The Authority Podcast — Expert Insights and Fresh Ideas for Education Leaders: Recent Episodes
Be Podcast Network
Are you looking for proven ideas to increase your influence, hire and develop an excellent staff, build a stronger culture, lead meaningful change, and form a strong foundation for teaching and learning success? This is the podcast for you.
On The Authority, leadership coach, storytelling strategist, and edtech advisor Ross Romano interviews the prominent education authors you already admire, up-and-coming voices, and experts from the worlds of business, personal development, and beyond — including Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Amazon bestsellers — to take a deep dive into their wealth of practical insights.
Whether you're a leader to seeks to refine your command of core educational strategies, learn new management techniques from those who have used them at some of the world's largest corporations, gain fresh perspectives on personal development or student success from practitioners across fields, or a little bit of everything, you'll find powerful content in this series.
Maria Brito is an award-winning New York City-based contemporary art advisor, entrepreneur, author, and curator who was selected by Complex Magazine as one of the 20 Power Players in the Art World. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Time Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Harper’s BAZAAR, Vogue, Forbes, and many more.
Maria’s book, How Creativity Rules the World: The Art and Business of Turning Your Ideas Into Gold, is available from HarperCollins and was the recipient of the Axiom Book Award in the Entrepreneurship category.
In this episode, Maria and Ross discuss:
● Daniel Pink called the book “a first-rate guide to creativity that explodes the many myths about the topic.”
● Anyone can learn creativity. So how do we teach it?
● “Nearly everything you’ve been told about creativity is a lie.”
● LinkedIn study and World Economic Forum listed creativity as #1 in-demand skill: Do companies even know what they’re looking for when they say they demand creativity?
● How to manage a team focused on creativity
● From corporate lawyer to entrepreneur and innovator in the art world.
● What is the right environment for creativity?
● Creativity is about fostering specific habits, making associations, and standing behind the ideas that come out of them.
● Inventing the future — micro and macro
How Creativity Rules the World is availablefrom HarperCollins Leadership. Visit www.mariabrito.com to find it.
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts.
Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guest
Maria Brito is an award-winning New York City-based contemporary art advisor, entrepreneur, author and curator. Her bestselling book How Creativity Rules The World was published by HarperCollins Leadership in March 2022 and it was the recipient of the Axiom Book Award in the Entrepreneurship category.
Brito was selected by Complex Magazine as one of the 20 Power Players in the Art World and was named by ARTNEWS as one of the visionaries who gets to shape the art world.
A Harvard graduate, Maria has been profiled and her projects have been featured extensively in national and international publications including The New York Times Style Section, T: The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Financial Times, W Magazine, ELLE Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, Time Magazine, New York Magazine, The New York Observer, The Daily Beast, The Economist, Interview Magazine, VOGUE Italia, VOGUE Mexico, VOGUE Brazil, VOGUE China, VOGUE.com, Departures, Forbes, Hamptons Magazine, Condé Nast Traveler, Architectural Digest, goop, Billboard, Modern Magazine, and more.
Connect with Maria:
● www.mariabrito.com
● Twitter and LinkedIn: @mariabrito_ny
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC. He is a leadership development and performance coach for professionals in a range of industries and consults with organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry to help communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano and LinkedIn
We're so grateful to our sponsor AI Coach by Edthena.
AI Coach enables your teachers to go through coaching cycles based on their own needs. The virtual coach guides teachers to reflect on their teaching, set a goal, and create an action plan… all based on gathering classroom evidence. It gives support between PD days and other coaching cycles.
Get a free trial for your teachers here.
Dr. Stephen W. Gilliland is a University Professor at Claremont Graduate University and teaches in the Division of Behavioral and Organizational Sciences and Drucker School of Management.
He also serves as the founding director of the Maldonado Executive Leadership Institute, which is committed to the discovery, discussion, and dissemination of insights into the future of executive leadership.
Along with his brother Jim, Stephen is co-author of Pushing Up: What Twelve Months of Physical Challenges Taught Two Brothers About Connection, Leadership, and Purpose (Modern Wisdom Press).
In this episode, Stephen and Ross discuss:
● The 12-month physical challenge and what attracted Stephen to participate
● How relationships are about opportunities and missed opportunities
● The power of someone believing in you
● “Upside of accountability” — someone caring about you
● Recognizing limits and preparing to fail — how it develops confidence, awareness, and empathy
● What the challenge taught Stephen about leadership and purpose
● Asking for help and finding a genuine connection
Pushing Up is available on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3KTVf8l
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts.
Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guest
Dr. Stephen W. Gilliland is a University Professor at Claremont Graduate University and teaches in the Division of Behavioral and Organizational Sciences and Drucker School of Management. He is responsible for developing degree and non-degree leadership programs and serves as faculty director for the MA Leadership program for working professionals. He also serves as the founding director of the Maldonado Executive Leadership Institute, which is committed to discovery, discussion, and dissemination of insights into the future of executive leadership.
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC. He is a leadership development and performance coach for professionals in a range of industries and consults with organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry to help communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano and LinkedIn
We're so grateful to our sponsor AI Coach by Edthena.
AI Coach enables your teachers to go through coaching cycles based on their own needs. The virtual coach guides teachers to reflect on their teaching, set a goal, and create an action plan… all based on gathering classroom evidence. It gives support between PD days and other coaching cycles.
Get a free trial for your teachers here.
Dr. Juliette Nelson is an industrial & organizational psychologist, educator, entrepreneur, and author of the book Sharing My Lens: The College Experience.
In this episode, we discuss the higher education question — what options exist and what outcomes do they deliver? — mainly from the student’s perspective and also consider how educators and other influential adults can make a difference.
Juliette and Ross cover:
- “Passionate about empowering people to achieve the highest standards of their purpose.”
- Insights Juliette picked up as a teacher
- What are things students should think about before they ever go to college?
- College planning resources that are beneficial in high school and earlier
- Looking at each stage — before, to, through and beyond higher education — as part of the complete journey
- How to build and make positive use of a network
- Biggest objectives in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)
Sharing My Lens: The College Experience is available on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3P5PnLU
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts.
Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guest
Dr. Juliette Nelson is an industrial & organizational psychologist, educator, entrepreneur, and published author who is passionate about empowering people to achieve the highest standards of their purpose. With a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, she leverages research and data to identify and implement solutions that foster a safe workplace for individuals working at all levels of their organizations. She is the Founder and CEO of JUNURI, a company that equips students, professionals, and business owners, with the tools and resources to be successful in the different areas of their lives. Learn more and connect at https://www.juliettenurinelson.com/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonjuliette/
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC. He is a leadership development and performance coach for professionals in a range of industries and consults with organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry to help communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano and LinkedIn
We're so grateful to our sponsor AI Coach by Edthena.
AI Coach enables your teachers to go through coaching cycles based on their own needs. The virtual coach guides teachers to reflect on their teaching, set a goal, and create an action plan… all based on gathering classroom evidence. It gives support between PD days and other coaching cycles.
Get a free trial for your teachers here.
Dr. Mike Gaskell, Principal at Hammarskjold Middle School in East Brunswick, NJ, is the guest on this episode of The Authority. Mike’s latest book is Radical Principals, published by Routledge Eye on Education.
In the interview, Mike and Ross discuss:
- Defining a Radical Principal.
- This is Mike’s third book. What made this the book for now?
- Multipliers vs. diminishers
- How do equity and stability go together in schools?
- Who defines the equity goals in Mike’s school? Who is the team?
- The mindsets required to start and sustain this work.
- Stubborn obstacles and unintended biases.
- How do day-to-day quick fixes prevent long-term change?
- Power of small wins.
- How leaders can make time for restoration.
Radical Principals is published by Routledge Eye on Education. Find it here: https://amzn.to/3wQeGaF
Listen and subscribe to Mike’s podcast, BIG Ideas in Small Windows.
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guest
Dr. Michael Gaskell is Principal at Hammarskjold Middle School in East Brunswick, NJ., following experience as a special educator and assistant principal in Paramus, NJ. He models the pursuit of lifelong learning as he serves to mentor new principals through the New Jersey Leaders to Leaders program. An NJPSA Stars recipient, he has been published in over three dozen articles in education journals and blogs, including Education Post, eSchoolNews, NASSP, Edtech and ASCD Smartbrief, currently has a monthly column in ASCD Smartbrief, and has made the most-read section of ASCD Smartbrief numerous times. Mike has published three books: Radical Principals, Leading Schools Through Trauma and Microstrategy Magic.
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano
We're so grateful to our sponsor AI Coach by Edthena.
AI Coach enables your teachers to go through coaching cycles based on their own needs. The virtual coach guides teachers to reflect on their teaching, set a goal, and create an action plan… all based on gathering classroom evidence. It gives support between PD days and other coaching cycles.
Get a free trial for your teachers here.
Dr. Karen Dudek-Brannan is a licensed speech-language pathologist (SLP) with a doctorate in special education, a special education director license, and an assistive technology graduate certificate. She spent 14 years in the school systems before starting her online education company, Dr. Karen, LLC, in 2015. Her work empowers educators to support language, literacy, executive functioning, and cognitive wellness.
Dr. Karen is the host of the De Facto Leaders podcast here on the Be Podcast Network. The show helps pediatric therapists and educators become better leaders, so they can make a bigger impact with their services.
Ross and Karen chat about:
- How De Facto Leaders helps its listeners
- Defining leadership in today’s schools
- What are executive functioning skills and what do they do?
- What are schools currently doing right with respect to mental health, and what could they improve?
- The variety of individuals involved in executive functioning development, including general education teachers, special educators, parents, and more.
- Benefits and drawbacks of the "pull-out" model for supplemental interventions
- Behavior and motivation issues are common barriers to effective instruction.
- What can school leaders do to make sure they're supporting their teachers and therapists?
Get Dr. Karen’s free Executive Functioning Implementation Guide here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/efschools
Sign up for her free executive functioning training at https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/efleadership
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts.
Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guest
Dr. Karen Dudek-Brannan is the founder of Dr. Karen, LLC, a company focused on empowering educators to support language, literacy, executive functioning, and cognitive wellness. She offers online professional development focused on helping K-12 teams develop programs and services that support students in the areas of language, literacy, and executive functioning. Dr. Karen is a licensed SLP and has a doctorate in special education, a special education director license, and an assistive technology graduate certificate. She spent 14 years in the school systems before starting her online education company in 2015. She's currently the host of the De Facto Leaders podcast on the Be Podcast Network.
Connect on social media:
- https://twitter.com/drkaren2014
- https://www.instagram.com/drkarenspeechlanguage
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-dudek-brannan
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies, a coaching and consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano or LinkedIn
We're so grateful to our sponsor AI Coach by Edthena.
AI Coach enables your teachers to go through coaching cycles based on their own needs. The virtual coach guides teachers to reflect on their teaching, set a goal, and create an action plan… all based on gathering classroom evidence. It gives support between PD days and other coaching cycles.
Get a free trial for your teachers here.
CEO & Founder Erik Huberman launched Hawke Media in 2014 — growing the company value to over $150M and working with 3,000+ brands worldwide. It is the fastest-growing marketing consultancy agency in the United States, working with brands like Red Bull, Verizon, and Eddie Bauer.
As a serial entrepreneur, national best-selling author, and marketing expert, Erik has been recognized by his industry peers through honors and awards including, Forbes Magazine’s 30Under30, CSQ’s 40Under40, and Inc. Magazine’s Top 25 Marketing Influencers.
Erik’s book is The Hawke Method: The Three Principles of Marketing That Made Over 3,000 Brands Soar.
Erik and Ross discuss:
Questions:
- The Marketing Tripod — Awareness, Nurturing, and Trust
- Why Trust is synonymous with Brand
- 75% won’t buy from a company they won’t trust. What engenders trust?
- The lifecycle of nurturing relationships
- Awareness — Red Bull, Crocs — not getting granular; creating a feeling.
- Word of mouth — why it matters and how to create it
- Influencers inside the building. How to use them.
- Third-Party Validation — promoting your press and recognitions
- What today’s educators and learners should know about AI
Get The Hawke Method at https://www.hawkemethod.com
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with leading authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts.
Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guest
CEO & Founder Erik Huberman launched Hawke Media in 2014 — growing the company value to over $150M and working with 3,000+ brands worldwide. It is the fastest-growing marketing consultancy agency in the United States, working with brands like Red Bull, Verizon, and Eddie Bauer. Erik has expanded his business portfolio with Hawke Ventures, which raised $25M in its second fund, and HawkeAI, which has helped over 5,000 companies benchmark analytics and improve results. Prior to Hawke Media, Erik successfully founded, grew, and sold two e-commerce companies by the age of 26. As a serial entrepreneur, national best-selling author, and marketing expert, Erik has been recognized by his industry peers through honors and awards including, Forbes Magazine’s 30Under30, CSQ’s 40Under40, and Inc. Magazine’s Top 25 Marketing Influencers.
Connect with Erik:
- https://twitter.com/erikhuberman
- HawkeTalk Podcast
- https://hawkemedia.com
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano or LinkedIn
We're so grateful to our sponsor AI Coach by Edthena.
AI Coach enables your teachers to go through coaching cycles based on their own needs. The virtual coach guides teachers to reflect on their teaching, set a goal, and create an action plan… all based on gathering classroom evidence. It gives support between PD days and other coaching cycles.
Get a free trial for your teachers here.
Rob Feirsen and Seth Weitzman combine more than five decades of experience in principal, assistant superintendent for curriculum, and superintendent offices. Their book, From Conflict to Collaboration: A School Leader's Guide to Unleashing Conflict's Problem-Solving Power, draws on knowledge from the fields of education, engineering, psychology and business to offer an on-the-job guide for present and future school leaders.
Ross, Rob, and Seth discuss:
● What inspired them to write the book
● Why there’s conflict in schools
● What are the specific areas that are a “fertile ground for discord?”
● Addressing conflict rather than resolving, mediating, managing
● The power of conflict-agility language
● How do school leaders typically respond to conflict?
● Design thinking in conflict resolution
● Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In
From Conflict to Collaboration is a co-publication of Rowman & Littlefield and AASA. Get it here: https://bit.ly/3XZuK6T
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts.
Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guests
Rob Feirsen and Seth Weitzman combine more than five decades of experience in principal, assistant superintendent for curriculum, and superintendent offices. They are co-authors of two books, most recently "From Conflict to Collaboration: A School Leader's Guide to Unleashing Conflict's Problem Solving Power" in addition to articles published in national magazines and journals. They have also presented at numerous state and national conferences as well as undergraduate and graduate-level education classes. Rob is currently associate professor and coordinator of the Educational Leadership program at Manhattanville College. Seth is senior lecturer in the Educational Leadership program at Mercy College.
Connect with the authors:
● https://www.teacheredge.net
● https://twitter.com/teacheredgenet
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies, a coaching and consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano or LinkedIn
We're so grateful to our sponsor AI Coach by Edthena.
AI Coach enables your teachers to go through coaching cycles based on their own needs. The virtual coach guides teachers to reflect on their teaching, set a goal, and create an action plan… all based on gathering classroom evidence. It gives support between PD days and other coaching cycles.
Get a free trial for your teachers here.
Today we're introducing you to the Speaking and Communicating Podcast, the newest member of the Be Podcast Network!
The podcast is a platform for sharing expertise on how to improve communication skills, both personally and professionally. Soft skills in the workplace are crucial for job promotions, C-suite and entrepreneurship. Developing and mastering them also improves the quality of your personal relationships. These human-centered skills are not usually the focus of tertiary institutions. Whether you are interviewed for your dream job or climbing the corporate ladder - these skills will be the determining factor between maximizing your success and getting left behind!
Learn more and subscribe: https://robertandlela.com/whatido
About the episode
How do education professionals hone their leadership and communication skills? Is there a platform that can assist them in navigating the challenges that they face?
On this episode, Ross shares how crucial communication and leadership skills are, based on his experiences and the clients that he works with.
Key Points and Time Stamps:
[00:02:54] - Be Podcast Network and its mission and focus
[00:04:43] - The Publicist role in the Communications Department
[00:06:00] - The communication dynamic between the organization and the community
[00:07:01] - Putting the cart before the horse in the start-up phase of the business
[00:08:26] - Why smaller companies need to clearly define their niche
[00:09:15] - Creating educational products for all facets of education and educators
[00:10:05] - Doing Public Relations work for educational institutions
[00:13:07] - Do visionaries who lead companies need a coach for strategic direction?
[00:13:34] - Mark Miller, VP of Chick-fil-A High Performance Culture… Author of ‘Culture Rules’
[00:14:20] - What happens when leaders are lacking in communication skills
[00:15:29] - Why it is crucial for leaders to clearly articulate the vision and mission of the organization
[00:17:41] - Do leaders generally struggle to make decisions? How the organization’s vision and mission helps leaders in their decision making
[00:19:54] - Ross’s personal mission statement and how it ties in with his work
We're so grateful to our sponsor AI Coach by Edthena.
AI Coach enables your teachers to go through coaching cycles based on their own needs. The virtual coach guides teachers to reflect on their teaching, set a goal, and create an action plan… all based on gathering classroom evidence. It gives support between PD days and other coaching cycles.
Get a free trial for your teachers here.
Today’s guest, Leslie Josel, is an award-winning ADHD-academic and parenting coach. She founded Order Out of Chaos®, a virtual company whose mission is to help parents guide their students to success in learning and in life, and has been listed by Global Gurus for the past 7 years as one of the top 20 Time Management experts globally.
Leslie’s book, How to Do it Now Because it’s Not Going Away: An Expert Guide to Getting Stuff Done, is the topic of today’s discussion.
Ross and Leslie chat about:
- Everyone procrastinates — why is it so tough for teens?
- Consequences of chronic procrastination
- Missed opportunities from inaction
- What besides time management helps with procrastination?
- Misconceptions that still exist around ADHD
- What should schools change about homework?
- What Leslie knows now that she wishes she knew 20 years ago
- 3 time management tips for listeners
- Questions to ask students to help get them out of the procrastination cycle
Find the book on Amazon and learn more about Leslie’s work here: https://www.orderoochaos.com/
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts.
Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guest
Leslie Josel, an award-winning ADHD-academic and parenting coach, founded Order Out of Chaos® – a virtual company whose mission is to help parents guide their students to success in learning and in life - when her son was first diagnosed with ADHD.
She is the creator of the award-winning Academic Planner: A Tool for Time Management®, a planner that helps students develop time management skills, and the award-winning author of 3 books including the recently published, “How to Do it Now Because it’s Not Going Away: An Expert Guide to Getting Stuff Done.” (Lerner Publishing)
A respected resource on ADHD and Executive Functioning, Leslie writes the weekly “Dear ADHD Family Coach®” column for ADDitude Magazine, the premiere magazine for adults and children with ADHD. She speaks to audiences all over the world helping them utilize their resources to best navigate the task-driven world in which they live. In 2020, Leslie’s line of student organizing products developed with SamSill Corp was released.
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies, a coaching and consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano or LinkedIn
We're so grateful to our sponsor AI Coach by Edthena.
AI Coach enables your teachers to go through coaching cycles based on their own needs. The virtual coach guides teachers to reflect on their teaching, set a goal, and create an action plan… all based on gathering classroom evidence. It gives support between PD days and other coaching cycles.
Get a free trial for your teachers here.
Michelle Sera is a Certified Freedom Formula Facilitator and Certified Happiness Coach. She’s the founder of ElevatedMind, a company focused on helping people manifest their greatest self and highest potential.
Her book, The 7-Minute Shift, helps readers get out of their own way and manifest their greatest selves.
Ross and Michelle discuss:
- What does a happiness shift have to do with professional growth?
- All results are vibrational
- What is the 7-minute shift?
- “Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames.” - Rumi
- Manifesting and values
- How Imposter Syndrome kills your marketing
- Recommended book: The Tools by Phil Stutz
Find The 7-Minute Shift at https://michellesera.com and https://www.theelevatedmind.com
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About our guest
Michelle Sera, author of The 7-Minute Shift™ is a Certified Freedom Formula Facilitator and Certified Happiness Coach. She’s also the founder of ElevatedMind™, a company focused on helping people manifest their greatest self and highest potential.
In addition to writing the book, Michelle has spent over 15 years as a copywriter and marketer. Her work in the online marketing space has helped many 7, 8, and 9 figure entrepreneurs excel. Her words have made an impact on millions of people, generating millions of dollars.
Her work focuses on helping people get out of their own way to grow a massively successful business.
Connect with Michelle on LinkedIn and her website.
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies, a coaching and consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry and beyond clarify their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano or LinkedIn.
We're so grateful to our sponsor AI Coach by Edthena.
AI Coach enables your teachers to go through coaching cycles based on their own needs. The virtual coach guides teachers to reflect on their teaching, set a goal, and create an action plan… all based on gathering classroom evidence. It gives support between PD days and other coaching cycles.
Get a free trial for your teachers here.
Dawn M. Barclay is an award-winning author who has spent a career working in different aspects of the travel industry. Her book, Traveling Different: Vacation Strategies for Parents of the Anxious, the Inflexible, and the Neurodiverse, helps parents — including those whose children have Autism Spectrum Disorder and/or mood or distraction disorders — soothe their child’s travel anxieties.
Dawn and Ross discuss:
● The challenges of traveling with children
● How parents can overcome their worry about traveling
● How parents can begin to introduce the concept of traveling to their children
● How to start small with mini-experiences
● Child-centric vacations and how to create them
● How to keep children safe while traveling
● Valuable resources to consult
Learn more about the book and get it here: http://www.travelingdifferent.com
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts.
Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guest
Dawn M. Barclay is an award-winning author who has spent a career working in different aspects of the travel industry. After spending ten years working in sales and marketing for her parents’ two firms, Barclay Travel Ltd and Barclay International Group Short-Term Apartment Rentals, she branched out into travel trade reporting with senior or contributing editor positions at Travel Agent Magazine, Travel Life, Travel Market Report, and most recently, Insider Travel Report. She is a mother of two and resides in New York’s scenic Hudson Valley. A member of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) and the Family Travel Association (FTA), she also writes fiction as D.M. Barr and holds leadership roles in several writer organizations.
Connect with Dawn on social media:
● Twitter: www.twitter.com/@travelingdiff
● Facebook: www.facebook.com/travelingdifferent
● Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/traveling_different/
● LinkedIn: www.LinkedIn.com/in/dawnbarclay
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano or LinkedIn
We're so grateful to our sponsor AI Coach by Edthena.
AI Coach enables your teachers to go through coaching cycles based on their own needs. The virtual coach guides teachers to reflect on their teaching, set a goal, and create an action plan… all based on gathering classroom evidence. It gives support between PD days and other coaching cycles.
Get a free trial for your teachers here.
We’ve got a great guest for the week of Independence Day!
David Fleming is a senior writer at ESPN who has been one of the industry’s most prolific, versatile, and imaginative longform writers over the last three decades at Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine, and ESPN. He has reported on everything from the Super Bowl and Steph Curry to the Musical Chairs World Championship and the NFL’s obsession with glutes.
His new book, Who's Your Founding Father? One Man’s Epic Quest to Uncover the First, True Declaration of Independence, was just released.
David and Ross discuss:
- The clues that led David toward writing this book
- The Mecklenberg Declaration of Independence (the MecDec!) — what it is who wrote it, and who signed it
- John Adams accuses Thomas Jefferson of plagiarism — the evidence and thee defense
- Why May 20, 1775 is such a noteworthy date
- Traveling to London to uncover an international conspiracy and discovering North Carolina’s Freedom Spring, previously lost for a century
- If 11 US Presidents along with Ken Burns, David McCullough, George Will and others acknowledged the MecDec, why haven’t we heard more about it?
- The South’s critical role in the American Revolution
- Thomas Jefferson…shockingly awful
- Captain James Jack, the Paul Revere of the South (only braver)
- One takeaway today’s students should learn in their history
- The playlist at the Musical Chairs World Championship, and more!
Who's Your Founding Father?is available from Hachette. Find it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or wherever you get your books: https://bit.ly/43Wt6F6
Read David’s 2013 ESPN story about the Musical Chairs World Championship here.
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About our guest
David Fleming is a senior writer at ESPN. During the last three decades at Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine and ESPN he has been one of the industry’s most prolific, versatile, and imaginative longform writers, traveling the globe while penning more than 35 cover stories and numerous groundbreaking pieces on everything from the Super Bowl and Steph Curry to the Musical Chairs World Championship and the NFL’s obsession with glutes. Fleming’s unique work has earned numerous national awards as well as a handwritten note from the White House.
