Season 4, Episode 10 of the FocusED School Leadership Podcast with Lorea Martinez

Season 4, Episode 10 of the FocusED School Leadership Podcast with Lorea Martinez

by | Mar 27, 2023 | #FocusED, Action, Communication, Core Values, Culture, Daily Habits, Decision-Making, Education, Energy, Engagement, Excellence, Focus, Fulfillment, Goal Setting, Leadership, Learning to Lead, Listening, Mental Mapping, Motivation, Motivation & Retention, Organizational Leadership, Passion, Planning and Preparation, Positivity, Principal Leadership, Principals, Professional Dialogue, Relationships, Resilience, Results, Service Leadership, Teacher Leadership, Teamwork

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Social and Emotional Learning and Leading with Lorea Martinez

This is Season 4, Episode 10 of FocusED, and it features our guest, Lorea Martinez. It was originally recorded live for a virtual audience in Delaware, and provided as a professional development experience in collaboration with the Delaware Department of Education, the Delaware Academy for School Leadership, and The School House 302. Don’t miss what Lorea Martinez has to say about SEL in schools, including what leaders can do to support staff…and so much more.

 

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Lorea Martinez Brings Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners

Dr. Lorea Martínez Pérez is the award-winning founder of HEART in Mind Consulting, a company dedicated to helping schools and organizations integrate Social Emotional Learning in their practices, products, and learning communities. She has worked with schools, districts, and organizations to guide SEL implementation efforts, including training teachers and leadership teams, and provided guidance to educational technology and media companies to help them integrate SEL into their products.

An educator who has worked with children and adults internationally, Dr. Martínez is a faculty member at Columbia University Teachers College, educating aspiring principals in Emotional Intelligence. She has conducted extensive research in the SEL field with a focus on SEL implementation, principals’ Emotional Intelligence, teacher preparation, and school climate. She frequently blogs about how to incorporate SEL in teaching practices, leadership, and parenting.

She received her Doctor of Philosophy, magna cum laude, in Quality and Innovation in Education from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. In 2014, she was awarded the American Education Research Association Graduate Student Award for Excellence in SEL Research from the SEL Special Interest Group.

Dr. Martínez started her career as a special education teacher and administrator. A native of Costa Brava in Spain, she currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and two daughters.

Buy her book, Teaching with the HEART in Mind: A Complete Educator’s Guide to Social Emotional Learning.

FocusED Show Notes with Lorea Martinez

Don’t miss what Lorea says about teaching SEL: “We wouldn’t let reading teachers teach the skills of reading without knowing how to read well themselves.” 

 Lorea talks about the need to practice SEL in front of students. They don’t just learn because we teach them the skills. They learn because we show them. 

 This conversation doesn’t gloss over the incredible needs in schools today, both socially and academically. 

 Lorea talked about the system changes that need to be made for SEL to work. 

 Dr. Martinez talks about the fact that we’re teaching teachers how to teach students, but we’re ignoring the fact that we also need to help teachers to help themselves. 

 Don’t miss what she says about her HEART acronym. 

 We discuss the need for teachers and leaders to process their emotions so that they don’t come up against a wall when they’ve swallowed them for too long. 

 The E in HEART is “elect your responses,” which is about our behavioral patterns and making better choices than what we do on autopilot. 

 Lorea provides listeners with specific strategies to use. Don’t miss what she says about taking the weather report with popsicle sticks. 

 We discuss the need for leaders to have real conversations about how people feel. 

 We love the fact that she highlights the need for leaders to celebrate and praise the staff. We have to continue to find positive moments and bright spots. 

 Joe follows up to underscore the importance of praise, using our specific praise model, and the way we need to be very intentional about celebrations and individual accomplishments. 

 Lorea tells us about everyone’s tendencies to look at their low scores versus celebrating the strengths we have. 

 Dr. Martinez brings up Six Seconds as a place to go for materials and assessments for leaders who want to improve their emotional intelligence. 

 Lorea mentions two books: Cultivating Kindness: An Educator’s Guide (research about kindness in kids) and Unleashed: The Unapologetic Leader’s Guide to Empowering Everyone Around You (a business book). 

 Joe brings up CASEL and the notion that all of this isn’t new…it just may be new to you! 

 Lorea wishes that someone would study more about adult SEL, specifically about organizational leadership and core values. How are the systems and routines we build embedded with emotional intelligence? 

 We invited Lorea to talk about the course that she created for teachers. Don’t miss what she says about how to use it.

