An Educator's Legacy

Hans Appel is an educator, speaker and writer deeply committed to inspiring the whole child. He's the author or, Award Winning Culture: Building School-Wide Intentionality and Action Through Character, Excellence and Community. Additionally, he's the Director of Culture for the Teach Better Team, co-host of the Award Winning Culture Podcast, and the Co-Creator of Award Winning Culture.

He’s worked as a counselor in the Richland School District for the past 20 years and at Enterprise Middle School since it opened.  He’s passionate about school culture, servant leadership, and kindness.  In 2018, EMS was awarded the ASCD Whole Child Award for the State of Washington and the Global “Class Act Award” for creating a culture of excellence through kindness, service, and empathy.  Additionally, they were selected as a finalist in the 2019 PBIS Film Festival and took top prize in the Community, Parents, and Staff category.

In 2018, Hans launched his own blog about School Culture and rolled out a student-led leadership podcast called Award Winning Culture: Hosted by Wildcat Nation.

Hans’ blogs have appeared on DisruptED TV magazine, CharacterStrong, Teach Better, AIMS Network, and PBIS Rewards.  He’s written social-emotional lessons for CharacterStrong.  Furthermore, he has been featured on numerous educational podcasts speaking his brand of school culture into existence.

Snag a copy of Hans’ new book, Award Winning Culture: Building School-Wide Intentionality and Action Through Character, Excellence, and Community at: Amazon OR Barnes & Noble

Connect on with Hans Twitter/Instagram: @HansNAppel

Email: [email protected]

Listen to this amazing podcast with homeschool veteran Angie Muniz Ngo! 

If you'd like to reach out to Angie, you can do it through Facebook-Angie Muniz Ngo

Dan St. Romain is an educational consultant from San Antonio, TX. He recently retired after working in the school system for the past 30 years. Prior to retiring, 50% of his time was spent traveling providing professional development. He is the author of two books: Teach Skills and Break Habits: Growth Mindsets for Better Behavior in the Classroom and Positive Behavior Principles: Shifting Perspectives and Aligning Practices in Schools; as well as several resources for teaching social skills at the primary level.

If you would like to reach out to Dan for consulting services, keynote speaking opportunities or training, you can reach him through his website: www.DanStRamain.com or through Twitter: @danstromain. 

Joe started the #1minwalk2work Leadership Challenge, and co-authored The Power of Branding-Telling Your School's Story, Principal Professional Development: Leading Learning in a Digital Age and Hacking Leadership: 10 Ways Great Leaders Inspire Learning That Teachers, Students and Parents Love.  He was selected as 1 of 117 Future Ready Superintendents in 2014 and 1 of 50 Superintendents as a Personalized Learning Leader in 2016 by the US Department of Education. He attended summits at the White House for both distinctions. Education Dive named Joe 1 of 5 K-12 administrators to watch in 2018and their National Superintendent of the Year in 2019. He has been a featured speaker in multiple states in the areas of Advancing the Use of Social Media for School Leaders, Telling Your School Story, Creating a Culture of Yes, and Personalized Professional Growth for Staff.  Go Crickets!!

If you'd like to reach Joe, you can reach him on Twitter - @joe_sanfelippo or through his website at www.jsanfelippo.com

Mike Anderson’s mission is to help make teaching and learning more self-directed and joyful for both children and teachers. He has been an educator for more than 25 years. A public-school teacher for 15 years, he has also taught preschool, coached school swim teams, and taught university graduate level classes. He now works as a consultant providing professional learning for teachers throughout the US and beyond.

In 2004, Mike was awarded a national Milken Educator Award, and in 2005 he was a finalist for NH Teacher of the Year. In 2020, he was awarded the Outstanding Educational Leader Award by NHASCD for his work as a consultant. Mike is the author of many books about great teaching and learning including Learning to Choose, Choosing to Learn, The First Six Weeks of School, 2nd Edition, and The Research-Ready Classroom. His latest book, What We Say and How We Say It Matter, hit best-seller status five months after its release.

When not working, Mike can be found hanging with his family, tending his perennial gardens, and searching for new running routes around his home in Durham, NH.

Listeners can get in touch with me via email ([email protected]), through my website (www.leadinggreatlearning.com), or via Twitter (@balancedteacher).

Brad is an elementary school Principal with 25 years’ experience in education. He is currently at Forest Hill Public School in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, designated a HERO Generation school in the Waterloo Region District School Board. Prior to becoming a school leader, Brad taught for 16 years in classrooms from Kindergarten to eighth grade, most recently teaching middle school Visual Arts, French and Special Education. 

Brad is a certified “Self-Reg School Champion” and has an ongoing commitment to reframing the joys and challenges of school life through a Self-Reg lens. Brad and his wife Jennifer are proud parents of a son and daughter both in university. Brad describes himself as an optimist and recovering perfectionist who is passionate about "Leading with Love" to improve the lives of kids by supporting the adults that serve them. 

Want more information on self-reg? Click here!

If you'd like to connect to Brad, reach out to him through Twitter - @Brad_Hughes.

One of the nation's leading authorities on staff motivation, teacher leadership, and principal effectiveness, Todd Whitaker has written over 50 books including the national best seller, What Great Teachers Do Differently. Other titles include: Shifting the Monkey, Dealing with Difficult Teachers, 10 Minute Inservice, The Ball, What Great Principals Do Differently, Motivating and Inspiring Teachers, and Dealing with Difficult Parents.

Todd is available to speak/train your staff as well. You can reach him by email: [email protected], through twitter @ToddWhitaker or through his website: ToddWhitaker.com

Christina Monclova is an eight year homeschool veteran. She has taught her 4 girls through trial and error and done an amazing job throughout it all!

Listen to this week's episode to hear some helpful tips and tricks for creating a successful experience for both student and teacher/parent! If you would like to reach out to Christina, please email her at [email protected].

Meredith Akers is a wife, mom, Christ-follower and elementary school administrator who believes that the best way to help others grow is to model expectations. Her daily aspiration is to make a positive impact and to leave those she serves better off for having interacted with her. Meredith serves as Principal at Rennell Elementary in Cypress-Fairbanks ISD outside of Houston, TX. She is a Google Certified Educator Level 1 and 2 and a FlipGrid Certified Educator.

Meredith has led numerous professional development sessions on her campus, for her district, at conferences such as ISTE and TCEA, and as a consultant. Meredith is a co-moderator of #TXed (each and every Wednesday night at 8:30pm CST) and she blogs at meredithakers.com about educational leadership, ed tech tools and applications, and great instructional practices. You can connect with Meredith on Twitter by following @meredithakers.

Kristi Floyd is a 27 year educator with experience in 1st, 2nd, 4th, SPED, ESL, and is currently a Dyslexia Intervention teacher for a large district in the Houston area. She attended Sam Houston State University before getting her degree from Baylor University. 

Kristi has always had a love of children and is currently writing a children's book based on her belief that all students are more alike than they are different. She has built relationships with students that she maintains many years after they were actually in her class. Kristi has been fortunate enough to be acknowledged by those students who attest to the positive contributions she made in their lives. Listen to this podcast to learn some strategies to leave your own ripples in the pond with your students.