He is also the author of two previous books, Breaker Boys: The NFL’s Greatest Team and the Stolen 1925 Championship and Noah's Rainbow: A Father’s Emotional Journey from the Death of his Son to the Birth of his Daughter. A native of Detroit, Fleming and his wife, Kim, live in North Carolina with their daughters.
Follow him on Twitter @FlemESPN
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies, a coaching and consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry and beyond clarify their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano or LinkedIn.
We're so grateful to our sponsor AI Coach by Edthena.
AI Coach enables your teachers to go through coaching cycles based on their own needs. The virtual coach guides teachers to reflect on their teaching, set a goal, and create an action plan… all based on gathering classroom evidence. It gives support between PD days and other coaching cycles.
Get a free trial for your teachers here.
DC Glenn is an American musician, film actor, and voice-over artist. He is known as one half of the 90’s rap group Tag Team, who created the multi-platinum classic stadium anthem “Whoomp! There It Is." Tag Team was also part of the award-winning GEICO commercial, Scoop There It Is!
In this special episode of The Authority, DC and Ross discuss:
- DC’s career in music and beyond
- How Tag Team came together and recorded their breakout hit
- How early DC knew he wanted to pursue music
- Lifelong learning through paralegal courses, digital marketing and more
- Scoop There it Is – AdWeek’s #1 ad of 2021. “Delirious daydream that belongs in the Smithsonian.”
- What DC has learned about entrepreneurship
- What’s left to conquer?
Learn more about DC Glenn on Twitter @DCGlennATL or online at https://www.tagteambackagain.com
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts.
Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guest
DC Glenn is an American film actor and voice-over artist residing in Atlanta, GA. He is also known as one half of the 90’s rap group Tag Team who created the classic stadium anthem “Whoomp! There It Is." And recently the hit SAG National Commercial Ad by GEICO, Scoop There It Is!
DC has been training tenaciously for film, tv, and commercial acting since 2017. Enjoying this fruitful journey sharpening his craft with L.A. acting coach Crystal Carson (Auditioning by Heart), ATL acting coach Natalia Livingston (Actor Boutique), and improv veteran Ray Bengston. DC has relished the process of auditioning and training with the aid of all his talented actor colleagues on WeAudition to become a successful working actor. DC has also enjoyed training vigorously for years, seeking mastery in the arts of voiceover. His magnetic presence and rich, textured voice have been nurtured by VO coaches Rudy Gaskins and Joan Baker (S.O.V.A.S.), as well as Denise Woods (author of The Power of Voice), dialect coach to the stars. With the continued support of The People Store agency in Atlanta, GA. as his representation. This partnership is achieving goals only dreams are made of.
Connect on Twitter @DCGlennATL or online at https://www.tagteambackagain.com
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano or LinkedIn
We're so grateful to our sponsor AI Coach by Edthena.
AI Coach enables your teachers to go through coaching cycles based on their own needs. The virtual coach guides teachers to reflect on their teaching, set a goal, and create an action plan… all based on gathering classroom evidence. It gives support between PD days and other coaching cycles.
Get a free trial for your teachers here.
Jennifer L.W. Fink is an award-winning freelance journalist whose work has been published by the New York Times, Washington Post, U.S. News and World Report, FOX News, Parents, Parade, and more.
She is a mom of four boys, the creator of BuildingBoys.net, cohost of the podcast On Boys, and author of the new book Building Boys: Raising Great Guys in a World that Misunderstands Males.
In this conversation, Jennifer and Ross discuss:
- How Jennifer got into writing and then onto this journey of writing and talking about parenting boys
- How different are boys and girls?
- What do most parents (and teachers) misunderstand about males?
- Gender stereotypes and sexism
- Introducing and modeling healthy relationships
- “Redshirting” or delaying formal education
- What is the best thing about raising boys?
- And more
Learn more about the book and get it from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3XpkdBx
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts.
Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guest
Jennifer L.W. Fink is the creator of BuildingBoys.net and cohost of the podcast ON BOYS: Real Talk about Parenting, Teaching, & Reaching Tomorrow’s Men. She’s a freelance journalist whose work has been published by the New York Times, Washington Post, U.S. News and World Report, FOX News, Parents, and Parade. Fink is also the author of The First-Time Mom’s Guide to Raising Boys: Practical Advice for Your Son’s Formative Years. She lives in rural Wisconsin and is the proud mother of four sons. Connect on Twitter @jlwf
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies, a consulting and coaching firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano or LinkedIn
We're so grateful to our sponsor AI Coach by Edthena.
AI Coach enables your teachers to go through coaching cycles based on their own needs. The virtual coach guides teachers to reflect on their teaching, set a goal, and create an action plan… all based on gathering classroom evidence. It gives support between PD days and other coaching cycles.
Get a free trial for your teachers here.
We're so grateful to our sponsor AI Coach by Edthena.
AI Coach enables your teachers to go through coaching cycles based on their own needs. The virtual coach guides teachers to reflect on their teaching, set a goal, and create an action plan… all based on gathering classroom evidence. It gives support between PD days and other coaching cycles.
Get a free trial for your teachers here.
Richard Gerver is a sought-after speaker, bestselling author, and world-renowned thinker on human leadership and human transformation.
His career began in education, first as a teacher and then as a school principal, when he turned the fortunes of a failing school and its pupils around in just two years. Since the success of his first book, focusing on his experience in frontline education, Richard has devoted himself to advancing society’s thinking on learning, change, and how best to realize our full potential.
He has worked with an extraordinary range of people, from elite athletes to former US President Barack Obama. Named UK Business Speaker of the Year three times, Richard has been invited to speak on the world’s biggest stages, including TED, the RSA,, and the BBC.
Today, it’s our pleasure to welcome Richard to The Authority for an enlightening discussion based on his international bestseller, Change: Learn to Love It, Learn to Lead It.
Richard and Ross discuss:
- What is change and what makes it meaningful?
- How the pandemic necessitated change and changed Gen-Z’s perspective on the inevitability of change.
- “We are living in the first age where we no longer determine the rate of change.”
- How Richard navigated the change from teacher to three-time UK Business Speaker of the Year.
- Overcoming the fear of change caused by “imagined consequences.”
- What the innovation of “Total Football” shows us about embracing change.
- Is loving and embracing change necessary for leading it?
- Fear of the unknown and how authority figures will react to our own efforts at change.
- Overcoming artificial complexity and self-constructed barriers.
- CQ — the Curiosity Quotient.
- Richard’s next endeavors.
Find Change, Simple Thinking, Creating Tomorrow’s Schools Today, and all of Richard’s other books and work at www.richardgerver.com
Find Richard’s LinkedIn Learning courses, Overcoming Complexity and Developing Mental Toughness for Leadership, here.
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts.
Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guest
Richard Gerver is a sought-after speaker, bestselling author and world-renowned thinker. His career began in education, first as a teacher and then as a school principal, when he turned the fortunes of a failing school and its pupils around in just two years.
Since the success of his first book, focusing on his experience in frontline education, Richard has devoted himself to advancing society’s thinking on learning, change, and how best to realise our full potential. He has since written several books on leadership and innovation, including the bestsellers Change and Simple Thinking
Now regarded as one of the world's leading thinkers on human leadership and organisational transformation, Richard has worked with an extraordinary range of people, from elite athletes to former US President Barack Obama. Named UK Business Speaker of the Year three times, Richard has been invited to speak on the world’s most recognised stages, including TED, the RSA and the BBC.
With his unique insight into our development from infants to adults, Richard helps us understand the nature of our personal and professional responses to risk, change, creativity, and development. His ability to connect experiences across many, often seemingly different, environments help individuals’ companies and organisations expand their thinking and their perception of their own potential.
Follow Richard on Twitter @richardgerver and on LinkedIn.
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano or LinkedIn
We're so grateful to our sponsor AI Coach by Edthena.
AI Coach enables your teachers to go through coaching cycles based on their own needs. The virtual coach guides teachers to reflect on their teaching, set a goal, and create an action plan… all based on gathering classroom evidence. It gives support between PD days and other coaching cycles.
Get a free trial for your teachers here.
Carol Ann Tomlinson is one of the most admired, accomplished, and influential authors and leaders in education. Today, we’re honored to have her on The Authority!
Carol is the William Clay Parrish, Jr. Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia’s School of Education and Human Development; author or co-author of over 300 books, book chapters, articles, and other educational materials for K-12 teachers and school leaders; and has won numerous awards and been named to Education Week’s Edu-Scholar Public Presence rankings many times.
So Each May Soar: The Principles and Practices of Learner-Centered Classrooms is available from ASCD.
Carol and Ross discuss:
- George R.R. Martin’s two types of writers, the architect and the gardener. How the journey of writing this book was something different.
- A “dues-paying member” of innovation in education.
- A learner-centered classroom dignifies students and honors each learner. What else does it look like?
- "Learner-centered classrooms rely on teachers who are willing to change and grow, and on school leaders who are willing to intelligently support them.”
- What does quality mean and what does it ask of teachers?
- How teachers can honor themselves.
- So each may soar beyond K-12. What are our ambitions for students?
- Carol’s book recommendations: An Ethic of Excellence and Leaders of Their Own Learning by Ron Berger
Learn more about the book and get it from ASCD: https://bit.ly/45TeBDM
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts.
Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guest
Carol Ann Tomlinson is William Clay Parrish, Jr. Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia’s School of Education and Human Development where she served as Chair of Educational Leadership, Foundations, and Policy, and Co-Director of the University’s Institutes on Academic Diversity. Prior to joining the faculty at UVa, she was a teacher in public schools for 21 years, where she taught students in high school, preschool, and middle school, and administered district programs for struggling and advanced learners. She was Virginia’s Teacher of the Year in 1974.
At the University of Virginia, she taught and advised doctoral, masters, and undergraduate students with a focus on curriculum, instruction, and differentiation. During her time at UVa, she authored or co-authored over 300 books, book chapters, articles, and other educational materials for K-12 teachers and school leaders including: How to Differentiate Instruction in Academically Diverse Classrooms (3rd Ed.), The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners (2nd Ed), So Each May Soar: The Principles & Practices of Learner-Centered Classrooms, and Everybody’s Classroom: Differentiating for the Shared and Unique Needs of Diverse Learners Her books are available in 14 languages.
Carol was named Outstanding Professor at UVa’s School of Education in 2004 and received an All-University Teaching Award in 2008. In 2023, she was ranked #12 in the Education Week Edu-Scholar Public Presence Rankings of the 200 “University-based academics who are contributing most substantially to public debates about schools and schooling,” and as the #4 voice in Curriculum. She works throughout the United States and internationally with educators who seek to create classrooms that are effective in reaching diverse student populations.
Carol is also serious dog-lover and these days enjoys (most of the time) the antics of Bella, Beau, and Banjo. Follow her on Twitter @cat3y
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano or LinkedIn
In today's bonus episode, we're sharing a panel discussion I hosted for #SameHere Schools Month, focused on mental health awareness in education. All sessions from #SameHere Schools, originally recorded as Twitter Spaces, are being published by the Be Podcast Network. For more content like this, listen and subscribe here.
This session looks at the multiple definitions of community and its importance in establishing the right conditions for learning. Especially in the digital age, professional learning communities can take place on social media and via podcasts like this one. Likewise, classroom learning is rooted in community.
The discussion includes:
- The elements of a supportive community
- The upside of accountability
- Building a professional network that supports wellness and growth
- What it means to receive permission to teach
- The relationship between community in professional learning and classroom learning
- How engagement with diverse perspectives and experiences supports learning and mental wellness
Speakers:
Ross Romano (@RossBRomano)
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies, a coaching and consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry and beyond clarify their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on LinkedIn.
Rola Tibshirani (@rolat)
Rola is Vice Principal of St. Benedict School in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Read her blog at https://learningprogression.blogspot.com/
Tracy Mergler (@TracyMergler)
Tracy is a special education teacher and founder of Safe Space Organization, a non-clinical, community safe space that strives to change the conversation around mental health by educating, connecting and supporting others through a peer-to-peer network. Learn more: https://www.safespacecny.com/
Marisa Jackson (@MarisaLVJackson)
Marisa is Principal of Woodbridge Elementary School in Rhode Island. She is passionate about all things SEL.
Elizabeth McDonald (@MrsEM_McDonald)
Elizabeth is a middle school principal who will soon transition to the role of Assistant Superintendent for Instruction.
Make sure to subscribe to this series to hear more panel discussions focused on mental health awareness.
Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn about 20+ shows covering education and learning at all levels.
