TheSchoolHouse302 One Thing Series School Leadership Podcast

In this episode of 302 Thoughts, Joe and T.J. take a deep dive into how school and district leaders, at all levels, can develop, build, and sustain trust in schools. The tough reality with trust is that it is easily lost and hard to gain, which is why we remember this powerful quote by Sophocles, Trust dies but mistrust blossoms. Joe emphasizes how trust is needed now more than ever, but is defini...

About Robyn Jackson Robyn Jackson is passionate about building better schools. As the CEO of Mindsteps Inc.®, she has helped thousands of K–12 administrators and teachers develop the clarity and confidence to turn their classrooms and schools into success stories. Jackson combines her experience as an English teacher and middle school administrator and her work in thousands of schools and district...

Learning and growing as a school leader through reflection, training, and experience is a professional choice. One powerful way to improve is through reading great books, which is why we feature a couple each month. Our aim is to link our suggested reading to our theme for the month. This month we are completely focused on trust. Kudos to you for picking yourself to grow and improve. This month we...

See the full version of the show notes below at theschoolhouse302.com. In this episode, Joe describes the process and power behind introspection: I know my purpose at work each day. My purpose at work directly corresponds with my daily activities. Considering the statements above, are you clear on purpose and is your daily work aligned? Or consider your family. If spending time with your kids is i...

Dr. Whitaker delivers a powerful and funny interview with keen insight on how to maintain poise and focus by keeping learning at the forefront of all of our decisions as principal and teacher leaders. What You’ll Find In This Episode with Todd Whitaker Todd’s insight on how people act and react during crises is enlightening. His comment, “people always look to leaders but in times of change they s...

Featured Author: Compilation of Authors Featured Book: THE SOCIAL PHILOSOPHERS MAN AND MAN (THE WORLD'S GREAT THINKERS SERIES) Our second book this month is a terrific must read and something that we believe should be revisited from time-to-time. Todd Whitaker has become a force for educational leaders as they learn how to navigate challenges. We chose, What Great Principals Do Differently not onl...

Being an effective leader is far from easy. In fact, good leaders recognize that every day is an opportunity for either excellence or average performance. With so many factors at play each day, superior leaders realize that their behaviors have to be superior and fully aligned to high leverage leadership strategies. Otherwise, we fall prey to poor leadership and management behaviors. This month, w...

Learning and growing as a leader is a professional choice. The ironic part of rising to greater levels of leadership is that the skills, traits, and talents that got an individual to the new position, may not be enough for her to excel in the new role. This idea of being promoted to one’s level of incompetence was coined by Laurence J. Peter in The Peter Principle. The concept is fascinating becau...

About Michael Useem Michael Useem is Professor of Management and Faculty Director of the Center for Leadership and Change Management and McNulty Leadership Program at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. His university teaching includes MBA and executive-MBA courses on management and leadership, and he offers programs on leadership and governance for managers in the United States, Asia,...

This month, America lost a tremendous leader, General Colin Powell. We started this 302 Thoughts by recognizing his work and legacy as a leader. If anyone could talk about how to grow during the grind and thrive amid chaos, our bet would be on General Powell. We often desire for circumstances to improve so our conditions become better. Unfortunately, that does not always happen the way we would li...

Growing as a leader is a professional choice. The challenge is that trying to grow during a storm, or in the case of the last year and a half, a pandemic is difficult. Typically, in a storm, we seek shelter and hunker down to wait it out. Although this is great survival behavior, it’s not good leadership practice. Principal leaders, district leaders, and others in leadership roles do not have the...

Richard is an award-winning scholar, teacher, and author at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. In his work, he helps students and executives reach peak levels of personal and professional effectiveness through skilled negotiation, persuasion, influence, and the discovery of meaningful life goals. Three beliefs permeate everything that he teaches and writes. First, success begins...

The school year is in full swing and although we are thrilled that students across the country and the globe are back in person, there is undoubtedly a lot of trepidation as educational and principal leaders navigate this difficult time. Not only are there ongoing, daily issues that we wrestle with because of Covid19, school leaders are simultaneously acclimating students and staff back to schools...

