Getting Unstuck – Cultivating Curiosity

School discipline has traditionally seen administrators and teachers mete out punishment for inappropriate student behavior. There's another way advises social and emotional consultant Jim Collin. It relies instead on a social and emotional approach – one that seeks to help adults and students first understand the underlying cause or causes of the disruptive behavior. Central to success is the need to for adults and students to create and operate within a safe, calming space.

Leading complex changes – especially during a crisis – requires leaders to be master balancers in that they have to manage both the human aspects of change , e.g., resistance to change, motivation, and consensus decision making, as well as the more technical aspects of change, e.g. What concern do we attack first? How do priorities shift over the life of a complex change? We hear the details from change expert, April Armstrong.

People think "virtual distance" is a function of geographic dispersion, but it's not. It's really the psychological and emotional distance that is created when we put a piece of machinery between us when we're talking. When virtual distance is high, this disconnect starts to affect how we feel, which affects how we think, which affects the decisions we make, which affects performance, which impacts achieving desired results. So how do we reduce virtual distance? Author Dr. Karen Sobel Lujeski explains.

As authors Chris Mason and Dr. Melissa ("Missie") Patschke describe it in their new book, Visioning Onward, "visioning" is more than just another prescription for a lofty sounding Mission or Vision statement that we see adorning the walls of most schools. Instead, "visioning" is a step-by step process that helps schools and communities imagine in a heart-centered way what they want on behalf of their students. It's a process that can lead to transformative change.

It's our pleasure to welcome Chester Elton back to Getting Unstuck. The thematic river that runs through Chester's books, coaching and consulting is staff engagement and its impact. His research shows that performance and results improve when leaders authentically and purposefully engage their staff whether it's in business or education. And the expression of authentic gratitude is one key way to engage staff.

Why are children more anxious, aggressive and shut down than ever before? And what can be done to reverse this course? In this episode of Getting Unstuck, we'll get answers from educators Tamara Neufeld Strijack and Hannah Beach, authors of Reclaiming Our Students: Why Children are More Anxious, Aggressive and Shut Down Than Ever – And What We can Do About It.

Welcome to Part 13 of a special series: "Leading Schools in a Time of Crisis." In these conversations, we probed how educators are helping their schools and communities pivot due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I this interview, our final one in the series, we hear from education transformation advocate Richard Gerver on why schools need to take advantage of this period and not slip back into the old normal, and why local practitioners are best equipped to lead the transformation.

Welcome to Part 12 of a special series: "Leading Schools in a Time of Crisis." In these conversations, we will probe how educators are helping their schools and communities pivot due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because these educators are very busy, we've limited these conversations to about 15 minutes. So, how do educators effectively lead change during a crisis? For Senior Director of Technology Michele Dawson, it's about meeting the technology needs of students, parents, and teachers.

Welcome to Part 11 of a special series: "Leading Schools in a Time of Crisis." In these conversations, we will probe how educators are helping their schools and communities pivot due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So, how do educators effectively lead change during a crisis? For educational service agency heads Dr. Jeff Hawkins and Steve Miletto, it's ultimately about helping schools answer the question: "What do we do next year?"

With the huge focus on curriculum and testing, educator, consultant and author Jocelyne Chirnside cautions that we're missing a critical part of a child's holistic development.