Lorea Martinez Quotes from FocusED

We cannot teach what we don’t practice; the students are always watching. ~ Lorea Martinez 

Educators are great at having empathy for students, but they need to get better at having self-empathy. ~ Lorea Martinez

More Social and Emotional Resources from TheSchoolHouse302

Season 3, Episode 4 of FocusED with Lorea Martinez

Leading Better & Growing Faster w/ Joe & TJ: Thoughts about Supporting SEL in Schools

Our Interview with SEL Expert Thomas Hoerr

Season 3, Episode 2 of FocusED with Jeffrey Benson

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Thanks for listening to FocusED, an educational leadership podcast brought to you by TheSchoolHouse302 @ theschoolhouse302.com where we publish free leadership content. Go to the site, subscribe, and you’ll get all of our content sent directly to your email. 

 

FocusED is your educational leadership podcast where our mission is to dissect a particular focus for teachers and school leaders so that you can learn to lead better and grow faster in your school or district with more knowledge, better understanding, and clear direction on what to do next.

How School Leaders Can View Problems as Possibilities To Improve Their Schools, Leading Better and Growing Faster with Joe and T.J.

How School Leaders Can View Problems as Possibilities To Improve Their Schools, Leading Better and Growing Faster with Joe and T.J.

by | Mar 13, 2023 | #onethingseries, Action, Communication, Core Values, Culture, Daily Habits, Decision-Making, Education, Energy, Engagement, Excellence, Focus, Fulfillment, Goal Setting, Leadership, Leading Better and Growing Faster, Learning to Lead, Listening, Mental Mapping, Motivation, Motivation & Retention, Organizational Leadership, Passion, Planning and Preparation, Positivity, Principal Leadership, Principals, Professional Dialogue, Relationships, Resilience, Results, Service Leadership, Systems Thinking, Teacher Leadership, Teamwork

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How School Leaders Can View Problems as Possibilities To Improve Their Schools

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 its toll. This is why school leaders must do the following:

  1. Flip Your Thinking
  2. Don’t Jump to Judge
  3. Adapt, Don’t Adopt

Key Points from Joe & T.J

T.J. starts the conversation on the crucial importance of being aware of the potential of living on Groundhog Day–experiencing the same set of events over and over.

Joe double-downs on some ChatGPT, unfinished learning, school climate, an increase in student discipline, the teacher shortage, and ESSER funds running out, and how we frame all of these circumstances in our minds is critical. Yes, they are problems, but where are the possibilities? We are firm believers that with the right approach, no problem is unsolvable. 

 

Take control of your thinking and flip it. Listen to T.J. talk about Tim Ferris and how he approaches an issue. 

  • Innovation and analysis–think with your team.
  • Don’t jump to judge–so easy to judge others by their actions and not intentions. 
  • Adapt, don’t adopt–put an issue on its side.
  • Perceptual illusion–what don’t you see?

The Leading Better & Growing Faster with Joe & T.J. Show

Let us know a topic that you want us to cover by contacting us at contact@theschoolhouse302.com. And don’t miss our leadership newsletter every week by subscribing to the site. Like, follow, share, and comment–we appreciate it!

We can’t wait to hear from you. 

Joe & T.J.

Two Books For School Leaders Who Want To Become Their Best Self, Leading Better and Growing Faster with Joe and T.J.

Two Books For School Leaders Who Want To Become Their Best Self, Leading Better and Growing Faster with Joe and T.J.

by | Mar 13, 2023 | #readthisseries, #SH302, Action, Communication, Core Values, Culture, Daily Habits, Decision-Making, Education, Energy, Engagement, Excellence, Focus, Fulfillment, Goal Setting, Leadership, Leading Better and Growing Faster, Learning to Lead, Listening, Mental Mapping, Motivation, Motivation & Retention, Organizational Leadership, Passion, Planning and Preparation, Positivity, Principal Leadership, Principals, Professional Dialogue, Relationships, Resilience, Results, Service Leadership, Systems Thinking, Teacher Leadership, Teamwork

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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 their mental map to the future.

T.J. immediately underscores that On Mental Toughness has a bonus article with Martin Seligman. Dr. Martin E.P. Seligman is the Director of the University of Pennsylvania Positive Psychology Center.

You also don’t want to miss the critical points he makes on mental toughness and the value of perseverance.

Joe shares one of his favorite books because of the power of the success principles featured in it, Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude. Spend a life pursuing them, and you will grow as a person and a leader. 

