Quiet Leadership: Unveiling the Power of Introverts in Education with Alex Valencic

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So you're a leader of Learning right, But are you an introvert or maybe

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shy or a little quiet at times? Can you still lead and do your

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job effectively? That's what we're going
to discuss in this episode Stick around.

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Welcome to the Leader of Learning podcast. I'm your host, doctor Dan Krinis,

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and this is where I help educators
grow their impact as instructional leaders because

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my research and leadership experiences have led
me to understand that someone like you,

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regardless of your role or your title, can have a tremendous impact on your

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organization. I chat with inspiring guests
who are truly making an impact as instructional

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leaders. Whether this is your first
time listening or you come back for more,

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I hope you've subscribed to this show
on your preferred podcast app so you

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don't miss any of the great episodes, topics, or guests. Anyway,

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I'm so glad you've tuned in.
Now let's get started. Welcome back once

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again, Leader of Learning too.
What is the first interview episode that we

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have had in a while. I'm
so glad you're joining us, and I'm

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so glad that you've come back to
us after a hiatus that we took here

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in the summer months and early in
the fall, but we're back, and

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I just wanted to start out by
saying that if you do enjoy, and

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maybe you have enjoyed for a while
the content that's shared on this podcast,

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but you're not yet connected to the
Leader of Learning community, please go ahead

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and sign up for my email newsletter. The easiest way to get there is

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by going to Leader of Learning dot
com, slash news or following the links

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in the show notes below, or
on my website. If you follow the

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Leader of Learning newsletter already, I
really appreciate it. But if you're not

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yet, go ahead and click the
link or get to the the web page

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that I just listed and join us
there for some really great content and of

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course updates about what's going on with
Leader of Learning and the amazing content that

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gets shared. As for this episode, we have a very special guest joining

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us. Alex Valencik is an educator, former small business owner, and devoted

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advocate for professional development with a wealth
of experience in a variety of education roles.

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Alex currently serves as the Professional Learning
Coordinator in Freeport, Illinois. During

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our conversation, Alex and I delve
into some interesting stuff about the ever evolving

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landscape of professional development and education.
We're going to explore the need for a

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shift away from traditional sit and get
models toward more personalized and teacher driven learning

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experiences. We're also going to discuss
the powerful impact of teacher to teacher learning,

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emphasizing the value of obs and learning
from one another's classrooms. Alex even

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shares insights from a book he's currently
reading about job embedded professional development and the

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importance of creating space and time for
teachers to learn and grow together. Finally,

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Alex brings a valuable perspective to the
table as we explore the topic of

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introverted leadership. We discuss how introverts
can thrive as leaders and leverage skills such

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as listening, inclusivity, reflection,
seeking consensus, and mediating conflict. Throughout

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our conversation, Alex's passion for supporting
educators really shines through. He shares stories

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of his own journey from overcoming self
consciousness about public speaking to his commitment to

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creating safe environments where all voices are
heard and valued. If you're an educator

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seeking fresh ideas, professional growth and
a network of like minded individuals. This

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episode is for you. Get ready
to be inspired, empowered, and equipped

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with the tools to become a true
leader of learning. So coming up after

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these messages, stay tuned in as
we embark on this educational journey with Alex

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Valencik all right, Leader of Learning. Welcome back to this episode and welcome

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back to the show again. Took
a little hiatus, but we are back

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now and bringing on the first guest
in a while, Alex Valencik. Alex

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Valencik, sorry, Alex and I
have gotten to know each other quite a

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bit over the last couple of years, especially with the connections we have to

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to Teach Better team participating in the
Teach Better conference, the admin mastermind various

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Voxer and Facebook groups, and someone
who I think is very, very knowledgeable

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about a lot of things education and
we're going to get into that in just

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a minute. Let me tell you
a little bit though about Alex. He

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is. He does it all.
He's an educator, former small business owner,

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boy scout leader, volunteer, drug
prevent specialist, and as he calls

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it, a geek of all things. He's worked as a substitute teacher,

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a fourth grade teacher, curriculum coordinator, and since July of twenty twenty one,

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he's been serving as the Professional Learning
Coordinator in Freeport, Illinois. And

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there you go. I think both
of us share that passion for professional development

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and supporting and coaching teachers. So
Alex, welcome to the show. That

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was a lot, But if there's
anything else I missed, please go ahead

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and let the listeners know a little
bit more about who you are. Oh,

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I mean, I think that definitely
guys catch a lot of it.

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I'm excited to be on the show. I am a massive consumer of podcasts

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and a few years ago I got
onto a podcast in first one actually it's

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actually the Teach Better Talk podcast way
back twenty nineteen, I think what's when.

