new teacher supports – Page 6

Leading Better and Growing Faster with Joe & TJ: Guest Curtiss Murphy Talks about What Makes Great Managers Great

by Joe & T.J. | Feb 5, 2024 | #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 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-winning speaker, author, and game designer. He’s been on 21 episodes of the podcast Game Design Zen. He’s currently the VP of Engineering at a Mobile Game Studio.

He is the recent author of What Makes Great Managers Great: How to Raise Engagement, Give Feedback, and Answer the Questions No One’s Asking.

What You’ll Find in this Episode with Curtiss Murphy

Curtiss starts by flipping the show back to Joe and T.J. with a question about why they would want to have an “outsider” from education on the show. Listen to hear about comfort zones, learn from new people, and seek alternative perspectives. That’s what Leading Better and Growing Faster with Joe and TJ is all about.

Curtiss simply says it, many managers are doing it wrong. His story will resonate with you as he admits that he once was one as well. Don’t miss what he says about how it all changed for him.

You want to hear what he says about medical errors and deaths based on miscommunication.

He talks about going from 5 people to 40 and what management practices have done to increase performance on his team.

The number one premise to start with as a leader is that there’s confusion everywhere. ~ Curtiss Murphy

Tune in to hear why we must always be clarifying expectations.

Joe asks about “safety and making people feel safe at work.”

Reminder for school leaders: Whatever we do impacts our employees. Don’t miss what Curtiss says about “not enough” in this category.

Curtiss looks for inspiration from his wife (and he tells us that we can’t have her).

He talks about being a nerd by trade and using the rules of improv (we wrote about this in 7 Mindshifts for School Leaders). Three rules: (1) accept everything, (2) use yes, and (3) make your co-workers and partners look good.

Curtiss wants to learn to be calm, be in the moment, and slow down his sense of urgency.

He focuses on praising people for supporting the behaviors that he wants them to repeat.

Curtiss used to think that his job was just to empower people; he learned to empower the skill, not the person.

His final thought: leadership = influencing others through trusting relationships.

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 [email protected]. 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.

TheSchoolHouse302 · Guest Curtiss Murphy Talks about What Makes Great Managers Great

Season 5, Episode 6 of the FocusED School Leadership Podcast with Guest Lee Roland

by Joe & T.J. | Jan 23, 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

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Failure is Not an Option with Lee Roland

This is Season 5, Episode 6 of FocusED, and it features our guest, Lee Roland. It was originally recorded in front of a live audience in Delaware and provided as a professional development experience in collaboration with the Delaware Department of Education, Wilmington University, and The School House 302. Don’t miss what Lee Roland says about his journey as a school leader and radical change in schools.

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Lee Roland Brings a Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners

Lee Roland has been a leader in education and the community for more than 35 years. He has served as a teacher, administrator, Board member, principal, Executive Director, and pastor.

Lee is a passionate speaker, practical trainer, and dedicated advocate for a better future for all. His book, Fantastic Voyage, chronicles his journey of leadership and radical change at Tulakes Elementary.

Voyage Consulting was born out of a desire to inspire, equip, and empower others to believe, pursue, and achieve equity and success for all individuals, especially children, in our community.

FocusED Show Notes with Lee Roland

Lee starts by talking about his own confidence with writing a book and the encouragement he got from others when they visited his school and wanted him to document what he was doing so that others could replicate it.

Lee wants readers to take his content and make it their own. “Take what he says, personalize it, put your name on it,” he says. We have to borrow from one another.

Joe asks a direct question about imposter syndrome and Lee’s thoughts about writing and publishing a book.

Lee jumps into the need for a growth mindset. “We can build anything.”

Lee talked about his early years, and that failure was never an option. People always have looked to him for inspiration, and he has embraced the charge.

He talks about how the staff and community are looking to school leaders for hope.

Lee isn’t shy to point out that there’s often an elephant in the room…race and poverty are two that we have to face.