Scott McLeod, Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Colorado - Denver, is the guest on this episode of The Authority. His book, co-authored with Jayson W. Richardson and Justin Bathon, is Leadership for Deeper Learning. It’s published by Routledge Eye on Education.
In the interview, Scott and Ross discuss:
● The definition of “deeper learning.”
● How Scott and his co-authors interviewed leaders at 30 different deeper learning schools in 2019 and 2020.
● Do most leaders even think about being “innovative?” And if they do, how are they defining it?
● What systemic or structural factors inhibit innovation?
● Why conveying a compelling vision is critical to transformative leadership, from Walt Disney and Steve Jobs to innovative school leaders.
● How much of innovative thinking is determined by leaders’ expectations for student success?
● Do leaders need to set new expectations for teaching and learning — or, instead, do they need to avoid extinguishing the motivations and expectations teachers and students begin with?
● What do leaders at innovative schools do that’s different from their counterparts at “traditional” schools?
● Who is driving the innovation and transformation in schools?
Leadership for Deeper Learning is published by Routledge Eye on Education. Find it here: https://bit.ly/Leadership4DL
Learn more about Scott’s work on his website Dangerously Irrelevant: http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guest
A Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Colorado Denver, Scott McLeod, J.D., Ph.D., is widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading experts on P-12 school leadership, deeper learning, technology, and innovation. He is on a mission to make students’ day-to-day learning less boring and more meaningful and relevant. He is the Founding Director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE), the only university center in the U.S. dedicated to the technology needs of school administrators, and is the co-creator of the wildly popular video series, Did You Know? (Shift Happens). He also is the co-creator of the 4 Shifts Protocol for lesson/unit redesign and the founder of both the annual Iowa 1:1 Institute and EdCampIowa.
Follow Scott on Twitter @mcleod or connect on LinkedIn.
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano
In this episode, we're bringing you a conversation from SEEing to Lead, hosted by Dr. Chris Jones, right here on the Be Podcast Network. As a Digital Learning Coach in Walpole, Massachusetts, Jed Stefanowicz provides job-embedded professional development and instructional coaching for academic technology. Through conferences, workshops, and coaching, Jed aims to engage and build staff/student digital learning capacity, keeping the focus on practice over product. As a 25 year elementary educator, speaker, blogger, and former Massachusetts Teach Plus Policy Fellow, Jed shares his passion for effective tech integration to transform teaching and learning, creating engaging and equitable digital learning environments and experiences that activate, innovate, and motivate digital learning. He is the author of Take AIM at Digital Learning: Activate, Innovate, Motivate and Impact to Influence. Check out his blog at stefanowiczclass@blogspot.com Key Takeaways:
- We need to recreate the structures to teach rather than just expecting it to happen.
- Leaders are facing a blank slate as they work to stretch people past their comfort zone because people have been out of their comfort zone for the last two years.
- Learning something on YouTube is going to teach you how to do it, but not understand how to apply it.
- We need to find ways to create and support teacher agency.
- It's essential to be aware of circumstances, surroundings, and how to apply the requisite skills to excel in a situation.
- Moving people from motivation to commitment is the only way to make progress forward.
- Education at any level has to go beyond a transactional experience by starting with what people are passionate about.
- You can't be a coach and equipment manager at the same time.
- You have to respect where people are to engage them in growth.
- Leadership isn't about implementing an agenda, but instead finding what the goals of those you serve are and then helping them achieve them.
- Stick to the A,B,Cs = Always Build Capacity
- It's about process/project not product.
Subscribe to SEEing to Lead:
- Subscribe on Apple
- Subscribe on Spotify
About the host:
Dr. Chris Jones has been an educator in Massachusetts for 22 years. He is currently Principal of Whitman-Hanson Regional High School in Whitman, Mass. and Vice President of the Massachusetts State Administrators Association (MSAA). Chris was named the 2022 Massachusetts School Counselors Associaltion’s (MASCA) Administrator of the Year and is a finalist for the Massachusetts School Administrators Association’s Principal of the Year award.
Reach on Twitter at @DrCSJones
Andrea DeWitt joins The Authority to discuss her new book, Name, Claim & Reframe: Your Path to a Well-Lived Life, which was named the Top Motivational Book of 2023 by NBC’s Today Show.
Ross and Andrea discuss:
● “This book is filled with inspiration and wisdom about how to take control of your life.” – Emily Giffin
● The importance of discovering your core values
● What happens when we’re triggered to react rather than respond in a heated moment?
● The process behind Name, Claim, and Reframe
● Overcoming the limiting beliefs we all carry inside
● Becoming a Gentle Warrior
● Andrea’s experience as an elementary teacher and how it still serves her work
● The most surprising thing about her career
Name, Claim & Reframe is available wherever books are sold. Learn more on Andrea’s website: https://www.andreadewittadvisors.com/my-book
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About our guest
Known for her infectious energy, Andrea Mein DeWitt is an author, speaker, and life coach who teaches high-performing leaders to see and step into their authentic lives. She is the CEO of Andrea DeWitt Advisors, where she coaches heart-centered working professionals. Andrea holds an M.Ed. in Reading Leadership from the University of California, Berkeley, and is a Certified Professional Coach through The Co-Active Training Institute and The International Coaching Federation. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her husband and their beloved Labrador, Maggie. Learn more about Andrea on her company website, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies, a coaching and consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry and beyond clarify their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano or LinkedIn.
In this episode, we're sharing an interview from The Cybertraps Podcast, available here on the Be Podcast Network.
You'll hear from Gregg Behr, co-author of When You Wonder, You're Learning: Mister Rogers' Enduring Lessons for Raising Creative, Curious, Caring Kids.
Some notes and resources from the episode:
- whenyouwonder.org
- Origin story - Gregg and philanthropy Grable Foundation
- Translating learning from the learning sciences
- Rogers took the tech of his day and asked how can I make this good
- Fred Rogers wanted to use the technology of his day to minister to kids.
- Eric Erickson - identity development
- How can people do things like what Fred was doing in his time?
- How do I make what is attractive to kids good and constructive?
- So many people who can and should carry the work of Fred forward. We’ve got to lift those examples up.
- The agony of creation.
- Fred bridged theory and practice in a powerful way.
- Curiosity, collaboration, creativity
- Parables of Peanuts
- Whole child plus learning sciences equals = The Fred Method
About The Cybertraps Podcast
On the Cybertraps Podcast, Frederick Lane and Jethro Jones explore the risks arising from the use and misuse of digital devices and electronic communication tools.
They interview experts in the fields of cybersafety, cybersecurity, privacy, parenting, and technology and share the wisdom of these experts with listeners.
Listen here: https://apple.co/3Ktn1Zx
AJ Crabill joins The Authority for a timely episode focused on school boards and district leadership. His book is Great on Their Behalf: Why School Boards Fail, How Yours Can Become Effective.
Ross and AJ discuss:
● The purpose of the public education system
● The non-negotiables of school boards
● “Student outcomes don’t change until adult behaviors change”
● The 3 ways board tend to fail
● Mindset – the biggest mover of adult behavior
● How time should be spent in the board room
● Educators are the experts on curriculum and instruction
● Defining school board accountability
● Can board help with educator recruitment and retention challenges?
● The most promising trend AJ has seen
Great on Their Behalf is available on Amazon and at https://www.GreatOnTheirBehalf.com
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About our guest
AJ Crabill serves as Conservator at DeSoto ISD — where during his guidance, DeSoto improved from F ratings in academics, finance, and governance to B ratings — and as Governance Director at CGCS. He served as Deputy Commissioner at Texas’ Education Agency and Board Chair of Kansas City Public Schools. Connect with him on Twitter @ajcrabill7 or LinkedIn.
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano or LinkedIn.
Daniel Bauer is the Chief Ruckus Maker at Better Leaders Better Schools (BLBS). On this episode, we talk about his book, Mastermind: Unlocking Talent Within Every School Leader, co-published by Corwin and the National School Superintendents Association (AASA).
Danny and Ross discuss:
● Danny’s mission “to connect, grow, and mentor every school leader who wants to level up.”
● What is a “ruckus maker” and why do they benefit from a mastermind community?
● Is a school better off with an average leader, bad leader, or no leader?
● The ABCs of powerful professional development – Authenticity, Belonging, Challenge
● “Everyone wins when you get better.”
● My school is better because I lead it; my students are at an advantage because I lead them.
● Agreements vs. expectations
● Why agreements are hard, but worth bringing to your school.
● Danny’s book recommendations: Crazy Good by Steve Chandler, Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg
Use code “RUCKUS” to get 20% off the cover price and free shipping on Danny’s book, Mastermind. Find it here: https://bit.ly/3S5fVN4
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guest
As a chronically late student, Daniel Bauer once told his Chemistry teacher a fib about saving an entire girl scout troop from a burning building to get out of a tardy.
Daniel is not sure if it was the very made up story, the very real cookie he offered his teacher, or a combination of both that got him out of a detention that day …
That experience taught him it pays to develop your storytelling skills.
Daniel has been telling stories since then, most recently on the Better Leaders Better Schools podcast, ranked in the TOP 0.5% of 3 million global podcasts, and via his latest book, Mastermind: Unlocking Talent Within Every School Leader, co-published by Corwin and the National School Superintendents Association (AASA).
Subscribe to Better Leaders, Better Schools on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano or LinkedIn
In this episode, we’re bringing you a conversation from Tell Me This, part of the Be Podcast Network.
In this combined episode, which was originally published in two parts on the Tell Me This feed, hosts Carey Borkoski and Brianne Roos, along with guest Kate McMahon, discuss Susan Cain’s latest book, Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole. Listeners may also be familiar with Cain’s previous #1 New York Times best-seller, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking.
Learn about the book here: https://susancain.net/book/bittersweet
Tell Me This is a podcast about belonging, what it means, why it matters, and how we cultivate it. Through stories, interviews, academic research, and discussions, the hosts and their guests explore the ideas of belonging and how to develop and grow it in your classrooms, workplaces, and other personal and professional spaces.
Subscribe to Tell Me This:
- Apple: https://apple.co/3XhxHPo
- Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3o3brMh
- Stitcher: https://bit.ly/43dAhJc
Elizabeth Jorgensen returns as a guest for this episode along with her mom and co-author Nancy to discuss the middle-grade and young adult biography, Gwen Jorgensen: USA’s First Olympic Gold Medal Triathlete, which they wrote in collaboration with Gwen.
Elizabeth, Nancy, and Ross discuss:
● How the book is designed to be used with students in the classroom
● What makes a hero and why kids need heroes
● Gwen’s “hero’s journey” from kid to accountant to gold medalist
● How to reward focused effort while also encouraging well-rounded development
● How Gwen’s early struggles prepared her for success as an adult
● “There is power in what you tell yourself.”
● Learn about your own potential: Practice Core Principles, Emphasize Recovery, Show Gratitude
● Surrounding yourself with the right people
Purchase the book on Amazon or get a signed copy: https://www.booksco.com/signed-copy-gwen-jorgensen
Download a free educator guide: https://download.m-m-sports.com/extras/GwenJorgensen/Teacher_Guide.pdf
For author visits, email nancy.l.jorgensen@gmail.com or elizabeth.jorgensen@gmail.com or visit the authors online at their websites: lizjorgensen.weebly.com and nancyjorgensen.weebly.com. You can also follow both authors on Twitter: @LyzaJo and @NancyJorgensen
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano
Dr. Chris Jones has been an educator in Massachusetts for 22 years. He is author of the book SEEing to Lead and also hosts the SEEing to Lead podcast, right here on the Be Podcast Network. In this episode, we discuss his book, published by Code Breaker, Inc.
Chris and Ross discuss:
● The problem with education traditions: “One of the biggest problems in education is tradition. One of the biggest traditions is top-down leadership,” says Danny Bauer.
● SEE = Support, Engage, Empower
● How Chris realized teachers can’t support, engage and empower students if they’re not feeling their leadership doing the same for them.
● You don’t become a leader and then realize you need to support others first. You become a leader because you’ve realized this.
● Empowering vs. Enabling
● Overcoming the status quo to innovate
SEEing to Lead is published by Code Breaker, Inc. Find it here: https://teamjonesedu.com/book
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guest
Dr. Chris Jones has been an educator in Massachusetts for 22 years. He is currently Principal of Whitman-Hanson Regional High School in Whitman, Mass. and Vice President of the Massachusetts State Administrators Association (MSAA). Chris was named the 2022 Massachusetts School Counselors Associaltion’s (MASCA) Administrator of the Year and is a finalist for the Massachusetts School Administrators Association’s Principal of the Year award.
