by Joe & T.J. | Mar 4, 2025 | #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
Promoting Educator Professionalism with Nason Lollar
This is Season 6, Episode 9 of FocusED, and it features our guest, Nason Lollar; we discuss educator professional conduct, human resources, managing and sustaining a positive culture, school leadership…and so much more.
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Nason Lollar Brings a Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners
Having served twenty-four years in the field of education, Dr. Nason Lollar has leveraged those experiences into his first book, The Five Principles of Educator Professionalism.
Nason began his career in the classroom as a high school math and social studies teacher and as a baseball coach. He then transitioned to administration in a role as school assistant principal for nine years. He’s now the principal at the Madison Career & Technical Center in Madison, Mississippi.
His journey as a student of Educational Leadership began with graduate work at Mississippi College, and culminated with a Doctorate of Education from William Carey University. Nason was honored by the Mississippi Association of Secondary School Principals as state Assistant Principal of the Year in 2023.
FocusED Show Notes with Guest Nason Lollar
Our conduct is our own personal stamp on the culture where we work. ~ Nason Lollar
Nason starts by saying that the concept of “educator professionalism” can be a negative topic because it often means that something did something wrong. He talks about having to deal with lapses in judgement that even our best people can make.
Dr. Lollar reminds us that any unprofessional conduct in a school erodes the trust that the community has in the school.
He’s very clear about the responsibilities that school leaders have to the community in addressing any problems that the school may have that gets in the way of serving the families.
Joe asks about the qualities of a professional educator, and Nason jumps right to a “mindset” that educators should have.
Nason reveals the five principles behind positive educator professionalism. He says that in the realm of teaching and learning, collaboration and reflection should be expected.
Don’t miss what he says about school safety and the school leader’s need to evaluate the difference between urgent and important.
What he says about the difference between indirect and direct communication to families.
Educators need to have personal balance but also be equipped to manage change. Nason says that adapting to technology is critical even when it’s a change that educators find difficult.
Nason says that being consumed with the five principles can make for a good leader because it keeps us on task with what matters most.
Nason says that some of the most subtle shifts in our language and communication can signal the wrong intentions to parents or community members.
Much of professionalism, he says, is about having the right attitude. Going back to our purpose and communicating our purpose helps to confirm what our daily intentions actually are.
Nason says that promoting the positive aspects of what happens in schools is super important to build trust with the student body and the community at large.
Dr. Lollar says that we all need to take responsibility in shared mentorship for anyone new to the faculty. New people are vulnerable to making mistakes and need guidance so that they are less likely to do unintended harm.
He says that there’s a difference between brutal honesty and compassionate candor. We couldn’t agree more.
Books We Recommend Based on this Podcast with Nason Lollar
The Speed of Trust by Stephen Covey
Culturize by Jimmy Casas
Is My School a Better School Because I Lead It by Baruti Kafele
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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 and 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. Let us know who you would like to hear from next.
by Joe & T.J. | Feb 26, 2025 | #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
Successfully Managing Parent and Community Groups with Christina Hidek
This is Season 6, Episode 8 of FocusED, and it features our guest, Christina Hidek; we discuss parent-teacher organization, managing community expectations, building relationships with key stakeholders, raising money…and so much more.
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Christina Hidek Brings a Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners
Christina Hidek is a recovering attorney turned Professional Organizer and certified PTO volunteer nerd.
She founded PTO Answers 7 years ago to boost family engagement in schools and empower parents to improve their child’s educational experience and school community through PTA/PTO involvement.
She’s been an active PTO leader for the past 14 years and hosts the vibrant 8000 plus member Super Star PTO Leaders Facebook Group.
When she’s not volunteering, you can find her in her garden, listening to the latest Katherine Center audiobook or walking the family dogs.
FocusED Show Notes with Guest Christina Hidek
Christina starts out with some suggestions about how school leaders can get on the same page with the PTO/PTA President by meeting on a regular basis. The key is to meet ahead of the actual PTA meetings and separate from them.
