Britt Hunter was the number one women's basketball recruit in the country. Then her knee shattered three possessions into her first game at Duke. What happened next is not the story you would expect. This week Britt joins Jon and Coach Jim for a conversation about resilience, curiosity, and what she now tells the 14 to 24-year-olds she works with about the habits you build in your lowest moments being the ones that carry you through the next one. Her story starts later than you think it does,

Connect with the Show Here! The fastest way to change a school might be hiding in plain sight: make fathers feel like they belong. We sit down with Dr. Deborah Higdon and Dr. Chacko Abraham, veteran educators and co-authors of The Dad Difference: How and Why to Invite Fathers into Your School, to talk about why dad engagement is more than a feel-good idea. It’s a concrete, low-cost strategy tied to stronger student achievement, better attendance, improved behavior, and a healthier school cult...

Turn Ideas Into Action 💡Get the Crafting Team Goals Toolkit - bit.ly/jlgoals Are you looking to strengthen your school's instructional practices? In this podcast, Kurtis and Lorna dive into how to connect Collaborative Planning to school priorities. Discover how teams of teachers can come together to examine curriculum, instruction, and data to create a common understanding of instructional expertise. We’ll show you why this is the most critical step in ensuring effective Tier 1 instruction an

You know consistency matters. You know relationships are essential. So why does responding to the same classroom behaviors still feel so difficult? In this episode of Aspire to Lead, Joshua Stamper welcomes back educator, author, and coach Kim Gameroz to explore the gap between knowing a strategy and making it work with your students. Kim shares how meaningful coaching begins with listening, asking thoughtful questions, and helping educators see what might be missing in their classroom language,

What if family engagement wasn't just about back-to-school nights, parent-teacher conferences, and school events—but a core part of your school's culture? In this episode of the Time for Teachership podcast, host Lindsay Lyons welcomes guest Ashley Harding, educator and family engagement advocate with Northstar Academics, to explore how schools can move beyond traditional family engagement practices and build meaningful, sustainable partnerships with families and communities. Ashley shares how

Let’s chat—send me a text! What changes when students aren’t just finding an answer—but using math to make a decision? In this episode, we’re talking about moving beyond “solve the system” and giving mathematics an actual job. We’ll explore: Answers vs. mathematical decisionsLetting students decide which math could helpUsing math as evidence to defend a choiceHow Pitch Profit turns systems of equations into a business decisionThis week’s reflection: Where are you giving students an answer to ...

Access the FREE Transform Your Team Meetings guide, including a meeting agenda template to copy and begin using today - https://bit.ly/5planningteams Move From Planning to Action 📥 Grab Your Free Copy https://bit.ly/102reads How do you build a thrive-first culture of collaboration when stress is at an all-time high? In this episode of Building a Culture of Collaboration, Kurtis and Lorna sit down with Dr. Dan Stecken—Superintendent of Seneca Township High School, author of "Stressed Leaders:

Ryan explains why there was no episode recently and why he's taking a couple of weeks off: a busy community theater run, personal commitments and scheduling conflicts with guests. He shares what's coming next: the November History of Music episode, a short Epilepsy Awareness Month episode, guests returning in December, and the end-of-year review. He also pays tribute to Patrick Stewart and Walter Koenig and thanks listeners for their support.

In this episode, we explore how to get small and say no to something when the world feels a bit too big.

What do you do when a talented employee keeps making the same mistakes? How many conversations do you have before deciding it's time to move on? In this solo episode of Leaning Into Leadership, Dr. Darrin Peppard challenges the idea that employee accountability should be synonymous with punishment. Instead, he explores how leaders can use clarity, intentionality, and consistent feedback to help struggling employees grow while maintaining high expectations. Drawing from his experience as a scho

See What's Possible 🚀 Build Momentum - bit.ly/layeringteams Discover What's Missing 📖 Get Your Copy → bit.ly/CR-intro In this episode of Leading Collaborative Response, Lorna and Kurtis connect with Sean Beaton and Nicole Short, district leaders for Grasslands Public Schools. Sean (Associate Superintendent) shares how they are using the collaborative team meeting process to support schools, enhance their instructional leadership and create collaborative teams with leaders across schools. Nicol