Subscribe to SEEing to Lead on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano
Today, we welcome the three co-authors of Teaching for Racial Equity: Becoming Interrupters, published by Stenhouse. The book was named as one of three winners in the Best Book for Educators category of the inaugural Excellence in Equity Awards, presented by the American Consortium for Equity in Education.
The discussion includes:
● What it means to be an “interrupter”
● Critical love, critical humility, and critical reflection
● How the authors collaborated and learned from one another
● “Find your people”
● The “a-ha moments” with students
● Examples from the book’s educator contributors that simply illustrate “good teaching,” with respect to engaging students and getting them into the material
● Where readers can begin with the book, based on their prior level of experience with explicit equity work and research
● Our guests’ book recommendations for educators: Not Light, but Fire by Matthew Kay, Cultivating Genius by Gholdy Muhammad
● Recommendations for students: Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi, The 1619 Project: Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson, illustrated by Nikkolas Smith
Teaching for Racial Equity is available from Stenhouse. Find it here: https://bit.ly/3jZN5RV
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guests
Tonya B. Perry is a Professor of Secondary English Education and serves as the Executive Director for GEAR UP Alabama and the Red Mountain Writing Project at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Steve Zemelman is a founder of the Illinois Writing Project. He’s helped start innovative small schools in Chicago and promotes student civic engagement there. His most recent book is From Inquiry to Action: Civic Engagement with Project-Based Learning in All Content Areas.
Katy Smith is a Professor of Secondary Education and a Department Chair at Northeastern Illinois University, where she and Steve Zemelman direct the Illinois Writing Project. She has dedicated her career to developing and enacting equitable classroom practices, first as a teacher of high school students and now as a teacher educator.
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano or LinkedIn.
Welcome to a can’t-miss conversation with Principal Baruti Kafele, author of seven best-selling books, including the topic of today’s episode: The Equity & Social Justice Education 50.
The discussion includes:
● Equity vs. Equality — the strategy vs. the goal and why it matters
● Does my presence positively alter the trajectory of my students?
● The personal nature of this work and this book. How Principal Kafele learned to share his story to the benefit of his students.
● How do I ensure that no student is invisible in my classroom?
● Becoming credible to your students
● “I want my readers to be comfortable with being uncomfortable and uncomfortable with being comfortable.”
● The Big 3: Individuality, Identity, and Voice. Why these are non-negotiables in every classroom.
● Social justice education — What is it and how do we make it practical?
● The leader’s role in making equity work resilient
Principal Kafele’s recommendations:
● Before the Mayflower — Lerone Bennett, Jr.
● From Slavery to Freedom — John Hope Franklin and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham
● The Mis-Education of the Negro — Carter G. Woodson
● Introduction to African Civilizations — John G. Jackson
The Equity & Social Justice Education 50 is available at ascd.org and Amazon. Find it here: https://bit.ly/3YwY2Z5
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About our guest
One of the most sought-after school leadership and classroom equity presenters in America, Principal Kafele is impacting America’s schools! He has delivered over 2500 conference and program keynotes, professional development workshops, parenting seminars and student assemblies over his 35 years of public speaking. An expert in the area of “attitude transformation,” Principal Kafele is the leading authority on providing effective classroom and school leadership strategies toward closing what he coined, the "Attitude Gap.” He has authored twelve books, including seven ASCD best-sellers. Follow Principal Kafele online:
● https://principalkafele.com/
● Twitter: https://twitter.com/principalkafele
● Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/principalkafele/
● Virtual AP Leadership Academy on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VirtualAPLeadershipAcademyWithPrincipalKafele
● Virtual AP Leadership Academy on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/virtualapleadershipacademy
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano or LinkedIn.
We’re thrilled to welcome international best-selling author and business leader Mark Miller as our guest for this episode of The Authority.
Mark is Vice President of High Performance Leadership for Chick-Fil-A. He first started at the company as an hourly team member in 1977 and has served in numerous roles along the way.
Culture Rules: The Leader's Guide to Creating the Ultimate Competitive Advantage is Mark’s 11th book. He currently has over one million books in print in more than twenty-five languages.
Ross and Mark discuss:
● 71% of U.S. leaders believe culture is their #1 most powerful tool to drive performance, but enhancing culture ranks low on their priority list — why the gap?
● First move: decide and declare what you're trying to create. Culture needs to be explicit.
● Leaders animate culture — this is the big idea of the book
● The 3 Culture Rules: Aspire, Amplify, Adapt
● What does culture mean to your customers?
● Adapt, not react — how to adapt and what the current in-person vs. remote debate tells us.
● Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wanted to shift the company from being “know-it-alls” to “learn-it-alls” — what did Mark learn while working on the book?
● The “magic circle” of game design and how it explains culture.
● What Mark learned about innovation and purpose.
● Measuring culture
Culture Rules is now available for purchase, with a number of bonuses available for individual and bulk orders. Learn about them here: https://www.leadeveryday.com
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About our guest
Mark Miller is a business leader, best-selling author, and communicator. Mark started his Chick-fil-A career working as an hourly team member in 1977 and today leads as Vice President of High Performance Leadership.
He began writing almost twenty years ago, and with over one million books in print in more than twenty-five languages, Mark’s global impact continues to grow. In addition to his writing, Mark enjoys encouraging and equipping leaders. Over the years, he’s traveled to dozens of countries teaching for numerous international organizations.
Married to Donna, his high school sweetheart of forty years, they have two sons, Justin and David, a daughter-in-law Lindsay, and three amazing grandchildren Addie, Logan, and Finn. Connect with Mark:
● https://www.linkedin.com/in/highperformanceleaders/
● https://twitter.com/MarkMillerLeads
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies, a consulting and coaching firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano or LinkedIn.
In today’s special episode, we welcome all four co-authors of the book Five Practices for Equity-Focused School Leadership, published by ASCD. The book was named as one of three winners in the Best Book for Educators category of the inaugural Excellence in Equity Awards, presented by the American Consortium for Equity in Education.
The discussion includes:
● How this team of authors connected to write the book.
● What they learned from one another.
● What an equity-focused school looks like.
● How leaders can adopt a transformative approach.
● The most significant challenges school leaders must face.
● The ongoing emotional and intellectual work of equity leadership.
● Developing equity leadership teams.
● Conducting a needs assessment and planning for the long haul.
Five Practices for Equity-Focused School Leadership is available from ASCD. Find it here: https://bit.ly/3RtI00j
Get additional resources from the authors:
● https://www.the5practicesgroup.com/
● https://www.the5practicesgroup.com/five-practices-the-book.html
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guests
Mark Anthony Gooden, PhD, is the Christian Johnson Endeavor Professor in Education Leadership and Chair of the Department of Organization and Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University. Connect with him on Twitter @GoodenPhD and LinkedIn.
Sharon Radd, Ed.D. is an Associate Professor and Program Director of the MA-Organizational Leadership at St Catherine University; Principal Consultant at ConsciousPraxis; and Senior Partner with The Five Practices Group. Connect with her on Twitter @SharonRadd and LinkedIn.
Gretchen Givens Generett, PhD, is Dean, Noble J. Dick Endowed Chair in Community Outreach, and Professor of Foundations in the School of Education at Duquesne University. Currently she serves as President of the American Educational Studies Association (AESA). Connect with her on Twitter @ggenerett and LinkedIn.
George Theoharis is a Professor in Educational Leadership and Inclusive Education at Syracuse University. Connect with him on Twitter @ChefGeorgeTheo and LinkedIn.
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano or LinkedIn.
Kate Eberle Walker, CEO of teletherapy solution provider Presence, is today’s guests. Kate is an education industry leader with 20+ years of experience in leading, managing, advising, acquiring and investing in education companies. Her book is The Good Boss: Nine Ways Every Manager Can Support Women at Work, published by BenBella Books.
In the interview, Kate and Ross discuss:
● Stories about successful women often start with a story about a good boss. We hear Kate’s story.
● Important negative lessons Kate learned from previous bosses.
● The “9 Rules of the Good Boss.”
● Why it’s powerful to get a woman’s name right and use it.
● Being authentic and being someone employees can relate to.
● Why it’s important to “watch the clock” to be mindful of the demands on female employees.
● Rule 9: Tell Her That You See Her Potential, including how this relates to the situation in schools.
● How do you start to turn things around if you haven’t fostered this type of culture?
● If someone can read only one chapter of the book, which should it be?
The Good Boss is available here: https://www.kateeberlewalker.com/the-good-boss/
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guest
Kate Eberle Walker is an education industry leader, author, and working mom with more than 20 years of experience leading high-profile education companies. Among other roles, she was previously CEO of The Princeton Review and since 2019 has been CEO of Presence, where she leads a majority female staff. Presence is a leading provider of teletherapy solutions for children with diverse needs.
Follow Kate on Twitter @eberlewalker or connect on LinkedIn. You can visit her website here: https://www.kateeberlewalker.com
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano
Patrick Harris II, a middle school humanities teacher outside of Detroit, is the guest on this episode of The Authority. His book, published by Heinemann, is The First Five: A Love Letter to Teachers.
The First Five is a memoir with a call-to-action. Patrick writes about his early life and what brought him to the education profession, and outlines the lessons learned in his first five years – as well as insights from other educators.
In the interview, Patrick and Ross discuss:
● What pushed Patrick to write the book
● What it’s been like to share his story with others
● Tackling toxic positivity and being honest about the profession
● What does it mean to teach in 360 degrees?
● The difference it makes to have black male teachers
● Remembering your why. Who needs to know this and why?
● Do most teachers know the entirety of their why?
● Patrick’s greatest fear in writing the book
● What can be done to be more inclusive in recruitment and retention in the profession?
The First Five is published by Heinemann. Find it here: https://bit.ly/3VQcrhC
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guest
Patrick Harris II is a Black queer writer, storyteller, and middle school humanities teacher. He has won multiple national teaching awards for his leadership and innovation in the classroom, including recognitions from NCTE, ASCD, and ILA. Teaching and creating is only part of who Patrick is. He is a big brother, a cat dad, lover of all things horror, a WWE fanatic, and is obsessed with scenic hikes.
Find Patrick on Twitter & Instagram @PresidentPat.
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano
Matthew Taylor joins the show today to discuss his book, The Noble School Leader: The Five-Square Approach to Leading Schools with Emotional Intelligence, published by Jossey-Bass.
Matthew and Ross discuss:
- Whether emotional intelligence is the most important competency of a school leader
- The components of the five-square approach: values, self-awareness, social awareness, self management, and relationship management
- Why it’s important for school leaders to focus on the emotional conditions of learning
- The challenge of transitioning into leadership
- School leaders' greatest challenges today
- The seven self-limiting mindsets
- How school leaders can build a culture of teacher retention
Visit noblestorygroup.com to find out more about the book, The Noble School Leader, and the Five Square Approach to leading schools with emotional intelligence: https://noblestorygroup.com/book
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About the guest
Matthew Taylor leads the Noble Story Group, a consulting firm that brings an emotional intelligence-based approach to leadership development in education and non-profit organizations. Matthew recently published The Noble School Leader, a practical guide for school leaders and managers seeking concrete strategies for professional improvement. He has extensive experience teaching in and leading schools, having worked in urban neighborhoods, urban charter, international, private, and magnet schools.
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano
Veteran school administrator, educational consultant, and executive coach Pete Hall joins The Authority for a discussion about his latest book, Always Strive to Be a Better You.
Pete and Ross discuss:
- Why Pete took on this ambitious project
- How to understand the potential as an asymptote
- The benefit of building his lessons around normal people
- The range of goals people pursue to live a better life
- The four tenets of the book: Know Thyself, Work for Love, Let Your Light Shine, and Rule the Day
- Key learnings about becoming a better you
- Why clarity precedes competence
Learn more about Pete’s work and the book Always Strive to Be a Better You at https://strivess.com. You can also find the book on Amazon.
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About the guest
Veteran school administrator and educational consultant Pete Hall channels his experiences as a school principal, life coach, and small-business owner into manageable lessons for continuous growth, personal improvement, and positive mindset. Follow Pete on Twitter @educationhall
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano
Dr. Byron McClure and Dr. Kelsie Reed, a pair of Nationally Certified School Psychologists, join us to discuss their new book, Hacking Deficit Thinking: 8 Reframes That Will Change The Way You Think About Strength-Based Practices And Equity In Schools.