Wearing uniforms made a difference in a school where many of the students didn’t have regular outfits. This created a team feel.

Lee addressed the thoughts and motivation that come from fear…the fear of change. He encourages school leaders to work with “designated leaders” as well as “undesignated leaders.”

Don’t miss what he says about building relationships. “We’ve heard it said, but we have to make deposits with people.” ~ Lee Roland

One sentiment that we take away from his message is that we have to lead with our hearts. People can feel it, and it’s contagious.

Joe underscores that fear presents itself, but it’s often not real.

Lee encourages the concept of “collaborative leadership.” What he says reminds of the “shirtless dancing guy video.”

You’ll want to hear what he says about the fact that educators often return to schools to work in a scene of a “non-crime” but the community is often returning to school as a “scene of a crime” that they remember when they were in school.

Listen to what Lee says about being intentional with every single event that the school hosts.

Lee says that we make things too complicated. Just think about a student who doesn’t come to school regularly and what can happen if we get them to come to school 5 more days this year than last.

Students at Lee’s school received an effort grade every day. This was born out of a desperate love for them and making sure that everyone worked toward excellence.

Teach them well from bell-to-bell. ~ Lee Roland

Lee wants to see a whole-child approach to learning (some call it social and emotional learning), but Lee says that we need to address trauma. Plus, he wants the energy in a school to be about the students. Every Student: “I am the agenda.”

He points to Ron Edmonds’ work.

As a final point, he tells listeners to “lead with love.” No one can follow if you don’t lead first.

Season 5, Episode 5 of the FocusED School Leadership Podcast with Guest Don Parker

by Joe & T.J. | Jan 10, 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

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Be The Driving Force in Your School with Don Parker

This is Season 5, Episode 5 of FocusED, and it features our guest, Don Parker. It was originally recorded in front of a live audience in Delaware and provided as a professional development experience in collaboration with the Delaware Department of Education, Wilmington University, and The School House 302. Don’t miss what Don Parker says about being the driving force in your school, and so much more.

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Don Parker Brings a Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners

Dr. Don Parker is a transformational keynote speaker and professional development provider. He specializes in SEL, supporting teachers to build trusting relationships with students, restorative practices, trauma-informed practices, and improving the culture and climate of schools to enhance students’ and teachers’ feelings of belonging.

Dr. Parker is a former principal and served at Posen School in Posen, IL, where he improved the school climate, staff collaboration, parent engagement, and student achievement.

Before that, he was the principal of Lincoln Avenue School, a K-8 school in Dolton, IL, where he improved the culture, implemented a resilience program, managed the implementation of restorative justice, and increased attendance and student achievement.

Dr. Parker has a strong belief in creating a school climate in which the entire staff strives for excellence to meet the academic and social emotional needs of each student. He has presented throughout the United States at distinguished educational conferences, including ASCD, the Every Student Succeeds Act Conference, the National Principals Conference, the Illinois Principals Conference, the Oklahoma Secondary and Elementary Conference, the Raising Student Achievement Conference, the Transforming School Culture Conference, the Innovative Schools Summit, just to name a few.

Dr. Parker is the author of the book Building Bridges: Engaging Students At-Risk Through the Power of Relationships and Be the Driving Force: Leading Your School on the Road to Equity. Follow Dr. Don Parker on Twitter: @DrDonParker1.

FocusED Show Notes with Don Parker

Don starts with the fact that equity issues aren’t new. The achievement gap has been static for too long. Don says that leaders are driving this work or pumping the brakes.

Don says that equity work starts at the top.

Don talks about the fact that people will follow a person before they follow a cause.

Don’t miss what he says about sharing data to create a sense of urgency. We need to take an honest look at our practices and start the conversation with empathy.

Don talked about the fact that 72% of students feel that they need social and emotional support but don’t get it.

We need to take an inventory of our academic support to ensure that we’re reaching all students.

