What a great conversation about the new book, The Artificial Intelligence Playbook: Time-Saving Tools for Teachers that Make Learning More Engaging! Jenn got to talk to all three of the authors: Meghan Hargrave, Douglas Fisher, and Nancy Frey and learned so much.

We discussed everything from what AI is and isn't, to the reasons leaders should address teachers' emotions around AI, to whether AI is going to take over our jobs! (Spoiler alert, the authors quoted Ethan Mollick who says, "AI won't take your job, but someone who uses AI will!" ... so listen to this podcast to be the person who knows how to use AI!)

There are, however, things to be careful of — like students using AI for plagiarism — so we discussed some great ideas to address this. 

We also got into some concrete examples of the ways AI can help teachers with the important work they're doing:

1. managing content
2. fostering student engagement
3. meeting students’ instructional needs
4. assessing student learning
5. providing effective feedback, and 
6. lifelong learning for educators

The authors share examples of prompts you can feed into AI and some of the tips they have for making sure you get the best possible answers from AI.

Since our listeners are mostly ed leaders, they also shared that on Corwin's website there's a school leader's guide to the book. There's also a study guide for teachers and a boot camp with self-paced modules on the website. The authors are all over social media. You can't miss them.

If you've been shy about diving into AI, this conversation and this book are two great places to start!

As always, send your comments, questions, and show ideas to [email protected]. Consider rating the podcast in iTunes and leaving a comment.  And please pass the show along to your colleagues. Additionally, if you have other non-education books with implications for school leaders, send those suggestions our way, too. And finally, If you or someone you know would like to sponsor the show, send Mike an email at [email protected].

You probably know Charles Duhigg from his book, The Power of Habit. Or maybe Smarter Faster Better. Now he has a newer book out that is another great resource for school leaders — Supercommunnicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection.

Charles shares with Jenn how people mess up communication and how to improve it. He says that most miscommunication happens when we are having different conversations, and when we fail to connect. There are basically three conversation types: decision-making, emotional, and social relationships.

You don't want to miss this conversation because you'll see how Jenn uses Charles's own techniques to connect with him emotionally in just ONE minute. And later in the podcast, Charles and Jenn role play a teacher and principal and how to diagnose and address a typical conflict.

There are so many nuggets of wisdom for educational leaders in this podcast. One small thing you can do tomorrow? Ask deeper questions with staff. Instead of asking WHAT questions, like "What is happening today?" Ask, "How are you feeling about how things went today?"

You can find more information at CharlesDuhigg.com or sign up for his Substack. He suggests supporting a local bookstore by picking up this book there. Also, Penguin Random House has a free guide for teachers and students on their website.

 As always, send your comments, questions, and show ideas to [email protected]. Consider rating the podcast in iTunes and leaving a comment.  And please pass the show along to your colleagues. Additionally, if you have other non-education books with implications for school leaders, send those suggestions our way, too. And finally, If you or someone you know would like to sponsor the show, send Mike an email at [email protected].

Jenn had an outstanding conversation with Robert Feirsen, one of the two authors of From Conflict to Collaboration, along with author Seth Weitzman. They chatted about the tough stuff – like how prevalent conflict is in schools and a number of the sources of that conflict. But then Robert shared the positive way he thinks about conflict and how we, too, can use conflict as an opportunity for learning and growth.

Robert shared the idea that design thinking – an approach that comes from the discipline of engineering – can be used to address conflict effectively. First you put together a team of people with diverse roles and perspectives, and then they go through the stages of design thinking – empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test – in order to collaboratively come up with and test possible solutions to address a major conflict your school community is facing. To learn more about the authors you can go to TeacherEdge.net.  

As always, send your comments, questions, and show ideas to [email protected]. Consider rating the podcast in iTunes and leaving a comment.  And please pass the show along to your colleagues. Additionally, if you have other non-education books with implications for school leaders, send those suggestions our way, too. And finally, If you or someone you know would like to sponsor the show, send Mike an email at [email protected].

Jenn made me do this episode. I really didn't wat to, but I'm glad we did.