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I was on it for getting ready
for the Teach Better nineteen conference way

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back when. And I've been on
a bunch of podcast since then, but

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I've listened to so many of them, and yours it's wanted that caught my

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attention, and I've listened to every
single one of the episodes. So I'm

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excited to be a part of it
and just kind of connect with other people

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and talk about leading learning. We'll
see where the conversation goes, you know,

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speaking of seeing where the conversation goes, I think you actually led me

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into a question that I wasn't expecting
to ask you, but I really want

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to. So you're a let me
make sure I get the title right,

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A professional learning coordinator. And you
just mentioned how you really love consuming podcasts,

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and I do too. Obviously,
I love consuming them. I love

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creating this one. And what I
really love about podcasts because I listen to

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mostly educational podcasts, but not exclusively, what I love about them is it

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allow they allow me to be that
lifelong leader and to consume and gain professional

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learning and personal learning in ways that
are not so traditional. So I guess

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I wanted to start there and ask
you why it is you value gaining professional

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learning in these sort of non traditional
ways, and maybe what else you do

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to develop your own learning, and
what you would recommend to teachers, especially

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new teachers, when it comes to
professional learning, maybe outside of the traditional

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stuff that they get from their schools
and their districts. So you know,

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when it comes to like podcasts especially, it was something that my initial introduction

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to podcasts was a lot of hobby
focused ones to hear about like the true

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crime stories or sports podcast or like
the business self help ones, and or

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there would be ones like kind of
the long form storytelling. Episodic storytelling is

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like, I don't really care about
any of that. But it was back

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about twenty sixteen, when I started
interviewing for leadership jobs all up and down

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the state of Illinois. I'dized like
sometimes I'd have like a three four hour

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drive to get to a job interview, because Illinois is the stage, just

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like a very long state and a
kind of a wide state, and so

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to have these long drives. And
one time I was like, I should

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look up some education podcasts, so
like I can just have some very fresh

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ideas in my mind when I get
into an interview, and that's really what

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God Me started with it. And
that's something I love about them is you're

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getting ideas that are very fresh,
Like you're not waiting for someone to get

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it published in a book, which
you can put in a book proposal,

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get it accepted by a publisher,
and it could be two three years sometimes

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before it actually hits the market,
or like even blogging and like journal articles,

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sometimes there's a delay. It feels
like podcasts are very much a real

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time format of learning, and it
also allows me to connect with a huge

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number of people very quickly. Much
almost every time I listened to a podcast,

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I find some way to connect with
whoever that guest was, and of

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course the person who's hosting the podcast. It's just it's interesting in my role

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the number of times someone they'll a
question will come up about needing some support

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and providing professional learning on a topic, and I'll be like, oh,

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hey, there's this person that I
know that we could reach out to.

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And it happens a lot, and
someone's like, how do you know all

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these people? I'm like, well, combination of listening to podcasts, reading

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a lot of books, and my
connections with the Teach Better team, which

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you mentioned, like I feel like
almost everyone I know in education has converged

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in the Teach Better team. But
it's I guess to get to that question

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though, like why podcast is a
form of learning, It's just it's much

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more raw than other things, Like
it's it's hard for people to filter themselves

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and stript themselves as much when they're
doing a podcast, and I really appreciate

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that side of it, even though
it's it's not something that you can get

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like professional development credits when you're looking
at like license renewal. But to me,

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that's a big part of it is
that professional learning is not just about

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getting those credits that you can submit
for renewing the license, but it's about

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growing yourself as an educator, as
a leader, and growing your network to

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be able to better support students,
teachers, families, whoever it is you're

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trying to work with. This podcast
is a proud member of the Teach Better

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podcast Network, Better Today, Better
Tomorrow, and the podcast to get you

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there. Explore more podcasts at www
dot Teach Beetter podcastnetwork dot com. Now

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let's get back to the episode.
That's awesome, actually believe it or not.

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In response to what you mentioned about
gaining professional credits or continuing continuing education

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credits, there was at one time, I don't know if it still exists,

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there's an educator named doctor Randall Sampson, and there was an actual accredited

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graduate program that would give you credit
for things like listening to podcasts and participating

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in Twitter chats and some of these
really non traditional professional learning opportunities. I'll

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have to reach out to Randall.
I haven't I haven't heard from him in

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a while see if that still exists. Speaking of not really connecting with people

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for a while, you mentioned being
connected as an educator through social media,

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and you know organizations like teach Better. The first one that I really used

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to connect to educators and really branch
out in terms of my own professional learning

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actually was Edgy Match. And I
want to get a little vulnerable here for

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a minute, but I want to
ask you your opinion too. I feel

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that in twenty twenty three, as
we're recording this, we are not as

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connected. I don't feel or at
least personally, I don't feel as connected

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as I once did back in like
twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen. And I

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don't know why. It could be
the pandemic, It could be stress and

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burnout has gone way up. It
could be that Twitter slash x is not

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quite the same as it used to
be. I'm not sure. I have

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felt, though, like it's been
harder and harder to keep connected with educators

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that I once did. And I'm
wondering do you feel that too, or

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I guess is it just me?
Now? There's I think there's a small

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group of educators I've been able to
maintain that connection with and it's taken a

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lot more effort on my part to
keep that going. Like I'm in a

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couple of boxer groups. One of
them is with edging Match, and I

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know there's edging Match, like I
think you know Sarah, She's got a

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lot of different things going on with
that organization, and I think they have

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multiple boxer groups, but the one
I'm in, I feel like sometimes it

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may only be like three or four
maybe five people who are actually contributing to

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it, and then like it'll just
go silent for a while and then someone

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will pop in with a question and
you'll get a bit of activity and then

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disappears. I say that happen with
Facebook groups. I feel like for me

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personally, like the changes that have
happened with Twitter X, Like I can't

