Coaching the Whole Educator

Episode Summary

What if the scripted curriculum we hand new teachers is the very thing burning them out? In this episode of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca Silver talks with Bob Lenz, CEO of PBLWorks, about how project-based learning (PBL) helps early career teachers thrive instead of just surviving, and why school systems built for consistency keep pulling innovative teachers back into compliance.

Bob shares findings from a randomized controlled trial of the Knowledge in Action AP curriculum, where PBL students outscored peers on AP exams by 8% in year one and 10% in year two, across all demographics. He explains why teachers trained in student-centered schools often revert to traditional instruction within three years of moving to a traditional school, and why giving new teachers high-quality PBL curriculum acts as a “floor,” not a script. Becca connects the conversation to her resistance work, naming the compliance culture that shapes how we treat both students and adults.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why the portrait of a graduate works as a “Trojan horse” for deeper learning and PBL adoption
• The biggest gap between teacher prep programs and day one in the classroom
• How PBL partner districts improved chronic absenteeism (one middle school went from 66% to 96% attendance)
• The four areas leaders need to address for systemwide PBL: vision, conditions, professional learning, and measurement
• Why “two projects a year” is a realistic starting point for reluctant departments
• How making expert thinking visible builds new teacher agency and confidence
• Why PBL is an equity issue, and why it may be less “innovation” than overdue updating

Who this episode is for: instructional coaches, principals, district leaders, and teacher leaders supporting new teachers, implementing project-based learning, or working to reduce teacher burnout and turnover.

Frequently asked questions

Does project-based learning improve test scores? According to Bob, a randomized controlled study validated by USC found PBL students scored 8 to 10% higher on AP exams than students in traditional classes, with strong gains in critical thinking and communication.

How can schools support new teachers with PBL? Pair high-quality, student-centered curriculum with embedded professional learning and coaching, so new teachers start from a strong floor instead of designing units from scratch on Sunday night.

Why do innovative teaching practices fade? When school policies, pacing, and observation practices conflict with student-centered goals, teachers drift back to compliance-based instruction. Leaders have to surface those conflicts and build a coherent system.

Timestamps

• 00:00 Welcome and introduction to Bob Lenz
• 00:58 What PBLWorks does and why agency matters
• 01:50 Portrait of a graduate as a path to PBL
• 05:10 Helping new teachers thrive, not survive
• 06:40 The AP study results
• 10:10 Curriculum as a floor and giving Sundays back to teachers
• 12:55 The gap between teacher prep and day one
• 15:00 Compliance curriculum, burnout, and attendance gains
• 16:20 Compliance culture and resistance
• 17:00 Schools built for consistency, not innovation
• 19:30 Moving the whole system: what leaders need in place
• 24:00 Agency, professional judgment, and making thinking visible
• 27:30 Innovation or overdue update?
• 29:20 PBL as an equity floor
• 30:20 Bob’s new book and resources

Resources mentioned

• PBLWorks: pblworks.org
• PBL for All: A Leader’s Guide by Bob Lenz and Lisa Morales
• PBL World coaching academy (June, Napa Valley)

Keep going

• Get The Resistance Solution: https://amzn.to/4pRCaa5
• Lead your team through it with Book Study Facilitator Training: https://www.thewholeeducator.com/book-study-facilitator-training

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You've modeled it, co-planned it, and practiced it side by side, and it's still not showing up in the classroom. In this Resistance Solution Mini-Session, Becca Silver reads from Chapter 2 of The Resistance Solution on why more PD and more modeling often miss the mark. Coaches and school leaders get one question to ask before their next coaching move.

In this episode:

• Why resistance often looks like a skill problem on the surface
• The quiet calculation teachers run before trying something new: Is this worth it? What if it doesn't work? Can I pull this off?
• Why a fourth round of modeling rarely fixes a will gap

This week's challenge: pick the coaching conversation that keeps looping and ask yourself, "Is this a gap in skill, or a gap in will?" If it's will, swap your next model for a question.

Take the free quiz, What Is Resistance Costing You?: https://www.thewholeeducator.com/resistance-quiz

Get The Resistance Solution: https://amzn.to/4pRCaa5

Free reader tools: thewholeeducator.com/book-resources

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What happens when a new school leader tries so hard to meet everyone’s expectations that they stop leading like themselves? In this episode of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca Silver talks with Joshua Stamper, author of Aspire to Lead and host of the Aspire to Lead podcast, about perseverance, adversity, and the quiet ways aspiring leaders slip into compliance while trying to prove they belong.

Josh shares his unexpected path from art teacher to athletic coach, Dean of Students, and assistant principal for nearly a decade, and now speaker, author, and leadership consultant. He opens up about his first months as Dean of Students, when staff and families expected him to be “the sheriff.” He tried to fill that role, and discipline referrals climbed every month. Then he made a shift: he got clear on his own values, rebuilt the campus approach to student behavior around teaching skills instead of punishment, and watched both the data and the culture turn around.

