TheSchoolHouse302 One Thing Series School Leadership Podcast

In this episode the Leading Better and Growing Faster podcast for school leaders, Joe and T.J. discuss how school leaders can effectively manage the riptides found in everyday school leadership. . Imagine a calm beach day, preferably Savage Ditch, Delaware, where you can drive onto the beach and enjoy an incredible experience of sun and sand. Imagine this, though, you're swimming close to shore in...

About Glenn Robbins Glenn Robbins is the proud Superintendent of the Brigantine Public School District in Brigantine, New Jersey. He has served as a public school superintendent in New Jersey since 2016. Prior to becoming a superintendent, he was a middle school principal, a high school assistant principal, a high school social studies teacher, and a varsity coach. He is a best selling author of C...

In this episode of Leading Better and Growing Faster for school leaders, Joe and T.J. discuss how school leaders must recognize how their decisions create undercurrents within the organization. Every decision you make at school, from offering certain foods in the cafeteria to the consequence a student receives for being late to school because they stopped for a chai latte, creates undercurrents th...

Unlocking Excellence: Read to Lead Better, Learn to Grow Faster In this episode, Joe and T.J. introduce two books that they know will make the difference in your life as a leader. Kotler’s book is about operating in a state of flow for improved focus and productivity. Who couldn’t benefit from learning more about flow and how we can get into a flow state? Murphy’s book is basically a “how-to” on m...

About Curtiss Murphy Curtiss Murphy has spent 32 years as a software engineer (20 of those years in games and gaming and twelve years building educational games. He spent 3 summers hosting the NSF's Edugaming workshop and six years as a professor of game design at Laguna College of Art and Design (for their Game Design MFA program). He has a few dozen minor publications/chapters. He’s an award win...

Unlocking Excellence: Read to Lead Better, Learn to Grow Faster These are two powerhouse books that capture the journey of leadership. These two books are distinctly different, but both reflect our focus on school leaders' need to Navigate the Seas of School Leadership. Joe recommends, Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations, which is an autobiographical book by Admiral William H. McRaven, a re...

About Donya Ball Dr. Donya Ball is a leader, author, and national keynote speaker. She currently serves as a superintendent of schools in California and, for over two decades, has been a change-maker in public education. Dr. Ball is a professor of both educational administration and teacher education. She is passionate about studying, writing, and speaking on overcoming leadership hardships. Her f...

In this episode the Leading Better and Growing Faster podcast for school leaders, Joe and T.J. tackle strategies for building an environment where teachers want to work and want to stay. As our good friend, Principal EL, always says, “trying to find, hire, and retain teachers is like the hunger games.” There is definitely a shortage of qualified teachers, so it is imperative that we hang onto the...

Joe and T.J. Recommend that School Leaders Read The Song of Significance and Retention for A Change It’s no mystery that we are big fans of Seth Godin, especially T.J., but there is a good reason for that in terms of learning to lead better and grow faster. In many ways, Godin challenges conventional wisdom, but yet remains practical in his advice. His insights are unique, and school leaders can b...

In this episode the Leading Better and Growing Faster podcast for school leaders, Joe and T.J. tackle strategies for building an environment where teachers want to work and want to stay. As our good friend, Principal EL, always says, “trying to find, hire, and retain teachers is like the hunger games.” There is definitely a shortage of qualified teachers, so it is imperative that we hang onto the...

In this podcast, we are completely focused on successfully implementing and managing the multiple initiatives that can be found in every school system. What you’ll find in this episode: Despite the enormous amount of various initiatives in schools, maintain a mindset that sees how they all fit into the system versus it being “one more thing.” Zoom out to gain a greater perspective so you can succe...

Leading Better and Growing Faster with Joe & TJ: Guest Debbie Silver Talks about Inspiring Educators to Enjoy the Job They Once Loved About Debbie Silver Dr. Debbie Silver is a former Louisiana Teacher of the Year, a best-selling author, and a highly sought-after speaker. She has presented to educators, administrators, parents, and students in 49 states, Europe, Asia, Africa, Canada, Mexico, Austr...

Walk into any school and you’ll find countless different types of work being done. Yes, teaching and learning are at the heart of what we do, but a great school culture, one where teaching and learning can thrive, is about so much more. Creating this kind of culture places a huge demand on countless people who are doing exciting work. But, at times, with all of the spinning plates, it can also be...