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just call it X. A good
friend Carly Spina, who she does a

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lot of PD. She shares in
one of her sessions and I was just

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in a workshop session there about a
week ago that someone asks me, no

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social media you're on and she rises
very quickly that you can't be like,

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oh yeah, I'm on X,
because that just has a very like different

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connotation when you say that. So
it's like I will continue to call it

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Twitter, sometimes call it Twitter X. But the changes that have happened in

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that platform, I'm saying just the
last year or so, I feel like

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educators have just left and haven't found
a new home to connect with each other

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as easily as you could before.
So yeah, it is a lot more

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difficult to keep those connections. But
also it's a lot more difficult to make

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new connections with people because pretty much
all the other platforms you have to know

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the person to be able to connect
with them. You can't just like,

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well, I love about Twitter,
you could search a hashtag and just immediately

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connect with a huge number of people, and those aren't gone. A lot

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of the platforms are the ones who
have You still have to be connected with

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people in order to use them.
So yeah, I think in some ways

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it has been really hard to keep
growing and connecting with that PLN. Yeah,

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I don't know why. I think. I do think a lot of

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it has to do with you know, Twitter, slash x used to be

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that place where we all went to
connect and do the chats and and you

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know, really stay up on the
latest goings on, and I just feel

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like it's been it's been different,
it's been harder. Anyway. I want

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to switch gears a little bit because
I know that one of the things that

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you mentioned to me recently, that
you've been kind of studying more and looking

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into more is a topic that I
find pretty fascinating because I think I can

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sort of see myself fitting in in
this area. But tell us a little

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bit more about what you've been studying
and learning when it comes to people who

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are more introverted as leaders, so, in other words, like leadership through

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the lens of people who are more
introverted and I guess not quite as outgoing

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and what's the word I'm looking for, charismatic. Yeah, So I think

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you mentioned in my introduction one of
the things I do is I'm a volunteer

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drug prevention specialist, and I think
most people are like, have no idea

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what that actually means. There's an
organization here in Illinois. It's the Sapling

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Good Mainteen Institute. It's a youth
leadership program that has a focus on drug

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consubstance abuse prevention. And I've been
part of that program since nineteen ninety nine,

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so it's been a huge part of
my life for more than half my

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lifetime, and they have a summer
camp each year, so you get hundreds

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of like middle school and high school
students together on a college campus for a

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week to learn how to grow their
skills as leaders. But there's a lot

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of those very stereotypical summer campy type
things like the rock is loud cheers,

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the songs that are really goofy and
ridiculous, and it's very loud and boisterous,

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and there's a lot of effort to
like try to get everyone to engage

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in these energizers, to break out
of shells. And I realized a few

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years ago that that's really pushing a
model of leadership being extraversion. And I'd

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look around the groups and I started
working with the middle school students who were

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attending. I was a lot of
them were introverted and they weren't comfortable participating

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in the games, the activities,
the songs, the cheers. It's not

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that they weren't interested in the program, that just wasn't a way for them

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to feel energized. And it really
got me thinking, like where what is

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the role for lead? What is
the role for or introverts in leadership?

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Myself, I am a legitimate Ambivert. When I was doing my graduate studies

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in leadership, we had to do
like every single personality test known demand in

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one of our classes, and every
single time on the introversion extroversion scale,

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I was like exactly fifty percent in
the middle. So for me, it's,

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you know, there are times when
I need to be around other people

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to connect with them and get energized
from their presence, and there's other times

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I'm like, you know, I
need to go into a quiet space to

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have time to reflect, to ponder
and kind of re energize and recharge in

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that way. So I started digging
more into this idea of what does it

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mean for an introvert to get their
energy in the first place? And whereise

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that first and foremost, there's this
misunderstanding that introverts are people who are just

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shy and anti social and don't want
people. And we have this heavy influence

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for movies going back, you know, I when I did a workshop on

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this, I use the example like
even like Greece the musical, The whole

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overarching plot of this show is this
girl Sandy, who's clearly an introvert,

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needs to be fixed to become an
extrovert. And and just goes downhill from

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there with all these movies in popular
culture. So it's like, Okay,

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how do we tap into those skills? What are the skills that introverts have

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that help them succeed as a leader. And I turned to work from like

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Susan Kin, who she wrote that
book Quiet and then she wrote a book

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specifically for kids about quiet Power,
and she just goes through like, here

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are the traits that introverts have,
and there's some of those really big ones

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that I think about. It's like
the idea of like, introverts very very

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broadly speaking, are very good listeners. They tend to be inclusive and reflective

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and want to have environments that are
safe for all voices to contribute. And

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there's usually this trait of introverts of
wanting to take time to observe and seek

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consensus to mediate conflict. And it's
not that extroverts can't do those things,

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but those are traits that are more
common for introverts. So when you think

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about in school leadership, when we're
trying to bring about change, you can

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have that charismatic leader who goes out
and gets everyone excited, on fire,

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ready to go. But sometimes it's
nice to have that leader who's more in

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the background, leading from behind,
making sure all the voices are heard and

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giving an opportunity for everyone to reflect
on what they're doing. And that's what

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I've been focusing my work and have
done a couple of workshops on this now