School leaders should explain their vision for the school and the school year to the parent groups, starting with the PTA President.
School leaders and PTA Presidents should have a clear understanding of how they want to communicate.
Christina describes the strongest relationships that she had with principals and the trust and openingness that it takes.
School leaders should attend their PTA meetings and the measure of success is a lack of turnover in the group.
Every parent group should have at least one teacher liaison; the main point of the role is to bring the parent group information back to the teachers so that it doesn’t fall on the principals.
Christina reminds us that parents are volunteers, and they may need training. As soon as a group is formed, they need to be empowered and equipped with the right tools and information to go in the right direction.
There’s no PTA school. ~ Christina Hidek.
Christina consistently brings the conversation back to professional learning for parents. They can’t be a resource if they don’t know how.
She talks about her parent group raising $26K and what that means to the school community.
She hates the movie Bad Moms.
A tip for school leaders is to celebrate and highlight the work of their parent groups.
Christina tells us that there aren’t enough resources for PTOs/PTAs and school leaders who want to engage parents in the best way.
PTOAnswers/principals.com has resources for principals who want to better engage parent groups.
Check out FamilyEngagementTools.com.
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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 and 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. Let us know who you would like to hear from next.
by Joe & T.J. | Feb 19, 2025 | #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
Schools for this Century and Beyond with Shawn Dilly
This is Season 6, Episode 7 of FocusED, and it features our guest, Shawn Dilly; we discuss future-ready students, human skills, AI, global dexterity…and so much more.
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Shawn Dilly Brings a Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners
Dr. Shawn Dilly is the superintendent of Randolph County Schools in Elkins, West Virginia. Dr. Dilly has spent over 23 years working in education in the United States and three years in an international school system. Those years included serving as the director general (superintendent) of Emirates National Schools and superintendent of Mineral County Schools for five years.
In the past, he has served as a deputy superintendent, assistant superintendent, director of secondary curriculum & instruction, facilities director, transportation director, career & technical director, administrative director at a multi-county career & technical center, principal, assistant principal, Health Sciences & Technology Academy (HSTA) teacher, coach and art teacher in public education.
His book, Schools for this Century and Beyond, was recognized in 2023 UAE’s Mastermind Awards, and its educational contributions were celebrated.
Shawn Dilly can be reached on LinkedIn or his website.
FocusED Show Notes with Guest Shawn Dilly
Shawn tells us that “future-ready” is about students recognizing their purpose; he reminds us about the goal of education and the gaps that exist right now with what we provide and what students actually need.
Dr. Dilly talked about the need for leaders to stay true to who they are, that relationships matter, and that we should celebrate our differences.
Shawn elevates competencies that students need, including what he calls “human skills.”
He talks about a “tsunami of change” that is coming our way, along with the advent of AI and other disruptive technologies.
Shawn tells us that part of the systemic barriers that perpetuate the problems with the curriculum, instruction, assessments, and resources is that we’re too highly regulated and legislated to change fast enough.
He describes a problem for schools in that 65% of our students in school now will be working in jobs that aren’t currently available yet.
Joe asks Dr. Dilly to help leaders advocate for change that isn’t just based on policy requirements.
Shawn calls to action that leaders align themselves with people who are thinking about problems in a way that we can work together to drive change. He also says that it’s important for school leaders to get involved in their state agencies at the highest levels.
Shawn encourages leaders to ask the question: are our students ready? And, if the answer is no, what’s missing? That will drive what we need to do next.
One change that he emphasized is the need for more student collaboration in schools–a life skill that everyone will need.
He talked about the need for students to exercise imagination and curiosity as well as oral and written communication.
Shawn names our biggest challenge as keeping up with AI in schools and classrooms.
