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The Better Leaders Better Schools Podcast with Daniel Bauer

The BETTER LEADERS BETTER SCHOOLS podcast is in the TOP 0.5% most downloaded shows of over 2 million podcasts across the world. The BLBS show was created for RUCKUS MAKERS in education -- those out-of-the-box school leaders making change happen. Launched in 2015, this category-defining podcast in educational leadership has helped over 1 MILLION leaders LEVEL UP. Each week host DANIEL BAUER has a conversation with a leadership expert and invites you to listen in. Turn your commute, chores, or workout into professional development and then GO MAKE A RUCKUS! BLBS is the #1 downloaded podcast for school leaders.
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The Better Leaders Better Schools Podcast with Daniel Bauer
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Now displaying: October, 2019
Oct 30, 2019

Welcome to the Better Leaders Better Schools podcast.  This is a weekly show for ruckus makers -- What is a ruckus maker?  A leader who has found freedom from the status quo. A leader looking to escape the old routine. A leader who never, ever gives up.

Imagine a 10-year-old student is invited to your staff meeting, and he stands courageously in front of 60 to 80 adults. His task to present the data which he's researched and collected on staff implementation of a new aspect of a student-designed curriculum. The results are that only half the staff is implementing with fidelity, and the student challenges the team to level up their game.

You are probably wondering how you can give your students such a voice. Our guest today tells us how she has managed to empower the students' voice in her school.  Listen in, get inspired, and learn.

We hope you enjoy the podcast. All the highlights, resources, and next steps can be found below. Listen to the full episode here and learn more at betterleadersbetterschools.com

 

Key Talking Points 

  • The birth of student voice empowerment in Melissa's school
  • Challenges and setbacks when children are given so much voice
  • Negative and positive impacts of student voice empowerment
  • Implementing student voice empowerment
  • Melissa's dream school

  

Key Milestones of the Episodes

 [03:01]  Tip of the week.

 [04:52]  Melissa Clark's Introduction

 [08:08]  How Melissa started the student voice empowerment

 [13:25]  Challenges and setbacks when students are given so much voice

 [16:58]  Positive impacts from a student's voice

 [23:24]  Everything is about learning

 [28:57]  Melissa's top three priorities for her dream school

 

Key Quotes

  1. "The secret to improving our impact and to really make the change as leaders is to ask students what they need."
  2. "As teachers that we underestimate the power of a child."
  3.  "We discovered that the secret was to improve our impact as classroom teachers and to simply ask students what they need."
  4. "Student voice could go so much further than just making a difference in classroom practice. They're actually the untapped change agents within a school as well."

 

Key Resources 

 Pivot (online platform for student voice)

 

About Our Guest

Melissa Clarke is a Principal and coach who has worked in primary schools for the last 20 years. Melissa believes strongly in providing teachers with ‘permission’ to try innovative practice and believes through coaching and personalised professional learning staff will be empowered to be the best they can be while ensuring all teachers are on a journey of ongoing improvement. Her interests include high quality literacy teaching in the classroom, visible learning and the activation of student voice to empower learners. Melissa has taught all grades from K-6 and worked with students from a range of backgrounds and support needs.

 

Tip of the Week

Be the best at one thing: Be really darn good at one thing. Be an expert in that. Find what you're passionate about, be an expert in that and then hire others to be good at other things or empower your assistants to be good at the other things that you as a leader need to be active and an expert in at least one thing plus one to hire others.

 

Show Some Love

 

LEVEL UP 🚀

Website :: Twitter :: LinkedIn

 

SHOW SPONSORS

ORGANIZED BINDER

  • Organized Binder is an evidence-based RTI2 Tier 1 universal level solution
  • Focuses on improving executive functioning and noncognitive skills
  • Is in direct alignment with the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework
  • Is an integral component for ensuring Least Restrictive Environments (LRE)

You can learn more and improve your student’s success at https://organizedbinder.com/

 

The Conrad Challenge

The Conrad Challenge unleashes the potential of students to solve the world’s most difficult problems.

Register until November 1, 2019 at The Conrad Challenge

 

Copyright © 2019 Better Leaders Better Schools

 

Oct 23, 2019

Welcome to the Better Leaders Better Schools podcast.  This is a weekly show for ruckus makers -- What is a ruckus maker?  A leader who has found freedom from the status quo. A leader looking to escape the old routine. A leader who never, ever gives up.

Did you know that you can borrow ideas from other industries and implement them in your schools? Some people have tried, and they have succeeded. 