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is just bringing this idea to the
forefront and inviting others who feel introverted to

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tap into their own leadership skills.
Now point out that one of the first

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things I learned the very first time
I did that workshop is that I'm very

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used to getting feedback from attendees as
I'm presenting you from their facial expressions,

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their verbal expressions. Introverts are bringing
it all in, they're internalizing if they're

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thinking about, which means their faces
are usually like just deadpan. And I

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remember the first time I did that
workshop, I was like, I have

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no idea if they're like excited about
this, if they're like accepting, or

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they're just like, what's this guy
talking about? He's just completely office rockers,

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And it's like, I have no
idea how I'm supposed to e gauge

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the audience when my entire audience are
introverts who, by nature are not going

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to express things outwardly. And then
I got the feedback and I looked through

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it and it was all overwhelmingly super
positive, and I'll just share it as

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in aside. The best piece of
feedback I got from that session, though,

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actually had nothing to do with the
session topic. It was just a

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very short sentence that said, you
have a good speaking voice. And for

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me that was huge because I received
speech therapy services from kindergarten all the way

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until eighth grade and have always been
very self conscious about the idea of speaking

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in public. And then it's like, you know, I need to let

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my voice be heard, even though
it's something that I'm always very nervous about,

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and to have someone give me that
feedback and be like you have a

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great delivery, Like your speaking voice
is wonderful. We enjoy listening to you,

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but more importantly, we like hearing
the ideas you share. I want

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to help other people feel comfortable doing
that. So I'm going to be doing

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a conference session in February. And
I actually went to one of the teacher

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leaders in my district and it's like, hey, you're an introvert, right,

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He's like, oh yeah, absolutely. I was like I wanted to

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come to this conference with me and
help present on this topic, and he

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was like, that's really scary.
I'm like, I'm going to be there

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beside you the whole time, and
he's like, all right, let's do

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it, and we're going to so
just it's exciting to see ways that we

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can tap into the quiet leaders among
us. You said a lot of really

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fascinating things, and as you were
talking, I was thinking a couple of

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things. First of all, I
think anybody listening to you when you go

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through kind of the descriptions of an
introvert and an ambrovert and an extrovert,

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like they're kind of self reflecting a
little bit. And I think for me,

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I'm right there with you. I'm
in the middle. You know.

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I love going to conferences and getting
together with educators and people who I've barely

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met in person before. Like you, you know, we know of each

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other, but we've only met in
person one time, and even then it

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was very brief. And I think
you were working more at the conference,

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and you know, you kind of
were doing your own thing. But like

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as you mentioned too, in terms
of introverts, just kind of taking a

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step back and like soaking it all
in. And it also got me thinking

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now that I'm bringing the podcast back
around, it's been about four years,

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almost to the day, back in
twenty nineteen. In November, I put

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out episode fifty five of the podcast
with a guest, Chrissy Romano Arabido,

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and she wrote quiet Kids Count,
and it was a little bit more focused

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on as teacher classroom teachers, not
forgetting about those introverted students, the ones

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who aren't always raising their hands,
the ones who were kind of you know,

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off to the side, or or
maybe not succeeding as much as you'd

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want them to in cooperative learning activities
and group activities. But but you know,

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so anyway, if you're listening to
this and you haven't checked out that

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episode, it's been it's been a
while four years, but you know,

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that could be something you check out
as well. But in terms of introverts

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as leaders, I really do find
that fascinating. And I'll tell you a

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quick story, uh, you know, Alex and maybe my listeners remember too,

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that I became an assistant principal a
few a couple it's been a couple

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of years now, and it didn't
last very long. And and one of

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the things that happened to me that
didn't make me very comfortable. And given

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this conversation about introversion and all that
stuff, my principle Essentially he didn't flat

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out ask me to, but he
was basically telling me that I needed to

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have a bigger personality, be louder
in the hallways, you know, in

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terms of making sure the kids were
going in the right direction and doing the

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right things. And I kind of
wanted to tell him, like, that's

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not really me, And I had
trouble understanding why having a bigger personality in

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his opinion, so it seemed to
me would make me a better leader in

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his eyes, and I really had
I had some trouble with that because I

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feel like I'm a good leader,
but I also think that there are things

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that I can do as a leader, like you said, without being so

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charismatic. So I guess what I
wanted to ask you next is when you're

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thinking about educators, maybe they're teachers
who are or are wont to be wanting

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to be teacher leaders, or maybe
they're actually aspiring to get into more formal

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leadership positions. If you could be
maybe a little more specific in terms of

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thinking about and giving some advice for
teachers who are introverted or lean more toward

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being an introvert, but yet they
have these leadership qualities or ambitions. What

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are things that they might want to
think about or can do to kind of,

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you know, really lead like they
want to. So I'm going to

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first and foremost respond to like that
idea of you know, in order to

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be a leader in a building and
you have this big presence is I'm going

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to go back to Susan Kine and
a quote that she shares from Mahatma Gandhi

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in a gentle way, you can
shake the world that you don't have to

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make that change by being big and
boisterous. I will always remember a teacher,

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she was truly a master teacher,
who she had retired and I took

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over her classroom. She had taught
in the same classroom for like twenty five

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years. There was someone who was
hired after me, who was there for

