Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud

Students Setting Goals and Developing Plans

Students’ abilities to set goals, plan for success, and systematically collect feedback are critical to school and life success.

Starting the school year teaching these processes (at all grade levels) can set the stage for increased student success throughout the year and beyond. This podcast shares important elements to build into your plans for effective goal setting and identifies how a middle school team collaborated with a physical education teacher in teaching and coaching goal-setting and planning for success.

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Coaching From the School Improvement Plan

Dr. Karen Johannesen, a highly experienced school leader, writer, and organizational change consultant explores the role of professional development and coaching in school improvement plans that positively impact student success. She believes that when schools support teachers with well-designed and rich professional learning, those teachers create the same type of rigorous and engaging opportunities for students. Her book, "Coaching for Multilingual Student Success" brings the work of school-based and district based coaches to life.

Find Karen's book, "Coaching for Multilingual Student Success" here.  

Visit Karen's website here.

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

 

Making Magical Ripples Towards a Coaching Culture

To what extent should building coaching into the culture of the school be a desired outcome of instructional coaches’ and administrators’ responsibilities?

How can an instructional coach plan for and assess progress even when administrator support or system expectations are not present? Many schools experience ongoing changes in staff and teams, which can seem overwhelming for coaches who feel they lack the time, stability, or support to create real change. In these cases, I suggest that coaches focus on creating a ripple effect by enhancing individual teachers’ coaching experiences and increasing coachability.

Watch Simon Sinek's video on magic ripples here. 

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

Assessment as a Verb for PLCs

Explore how teachers working in PLCs can use a verb approach to assessment and error analysis to collaboratively focus on shared accountability for ALL students’ success. This process of assessment as a verb, combined with collegial exploration of the information the assessing produced, aligns with my favorite PLC question: "What do the students need us to learn…..?" Teacher learning is key to increased student learning. That collegial learning  builds teacher collective efficacy.

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

Leading Schools That Move Students From Access to Success

Experienced teacher, head of school and the author of "The Landscape Model of Learning," Jennifer D. Klein, describes how schools build learning communities where students belong and thrive because they are supported for their experiences, gifts, and challenges. How do coaches with school leaders guide teachers to explore understanding learners as fully as we can, supporting learners’ aspirations and goal setting with multiple pathways of learning? How do leaders model for teachers similar learning communities that we desire for students.

Connect with Jennifer to learn more: blogs, videos, books here. 

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

 

Confidentiality in Coaching

Confidentiality in a coaching program can be complicated. For many teachers, knowing that coaching conversations are confidential makes it easier for them to explore what really matters. At the same time, school leaders want to build an environment of trust where the issue of confidentiality becomes increasingly less important. Teachers and leaders becoming teams focused on the common goal of students’ success created a sense of MY results are OUR results. How do coaches work with the complexity of confidentiality?

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

Students Documenting Learning

Explore how teachers and students can be empowered with the implementation of student documented learning. Jennifer D. Klein, teacher, administrator, and author of "The Landscape Model of Learning: Designing Student-Centered Experiences for Cognitive and Cultural Inclusion," provides examples across grade levels. Her concrete examples illustrate the how as well as the “why” benefits. When students take accountability for documenting their learning, motivation often increases, and important life skills are practiced.

Connect with Jennifer to learn more and find her blogs, videos & books here.  

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

Building and Earning Trust as a Coach

As teachers’ relationships with those providing coaching grow from a foundation of trust, teacher vulnerability and risk-taking increase which positively impacts teacher growth. I had an earlier opportunity to explore earning trust and building trust with Jonathan Mueller, an experienced international school leader. He shares that when you can build rapport through unconditional positive regard with somebody, it helps build and continues to earn trust with people. Here are questions teacher have of a coach: Do you appreciate and value me? Can you help me? Can I trust you?  Unconditional positive regard for people as human beings is an excellent way to start. 

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

Addressing Educator Burnout: Self Care in Not Enough

In his book, "Triage Your School: A Physician’s Guide to Preventing Burnout," Dr. Chris Jenson provides specific actions school leaders and coaches can take to address the elements of chronic stress for teachers and themselves. Combining his years as a doctor in an emergency room with his years teaching high school science, Dr. Jenson has a unique understanding. Chris states, “Like health care, triage prioritizes educators actions and provides a healthier perspective toward overflowing work demands...one that removes guilt and emotion from incomplete tasks.

Find Chris's Book, "Triage Your School" here. 

Visit Chris's website here.

Find Chris's LinkedIn here.

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

Teachers Building Students' SEL Skills

The author of "Teaching With The Heart in Mind,"  Dr. Lorea Martínez, who was a special education teacher and school administrator and worked with children and adults internationally, provides reinforcement for the value of purposefully planning for embedding SEL skills in the classroom, beyond teaching the SEL curriculum. She guides educators to provide the necessary resources and structures to support teachers’ social and emotional capacity; and go beyond the SEL curriculum to include the conditions that make learning and growth possible for all students.

Read "3 Misconceptions about SEL" here. 

Contact Lorea and find her resources here.

Watch Lorea's video on Teacher Stress here.

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