One of those people is Maria Piccolo Mattoon, who happens to be our guest today.

She is the first person from the Learning Community to be interviewed on the show. Maria is a board member at Birla public school in Qatar.

We hope you enjoy the podcast. All the highlights, resources, and next steps can be found below. Listen to the full episode here and learn more at betterleadersbetterschools.com

 

Key Talking Points 

  • Maria’s introduction
  • Learning from other industries and implementing in schools
  • OODA Loop
  • How are promotions done at Birla School?
  • Retaining top talents
  • Happiness KPIs
  • Importance of partnership building with the local community
  • Maria’s dream school

  

Key Milestones of the Episodes

[03:50]  Tip of the Week

[06:07]  Maria’s introduction

[07:47]  Implementing ideas borrowed from other industries

[09:27]  OODA loop reflection technique

[10:31]  The department of capacity building

[12:07]  How are promotions done at Birla School?

[13:05]  Pitfalls to avoid when promoting from within

 [14:13] The secret to retaining top talent

[17:57]  Happiness KPIs

[21:17]  What is the most important thing when creating local partnerships?

[25:06]  Maria’s dream school

 

Key Quotes

  1. “The person with the fewest blind spots wins.”
  2. “You need to go to bed early, make yourself do it. You will be more productive during the day, and you will get more things done. At six o’clock, you should shut it off.”
  3. “From being in a variety of industries, you expose yourself to a variety of risk profiles.”
  4. “Our team is like a family.”
  5. “We invest in our people’s professional development and growth and advancement for all of them, all members of our team across all levels.”
  6. “We like to look at unusual places to see what insights can be gleaned from there as well.”
  7. “Our life is only limited by our own imagination, not the imagination of others.”
  8. “We have an amazing generation, and they can do really great things if they can imagine that act based on their own imagination and what they want for their own life.”
  9. ” Children are so different and so unique, and it’d be nice to cater to all of them. “

 

Key Resources 

  1. Zero to One by Peter Thiel
  2. OODA Loop
  3. Steve Francis Website

 

About Our Guest

Maria Pakalomattom is a Board member at Birla Public School, a private school with over 7500 students in Qatar. She has led various initiatives at the school covering the strategic, academic, operational and financial aspects. Maria has investments in ventures across sectors as an entrepreneur, but education is her favorite. Maria studied at Columbia University, where she focused on finance and entrepreneurship.

LinkedIn



Tip of the Week

Go to bed early.  Just like eating right and exercising, there is immense value in getting appropriate rest.  I make terrible decisions when I’m tired and i’m no fun to be around. I love Michael Hyatt’s post on the importance of rest.

 

Show Some Love

 

LEVEL UP 🚀

Website :: Twitter :: LinkedIn

 

SHOW SPONSORS

ORGANIZED BINDER

  • Organized Binder is an evidence-based RTI2 Tier 1 universal level solution
  • Focuses on improving executive functioning and noncognitive skills
  • Is in direct alignment with the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework
  • Is an integral component for ensuring Least Restrictive Environments (LRE)

You can learn more and improve your student’s success at https://organizedbinder.com/

 

The Conrad Challenge

The Conrad Challenge unleashes the potential of students to solve the world’s most difficult problems.

Register until November 1, 2019 at The Conrad Challenge

 

Copyright © 2019 Better Leaders Better Schools

Oct 16, 2019

Welcome to the Better Leaders Better Schools podcast.  This is a weekly show for ruckus makers -- What is a ruckus maker?  A leader who has found freedom from the status quo. A leader looking to escape the old routine. A leader who never, ever gives up.

 

As a school head, you can't make ruckus sitting in your office with the four walls surrounding you and all the business of public education happening out in the school. Our guest today, Andy Lindsay tell us how he built himself a mobile office which ended up as a learning inspiration for an autistic student in the school.

 

We hope you enjoy the podcast. All the highlights, resources, and next steps can be found below. Listen to the full episode here and learn more at betterleadersbetterschools.com

 

Key Talking Points 

  1.     What is a mobile office?
  2.     The development and advancement of Andy’s mobile office
  3.     The unintended consequences of the mobile office
  4.     Andy’s communication system between him and the teachers
  5.     What is the French fries challenge

 

Key Milestones of the Episodes

[03:50]  Andy’s introduction

[05:25]  What’s a mobile office?