Don says that we often make assumptions about the community and what they need, but the better strategy is to ask them. Are our family engagement and education strategies targeting what the community needs?

Dr. Parker says that we need to use surveys more often to gather information about what our families want from the school, maybe there’s something they think we should be providing that we’re (even though we can).

His story about a family who had a food deficit is inspirational.

If Don could improve every school, he would make sure every student felt valued in the school environment. His water bottle analogy is incredible.

Don talks about strategies to create belonging and says that it’s not rocket science.

“99% of education is encouragement.” ~ Don Parker

Don tells our audience to listen to podcasts, go to conferences, and read books. He names Anthony Muhammad’s book, Transforming School Culture.

Joe asked if anyone outside of education inspired Don, and he pointed to a touching story about his uncle.

Don mentions the leadership of Barack Obama and overcoming seemingly impossible challenges. Find out what Don believes are the skills that Obama used to be successful.

He wants to see more on the topic of educator empathy…how to be more empathetic for the sake of our students. We came up with this title for a future book, The Empathetic Educator.

As final words, Don talked about the professional development that he’s doing around the country and how he helps educators to work better with students who have trauma in their lives.

Season 5, Episode 4 of the FocusED School Leadership Podcast with Guest Sam Crome

by Joe & T.J. | Dec 5, 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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The Power of Teams with Sam Crome

This is Season 5, Episode 4 of FocusED, and it features our guest, Sam Crome. It was originally recorded in front of a live audience in Delaware and provided as a professional development experience in collaboration with the Delaware Department of Education, Wilmington University, and The School House 302. Don’t miss what Sam Crome says about the power of teams, creating and leading thriving school cultures, and so much more.

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Sam Crome Brings a Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners

Sam Crome is a school leader, currently a Deputy Headteacher and Director of Education for a Multi Academy Trust in Surrey.

He has been a Head of Year, Head of Department, Head of Sixth Form, Lead of Teaching and Learning, and most recently, he led pastoral teams across a secondary school.

For the last few years, Sam has studied high-performing teams, trying to better understand how teams can become more than the sum of their parts. He regularly blogs, speaks and works with schools regarding their teams, helping educators maximize their effectiveness.

He remains convinced that this is an area that needs more attention and exploration. Sam is an accredited coach and loves working with coaches to help them realize their potential and make strides toward their career goals.

He’s the author of The Power of Teams: How to create and lead thriving school teams.

FocusED Show Notes with Sam Crome

Sam saw a lot of competition in the world of education, not necessarily using teamwork, which is why he wrote the book.

Here’s what Sam wants to know: how do a group of people come together to seamlessly strive toward a common goal?

Sam talks about learning to coach and the impact that the process had on his work with leaders. The form of coaching that he mentions is “non-directive.”

Don’t miss what he says about his former self in terms of his past perspective on teams and what he believes now.

We ask Sam about what makes for a great team and how to lead a team. You’ll want to hear this.

He describes a “team debrief” as a critical aspect of teamwork. We discussed the need for Before Action Reviews and After Action Reviews.

Sam talked about the reasons why teams aren’t effective.

He mentions a simple remedy to team meetings: planning. We talked about this with Dr. Liz City.

Don’t miss him describe his BIG secret–start every meeting with a short burst of learning. Plus, this should be enjoyable and not too sensitive.

Teams have to believe that what they say they’re going to do at the meeting is what they actually do after the meetings. This means that the leader has to start meetings with an update about what has happened since the last meeting.

Sam talks about accountability from the leader for the people who attend meetings.

The survey data that he talks about is incredible.

Sam talks about the ResearchED Network and getting so much value from that group.

We asked Sam about what he would do to support the student experience, and he talked about a disruptive-free learning zone. Students need safety and belonging for learning to take place.

