The author of "Leading Beyond Your Title: Creating Change in School from Any Role," Nili Bartley, shares reasons and strategies for generating leadership opportunities for students to lead. She identifies the value of teachers leading with their passions and learning the passions of others. Countless opportunities to create real change exist in every school just waiting for someone to take the lead.

Find Nili's book, "Leading Beyond Your Title: Creating Change in School from Any Role" here.

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

How do teacher leaders work to build a coaching culture in a school? They should be the most coached teachers in the school.

Steve responds to these questions from teacher leaders:

• If I observe something that the teacher can easily fix, should I point it out?

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

Using science teaching and learning as an example, Dr. Stephanie Sisk-Hilton illustrates the importance of exploring big concepts and connected systems with students. She shares her work with colleagues, designing a program leading to a Climate Justice Education certificate. Suggestions on how coaches can assist teachers to expand current instructional practices are included.

Email Dr. Sisk-Hilton: [email protected]

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

Dr. Maleka Donaldson, parent, teacher, education professor and author of "From Oops to Aha: Portraits of Learning From Mistakes in Kindergarten," shares her vast experiences for parents’ consideration. Children at all ages are reading cues concerning the acceptance of mistakes. As parents, we need to be aware of the message we are communicating. How have our past experiences influenced our unconscious responses?

Visit Dr. Donaldson's website here.

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

Miriam Plotinsky, the author of "Teach More Hover Less: How to Stop Micromanaging Your Secondary Classroom," identifies that students need to be empowered to take ownership of their learning in order to be fully engaged.  She breaks hover-free teaching down into four sequential stages: mindset, deeper relationships, planning for engagement, and choice-based instruction.

Read "Teach More Hover Less" here.

Read "Lead Like a Teacher" here.

Find Miriam’s articles here. 

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

AJ Crabill, the director of governance for the Council of Great City Schools and the conservator for Desoto ISD in Texas, explores the need for district alignment on continuous improvement in student learning outcomes. These statements from AJ spark the conversation: "The sole reason that schools exist is to improve student outcomes” and “Student outcomes don’t change until adult behaviors change."

Find AJ's book, "Great on Their Behalf" here.

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

“Students are not like Lego sets; collecting small bits of knowledge and eventually building a bigger picture understanding.” Dr. Stephanie Sisk-Hilton describes the reasons for engaging students in learning activities that include deep and broad systems understanding. Her examples encourage educators to increase these opportunities by building from current learning activities.

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

Dr. Maleka Donaldson shares how school leaders can either encourage or discourage teachers from taking new risks and learning from mistakes. What coaching conversations should occur to uncover teachers’ beliefs, habits, and notions around mistakes? How does a coach personalize coaching with that understanding? What is the “error climate” in your school?

Visit Dr. Donaldson's website here. 

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

Hear the experiences and insights that led to having a PD session for staff with the themes of equity and social justice being led by middle and high school students. Nili Bartley, digital learning and innovation coach, shared this observation: ”The mutual respect in the room for what students and staff members were asking each other to offer, sparked potential for relationships between them to grow and for opportunities like this to only continue.” Gain some suggestions for exploring the possibilities.

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

Tim Seller, an educator with five decades of experience, shares his current practices as a middle school math teacher. Tim has a curriculum for his classroom management as well as for his math standards. Tim shares how he learns who his students are and creates a classroom environment of student ownership. A great quote from Tim, "I don’t pass out books until they want them."

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