Becca and Josh also dig into:

• Influence vs. control: how to tell whether you want to lead people or simply want more control over decisions, and why “I’m just a teacher” holds back progress
• How “no” creates compliance culture: why turning down a teacher’s idea can move them from ownership back to compliance, and what a “yes, and” leader does instead
• The cost of being chosen: navigating jealousy, rivalry, and shifting peer relationships when you’re tapped for leadership early
• Rejection as “not yet”: what Josh learned from being passed over for promotion, and why talking about what you have done beats what you would do in leadership interviews
• Regulation under pressure: why anticipating hard moments (and deciding in advance who you’ll be) is one of the strongest leadership practices, plus Becca’s reframe that every breakdown carries the seed of a breakthrough
• The ASPIRE framework: Activate, Support, Persevere, Identity, Reflection, and Execution, with practical advice on “activating” by becoming visibly available to your admin team

This episode is for teachers considering an administrative path, assistant principals eyeing the next role, instructional coaches, and any educator who leads with or without a title.

About the guest: Joshua Stamper is a former art teacher, coach, Dean of Students, and assistant principal who now speaks, writes, and coaches educators nationwide. He is the author of Aspire to Lead and The Language of Behavior, hosts three podcasts, and leads the Aspire to Lead cohort for aspiring school leaders.

Connect with Joshua: https://joshstamper.com | Instagram and X: @joshua__stamper

Explore Becca’s book: The Resistance Solution: https://amzn.to/4pRCaa5 

Lead your own book study with the Book Study Facilitator Training: https://www.thewholeeducator.com/book-study-facilitator-training

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Ever leave a coaching conversation feeling great about the advice you gave, only to come back a week later and find nothing has changed? You're not alone, and it's probably not the teacher's fault.

In this episode, Becca sits down with her friend and colleague coaching master Chrissy Beltran, known to many as Buzzing with Ms. B, to unpack why coaching conversations so often go nowhere. Chrissy shares why coaches feel pressure to have all the answers, how teachers often ask for help in the only way they know how (a complaint), and the simple mindset shift that keeps every interaction moving toward real partnership.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why our "advice monster" is so loud as coaches (hint: it feels really good)
• The difference between coaching and consulting, and why quick fixes rarely change thinking
• Why "it doesn't matter what you say, it matters what they hear"
• Chrissy's ABC model: Always Be Coaching, and where the idea came from (spoiler: knives)
• How to narrow your follow-up to a simple yes or no ("Can I come by tomorrow at 9?")
• Why you should offer two or three support options, tops
• The red flag phrases that signal it's time to point the finger back at yourself
• The difference between manipulation and intentionally building connection
• Why connection is the shortest distance to coachability

Timestamps:

• 00:00 Welcome and introducing Chrissy Beltran
• 00:55 The problem: a whole conversation and nothing changes
• 01:29 Why coaches feel they have to have all the answers
• 03:26 Taming the advice monster
• 05:22 That's not coaching, that's consulting
• 06:30 The psychology on both sides of unsolicited advice
• 08:00 When "okay" at the end of PD really means compliance
• 08:57 Selling Cutco and the birth of Always Be Coaching
• 11:45 Making follow-up easy to say yes to
• 13:00 Showing up the next day with two or three options
• 14:37 "Guess what? They're coming back tomorrow."
• 15:42 Red flag phrases like "Well, I told them"
• 18:07 Manipulation vs. authentic connection
• 19:47 Being right vs. making a difference
• 21:24 Chrissy's new book, Expand Your Coaching Toolbox

About Chrissy Beltran:
Chrissy Beltran is an instructional coaching expert, the voice behind Buzzing with Ms. B, and host of the Instructional Coaching with Ms. B podcast. Her new book, Expand Your Coaching Toolbox: 20 Practical Strategies That Improve Teaching and Learning (ASCD), is a hands-on guidebook with strategies for relationship building, knowledge and alignment, and instructional skill, each with a note on how to forward the coaching conversation.

Resources mentioned:

• Expand Your Coaching Toolbox by Chrissy Beltran: pre-order through ASCD now, available everywhere (including Amazon) in November

Connect with Becca:
Learn more about Becca's work and The Resistance Solution at thewholeeducator.com. 

Let's Stay Connected!
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The strategy everyone nodded along to in August? It's thriving in one classroom and missing in action next door. And that eye roll from the back of the room is still living rent-free in your head.

In this first episode of Solution Sessions, a new weekly segment of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca reads the opening pages of The Resistance Solution and names what most leaders feel but rarely say out loud: the emotional whiplash of thinking a teacher is on board, then walking into their classroom and finding nothing has changed.

