The literacy space has become increasingly polarizing since the reading wars began.

There are a number of debates and questions that continue, including:
Will kids learn to read “naturally”? 

What did the whole language approach get right, if anything?

Is explicit phonics instruction just a pendulum swing (and is focusing on phonics enough)?
Are we teaching kids to read too early? 

When we talk about “early literacy” instruction, what are we actually recommending and how does that look? 

I invited Jane Gebers, veteran speech-language pathologist and author to episode 157 De Facto Leaders to discuss these questions. 

I entered the field right around the time the National Reading Panel study was published, so there was a fair amount of research on evidence-based literacy intervention when I started practicing. 

But when Jane started practicing, much of this research hadn’t been done, and she had the experience of watching the fields of education and reading instruction evolve. She was also one of the early adopters of many approaches that are common practice today, and it was an honor to hear about her work. 

Jane L. Gebers is the author of the popular resource, Books Are for Talking, Too! (Link here: https://www.slpstorytellers.com/2023/09/11/slp-author-book-books-are-for-talking-too-by-jane-gebers/), first published in 1990, and now in its 4th edition as of March 2023. A practicing speech-language pathologist for over 40 years, she has worked in public school, hospital, private, and clinical settings. She has been an adjunct professor at St. Mary's College of California and other universities where she taught Language Development, Assessment, and Intervention courses to students pursuing special education credentials. She currently holds a private practice in Northern California.

In this conversation, Jane and I discuss:

✅Everyone’s talking about “scaffolding”, but what does this word actually mean?

✅Reading practices that have stood the test of time, despite attempts to disprove their effectiveness.

✅The battle between play-based learning and “sight words”; and how to emphasize the right skills at the right time.

✅When building language skills, do we focus on a developmental hierarchy or environmental demands? 

✅Mapping language to print symbols and what to address in the early years to set the stage for reading and writing. 

You can connect with Jane on her website here: https://soundingyourbest.com, and find her book, Books Are for Talking, Too! here: https://www.slpstorytellers.com/2023/09/11/slp-author-book-books-are-for-talking-too-by-jane-gebers/  

The following resources were mentioned in this episode:

Some of the work done by Dr. Carol Westby, Ph.D. (Link here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/152574019902100107)

The Neuroscience of Reading with Dr. G. Reid. Lyon (Link here: https://irrc.education.uiowa.edu/blog/2023/05/neuroscience-reading-dr-g-reid-lyon)

Teachers’ Use of Scaffolds within Conversations During Shared Book Reading (Dekshmukh, R.S., Pentimonti, J.M., Zucker, T.A., & Curry, B.) (Link here: https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/2021_LSHSS-21-00020)

In this episode, I mention Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that helps SLPs create a system for language therapy. You can learn more about Language Therapy Advance Foundations here:  https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy/

I also mentioned The School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps related service providers guide their teams to support students’ executive functioning across the day. This program will help you plan direct therapy, but will also help you lead change management on your team, no matter your job title. You can learn more about the School of Clinical Leadership here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership

We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

No one working in special ed has ever said, “I chose this career so I could do paperwork all evening and weekend.”

Yet many realize after getting into the field that administrative demands can take away from time spent with students or collaborating with colleagues. 

That’s why I was so excited to connect with Sean Klamm, special educator and founder of Playground IEP (Link here: https://www.playgroundiep.com/) in episode 156 of “De Facto Leaders”. 

After starting his career as a teacher and then special education administrator, Sean was inspired to find a solution that would streamline, and potentially remove some of the “behind the scenes” work special educators need to do to manage service plans.

Sean Klamm is the Founder of Playground IEP. Sean is a Special Educator and former Director of Special Education at Butler College Prep in Chicago. After serving as Director for 5 years, Sean transitioned to build Playground IEP; the special education tools he wished he had while working in the school. Playground IEP is a new class of caseload management software that increases collaboration and automates many of the manual caseload management tasks. Sean and his team also built IEPcopilot.ai (Link here: https://www.playgroundiep.com/iep-copilot) which uses AI to assist in writing IEP goals, BIPs, and other sections of the IEP. Sean and his team are committed to building tools that allow teachers to spend more time with students and less time with spreadsheets.

In this conversation, we discuss:

✅ What’s the real motivation behind using AI and technology?

✅ How to keep the entire team in the loop about goals and accommodations (instead of letting IEPs collect dust in a binder on the shelf).

✅ When teachers aren’t supported, IEPs don’t get fully implemented. How do we solve that problem? 

