Today our guest is Dr. Tonya Clarke, Mathematics Coordinator in the Division of Teaching and Learning and Strategic Improvement at Clayton County Public Schools. We talk with Dr. Clarke about the crucial role of supporting teachers as they implement culturally responsive and sustaining mathematics practices. She explains how her team is providing onsite job-embedded professional development to help teachers apply the training to their classrooms. Dr. Clarke also discusses the various strategies ...
May 19, 2023•20 min•Season 5Ep. 43
Today our guest is Antonio McMath, the Founder, T4E: Trans4ormed Extreme Leadership. We talked to Antonio about the B.E.S.T. model that T4E has created to help build up young men in our communities. He explained that the B.E.S.T. model stands for Build, Empower, Strengthen, and Transform, and it is designed to help young men understand what it means to be the best version of themselves. Antonio emphasized that the model starts with empowering young men to take care of themselves first, which is ...
May 12, 2023•17 min•Season 5Ep. 42
Today our guest is Cyndi Tercero-Sandoval the Family and Community Engagement Manager at the Phoenix Union High School District. We talk with Cyndi about Participatory Budgeting, a way to empower students and give them a voice in how the budget is spent. Cyndi explained the intentional process that Phoenix Union has undertaken to implement participatory budgeting, which has started to increase student engagement and connection in some really creative ways. This process has not only increased stu...
May 05, 2023•16 min•Season 5Ep. 41
Today our guest is Ryan Marshall, School Counselor at South Salem High School and the 2023 Oregon School Counselor of the Year. We talk to Ryan about student driven suicide prevention and how they have worked to add student input and voice in supporting student mental health. He shares how this work started with one student, and how as they gathered information across the district they heard from students that they wanted to help. Ryan discusses how students have played a vital role in creating ...
Apr 28, 2023•20 min•Season 5Ep. 40
Today our guest is Dr. Sandi Logan-McKibben School Counseling Program Director and Clinical Assistant Professor at Sacred Heart University. We talk to Dr. Logan-McKibben about the importance of being a data-driven school counselor and how we can embrace the data to help us more effectively support students and families. She shares 3 ways that we can put a focus on data and reminds us that even though data can sometimes be intimidating, it’s an essential way to make sure that we are best advocati...
Apr 21, 2023•16 min•Season 5Ep. 39
Today, our guest is Morgan Larche, the Director of Unified Schools at Special Olympics Washington. We talk to Morgan about Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools and the incredible work that these schools do by focusing on three connected components: Unified sports, whole school engagement, and inclusive youth leadership. Morgan explains how these strategies are more of a mindset than a program, and how they bring together students with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities ...
Apr 14, 2023•18 min•Season 5Ep. 38
Today our guest is Dwight Carter the Director of Student Support Systems at Eastland-Fairfield Career & Technical Schools. We talk to Dwight about the importance of knowing and operating within your character strengths. He shares about the need to understanding the strengths that we bring to the table and talks about a free tool that we can use to help us to aware of our own strengths. Dwight also shares how knowing the strengths of the people on our teams can help us get un-stuck. To learn ...
Apr 07, 2023•15 min•Season 5Ep. 37
Today, our guest is Dr. Clay Cook, the Chief Development Officer at CharacterStrong. In this episode, we discuss CharacterStrong's new Tier 2 Solution, launching this spring. Dr. Cook shares his insights on the resources, tools, and interventions that come with CS Tier 2. He also talks about the included professional learning support that will help educators improve continuously over time. Additionally, Dr. Cook provides an overview of the small group skill-building curriculum and discusses its ...
Mar 31, 2023•13 min•Season 5Ep. 36
Today our guest is Meredith Lee, Director of Professional Learning at CharacterStrong. We talk to Meredith about how to effectively engage staff and maintain our commitment to Social and Emotional Learning in our classrooms. She reminds us of the importance of reminding staff of their purpose and not just staying there, but quickly transitioning to the "how". Meredith outlines the 3W Check-in, a tool we can use to reflect and evaluate with staff. Additionally, she shares a structured protocol th...
Mar 24, 2023•18 min•Season 5Ep. 35
Today our guest is Dr. Alvia Baldwin the Director of Guidance and Counseling in Alief ISD in Texas. We talk to Dr. Baldwin about how to increase staff and Admin buy-in in our schools and districts. She talks about the different ways that they have put a focus on character education across the district at Alief, not just with the students but also with the staff. Dr. Baldwin shares how having fun has be an important piece of creating a culture of character, and how they have connected this with w...
