The School Leadership Show

In this episode I interview former Phi Delta Kappan Editor-in-Chief Joan Richardson.  Joan is now in charge of polling for PDK and she has written an article on the 50-year history of the annual Kappan poll of U.S. attitudes toward public schools ( http://pdkpoll.org/history ).  There is also a cool timeline compiling key findings from the last five decades of results, along with noteworthy events...

A conversation with The Main Idea's Jenn David-Lang and Justin Baeder, the author of Now We're Talking! 21 Days to High-Performance Instructional Leadership Jenn David-Lang of The Main Idea returns to the show and we talk with Justin Baeder, the author of Now We're Talking! 21 Days to High-Performance Instructional Leadership.   Justin discusses his model for turning daily classroom visits into a...

Dr. Stephanie Evergreen's books, Presenting Data Effectively and Effective Data Visualization, are must-haves for any leader who uses data (and what leader doesn't use data?).  Stephanie and I talk about trends she's seeing in the world of presentations and data visualization.  We also get into her 1-3-25 report format, creating better handouts, qualitative data, and so much more. Below are a coup...

During this conversation, Jenn and I talk about Shane Safir's 2017 book Listening Leader: Creating the Conditions for Equitable School Transformation.   At the intersection of neuroscience, mindfulness, and equity is the need to be a listening leader.  Safir creates a framework and makes a case for the transformative power of listening. As with all of the books that Jenn selects for The Main Idea,...

During this conversation, Jenn and I talk with teacher and author Jessica Lahey about her 2016 book The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So their Children Can Succeed.   This is a wide-ranging discussion where we talk about so many topics like motivation and executive functioning, the critical time that is middle school, implications for teacher training, what school administr...

A conversation with Jenn David-Lang about The Art of Coaching Teams: Building Resilient Communities That Transform Schools , a book by Elena Aguilar.   During this conversation, Jenn and I talk about her summary of the book The Art of Coaching Teams: Building Resilient Communities That Transform Schools , a book by Elena Aguilar.  This book is packed with practical strategies for helping all of th...

During this conversation, Jenn and I talk about her summary of the book The Mindful School Leader: Practices to Transform Your Leadership and School , a book by Valerie Brown and Kirsten Olson.  We both make a case for the need for school administrators to develop their own mindfulness practices.  Science, stories, and strategies.  It's all here.  And if you don't think you have time for mindfulne...

In this episode veteran superintendent Dan White and I have a wide-ranging conversation about context-based leadership.  Much of what we talk about is drawn from our many years of working with school leaders on the state, regional, and national levels.  This is the first in a series of episodes with Dan related to the nuts and bolts of leadership in general and school leadership specifically based...

Jenn David-Lang makes her fifth appearance on the show.  She still holds the record.  And there's a reason I keep talking to Jenn - I always learn so much.  Jenn produces The Main Idea ( http://www.themainidea.net/ ), a monthly summary of a current education book.  Jenn has over 30,000 subscribers and has an incredible perspective on all things education.  We talk about David Allen's updated editi...

Jenn David-Lang makes her fourth appearance on the show.  She now holds the record.  And there's a reason I keep talking to Jenn - I always learn so much.  Jenn produces The Main Idea ( http://www.themainidea.net/ ), a monthly summary of a current education book.  Jenn has over 30,000 subscribers and has an incredible perspective on all things education.  We talk about Paul Bambrick-Santoyo's new...

  My favorite Professional Office Organizer, Kacy Paide, and I go a second round on getting and staying organized.  Kacy shares many strategies and tips to help us all get our acts together.  From the perils of too many systems to the power of structures, we get into lots of areas of organization and productivity.  Kacy and I talked about the following resources during the interview: Evernote soft...

Parenting and educating teenagers can be challenging. Teenage girls can take that challenge to a whole new level.  In this episode Jenn David-Lang and her Husband Tim David-Lang and I discuss Lisa Damour's 2016 book Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood .  Not many books have had the impact on my thinking, my work, and my parenting that this one has had.  Je...

In this episode I interview Brad and Genevieve Ermeling, two experienced educators who have collaborated on the bestselling book Teaching Better: Igniting and Sustaining Instructional Improvement .  I loved talking with this husband and wife team about everything from what works in changing practice to mistakes and pitfalls administrators can avoid.  The depth of their collective experience in tea...

