Supporting Teacher Leaders

Michael Iannini, the author of Hidden in Plain Sight: Realizing the Full Potential of Middle Leaders, highlights the important role that teacher leaders play in a school’s effectiveness. How should administrators and coaches support these key influencers? How clearly is their leadership role defined both to the teacher leaders and the staff?  Are teacher leaders receiving coaching around where their team currently is on the spectrum of collaboration?

Visit the Middle Leader website here. 

Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!

Exploring Practicing and Studying With Your Learner

Learning how to learn is certainly one of the most important areas of knowledge and skills for our students to develop. Much future success requires new learning. Maximizing the return on time spent practicing and studying is both rewarding in current success and confident building for the future. It motivates future effort in studying and practicing. You might listen to this podcast with your learner, stopping and reflecting on current approaches.

Practice for Better Learning- https://thelearnerlab.com/improving-the-quality-practice-for-better-learning/
How Practice Changes the Brain- https://www.science.org.au/curious/people-medicine/how-practice-changes-brain
Key Elements of Practice and How to Use Them https://medium.com/@write.ing.things/key-elements-of-practice-and-how-to-use-them-9cfaa2f39f8
Study Smarter not Harder https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/studying-101-study-smarter-not-harder/

Early Reading Classrooms - Coaching ”Look For’s”

Dr. Heather Kenny, a past kindergarten teacher, reading interventionist, consultant and higher education teacher-educator, explores how school leaders and coaches can support teachers of early readers.  She is the President of Unleashed Innovation, Inc. and the creator of Sounder & Friends,™ an educational adventure show to develop learners’ phonemic awareness. Dr. Kenny identifies desired student learning behaviors to build foundational reading success.

Watch an episode of Sounder and Friends here.   
Contact Dr. Kenny here.

Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!

Teaching So That Every Student Matters

Teacher and head of Physical Education, Wayne Roland, identifies insights from his teaching background in a school with a strong focus on teaching as a team sport. He highlights the impact of a mentoring program for students and the school’s focus on trust, integrity, care, and love.

Get in touch with Wayne: wayne.roland@cy.kaiwenacademy.cn

Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!

Jim Knight Ponders with Steve About Reframing Mindsets Through Coaching (Part 2)

I had the pleasure to be a presenter in Jim Knight’s TLC21 Conference. Jim Joined my session and shared his insights as we explored four different mindsets. In part 2, we examine a longer term focus rather than the usual education short term and how we can use our proximity to students for greater learning impact.

View the Marshmallow/Acorn Video here. 
Listen to Neema Avashia's comments here.

Building Reading Success With Sounds

Heather Kenny, a past kindergarten teacher and reading teacher educator, has developed a children’s adventure show called Sounder and Friends™ to promote beginning reading skills. Heather shares with parents ways to build sound awareness for successful reading. She also includes how parents can spot indicators of children’s missing skills that warrant sharing with teachers.

Watch an episode of Sounder and Friends here. 

Find the free App and other resources on the Sounder and Friends website.

Visit the Sounder and Friends Facebook page here.

Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!

Jim Knight Ponders with Steve About Reframing Mindsets Through Coaching (Part 1)

I had the pleasure to be a presenter in Jim Knight’s TLC21 Conference. Jim Joined my session and shared his insights as we explored four different mindsets. In part one we examine coaching focused around what we love rather than what we hate and on designing learning in an ecosystem rather than an assembly line.

View the "Good Ancestor" video here.
View "Voices from the Field: Impact of the Aware Mindset" here.

Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!

Leaders’ Messages to Teachers in December and January

What are the messages you want to share with teachers as the winter break draws close and as teachers and students return to school in January? Are staff and students languishing? Do we need to refocus on “what really matters?” How can you communicate to teachers that you support and encourage their focus on what really matters? That focus is likely provide renewal and recharging for teachers.

Watch Adam Grant's clip on languishing here.

Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!

The Thinking Brain and Body Movement

Dr. Gretchen Stewart, a parent, teacher, researcher and the founder of an upcoming school, Smart Moves Academy, which focuses on the thinking brain and the moving body to maximize learning, shares her knowledge and experience with parents. As a parent of two children with learning differences, her understanding of providing for individual learning needs is highlighted.

Get in touch: gretchen@smartmovesacademy.org
Visit the Smart Moves Academy Facebook page here. 
Visit the Smart Moves Academy website here. 

Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!

Supporting Teachers’ PLC Practices

Experienced teacher, PLC teacher leader, and Instructional Coach, Darby Tobolka joins Steve for a conversation about PLC design, purpose, and expectations. They highlight the role of instructional coaches in focusing PLC’s on student learning.

E-mail Darby: darby.tobolka@leanderisd.org

Find Darby on Twitter: @DarbyT_IC

Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!