✅ Using AI and technology to make space for better instructional practices and team collaboration.

✅ Systems vs. tools vs. culture: How leadership can avoid the “technology for the sake of technology” trap. 

You can connect with Sean on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanklamm/

Learn more about PlayGround IEP here: https://www.playgroundiep.com/

Create a free IEP Copilot account here: https://www.playgroundiep.com/iep-copilot

In this episode, I mention Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that helps SLPs create a system for language therapy. You can learn more about Language Therapy Advance Foundations here: https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy/
 
I also mentioned The School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps related service providers guide their teams to support students’ executive functioning across the day. This program will help you plan direct therapy, but will also help you lead change management on your team, no matter your job title. You can learn more about the School of Clinical Leadership here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership

We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

Related service providers are often considered subject matter experts. Our role is to support other members of multidisciplinary teams like teachers, parents and administrators. 

But many clinicians I’ve talked to started their careers feeling like a “jack of all trades, master of none”. 

Some feel that graduate school was all theory and no practice. Others feel it was “drinking water through a firehose”, with way too broad of a scope to feel confident in any specific area.

That’s why it’s so important for professionals in education and healthcare to have a gameplan that helps them navigate all stages of their careers, so they can uncover interests and talents.

In my personal situation, it started when I felt overwhelmed as a new SLP trying to understand my role on the school team supporting language and literacy; which is what inspired me to create Language Therapy Advance Foundations. 

That’s why I was so excited to connect with Brianna Guild from SLP Literacy Corner who went through a similar journey.

Brianna is a private practice Speech-Language Pathologist in Ontario, Canada. She provides virtual speech therapy sessions, primarily in the areas of literacy, language, and articulation, to residents of Ontario. She started her own small business, SLP Literacy Corner, in 2022. She aims to support busy educators by creating resources and sharing activity ideas aligned with the Science of Reading. She is passionate about sharing low-prep resources and ideas for students of all ages, so educators can spend less time planning their literacy lessons. 

Her journey to becoming an SLP was not a traditional one. She received her Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry with a minor in Psychology from the University of Guelph, and then her Master of Health Science in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Toronto. She loves that the field of Speech-Language Pathology combines her interests in education, healthcare, and research.

In this conversation, we discuss:

✅What is it like to be a struggling reader? (we both share our lived experiences).

✅How to discover your niche as a clinician and find your area of specialization.

✅The “pendulum myth”: Why evidence-based reading instruction is not just another trend.

✅Beyond phonics: How has the Science of Reading evolved?

✅Reading as a basic human right: It’s impact on access to higher education and career opportunities

✅Finding your people and uncovering your version of clinical leadership.

You can connect with Brianna on her SLP Literacy Corner website here: https://www.slpliteracycorner.ca/  
on Instagram here: http://@slp.literacy.corner or on her Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082685452676

You can find her SLP Literacy Corner Teachers Pay Teachers store here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Slp-Literacy-Corner 

We mentioned the following resources in this episode:

“The Reading Comprehension Blueprint” by Nancy E. Hennessy, M.Ed (Link here: https://products.brookespublishing.com/The-Reading-Comprehension-Blueprint-P1197.aspx)

The Hanen ABC and Beyond Program for Building Emergent Literacy in Early Childhood Settings (Link here: https://www.hanen.org/Programs/For-Educators/ABC-and-Beyond.aspx)

Ascend SMARTER Intervention Reading and Writing Curriculum (Link here: https://www.ascendlearningcenter.com/dsi-curriculum)

Basics of Decoding and Spelling Instruction by the International Dyslexia Association (Link here: https://www.idaontario.com/wpeducation/basics-of-decoding-and-spelling-instruction/)

National Reading Panel (Link here: https://www.nichd.nih.gov/sites/default/files/publications/pubs/nrp/Documents/report.pdf)

International Dyslexia Association (Link here: https://dyslexiaida.org/structured-literacy-effective-instruction-for-students-with-dyslexia-and-related-reading-difficulties/)

Ontario Language Curriculum (Link here: https://www.dcp.edu.gov.on.ca/en/curriculum/elementary-language)

ONlit hub for evidence-based systematic and explicit instruction (Link here: https://onlit.org/)

In this episode, I mention Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that helps SLPs create a system for language therapy. You can learn more about Language Therapy Advance Foundations here: https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy/

I also mentioned The School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps related service providers guide their teams to support students’ executive functioning across the day. This program will help you plan direct therapy, but will also help you lead change management on your team, no matter your job title. You can learn more about the School of Clinical Leadership here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership

We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

In this episode, I share a special Q & A session I did with the members of Language Therapy Advance Foundations; my program that provides service providers with a research-based framework for language therapy.