When that happens, most of us reach for one of two explanations. Either some people just don't want to change, or we need more accountability. Both are understandable. Neither gets you very far.

Becca offers a different read: the eye roll, the polite nod, and the strategy that never shows up aren't verdicts on the teacher or on you. They're information.

In this episode:

• Why uneven implementation is one of the most common pain points coaches and leaders report
• The two default reactions to resistance, and why neither one works
• One question to bring into your walkthroughs this week

Your challenge: Pick one classroom where the training isn't showing up yet. Before restating the expectation, ask, "What's getting in the way right now?" Then listen.

Wondering what resistance is costing your school? Take the free What Is Resistance Costing You? quiz and get next steps matched to where you are: https://www.thewholeeducator.com/resistance-quiz

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 What if the colleague you've been describing as "quirky" is the most underused talent in your building? 

In this episode of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca Silver sits down with Justin Permenter of NDI Institute to talk about building workplaces where neurodivergent educators, coaches, and leaders can perform, contribute, and lead without lowering expectations. Roughly one in five people is neurodivergent, including people with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and dyspraxia. Yet most schools and organizations are built for neurotypical ways of working by default. Students get IEPs and 504 plans. Adults get a workplace that expects everyone to sit at the same table, the same way, on the same timeline. 

Justin shares his journey from the classroom in Kansas City to international education in Qatar and his work with Franklin Covey's Leader in Me, plus the story of Omar, a 16-year-old autistic intern who outperformed full-time staff at the Waldorf Astoria within three weeks. Becca opens up about her own ADHD diagnosis and the moment she started seeing it as a strength instead of a deficit. 

You'll learn: 

• Why accommodation and compliance checklists aren't the same as strengths activation
• How curiosity (the C in NDI's CLEAR framework) replaces judgment when a colleague works differently
• What "results alignment" means: keeping outcomes high while allowing multiple pathways to get there
• One thing school leaders and instructional coaches can do tomorrow to lead more neuroinclusively

Perfect for instructional coaches, principals, district leaders, and anyone who leads adults in schools.

 
Resources mentioned:

Website: www.ndiinstitute.com

Webinar on October 6th: https://www.ndiinstitute.com/webinar

Free C.L.E.A.R. Framework: https://www.ndiinstitute.com/download 

The Resistance Solution: Why Educators Resist and What They Need Instead: amzn.to/4pRCaa5

Resistance Solution Book Study Facilitator Training: https://www.thewholeeducator.com/book-study-facilitator-training

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Ever notice how the same piece of feedback lands beautifully with one person on your team and completely bombs with another? Robyn Jackson is back, and this time we're digging into Will Drivers, her framework for the four things that motivate every human being: mastery, purpose, belonging, and autonomy.

Here's the twist. Each driver comes with its own core question running in the background of someone's mind: how, why, who, and what. Once you know someone's dominant driver, you stop guessing why they're not responding to your coaching and start speaking a language they can actually hear.

We get into:

• What Will Drivers are and where the theory came from
• Why the people you connect with most easily probably share your dominant driver
• How the same feedback needs to be delivered four completely different ways depending on who's receiving it
• Why some of the meanest, most aimless, or most struggling people on your team are driven by the exact thing they seem worst at
• The principal who couldn't get his staff moving because he was autonomy driven and they were mastery driven, and neither one understood the other
• Robyn's reframe for ditching the shoulds: be curious, not furious

This one will have you diagnosing your own driver, your partner's, and probably three people on your leadership team before the episode is even over.

📖 The Resistance Solution: amzn.to/4pRCaa5

Book Study Facilitator Training: www.thewholeeducator.com/book-study-facilitator-training 

About Robyn Jackson: Robyn R. Jackson is the founder of Mindsteps and the creator of the Buildership framework. She's spent years helping leaders move from compliance-driven management to real ownership, and her Will Drivers work grew out of motivation research she originally applied to students before realizing it works just as well on adults.

Connect with Robyn: 100PercentPrincipal.com — free weekly newsletter with practical tools for the challenges you're actually facing.

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 **Join the Resistance Solution Facebook Community** https://www.facebook.com/share/g/19TRR5VfpX/

Danny Bauer of Better Leaders Better Schools joins Becca Silver to unpack self mentorship, why traditional PD falls short, and how to become a ruckus maker. 

Most professional development follows the same script: someone else decides what educators need to learn, when they need to learn it, and how. Danny Bauer, founder of Better Leaders Better Schools and creator of the Ruckus Maker movement, calls this "permission-based development," and he thinks it is holding school leaders back. 

In this episode, Becca Silver talks with Danny about self mentorship: a radical ownership model where school leaders define their own growth instead of waiting for central office to approve it. Danny shares real stories of principals who used self mentorship to build "sticky core values," eliminate outdated practices like midterms and finals, and protect their own boundaries without sacrificing results. He and Becca also dig into an uncomfortable pattern Danny has seen again and again: leaders who win Principal of the Year and then get placed on an improvement plan for doing the very work that made them stand out. 