[06:08]  Development and advancement of Andy’s mobile office

[09:44]  The unintended consequences of the mobile office

[13:11]  The communication system

[17:01]  The French fries challenge

[22:33]  Danny’s ideal stuff profile

[29:06]  Danny’s top three priorities for his dream school

 

Key Quotes

  1. “Isolation is the number one enemy of excellence and it is also a choice.”
  2. “Sometimes we exist in a vacuum of natural talent and that will only get us so far.”
  3. “Effective school leaders need to connect with others that can help them accelerate their growth and pass their knowledge on to as well.”
  4. “You're the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
  5. “You can't make ruckus sitting in your office with the four walls surrounding you and all the business of public education happening out in the school.”
  6. “There are so many neat opportunities out there that are not in textbooks, but they're real.”
  7. “Helpful teachers have to be helpful by nature.”
  8. “Passion will lead you to success more than a desire for money.”
  9. “I can inspire their passion, but they've got to have it in the corner to begin with.”
  10. “We cannot be inflexible in any way. Flexibility has to be part of our part of everyday life for us.”

 

 Key Resources 

  1. School Leadership Reimagined Podcast- Robyn Jackson
  2. School Leadership Series with Daniel Bauer

 

About Our Guest

Andy Lindsey has worked in public education for 22 years as a teacher, coach, tech leader, mentor association leader and Dean of Students. For the past five years, Andy has served as an assistant principal, he has won statewide awards in Michigan as a first year teacher, social studies teacher and as an assistant principal. His secret sauce is passion for learning, leadership and kids.

LinkedIn

 

Tip of the Week

Network! Sometimes we exist in a vacuum of natural talent and that will only get us so far. So effective school leaders need to connect with others that can help them accelerate their growth and pass their knowledge on to as well.

 

Show Some Love

 

LEVEL UP 🚀

Website :: Twitter :: LinkedIn

 

SHOW SPONSORS

ORGANIZED BINDER

  • Organized Binder is an evidence-based RTI2 Tier 1 universal level solution
  • Focuses on improving executive functioning and noncognitive skills
  • Is in direct alignment with the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework
  • Is an integral component for ensuring Least Restrictive Environments (LRE)

You can learn more and improve your student’s success at https://organizedbinder.com/

 

The Conrad Challenge

The Conrad Challenge unleashes the potential of students to solve the world’s most difficult problems.

Register until November 1, 2019 at The Conrad Challenge

 

Copyright © 2019 Better Leaders Better Schools

Oct 14, 2019

Welcome to the Better Leaders Better Schools podcast.  This is a weekly show for ruckus makers -- What is a ruckus maker?  A leader who has found freedom from the status quo. A leader looking to escape the old routine. A leader who never, ever gives up.

 

Why is career advancement for women more difficult than it is for men? What can women do to fight the bias at workplaces?

 

People put you into buckets based on who they perceive you to be. Women have had it all rough. Their ambitions and competence get questioned all the time. For instance, how can she deliver at work yet she has a baby to nurture? How can she be so ambitious?

 

Our guests today are here to help us understand how we can fight bias at workplaces. According to our guests, it all begins with demonstrating confidence, even when you are not confident.

 

Women are very often perceived as too weak, too sweet, too nice to be effective. If they’re very effective, then they’re considered to be unpleasant and unlikeable.

 

We hope you enjoy the podcast. All the highlights, resources, and next steps can be found below. Listen to the full episode here and learn more at betterleadersbetterschools.com

  

Key Talking Points 

  • How to deal with stereotyping that comes from transitioning from a smaller firm to a larger firm
  • Where do we begin the journey of being comfortable to talk about our accomplishments?
  • How can we enroll men in the bias conversation, and how can we get them to invest in the needed change?
  • Goldilocks dilemma

 

Key Milestones of the Episodes

 [03:22]  Transitioning from a smaller firm to a larger firm. How to deal with the stereotyping

 [06:26]  Talking about our accomplishments

 [07:42]  How can we engage men in the conversation against bias?

 [11:10]  Goldilocks dilemma

 

Key Quotes

  1.   “The way we present ourselves gives other people an idea of who we are.”
  2.   “The balance between communal and agentic behaviors is dependent on the ability to manage the impressions that you create that other people have of you.”

 

 Key Resources 

  1. Website
  2. Twitter
  3. It's Not You It's the Workplace: Women's Conflict at Work and the Bias that Built It by Andrea S. Kramer and Alton  B. Harris

 

About Our Guest

Andie Kramer and Al Harris are married practicing lawyers. They have been mentoring women and speaking and writing about gender communication for more than 30 years. Andie and Al offer women unique, balanced, and highly practical advice they can use to prevent gender biases from slowing or derailing their careers.  