I get a lot of questions about how to make the transition between preschool to school-age, what language therapy activities are appropriate for younger children, and when to start direct intervention on linguistic skills like syntax.

While there is not a scripted protocol or curriculum that gives us all the answers, there’s a wide body of research that shows how an effective intervention framework can work. 

Should we focus on the “big picture” structure of language, like narrative structure, or should we focus on the pieces? 

Will kids get the “big picture” if they can’t put the other components together (at the word and sentence level)? Or will developing the structure give them a process that will help them develop those other components. 

In reality, it’s a little of both. 

Should we think from a developmental perspective; making sure that kids are developmentally ready to learn certain skills before introducing them? Or should we think from more of a behavioral, or cognitive/linguistic perspective, and operate from the assumption that teaching will facilitate skills?

Again, it’s a little of both.

In this episode, I clarified some of that nuance, as well as how I’ve considered these things in the framework I teach. 

✅How to structure your therapy session; including how to set expectations, how to think about modeling and scaffolding, and where "drill" activities come in to play

✅Where does narrative language intervention apply to language therapy? 

✅Are some students too young for direct work on vocabulary and syntax? 

✅How do we make the transition from preschool to school-age language therapy?

✅Describing a pattern vs. diagnosing: How does gestalt language processing fit in to a language therapy framework?

The following resources were mentioned in this episode:

De Facto Leaders EP 64: Are kids ready to work on complex sentences in elementary school? (Link here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/ep-64-are-kids-ready-to-work-on-complex-sentences-in-early-elementary-school/)

Spencer & Douglas (2020). Narrative Intervention: Principles to Practice (Link here: https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/2020_LSHSS-20-00015)

The Informed SLP: Let’s give them something to gestalt about (Link here: https://www.theinformedslp.com/review/let-s-give-them-something-to-gestalt-about)

In this episode, I mention Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that helps SLPs create a system for language therapy. You can learn more about Language Therapy Advance Foundations here: https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy/

We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

Our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors don’t have to define us. 

This is an important thing to remember for adults dealing with professional burnout and compassion fatigue; and it’s also important to model for kids.

When school discipline focuses on punitive measures alone, we miss out on opportunities to teach kids how to manage emotions or repair mistakes. 

That’s why I’m so excited to share this second half of my conversation with Crissy Mombela in “De Facto Leaders” episode 153, where we talk about the importance of debriefing, maintaining safe school communities, and teaching kids how to restore relationships. 

Crissy Mombela is the Program Director for the REACH initiative through the Partnership for Resilience. She leads the REACH Communities of Practice (CoP). Her work allows her to be a thought partner and leader in the implementation and evaluation of the REACH Initiative, a strategic partnership with the Center for Childhood Resilience at Lurie Children’s Hospital, and the support of the Illinois State Board of Education. With over twenty-five years of public education experience as a special education teacher and administrator, Crissy’s focus is on developing systems that support connection, innovation, and belonging within school communities. Crissy earned her B.S.Ed. with a concentration in special education from Northern Illinois University and her M.Ed. in Educational Administration from Loyola University. 

Crissy currently holds an Illinois Professional Educator License for teaching and administration with endorsements for directing special education programs and teaching English Language Learners. In her free time, Crissy enjoys traveling with her family, baking, and scrapbooking.

*In this conversation we discuss some sensitive topics relating to traumatic events in schools. 

In this second half of our conversation, we discuss:

✅Why does skipping the debrief after a crisis situation increase the likeliness of compassion fatigue?

✅Crisis prevention: How do we take a proactive approach to de-escalation?

✅The impact of social-emotional learning for adults: Why it’s not just about the kids.

✅Restoring a safe community after physical altercations between students.

✅Minimizing retraumatization during the debriefing process.

✅Teaching relationship repair and the impact it has on the well-being of all parties.

✅Why debriefing should be a part of crisis drills.