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like two years, and I came
in. She would substitute and I never

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once heard her raise her voice remotely. She just had a very soft,

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gentle, firm voice. Students always
listened to her like every time. There

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was never any doubt that she was
able to command a room without being loud

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and boisterous, and it was just
part of no. I don't know exactly

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what it was that she had about
her, but you could see in her

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there was a confidence in herself.
And I think that's maybe the big thing

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is for a leader who feels introverted
is feel confident in who you are and

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what you have to contribute. Don't
try to be someone else, because especially

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working in a school, kids they
see right through that, like they immediately

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tell when you're trying to be someone
else. So it's being who you are

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authentically one hundred percent, and you
know it's also when it's like when you're

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looking for those roles I frequently encourage
like student teachers and others who I may

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be working with when it comes to
applying that you're interviewing the people who are

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interviewing you also, and it's not
hiding that personality, and it's being able

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to promote those traits you have that
you're there to help build consensus, to

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help others be reflective, to give
the opportunities for every voice to have a

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share. Are there times when yes, maybe you are going to have to

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use that louder voice to be heard
because it's in a busy hallway and there's

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lots of kids going by. Maybe, but you can also be very quiet

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as you do that. I love. There's a comic I see sometimes when

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it's like they talk about you know, your mom yells your full name,

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but it's even worse when she's just
leans in and whispers, because that's when

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you're like, oh, I'm in
a lot of trouble now, because it's

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like that suddenly changing the tempo.
That is a great way to be able

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to lead in take command a situation
is when things are getting loud and getting

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raucous, using that quiet voice to
get everyone's attention. It may not be

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as quick, but it's still just
as impactful. So I think it's just

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really recognizing who you are and what
you have to bring to the table.

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And maybe it's also being like,
hey, maybe I'm not the best person

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to be in the lunch room to
try to quiet a cafeteria with five hundred

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kids. Maybe I'm not the best
person for that specific role, which me

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is part of you you mentioned like
being an assistant principle. I think there

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are times we really as a system
need to re evaluate what we think of

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the role of the assistant principle as
like, why is the assistant principle always

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have to be the disciplinary and the
one who's handing out the punishment and the

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consequences. Why can't the assistant principle
be the one who is leading professional learning

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and you know, guiding the PLC
meetings while the principal is the one who

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is going into the cafeteria and at
the like the bus drop offline. Like

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you know, it's I don't know
who decided that those roles were so clear

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cut that that's what you have to
do when you get that job. I

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feel like that's an episode for a
different day. But you bring up a

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really good point, especially because you
know, I did live that life of

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an assistant principle for a little while, and I still you know, we

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talked about being connected before. I
belong to at least one Facebook group that's

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really all about the assistant principal position, And quite honestly, I've seen so

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many posts and comments and threads recently, and when I say recently, I

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mean over the last couple of years, where people in those positions just feel

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I don't want to say burned,
out, but they have to wear so

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many hats and and therefore put out
fire. It feel like they have to

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put out fires all day, every
day basically in the name of making sure

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that they are helping to allow the
principle to do more of the things you

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mentioned before, being more of an
instructional leader. And I know and I've

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felt this where assistant principles just don't
feel like they're able to make that kind

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of impact as an instructional leader as
a as a more of a coach,

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00:30:33.440 --> 00:30:40.160
like a mentor, and you know, they have so much experience and knowledge

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as well. Again, probably an
episode for a different day, but that's

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a it's it's a that's a fascinating
topic as well. As we wrap up,

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I think one of the common threads
and themes throughout a lot of our

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conversation tonight has been around growth and
development, you know, professional development.

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00:31:00.279 --> 00:31:03.160
You know, you and I both
are in roles where we are helping other

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educators develop themselves professionally. I guess
I just wanted to ask you, like,

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where are we in the state of
professional development. We talked a little

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00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:18.240
bit before about some sort of non
traditional ways that teachers can develop themselves.

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You mentioned working with some newer teachers
and maybe where we headed in terms of

401
00:31:25.720 --> 00:31:33.440
really getting more specifically like the next
generation of educators prepared for what they are

402
00:31:33.480 --> 00:31:38.839
facing. I think I've been very
pleased over the last few years to see

403
00:31:38.880 --> 00:31:45.160
that in general our school system,
the structure seems to finally be recognizing that

404
00:31:47.319 --> 00:31:52.200
everybody sitting and getting the same like
PD at the same time in the same

405
00:31:52.200 --> 00:31:57.240
way is very rarely the most effective
way to deliver that professional learning. Now,

406
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there are times when we need everybody
to hear the same message the same

407
00:32:04.440 --> 00:32:07.160
time, the same way. A
lot of those things have to do with

408
00:32:07.279 --> 00:32:12.960
like legal compliance, and may not
just compliance, they're like legitimate safety issues

409
00:32:13.000 --> 00:32:16.079
for students. Like I always use
the example when I talk about like blood

410
00:32:16.119 --> 00:32:22.680
borne pathogen training. It is really
important for every single person to understand like

411
00:32:22.839 --> 00:32:29.279
the protocols for coming into contact with
potential bloodborn pathogens because it's a health and

412
00:32:29.359 --> 00:32:31.559
safety issue. I get that,
Like, yeah, everyone needs it.

