Show Notes, Episode 25: Parents and Community About this show: “We need to increase family engagement.” I hear this all the time. We know what we want from families, but do we know what families want from us? Today’s episode will take us beyond reading rallies and pizza nights and even beyond my favorite parent event - donuts for dads. Today we focus on what teachers can do to build stronger parent partnerships and how school leaders can support those partnerships. Notable Quotes Dr. Leigh Ann A...
May 05, 2022•45 min•Ep. 25
I’m asking for your help. I’ve put together an MVP (minimally viable product) training video and am looking for a few people to pilot it. In exchange for access to this mini-PD, you would be committing to the following: • Watching the video (about 45 minutes, but can be chunked into six parts) • Completing the feedback form (5-15 minutes) • Providing your email address knowing that I will not spam you but will provide you with updates on the project and updated materials The pilot will run from ...
May 03, 2022•8 min•Ep. 24
Show Notes, Episode 23: Testing Coordination with Carrie Prochaska About this show: April showers bring May flowers and May flowers bring…. Testing in schools! Many of the assistant principals I work with also serve double duty as test coordinators. It is a challenging job, but today’s show should contain some tips that make the job a bit easier. Notable Quotes Carrie Prochaska “I think it is super important that we are positive and supportive. We know how everyone feels about testing and we don...
Apr 28, 2022•52 min•Ep. 23
Show Notes, Episode 22: Growth Mindset About this show: If you have ever played buzz-word bingo, and had “growth mindset” on your card, you knew you odds of winning were good. But what is “growth mindset” all about? As an assistant principal, you probably already know where this is going. Yes, we want our kids to have a growth mindset, but if we can get our teachers to also have that growth mindset, then we will be in great shape! Notable Quotes Becca Silver “once we use the word ‘have’ we make ...
Apr 21, 2022•49 min•Ep. 22
Show Notes, Episode 21: Meeting the Needs of New Teachers About this show: In today’s episode, guest host Mara Buskey leads us through a discussion with two relatively new teachers about what they need from their assistant principals, how they view leadership, and what kind of feedback and style of coaching best meets their needs. This is an inspiring episode that may yield some surprising but valuable insights. Notable Quotes Mara Buskey “I can very much remember being a student and the intense...
Apr 14, 2022•43 min•Ep. 21
Show Notes, Episode 20: Change Starts from Within About this show: The topic of this show is restorative practices, but the show title is the key to implementing such practices: Change starts from within. In this episode we take a detour from the common one-two-three approaches to kicking off a restorative justice program in your school. Instead, we focus on you. Or more accurately, we focus on getting you to focus on you? If the discipline approaches you are relying on aren’t working, then this...
Apr 07, 2022•41 min•Ep. 20
Show Notes, Episode X: Title About this show: Serving exceptional students can be one of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of school leadership. In this episode Elizabeth Schumpert, Director of Student Support Services for Saluda County Schools, helps us gain some insights into supporting exceptional students and their families, and working with the variety of support services and personnel that make up part of the team that cares for exceptional students. Notable Quotes Elizabeth Schum...
Apr 01, 2022•47 min•Ep. 19
Show Notes, Episode 18: The Math of Leverage About this show: The four principles of leverage, described last week in episode 17, can guide us to creating progress in our organizations. A key to progress is focusing on incremental progress as opposed to big changes to fix things. In today’s episode, we will apply leverage to a real school situation. Notable Quotes Frederick “If you invest 5 minutes a day in one of these teachers, over the course of a week we can probably make a difference” “One ...
Mar 24, 2022•28 min•Ep. 18
Show Notes, Episode X: Title About this show: Ever wonder why we are always driving change in our schools? Ever wonder why change initiatives rarely seem to produce the promised results? What if there was a better way? What if, instead of making sweeping changes, we just made tomorrow a little bit better today? If the concept of incremental yet immediate change appeals to you, then listen to todays show on the four principles of leverage Notable Quotes Frederick The work of leadership is really ...
Mar 17, 2022•25 min•Ep. 17
Show Intro Hello colleagues and welcome to the Assistant Principal Podcast. I’m your host Frederick Buskey. The goal of this podcast is to help improve the life and leadership of assistant principals. This podcast compliments APEx, the Assistant Principal Exceleration program, but you certainly don’t need to be an APEx member to find value in the podcast. It’s just me today talking about the transition to being driven by the important, instead of the urgent. The beginning of today’s show will re...
