Little Bits of TLC

Some of the most stressful moments in education aren't with students. They're with adults. In this episode of Little Bits of TLC, host Heather Volchko sits down with Ashly Smith, executive assistant to a CEO and partnerships advisor to the board of TLC Nonprofit, to talk about the hard conversations that come up with colleagues, administrators, and families, and how preparation, curiosity, and candor keep them productive.

Together they explore how to receive critical feedback without taking it personally, how to give it in a way that hands some control to the other person, and how one-on-one check-ins before a group conversation can draw out quieter voices on a team. Heather also shares what happened when she told a board, in the moment, that she wasn't ready for their pushback. The episode closes with a simple practice: script the first three sentences of the conversation you've been avoiding.

Full transcript and Show Notes and Companion blog

Fund this work. The services Heather talked about in this episode are provided by TLC Nonprofit, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, at a reduced cost to public school districts. Your gift sustains these opportunities. Donate at https://www.tlcnonprofit.co/founding-donors

Get the newsletter. One email, every Sunday — Heather’s take, an industry update, resources you can actually use, and first look at TLC University offerings and events. https://university.thresholdlearning.org/pages/home#connect

Tell us what you think. Have questions about what you just heard or ideas for future episodes? Reach out to [email protected] We read every one and love to hear from you!

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Every school staff has lived the day when everything falls apart. Heather sits down with school psychologist and behavior analyst Chris Zielinski to walk through what actually happens in a student crisis — from the deep breath and "duty to act" instinct in the first sixty seconds, to why safety and student support aren't competing priorities but two halves of the same response. They dig into what makes debriefing so rarely done well, even though it's often legally required, and why the goal isn't predicting the next crisis but building a system stable enough to absorb it.The conversation turns to what happens after the incident: what real repair looks like when a student returns from a suspension or expulsion, why "giving people space to breathe" can quietly become the least supportive thing a team does, and how a structured reentry plan changes the story a student walks back into. Chris closes with a simple planning exercise — naming your own crisis trigger now, before you're in it, and sharing that plan with one person so you're not carrying it alone.

Full transcript and Show Notes and Companion blog

Fund this work. The services Heather talked about in this episode are provided by TLC Nonprofit, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, at a reduced cost to public school districts. Your gift sustains these opportunities. Donate at https://www.tlcnonprofit.co/founding-donors

Get the newsletter. One email, every Sunday — Heather’s take, an industry update, resources you can actually use, and first look at TLC University offerings and events. https://university.thresholdlearning.org/pages/home#connect

Tell us what you think. Have questions about what you just heard or ideas for future episodes? Reach out to [email protected] We read every one and love to hear from you!

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Most students who end up in crisis or navigating the justice system are touching more than one system at once — school, courts, and social services — but those systems rarely talk to each other. In this episode, school administrator Mary Mangione, Judge Parga, and student services supervisor Josh Axelsen join Heather to tell the story of how their three systems became genuine partners: reaching out for help one phone call at a time, building a courtroom liaison role nobody had tried before, and bringing outside supports directly into a school building rather than asking families to chase them down.

You'll hear concrete examples of what that partnership looks like in practice — a counseling program moved into a school, a flag-football request answered in 30 minutes instead of weeks — and walk away with a simple first step: naming one student you're worried about and finding out what local support already exists for them.

Full transcript and Show Notes and Companion blog

Fund this work. The services Heather talked about in this episode are provided by TLC Nonprofit, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, at a reduced cost to public school districts. Your gift sustains these opportunities. Donate at https://www.tlcnonprofit.co/founding-donors

Get the newsletter. One email, every Sunday — Heather’s take, an industry update, resources you can actually use, and first look at TLC University offerings and events. https://university.thresholdlearning.org/pages/home#connect

Tell us what you think. Have questions about what you just heard or ideas for future episodes? Reach out to [email protected] We read every one and love to hear from you!

Follow us. Never miss an episode on your favorite platform:

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This solo episode reframes “the district” as more than a faceless office that sends emails and mandates. We talk about how school systems work, where decisions actually get made, and how classroom educators can access support instead of just absorbing pressure. You’ll get language and mindset shifts that help you see yourself as part of a broader community of practice, not a lone island.

Full transcript and Show Notes and Companion blog

Fund this work. The services Heather talked about in this episode are provided by TLC Nonprofit, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, at a reduced cost to public school districts. Your gift sustains these opportunities. Donate at https://www.tlcnonprofit.co/founding-donors

Get the newsletter. One email, every Sunday — Heather’s take, an industry update, resources you can actually use, and first look at TLC University offerings and events. https://university.thresholdlearning.org/pages/home#connect

Tell us what you think. Have questions about what you just heard or ideas for future episodes? Reach out to [email protected] We read every one and love to hear from you!

Follow us. Never miss an episode on your favorite platform:

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Dr. Colleen Evens, who coordinates staff culture and building atmosphere work for one of Illinois's largest school districts, joins host Heather Volchko to look at how adults treat each other at school and how that shapes what students experience down the hall. Colleen walks through why unpacking your own experience as a student changes how you show up as a teacher or a leader, what Google's research on high-performing teams found about psychological safety, and a practical way to move a group from blame and excuse-making toward ownership and repair.

The conversation covers self-awareness (the "lens to mirror" idea), why a closed classroom door can quietly limit what's possible for the adults working in a building, and why presence, not more frameworks, is what actually rebuilds connection. Listeners leave with one concrete first step: building a small bridge of support with a colleague this week.