The following resources were mentioned in this episode:

The REACH Initiative at the Center for Childhood Resilience (Link here: https://childhoodresilience.org/reach)

The Partnership for Resilience (Link here: https://partnership4resilience.org/)

Elena Aguilar Coaching Resistance Podcast Series (Link here: https://www.brightmorningteam.com/podcast/coaching-resistance-part-1-what-is-resistance)

Neurodiversity Strengths Checklist (Link here: https://literallyausome.com.au/neurodiverity-strengths/)

Ladder of Inference TED Ed by Trevor Maber (Link here: https://www.ted.com/talks/trevor_maber_rethinking_thinking/transcript)

Reclaiming Youth At Risk (Link here: https://www.amazon.com/Reclaiming-Youth-Risk-Hope-Future/dp/1879639866)

The Whole-Brain Child (Link here: https://amzn.to/43d2dNT)

National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (Link here: https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/trauma-sensitive-schools-training-package)

Conscious Discipline - Bailey (Link here: https://consciousdiscipline.com/free-resources/book-portal/)

Relationship, Responsibility, and Regulation (Link here: https://amzn.to/3PjP5Ra)

CHAMPS (Link here: https://ancorapublishing.com/product/champs-third-edition/)

Hacking School Discipline (Link here: https://amzn.to/4a6ppPY)

We Want to Do More Than Survive  (Link here: https://amzn.to/4c6cShg)

Other People's Children - Cultural Conflict in the Classroom (Link here: https://www.amazon.com/Other-Peoples-Children-Cultural-Classroom/dp/1595580743)

In this episode, I mentioned The School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps related service providers guide their teams to support students’ executive functioning across the day. This program will help you plan direct therapy, but will also help you lead change management on your team, no matter your job title. You can learn more about the School of Clinical Leadership here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership 

We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

People working in school or medical settings are in a position to be caring for others in their professional lives; which makes it difficult to leave work at work.

When you combine that with relationships outside of work, family responsibilities or having a child with a disability, there’s a high risk of burnout. 

I invited Crissy Mombela to episode 152 of “De Facto Leaders” to discuss this topic because she’s had lived experience as a teacher, a school administrator, and as a parent. 

Crissy Mombela is the Program Director for the REACH initiative through the Partnership for Resilience. She leads the REACH Communities of Practice (CoP). Her work allows her to be a thought partner and leader in the implementation and evaluation of the REACH Initiative, a strategic partnership with the Center for Childhood Resilience at Lurie Children’s Hospital, and the support of the Illinois State Board of Education. With over twenty-five years of public education experience as a special education teacher and administrator, Crissy’s focus is on developing systems that support connection, innovation, and belonging within school communities. Crissy earned her B.S.Ed. with a concentration in special education from Northern Illinois University and her M.Ed. in Educational Administration from Loyola University. 

Crissy currently holds an Illinois Professional Educator License for teaching and administration with endorsements for directing special education programs and teaching English Language Learners. In her free time, Crissy enjoys traveling with her family, baking, and scrapbooking.

This episode is the first part of our conversation about social-emotional learning for adults in education and healthcare.

In this first half of the conversation, we discuss:

✅What compassion fatigue is and why self-care alone won’t solve it. 

✅Having a child with ADHD: What it’s like to be on the other side of the table as a parent in an IEP meeting.

✅How to set expectations with your child’s school team so you’re an active participant.

✅Reframing “discipline” in schools; and why it doesn’t have to be punitive.

✅How to embed social-emotional learning across the day and why it has to be practiced “in context”: For both kids and adults

✅The impact of giving kids the opportunity to contribute to their community

The following resources were mentioned in this episode:

The REACH Initiative at the Center for Childhood Resilience (Link here: https://childhoodresilience.org/reach)

The Partnership for Resilience (Link here: https://partnership4resilience.org/)

Dr. Nadine Burke Harrris’s work with Adverse Childhood Experiences (Link here: https://burkefoundation.org/what-drives-us/adverse-childhood-experiences-aces/)

Dr. Mack Brackett’s book “Permission to Feel” (Link here: https://www.marcbrackett.com/)

The CHAMPS Model for Classroom Management (Link here: https://www.amazon.com/Champs-Proactive-Positive-Classroom-Management/dp/1599090309)

In this episode, I mentioned The School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps related service providers guide their teams to support students’ executive functioning across the day. This program will help you plan direct therapy, but will also help you lead change management on your team, no matter your job title. You can learn more about the School of Clinical Leadership here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership 

We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

If we try to make schools in the US more like schools in other countries, will that result in more effective practices?

Why do policies work in some districts, but not others?

Many ideas sound good on paper; but the people working with students or leading schools are telling a different story.

That’s why I invited reading specialist Jalita Johnson to episode 151 to share her expertise on these topics.

