The Authority Podcast — Expert Insights and Fresh Ideas for Education Leaders

Erik M. Francis is an international author, educator, and presenter with over 25 years of experience in education working as a classroom teacher, a site administrator, an education program specialist in a state education agency, and a professional development producer and provider. Erik is the author of Deconstructing Depth of Knowledge: A Method and Model for Deeper Teaching and Learning published by Solution Tree. He is also the author of Now That’s a Good Question! How to Promote Cognitive Rigor Through Classroom Questioning published by ASCD. Erik is the owner of Maverik Education, providing professional development, guidance, and support on how to develop and deliver teaching and learning experiences that are standards-based, socially and emotionally supportive, and student responsive. He is also consistently ranked as one of the World’s Top 30 Education Professionals by the research organization Global Gurus.

• What is Depth of Knowledge? Carlifies the cognitive demand of the stuff we do in education
• It all centers around the standard
• We’ve beent reating DOK like a
• Criteria for alignment studies.
• Categories of
• Complexity, Criteria, Connections
• Depth of knowledge is what cames after the verb - Karen Hess
• It’s not a values judgment.
• Tier your instruction to the DOK level kids are at.
• Traditionally do do DOK and RTI as deficit thinking
• Webb’s DOK levels
• Engage __
• Growing up Gifted page 290
• https://www.webbalign.org
• Cognitive action verbs are abstract
• Be brave enough to reboot the matrix.
• We teach the way we were taught, and we teach the way we understand
• Method and model moving forward.
• Applications for RTI and
• The missing link
• two different types of assessment
• DOK lends itself to Authentic assessment
• Stop judging kids based on whether they can
• Not only can you do it, but can you communicate it.
• How to be a transformative principal? Ask, why are you teaching what you’re teaching? 5 why’s strategy. What do you mean?

Learn more about today's sponsor, Playworks:

We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.

If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. 

These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation. 

• Elevated Leader
• Horizontal vs. Vertical Leadership
• Emotional Intelligence is vertical development
• How do we really develop vertically?
• Must connect to our bodies’ internal operating system.
• More inclined to self-protect ourselves.
• We may not have the capacity to address our past trauma.
• Regardless of where we are, we can always level up.
• It’s easier than we generally think.
• The deeper we go, the higher we elevate.
• First step is always awaken.
• Formal definition of Vertical Development.
• The strongest people I know are the people most willing to be vulnerable.
• Make meaning of our world.
• Child development vs. Adult development.
• Most adults don’t develop except based on effort.
• The Assessment
• How fascinating! <- How we should respond to assessments.
• Mind 1.0
• Safety comfort and belonging
• Good soldier mode vs. self-protection mode
• Dependent Thinkers - give up our thinking for the sake of comfort and
• MInd 2.0
• standing out, getting ahead, advance
• Independent thinkers
• Body is programmed to act in Mind 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 ways.
• Mind 3.0
• Contribute, add value, lift others
• Interdependent thinkers - love sitting right in the middle.
• formally incentivized to be mind 2.0.
• Focus on the purpose.
• Focus should not be on test scores.
• An organization can never rise above the level of their leader’s vertical altitude
• Why should someone who is not necessarily a leader strive to understand how to be an elevated leader?
  • Everybody wants to become a better version of ourselves.
  • Vertical Development is about healing ourselves.
• It’s not evaluative, it’s developmental.

Learn more about today's sponsor, Playworks:

We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.

If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. 

These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation. 

Dr. Ruth Gotian is the Chief Learning Officer and Assistant Professor of Education in Anesthesiology and former Assistant Dean of Mentoring and Executive Director of the Mentoring Academy at Weill Cornell Medicine. During her extensive career, she has personally coached and mentored thousands of people ranging from undergraduates to faculty members.  As Assistant Dean for Mentoring she oversaw the success of nearly 1,800 faculty members at Weill Cornell Medicine. Currently, she researches the most successful people of our generation, including Nobel laureates, astronauts, CEOs and Olympic champions, in order to learn about their habits and practices so that we may optimize our own success. She is the author of the book [[The Success Factor]]: Developing the Mindset and Skillset for Peak Business Performance.