In each episode, Joe and T.J. leave a tip to lead better and grow faster. This month’s reading tip is to build in time to reflect on what you’ve read. This is easy to do, but so often, we just move on without reflecting on how we might apply the information in the books we read. Knowledge without application serves no one and won’t make you any better than you were before you started reading. 

The Leading Better & Growing Faster with Joe & T.J. Show

Let us know what you’re reading by contacting us at contact@theschoolhouse302.com. And don’t miss our leadership newsletter every week by subscribing to the site. 

 

We can’t wait to hear from you. 

 

Joe & T.J.

 

The Power of Grit, Tenacity, and Family Support with Nancy and Elizabeth Jorgensen, Leading Better and Growing Faster with Joe and T.J.

The Power of Grit, Tenacity, and Family Support with Nancy and Elizabeth Jorgensen, Leading Better and Growing Faster with Joe and T.J.

by | Mar 3, 2023 | #onethingseries, Action, Communication, Core Values, Culture, Daily Habits, Decision-Making, Education, Energy, Engagement, Excellence, Focus, Fulfillment, Goal Setting, Leadership, Leading Better and Growing Faster, Learning to Lead, Listening, Mental Mapping, Motivation, Motivation & Retention, Organizational Leadership, Passion, Planning and Preparation, Positivity, Principal Leadership, Principals, Professional Dialogue, Relationships, Resilience, Results, Service Leadership, Systems Thinking, Teacher Leadership, Teamwork

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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 Olympic Gold Medal Triathlete, which is our focus today, along with her co-author and mother, Nancy. 

She has presented nationally and is an award-winning writer and teacher, and sought-after speaker. 

Nancy Jorgensen was a high school choir director for many years, she is the co-author of two music education books, Things They Never Taught You in Choral Methods and From the Trenches: Real Insights from Real Choral Educators. She is also the author of several essays and an Olympic blog, published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 

Very impressive teachers and family!

What You’ll Find in this Podcast Episode with Nancy and Elizabeth Jorgensen

Listen to this incredible story of mother and daughter working in the same school and how Nancy (mom) was publishing articles and other work, and how she went to Elizabeth (an English teacher) to help with editing. 

Then, Elizabeth asked her to return the favor. They’ve been writing together ever since. 

Nancy explains why candor was critical with her children. There’s no time to slow down to “be nice.” 

Don’t miss what Elizabeth and Nancy say about ideation and staying on task, including the kind of feedback they want and expect from each other. 

We really liked the concept of the “beta-readers” to help with polishing work before publication. 

They get very granular about their writing and editing process. It’s fascinating to hear how they can often lose track of who wrote the initial piece. 

The research behind why they wrote Gwen Jorgensen: USA’s First Olympic Gold Medal Triathlete is fascinating. Their discovery: there aren’t books available for young people about female athletes.

One powerful theme in the book comes from how Gwen listened to a track coach even though she didn’t consider herself a runner.

Nancy and Elizabeth emphasized the power of listening and embracing what others see in us, even if we don’t see it in ourselves.

Elizabeth talked about the essence of feedback and how Gwen refined her skills to grow into an Olympic Gold medalist. 

Don’t miss how school leaders can use these lessons in each and every classroom. The point about strength identification is a powerful takeaway. Elizabeth’s answer on the power of reflection and the activity of having students write letters is something every teacher can do. 

What Nancy says about student leadership in the choir classroom is profound. 

We were not surprised to learn that both of them follow Gwen as a positive force in their lives. In fact, they have to follow her on social media because she’s so busy. 

The way that Elizabeth uses social media to praise and celebrate the people she follows is an awesome strategy. 

The goals that Gwen makes public about her Olympic training is both vulnerable for her and inspirational for the rest of us. 

Elizabeth talks about the need for sleep. You need the Oura ring!  

Nancy talked about sticking to a schedule as a superpower. 

Nancy wants to learn how to run and do a 5K with Gwen. Liz suggested that hiring a coach is a game-changer!

Elizabeth talked about her desire to be more patient, compassionate, and kind. Especially in her response and delivery to others. 

Nancy used to think that she had an obligation to certain groups but now gives herself the freedom to say no. 

Elizabeth ends with what she has learned about not putting a ceiling on what she can do. Listen to how she slashed her mile-per-minute time!

Additional Resources

 

The Leading Better & Growing Faster with Joe & T.J. Show

Let us know if there’s a guest who you want us to have on the show by leaving a comment below or by contacting us at contact@theschoolhouse302.com. And don’t miss our leadership content updates every week by subscribing to the site. 

We can’t wait to hear from you. 

Joe & T.J.