413
00:32:31.799 --> 00:32:36.680
Now do we need to take as
much time delivering that. No, Like

414
00:32:36.759 --> 00:32:38.960
there's a colleague of mine who's like, here it is in a nutshell.

415
00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:43.279
If it's wet and sticky and not
yours, don't touch it. Okay,

416
00:32:43.519 --> 00:32:46.279
we've all got that. We agree, let's move on to the more impactful

417
00:32:46.640 --> 00:32:53.160
learning. Like if the school or
district is introducing something new that everybody's going

418
00:32:53.240 --> 00:32:57.559
to be implementing at the same time, Yeah, we need to get those

419
00:32:57.640 --> 00:33:00.039
like get the ground level, make
sure we're all all on the same page.

420
00:33:00.039 --> 00:33:05.640
From my district, we are re
implementing professional learning communities. We did

421
00:33:05.640 --> 00:33:10.519
it in the past and then it
kind of got lost in the lost in

422
00:33:10.599 --> 00:33:15.160
translation and we realized we weren't really
doing PLCs. So we're like, let's

423
00:33:15.359 --> 00:33:19.720
reboot this and let's make sure everyone's
on the same page. Or what do

424
00:33:19.720 --> 00:33:23.200
we even mean by PLC because some
people think it means it's just a meeting

425
00:33:23.240 --> 00:33:29.200
and others are like, no,
it's a process of gathering together. But

426
00:33:29.519 --> 00:33:32.440
there's that. But I think in
general we're moving away from that idea of

427
00:33:32.519 --> 00:33:37.559
everybody sits and gets the same thing. And in my district, we've really

428
00:33:37.599 --> 00:33:43.599
been trying to emphasize that. In
our institute days, those in service days

429
00:33:44.160 --> 00:33:47.599
we are we set them up as
essentially like one day conferences where we'll have

430
00:33:47.640 --> 00:33:54.039
a keynote speaker who comes in and
their whole intention is to really inspire everyone

431
00:33:54.079 --> 00:33:59.720
and give them an invitation to take
charge of the work we're doing. But

432
00:33:59.759 --> 00:34:04.519
then we'll have anywhere from like fifty
to sixty breakout sessions going on over the

433
00:34:04.519 --> 00:34:07.960
course of the day for the four
hundred and fifty staff in the district who

434
00:34:07.960 --> 00:34:14.039
are attending, and it's allowing them
to choose what they need based on their

435
00:34:14.079 --> 00:34:17.880
own professional goals, based on like
school improvement plans. Sometimes it's a little

436
00:34:19.000 --> 00:34:22.880
less choice, Like you know,
as year we implemented a new ELA program

437
00:34:22.920 --> 00:34:28.239
in our district and we're doing the
PLC work elementary teachers, they didn't get

438
00:34:28.280 --> 00:34:31.159
a lot of choice in what they
were doing because there were things that we

439
00:34:31.239 --> 00:34:35.440
need to get them all on the
same page. No, we're doing that,

440
00:34:35.639 --> 00:34:42.960
And I'm also seeing more of the
teachers teacher directed professional learning things like

441
00:34:43.480 --> 00:34:46.199
teachers saying, hey, I went
to a conference or I was listening to

442
00:34:46.239 --> 00:34:51.599
a podcast and I heard this person
and they did publish a book, and

443
00:34:51.719 --> 00:34:54.480
we want to get copies of that
book and read it together on our own.

444
00:34:54.960 --> 00:34:59.079
Just yesterday, I had a teacher
who came up to me. We

445
00:34:59.159 --> 00:35:01.360
had we have a group we're working
with and we had gotten for all of

446
00:35:01.440 --> 00:35:07.199
them who are participating in this cohort
a copy of hatt these Visible Learning the

447
00:35:07.239 --> 00:35:08.599
sequel, and at the end of
them, one of them came up is

448
00:35:08.639 --> 00:35:13.559
She's like, so I already got
this book and I've already like marked it

449
00:35:13.639 --> 00:35:17.159
up and highlighted sections, so if
someone else needs it, I don't need

450
00:35:17.159 --> 00:35:21.760
a copy. And it's just like, how awesome is that that an educator

451
00:35:21.840 --> 00:35:24.920
has taken their time to go out
and just do that learning on their own,

452
00:35:25.360 --> 00:35:30.960
like trying to put together things like
affinity groups or like minded educators come

453
00:35:31.000 --> 00:35:37.000
together. I see us moving more
and more in that direction where we're really

454
00:35:37.920 --> 00:35:43.159
taking the voice of the teachers and
acknowledging their expertise, their knowledge, those

455
00:35:43.199 --> 00:35:45.960
who have experienced doing things, and
saying what can we do to help you

456
00:35:46.039 --> 00:35:51.480
grow instead of just saying, all
right, we have a PD day and

457
00:35:51.800 --> 00:35:54.840
everybody's gonna do guided reading training,
including the pe teachers who never in a

458
00:35:54.960 --> 00:36:00.280
hundred million years are ever going to
do anything with guided reading. We're going

459
00:36:00.280 --> 00:36:02.400
to make you sit through the PD
because we got to do something. So

460
00:36:02.440 --> 00:36:07.679
I think we are moving that way, sometimes moving faster, sometimes moving slower,