Full transcript and Show Notes and Companion blog

Fund this work. The services Heather talked about in this episode are provided by TLC Nonprofit, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, at a reduced cost to public school districts. Your gift sustains these opportunities. Donate at https://www.tlcnonprofit.co/founding-donors

Get the newsletter. One email, every Sunday — Heather’s take, an industry update, resources you can actually use, and first look at TLC University offerings and events. https://university.thresholdlearning.org/pages/home#connect

Tell us what you think. Have questions about what you just heard or ideas for future episodes? Reach out to [email protected] We read every one and love to hear from you!

Follow us. Never miss an episode on your favorite platform:

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Classroom environment can feel like a code for everyone except the kids who are always in crisis. In this episode, TLC Nonprofit's Neurodivergence Advisor to the Board, Nick Franczak, and Heather explore how to build a sense of connection that includes students with intense behavior who may be living in complicated situations and working through emotional well-being challenges. They walk through teams, language, and mindset shifts that help the adults in education hold the space without pushing the hard kids to the sidelines.

Full transcript and Show Notes and Companion blog

Fund this work. The services Heather talked about in this episode are provided by TLC Nonprofit, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, at a reduced cost to public school districts. Your gift sustains these opportunities. Donate at https://www.tlcnonprofit.co/founding-donors

Get the newsletter. One email, every Sunday — Heather’s take, an industry update, resources you can actually use, and first look at TLC University offerings and events. https://university.thresholdlearning.org/pages/home#connect

Tell us what you think. Have questions about what you just heard or ideas for future episodes? Reach out to [email protected] We read every one and love to hear from you!

Follow us. Never miss an episode on your favorite platform:

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Data in schools can feel like a weapon or a waste of time, especially when it touches student behavior. Ed tech founder Julian Golder, co-founder of Emote Education, joins Heather to reframe classroom and systems data collection as something that protects kids and staff instead of scrutinizing them. They talk about why data conversations put practitioners on the defensive, how baking data directly into daily practice changes that dynamic, and why behavior can't be read outside of context.

You'll hear how one school traced a spike in office referrals back to snowplowed-in recess yards in about thirty seconds of looking at the right data, and walk away with a simple sticky-note exercise for noticing what your own data isn't showing you yet.

Full transcript and Show Notes and Companion blog

Fund this work. The services Heather talked about in this episode are provided by TLC Nonprofit, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, at a reduced cost to public school districts. Your gift sustains these opportunities. Donate at https://www.tlcnonprofit.co/founding-donors

Get the newsletter. One email, every Sunday — Heather’s take, an industry update, resources you can actually use, and first look at TLC University offerings and events. https://university.thresholdlearning.org/pages/home#connect

Tell us what you think. Have questions about what you just heard or ideas for future episodes? Reach out to [email protected] We read every one and love to hear from you!

Follow us. Never miss an episode on your favorite platform:

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This episode unpacks co-regulation — the idea that a calm (or dysregulated) adult nervous system shapes how students respond, especially in special education, EBD programs, and any space with big feelings. Licensed clinical counselor Jon Barberio and Heather talk about what co-regulation looks like in real time, how adults "lend" their nervous system to kids, and why staying present matters more than having the perfect script.

You'll hear a simple, one-moment check-in practice you can use today, even if your day is bouncing from one crisis to the next.

Full transcript and Show Notes and Companion blog

Fund this work. The services Heather talked about in this episode are provided by TLC Nonprofit, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, at a reduced cost to public school districts. Your gift sustains these opportunities. Donate at https://www.tlcnonprofit.co/founding-donors

Get the newsletter. One email, every Sunday — Heather’s take, an industry update, resources you can actually use, and first look at TLC University offerings and events. https://university.thresholdlearning.org/pages/home#connect

Tell us what you think. Have questions about what you just heard or ideas for future episodes? Reach out to [email protected] We read every one and love to hear from you!

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This episode digs into what effective teachers and special educators do in the first 10 days to build classroom management, routines, and relationships that last all year. Coaching coordinator Ann Potter and Heather talk about intentionally building relationships, demonstrating consistency in interactions, establishing the expectation to learn, and what not to worry about yet.

You'll hear practical, low-prep ways to make these early days predictable for everyone in your room, including yourself.

Full transcript and Show Notes and Companion blog

Fund this work. The services Heather talked about in this episode are provided by TLC Nonprofit, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, at a reduced cost to public school districts. Your gift sustains these opportunities. Donate at https://www.tlcnonprofit.co/founding-donors

Get the newsletter. One email, every Sunday — Heather’s take, an industry update, resources you can actually use, and first look at TLC University offerings and events. https://university.thresholdlearning.org/pages/home#connect

Tell us what you think. Have questions about what you just heard or ideas for future episodes? Reach out to [email protected] We read every one and love to hear from you!

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[Episode description]

Full transcript and Show Notes and Companion blog

Fund this work. The services Heather talked about in this episode are provided by TLC Nonprofit, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, at a reduced cost to public school districts. Your gift sustains these opportunities. Donate at https://www.tlcnonprofit.co/founding-donors

Get the newsletter. One email, every Sunday — Heather’s take, an industry update, resources you can actually use, and first look at TLC University offerings and events. https://university.thresholdlearning.org/pages/home#connect

Tell us what you think. Have questions about what you just heard or ideas for future episodes? Reach out to [email protected] We read every one and love to hear from you!

Follow us. Never miss an episode on your favorite platform:

• Instagram

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• YouTube
  

• LinkedIn
  

• Facebook

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