Ep. 00 Meet Ellen Willoughby (Show Transcription)

Ellen Willoughby (00:01):

Hi, I'm Ellen Willoughby And I'm your host of Drinking From the Fire Hose. I wanted to share a little bit about myself. I started teaching second grade in San Antonio, at the same time while I was working on my master's degree in elementary education. I then decided to move back to Austin and I taught third grade. After teaching third grade, I actually had an opportunity to move into a role of an instructional coach out in Manor ISD at a turnaround campus. As a team, we were able to turn that school around from a three years low performing school, to a recognized school in one year. During that time, I received my principal certification here at Region 13 and am really thankful for that opportunity. I am currently a project coordinator for educator evaluation and leadership, and get to do a lot of amazing things such as help and support campus leaders in the work that they do.

Ellen Willoughby (00:51):

So after the pandemic hit, we were all brainstorming about ways that we could support our campus and district leaders. We started something called a Campus Leader Meetup, which was a Friday Zoom call where leaders could get on and talk about the challenges that they were having on the campus. So while we were having that meeting, trying to determine how to best serve leaders, someone came up with the idea of why don't we start a podcast? So welcome to Drinking From the Fire Hose, a podcast for school leaders.

Ellen Willoughby (01:17):

Being a campus leader can feel like you're drinking from a fire hose with all the information requests, tasks, and duties that are thrown your way on a daily basis. So how do you manage to do it all and help students grow? Well, that's what this podcast is all about. We'll be talking about everything from self-care to staff retention, to creating culturally responsive schools. We know you're busy, so each episode will be around 30 minutes. I'm your host, Ellen Willoughby, an educator and former principal who now spends my time supporting campus and district leaders at Education Service Center Region 13. Welcome to the show.