Moving Mountains: Removing Toxicity with Tom C Murray

What does it take to grow as a leader, and how do you know when it is time for a change? In this episode of the Lead with H.O.P.E. Podcast, Dr. Brandi Kelly sits down with Dr. Dawn Bridges, Director of Professional Learning at the Illinois Association of School Administrators (IASA), for an inspiring conversation about leadership growth, educational leadership, professional learning, resilience, mindset, and navigating change in education. Dawn shares her leadership journey and the experiences

What happens when multilingual learners need foundational reading instruction, but existing standards don't clearly establish who is responsible for providing it? In this episode, four Georgia educators explore gaps between WIDA’s English language development standards and the science of reading, particularly for students entering U.S. schools beyond the early elementary grades. Drawing on their collaborative work in Floyd County Schools, they discuss how ESOL and literacy educators can share re

Move From Planning to Action 📥 Grab Your Free Copy https://bit.ly/102reads Are you tired of pushing initiatives that fade the moment you step away? Learn the difference between simple "buy-in" and achieving "critical mass"—the sufficient number of people who make adoption self-sustaining and irreversible. In this conversation, Kurtis and Lorna leverage concepts like The Tipping Point (Malcolm Gladwell) to reveal why achieving just 10-30% adoption can be the key to lasting organizational change

Nancy Jasin Ensley is an Author, Legal Nurse, Hospice Specialist, and Teacher whose work reflects a lifetime of service and experience writing to listen, to remember, and to continue creating with purpose. Over the years, she's written across multiple genres including memoirs, literature and fiction, science fiction, mystery, thriller, action and adventure, and children’s literature. Each story she creates is rooted in family, faith, service, and lived experience, and her goal is to explore what

Do your perfectly planned music lessons keep going sideways the moment students move from their spots to the xylophones? If you find yourself constantly hushing, repeating directions, or playing "fun police," the problem isn't your teaching—it's your transitions! In this episode, Jeanette Mihalchik reveals why controlling your elementary music classroom comes down to treating transitions as core instructional content rather than downtime. You’ll learn how to use "Silly Guardrails" to satisfy yo

What if some of our greatest weaknesses are actually our greatest strengths taken too far? This week on Schurtz and Ties, Brian brings a quote from C.S. Lewis that leads us into a surprisingly personal conversation about leadership, parenting, relationships, and the uncomfortable reality that even our best qualities can become problematic when left unchecked. We wrestle with a question that's as funny as it is uncomfortable: "What do you admire about yourself that might occasionally make you

"This should have just been an email." If your team has ever thought that, this episode is for you. This week Jon and Coach Jim go solo to break down the four types of meetings every leader needs to understand: the one-on-one, the leadership team meeting, the full staff meeting, and the off-site. Each one has a time and a place, and using the wrong type wastes time, erodes trust, and quietly signals to your team that you do not value their attention. They also cover the one thing almost every

📊 Get Your Data Organized and work for YOU!! FREE Webinar→ bit.ly/5mistakesdata In this week podcast, Kurtis and Lorna break down how data and evidence can be used to inform your collaborative planning and collaborative team meeting efforts to truly take your school's MTSS efforts to the next level, through aligning data with your intentional collaborative structures and processes. Connected Resources: FREE webinar - Layering Team Meetings - https://bit.ly/layeringteams FREE webinar - 5 Mistak

How do you encourage someone who is avoiding a task without adding pressure or dismissing what they are experiencing? In this episode of The Language of Behavior, Joshua Stamper and Charle Peck explore what may be underneath avoidance, including anxiety, fear of failure, overwhelm, and uncertainty about where to begin. Drawing on their experiences in school leadership and therapy, they discuss why getting curious can be more useful than repeating, “Just get it done.” Josh and Charle share ways