As we approach the upcoming presidential election, you may remember the fallout from the last two elections. Some school communities experienced heightened divisions, increased bullying, more tension in classrooms, and a general sense of uncertainty. 

Fortunately, there are some steps school and district leaders can take to proactively anticipate some of these challenges. We need to plan ways to communicate clearly, set expectations, and create a calm and inclusive school environment while also thinking through ways to address challenges that may arise (heightened emotions, legal issues, inappropriate behavior.) 

All of this while remembering that our purpose in schools is to educate! We need to remember this election brings plenty of opportunity (and responsibility!) to educate our students about civic issues, media literacy, and respectfully engaging in challenging and often contentious conversations.

Take a look at this 2-page resource - 5 Ways School Leaders Can Prepare for a Contentious Election and listen to our conversation with the very thoughtful Debbie McFalone

Dr. Debbie McFalone has a long and distinguished career in the field of education – after serving as a Teacher, Principal and Supe she now is a consultant and coach who works with both school-based and district-based individuals and teams across the state of Michigan. Her work focuses primarily on the areas of courage and integrity in leadership. Plus she has her 3rd book coming out in early 2025 Meeting The Moment: A Call For Courage. You can learn more about Debbie and her work at her website: https://www.livewellleadstrong.com/. 

As always, send your comments, questions, and show ideas to [email protected]. Consider rating the podcast in iTunes and leaving a comment.  And please pass the show along to your colleagues. Additionally, if you have other non-education books with implications for school leaders, send those suggestions our way, too. And finally, If you or someone you know would like to sponsor the show, send Mike an email at [email protected].

Kim Marshall needs no introduction. He is the most recognized name in the field of educational leadership because he is the person behind the weekly Marshall Memo -- a subscription service that provides curated summaries of the most important articles in education each week. 

In this podcast Kim provides an overview of the three essential areas school leaders need to keep an eye on to be successful supervisors and coaches:

• Supervising and coaching TEACHING

• Supervising and coaching LEARNING

• Supervising and coaching PLANNING

Most know him because he is the guru of mini-observations. In our conversation he shares what you need to be sure to do to ensure your observations and feedback are effective.

As always, send your comments, questions, and show ideas to [email protected]. Consider rating the podcast in iTunes and leaving a comment.  And please pass the show along to your colleagues. Additionally, if you have other non-education books with implications for school leaders, send those suggestions our way, too. And finally, If you or someone you know would like to sponsor the show, send Mike an email at [email protected].

In this episode, Jenn and I interview Dave Blanchard, a seasoned superintendent from a school district in Upstate New York. Three years ago Dave’s district implemented a distraction-free environment, which included no cell phones during the school day. We talk about this leadership challenge in the context of Jonathan Haidt’s 2024 book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. 

If you would like a summary of the book along with discussion questions to use with families, email [email protected]. If you would like to hear the research and ideas straight from the author, join a free webinar with Jonathan Haidt about The Anxious Generation on 9/24 at 3:00 PM EDT. RSVP here: https://home.edweb.net/webinar/mentalhealth20240924/.

As always, send your comments, questions, and show ideas to [email protected]. Consider rating the podcast in iTunes and leaving a comment.  And please pass the show along to your colleagues. Additionally, if you have other non-education books with implications for school leaders, send those suggestions our way, too. And finally, If you or someone you know would like to sponsor the show, send Mike an email at [email protected].

We were fortunate to get to talk to the renowned Todd Whitaker in today's podcast. He is one of the most influential thought leaders in educational leadership and has written 65 books on staff motivation, teacher leadership, and principal effectiveness!

Today Whitaker talks about the latest edition of his classic book, What Great Principals Do Differently: Twenty Things That Matter Most.

Todd shares 8 of the 20 things he has found (through research AND personal experience as a principal) the BEST principals do that the average ones don't.

He was quite a hoot to talk to and you'll love his anecdotes. But most of all he helps school leaders with what may be the most important task, (and he says all of his books are about this important task) HOW TO GET PEOPLE TO DO WHAT YOU WANT THEM TO DO.

To learn more about him, go to http://toddwhitaker.com/ or follow him on Twitter at @ToddWhitaker.