As school doors open this year to welcome back students, successful schools recognize that if they want to reach and teach all students, they need to touch their hearts and their minds. Amid the dual pandemics--Covid19 and the social and civic unrest--students are entering the school year with a host of needs that must be addressed to ensure that they are successful. These needs cover the spectrum...

Who Is Thomas Hoerr? Thomas R. Hoerr retired after leading the New City School in St. Louis, Missouri for 34 years and is now the Emeritus Head of School. He is currently a Scholar In Residence at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and he teaches in the Educational Leadership program, preparing prospective principals. He also led the ISACS New Heads Network and founded the Non-Profit Management...

What better conversation to have in August than the very best ways to engage students this school year. Our focus throughout this school year must be on the whole child--an academic intensity coupled with social and emotional development. You will hear us often say that our students need to know that our care for them is just as important as our curriculum. To ensure this focus, we developed the 6...

Don’t miss this vblog on YouTube or catch our Read This segment of our One Thing Series podcast--books you need to read to lead better and grow faster. Featured Author: Doris Kearns Goodwin Featured Books: Leadership: In Turbulent Times Why We Love This Book for School Leaders We love this book for school leaders, especially now, because Kearns draws on the skills and attributes of four American p...

Who Is Dwight Carter? Dwight Carter is a nationally recognized school leader from Central Ohio and has been an educator for 27 years. Because of his collaborative and innovative leadership, in 2010, he was inducted into the Jostens Renaissance Educator Hall of Fame. He was also named a 2013 National Association of Secondary School Principals Digital Principal of the Year, the 2014 Academy of Arts...

Critical Ideas from our 302 Thoughts: Capacity Driven Investments Administrators must ask, what investments will yield the highest returns? When considering staff members, be sure to have a 360° view, including administrators, instructional staff, support staff, and non-Instructional personnel. Schools need an all hands-on-deck approach, which we describe in great detail in our book, Passionate Le...

Don’t miss this vblog on YouTube or catch our Read This segment of our One Thing Series podcast--books you need to read to lead better and grow faster. Featured Author: Danny Bauer Featured Books: Mastermind: Unlocking Talent Within Every School Leader Why We Love This Book for School Leaders We’ll say it up front and just get it out of the way, Danny is a friend of TheSchoolHouse302, and we are t...

Learn more about Danny Bauer Daniel Bauer is an unorthodox Ruckus Maker who has mentored thousands of school leaders through his Better Leaders Better Schools blog, books, podcasts, and powerful coaching experiences. His new book, The Mastermind: Unlocking the Talent Within Every School Leader introduces a proprietary process called the ABCs of powerful professional development™ which is changing...

The Information Age and Principal Leadership We live in a time that has been deemed the “information age.” Some argue that in the 21st Century we can be exposed to more information in one week than those who lived in the 17th Century would be exposed to in their entire lives. In many ways that makes our mere existence more challenging as we look to lead our schools effectively. We need discrete sk...

Learn More About LaVonna Roth As a former elementary and secondary educator, keynote speaker, author, consultant and mom, LaVonna bridges her passion for how the brain learns with education and shows every individual how to S.H.I.N.E. through their mindset and social-emotional well-being so achievement soars for all. She has a Bachelor’s and two Master’s Degrees, taught at the elementary and secon...

Don’t miss this vblog on YouTube or catch our Read This segment of our One Thing Series podcast--books you need to read to lead better and grow faster. Featured Author: John Dewey (October 20, 1859–June 1, 1952) Featured Books: Experience and Education and How We Think Leaders are busy. Educators are always running short on time so it is of the utmost importance to select the right books, ones tha...

Don’t miss this vblog on YouTube or catch our Read This segment of our One Thing Series podcast--books you need to read to lead better and grow faster. Featured Authors: Amber Teamann & Melinda Miller Featured Book: Lead with Appreciation: Fostering a Culture of Gratitude Here’s Why Every School Principal Should Read This Book About Appreciation for in the Workplace: Lead with Appreciation is grea...