Dr. Dilly tells us that students will need to learn global dexterity and branding. They’ll need to work globally with people who are vastly different from them and yet maintain their identity. And, they need to be able to compete in a global world by selling themselves by integrating the proper credentials with an attractive reputation.
Shawn mentions McKinsey and the World Economic Forum. Joe asks about other resources that he frequents. Check out the book list below.
Books We Recommend Based on this Podcast with Shawn Dilly
Redefining the Goal by Kevin Fleming
The Case Against Education by Bryan Caplan
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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 and 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. Let us know who you would like to hear from next.
by Joe & T.J. | Feb 6, 2025 | #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
Communities of Strength with Peter Cookson
This is Season 6, Episode 6 of FocusED, and it features our guest, Peter Cookson; we discuss community leadership, supporting students in poverty, school culture…and so much more.
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Peter Cookson Brings a Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners
Peter Cookson serves as a senior researcher with the Learning Policy Institute, a founding principal investigator for the American Voices Project based at Stanford University, and an educational policy teacher at the McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University.
He has written extensively on the causes and consequences of American poverty and advocates for a new vision for public education. He began his career in education as a fifth-grade teacher in rural Massachusetts.
He received his doctorate from New York University and most recently completed a Master of Arts in religion from the Yale Divinity School, where he held the Katsuso Miho Scholarship in Peacemaking.
He founded the Center for Educational Outreach and Innovation at Teachers College and The Equity Project at the American Institutes for Research and before that, he was the executive director of Ed Sector in Washington D.C.
Peter is the author of School Communities of Strength: Strategies for Educating Children Living in Deep Poverty.
FocusED Show Notes with Guest Peter Cookson
All kids learn in environments where threats to their self-esteem are diminished. ~ Peter Cookson
Peter starts by defining “communities of strength.” Included in his definition is that the whole community believes that every student can learn and that learning is joyful.
Peter says that he learned more doing the project for this book than any other project he has done.
He tells us that 5 million kids in the US live in “deep poverty,” that’s 50% or more lower than the national threshold.
Peter tells us about the resilience of students in poverty is inspirational.
Peter’s passion for this work comes from his time as a 5th grade teacher in a school where many of the students lived in deep poverty. This motivated him to go back to school to become a sociologist to study the intersection between poverty and learning.
He unfolds a story about his time as a teacher where he was able to experiment. He was doing project-based learning before it was a thing.
Peter’s vision for the book when he started was to make it a practical guide versus just a sad story about the current scenarios in schools that serve students in poverty.
The book includes the science of learning because we know more now about how to teach and how people learn than ever before.
He tells us that the primary responsibility of the school leader is to create an environment for teachers and students to thrive.
Peter tells a story about a superintendent who fired any principal who didn’t fully believe that all students can learn. Don’t miss what he says about the commitment factor.
Peter mentions Linda Darling-Hammond as an expert on the science of learning, among other things.
He says that each of the principles in the book comes with implementation guidance.
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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 and 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. Let us know who you would like to hear from next.
by Joe & T.J. | Jan 24, 2025 | #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
Unsupervised Leadership with Kate Koch
This is Season 6, Episode 5 of FocusED, and it features our guest, Kate Koch; we discuss women in leadership positions, mentorship, balance at work…and so much more.
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Kate Koch Brings a Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners
Dr. Kate Koch is the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources for Lemont-Bromberek SD113a.
She has served as an elementary principal, an assistant principal, and a middle school history teacher.
She is also the co-host of the Unsupervised Leadership Podcast and the author of Unsupervised Leadership: Celebrating and Elevating Fun, Fab, and Fierce Females.
FocusED Show Notes with Guest Kate Koch
“Unsupervised leadership” is about being in a space where you can lead authentically. In these cases, the leader can be themselves without fear of making mistakes.
Kate talks about women in leadership, specifically in education, where the balance is off between the number of women in the profession versus the number of administrators who are men.
Kate has been getting feedback from listeners that her message about women in leadership is giving them the confidence to apply for jobs and ask for the highest salary possible.