The discussion includes:
- “At-risk.” “Low.” “Title I Kids.” What are some harmful terms and why do we need to do away with them?
- How educators can unlearn student blame and instead focus on student strengths.
- “Everybody has somebody that they care about, everybody has something that they love, and when we allow students the opportunity to share those things with us, it helps us to see them in a different light.”
- Humanizing your data.
- Overcoming “deficit distortions.”
- Educators deserve to flourish!
- “It would be really difficult for an educator to be flourishing and their students to be languishing.”
This is an in-depth discussion that goes into most of the 8 reframes presented in the book. Listen in to hear some eye-opening insights.
Hacking Deficit Thinking is available from Times 10 Publications: https://www.10publications.com/hacking-deficit-thinking. Follow @hackingdeficits on Twitter to learn more.
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About the guests
Byron McClure, D.Ed., is a National Certified School Psychologist and Founder of Lessons For SEL, where he uses research and human-centered design thinking to build empathy, ideate, co-create solutions, and design equitable resources that put the needs of children front and center. McClure has presented across the country as a panelist, featured speaker, and keynote speaker. He believes in maximizing everyone's limitless potential. Follow him on Twitter @SchoolPsychLife
Kelsie Reed is a nationally certified school psychologist who presently works in Prince George's County Public Schools in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Reed is passionate about advancing educational equity for minoritized students, disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline, and identifying and implementing alternatives to suspension. She has presented at the community, state, and national levels on school discipline practices. Follow her on Twitter @drkelsiereed and Instagram @dr.kelsiereed.
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano
Dr. Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow and founder of the Speak Up Research Project, is our guest for this episode of The Authority. Julie and Ross talk about her new book, Free Agent Learning: Leveraging Students' Self-Directed Learning to Transform K-12 Education, published by Jossey-Bass.
The conversation covers:
- Leveraging self-directed learning to improve classroom reach and engagement
- What is the Student's Vision of Learning?
- How can educators assert parameters in a way kids see as valuable?
- Moving to learn environments that are student-directed and adult-sponsored.
- The most durable findings over 17 years of Speak Up surveys.
- Students’ most surprising perspectives.
- Compliance vs. engagement.
- Learning can be exploring alongside self-motivated students.
- Recognizing outcomes from free agent learning in your Profile/Portrait of a Graduate.
- Ask kids what they want.
Free Agent Learning is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and more.
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About the guest
Dr. Julie A. Evans is the CEO of Project Tomorrow and is the founder of the heralded Speak Up Research Project which annually collects and reports on the authentic views of K-12 students, parents and educators on key education issues each year. Dr. Evans serves as the chief researcher on the Speak Up Project as well as leading research efforts on the impact of innovative learning models and interventions in both K-12 and higher education. Over the past 17 years, almost 5 million K-12 students and an additional 1 million educators and parents have participated in the Speak Up Project representing over 35,000 schools from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and around the world. Learn more at www.tomorrow.org
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano
Mike Ficara, an entrepreneur and former school administrator, joins The Authority to discuss his book Like Socks on a Rooster: A Guide to Busting the Entrepreneurial Cliches that Are Holding You Back.
Mike and Ross discuss:
- Mike’s experience as an educator, where he thought his career was going, and how he ended up in entrepreneurship.
- Mike’s journey of learning by doing.
- “Like socks on a rooster”...what does it mean?
- “They aren’t your haters, they’re your narrators.”
- Mike wasn’t a “good” student but still received encouragement. What difference did it make?
- The importance of networks, communities, and mentors.
- Thoughts on the power of podcasting.
Learn more about Mike’s work and the book Like Socks on a Rooster at https://mikeficara.com. You can also find the book on Amazon.
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About the guest
Mike Ficara is a seasoned entrepreneur and consultant. His core focus is on the growth and scaling strategies for clients, in addition to expertise in personal brand building and social media strategy. He has had the opportunity to work in a variety of industries over his career going from the classroom to the boardroom. This vast experience provided insight into how people learn, leadership, and most importantly what motivates people to succeed.
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano
Today, The Authority Podcast gets weird.
We welcome CJ Casciotta to the show. CJ is a creative strategist, media producer, and author of Get Weird: Discover the Surprising Secret to Making a Difference.
Ross and CJ discuss:
- How CJ learned to “get weird”
- Weird suggests the supernatural — something we don’t understand.
- The story of a girl who “dodged the gavel of who she can and can’t be.”
- “Too much sanity may be madness—and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!”
- Designing education around its goals
- Why sticking out is harder than blending in
- Misfits start movements
- Why is it so hard to be like Mr. Rogers?
Get Weird: Discover the Surprising Secret to Making a Difference is available on Amazon.
Larn more about ‘s work at https://recultu.re/
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About the guest
Seen by many as a trusted voice on 21st century cultural shifts, CJ Casciotta has consulted and developed campaigns for presidential candidates, IPOs, startups, and Fortune 500s alike, partnering with notable brands such as MGM Studios, Delta Airlines, Sesame Street, Lululemon, and The United Nations Foundation. An accomplished media producer, he's collaborated on projects with leading culture-makers like Ira Glass of This American Life, Seth Godin, and FoodNetwork's Maneet Chauhan. He’s the founder of Ringbeller, an interactive media and technology project focused on social emotional learning for early childhood and K-12 learners.
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano
Sarah Strong, a teacher at San Diego’s High Tech High, and Gigi Butterfield, her former student, co-authored the book Dear Math: Why Kids Hate Math And What Teachers Can Do About It. They are today’s guests on The Authority.
In the interview, Ross, Sarah and Gigi discuss:
- Sarah and Gigi’s four-year student-teacher relationship and how they came to collaborate on the book
- What the “Dear Math” letters are and how Sarah was inspired to assign them
- The math stories and challenges that come up most frequently from students
- How to get over being “fraudulently fond” of math
- Designing a community where math is a liberator rather than a gatekeeper
- Making math learning collaborative while getting over the competitive instinct
Dear Math is published by Times 10 Publications. Find it HERE.
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guests
Sarah Strong has taught math to grades 6 through 12 at High Tech High in San Diego, and she also works for the High Tech High Graduate School of Education, teaching Math Methods and Advanced Math Pedagogy courses and supporting the new math teachers in the organization. She has led workshops on Project Based Learning in mathematics, student-centered assessment, and alternative grading systems.
Gigi Butterfield is currently a screenwriting major at Loyola Marymount University and a former student of the Gary and Jeri-Ann Jacobs High Tech High in San Diego, California. Gigi has attended project based learning schools since the age of five and, even in college, is passionate about how PBL plays an integral role in revitalizing heavily antiquated math pedagogies. Gigi was captain of the basketball team, head of student ambassadors, leader of Model United Nations, a member of student senate, and a Jeopardy fanatic hoping to go into comedy writing.
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano
Chris Hall, an 8th grade language arts teacher at Oyster River Middle School in Durham, NH is the guest on this episode of The Authority. His book, published by Heinemann, is The Writer’s Mindset: Six Stances That Promote Authentic Revision.
In the interview, Chris and Ross discuss:
- Why Chris chose to focus his book on the topic of revision
- The 6 Stances students can adopt toward their writing
- Beliefs about optimism: students should learn from their strengths & students should choose what to write and revise
- How to make risk-taking inviting for young writers
- How teachers can model flexible thinking — openness to new ideas and approaches — for students
The Writer’s Mindset is published by Heinemann. Find it HERE.
Chris Hall and The Writer’s Mindset were recommended by former guest Mike Anderson. Listen to Mike’s episode: Tackling the Motivation Crisis with Mike Anderson.
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guest
Chris Hall teaches language arts at Oyster River Middle School in Durham, NH. Over the past 20 years he has taught in urban, suburban, public, independent, and international schools, where he has helped young writers find authentic purpose, build community, and discover the power of their own words. Chris served as a Heinemann Fellow, researching innovative writing practices within a cohort of dynamic educators from across the country. You can find him on Twitter at @CHallTeacher.
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano
Tanya Sheckley, Founder and President of UP Academy and author of the book Rebel Educator is our guest.
Tanya and Ross discuss:
- The definition of a “Rebel Educator” and the type of school culture that encourages high-impact rebels
- Why it’s important to keep teachers connected to the reasons they became educators in the first place.
- What Tanya and her teachers have learned from each other
- How to create classrooms where impact and imagination meet.
- UP Academy’s approach to inclusive classrooms
- The value of educating parents about the way experiential learning happens in the school
- How the US can do a better job of fairly compensating teachers
- Where to start if you read only one part of the book (hint: focus on the why of your lessons)
Rebel Educator is available from Houndstooth Press. Buy it on Amazon.
Learn more about Tanya’s work at https://www.rebeleducator.com/
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About our guest
Tanya Sheckley is the Founder and President of UP Academy, a progressive elementary lab
school in San Mateo, California. UP Academy is reinventing education by customizing learning
for each student, integrating project-based learning throughout its curriculum, and supporting
students with disabilities to attend alongside able-bodied students in mixed-age classrooms.
Tanya hosts the Rebel Educator podcast, speaks across the country on the future of education,
and leads professional development programs for school administrators and educators.
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano
Andrew Campanella is the guest today to discuss his book, The School Choice Roadmap: 7 Steps to Finding the Right School for Your Child. The book has won the Foreword Indies Gold Award, a Silver IPPY, a Mom’s Choice Award, and a National Parenting Product Award.
While the book is written to help parents navigate schooling options for their children, we look at it from a different angle in this interview. We dissect the advantages available to schools and school leaders when they understand what parents and students are looking for in their schools. How can schools make changes that matter and, importantly, communicate those actions?
Ross and Andrew chat about:
- The advantage schools receive by “getting out there” and proactively sharing their successes
- The importance of reflecting on one’s own time as a student
- Some of the top goals parents have for their children
- What parents want vs. what they need and how to address both
- How storytelling can make meaning of teachers’ valuable qualifications
- How schools can collaborate with parent navigator organizations
- Why all schools should be proud to share their work
The School Choice Roadmap is published by Beaufort Books. Learn more HERE.
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About the guest
Andrew Campanella is one of the nation’s leading experts on K-12 school choice. He serves as the President and CEO of the National School Choice Awareness Foundation. Throughout his career as a nonprofit executive, Andrew has provided insightful and jargon-free commentary about education options to local, regional, and national media outlets in thousands of interviews. With more than 18 years of senior-level experience in K-12 education, Andrew has led the National School Choice Week charitable program since 2012, playing a key role in the effort’s remarkable growth. Connect on Twitter @andrewrcamp
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano
On this episode, we discuss an ever-timely topic: teacher burnout. And today we get to evaluate solutions from the teacher’s point of view.
Amber Harper, a kindergarten teacher, podcaster, and Teacher Burnout Coach is our guest. She joins to talk about her book Hacking Teacher Burnout.
Ross and Amber discuss:
- Amber’s “burnout story” and how she came to this work
- What makes teacher burnout different from the burnout in other roles and professions
- The types and stages of teacher burnout
- “Your burnout isn’t your fault, but it is your responsibility”
- Going from isolated to empowered
- Better support for new teachers
- What are the changes that are within each teacher’s control?
- Developing your Teacher Brand and how this benefits the whole school
Hacking Teacher Burnout is published by Times 10 Publications. Learn more HERE.
Learn about Amber’s work at http://www.burnedinteacher.com
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About the guest
Amber Harper is a Kindergarten Teacher, author of Hacking Teacher Burnout, podcaster, and Teacher Burnout Coach. She gives struggling teachers a path to follow as they navigate their way out of burnout by helping them grow through their burnout and take their next best steps toward what they want from their career in education and in life. You can learn more about her and the services she offers at www.burnedinteacher.com
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano
Jeffrey Benson, author of the ASCD best-seller Improve Every Lesson Plan with SEL, is the guest for this episode.
Jeffrey and Ross discuss:
- Jeffrey’s extensive work with students who suffered the trauma of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
- “Are you willing to bet that your lesson plan will work – and work for every student?”
- How “home-field advantage” can inform perspectives on the classroom
- Jeffrey’s personal definition of SEL
- The process of co-creating social-emotional learning goals with students
- “Differentiated autonomy” in the classroom
- How an emphasis on SEL leads to improved formative assessment
- The critical importance of an intentional closure routine for lessons
- Reconnecting teachers with their “best moments of teaching [that] have always been informed by the social and emotional learning of [their] students”
- And more!
This is a wide-ranging conversation you won’t want to miss.
