Hear a principal’s firsthand experience in facilitating a staff’s implementation of standards-based grading. Explore some of the “bumps” and how they worked through them.

“There were bumps everywhere. We shifted the ground between kids and families’ feet. Most of us go through school with the same grading systems our parents did. This was no different. We had to explain what, why, and how. We also had to share that we weren’t demeaning the education or grading expectations that adults had as kids. We were simply trying to evolve.”

The goal - authentic mastery.

Read Matt's article, "Our Grading System Was Setting Students Up to Fail—Until This Change" here.

Visit Matt’s website here. 

Watch Matt's TED Talk here. 

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Its that time of year when many school administrators and teacher leaders are engaged in setting school improvement goals focused on increasing student learning. But goals alone aren’t enough. Real change happens when we identify and support the behaviors that lead to those goals: the consistent learning behaviors students will need to be engaged in, the teacher actions that are most likely to generate those student learning production behaviors, and the leadership actions that will support teachers in implementing those actions.

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Most school leaders and teachers give a rather low rating to the value of teacher observations regarding increasing teacher effectiveness and thus student learning. Many find the process actual interfering with building a trusting learning culture in a school. Craig Randall, the author of "Trust-Based Observations: Maximizing Teaching and Learning Growth," has developed a transformative model of teacher observation that focuses on strengths and building differentiated trusting relationships with each teacher; creating work environments where teachers feel safe, embrace taking risks, and experimenting with new practices. The result is a schoolwide culture of trust and care extending throughout the school to students. Craig shares the nine areas of pedagogy that are a focus for observing and strategies for generating trust in the process.

Find out more at: https://trustbased.com/trust-based-observation-form/

Email Craig: [email protected]    

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What is deeper learning and how does it meaningfully engage students, preparing them for success beyond the classroom? How can teachers incorporate deeper learning into their classrooms? Dr. David Reese, from Defined Learning, explores these topics and identifies the six critical competencies that are important to all students’ for success. These competencies are often framed within the context of future-ready skills, which also include creativity, citizenship, and character. 

Find David's blog post, "Why Deeper Learning? 6 Competencies EVERY Student Needs to Succeed" here.

Email David: [email protected]

Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!

What should teachers expect from school leadership in the support of teacher growth? What expectations should school leaders have of teachers in their investment in professional growth? Katherine Hamilton, vice president of programs for Ensemble Learning explores these questions with Steve.  Designing for teachers as professionals is key to generating educator learning that impact student success.

Visit the Ensemble Learning LinkedIn page here.    

Visit the Ensemble Learning website here.

Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!

Just as students benefit from developing a positive, growth-oriented approach to failure, teachers thrive when they are supported in the same way. Instructional coaches and administrators can play a critical role in fostering this mindset. Teachers need opportunities to embrace challenges, experiment with new ideas, and persist through setbacks, in a safe environment. Too often, professional learning focuses on delivering strategies and best practices without acknowledging the discomfort and vulnerability that come with trying something new. Explore seven keys to “successful failure.”

"A Moment of Perspective," Christina (Kiki) Peterson

"Why Failing Well is the Key to Success," Megan McArdle

"7 Keys to Successful Failure," Mindy Crary

Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!

Chad Dumas, the author of, The Teacher Leader Handbook: Simple Habits to Transform Collaboration in a PLC at Work, explores the mindsets, skills and strategies that generate team collaboration. Chad describes the important mindsets of “Seeing in others what they don’t yet see in themselves,” Being humble with a posture of learning, and "Spreading the contagion of joy." How should school leaders support teacher PLC leaders?

Find "The Teacher Leader Handbook: Simple Habits to Transform Collaboration in a PLC at Work" here.

Find the free downloadable reproducibles here.

Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!

How do coaches assist teachers in reframing stress from something to be managed to a catalyst for growth and improvement? How can understanding the roles of commitment, control, and challenge build teachers’ hardiness? Highly experienced coaches, Lana Cecil and Angela Buckingham, share the application of Stein’s and Bartone’s work in Making Stress Work for You to Achieve Your Life Goals to the work of instructional leaders and coaches.

Contact Angela: [email protected]

Contact Lana: [email protected]

Find the Coaching Strategies and Coaching Questions for Hardiness here.

Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!

What happens when a school system makes four promises as their mission: joy, connection, growth, and success and consider joy as the lead to the others happening? "If we want people to be present, engaged, and thriving, joy can’t be an afterthought. It must be a priority." (George Philhower, Superintendent Eastern Hancock Schools in Indiana) Hear about their summer Joy Jam conference for educators.

Visit the Eastern Hancock Schools website here. 

Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!

“Coachability is not just teachability. It’s not just a willingness to learn. It’s a willingness to unlearn and change. Coachability is a moral capacity that allows a person to accept feedback, acknowledge faults, limitations, and deficiencies, and to act on that new information.” (Timothy Clark)

As instructional coaches and school leaders, we can play a big role in shaping culture of coachability. We do it through the way we listen, the questions we ask, and the tone we set when offering feedback. 

Find Timothy Clark's article, "Are You Coachable?" here.  

Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new episodes!