Connie Hamilton has served many roles in over two decades as an educator. She has been an elementary and middle school teacher and instructional coach. As an administrator, Connie held positions as a principal at both the elementary and secondary levels and a central office curriculum leader. Her experience in these positions fueled a passion for supporting high quality instruction. Dr. Joseph Jones is the Superintendent of Schools in the New Castle County Vocational-Technical School District. J...
May 10, 2023•39 min•Ep 158•Transcript available on Metacast Dr. Glover is a servant leader committed to equity and inclusion. She is a former educator, administrator, Human Resource manager, and Diversity, equity and inclusion professional. In 2017, Dr. Glover earned her doctorate degree in Urban Education, from Cleveland State University. With an emphasis on policy and planning, Dr. Glover has transferred her learning into reimagining the ways in which we socialize scholars, future teachers, and current educators. More recently, Dr. Glover self-publishe...
May 03, 2023•33 min•Ep 157•Transcript available on Metacast Ben Jones knew he was going to be a principal when he was in 3rd grade. His entire school career, while a bit tumultuous at times, gave him experiences that helped him become an impassioned educator. After graduating from the University of Georgia in December of 2002, he began teaching at Carson Middle School in Greene County, GA. After getting married in 2004, Ben and his wife moved to Forsyth County, GA where Ben began teaching at Liberty Middle School. In 2010, Ben became the Graduation Coach...
Apr 26, 2023•27 min•Ep 156•Transcript available on Metacast Ben Jones knew he was going to be a principal when he was in 3rd grade. His entire school career, while a bit tumultuous at times, gave him experiences that helped him become an impassioned educator. After graduating from the University of Georgia in December of 2002, he began teaching at Carson Middle School in Greene County, GA. After getting married in 2004, Ben and his wife moved to Forsyth County, GA where Ben began teaching at Liberty Middle School. In 2010, Ben became the Graduation Coach...
Apr 19, 2023•35 min•Ep 155•Transcript available on Metacast Stacey Green began her tenure at Stockton Grade School (SGS) as a new principal with an ambitious goal: transform the school’s culture from an isolated, individual classroom focus to an integrated, responsive, and collaborative environment where teachers lead with the whole child and the whole school in mind. In just six years, Green has had remarkable success, not only because of her individual talents, but because of her belief that change happens when leaders “empower others to remove barrier...
Apr 12, 2023•25 min•Ep 154•Transcript available on Metacast Stacey Green began her tenure at Stockton Grade School (SGS) as a new principal with an ambitious goal: transform the school’s culture from an isolated, individual classroom focus to an integrated, responsive, and collaborative environment where teachers lead with the whole child and the whole school in mind. In just six years, Green has had remarkable success, not only because of her individual talents, but because of her belief that change happens when leaders “empower others to remove barrier...
Apr 05, 2023•30 min•Ep 153•Transcript available on Metacast Do You Have A Safe Space to Unpack Tough Career Decisions? Dr. Charles Warfield has served the Haddon Township School District since 2002, where he has simultaneously been the principal of Stoy Elementary School and Jennings Elementary School. Prior to his tenure in Haddon Twp., Chuck spent three years in the Cherry Hill School District as an Assistant Principal at Carusi Middle School. He also taught elementary school in the Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District before becoming an ...
Apr 01, 2023•33 min•Ep 152•Transcript available on Metacast Dr. Charles Warfield has served the Haddon Township School District since 2002, where he has simultaneously been the principal of Stoy Elementary School and Jennings Elementary School. Prior to his tenure in Haddon Twp., Chuck spent three years in the Cherry Hill School District as an Assistant Principal at Carusi Middle School. He also taught elementary school in the Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District before becoming an administrator. Show Highlights Figured out how to multiply ...
Mar 22, 2023•24 min•Ep 151•Transcript available on Metacast Lauren Cikara is the Director of K-12 Initiatives at Active Minds. Prior to that, she worked for the Colorado School of Public Health School recruiting schools to participate in the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey (HKCS), Colorado’s Youth Risk Behaviour Survey (YRBS), and Smart Source. She is a strong advocate for LGBTQ+ inclusive school board policies and ensures the work she is a part of has an equitable and intersectional lens. Show Highlights Must hear student campaigns that expand the generati...
Mar 15, 2023•27 min•Ep 150•Transcript available on Metacast Hailing from Canada’s Capital region, Loop pedal violist, composer, and educator Kathryn Patricia Cobbler has crafted a singular niche in improvisation and classical performance. Bringing creativity to concert halls, schools, and community venues, her work as a performing artist, composer, educator, and speaker centers around multidisciplinary collaborations that both hold space for and tell the life stories of audiences and communities Show Highlights Approach your work with co-creation and inn...
