Research tells us that awe increases motivation and connection to learning, enhances critical thinking and careful information processing, encourages empathy and prosocial behavior, and supports creativity. What’s the plan for teachers and students first days of school? Are you more likely to hear ‘wow” and “awe” or “ Oh, no.” Explore some possibilities.

Find Steve's book "WOW! Adding Pizzazz to Teaching and Learning, Second Edition" here.

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Feedback doesn’t create learning by itself—learning happens when students reflect on, act upon, and integrate feedback into their work.  Teachers don’t cause student achievement. Students do. Our role as educators is to design environments, tasks, and relationships that enable students to produce the learning behaviors that generate achievement. One of those critical learning behaviors is knowing how and being willing to use feedback.

Instructional coaches and coaching leaders are supporting teachers to build opportunities for students to profit from feedback, they should be looking to create the same opportunities for their feedback to be profitable for teachers.

Watch the "Austin’s Butterfly" video here. 

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

Instructional Coaches and school administrators should be continuously mapping out how they support teacher leaders in their schools. Teacher leaders at grade levels or department chairs for curriculum, along with teachers leading programs or projects and those serving as mentors to new staff are all key to a school reaching its mission and vision of maximizing student success. Too often, there is no plan for the development of critical leadership skills and mindsets that are necessary for teacher leaders to support continuous teacher growth for a school staff. That lack of planning and process, I believe, also communicates a lack of value for the commitment and risk-taking teacher leaders assume.

Dr. Philhower - School as a Joyful Place podcast episode. 

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

Planning for the start of a new school year, we should intentionally design for playfulness, connection, and flow—the  elements that are core to fun and joy.  It’s not just about better lessons— but better experiences. Experiences that students will remember, that teachers will find energizing, and that build both engagement and joy. Whether it’s a surprise horse outside a classroom window or a red-carpet moment for staff, fun has the power to transform not just how we feel—but how we learn, connect, and grow.

Watch Catherine Price’s TED talk here.  

Hear the entire podcast with George Philhower here.

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

"Coachability is a crucial mindset that builds individual and teacher efficacy and thus student success. Coaching conversations should have a human connectedness built on hope, trust, gratitude, strength, and purpose." (Jennifer Fraser, 2025, Leading with Hope and Kindness)

Listen for human connections in a sample coaching pre-conference.

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Read the article, "Leading With Hope and Kindness: 5 Ways to Be a Better Leader" here.

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

Listen as an experienced post -secondary professor and Dean of Computing and Data Science shares her insights as she assumes the position of the Head of School at a 7-12 independent school, the New England Innovation Academy. Dr. Durga Suresh-Menon provides a definition of innovation and discusses the need for curriculum and instruction to be continuously relevant. How do students prepare for what comes next?  How do staff engage in the learning that supports their work with student?

Email Dr. Suresh-Menon: [email protected]

Learn more about the New England Innovation Academy here. 

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

Patrick Mongrain, an experienced teacher and teacher coach, shares a message comparing the use of data to drive smarter decisions in the movie Moneyball to providing teachers with data to analyze their instructional classroom moves. He describes the role of 8 high level strategies such as building community and relationships, providing opportunities to respond, and positive and corrective feedback. Too often clearly defined instructional skills that are key to instructional strategies are not identified or coached.

Email Patrick: [email protected]

Watch "The Why of the 8 practices" here.

Learn about the EdChanger Pro App here.    

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

Dr. Meagan Booth, the Supervisor of Employee Relations at Knox County Schools in Tennessee, explores our need to learn about and from our Gen-Z teachers. She suggests the need to move from “just trust me” leadership to “here’s what you can expect” leadership providing consistency and transparency that build trust and respect for Gen Z. How do we make mental health “a way of being” to create systems that promote a switched focus from surviving to thriving?

Read Meagan's article, "Gen Z Isn’t Lazy: Let’s Rethink What We Expect Of New Teachers" here.

Email Meagan - [email protected]

Visit Meagan's LinkedIn.  

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

Teachers looking for a strategy to increase students’ engagement in learning and instructional coaches looking to support those teachers can find ideas and encouragement from Katie Brooks. She shares her experiences that led her to say:

"By making podcasting a part of my ELA curriculum, I’ve seen students finally comprehend complex materials, have a blast learning and using their creativity, and take ownership of their learning in a way that traditional assignments don’t always allow. Students who struggle with traditional tasks have become more invested in their learning when given the opportunity to express themselves through audio storytelling."

Read Katie's Edutopia article and find her resources here. 

Email Katie: [email protected]           

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

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. 

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