Improve Every Lesson Plan with SEL is published by ASCD. Buy it HERE.
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About the guest
Jeffrey Benson has more than 40 years of experience as a teacher, mentor, and school administrator, with a focus on supporting schools that can work for all students. His books include Improve Every Lesson Plan with SEL, Hanging In: Strategies for Working with the Students Who Challenge Us Most, and 10 Steps for Managing Change in Schools: How do we take initiatives from goals to actions? His website is JeffreyBenson.org. Connect on Twitter @jeffreybenson61
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano
Award-winning writer, teacher, and sought-after speaker Elizabeth Jorgensen is this episode’s guest. She joins the show to discuss Hacking Student Learning Habits, her book on process-based assessment published by Times 10 Publications.
Ross and Elizabeth discuss:
- How to introduce small, measurable, progress-driven goals while de-emphasizing grades as the outcome
- A relevant story from James Clear’s Atomic Habits that illustrates key concepts about student learning
- The standards of evaluation for process-based assessment
- Helping students build daily habits that encourage progress, not perfection
- Why it would be counterproductive to accept late student work
- Transferring control to the student
- “Trust the process.”
Hacking Student Learning Habits: 9 Ways to Foster Resilient Learners and Assess the Process, Not the Outcome is available from Times 10 Publications. Get it HERE.
Visit Elizabeth’s website: https://lizjorgensen.weebly.com/
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guest
Elizabeth Jorgensen is an award-winning writer and teacher. In 2021, she was named one of 20 of America’s Most Inspiring Educators (The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation Teacher Innovator Awards). She was also named a PBS Innovative Educator, among several other awards. Her memoir was released in 2019. Narrated in alternating voices, Go, Gwen, Go: A Family’s Journey to Olympic Gold (Meyer & Meyer Sport), is an inspiring story about Olympian Gwen Jorgensen and her family. Follow her on Twitter @LyzaJo
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano
Veteran educator and consultant Mike Anderson joins the podcast this week to discuss his ninth book, Tackling the Motivation Crisis: How to Activate Student Learning Without Behavior Charts, Pizza Parties, and Other Hard-to-Quit Incentive Systems.
Mike and Ross discuss:
- Evidence of the motivation crisis in schools — but why it also may not be as bad as it seems
- What’s wrong with incentives?
- Why incentive systems are so hard to quit
- The six key intrinsic motivators and how educators can use them to get students engaged
- “We need to make sure students’ academic work is compelling and interesting enough that they will want to do it.”
- The times when extrinsic motivation might work
Tackling the Motivation Crisis is published by ASCD. Find it HERE.
Additional Resources:
- Access Mike’s LiveBinder with many more resources on tackling the motivation crisis: LiveBinder Link
- Learn about Mike’s eCourse on Tackling the Motivation Crisis.
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guest
Mike Anderson has been an educator for more than 25 years. A public school teacher for 15 years, he has also taught preschool, coached swim teams, and taught university graduate level classes. He now works as a consultant, providing professional learning for teachers throughout the United States and beyond. In 2020, he was awarded the Outstanding Educational Leader Award by NHASCD for his work as a consultant. Learn more at https://leadinggreatlearning.com or connect on Twitter @balancedteacher
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano
In this episode, we talk with Michael Horn, Author of the book, “From Reopen to Reinvent”.
In this episode we talk about the following:
- Thinking a lot about why people make changes in their daily lives.
- 4 core sets of reasons that cause people to make a switch.
- Help them make better switches.
- Systematically said all these things are of lower priority.
- What motivates people to make changes - the push of the current situation
- The pull of the new
- Anxiety of starting a new school.
- Habits of the present
- Parents and perceptions of schooling.
- Finding more success in alternative models.
- Educational entrepreneurs are continuing to innovate
- How to help teachers: 1 size fits all mindset get rid of it.
- Come at it from a question that sparks their interest.
- 2nd. Seeing a lot more coteaching
In this episode, school librarian Ryan Bani Tahmaseb discusses his book The 21st Century School Library: A model for innovative teaching & learning.
Some areas of conversation include:
- How administrators and teachers can lean on the library to support teaching, learning, and innovation
- The modern role of a school librarian – and what is still misunderstood
- How librarians can be a valuable resource to new teachers
- The benefits of engaging students in hands-on learning
- How to “revitalize research” so students can develop original work that shows their learning
- Balancing free exploration with important lessons on information literacy and digital literacy
- The librarian’s role in supporting inclusivity
The 21st Century School Library is available from John Catt Educational. Find it here.
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guest
Ryan Tahmaseb is the Director of Library Services at the Meadowbrook School in Weston, Massachusetts. In addition to writing about education in publications such as Edutopia and Education Week, he also writes short fiction and poetry, with work appearing in journals such as the Carolina Quarterly. Connect on Twitter @RyanTahmaseb
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K–12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano
On today’s episode we’re thrilled to welcome Dr. Peter DeWitt to discuss his latest book, De-Implementation: Creating the Space to Focus on What Works.
Peter and Ross discuss:
- The concept of de-implementation and how Peter began to study it
- How to understand what’s working and what’s not
- The benefits of focusing on “fewer things, greater depth”
- What surveys show educators are interested in de-implementing
- How de-implementation or “strategic abandonment” can create more time for effective instruction to take place
- “In fact, it is not possible to create tomorrow unless one first sloughs off yesterday” - Peter Drucker
De-Implementation is published by Corwin. Find it HERE.
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guest
Peter M. DeWitt, EdD is a former K–5 teacher (eleven years) and principal (eight years). He is a school leadership coach who runs competency-based workshops and provides keynotes nationally and internationally, focusing on school leadership (collaborative cultures and instructional leadership), as well as fostering inclusive school climates. Peter writes the “Finding Common Ground” column for Education Week and co-created _Education Week_’s “A Seat at the Table” series, where he moderates conversations with experts around the topics of race, gender, sexual orientation, research, trauma, and many other educational topics. Learn more at https://petermdewitt.com or connect on Twitter @PeterMDeWitt
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K–12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano
Dr. Carey Borkoski, Associate Professor and Research Fellow in the School of Education at Loyola University - Maryland, is our guest on this episode. We chat about her book Dancing with Discomfort: A framework for noticing, naming, and navigating our in-between moments.
Carey and Ross discuss:
- What inspired Carey to write the book
- The importance of transitions in creating an interesting, fulfilling life
- How to navigate unanticipated personal or professional transitions
- Navigating the transition into an administrator role
- Addressing the discomfort of giving or receiving feedback
- Getting over imposter syndrome
Dancing with Discomfort is published by John Catt Educational. Find it HERE.
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guest
Dr. Carey Borkoski is an Associate Professor and Research Fellow in the School of Education at Loyola University - Maryland, and a Lead Coach in the Johns Hopkins University School of Education. Her research focuses on the role of building community and cultivating belonging in student and faculty successes. She also writes and speaks on strategies and technology tools that contribute to building a sense of community in our learning spaces.
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K–12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano
Today we welcome elementary school principal and author Matt Renwick to discuss his two most recent books: Leading Like a C.O.A.C.H., published by Corwin, and Resist the Script, a self-published e-book.
Some specific areas of conversation include:
- The “north star” of helping teachers to become better leaders and learners
- The importance of affirming positive practices before rushing into change
- Re-envisioned role of the principal as supportive guide, active listener, learner-teacher, and opportunity creator
- Improving the quality of feedback to and from teachers
- “Would students know what they are learning and why it is important?”
- Bringing a sense of joy through the curriculum
Leading Like a C.O.A.C.H. is published by Corwin. Find it at https://us.corwin.com or at this direct link.
Resist the Script: Five Critical Questions for Teachers to Adapt, Adopt, or Develop a Literacy Curriculum That Works for All Readers and Writers is available on Amazon.
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guest
Matt Renwick has served in public education for over 20 years. He started as a 5th and 6th-grade teacher in a country school outside of Wisconsin Rapids, WI. Matt now serves as an elementary principal for the Mineral Point Unified School District. See more of his work at https://mattrenwick.com. Connect on Twitter @ReadByExample
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K–12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano
In this episode of The Authority Podcast, our host Ross Romano welcomes guest Sean Slade to discuss his book Questioning Education: Moving from What and How to Why and Who.
Some specific areas of conversation include:
- Some of the false assumptions we make about schools
- What “off the radar” topics education leaders should be thinking about
- Sean’s new “Educational Solar System” and how it proposes a shift in the way we consider the focal point of education
- Sir Ken Robinson and Simon Sinek’s influence on the book
- Why education must “start with why”
- Making the teaching profession more attractive to a new generation
- Where educators of all roles can begin using their influence
Questioning Education is published by Routledge Eye on Education. Find it at www.routledge.com or at this direct link.
Subscribe to The Authority to get more deep-dive interviews with education authors. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn more about the Be Podcast Network for educators.
About today’s guest
Sean Slade is a global education leader with more than 25 years of experience in education globally, in a career spanning four continents and five countries. Currently residing in the Washington DC area, he has driven policy change, implemented initiatives, and developed educational leaders to enhance the social impact of education. Connect on Twitter @SeanTSlade
About the host
Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K–12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano
Brig Leane, former principal of Fruita Middle School in Colorado, has over 20 years of experience in education. He has been an assistant principal and has taught at the middle and high school levels in inner-city, suburban, and rural schools. He has also been an adjunct professor at Colorado Christian University.
As a teacher, Brig learned the power of the PLC process firsthand, as his math team grew students more than any other team, in any grade, in any tested subject in his 22,000-student school district.
Education is Brig’s second career, following his successful service as an officer in the US Coast Guard, having attained the rank of lieutenant commander. He graduated with honors from the United States Coast Guard Academy with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and served as an officer for many years on humanitarian missions around the nation. He was selected as a Troops-to-Teachers recipient and has a master’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in educational leadership from Colorado Mesa University.
- How do I get my singletons to want to collaborate?
- What is a singleton? Someone who doesn’t have a natural collaborative partner.
- The three on-ramps for singletons; course-alike, content alike, and critical friend
- The power of common formative assessment - student achievement and improved teacher performance
- When a teacher team gets focused on the four critical questions -
- Collaboration vs. the focus on the four critical questions
- There’s only so much time to meet together, so we must set aside the time for teachers to find support in answering the 4 critical questions of learning.
- Understand the why of collaboration instead of isolation.
- Can’t ignore the how.
- They don’t have the time and support
- Support is not just about permission, but also about accountability.
- Preparation is essential.
- Isolation is the enemy of improvement
- REAL Criteria:
- Readiness: Does the learning develop student readiness for the next level of learning? Is it essential for success in the next unit, course, or grade level?
- Endurance: Does the learning have endurance? Do teachers expect students to retain the knowledge and skills over time as opposed to merely learning it for a test?
- Assessed: Do teachers assess the learning? Will teachers cover the learning on state testing or college entrance, military, or trade school tests?
- Leverage: Does the learning have leverage? Will proficiency in this standard help students in other areas of the curriculum and academic disciplines?
Erik M. Francis is an international author, educator, and presenter with over 25 years of experience in education working as a classroom teacher, a site administrator, an education program specialist in a state education agency, and a professional development producer and provider. Erik is the author of Deconstructing Depth of Knowledge: A Method and Model for Deeper Teaching and Learning published by Solution Tree. He is also the author of Now That’s a Good Question! How to Promote Cognitive Rigor Through Classroom Questioning published by ASCD. Erik is the owner of Maverik Education, providing professional development, guidance, and support on how to develop and deliver teaching and learning experiences that are standards-based, socially and emotionally supportive, and student responsive. He is also consistently ranked as one of the World’s Top 30 Education Professionals by the research organization Global Gurus.
- What is Depth of Knowledge? Carlifies the cognitive demand of the stuff we do in education
- It all centers around the standard
- We’ve beent reating DOK like a
- Criteria for alignment studies.
- Categories of
- Complexity, Criteria, Connections
- Depth of knowledge is what cames after the verb - Karen Hess
- It’s not a values judgment.
- Tier your instruction to the DOK level kids are at.
- Traditionally do do DOK and RTI as deficit thinking
- Webb’s DOK levels
- Engage __
- Growing up Gifted page 290
- https://www.webbalign.org
- Cognitive action verbs are abstract
- Be brave enough to reboot the matrix.
- We teach the way we were taught, and we teach the way we understand
- Method and model moving forward.
- Applications for RTI and
- The missing link
- two different types of assessment
- DOK lends itself to Authentic assessment
- Stop judging kids based on whether they can
- Not only can you do it, but can you communicate it.
