Digical Education

Ginger Merritt-Paul started her education career in the juvenile corrections system and traces her story to more traditional schools and now as principal of a PBL school. I think you'll enjoy hearing her reflections on authenticity and choosing joy in the work.

This is a return to the short series conversation with friends on Leadership Lessons we've taken from the show Ted Lasso. My great friend, Lynn Swaner, shares a quick take from Season 1 that most people would have missed.

This summer I had the opportunity to read "A Church Called Tov" that challenges us to rethink leadership, power, and the creation of culture in churches. What I didn't realize at the time was that a college classmate and fellow educator, Laura Barringer, was the coauthor. Therefore, in this conversation I wanted to delve into a conversation with Laura about where this book came from, what she learned, and how it might impact our work in our classrooms and schools.

I liked how she encouraged us that we should be a "people of goodness."

Check out the book here: https://www.tyndale.com/p/a-church-called-tov/9781496446008

Mike Chen is an incredible friend, selfless educator, and servant-leader, but in this episode he shares about an encounter with a former student that reminded him that learning success and joy can coexist in a classroom and a school.

Check out Mike's work as leader of Pacific Bay Christian School: https://www.pacbay.org/

Adam Carter is Executive Director of Marshall Street Initiatives (https://www.marshall.org/who-we-are/) and has been Chief Academic Officer, Professional Development Director, and English Teacher at Summit Public Schools.

In this episode, Adam and I talk about his experiences as a young teacher and what led him to being part of a start-up charter school like Summit, but then we reflect on lessons learned from those experiences as well as work left undone as he continues his work through Marshall.

Dan Daly is a Special Education teacher in Chicago, a former student of mine, and a great friend. Dan shares a number of anecdotes about how he has changed because of his work. At one point, Dan states, "Just Show Up" which sums up who he is as a person and why he has been committed to this work and school for the past 9 years.

We enter a new school year, and I am going to do a monthly series with friends entitled "Becoming More Human."

This series was inspired by my first guest, Dennis Eastman, when we were having a conversation about how interactions with certain students made a difference in our life making us better professionals, but more importantly more fully human.

We do our work as educators to make a difference in the lives of students, but this flip in conversation drives us back to those times when we were changed because of the intertwined nature of our work and relationships. We hope your spirits will be renewed in this work as you think of the interactions that impacted you as we start a new school year.

Dennis Eastman is a professor of Education at Biola University and former charter school leader.

Had a great conversation with Athletic Director Matt Coleman in this continued short series on "Lessons from Lasso" as the 2nd season begins. Matt points through a number of anecdotes how Ted engages with the person before the work.

As we get closer to the Season 2 premier of "Ted Lass," I continue to ask old and new friends in education about a Leadership Lesson they derived from watching the show. 

In today's conversation, my new friend Katie Ahmadzai shares about what she learned personally and professionally from Ted's interaction with Sam and why it is good to be a goldfish!

Ben Dykhouse, principal of Ontario Christian High School shares wisdom he took from Season 1 of "Ted Lasso" as he seeks to make the work personal and not to take it personally.