Leading Better and Growing Faster with Joe & TJ: Guest Donya Ball Talks about How Administrators Can Adjust Their Sails to Weather Any Storm

by Joe & T.J. | Nov 29, 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 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 about overcoming leadership hardships.

Her first book of the leadership series, Adjusting the Sails: Weathering the Storms of Administrative Leadership, was published in 2022. Her second book, Against the Wind: Leadership at 36,000 Feet, will be released this January.

What You’ll Find in this Episode with Donya Ball

Donya starts with a story about her experiences working through various positions and the fact that we tend to talk a lot about “the stuff,” but there isn’t enough “real talk” in books. She wanted her work to get to the real talk. We call that “real talk for real leaders.”

Listen to Donya’s thoughts on why we’re so reactionary in educational leadership.

She has unique ideas about writing and conveying her message, particularly how she combines her love for reality TV and what needs to be in books for school leaders.

One “sail” we talked about adjusting is the negative reviews in books.

Joe tells the story of how TheSchoolHouse302 was born because it relates to Donya’s take on the need for “real talk.”

One inspiration for her book is the need to discuss career rejection; it happens, but not enough of us are actually talking about it.

Don’t miss her story about her dad, who was born in Iran, and how he had to establish a new life. We all need to become fighters!

Donya talks about the need for branding…our perception of ourselves is not always in alignment with the public perception of us.

Listen to her describe how branding is an obstacle and how we need to do an assessment of our social media accounts. What message are we sending to our school community?

Donya says that we need to embrace the crises when they occur, not shield ourselves and others from them.

Don’t miss her analogy for the three types of leadership strategies with social media.

Dismissive
Passive
Engaged

Donya tells us to follow Roni Habib at eqschools.com for inspiration and aspiration in the space of leadership and personal well-being.

Great leaders ask this question daily: “Are my people taken care of?” This transcends resources, facilities, pay, etc. She wants to know if those she leads truly feel taken care of.

Don’t miss what she says about “raw, authentic, heartfelt conversations.”

Donya wants to master the art of patience. Joe says that TJ is not a person to ask for help in this area.

She talked about growing as a leader and why it’s imperative to surround yourself with people who are different from you–political leaders, community leaders, thought leaders in various fields.

She delivered a great call to action: We need to get outside of our comfort zones when it comes to bringing people into our circle.

She recommends Blindspots: Hidden Biases of Good People for school leaders who want to uncover their own biases and move past them.

Donya admits that she used to think about short-term results and getting quick wins on accountability metrics, but she’s shifting her thinking to more long-term approaches to teaching, learning, and leading that have a lasting impact on the world.

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 [email protected]. 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.

TheSchoolHouse302 · Guest Donya Ball Talks about How Administrators Can Adjust Their Sails to Weather Any Storm

Leading Better and Growing Faster with Joe & TJ: Guest Curtiss Murphy Talks about What Makes Great Managers Great

About Curtiss Murphy

What You’ll Find in this Episode with Curtiss Murphy

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

Season 5, Episode 6 of the FocusED School Leadership Podcast with Guest Lee Roland

Failure is Not an Option with Lee Roland

Lee Roland Brings a Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners

FocusED Show Notes with Lee Roland

Related School Leadership Content Based on This Show

Season 5, Episode 5 of the FocusED School Leadership Podcast with Guest Don Parker

Be The Driving Force in Your School with Don Parker

Don Parker Brings a Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners

FocusED Show Notes with Don Parker

Related School Leadership Content Based on This Show

Season 5, Episode 4 of the FocusED School Leadership Podcast with Guest Sam Crome

The Power of Teams with Sam Crome

Sam Crome Brings a Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners

FocusED Show Notes with Sam Crome

Related School Leadership Content Based on This Show

Leading Better and Growing Faster with Joe & TJ: Guest Donya Ball Talks about How Administrators Can Adjust Their Sails to Weather Any Storm

About Donya Ball

What You’ll Find in this Episode with Donya Ball

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

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