Mar 08, 2023•22 min•Ep 149•Transcript available on Metacast Show Highlights Tips to boost your confidence to avoid imposter syndrome. Every leader needs a “Jar of Awesome" to capture the results you create. Learn your default response when it comes to facing obstacles, challenges, and failures. No Wasted Experience, you need to invest in yourself. Accomplishing anything of massive value in your life takes a strong mindset. Modify “A principal's lunch” to optimize your performance. Complete “The Input Audit”, “Ruckus Maker Mindset Tool” and the “Square Sq...
Mar 01, 2023•39 min•Ep 148•Transcript available on Metacast How to solve the crisis in education Stanley Litow is a Professor at Duke, Trustee of the State University of NY and columnist at Barron's. He previously served as President of the IBM Foundation, Deputy Schools Chancellor for New York City, Founder and head of Interface and Executive Director the Urban Corps. He organized and led 3 National Education Summits, served on two Presidential Commissions and helped found PTECH schools Show Highlights Solutions to the crisis that education is facing as...
Feb 28, 2023•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Road To Awesome Darrin Peppard is a leadership expert focused on organizational culture and climate, and coaching growing emerging leaders. Darrin is the author of the book Road to Awesome: Empower, Lead, Change the Game. He is also the host of the Leaning into Leadership podcast. As a ‘recovering high school principal’, Darrin shares strategies and lessons learned and effective from over 25 years in public education to help leaders to be more effective and positively impact the world around the...
Feb 22, 2023•33 min•Ep 147•Transcript available on Metacast The Leadership Optimization Compass Show Highlights Operating at your personal best consistently every day next year for your campus with this tool. Learn the four parts to T he Leadership Optimization Compass framework. Unplug in Denver with a stripped down personalized approach to achieving your leadership goals. If you wanna create bigger results for your campus, you need to network to implement the best practices that move you. A mental model all leaders need to have a healthy life on and of...
Feb 15, 2023•48 min•Ep 146•Transcript available on Metacast Bryan Miltenberg is the proud principal of Aquebogue Elementary School in Riverhead, New York. He's been a teacher, dean, and middle school assistant principal, and has presented and published on topics including school climate and culture, instructional technology, self-aware leadership, inclusivity, time management, and co-teaching partnerships. Against all logic, he remains a suffering lifelong Mets and Jets fan. Show Highlights Establish transformational belonging at your school by avoiding ...
Feb 08, 2023•42 min•Ep 145•Transcript available on Metacast Show Highlights The one decision that's going to change everything for you with this simple strategy regarding culture. Stop blaming students for failures and get organized as a professional learning community. The survey you need to overcome your blind spots to ensure you are celebrating your entire learning community. Epic Live Mastermind event in Denver this summer with a brand new framework, “Leadership Optimization Compass.” Hire you mom to accelerate nurturing and belonging in your school....
Feb 05, 2023•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Culture to the Max Dr. Shontoria Walker is a graduate from the University of Houston in Houston, Texas with a degree in Professional Leadership with an emphasis in Literacy. Her research focuses on using culturally relevant pedagogy to influence literacy achievement for middle school Black Male Students based on her experiences as a former 8th grade English teacher at an all-boys preparatory academy. She has also served on the Texas Teacher Advisory Board, a Teach Plus Policy Fellow as well as a...
Feb 01, 2023•35 min•Ep 144•Transcript available on Metacast Born in Scotland and raised around the world, Kirsten is a truly global thinker. Her educational training spans Scotland, USA, Australia and more. After 27 years of international education experience across 7 countries and leadership positions in 5 schools, she now works as an independent consultant, creating individually tailored PD for schools, developing online learning events and coaching educators. Kirsten founded one of the most popular educator PLNs on Facebook, where 120,000 global educa...
Jan 31, 2023•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dr. Steven Weber is the Associate Superintendent for Teaching and Learning. He brings more than 20 years of experience to the district having previously served as the Executive Director for Curriculum and Instruction with Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools (NC). During his career, he has served as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, director of secondary, and executive director of curriculum and instruction. Weber’s professional experience includes serving as a curriculum director with the...
Jan 25, 2023•37 min•Ep 143•Transcript available on Metacast Ryan Steuer is the founder of Magnify Learning, a Project Based Learning professional development organization. Prior to founding Magnify Learning, Ryan was an engineer for a Fortune 50 company, an eighth-grade English teacher, and a missionary. He shares his educational leadership insights on YouTube and on the PBL Simplified podcast. Show Highlights The adventures and life learning from RV education. Bridging the gap to connect the dot between essential concepts and real world experiences for ...