  In this epi sode I interview Dr. Maurice Elias, an accomplished author and professor of clinical psychology and clinical health at Rutgers University.    He is also the director of the Rutgers Social-Emotional Learning Lab, and Academic Director of The Collaborative, Rutgers' Center for Community-Based Research and Service.   Maurice and I talk about the importance of social emotional learning a...

Dr. Rebecca Stobaugh is an experienced teacher and principal who is now an author, consultant, and college professor.  Early in her career as a middle school principal, Beckie saw the need to improve the critical thinking skills of her students.  We talk about what she learned during that process including the five misconceptions about critical thinking.  While we focus primarily on supporting tea...

Mike Vardy is the host of the wildly popular Productivityist Podcast ( http://productivityist.com/ ).  He is also a writer, speaker, and productivity strategist. He's also great to talk to.  Mike and I have a lively discussion about all things productivity.  What's cool is that we start with the big picture: task centric vs. time centric thinking, mode-based theming for your days, and Mike's own N...

  In this episode I interview Erika Andersen, an author, trainer, consultant, and executive coach.  The time flew by.  Erika shares her recent work on how to become a better learner (from her new book Be Bad First - Get Good at Things FAST to Stay Ready for the Future ) .  This might sound simple, but it's hard work.  Her insightful model (ANEW) is a simple and practical approach to learning new t...

  In this episode I interview Tim Bowman, a teacher, author, and entrepreneur from Australia.  In addition to having the best accent of anyone I've interviewed yet, Tim has a great deal to share from a teacher's perspective.  His book Forget Being the Favourite: 88 Ideas on Teaching Differently is destined to become one of the most important and useful books for helping teachers improve their craf...

In this episode I interview Doug Stone, one of the authors (along with Sheila Heen) of the book Thanks for the Feedback and Jenn David-Lang who summarized the book for her Main Idea publication.  We have a spirited discussion about the different types of feedback, why giving and receiving feedback can be so difficult, and how to get better at both sides of the process.  You can reach Jenn at her w...

  In this episode I interview Andrew Sykes of Habits at Work ( www.habitsatwork.com and www.bratlab.com ).  His company helps organizations of all kinds tap their greatest source of competitive advantage - their people.  Andrew and I talk about the pivotal habits that are essential for helping companies (and schools) foster the health, happiness, and security of all their employees.  Time flew dur...

If you're a school administrator, you probably spend more time than you would like in meetings of all kinds.  In this episode Jeff Cimmerer and I talk about all things meetings - things that bug us, strategies to improve their effectiveness, and ways to avoid scheduling them in the first place.  It is possible to reduce the number of meetings you attend and make the ones you have to have more effe...

  Ever since I read her book Every Patient Tells a Story , I have wanted to talk to Dr. Lisa Sanders.  Dr. Sanders is a physician, author, and teacher of physicians.  Her speciality is what works and what doesn't work in the process of diagnosis.  We talk about everything from how the process of diagnosis is like a detective story and how the cognitive biases inherent in the process apply to decis...

If you're like me, you probably get a lot of email, and it's one of the worst parts of your job.  If email is the best part of your job, then you need a new job.  In this episode Dr. Jeff Cimmerer and I talk about all things email - its history, how people use and misuse it, strategies for managing it, and much more.  While email isn't one of those things that's likely to make your career, using e...

In this episode I interview author, coach, triathlete, and competitive mountain bike rider Selene Yeager.   Bicycling Magazine calls her the Fit Chick, and she was a lot of fun to talk to.  Selene is a regular contributor to many different fitness magazines on training, nutrition, and injury prevention.  I became a big fan when Selene's article Sitting is the New Smoking appeared as the cover stor...

  In this episode I sit down with friend and colleague, Dr. Jeff Cimmerer.  Jeff is the Chief Information Officer for a large suburban school district in Upstate New York.  He and I have a lively discussion about the horrible presentations we have seen during our time as school leaders.  We share a bunch of dos and don'ts about planning, designing, and delivering effective presentations.  Don't be...