Dr. Koch tells us a few stories about her experience with leadership roles and what she faced in interviews and other spaces as a female.
Kate talks about the differences between the way women lead and the way that men lead and the need for both perspectives. TJ brings up the Jane Goodall episode with Tim Ferriss, in which Goodall says that women should not try to lead like men because we need female leaders, not just more males.
She tells us about what “balance” means for her. Two strategies: turn it off and have an accountability partner.
Kate shares a story about how much time she was putting into her work and the feeling that she might need to walk away; we need to create conditions where people have a balance, or we will continue to lose educators.
Joe asks Kate who inspires her, and she tells us about her mentor, Kate Chambers, and her podcast co-host, Courtney Orzel. She calls out several other peers and mentors who guide and support her work.
Kate talked about listening to books, and her current favorite read is Anxious Generation.
Books We Recommend Based on this Podcast with Kate Koch
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
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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 and 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. Let us know who you would like to hear from next.
by Joe & T.J. | Dec 28, 2024 | #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
Educating for Our Students’ Futures with Ben Farrell
This is Season 6, Episode 4 of FocusED, and it features our guest, Ben Farrell; we discuss what it means to prepare students for the future, an entrepreneurial focus in schools, competency-based, allowing students to follow their passions…and so much more.
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Ben Farrell Brings a Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners
Ben joins New England Innovation Academy from The International Montessori School of Beijing in China, where he served as Head of School.
Prior to that, he was the Dean of Students and Director of Leadership Education at the Webb Schools in California, worked in residential life at Bowdoin College, and earlier in his career, worked in admission at the Thacher School in California.
Ben received his B.A. in History and American Studies from Colby College in Maine, his M.A. in Higher and Post-Secondary Education from Teachers College-Columbia University in New York, and completed Graduate Coursework in Cross-Cultural Conflict Transformation and Reconciliation at the School for International Training in Vermont.
FocusED Show Notes with Guest Ben Farrell
Ben starts off by telling us about a committee that he has going to help unpack “emerging technology,” and things are literally changing overnight.
For us to lead in a tech-driven environment, Ben says that we have to be willing to say, “I don’t know what that means yet.”
He tells us about the human-centered design process that they use at his schools–building something for empathy for the end-user of whatever we’re building.
Joe asks Ben to talk about anything traditional that they’re abandoning in the curriculum to be able to spend the time they do on future-driven learning.
Don’t miss what he says about grading. They figured out how to create a competency-based system that spits out a letter grade at the end.
Ben talks about the influences of his background: Beijing, Montessori, Thacher, Bowdoin, and more. All of this feeds his ideas about schools teaching more of an entrepreneurial thought process.
He shares about the competitive nature of the marketplace for schools in Beijing. Students literally need to have an international passport. This means that the schools are all working to differentiate themselves from others like them.
We discuss what it looks like to prepare students to do jobs that don’t exist yet. Ben talks about the fact that one important thing we can do, even though we don’t know what the jobs are, is to help students learn how to navigate competition within a start-up environment.
It’s awesome to hear how he elevates student voices by asking them to tell him what the future of schooling, including the use of AI, should look like.
Joe reminds listeners of our podcast with Don Wettrick.
Ben recognizes that many parents are still a bit leery about system changes, and he comes back to what students are going to need for the rest of their lives, including the moral responsibility to use these new tools ethically.
Philosophically, he wants his students to explore their passions in the evening versus doing more school work.
All 9th graders at NEIH take Foundations of Entrepreneurship.
Ben invites our listeners to reach out to him at NEIH. He calls it the gift of time to just sit and talk.
Ben tells us about an experience he had in Rwanda that showed him that if they could overcome what they needed to overcome, we can do anything.
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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 and 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. Let us know who you would like to hear from next.
7 Mindshifts for School Leaders: Finding New Ways to Think About Old Problems. 