 

Join the BLBS Mastermind 

What kind of leader makes a good mastermind member?  Danny asks members that he already serves and this it what they said about their peers: 

 

Mastermind members are supportive, wise and not afraid to kick your butt! ~Eileen, Deputy Head of Schools in China

 

Courageous, risk takers and learners are how I describe my mastermind peers. ~Chris, VP in Canada

 

Mastermind members are generous, driven and are never satisfied with the status quo. ~Melody, Principal in Kentucky

 

If that sounds like you or people you want to surround yourself with apply today at https://www.betterleadersbetterschools.com/mastermind/

 

**Our 5th mastermind cohort is launching and is hands down the best professional development a leader can engage in.  Join Today!**

 

Tip of the Week

Be Consistent:  Consistency leads to trust.  Make sure you are doing what you say you are going to do each day.  Follow through and be consistent with your teachers. Your authentic leadership depends on it.   People love a leader who they trust.

 

Show Some Love

 

LEVEL UP 🚀

Website :: Twitter :: LinkedIn

 

SHOW SPONSORS

ORGANIZED BINDER

  • Organized Binder is an evidence-based RTI2 Tier 1 universal level solution
  • Focuses on improving executive functioning and noncognitive skills
  • Is in direct alignment with the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework
  • Is an integral component for ensuring Least Restrictive Environments (LRE)

You can learn more and improve your student’s success at https://organizedbinder.com/

 

The Conrad Challenge

The Conrad Challenge unleashes the potential of students to solve the world’s most difficult problems.

Register until November 1, 2019 at The Conrad Challenge

 

Copyright © 2019 Better Leaders Better Schools

Oct 9, 2019

Welcome to the Better Leaders Better Schools podcast.  This is a weekly show for ruckus makers -- What is a ruckus maker?  A leader who has found freedom from the status quo. A leader looking to escape the old routine. A leader who never, ever gives up.

What is Courage? How can you lead with Courage?

Today we are honored to have Amanda Valenzuela on the show. Amanda will tell us what it takes to lead with Courage. According to our guest, Courage is asking that pesky question that you don’t want to ask at the end of the admin meeting because you know, it needs to be asked. How often do you hold back on something just because you think it doesn’t matter, but deep inside, you know you need to ask?

Amanda takes us through how she leads with Courage.

We hope you enjoy the podcast. All the highlights, resources, and next steps can be found below. Listen to the full episode here and learn more at betterleadersbetterschools.com

 

Key Talking Points 

  • Amanda’s introduction
  • Courage
  • Leading with Courage
  • How to find a voice

  

Key Milestones of the Episodes

[01:22]  Amanda’s introduction

[09:14]  What is Courage?

[10:57]  Leading with Courage

[19:09]  Finding your voice

[28:51]  Amanda’s top 3 priorities

 

Key Quotes

  1. “When you’re on your path, the universe will conspire to help you.”
  2. “If you are going to find your voice and you’re going to be willing to share your voice, you have to like yourself, and you have to believe that other people like you and or that what you have to say matters or no one’s going to listen to you.”
  3. “As a woman, there’s no reason I can’t do anything that anyone else does.”
  4. “You just can’t be worried about being popular all the time.”
  5. “If you’re going to hold back, then there’s no way that your team can trust you.”
  6. “Courage is asking that pesky question that you don’t want to ask at the end of the admin meeting because you know, it needs to be asked.”

 

Key Resources 

  1. Dare to Lead- Brenae Brown’s

  2. The Conrad Challenge

 

About Our Guest

Amanda Valenzuela, native of Southern California, is the Upper School Coordinator and the Languages Department Head. She completed her undergraduate studies at California State University, Fullerton in Spanish Linguistics and Literature, and her graduate studies at UCLA, where she earned a Masters in Spanish and Ph.D. Candidacy in Hispanic Languages and Literatures. As a school leader, she credits the NAIS Diversity Leadership Institute (DLI) for building her capacity to support equitable and inclusive educational practices at ESLA. During the 2019-2020 school year, Amanda is teaching Global Citizenship Through the Lens of Recent Spanish Cinema and AP Spanish Language and Culture. Amanda is also a 2019-2020 Leadership and Design Fellow (L+D) and a contributor to California World Language Project (CWLP) & the California Global Education Project. Amanda loves surfing, hiking, motorcycles, and storytelling.

