Season 4, Episode 11 of the FocusED School Leadership Podcast with Laurie Barron

Season 4, Episode 11 of the FocusED School Leadership Podcast with Laurie Barron

Strengthening School & District Communities with Laurie Barron

This is Season 4, Episode 11 of FocusED, and it features our guest, Laurie Barron. 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 Laurie says about strengthening school and district communities as a teacher and leader…and so much more.

 

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Laurie Barron Brings Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners

Dr. Laurie Barron is in her twenty-seventh year in education, serving as a high school English teacher, a middle school assistant principal, and nine years as a middle school principal.  

Since 2013, she has served as the superintendent of the Evergreen School District in Kalispell, Montana. Barron holds a bachelors in English Education from the University of Georgia, a master’s in Supervision and Administration from the University of West Georgia, and a doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Sarasota.  

The following are just some of her accolades:

  • National Superintendent Certification through AASA
  • National Board Certified Teacher
  • Teacher of the Year
  • STAR Teacher
  • Georgia Middle School Principal of the Year
  • National Middle School Principal of the Year 
  • School Administrators of Montana G.V. Erickson Award
  • Empowered Superintendent of the Year by the Montana Educational Technologists Association
  • Montana Superintendent of the Year

She has co-authored 3 books: 

Dr. Barron is a national speaker, consultant, and leadership coach, and she says she’s living the dream in northwest Montana with her husband Daniel, where together they enjoy spending time with family watching Georgia Bulldogs football, snow skiing, camping, rafting, hiking, and watching their daughter Emma play college soccer.

FocusED Show Notes with Laurie Barron

Laurie started out the conversation with the fact that the concept of instructional leadership may have confused us during NCLB into forgetting about the whole child. Her book brings that back to the center of the conversation with a sense of belonging. 

Joe asks Laurie to get granular about strategies for helping students understand and feel that they matter in school. Her response: Trusting relationships are the biggest key.

Laurie breaks down a timeline for engagement: 

  • Every classroom door, every morning. 
  • Every classroom was visited every week. 
  • Feedback to every teacher every month.
  • Twice a year check-ins with every direct report. 

Dr. Barron talked about earning the credibility to give teachers ideas that they’ll use. Part of it comes from visibility; the other part comes from our ability to have tough conversations.

Laurie talked about the level of accountability that comes from having crucial conversations. Timing is everything. 

Laurie talked about the myth that holding high standards will push people out. She says that we might need to “love harder” and “explain more.” 

The best advice that Laurie has for leaders is to develop a network. Wisdom from her mentor: Keep one foot in your job and one foot in your profession

Laurie recommends What Great Teachers Do Differently by Todd Whitaker 

Joe asks about books outside of education. Laurie mentions Mindset by Carol Dwek and Daniel’s Pink’s Drive. Must read!

Laurie Barron Quotes from FocusED

It’s really hard to engage and participate if you feel like you don’t matter. ~ Laurie Barron 

Honesty is kind. We need to give very clear feedback to teachers. ~ Laurie Barron 

How we work with people and our honesty with them are critical. ~ Laurie Barron

More School Culture Resources from TheSchoolHouse302

3 Ideas About Innovative School Culture

5 Ways to Show More Support to Create the School Culture that Teachers and Students Need

Retention for a Change

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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. Let us know who you would like to hear from next.

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

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.

Season 3, Episode 4 of FocusED with Lorea Martinez #FocusED

Season 3, Episode 4 of FocusED with Lorea Martinez #FocusED

This is Season 3, Episode 4 of FocusED, and it features our guest, Lorea Martinez. It was originally recorded live for a studio audience in Delaware, provided as a professional development experience for Delaware teachers and leaders. Don’t miss Lorea describe her HEART model for teaching with SEL and so much more. 

_______________________________________

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 in 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 the 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

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Show Notes from Our FocusED Episode with Lorea Martinez

 

Lorea talked about being a special education teacher and all that needs to be done to support students, including their coping skills. She wrote the book because she realized that we’re not spending enough time on social and emotional learning to support students. 

She talked about how SEL is often misunderstood in terms of implementation. 

Joe asked about the entry point for SEL work. Lorea said it must be entered in any way possible. 

Lorea explains the HEART acronym and its alignment to CASEL

She lays out three easy steps to infuse SEL into any lesson plan. Every teacher can use this information. 

 

Don’t miss what she says about brain breaks and movement for our learners. 

 

Always have an SEL goal for your lesson plan in addition to your academic goal. ~ Lorea Martinez

 

We need a common understanding in our education community in terms of exactly what we mean by SEL when we’re planning for ourselves and our students. 

Lorea talked about nurturing students’ strengths to help them discover their path forward in life. 

 

She discussed the false dichotomy about relationships and academics and that they aren’t two things but rather one together. 

 

Lorea mentioned The Learning Policy Institute as a place she goes for practical research. She also pointed to Facing History and Ourselves as a resource for teachers and leaders.

 

Lorea mentioned two books that she’s reading:

Once I Was You by Maria Hinojosa 

Fierce Self-Compassion by Kristen Neff

 

She wants to see a book written that compiles educators’ success stories with SEL. 

 

We cannot teach what we do not practice. ~ Lorea Martinez 

 

Maybe this is her next book: Educator Success Stories Using Social and Emotional Learning in the Classroom: 50 Tips, Tricks, Resources, and Anecdotes for Successful SEL Implementation 

 

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Thanks for listening to FocusED, an educational leadership podcast brought to you by TheSchoolHouse302 @ dereka206.sg-host.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.

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