Jan 18, 2023•35 min•Ep 142•Transcript available on Metacast Mitch doesn't teach teachers how to teach. He teaches teachers how to set students up for success. He can teach teachers how to deliver content - He is good at it, but that’s not where he adds value for your school or district. As you know, unless students develop a solid foundation for learning it does not matter how great your teachers deliver content, or how emergent the technology, or even how engaging a lesson might be. When students hone executive functioning skills, teachers’ efforts to d...
Jan 11, 2023•34 min•Ep 141•Transcript available on Metacast Show Highlights School transformation and really leveraging curiosity and intentional design. Turn critics into cheerleaders with the “Can If mental model” Use the nine propelling questions to leverage the constraints and do something powerful within your school. Use your leadership superpowers and tools and follow the map your biggest critics provide. Create opportunity and rewards for your community by leveraging the knowledge and expertise of your parent community. removing X, which will allo...
Jan 10, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this special episode, Chief Ruckus Maker, Danny Bauer teaches the Principal Success Formula™. This episode is in-depth. Much deeper than a usual show. We recommend you listen to this one with a notebook, so you can follow along and do the work Danny had leaders do when he taught this live. The four parts of the Principal Success Formula™ are: LEVEL UP your mindset so that you are an even more magnetic, impactful, and effective leader … Learn how to use intentional design to create an even mor...
Jan 04, 2023•1 hr 20 min•Ep 140•Transcript available on Metacast Dr. Decoteau J. Irby’s life work focuses on creating and sustaining organizations that contribute to Black people’s self-determined well-being, development, and positive life outcomes. He is an Associate Professor at University of Illinois at Chicago in the Department of Educational Policy Studies. He is the author Stuck Improving: Racial Equity and School Leadership (Harvard Education Press) and the picture book Magical Black Tears: A Protest Story (Derute Consulting Cooperative). Show Highligh...
Dec 28, 2022•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast Shannon Buerk is the Founder and CEO of engage2learn, a leading provider of Education Intelligence through smart professional learning, job-embedded coaching, and related technology solutions since 2011. Educator turned entrepreneur, she has emerged as a thought leader on educational leadership, organizational culture, and systems thinking. Buerk recently published Connect the Dots: Utilizing Education Intelligence to Accelerate Growth, Retain Talent, and Optimize Outcomes. Show Highlights Conve...
Dec 21, 2022•32 min•Ep 138•Transcript available on Metacast Will Jawando is an attorney, an activist, a community leader, and a councilmember in Montgomery County, Maryland, a diverse community of more than one million residents. Called “the progressive leader we need” by the late congressman John Lewis, Jawando has worked with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator Sherrod Brown, and President Barack Obama. His writing has appeared in The Washington Post and The Root and on BET.com, and his work has been featured in The New York Times and New York magazine and o...
Dec 14, 2022•34 min•Ep 137•Transcript available on Metacast Dr. CJ Lowery, is the Assistant Superintendent in Rockport-Fulton Texas. He has a background with inner-city and rural Title 1 schools as a teacher and principal. CJ believes that education is not a job, it’s a mission field. This mission field requires strong relationships, data, and collaboration for success. “It’s not who you know, but who you were good to.” Show Highlights Ruckus Makers need to embrace the tension of veteran teachers while amplifying the talent of novice teachers. "Who you k...
Dec 07, 2022•40 min•Ep 136•Transcript available on Metacast Show Highlights Today we are talking about a topic I love -- MARGIN So many of my peers in the education space think that there isn't enough time. That's simply not true. The problem is that not everyone -- including me -- utilizes time effectively 100% of the time. I pride myself on telling you how it is. When I do use my time effectively I get so much done and realize there is an actual ABUNDANCE of time. Today I share both the concepts and the practical HOW TO DO IT … If you are interested in...
Dec 01, 2022•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Show Highlights It’s not about outcomes, it’s about good judgment. Immediately results in building consistency and trust with your team. Batching tasks will maximize your time and focus. Stop switching and multitasking your to-do list. A system and a process for principals to lean into your genius. Alignment is key. How aligned are all the things that happen within your school? Get the episode Transcript here!! Resources & Contact Info: Free Resource BetterLeadersbetterschools.com/margin Read my...
Dec 01, 2022•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Crafting The Culture Jeff Zoul, is a lifelong teacher, learner, and leader. During Jeff’s distinguished career in education he has served in a variety of roles, including Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning in Illinois. Jeff also served as a teacher and coach in the State of Georgia for many years before moving into school administration. Jeff has been recognized as a local Teacher of the Year and as an outstanding principal in the State of Georgia. He is the author/co-author of m...
Nov 30, 2022•35 min•Ep 135•Transcript available on Metacast 