• Intrinsic motivation
• How Ruth started playing soccer.
• No is the starting point of a conversation.
• It’s easier if we tell them no, and they don’t argue with.
• What is the strategy that I haven’t thought of that will convince them?
• If you want innovation, you can’t have status quo.
• Innovation is doing something new with something old.
• We are constantly rewarding those who get 100!
• Olympians do not do it for the medal.
• Find the intrinsic motivation in the teachers to start.
• Passion audit - enjoy, don’t enjoy, good at, but not enjoy - ruthgotian.com/passionaudit.
• Where is their curiosity?
• Stanford achievement Test - Exclusive
• We adults try to get kids to have intrinsic motivation
• Terrified of tests as an adult.
• Surrounding yourself with a team of mentors.
• Senior to you, at your level, and junior mentors - Will you be my mentor - mentoring is a relationship
• Everyone has something they can offer.
• Fear
• How to be a transformative principal? Start with your teachers, see where they are most curious, and start delving

Learn more about today's sponsor, Playworks:

We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.

If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. 

These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation. 

Thomas R. Hoerr, PhD retired after leading the New City School in St. Louis, Missouri for 34 years and is now the Emeritus Head of School. He is currently a Scholar In Residence at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and teaches in the Educational Leadership program, preparing prospective principals. He also led the ISACS New Heads Network and founded the Non-Profit Management Program at Washington University in St. Louis. Hoerr has written several books, and his newest, _Taking Social Emotional Learning Schoolwide: The Formative Five Success Skills for Students and Staff_, was published in December of 2019. He has written more than 150 articles, including “The Principal Connection” column in Educational Leadership Magazine from 2004 to 2017. He was previously on the Transformative Principal Podcast episode 224 where we talked about who you are is more important that what you know, and episode 225 where we talked about his book, The Formative Five. - Why does Empathy matter so much? - If there were more empathy in schools, we’d be in better shape. - If you don’t have empathy, it’s hard for people to follow you. - If you do have empathy, it’s easier for people to follow you. - Empathy is a muscle. You can make it stronger - intentional and transparent - Voluntary - making it voluntary is having empathy. - listening, aggressive, pursuing. - One of your problems - you look too busy. - I was working; I was being accessible. - Who are you closest to in your school. - Even if my idea is the best, it’s not the best if nobody is on board. - Breakfast with Tom - agenda is yours. - Empathetic Conversations - extension of this notion that I really want to get to know people as people, not just teachers. - I know you as a student, I want to know you as a student - Leadership is about relationship. - Teacher observations - school principals should use them as a way to build trust and observations. - Educators are underpaid. - Herzberg’s theory of motivation - Teaching is far too siloed - If people can just read one part of the book, what is it? The part about listening.

Learn more about today's sponsor, Playworks:

We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.

If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. 

These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation. 

Dr. Susie Wise is a design leader with experience in the education, tech, and the social sectors. She coaches leaders in equity design and innovation practices. She teaches at the d.school at Stanford. Previously she founded and directed the K12 Lab at the d.school and co-created Liberatory Design. She is the author of the book Designing for Belonging. She was a previous guest on Transformative Principal  Episode 121 Where we talked about #shadowastudent and  Episode 122 where we talked about the design thinking process. I credit much of the work I did to write my book SchoolX to that conversation with Susie. One of four books that kick of a news series for d.school. - Equity vs. Equality - Belonging is the feeling we are going for when we talk about equity. - Work that I was doing with School principals. - Design cultures with their school. - John Powell work around othering and belonging. - using design tools differently. - Contributing is a powerful way to get to belonging. - Flow is one of the moments of belonging. - Creating a container of belonging. - We’re not just trying to get to one version of belonging. - Feel it, see it, shape it - Shape - create safe-to-fail experiments - Understanding comics with Scott McLoud - If people could only read one part of your book, what should they read? Exercise on page 137 - Design an activity to inspire belonging.

1. Why is it so important for groups of any size to hope its members feel like they belong?

When people feel like they belong, they are able to do their best and be their best. When we work toward belonging, we’re working toward creating a space where collaboration and cooperation can flourish. This is true for every kind of group, big and small. Whether you’re a parent, teacher, business manager, community organizer, or leader of any sort, your group is unlikely to thrive if the individuals don’t feel welcome, included, and valued for who they are. 

