Leaders Coaching Leaders

“If it’s not sustainable, then it’s not best practice.” This quote speaks to Paul France’s commitment to honor both teachers and students. In this episode, France provides a clear yet nuanced understanding of personalized learning. He explains how personalized learning is different from other adjacent concepts such as differentiated instruction and individualized learning plans. He advocates for a process that respects teacher knowledge and time, the optimal learning environment for students and the need for all to have a voice. Let us know what you think!

School leaders and teachers have really been through it the last few years. Remaining optimistic can be quite a challenge under such circumstances. Enter Debbie Silver—speaker, author, humorist—to shed light on how to stay positive in 2023 and beyond. She shares four strategies from her new edition of Deliberate Optimism including getting accurate data and remembering how to focus what you can control. Always rooted in pragmatism and realism, Silver discusses how educators can get their power back and reclaim the joy in education. Let us know what you think!

This episode’s guest is not a school leader, but as President of Corwin Publishing, Mike Soules knows a thing or two about staying buoyant in troubled waters. Like leaders everywhere, he was tasked with steadying the company during Covid and its aftermath. He discusses what he learned about leadership during times of crisis, holding true to your values even when external pressures are high and spearheading innovative approaches to common challenges. He also shares an exciting new development that underscores Corwin’s commitment to using high quality research to support educators’ professional development needs. Let us know what you think!

 Poor achievement scores, teacher turnover, funding shortfalls and political pressures. These are just a few issues that have dogged the education profession for years; they seem intractable. But this session’s guests disagree. They believe we need a few mindshifts to spark our collective efficacy for tackling these problems. They also believe certain leadership behaviors which emerged to help manage the Covid crisis are valuable to retain and apply to these perennial problems in education. They discuss how different mindshifts are suited to particular challenges, offer leaders a way to reignite their passion for finding solutions to tough issues and frameworks for processing old problems in new ways. Let us know what you think!

Education luminary Lyn Sharratt shares updates on her seminal book with Michael Fullan, Putting FACES on the Data. Data and accountability are important to a school’s success. Yet as important as numbers and targets are, without the “why”, meaning is lost. Reminding ourselves of the children in front of this data is key to improving instruction. Listen as Lyn shares the origins of this practice, strategic moves that make everyone a leader of learning, and the infrastructure she has built— including an online suite of classes—to help educators do this life-changing work.Let us know what you think!

There is a question that Peter Dewitt gets often: How do I go about getting a book published?  In fact, he’s heard it so much, that we decided to pull back the curtains on this process for interested listeners. Tanya Ghans, Corwin acquisitions editor and Morgan Fox, Corwin marketing manager, share some tips for getting a book proposal noticed. You will hear about how to know if you have a viable idea, what marketing looks like in the 21st century, dealing with rejection and more. Let us know what you think!

In this episode, Debbie Zacarian shares updates in the world of educating multilingual learners. This research includes a more nuanced understanding of the socicultural underpinnings of language development, a shift from deficit to asset-based models that affirm the value of multilingualism, a greater appreciation of the importance of both culturally responsive instruction and more. Debbie proposes a thorough revision to address all these developments that keeps the needs of multilingual students front and center.Let us know what you think!

Retention is crucial for school sustainability. The historical knowledge and experience that longtime staff members have is often unparalleled. Therefore, the high turnover rate we are seeing today, and frankly always for some schools, is nothing less than devastating for school communities. When we add on to that retaining teachers of color, the effects are multiplied. This episode’s guests, Darryl Diggs and Howard Fields, speak candidly about the conditions in many schools that make some black and brown staff members feel unwelcome. They ask leaders to consider whether they are asking some groups of people to leave too much of themselves at the classroom door or signaling that certain perspectives are unwelcome. In other words, does a leader’s school culture and environment truly align with their diversity goals. They also urge leaders to get think outside of the box regarding recruitment efforts: flipped job fairs, apps that link applicants and organizations via phones, the best questions to determine fit and more.  Let us know what you think!

Many teachers recoil at term “supervision.” Who can blame them. So often it is something done to teachers with a tenuous connection to their unique, professional needs. Authors Ann Mausbach and Kim Morrison are on a mission to fix that. In this episode, they remind leaders that teachers need differentiation as much as students do; there is no one size fits all approach. They also know that this can be a tricky task for busy administrators, so they share their framework to help leaders conceptualize and execute high quality supervision across the school year, including co-constructing look fors, layering feedback, gathering relevant data and incorporating findings seamlessly into professional development. With their method of differentiated supervision, teachers will be a lot happier when leaders and coaches walk into their classrooms because they know the focus will be all about support.Let us know what you think!

In a follow up to their widely popular Edweek article, the luminary Michael Fullan and seasoned practitioner Joanna Rizzotto discuss the roots of our teacher retention problem—the system of schooling itself. They contend that we need to shift to a humanity-based model where schools and communities can experience greater local autonomy and improve practices from the bottom up. One of the first steps is to have the more centralized figures connect with the people on the ground; the educators, parents, and students who see it all first. Such interactions would truly show teachers and other community members their value and give district leaders the data they need to make the most effective, holistic decisions. As Fullan and Rizzotto see it, teachers—especially those that stick around—have never left their calling, they have just abandoned an outmoded structure that too often isn’t nimble or responsive enough changing times.  Let us know what you think!