Episodes

Regardless of which direction it's headed, a ship encounters different weather patterns during its voyage: smooth sailing, the doldrums, and storms. Like a ship, life is unpredictable and ever-changing. The Captain needs to b...

In your school or district, how is homework utilized and graded? Has your philosophy of homework changed during the pandemic and online learning? Today's guest, Dr. Erik Youngman, discusses the role of homework and shares str...

When you think of Social Emotional Learning (SEL), do you think about the procedures, curriculum, and skills needed for students? What about the adults in the building? How are they supported through your Social Emotional Lea...

As a teacher, have you ever received feedback from an administrator who only was in your classroom once, twice, maybe three times a year? And if you are the administrator, did you feel the time in the teacher’s class was enou...

In this 18th Aspire Mailbag episode, Todd Nesloney, Jeff Gargas, and I answer questions on different leadership topics provided by the listeners. Please join us for this episode as we answer questions and discuss common mista...

As an administrator, there are days that can feel lonely and overwhelming, especially when you are new in the position. This week’s guest, Rachel George, shares her administrative struggles and humorous experiences to explain...

I had the amazing opportunity to moderate during the Teach Better 12 Hour Live Event with four amazing educators and podcasters. In this bonus episode, Jeffrey Prickett, Brittany Rincon, Robert Breyer, Deanna Lough, and I dis...

In a time where current events have created strong emotions, how are we able to have conversations about racism, equity, and injustice? This week’s guest, Hedreich Nichols, shares strategies she uses to facilitate difficult c...

I had the amazing opportunity to moderate during the Teach Better 12 Hour Live Event with two amazing educators. In this bonus episode, Hans Appel, Tre Gammage, and I discuss how to incorporate Social Emotional Learning (SEL)...

With the new experience of teaching virtually, many educators are struggling to teach in this new setting. What is the measure of success for teachers and students? What should our goal be as we teach online? This week’s gues...

With the battle of teaching students from a variety of learning environments, our schools are challenged with uncovering and solving many community challenges at the same time. In today’s episode featuring Andrew Stanton, Sar...

As our educational setting has shifted dramatically in a short period of time, the teaching strategies and educational tools needed to be successful have pushed educators to discover new ways to provide information and collab...

In this 17th Aspire Mailbag episode, Jeff Gargas and I answer questions on different leadership topics provided by the listeners. Please join us for this episode as we answer questions and discuss how to coach the coaches, es...

As educators, we know what an IQ is but what is an EQ? This week’s guests, Dr. Adam Saenz shares the critical value of practicing Social Emotional Learning skills in the classroom, for both students and faculty, to decrease n...

Although my two guests have been in education and known each other since the mid 1990’s, this year has been the most challenging in their careers. This week’s guests, Adam Dewitt and Dr. Jeffry Prickett share how during this ...

As we battle the trials of a pandemic, many leaders are asking one similar question. How do we create and maintain a positive school environment during a crisis? In today’s episode featuring Brianna Zwiefelhofer, Sarah Johnso...

In your current position, have you worked so hard for so long that you feel like you are going to crash and burn? This week, William D. Parker, shares how his first year as an Assistant Principal almost became his last. Willi...

In a previous Aspire episode, I had a wonderful conversation with Dr. Sheldon Eakins as we discussed the issues of racial justice, equity and implicit bias. After that conversation, I was convicted to assess not only my own p...

As the year has progressed, the educational landscape has changed dramatically during the school year. Districts throughout the country have multiple learning environments from distance learning, face to face or a hybrid syst...

We are starting the season of teacher evaluations and there are many questions from the teacher and administrator perspectives. In this episode we are going to be answering many questions on this topic, such as: Have you ever...

In this 16th Aspire Mailbag episode, Jeff Gargas and I answer questions on different leadership topics provided by the listeners. Please join us for this episode as we answer questions and discuss preparing staff for changes,...

Have you ever interviewed for a job only to find you were not selected for the position? This experience can be extremely painful and defeating. This week’s guest, Tim Cavey, shares how he overcame the disappointment, changed...

I want to kick this episode off with a statement and I want to see if you agree. As a leader, you can grow and learn from creating content. Now, initially, you may think that to create content we have to have all the answers...