Season 4, Episode 9 of the FocusED School Leadership Podcast with Lainie Rowell

Season 4, Episode 9 of the FocusED School Leadership Podcast with Lainie Rowell

by | Feb 24, 2023 | #FocusED, Action, Communication, Core Values, Culture, Daily Habits, Decision-Making, Education, Energy, Engagement, Excellence, Focus, Fulfillment, Goal Setting, Leadership, Learning to Lead, Listening, Mental Mapping, Motivation, Motivation & Retention, Organizational Leadership, Passion, Planning and Preparation, Positivity, Principal Leadership, Principals, Professional Dialogue, Relationships, Resilience, Results, Service Leadership, Teacher Leadership, Teamwork

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Evolving with Gratitude with Lainie Rowell  

This is Season 4, Episode 9 of FocusED, and it features our guest, Lainie Rowell. It was originally recorded live for a studio audience in Delaware, and provided as a professional development experience in collaboration with the Delaware Department of Education, the Delaware Academy for School Leadership, and The School House 302. Don’t miss what Lainie says about evolving with gratitude as a school leader, increasing baseline happiness, ways to practice gratitude…and so much more.

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Lainie Rowell Brings Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners

Lainie Rowell is an educator and international consultant who specializes in working with other educators to find innovative and sustainable ways to transform teaching and learning. Her areas of focus include community building, learner-driven design, online/blended learning, and professional learning.

During her 25 years in education, Lainie has taught elementary, secondary, and higher education. She also served in a district-level leadership position supporting 22,000 students and 1,200 teachers at 33 schools.

As a consultant, Lainie’s client list ranges from Fortune 100 companies like Apple and Google to school districts and independent schools. Lainie is a TEDx Speaker with more than 15 years of experience presenting at regional, national, and international conferences, including Learning Forward, the Digital Learning Annual Conference (DLAC), Building Learning Communities (BLC), and the Leadership 3.0 Symposium.

Her work has been highlighted in many publications, including Edutopia, OC Family Magazine, ASCD K-12 Leadership SmartBrief, Getting Smart, and PBS NewsHour.

Since 2014, Lainie has been a consultant for the Orange County Department of Education’s Institute for Leadership Development, facilitating professional learning for administrators.

Learn more about Lainie at LainieRowell.com and see highlights of her work at Linktr.ee/LainieRowell. You can also subscribe to her newsletter at LainieRowell.com/subscribe.

FocusED Show Notes with Lainie Rowell 

Lainie talked about her first book launching right at the start of COVID and what she began to feel as a leader as she recognized the immense weight of the crisis. Everyone needs gratitude. 

Lainie talked about the science that backs the practice of gratitude. When we work on our ability to feel gratitude, we release “happiness chemicals” into our brains and bodies. 

Don’t miss what she says about increasing your baseline happiness. 

Joe brings up Todd Rose and equifinality. Don’t miss Lainie’s response to this. 

Her “how to” is inspiring because there are so many ways that people can practice gratitude. 

Listen to what she says about her career: I changed lanes without a turn signal.

Because of our work with feedback, we really connected to what she says about praise. We need to ensure that our ratios of praise to correction are balanced. 

Gratitude works best when it’s natural. 

With 20 examples from 18 contributors in the book, school leaders are bound to find the first, second, and third steps to creating a culture of gratitude. 

Lainie calls out Dwight Carter and Joshua Stamper for their examples from the book as well as the need to be authentic with our gratitude. 

If Lainie could improve anything in schools, she would work on the praise-to-correction ratio. 

Lainie talked about CASEL’s three signature practices. 

Laurie Santos, James Clear, Robert Emmons, and Katie Milkman are four people who Lainie follows outside of education. 

Big reveal at the end: Lainie’s next book! 

Lainie Rowell Quotes from FocusED

The best way to change someone else’s behavior is to change our behavior first. ~ Lainie Rowell 

Next time you’re working with someone who you want to change, consider what you’ve noticed that they do well first. ~ Lainie Rowell 

 

Thanks for listening to FocusED, an educational leadership podcast brought to you by The School House 302 @ theschoolhouse302.com where we publish free leadership content. Go to the site, subscribe, and you’ll get all of our content sent directly to your email. 

 

FocusED is your educational leadership podcast where our mission is to dissect a particular focus for teachers and school leaders so that you can learn to lead better and grow faster in your school or district with more knowledge, better understanding, and clear direction on what to do next.

