Show Title: “One-offs Matter” with Jen Manly

Power Quote: “One-offs matter.”

Description:

Do you remember being a teacher? Or maybe you are an aspiring AP and you are still in the classroom. Either way, I want you to think about the relationship between the evaluation process, professional development days, and teacher growth. It seems like these are three related things, but in much of my experience as a teacher and administrator, evaluation, PD, and teacher growth were disconnected from each other. They were three distinct things, not three parts of the same thing. What was it – or is – like for you? Today, my wonderful guest and I are going to play with this idea.

Guest Bio:

Jen Manley believes that kids deserve to do BIG, meaningful work and that all students are worthy of learning that is fun, challenging, and fulfilling. She is passionate about helping teachers maximize their planning time to make time for what is most important while still providing an incredible learning experience for every student. She is a current college instructor, former high school and middle school computer science teacher, middle and high school curriculum developer, and speaker.

Warmup questions:

·      We always like to start with a celebration. What are you celebrating today?

·      Is there a story that will help listeners understand why you are doing what you do?

Questions/Topics/Prompts

Jen - my big thing is pushing admin to focus their work around supporting and growing teachers. 

• Support = aligning systems to make it easier for teachers to focus on teaching
• Growth = helping develop skills, knowledge, dispositions, and health
• Teacher development should be teacher driven. 90% of the time admin should be supporting teachers in areas the teacher identified.

I would love to dig into these ideas with you because I think you could offer such valuable perspectives. I am fine with being challenged if you have different view, I think that would make for rich conversation and I trust you. 

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Closing questions:

·      What part of your own leadership are you still trying to get better at?

·      If listeners could take just one thing away from today’s podcast, what would it be?

·      Before we go, is there anything else that you’d like to share with our listeners?

·      Where can people learn more about you and your work…

Remember the four takeaways:

·      If we want to help teachers grow, we need to take things off their plates to create space for growth.

·      We may be handcuffed by law and policy requirements, but we hold the keys to use these requirements in ways that serve our and our teachers’ best interest.

·      PD needs to include support for fidelity of implementation – if we don’t commit to fidelity the PD is wasted time.

·      Asking reflective questions to teachers and listening to them is providing high quality PD.

Sponsorship:

I want to thank IXL for sponsoring this podcast…

Everyone talks about the power of data-driven instruction. But what does that actually look like? Look no further than IXL, the ultimate online learning and teaching platform for K to 12. IXL gives you meaningful insights that drive real progress, and research can prove it. Studies across 45 states show that schools who use IXL outperform other schools on state tests. Educators who use IXL love that they can easily see how their school is performing in real-time to make better instructional decisions. 

And IXL doesn’t stop at just data. IXL also brings an entire ecosystem of resources for your teachers, with a complete curriculum, personalized learning plans, and so much more. 

It’s no wonder that IXL is used in 95 of the top 100 school districts. Ready to join them? Visit http://ixl.com/assistant to get started.

Close

·      Leadership is a journey and thank you for choosing to walk some of this magical path with me.

·      You can find links to all sorts of stuff in the show notes, including my website https://www.frederickbuskey.com/

·      I love hearing from you so consider email me at [email protected] or connecting with me on LinkedIn.

·      My new book, A School Leader’s Guide to Reclaiming Purpose, is now available on Amazon. You can find links to it, as well as free book study materials on my website at https://www.frederickbuskey.com/reclaiming-purpose.html

·      Please remember to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast.

·      Have a great rest of the week, be present for others and, more importantly, take time to reflect and recover so you can continue to live and lead better.

·      Cheers!

Jen’s links:

TikTok: @strategicclassroom 

Instagram: @strategicclassroom

Website: https://learningandteachingblog.com

Frederick’s Links:

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://www.frederickbuskey.com/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/strategicleadershipconsulting

Daily Email subscribe: https://adept-experimenter-3588.ck.page/fdf37cbf3a

The Strategic Leader’s Guide to Reclaiming Purpose: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWRS2F6N?ref_=pe_93986420_774957520