LinkedIn

Tip of the Week

Build a team:  As you develop relationships within the organization take note of everyone’s strengths.  Build your team on complimentary pieces. In fact, build the team to bolster your weaknesses as a leader.  Do you have a school improvement team, a leadership team, or a data team? Effective school leaders build teams that can support their efforts.

 

Show Some Love

 

LEVEL UP 🚀

Website :: Twitter :: LinkedIn

 

SHOW SPONSORS

ORGANIZED BINDER

  • Organized Binder is an evidence-based RTI2 Tier 1 universal level solution
  • Focuses on improving executive functioning and noncognitive skills
  • Is in direct alignment with the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework
  • Is an integral component for ensuring Least Restrictive Environments (LRE)

You can learn more and improve your student’s success at https://organizedbinder.com/

 

The Conrad Challenge

The Conrad Challenge unleashes the potential of students to solve the world’s most difficult problems.

Register until November 1, 2019 at The Conrad Challenge

 

Copyright © 2019 Better Leaders Better Schools

Oct 2, 2019

Welcome to the Better Leaders Better Schools podcast.  This is a weekly show for ruckus makers -- What is a ruckus maker?  A leader who has found freedom from the status quo. A leader looking to escape the old routine. A leader who never, ever gives up.

Do you know students can advise you in ways that you cannot imagine?  Dr. Marcus Campbell tells us how his students helped him come up with the dress code for the school.  Additionally, Dr. Campbell tells us how his school changed the status quo and got more students to the AP classes regardless of their race.

We hope you enjoy the podcast. All the highlights, resources, and next steps can be found below. Listen to the full episode here and learn more at betterleadersbetterschools.com

  

Key Talking Points 

  • How Marcus implemented dressing code in his school
  • Race vs. Gender
  • Breaking the status quo of the AP classes
  • Being a better decision maker

 

Key Milestones of the Episodes

[05:10]  The history of dress codes

[06:15]  Adopting the Oregon chapter

[10:59]  What shift happened to the dress code?

[17:02]  Access and equity to AP classes

[24:47]  How Marcus makes decisions

[27:41]  Self-care

 

Key Quotes

  1. “There's nothing worse than being inconsistent.”
  2. “If you say you're going to do something, follow through.”
  3. “Authentic leadership is a leader’s ability to lead with their mind their heart and their feet.”
  4. “If learning is our focus, let's focus on the learning and leave the dressing.”
  5. “Do what you have to do when you have to do it regardless of how you feel.”

 

Key Resources 

Frederick Douglas by Dr. David Blight 

 

About Our Guest

Dr. Campbell earned his Ed.D. in Educational Leadership at National College of Education, National Louis University in the fall of 2015.

Marcus Campbell also serves as the Assistant Superintendent/Principal at ETHS since 2013. In this role, he serves as the educational leader and chief administrator of all school operations at Evanston Township High School and is responsible for implementing and managing the policies, regulations, and procedures of the Board of Education to ensure that all students are educated and supported in a safe, equitable, culturally relevant and student-centered learning environment.

Twitter

 

Join the BLBS Mastermind 

What kind of leader makes a good mastermind member?  Danny asks members that he already serves and this it what they said about their peers: 

Mastermind members are supportive, wise and not afraid to kick your butt! ~Eileen, Deputy Head of Schools in China

Courageous, risk takers and learners are how I describe my mastermind peers. ~Chris, VP in Canada

Mastermind members are generous, driven and are never satisfied with the status quo. ~Melody, Principal in Kentucky

 

If that sounds like you or people you want to surround yourself with apply today at https://www.betterleadersbetterschools.com/mastermind/

**Our 5th mastermind cohort is launching and is hands down the best professional development a leader can engage in.  Join Today!**

 

Tip of the Week

Be Consistent:  Consistency leads to trust.  Make sure you are doing what you say you are going to do each day.  Follow through and be consistent with your teachers. Your authentic leadership depends on it.   People love a leader who they trust.

Show Some Love

 

LEVEL UP 🚀

Website :: Twitter :: LinkedIn

 

SHOW SPONSORS

ORGANIZED BINDER

  • Organized Binder is an evidence-based RTI2 Tier 1 universal level solution
  • Focuses on improving executive functioning and noncognitive skills
  • Is in direct alignment with the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework
  • Is an integral component for ensuring Least Restrictive Environments (LRE)

You can learn more and improve your student’s success at https://organizedbinder.com/

 

The Conrad Challenge

The Conrad Challenge unleashes the potential of students to solve the world’s most difficult problems.

Register until November 1, 2019 at The Conrad Challenge

Copyright © 2019 Better Leaders Better Schools

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