- How to be a transformative principal? Ask, why are you teaching what you’re teaching? 5 why’s strategy. What do you mean?
- Elevated Leader
- Horizontal vs. Vertical Leadership
- Emotional Intelligence is vertical development
- How do we really develop vertically?
- Must connect to our bodies’ internal operating system.
- More inclined to self-protect ourselves.
- We may not have the capacity to address our past trauma.
- Regardless of where we are, we can always level up.
- It’s easier than we generally think.
- The deeper we go, the higher we elevate.
- First step is always awaken.
- Formal definition of Vertical Development.
- The strongest people I know are the people most willing to be vulnerable.
- Make meaning of our world.
- Child development vs. Adult development.
- Most adults don’t develop except based on effort.
- The Assessment
- How fascinating! <- How we should respond to assessments.
- Mind 1.0
- Safety comfort and belonging
- Good soldier mode vs. self-protection mode
- Dependent Thinkers - give up our thinking for the sake of comfort and
- MInd 2.0
- standing out, getting ahead, advance
- Independent thinkers
- Body is programmed to act in Mind 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 ways.
- Mind 3.0
- Contribute, add value, lift others
- Interdependent thinkers - love sitting right in the middle.
- formally incentivized to be mind 2.0.
- Focus on the purpose.
- Focus should not be on test scores.
- An organization can never rise above the level of their leader’s vertical altitude
- Why should someone who is not necessarily a leader strive to understand how to be an elevated leader?
- Everybody wants to become a better version of ourselves.
- Vertical Development is about healing ourselves.
- It’s not evaluative, it’s developmental.
Dr. Ruth Gotian is the Chief Learning Officer and Assistant Professor of Education in Anesthesiology and former Assistant Dean of Mentoring and Executive Director of the Mentoring Academy at Weill Cornell Medicine.
During her extensive career, she has personally coached and mentored thousands of people ranging from undergraduates to faculty members. As Assistant Dean for Mentoring she oversaw the success of nearly 1,800 faculty members at Weill Cornell Medicine. Currently, she researches the most successful people of our generation, including Nobel laureates, astronauts, CEOs and Olympic champions, in order to learn about their habits and practices so that we may optimize our own success.
She is the author of the book [[The Success Factor]]: Developing the Mindset and Skillset for Peak Business Performance.
- Intrinsic motivation
- How Ruth started playing soccer.
- No is the starting point of a conversation.
- It’s easier if we tell them no, and they don’t argue with.
- What is the strategy that I haven’t thought of that will convince them?
- If you want innovation, you can’t have status quo.
- Innovation is doing something new with something old.
- We are constantly rewarding those who get 100!
- Olympians do not do it for the medal.
- Find the intrinsic motivation in the teachers to start.
- Passion audit - enjoy, don’t enjoy, good at, but not enjoy - ruthgotian.com/passionaudit.
- Where is their curiosity?
- Stanford achievement Test - Exclusive
- We adults try to get kids to have intrinsic motivation
- Terrified of tests as an adult.
- Surrounding yourself with a team of mentors.
- Senior to you, at your level, and junior mentors - Will you be my mentor - mentoring is a relationship
- Everyone has something they can offer.
- Fear
- How to be a transformative principal? Start with your teachers, see where they are most curious, and start delving
Thomas R. Hoerr, PhD retired after leading the New City School in St. Louis, Missouri for 34 years and is now the Emeritus Head of School. He is currently a Scholar In Residence at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and teaches in the Educational Leadership program, preparing prospective principals. He also led the ISACS New Heads Network and founded the Non-Profit Management Program at Washington University in St. Louis. Hoerr has written several books, and his newest, _Taking Social Emotional Learning Schoolwide: The Formative Five Success Skills for Students and Staff_, was published in December of 2019. He has written more than 150 articles, including “The Principal Connection” column in Educational Leadership Magazine from 2004 to 2017.
He was previously on the Transformative Principal Podcast episode 224 where we talked about who you are is more important that what you know, and episode 225 where we talked about his book, The Formative Five.
- Why does Empathy matter so much?
- If there were more empathy in schools, we’d be in better shape.
- If you don’t have empathy, it’s hard for people to follow you.
- If you do have empathy, it’s easier for people to follow you.
- Empathy is a muscle. You can make it stronger
- intentional and transparent
- Voluntary - making it voluntary is having empathy.
- listening, aggressive, pursuing.
- One of your problems - you look too busy.
- I was working; I was being accessible.
- Who are you closest to in your school.
- Even if my idea is the best, it’s not the best if nobody is on board.
- Breakfast with Tom - agenda is yours.
- Empathetic Conversations - extension of this notion that I really want to get to know people as people, not just teachers.
- I know you as a student, I want to know you as a student
- Leadership is about relationship.
- Teacher observations - school principals should use them as a way to build trust and observations.
- Educators are underpaid.
- Herzberg’s theory of motivation
- Teaching is far too siloed
- If people can just read one part of the book, what is it? The part about listening.
Dr. Susie Wise is a design leader with experience in the education, tech, and the social sectors. She coaches leaders in equity design and innovation practices. She teaches at the d.school at Stanford. Previously she founded and directed the K12 Lab at the d.school and co-created Liberatory Design. She is the author of the book Designing for Belonging.
She was a previous guest on Transformative Principal Episode 121 Where we talked about #shadowastudent and Episode 122 where we talked about the design thinking process. I credit much of the work I did to write my book SchoolX to that conversation with Susie.
One of four books that kick of a news series for d.school.
- Equity vs. Equality
- Belonging is the feeling we are going for when we talk about equity.
- Work that I was doing with School principals.
- Design cultures with their school.
- John Powell work around othering and belonging.
- using design tools differently.
- Contributing is a powerful way to get to belonging.
- Flow is one of the moments of belonging.
- Creating a container of belonging.
- We’re not just trying to get to one version of belonging.
- Feel it, see it, shape it
- Shape - create safe-to-fail experiments
- Understanding comics with Scott McLoud
- If people could only read one part of your book, what should they read? Exercise on page 137 - Design an activity to inspire belonging.
- Why is it so important for groups of any size to hope its members feel like they belong?
When people feel like they belong, they are able to do their best and be their best. When we work toward belonging, we’re working toward creating a space where collaboration and cooperation can flourish. This is true for every kind of group, big and small. Whether you’re a parent, teacher, business manager, community organizer, or leader of any sort, your group is unlikely to thrive if the individuals don’t feel welcome, included, and valued for who they are.
- What is Design for Belonging?
Sometimes when we hear the word design, we think it means visual design – like logos or web design. Design for Belonging provides tools that any group or organization can use to build inclusion. These might be rituals that bring us together, spaces that keep us calm, roles that create a sense of responsibility, and systems that make us feel respected.
- How do you use design tools to create a feeling like belonging?
The tools in Design for Belonging help bridge the gap between the logistical planning of your office meeting or organizational restructure and the way you want people to feel when they participate.
Here are some great examples from teachers and school leaders who have used them:
- Reimagining the kinds of assemblies hosted at school to be more culturally relevant.
- Creating new roles to support English language learners.
- Reinventing parent events to help parents build relationships instead of just sitting passively in an auditorium.
We could quickly see how the kids benefitted by changes like this. However, we were most moved by the teachers. The redesign connected them to what they hoped to create for young people. They were able to care about their students in ways that related to their own understanding and feeling of belonging. They tapped into their own creativity and the reasons they wanted to teach in the first place.
- Your book describes what belonging and its opposite, othering, feel like. Can you summarize that?
Belonging feels like you are seen and heard. You feel alive. You’ve been invited into any given group, and you know you can be honest with the people in it. Students I’ve worked with describe it as being in a good place and being with people they’re comfortable with. They feel validated.
Othering feels like you’re not wanted or that you’re not welcome. Feeling like you have to hold back in order to fit in. Some people will have negative roles or assumptions unfairly projected upon them based on their race, outward appearance, or other aspects of their identity. My students have described it as feeling like they’re invisible or erasable. Being uncomfortable and disconnected from the group.
- Do you think this book about belonging will be received differently now than it would have before the Pandemic?
Yes, the Pandemic has disrupted many of our rhythms, which gives us the opportunity to rethink how we do things. In addition, we’ve seen the reemergence of the Black Lives Matter movement, which has given us a greater awareness of the inequities embedded in our culture. Seeing the need for change is the place for design. Design for Belonging can help us redesign our schools, workplaces, and organizations to support people more effectively. It can also help us focus on belonging as the experience we are intentionally building.
I have an exercise in the book: Assumption Storming. It’s a classic tool of design. This is a moment where we can ask: "What are all our assumptions about working in the office? What are all of our assumptions about working online?” We can then lay out our responses and see which ones we want to recreate and which ones we want to let go.
My hope is that the book will help people see with a new lens and empower them to create change.
- What do you want people to understand about design for belonging?
When you are working on diversity, equity, and inclusion, what you are really trying to get to is a feeling – the feeling of belonging. This book helps you use the tools of design to start building belonging and reducing othering in the places that matter to you.
We all want to educate ourselves about racial equity and we want concrete changes in our worlds, but so many people are overwhelmed by the breadth of the problem and don’t know where to start. The book is designed to help people who are uncomfortable or unfamiliar with the work of diversity, equity, and inclusion to get started.
- How do you define equity?
Equity is important to distinguish from equality. In my work, the need for equity looks at how we each have different access to education and other resources because of history and all the cultural or systemic forces that we are (or aren’t) embedded in. Reaching equity means ensuring that one’s race or socioeconomic status does not predict the outcomes of their life and that everyone has what they need in order to evolve into their full potential.
- Belonging has become a hot-button topic lately. How do you feel about the current environment in the U.S. as your book comes out?
I’m excited about the current focus on belonging. There are discussions everywhere. People from all walks of life–city leaders, businesses, transportation–are thinking about it. It will be interesting to see what happens as we come out of the social restrictions that were created during the pandemic. We have an opportunity here to look ahead and be intentional about how we rebuild.
- How can leaders and group organizers use this book?
The possibilities are endless. The tools and levers in the book will help you recognize the opportunities you have in your context and to reimagine how people come together and are supported. Hosts of any space can experiment with how to create not just more welcoming environments, but also ways for people to be seen and contribute.
I recently had someone reach out to me who was running a summer music camp and they wanted to be sensitive to persons of color who will be entering a historically White space. I’ve never run a summer music camp, but the book will help them seize opportunities to create a cohesive group in the planning. They can ask: How do we want to welcome people in? What kinds of norms and procedures do we want to change or build from scratch?
10.How is the design community evolving conversations around inclusion, and what excites you most about that space?
Traditionally, design in the US has been a very White, male-dominated field that has centered Western European traditions. But as the design community has grown to be more inclusive of women and people of color, these new perspectives are shining a light on issues like gender and racial bias. Important conversations are now being had on how design can be and has been used to other and exclude, and ways in which we can address this legacy.
There’s also a very positive shift in how designers are thinking about the long term consequences of their work. Designers have to take responsibility for the outcomes of their work, not just the outputs. This shift makes it increasingly important for designers to consider not just how to solve a problem, but how doing so will impact others. This requires paying attention to outcomes as they emerge, always choosing to work toward belonging, and responding when unintended negative consequences emerge.
- How have you applied design for belonging in your private life?
I’ve been really interested in what is happening on my block. It is a microcosm of our country where you have new people moving to established neighborhoods, resulting in communities of mixed ages and socio-economic backgrounds. Last week I hosted doughnuts and coffee on my front stoop. Some neighbors who had lived there for over twenty years each met for the first time. New neighbors met old timers and created new connections. This moves me because I think if we can be in a relationship with each other we can help each other to belong. For me personally, I find belonging in gathering people.
12.Can you tell us about the early days of the d.school and your founding of the K12 Lab?
Part of my drive to start the K12 Lab at the d.school was for my middle school self. I was a bored, miserable middle schooler (On one level, who isn’t? Also, my dad had moved away and my mom had just gotten remarried). I figured out that I could leave class if I was working on “projects." For one project I’d go around the school every day and pick up cans from classrooms for a city-wide food drive. Not only did I get out of class, but it felt good, like it mattered.
I founded the K12 lab because I wondered about that 8th grade kid. If I had been able and empowered to work with the design tools I have now to make a difference, what could have been? It was also deeply grounded in a desire to see those furthest from opportunity be able to have greater opportunities and really be able to succeed in our systems in multiple ways.
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