Mar 10, 2022•18 min•Ep. 16
Show Notes, Episode X: Title About this show: Dr. Melissa Burns is the principal at Sara Collins Elementary School in Greenville, South Carolina. Melissa is a remarkable principal and leader who balances wisdom and practicality. One of Melissa’s many superpowers is developing other people’s leadership. In the first half of this episode, we discuss the importance of developing teacher-leaders and how to do it. In the second half of the episode, Melissa provides some practical advice for how busy ...
Mar 03, 2022•28 min•Ep. 15
The Assistant Principal Podcast Episode X: Tracking Teacher Development Why does it always feel like improving teacher quality is an uphill battle? One big reason is that our schools are not structured to facilitate consistent teacher growth. Focusing on helping teachers to grow requires us to focus on the structures that can support growth first. In this episode we look at on important structure, the teacher tracking document. The teacher tracking document helps us to develop and document a coh...
Feb 24, 2022•35 min•Ep. 14
Show Notes, Episode 13: What Makes a Great AP Today I’m joined by Brenda Byrd, an Assistant Superintendent for School Leadership (and a former South Carolina Elementary Principal of the Year and a National Distinguished Principal). Brenda works for Greenville County School District in Greenville South Carolina. Brenda is here with us to talk about what makes an AP great. Notable Quotes Brenda Byrd “Gone are the days where you are mandating new initiatives across the board. It needs to be few and...
Feb 17, 2022•56 min•Ep. 13
Show Notes, Episode X: Title About this show: Today I’m joined by Becca Silver the founder and lead consultant at The Whole Educator. Becca has been posting some great stuff on LinkedIn, which is where we met. Becca is here to help us explore the AP – Instructional coach relationship. Notable Quotes Becca Silvers “Teachers are diverse learners, just like their students, we should not be giving out blanket coaching strategies” “Don’t treat people the way you would want to be treated, treat people...
Feb 10, 2022•40 min•Ep. 12
The Assistant Principal Podcast Episode 8: Who Should I Coach? In this episode we look into the surprisingly complex question of “Who should I coach?” We examine the five ways that teachers grow, we overview what a systemic approach to teacher growth looks like in a school, and we answer the question. If you only have time to coach one or two people, then you can’t afford to choose the wrong person to coach. This podcast should help. If I can only coach one teacher, who should I coach? I’ve been...
Jan 10, 2022•23 min•Ep. 8
Episode 7: Dr. Sam Sircey and Perspectives Today I’m joined by Dr. Sam Sircey , the Principal of North Buncombe High School in Weaverville NC.Sam is here with us today to explore perspective taking! Dr. Sam Sircey: “If we can’t get a new perspective, we can become complacent and compliant. That’s okay if we are only here to behave well, but we are here to learn.” “Faculty meetings – we are there to learn something.” “If we forget that they [students] want to be part of the discussion, then its’s...
Dec 09, 2021•36 min•Ep. 7
Today we are doing a coaching grab bag. Today’s episode was inspired by my ongoing work with assistant principals from several different school districts. With these APs we’ve already looked at different types of teacher observations (there are four), some basic observation tools, and some post-observation conferencing strategies. Last month each AP chose one thing to focus on helping a single teacher improve on. Earlier this week we unpacked their experiences and there was so much to talk about...
Nov 20, 2021•24 min•Ep. 6
Imagine this: You receive only six emails a week. One is from your district office and provides all the info you need for the week. One is from your principal and provides all the info your teachers need for the week. The other four are from the PLC teams that you support and are copies of their meeting notes and action items. Almost no email, and none of it urgent. Just FYI stuff. What could you do with the extra time? On today’s episode, we examine your relationship with email. I’m your host, ...
Oct 14, 2021•16 min•Ep. 5
This is a special edition of The Assignat Principal Podcast inspired by some work I did recently with nine assistant principals as part of the APEx program. This podcast assumes that you are familiar with 5-mc. If you aren’t, you can go to frederickbuskey.com/resources and download a one-pager. This is a deeper look at the purposes and techniques of 5-mc. Purpose of 5-mc 1. Help T become more reflective (by creating space) 2. Show T that you value them (by listening) 3. Help you understand what’...
Sep 30, 2021•25 min•Ep. 4