Mar 17, 2023•20 min•Season 5Ep. 34
Today, our guest is Dr. Clay Cook, the Chief Development Officer at CharacterStrong. We speak with Clay about why Tier 1 and Tier 2 supports should run concurrently instead of waiting for Tier 1 to be fully in place before starting Tier 2. He identifies some of the necessary components for this approach and discusses the differences between Tier 1 and Tier 2. Clay also emphasizes the time required to support students with Tier 2 needs, and he shares about the impact that it can have when Tier 1 ...
Mar 10, 2023•11 min•Season 5Ep. 33
Today our guest is Sharon Bradley, Founder and Principal Consultant of Restorative Flow Educational Solutions. We talk to Sharon about the need to create schools where kids want to be vs have to be, and how we can leverage SEL to do this. She reminds us of the collective responsibility that we all share to help create this healthy school culture, and shares some practical ways that we can proactively start to connect with students. To learn more: Email: restorativeflo@gmail.com Website: www.rest...
Mar 03, 2023•17 min•Season 5Ep. 32
Today our guest is Meredith Lee, Director of Professional Learning at CharacterStrong. On this episode we discuss with Meredith the importance of community agreements, what they are, and how we can use them with staff and students. She emphasizes the need for co-creation when creating community agreements and shares a four-step process to help us be successful in setting them up. Meredith also highlights the importance of revisiting these agreements regularly throughout the school year.
Feb 24, 2023•16 min•Season 5Ep. 31
Today, our guest is Dr. Clay Cook, the Chief Development Officer at CharacterStrong. We discuss some of the common roadblocks that make Tier 2 work more challenging. Clay shares the two most important steps a school can take to ensure successful Tier 2 implementation: having a strong leadership team and having a coordinated problem-solving process. He also explains what it takes to match students to the right interventions. To Learn More: CharacterStrong Tier 2 Solution: https://characterstrong....
Feb 17, 2023•14 min•Season 5Ep. 30
Today, we welcome Elizabeth Congdon-McGee, the 2021 Alaska School Counselor of the Year and a professional school counselor for the Anchorage School District. Elizabeth talks about how she and the principal of her school have collaborated, and how investing in relationships and using data has made a difference in their work. She also provides insight into how school counselors can advocate for their work by intentionally sharing their story with different groups in the community. Elizabeth also ...
Feb 10, 2023•16 min•Season 5Ep. 29
Today, our guest is Zulema Fragoso, school counselor at Nogales High School and the 2023 Arizona School Counselor of the Year. We chat with Zulema about how she began her career in school counseling and what has kept her motivated for the past 16 years while she works with students and families. She explains how she collaborates with other staff and advocates for the role of school counselors. Additionally, Zulema discusses how she continues to build relationships and support students in the com...
Feb 08, 2023•16 min•Season 5Ep. 28
Today, our guest is Deirdra Hawkes, the Director of Programs and Advocacy at ASCA. We discuss the significance of taking a break to recognize the efforts of school counselors both during NSCW, and also regularly during the year. Deirdra also emphasizes the importance of teachers and staff as we work together to help students, and encourages us to have conversations about what is beneficial for students to learn and the various ways we can continue to support our communities. She also shares some...
Feb 06, 2023•15 min•Season 5Ep. 27
Today, we are joined by Kat Pastor, the Executive Director of School Supports at CharacterStrong, and Cory Notestine, the Director of Continuous Improvement at CharacterStrong, from Washington D.C. to kick off National School Counseling Week. They discuss the past, present, and future of school counseling, as well as the changes that have taken place and what keeps them passionate about school counseling today. Kat Pastor has passionately served as a student and educator advocate for over 20 yea...
Feb 03, 2023•18 min•Season 5Ep. 26
Today our guests are Katrina Hill, Caleb Amstutz, & Melanie Fox from Community School in Roanoke, Virginia We talk to Katrina, Caleb, and Melanie about the advisory program at Community School which was recently recognized as an inaugural AMLE School of Distinction in 2022. They share about multiage groupings, multiyear relationships, the value of traditions, and the impact that these have had in the lives of the students at Community School. View the AMLE School of Distinction Page Caleb Am...
Jan 27, 2023•18 min•Season 5Ep. 25
Today our guest is Lisa Koenecke. We talk to Lisa about how safety includes both physical and psychological safe spaces. Lisa reminds us that we can each make a difference in the lives of students by being intentional and planning ahead. Lisa also shares how this doesn’t have to take a lot of time, and how sometimes all it takes is looking at education thru a new lens. As an experienced and energetic Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) professional speaker and facilitator, Lisa specializes in...
