talk about all of the exciting changes coming to the podcast in the fall.  Season 2 has a lot of big changes, but each change is just to make it bigger and better for you.  Plus, we talk about the Season 2 preview episodes we will be releasing during the 2025 Making Schools Work Conference from July 14-18.  The Southern Region...

Send us Fan Mail In this final episode of season one, Ashley Shaw and guest Leslie Eaves, SREB’s director of project-based learning, explore Pillar 4 of SREB’s Guidance for the Use of AI in the K12 Classroom : ethical and proficient student use of AI. Ashley and Leslie discuss why it's not enough for educators to simply use AI—we need to help students use it responsibly, too. From media liter...

Send us Fan Mail Part of our summer series on SREB’s Guidance for the Use of AI in the K12 Classroom In this episode, Ashley talks with Leslie Eaves, SREB’s director of project-based learning, about how AI can support personalized learning. They dig into what it really means to differentiate in today’s classrooms and how teachers can use AI tools to give students tools to use at home, create custo...

Send us Fan Mail Part of our summer series on SREB’s Guidance for the Use of AI in the K12 Classroom In this episode, host Ashley Shaw is joined by Leslie Eaves, SREB’s director of project-based learning, to talk about Pillar 2:  Using AI to streamline teacher administrative and planning work.  This conversation dives into practical, real-world ways teachers are using AI to save time—without givin...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Class-Act Coaching , we dive into Pillar 1 of SREB’s Guidance for the Use of AI in the K12 Classroom —using AI to design cognitively demanding tasks that engage students in deep, meaningful learning. Ashley is joined again by Leslie Eaves, SREB’s project-based learning program director, to talk about what makes a task truly cognitively demanding (hint: it’s abou...

Send us Fan Mail In this kickoff episode of our special summer series, Ashley Shaw sits down with Leslie Eaves, SREB's project-based learning director and a key member of the SREB Commission on AI in Education, to explore the new, free report: Guidance for the Use of AI in the K12 Classroom .  Whether you’re AI-curious or already experimenting, this episode is your entry point into making AI...

Send us Fan Mail In the final episode of the school year, the Class-Act Coaching crew is back together! Ashley is joined by co-hosts Jason and Dan to reflect on the biggest takeaways from this semester’s episodes — and this time, Dan takes the reins as host. Together, they dive into three powerful themes that kept coming up in coaching conversations: Collective Teacher Efficacy : What it really lo...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Jason and Dan sit down with Kanisa Williams , an instructional coach from a large Georgia district, who coaches other instructional coaches. They talk about how coaching cycles are implemented not just with teachers, but with coaches, and the importance of modeling, trust-building and communication.  Kanisa shares how she supports new coaches in clarifying their r...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Class-Act Coaching , Ashley is joined by Marty Sugerik , an instructional coach with a passion for project-based learning (PBL). Marty shares practical coaching strategies to help teachers design or refine classroom projects that connect to real-world skills. Whether you’re a coach supporting teachers in PBL or an educator looking to strengthen your own projects...

Send us Fan Mail Getting students to truly engage can be one of the hardest parts of teaching—but this episode is here to help! Ashley is joined by two instructional coaches , Kari Meldrum and Sharon Moehle , who share two powerful, easy-to-implement strategies that promote deeper student engagement across all content areas. Whether you teach math, ELA, science or social studies, these techniques...

Send us Fan Mail Planning comes up in nearly every episode of Class-Act Coaching —so this week, we’re giving it the spotlight it deserves. Ashley teams up with guest instructional coach Michelle Harada , who shares practical tips and research-backed strategies for improving the quality and efficiency of lesson planning , especially through collaborative planning . Michelle draws from years of expe...

Send us Fan Mail This week, we’re doing something a little different! In this special episode of Class-Act Coaching , we take you behind the scenes of a real coaching conversation between SREB Coach Jason Adair and Jen Zelena , a reading specialist and literacy coach at Broughal Middle School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Jen has been leading an initiative called microteaching , where teachers film...

Send us Fan Mail Why do some students naturally engage in learning while others seem uninterested? In this episode, Ashley is joined by Dan Rock , who takes on the role of coach, to dive deep into the power of curiosity and motivation in learning . Dan breaks down the research behind cognitive interest cues —simple yet powerful techniques teachers can use to increase student engagement, deepen lea...

Send us Fan Mail We’re back with Part 2 of our conversation with Christi Edwards , where she shares her final two strategies for ensuring students don’t just succeed on class assignments but can apply their learning in future assessments and beyond .  In this episode, Christi focuses on helping students regulate their own thinking and communicate their ideas effectively —two key skills that build...