Episodes
Sept. 24, 2022
210. Action Research on SEL Practices: Featuring Jorge Valenzuela
This week’s guest, Jorge Valenzuela, shares his journey of how he was introduced to Emotional Intelligence in his personal life and how he used his action research to help districts implement sound SEL practices on their camp...
Sept. 17, 2022
209. Changed Instructional Habits: Featuring Kevin J. Butler
This week’s guest, Kevin J. Butler, shares how he lost his passion to teach and how he transformed his teaching style to become more engaging. While teachers don’t train to be entertainers, teaching must capture students’ att...
Sept. 14, 2022
Aspire Mailbag: New Leadership or New Initiatives?
In this 26th 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 on new initiatives by new leaders, aband...
Sept. 10, 2022
208. Helping Parents and Educators with Students who Struggle: Featuring Kyle Hill
This week’s guest, Kyle Hill, shares how his role as a Special Education Lead and parent has uncovered a huge gap in the communication and relationship between the school, parents, and the student. Kyle provides wonderful adv...
Sept. 3, 2022
207. Ready. Set. FAIL: Featuring Carl Hooker
This week’s guest, Carl Hooker, shares how to tackle the challenge of creating innovation in the classroom and he provides ideas for both teachers and leaders with new ways to motivate learners of all ages and open up their c...
Aug. 27, 2022
206. Going Gradeless: Featuring David Frangiosa
This week’s guest, David Frangiosa, shares how he used multiple grading procedures to discover a process that revolutionized his classroom and shifted the focus to learning, which was going gradeless. We dive into this struct...
Aug. 20, 2022
205. Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching: Featuring Katie Miglin
This week’s guest, Katie Miglin, shares how to create an interdisciplinary learning experience in the classroom, while using the Grid Method to enhance student voice and ownership of the content. In this episode, we discuss: ...
Aug. 13, 2022
204. Unapologetic Leadership: Featuring Dr. Marcus Belin
This week’s guest, Dr. Marcus Belin, shares how a difficult start to his role as a Principal allowed him to appreciate, learn, and not regret the hard lessons of his leadership experience. In this episode, we discuss: Setting...
Aug. 6, 2022
203. A Place They Love: Featuring Elijah Carbajal
This week’s guest, Elijah Carbajal, shares how to be the best version of ourselves to create an environment that is inviting, caring, and accepting of all students. If you are looking to improve your classroom culture, this i...
Aug. 2, 2022
Bonus Episode: Hacking Assessment Featuring Starr Sackstein
In this bonus episode, Starr Sackstein shares her exciting announcement about Hacking Assessment and we discuss how to shift the “Grades Mindset”, change your grading system, and improve the feedback process. In this episode,...
July 30, 2022
202. Be GREAT: Featuring Dwight Carter
This week’s guest, Dwight Carter, shares how the motto “Be GREAT” changed his mindset, school culture assessment, and trajectory of his leadership journey. Join us as we explore Dwight’s new district position and new book, Be...
July 23, 2022
201. Manage Your Time or Time Will Manage You: Featuring PJ Caposey
This week’s guest, PJ Caposey, shares how experiencing a tragedy at a young age shifted his mindset on the value of time and how time management is key in any successful leader’s skill set. In this episode, we discuss: The Re...
July 16, 2022
200. Celebrating 200 Episodes with Sarah Johnson
In this week’s episode, we flip the script! Sarah Johnson is hosting the Aspire to Lead Podcast to celebrate the 200th episode and to learn about the exciting news of Joshua’s new educational role! Thank you to all of the loy...
July 11, 2022
199. Deconstructing Depth of Knowledge: Featuring Erik Francis
This week’s guest, Erik Francis, shares how depth of knowledge and questioning is the missing link in education. Join us as we break down the stages of depth of knowledge and how you can incorporate multiple strategies into y...
July 1, 2022
198. Frequently Asked Questions about Assessment: Featuring Tom Schimmer
This week’s guest, Tom Schimmer, dives into the frequent struggles and misperceptions of assessment practices. Tom provides excellent strategies to help provide feedback to your students and how to complete this important str...
June 25, 2022
197. The Design Thinking, Entrepreneurial, Visionary Planning Leader: Featuring Dr. Michael Nagler
This week’s guest, Dr. Michael Nagler, shares how he uses the motto “Think Differently” to shift his district into a problem solving and innovative group of educators, which prepare the students to be successful in their unkn...
June 18, 2022
196. The Personal Playlist of Mentorship: Featuring Noa Daniel
This week’s guest, Noah Daniel, shares how in her leadership journey, she needed mentors to provide guidance, wisdom, and inspiration to build beyond her position and explore new opportunities. In this episode, we discuss: TE...
June 12, 2022
195. We All Need to Play Right Now: Featuring BreAnn Fennell
This week’s guest, BreAnn Fennell, shares how play in the classroom can address the physical and emotional development of our students, while increasing engagement. In this episode, we discuss: The benefit of being an Ambassa...
June 6, 2022
194. Evolving with Gratitude: Featuring Lainie Rowell
Research proves that by intentionally practicing gratitude, we can dramatically improve our disposition, bringing us more joy and better health. Consistently and intentionally practicing gratitude can also lead to better rela...
May 30, 2022
193. We Teach to Inspire: Featuring Kyle Krueger and Wilkie Law
In this week’s episode, Kyle Krueger and Wilkie Law, share their struggles as a teacher and how providing their authentic self to their students allowed them to gain deeper relationships, model failure, and enhance creativity...
May 22, 2022
192. Aiming High to Increase Learning Gains: Featuring Evan Robb
Skillful leadership is critical as schools return to a new normalcy. Improving students’ learning and addressing the challenges many learners experienced due to recent learning interruptions are top priorities for all school ...
May 15, 2022
191. In the Face of Trauma: Featuring Leslie Stamper
In this week’s episode, my amazing wife, Leslie Stamper, offers trauma-informed strategies to help teachers identify and respond to student triggers, anxiety, and emotional dysregulation. In this episode, we discuss: Tools in...
May 8, 2022
190. The Reading Teacher’s Playbook: Featuring Eva Mireles
In this week’s episode, Eva Mireles offers coaching strategies to help teachers perfect their craft and see new ways to approach teaching reading concepts that fits their personal teaching style. In this episode, we discuss: ...
May 1, 2022
189. Infusing Creativity to Enhance Engagement: Featuring Nick Moskaluk
In this week’s episode, Nick Moskaluk offers educators strategies to enhance the inclusion of creativity into your lessons to enhance student engagement. In this episode, we discuss: Including Social and Cultural Responsive T...