461
00:36:07.719 --> 00:36:12.639
but it looks like we're moving in
that direction of valuing the voice of

462
00:36:12.719 --> 00:36:16.920
our professional staff. I agree.
I'm glad you said that because just recently,

463
00:36:17.039 --> 00:36:22.079
a few weeks ago, we had
a full day PD day in my

464
00:36:22.159 --> 00:36:25.599
district and they kind of modeled a
lot of what you were saying in terms

465
00:36:25.639 --> 00:36:30.320
of almost like a one day conference. There was no keynote, but there

466
00:36:30.440 --> 00:36:36.159
were two sessions in the morning for
elementary, two sessions in the afternoon for

467
00:36:36.320 --> 00:36:39.760
secondary staff to do those kind of
breakout sessions. Now, we called it

468
00:36:39.760 --> 00:36:45.440
an ED camp, and it wasn't
really because it wasn't totally participant driven.

469
00:36:45.519 --> 00:36:52.760
They had educators from around the district
propose sessions to present, so it was

470
00:36:52.800 --> 00:36:57.360
a little more formal in terms of
the sessions and the presentations, but there

471
00:36:57.440 --> 00:37:00.519
was choice there. And it sounds
like, although I I didn't see the

472
00:37:00.559 --> 00:37:05.159
feedback directly, it sounds like there
was a lot of really positive feedback about

473
00:37:05.199 --> 00:37:08.920
that style of PD, and so
I think that you're right, at least

474
00:37:09.039 --> 00:37:13.199
in my district, and it sounds
like yours too. Heading in that direction

475
00:37:13.320 --> 00:37:15.519
of you know, teachers helping other
teachers. One of the things that I

476
00:37:15.599 --> 00:37:23.119
personally still want to see more of
is quite literally teachers helping teachers when it

477
00:37:23.159 --> 00:37:29.360
comes to like learning walks or just
kind of watching how other teachers do things.

478
00:37:29.480 --> 00:37:31.840
I tell people all the time that
as a coach, an instructional coach,

479
00:37:32.400 --> 00:37:36.400
one of my favorite things about my
job is that I get to learn

480
00:37:37.119 --> 00:37:40.760
from watching how so many different teachers
get to do things. And I wish

481
00:37:40.880 --> 00:37:46.960
more classroom teachers would not just understand
the value behind that, but actually be

482
00:37:47.679 --> 00:37:52.679
given the opportunity and take advantage of
the opportunity to be able to learn from

483
00:37:52.960 --> 00:37:57.960
the teacher across the hall, the
teacher down the hall from them, because

484
00:37:58.000 --> 00:38:00.480
I think that a lot of times
we can learn so much much from one

485
00:38:00.519 --> 00:38:04.719
another. I'm going to end there. If you have more to say,

486
00:38:05.079 --> 00:38:07.039
I wouldn't mind if you edit some
more comments, but we're going to start

487
00:38:07.079 --> 00:38:10.880
to wrap up here. You know, of course, as we end,

488
00:38:10.920 --> 00:38:15.360
if you could also let listeners know
how they can connect with you if necessary,

489
00:38:15.920 --> 00:38:17.559
and if they want to learn more
about any of the topics that we

490
00:38:17.719 --> 00:38:22.199
discussed tonight. But Alex, I
want to say that you know, and

491
00:38:22.239 --> 00:38:24.559
I know that this interview was a
long time coming, but I really appreciate

492
00:38:24.960 --> 00:38:30.480
your support of me, this brand, and this show, and of course

493
00:38:30.079 --> 00:38:34.480
for coming on as a guest,
So thank you very much. Yeah,

494
00:38:34.519 --> 00:38:37.639
thank you for having me. Just
a couple of final thoughts there. First

495
00:38:37.639 --> 00:38:42.639
of all, like that space for
teachers to see each other to do their

496
00:38:42.679 --> 00:38:45.280
work. So I've been reading through
them. Going to hold up for you.

497
00:38:45.320 --> 00:38:50.159
It's this book Professional Development, What
Works by Sally Jay Zapaida, And

498
00:38:50.679 --> 00:38:54.840
ninety percent of this book is about
how that job embedded. Professional development means

499
00:38:54.840 --> 00:38:59.880
we need to give space for teachers
to do the learning together. Just yes,

500
00:39:00.440 --> 00:39:02.400
I was at a school where a
teacher came in to talk to a

501
00:39:02.480 --> 00:39:07.239
principal and said, I need to
be able to go in and do observations

502
00:39:07.280 --> 00:39:12.360
of a colleague and I can't just
give up my plan time every time.

503
00:39:12.400 --> 00:39:15.880
And the principal said, put it
on my calendar. I will go watch

504
00:39:15.880 --> 00:39:19.679
your class. I will teach your
lesson while you go observe your colleague.