Jalita Johnson is a reading specialist in the Northern Virginia area and is also a veteran, wife and mom of 4. She completed her undergrad studies at Fayetteville State University, an HBCU near Ft. Liberty (formerly Ft. Bragg) North Carolina. She holds a Master's Degree in Elementary Reading.

​​She is currently enrolled in a Doctoral bridge program at George Mason for Educational Leadership. Over the years, she has come to realize that she committed to being a lead learner.

In this conversation, she shares:

✅Being an agent for change: Why her military background gave her the skills and experience to lead reform initiatives in education 

✅Syntactic complexity, and the disconnect between decoding/encoding and language comprehension

✅Professional development and learning communities: Does one size fit all?

✅What challenges come up when federal, state or district-level reform initiatives are modeled off of policies from other countries or states? 

The following resources were mentioned in this episode:

“Hacking School Leadership: What makes Teachers Happy and Why it Matters to Students” by Erika Garcia-Niles (Link here: https://www.amazon.com/Hacking-School-Leadership-principals-happiness/dp/1956512446/ref=sr_1_1?crid=OW0WCCPY7Q3F&keywords=hacking+school+leadership&qid=1699901781&s=books&sprefix=hacking+school+leadership%2Cstripbooks%2C87&sr=1-1)

Stacy Roberts, M.Ed, CCC-SLP, from Explore to Express (Link here: https://www.exploretoexpress.com/)

In this episode, I mention Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that helps SLPs create a system for language therapy. You can learn more about Language Therapy Advance Foundations here: https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy/

I also mentioned The School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps related service providers guide their teams to support students’ executive functioning across the day. This program will help you plan direct therapy, but will also help you lead change management on your team, no matter your job title. You can learn more about the School of Clinical Leadership here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership

We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

This week, I’m sharing an interview I did with another host on the BE podcast network because I think it’s something you’ll really enjoy. The episode is going live in the De Facto Leaders podcast feed. 

Dr. Chris Jones has been an educator in Massachusetts for 22 years. His experience in the classroom ranged from 8th - 11th grade working in an urban setting. A portion of this was spent opening a high school division for an expanding charter school. He has just finished his 14th year as a building administrator. Chris is also the Vice President of the Massachusetts State Administrators Association (MSAA). True to his "why" of improving the educational experience for as many people as possible, he is currently the Principal of Whitman-Hanson Regional High School in Whitman, Massachusetts.

He is the author of SEEing to Lead, a book that provides strategies for how modern leaders can and must support, engage, and empower their teachers to elevate student success. Chris vlogs weekly about continuous improvement and is also the host of the podcast SEEing to Lead as a way to amplify teachers’ voices in an effort to improve education as a whole.

In this interview, Dr. Chris Jones and I discuss how school leaders and subject matter experts can work together to support each other. 

There's a big emphasis on the idea that we need to embrace uncertainty to improve personally and professionally. While I agree with this, I think it's possible to take it too far.

In the K-12 world, I've seen many talented therapists or teachers continue old habits and patterns they know aren't effective.

Usually there's layers of shame and guilt because they know they could be doing something more, or at the very least doing something different.

Procrastination and not changing habits is often blamed on things like "mindset" or even character flaws, but many times it's simply a lack of clarity.

If you're wanting to solve a problem in a classroom, a therapy room, or a school, the steps can feel overwhelming and all-consuming. Sometimes the end goal and how to get there can feel fuzzy.

When you have a challenging task in front of you, some element of anxiety and uncertainty is normal and part of the process.

But if you have absolutely no clue where to start or where you're going, being able to "motivate" yourself to move forward or do the work to change your habits is going to be extremely difficult.

Imagine how you'd feel if you were stressed, frustrated, and nervous about something and you were told:

"This is going to be hard and uncomfortable. I have no idea how long it will take. I'm not sure where we're going and how we're going to get there."

Few people would be excited to jump in and get started in that scenario, especially if they knew they'd be left to figure it out alone.

This is where school leaders can step in and help teachers, therapists, and other staff to see the path forward or put the support in place to make sure they get help along the way.

Whether it be access to resources, trainings, establishing operating procedures for collaboration, or time to meet and connect. 

We might not need to see the whole staircase clearly, but we can at least get an idea of what lies ahead and make the first steps feel less intimidating.

You can connect with Dr. Jones on LinkedIn here, and on Twitter here, and on Instagram here.  You can learn more about his book and podcast at: https://drcsjones.blog/seeing-to-lead-podcast/

In this episode, I mention the School of Clinical Leadership, my program for related service providers who want to take a leadership role in implementing executive functioning support. You can learn more about the program here.