 

Season 4, Episode 8 of the FocusED School Leadership Podcast with Elizabeth Jorgensen

Season 4, Episode 8 of the FocusED School Leadership Podcast with Elizabeth Jorgensen

by | Feb 13, 2023 | #FocusED, Action, Communication, Core Values, Culture, Daily Habits, Decision-Making, Education, Energy, Engagement, Excellence, Focus, Fulfillment, Goal Setting, Leadership, Learning to Lead, Listening, Mental Mapping, Motivation, Motivation & Retention, Organizational Leadership, Passion, Planning and Preparation, Positivity, Principal Leadership, Principals, Professional Dialogue, Relationships, Resilience, Results, Service Leadership, Teacher Leadership, Teamwork

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Hacking Student Learning Habits with Elizabeth Jorgensen  

This is Season 4, Episode 8 of FocusED, and it features our guest, Elizabeth Jorgensen. It was originally recorded live for a studio audience in Delaware, provided as a professional development experience in collaboration with the Delaware Department of Education, the Delaware Academy for School Leadership, and The School House 302. Don’t miss what Liz says about student learning habits, process-based assessments, writing for an audience, making connections outside of the classroom…and so much more.

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Elizabeth Jorgensen Brings Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners

Elizabeth Jorgensen has been published in many popular journals, including the English Journal, Edutopia, Teachers & Writers Magazine, Azalea: Journal of Korean Literature and Culture (Harvard University), Brevity, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Writers Who Care, Ohio Journal of English Language Arts, Wisconsin English Journal, Skinny Poetry Journal, and Gyroscope Review, and 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 Olympic Gold Medal Triathlete, which was written to help young people follow a dream and to focus on the process

She has presented for the National Council of Teachers of English, National Council for Social Studies, Wisconsin State Reading Association, Wisconsin Writers Association, East Asian Studies Center at Indiana University, The Ohio Council of Teachers of English Language Arts, and The Illinois Reading Council, among others.  

She is an award-winning writer and teacher and sought-after speaker. 

Just to name some of her accolades: 

She was named one of 20 of America’s Most Inspiring Educators with an award called The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation Teacher Innovator. 

She has been the Arrowhead Union High School Teacher of the Year, the Graduate of the Last Decade from Carroll University, the Lucille S. Pooley Award winner for Successful Techniques in Teaching Composition in the Schools of Wisconsin, the Jarvis E. Bush winner from the Wisconsin Council of Teachers of English, and a recipient of the PBS Innovative Educator Award.

You can learn more on her website: lizjorgensen.weebly.com.

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FocusED Show Notes with Elizabeth Jorgensen  

Mark Barnes found her on Facebook and through her articles he felt like she had a book, which was the inception of Hacking Student Learning Habits. 

Don’t miss what Elizabeth says about authentic purpose, and writing for an audience. 

We need to find a purpose for the assignments outside of the grade. 

Elizabeth uses examples for authentic assessments from across the content areas. It’s all about the process and real-world ways that we connect students’ assignments to actual problems outside of the school. 

The audience has a lot to do with how authentic we can make the students’ work—who will see their work outside of the teacher and the grading system? 

It was really cool to hear Elizabeth talk about Sijo, a Korean form of poetry. The way she connected her love of learning poetry to her students’ interests is amazing. Check out her book about it, Sijo: Korea’s Poetry Form. 

Listen to Elizabeth talk about inspiring young people to set goals, including her story about there not being enough books about athletes for girls. 

You can’t miss what she says about the limitation of rubrics for process-based assessments. 

Elizabeth: One thing that administrators can do to support teaching, learning, and risk-taking is to connect like-minded teachers in the school around a particular topic. 

As always with our guests, Elizabeth mentions Twitter as a go-to place for learning. She also mentions using a thought partner, for her, it’s her mother, who is a former teacher. 

One focus that shines through in the podcast is the notion of relationships and making connections with people outside of the classroom, including parents and the local community. 

Joe highlights some of the things that Elizabeth is explaining on the show: risk-taking, making connections, asking questions, being vulnerable, etc. 

Listen to what she says about the present, and staying in the present…to show…and do our best. 

Elizabeth ends the conversation with advice to administrators to say “yes” whenever possible. Allow teachers to take risks whenever possible. 

 

Thanks for listening to FocusED, an educational leadership podcast brought to you by TheSchoolHouse302 @ theschoolhouse302.com where we publish free leadership content. Go to the site, subscribe, and you’ll get all of our content sent directly to your email. 

 

FocusED is your educational leadership podcast where our mission is to dissect a particular focus for teachers and school leaders so that you can learn to lead better and grow faster in your school or district with more knowledge, better understanding, and clear direction on what to do next.