505
00:39:19.800 --> 00:39:22.719
Because the principal's like, I know
how to teach. I can do that,

506
00:39:22.000 --> 00:39:24.400
and I would love to see that
happen more often. We're like the

507
00:39:24.440 --> 00:39:29.239
school leaders. Whenever possible, they
go in and say, hey, we

508
00:39:29.280 --> 00:39:31.840
don't have enough subs to cover,
but I can provide that coverage. You

509
00:39:31.840 --> 00:39:35.679
tell me what the kids are doing
I'll go in, I'll keep I'll do

510
00:39:35.760 --> 00:39:37.840
that read aloud, I'll do that
math lesson, I'll do the you know,

511
00:39:38.119 --> 00:39:44.119
the writing lesson that they're doing.
I'll supervise while you go and observe

512
00:39:44.199 --> 00:39:46.920
each other. So I think that
that's definitely something we can do, and

513
00:39:47.280 --> 00:39:51.960
I think that there's a lot of
room for that. So just kind of

514
00:39:51.960 --> 00:39:53.960
that parting thought. But yeah,
I would love to connect with any of

515
00:39:53.960 --> 00:39:59.679
your listeners and like say that I'm
Alex Steve Lenzik on all the social media

516
00:39:59.719 --> 00:40:04.440
plans patforms. I'm still on Twitter, I'm on Facebook, like I joined

517
00:40:04.440 --> 00:40:07.880
blue Sky recently. I'm still not
quite sure what's going on with Blue Sky.

518
00:40:07.000 --> 00:40:12.320
I'm in threads and I wish that
they had searchable hashtags because I think

519
00:40:12.320 --> 00:40:15.159
that would make that a really valuable
platform. But pretty much, if you

520
00:40:15.239 --> 00:40:20.199
type in the name Alex Ski Valentik, even if you misspell the last name,

521
00:40:20.239 --> 00:40:23.960
you will still find me. I
regularly google myself to check and usually

522
00:40:23.960 --> 00:40:28.159
the first thing that pops up is
the picture of me with my bright blue

523
00:40:28.159 --> 00:40:30.039
shirt and my white bow tie and
a vests. If you see the picture

524
00:40:30.039 --> 00:40:32.679
of me with the bow tie,
you know it's me. Got the thick

525
00:40:32.719 --> 00:40:36.239
curly hair. You know, if
people are just listening to this, they

526
00:40:36.280 --> 00:40:39.079
can't see me. But seriously,
like it's the easiest way to find me.

527
00:40:39.199 --> 00:40:43.880
It's just google the name and I'm
gonna pop up. I love connecting

528
00:40:43.920 --> 00:40:47.480
with educators. It's kind of my
closing things that I've started doing a lot

529
00:40:47.559 --> 00:40:51.400
lately, is I let people know
that I love and to appreciate each and

530
00:40:51.440 --> 00:40:52.960
every single one of them. And
if there is anything at all I can

531
00:40:53.000 --> 00:40:57.840
do to help with anything at all, please just ask Dan. I know

532
00:40:57.920 --> 00:41:00.920
you know that I've made that offer
to you several times. I think that's

533
00:41:00.920 --> 00:41:02.840
actually how we finally got me on
the podcast. You're like, hey,

534
00:41:04.559 --> 00:41:07.320
I've got an idea of what you
can do to help. I need a

535
00:41:07.360 --> 00:41:10.079
guest. And I was like,
all right, we got it. Yeah,

536
00:41:10.119 --> 00:41:13.599
all right, Well I'm going to
wrap it up right there because I

537
00:41:13.639 --> 00:41:16.840
really appreciate you, and I know
you appreciate everyone else like you just said,

538
00:41:16.880 --> 00:41:20.440
so, Alex, thank you very
much for coming on here, for

539
00:41:20.480 --> 00:41:23.519
giving us your time and giving us
your insights. Really appreciate it. Thank

540
00:41:23.599 --> 00:41:31.719
you for having me. Well that's
it for this episode. Thank you so

541
00:41:31.880 --> 00:41:36.800
much for listening. If you haven't
done so yet, don't forget to subscribe

542
00:41:36.800 --> 00:41:40.039
to this show on your favorite podcast
app. If you enjoy the content covered

543
00:41:40.079 --> 00:41:44.400
on this show, I want to
ask you to do this one thing for

544
00:41:44.440 --> 00:41:47.719
me. Please share it. The
biggest favor you could ever do for me

545
00:41:47.920 --> 00:41:52.440
is to please let others know about
what I'm doing and how I'm helping educators

546
00:41:52.480 --> 00:41:58.000
grow their impact as instructional leaders.
I hope you can share this podcast with

547
00:41:58.079 --> 00:42:02.360
other educators, leaders, or anyone
you think would love listening and learning.

548
00:42:02.840 --> 00:42:07.920
If you're interested in leaving a positive
rating and review of this show, links

549
00:42:07.960 --> 00:42:12.239
to do so or always in the
show notes for every episode. For more

550
00:42:12.280 --> 00:42:15.480
information about me or this show,
and to access the great content that I

551
00:42:15.559 --> 00:42:20.679
share, please visit my website at
Leader of Learning dot com. That's where

552
00:42:20.719 --> 00:42:24.239
you can find my online courses,
YouTube channel, blog, how to connect

553
00:42:24.239 --> 00:42:29.320
with me on social media, and
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554
00:42:29.519 --> 00:42:34.760
like donating or purchasing Leader of Learning
merchandise. Thanks again, and remember,

555
00:42:35.079 --> 00:42:38.639
no matter who you are or where
you are, you are a Leader of Learning