If you have ever sensed something was off in how your school or district operates but could not quite name it, this conversation gives you language and a starting question to explore it. 

What You'll Learn 

• What self mentorship is and how it differs from traditional professional development
• Why Danny calls conventional PD "permission-based development," and why that framing matters
• Real examples of self mentorship in action: sticky core values, eliminating midterms and finals, and protecting personal boundaries as a leader
• Why some of the most innovative school leaders get quietly punished for standing out
• How systems resist disruption, and why that resistance is not personal
• A simple question you can ask tomorrow to start thinking like a "Ruckus Maker"

 **Join the Resistance Solution Facebook Community** https://www.facebook.com/share/g/19TRR5VfpX/

📖 The Resistance Solution: amzn.to/4pRCaa5

Guest Bio

Danny Bauer is the founder of Better Leaders Better Schools and the voice behind the Ruckus Maker movement in education. After years in the classroom and central office, Danny now helps school leaders build campus experiences worth showing up for through coaching, a mastermind community, and the Ruckusmakers Media Substack.

Key Quotes

• Danny Bauer on traditional professional development: PD is often too little, too late, and disconnected, arriving on a schedule the system sets rather than the leader.
• On self mentorship: it is a radical ownership over your own growth and vision, not a curriculum someone else hands you.
• On why leaders get punished for innovating: fragile egos at central office sometimes resent when a subordinate gets the credit for doing something new.
• On the mindset shift: the real question is not "can I change this," but what would need to be true for it to be different.

Timestamps

• 03:00 What is self mentorship, and how is it different from professional development
• 05:30 Why Danny renamed PD "permission-based development"
• 07:30 Real self mentorship stories: sticky core values, eliminating midterms and finals, protecting boundaries
• 12:00 The Ruckus Maker movement and questioning how school "has to be"
• 15:00 Why Principal of the Year winners sometimes end up on improvement plans
• 18:30 Systems built to stay alive, and why disruption meets resistance
• 20:30 Where to find Danny's free resources
• 22:00 One question to ask tomorrow to start your own self mentorship journey

Resources Mentioned

• Better Leaders Better Schools: betterleadersbetterschools.com
• Ruckusmakers Media (Danny's Substack of mini-books on leadership and school change)
• The Art of Self Mentorship (Danny's free mini-book)

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In this episode, Becca sits down with instructional coaching and lesson planning expert Lori Cohen (co-author of The PD Book) to talk about her new book, The Science of Lesson Planning, and what transformative lesson design can teach coaches and school leaders about building psychological safety in schools. They dig into psychological safety, the difference between coaching and "coaxing," and why celebration and reflection only work when they happen together. 

In this episode: 

• Why great lesson planning is about more than activities and standards
• How psychological safety gets built (and spent) in daily interactions, not just at the start of the year
• The real difference between conventional and transformative practice: who holds control of the "right answer"
• Why "coaxing" isn't coaching, and how it breaks trust
• Why celebration and reflection have to happen together for real growth

📖 The Resistance Solution: amzn.to/4pRCaa5

Book Study Facilitator Training: www.thewholeeducator.com/book-study-facilitator-training

About Lori Cohen:
Lori Cohen has spent three decades in education as a teacher, instructional coach, school leader, consultant, and author. Her new book, The Science of Lesson Planning, releases in September through ASCD (preorders open now). She is also co-author of  The PD Book: 7 Habits that Transform Professional Development (with Elena Aguilar) and Integrating Educator Well-Being, Growth, and Evaluation: Four Foundations for Leaders.
 

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In this episode, Becca sits down with Jennifer Abrams, author of five books on adult-to-adult communication in schools including Having Hard Conversations and Stretching Your Learning Edges, for a conversation on hard conversations, school culture, and adult development in education. 

Topics covered in this episode: 

• The difference between resistance and a hard conversation, and where one line ends and the other begins
• Why "niceness culture" in schools gets confused with kindness, and how it undermines belonging
• The cognitive load behind clear communication, and why so many educators avoid it
• The neuroscience of being right: why our brains reward judgment over effectiveness
• The five capacities from Stretching Your Learning Edges: knowing our identities, suspending certainty, taking responsibility for communication, building resilience, and engaging in reciprocity
• A simple, practical cue for naming dysregulation in a meeting, without shame
• Robert Kegan's stages of adult development (instrumental, socialized, self-authoring, self-transforming) and how understanding them builds empathy across a school team

Guest: Jennifer Abrams, adult communication and school culture expert, jenniferabrams.com | LinkedIn | [email protected]

Grab your copy of 📖 The Resistance Solution

Book Study Facilitator Training: www.thewholeeducator.com/book-study-facilitator-training 

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