1. What is Design for Belonging?

Sometimes when we hear the word design, we think it means visual design – like logos or web design. Design for Belonging provides tools that any group or organization can use to build inclusion. These might be rituals that bring us together, spaces that keep us calm, roles that create a sense of responsibility, and systems that make us feel respected.

1. How do you use design tools to create a feeling like belonging?

The tools in Design for Belonging help bridge the gap between the logistical planning of your office meeting or organizational restructure and the way you want people to feel when they participate.

Here are some great examples from teachers and school leaders who have used them:

• Reimagining the kinds of assemblies hosted at school to be more culturally relevant.
• Creating new roles to support English language learners.
• Reinventing parent events to help parents build relationships instead of just sitting passively in an auditorium.

We could quickly see how the kids benefitted by changes like this. However, we were most moved by the teachers. The redesign connected them to what they hoped to create for young people. They were able to care about their students in ways that related to their own understanding and feeling of belonging. They tapped into their own creativity and the reasons they wanted to teach in the first place.

1. Your book describes what belonging and its opposite, othering, feel like. Can you summarize that?

Belonging feels like you are seen and heard. You feel alive. You’ve been invited into any given group, and you know you can be honest with the people in it. Students I’ve worked with describe it as being in a good place and being with people they’re comfortable with. They feel validated.

Othering feels like you’re not wanted or that you’re not welcome. Feeling like you have to hold back in order to fit in. Some people will have negative roles or assumptions unfairly projected upon them based on their race, outward appearance, or other aspects of their identity. My students have described it as feeling like they’re invisible or erasable. Being uncomfortable and disconnected from the group.

1. Do you think this book about belonging will be received differently now than it would have before the Pandemic?

Yes, the Pandemic has disrupted many of our rhythms, which gives us the opportunity to rethink how we do things. In addition, we’ve seen the reemergence of the Black Lives Matter movement, which has given us a greater awareness of the inequities embedded in our culture. Seeing the need for change is the place for design. Design for Belonging can help us redesign our schools, workplaces, and organizations to support people more effectively. It can also help us focus on belonging as the experience we are intentionally building.

I have an exercise in the book: Assumption Storming. It’s a classic tool of design. This is a moment where we can ask: "What are all our assumptions about working in the office? What are all of our assumptions about working online?” We can then lay out our responses and see which ones we want to recreate and which ones we want to let go.

My hope is that the book will help people see with a new lens and empower them to create change.

1. What do you want people to understand about design for belonging?

When you are working on diversity, equity, and inclusion, what you are really trying to get to is a feeling – the feeling of belonging. This book helps you use the tools of design to start building belonging and reducing othering in the places that matter to you.

We all want to educate ourselves about racial equity and we want concrete changes in our worlds, but so many people are overwhelmed by the breadth of the problem and don’t know where to start. The book is designed to help people who are uncomfortable or unfamiliar with the work of diversity, equity, and inclusion to get started.

1. How do you define equity?

Equity is important to distinguish from equality. In my work, the need for equity looks at how we each have different access to education and other resources because of history and all the cultural or systemic forces that we are (or aren’t) embedded in. Reaching equity means ensuring that one’s race or socioeconomic status does not predict the outcomes of their life and that everyone has what they need in order to evolve into their full potential.

1. Belonging has become a hot-button topic lately. How do you feel about the current environment in the U.S. as your book comes out?

I’m excited about the current focus on belonging. There are discussions everywhere. People from all walks of life–city leaders, businesses, transportation–are thinking about it. It will be interesting to see what happens as we come out of the social restrictions that were created during the pandemic. We have an opportunity here to look ahead and be intentional about how we rebuild.

1. How can leaders and group organizers use this book?

The possibilities are endless. The tools and levers in the book will help you recognize the opportunities you have in your context and to reimagine how people come together and are supported. Hosts of any space can experiment with how to create not just more welcoming environments, but also ways for people to be seen and contribute.

I recently had someone reach out to me who was running a summer music camp and they ...

This episode introduces the Authority Podcast as the place to go for educational authors to share the great work in their books.