As always, send your comments, questions, and show ideas to [email protected]. Consider rating the podcast in iTunes and leaving a comment.  And please pass the show along to your colleagues. Additionally, if you have other non-education books with implications for school leaders, send those suggestions our way, too. And finally, If you or someone you know would like to sponsor the show, send Mike an email at [email protected].

Teachers spend a lot of time making sure students know what they’re supposed to do, and many students struggle to understand expectations and translate them into action. The results are less time for teaching and less capacity for learning. 

Schools need to teach executive functions to all students in the context of the learning they are already doing to boost learning and engagement today and equip them for the future. In his book, Executive Functions for Every Classroom, author Mitch Weathers offers a beginning routine and a concluding routine any teacher can adopt to teach executive functions. You can learn more about Mitch and his work at organizedbinder.com or send him an email at  [email protected]. 

As always, send your comments, questions, and show ideas to [email protected]. Consider rating the podcast in iTunes and leaving a comment.  And please pass the show along to your colleagues. Additionally, if you have other non-education books with implications for school leaders, send those suggestions our way, too. And finally, If you or someone you know would like to sponsor the show, send Mike an email at [email protected].

Students today are suffering from an epidemic of disconnection. School leaders I work with see it in students’ disengagement from learning and in their mental health. While there are many factors at play here, there’s no doubt that belonging is something that kids (and grown-ups too) desperately need. 

In this episode, Jenn and I interview Dominique Smith, who along with his co-authors Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, Vincent Pompei, and Rachael Stewart, wrote Belonging in School Creating a Place Where Kids Want to Learn and Teachers Want to Stay.

Belonging in School is an actionable and illustrated playbook that will have you excited to take immediate steps and try out some new strategies today for making your school a place where everyone feels that they belong.

As always, send your comments, questions, and show ideas to [email protected].  Consider rating the podcast in iTunes and leaving a comment.  And please pass the show along to your colleagues. Additionally, if you have other non-education books with implications for school leaders, send those suggestions our way, too. And finally, If you or someone you know would like to sponsor the show, send Mike an email at [email protected].

In this episode, Jenn had the privilege of speaking to three rising juniors in college, all of whom want to become teachers. While we've spent so much time fearing the loss of teachers from our field, it was so inspiring to remember that some energetic young people are going to bring so much to our schools, too. Exciting!

The passion of these three young women — Annie Morrison, Audrey Garfinkel, and Isabella Argote — was palpable! First of all, they KNOW kids — from teaching swimming and ballet to being camp counselors to starting an innovative virtual book club for young people during Covid — and will bring these rich experiences to our schools.

Whether you want ideas for how to work with our youngest teachers or you just want to be inspired, you should listen to this episode! You may end up wanting their resumes in a couple years...

As always, send your comments, questions, and show ideas to [email protected].  Consider rating the podcast in iTunes and leaving a comment.  And please pass the show along to your colleagues. Additionally, if you have other non-education books with implications for school leaders, send those suggestions our way, too. And finally, If you or someone you know would like to sponsor the show, send Mike an email at [email protected].

According to Beverly Cleary (yes, that Beverly Cleary), “Children should learn that reading is pleasure, not just something that teachers make you do in school.” Jenn and I couldn't agree more, and that’s why in this episode we talk about the book The Joy of Reading by Donalyn Miller and Teri S. Lesesne (Heinemann, 2022). Here’s more of what we know:

• Decades of over-testing and standardized learning has crowded out students’ joy in reading. When it comes to reading, students report they are bored and uninterested. Research tells us that this undermines reading achievement.

• Fortunately, educators at every level can cultivate reading joy by supporting students’ reading independence and reading community. And it can be done without abandoning evidence-based instruction.

Enjoy the second part of this lively conversation about this critically important topic.

As always, send your comments, questions, and show ideas to [email protected].  Consider rating the podcast in iTunes and leaving a comment.  And please pass the show along to your colleagues. Additionally, if you have other non-education books with implications for school leaders, send those suggestions our way, too. And finally, If you or someone you know would like to sponsor the show, send Mike an email at [email protected].