Jan 20, 2023•16 min•Season 5Ep. 24
Today our guests are Amber Benson & Ruby Voss, better know as BensonVoss. We talk to BensonVoss about the role that Positive Relationships & Data-Based Decisions play in Student Growth. They share how they work to build positive relationships from day one of the school year, and the positive impact that this has in their classroom. BensonVoss also talk about how they have intentionally done more with less and how they work for total participation with their students. BensonVoss “is” the ...
Jan 13, 2023•23 min•Season 5Ep. 23
Today our guest is Amber Dixon. We talk to Amber about some different ways that school counselors can FOCUS on counseling this school year. She shares how she has helped encourage counselors to fill their buckets, own their personal and professional skills, create a safe environment, understand their campus and community, and stay connected to the system that they work in. Amber Dixon has served in the field of education for 15 years with 12 of those years in counseling. She began her counseling...
Jan 06, 2023•17 min•Season 5Ep. 22
Today our guest is Dr. John Hattie, the Director of the Melbourne Educational Research Institute at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Dr. Hattie is also the author of Visible Learning and Visible Learning for Teachers, the result of 15 years of research. On this episode we talk about 10 Steps To Develop Great Learners: Visible Learning For Parents, Dr. Hattie’s newest book that he wrote with his son Kyle. Dr. Hattie also shares some of the mindframes that can help all of us that work with ...
Dec 30, 2022•20 min•Season 5Ep. 21
Today our guest is Barb Micucci, Barb is a recently retired elementary school counselor and was the 2010 ASCA School Counselor of the Year. We talk to Barb about the importance of school-wide SEL programming as we support all students & the impact that can happen when all staff has a common language. She shares how setting the tone right at the beginning of the day helps shape the climate in our classrooms, and why character ed is so important right now. Barb Micucci has been an educator for...
Dec 29, 2022•16 min•Season 5Ep. 20
On today's episode, Melvin Fields Jr. shares the importance of building trust and relationships with our students and colleagues. He also talks about how he got started with the WA state counselors association and highlights the importance of showing up and providing opportunities for others. Melvin J. Fields Jr., certified School Counselor at Yelm Middle School in Yelm, Washington is current President of the Washington School Counselor Association (WSCA) for 2021 – 2022. He is the Washington Sc...
Dec 28, 2022•17 min•Season 5Ep. 19
Today our guest is Christi Sturgeon a School Counselor, Broken Arrow High School, and is Oklahoma School Counselor of the Year for 2021-22. We talk to Christi about how important it is to find our purpose and how we can stretch ourselves and model that for students. She shares 7 things that we can do to help students focus on looking forward, and some of the ways that this can have impact. Christi graduated from Oklahoma Baptist University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology followed by a Mas...
Dec 27, 2022•21 min•Season 5Ep. 18
Today our guest is Dr. John Salovardos. Dr. Salovardos is the Director of Pupil Services in the Athol-Royalston Regional School District, in Athol-Royalston, Massachusetts. He has been working in special education in public schools for the past 23 years. We talk with Dr. Salovardos about ways that we can help all students feel connected at school, and how we can help students to thrive in our communities after high school. John Salovardos Ed.D. is a Director of Pupil Services who has been workin...
Dec 26, 2022•18 min•Season 5Ep. 17
Today our guest is Phil Brown the lead trainer for High 5 Adventure Learning Center in Brattleboro, Vermont. We talk to Phil about what Adventure Education is and how it is both novel and can involve some risk. He describes the experiential learning cycle and talks about the power of having a shared experience. Phil also gives practical ways we can use experiential learning strategies in our classrooms that can amplify learning for students. Phil Brown, originally from England, joined the High 5...
Dec 23, 2022•23 min•Season 5Ep. 16
Today our guest is Kim Reykdal. We talk to Kim about the importance of having a whole child approach as we work to serve students and families. She talks about what she sees is missing from education, academic, career, and social emotional development, and how we can use data to help us close the gaps in those areas. Kim shares practical ways that we can better support all students, and gives ways that we can honor students as they take the next steps in their journeys after high school. Kim Rey...
Dec 16, 2022•20 min•Season 5Ep. 15
Today our guest is Dr. Laura Owen. We talk to Dr. Owen about centering and celebrating student and family voices as we work to support them in their education. She shares some of the things that they have learned from listening to students, and how the pandemic has impacted them specifically when it comes to college enrollment. Dr. Owen highlights the need to include student voice as we plan, and build programs to support students in their post-secondary plans, and she shares the fast-growing im...
Dec 09, 2022•19 min•Season 5Ep. 14