We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

There’s a difference between influence and control.
 
Whether we’re making suggestions to a coworker, asking a supervisor for support, setting expectations with kids, or interacting with someone in an online forum…we’re all attempting to create behavioral change. 

In “helping people” professions, it’s easy to get emotionally involved with our work. 
This makes it difficult to identify if there are actionable steps we can take to impact bigger, systemic issues vs. when we should put our heads down and focus on the work (or people) in front of us. 

Just how far should we go in trying to convince other people to act or think a certain way? 

When is it our job to speak up, and when do we hit the point of diminishing returns? 

It’s easy to let our thoughts spiral about these questions; especially when we have lingering feelings of guilt that we could be doing more.

That’s why I invited Candice Noss to episode 150 of De Facto Leaders to talk about how educators and therapists can tame their thoughts surrounding leadership and advocacy. 

Candice Noss is a dynamic and passionate speaker and coach, renowned for transforming and elevating lives through her business, The Mind Body Spirit Trifecta. As an expert in cognitive behavioral therapy, along with her 20+ years working as a Physical Therapist, Candice brings a wealth of knowledge and real-world experience to every stage, course and coaching engagement.  

By addressing the entire human trifecta, the mind, body and spirit, Candice provides a powerful holistic approach to confident, healthy living.  Candice liberates and empowers others to genuinely thrive which ripples into every facet of life. An elevated life elevates business.  Candice clarifies how to elevate performance with a mind firmly aligned, a body purposefully loved and a spirit powerfully accessed.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

✅Setting boundaries vs. trying to control: Why making this distinction can reduce burnout and create space for your “dream projects” 

✅Allowing consequences vs. forcing compliance: Can and should you “make” kids do their schoolwork (or any other task they don’t want to do)?

✅How to determine, “What is my job in this scenario?” when advocating for yourself or others, educating the public and/or coworkers, or handling disagreements. 

You can learn how to connect with Candice on her website here: https://candicenoss.com/ 

Also, you can check out her video “Self-talk: Go from CRAPPY to HAPPY with 1 Simple Brain Hack” here: https://candicenoss.com/crappy-to-happy/

Listen to her podcast, Designed for Greatness with Candice Noss here: https://candicenoss.com/category/podcast/
 
In this episode, I mention the School of Clinical Leadership, a program that helps related service providers take a stand for themselves as leaders on their team as well as for their students. In the program, I’ll help you create a comprehensive plan for putting executive functioning support in place on your school team by giving you the tools you need to influence your team. You can learn how to become a member here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership

Candice and I are both on the BE Podcast network, a podcast network for educators and leaders who are making innovative changes to education. You can learn more about the shows on the BE Podcast network here: https://bepodcast.network/ 

We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.

If the schools are devoting time and money to improving reading instruction, how should the rest of the day look for kids as it pertains to literacy? 

Should parents be working with kids at home? If so, how much? What about reading? Can we use apps to help build language skills? How about audiobooks? 

A common recommendation is that we should read 20 minutes a day, several times a week. 
I had a hard time nailing down a specific study that “proved” that this is an ideal amount, so where did this recommendation come from?

I discuss answers to questions like this in episode 149 of De Facto Leaders. 
 
In this episode, I share:

✅Is listening to an audiobook the same as reading it in print, and will it make you a better reader? 

✅If we can’t agree on whether or not homework is beneficial, how can we figure out what kids should be doing outside the school day?

✅Why do teachers often recommend reading 20 minutes a day, and why did this become the magic number? 

✅Will encouraging a struggling reader to sit down with a book make them hate reading even more?
 
In this episode, I mention Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that teaches language and literacy professionals a framework for language therapy that builds the skills kids need to benefit from core reading instruction. 

I also mentioned the following episodes of De Facto Leaders for discussions on project-based learning and improving the connection between home and school:

Do school leaders need coaching (with Dan Kelley): https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/ep-114-do-school-leaders-need-coaching-with-dan-kelley/

Cell phones, 1:1 device initiatives, and homework policies in K-12 Education (with Dr. John Burkey): https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/ep-139-cell-phones-11-device-initiatives-and-homework-policies-in-k-12-education-with-dr-john-burkey/

Becoming a school founder and empowering students through project-based learning (with Tanya Sheckley): https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/ep-144-becoming-a-school-founder-and-empowering-students-through-project-based-learning-with-tanya-sheckley/

We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.