About Miriam Plotinsky Miriam Plotinsky is an instructional specialist with Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, where she has taught and led for more than 20 years. She is the author of Teach More, Hover Less, Lead Like a Teacher, and Writing Their Future Selves (W.W. Norton & Company). She is also a National Board–Certified Teacher and a certified administrator. What You’ll Find in this...

About Jim Marshall Jim Marshall’s life-long work lies at the intersection of people and the organizations in which they work—and optimizing the synergy that fertile convergence holds. A Professor of Educational Leadership at San Diego State University, his scholarship, teaching, and consulting combine our understanding of human performance and organization development to assess strengths, devise s...

Joe and T.J. Recommend that School Leaders Read In Search of Deeper Learning and Fearless Schools What you’ll discover in this episode of Leading Better & Growing Faster w/ Joe & T.J. We recommend In Search of Deeper Learning for school leaders. We also recommend Fearless Schools for school leaders. Why in the world is Joe wearing a NASA Jacket? There is “deeper learning at the margins and why the...

About Jennifer Abrams Formerly a high school English teacher and a new teacher coach in Palo Alto Unified School District (Palo Alto, CA, USA), Jennifer Abrams is currently a communications consultant and author who works with educators and others on leadership development at all levels, effective collaboration skills, having hard conversations and creating identity safe workplaces. Jennifer’s pub...

Joe and T.J. Recommend that School Leaders Read Harvard Business Review’s On Mental Toughness and Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude In this episode, you’ll hear key points made by both T.J. and Joe about two books every school leader should read to mind your mental map to the future. T.J. immediately underscores that On Mental Toughness has a bonus article with Martin Seligman. Dr. Martin...

In this episode, Joe and T.J. explore what it really means to mind your mental map. Our minds can be very scary places if we are not careful. School leaders must remain in a productive space in order to lead effectively, but the thread of events throughout the day and week can take their toll. This is why school leaders must do the following: Flip Your Thinking Don’t Jump to Judge Adapt, Don’t Ado...

About Nancy and Elizabeth Jorgensen Elizabeth Jorgensen has been published in many popular journals, including the English Journal, Edutopia, Teachers & Writers Magazine, and many, many more. Her book on process-based assessment, Hacking Student Learning Habits, was published by Times 10 Publications in 2022, and her most recent book was released in October 2022, Gwen Jorgensen: USA’s First Olympi...

Mitch Weathers Joins Joe & T.J. Mitch became a gifted teacher because he was a mediocre student. He rarely felt comfortable in the classroom. In fact, it took him 7 years for him to graduate from college. Choosing to become a teacher, Mitch was fortunate enough to experience school as if it was happening all around him. He was unsure how to jump into his learning with confidence. There is a loneli...

In our most recent book, 7 Mindshifts for School Leaders: Finding New Ways to Think About Old Problems, we introduce 7 Mindshifts that principals and other school leaders can use to solve problems that are constantly plaguing our schools. It’s important that not every problem requires these shifts, but rather those that are important, persistent, and urgent. When a problem is IPU, we use our first...

Joe and T.J. Recommend that School Leaders Read 7 Mindshifts for School Leaders: Finding New Ways to Think About Old Problems We want to share some of our favorite aspects of our newest book, 7 Mindshifts for School Leaders: Finding New Ways to Think About Old Problems. Written with our co-author, Connie Hamilton, this book calls into question some of the problems with our Educational Industrial C...

Our job is to make the learner’s thinking visible. ~ Paul Blooberg About Paul Bloomberg Dr. Paul Bloomberg is the Founder and CEO of The Core Collaborative Learning Network based in San Diego, CA and New York City. The mission of the Core Collaborative Learning Network is to expand learner ownership and agency through building a culture of belonging and efficacy through collaborative inquiry. The...

About Tanya Sheckley Tanya Sheckley is Founder and President of UP Academy, an elementary lab school which values innovation, empathy and strength and incorporates a unique neuro-development program for children with physical disabilities. Tanya’s vision and mission show it’s possible to celebrate differences, challenge what’s broken in the American education system, and that all children can rece...