THE MAIN IDEA Podcast: Books for the Busy School Leader

In this episode Jenn sits down with the renowned author, researcher, and education leader Dr. Douglas Reeves to discuss his book Fearless Schools. Together, they explore how school leaders can cultivate trust and resilience within their communities — even amid fear, instability, and rapid change.

Dr. Reeves shares powerful insights drawn from decades of research and real-world experience, connecting themes of psychological safety, equity, trust, and feedback. From navigating fear in schools during and after the pandemic to addressing new challenges like AI and political instability, this episode offers both inspiration and practical strategies for educators and leaders striving to create environments where learning — and courage — can thrive.

Walk away with MAIN IDEAs…

1 MAIN IDEA: When people are afraid, they can’t learn. 

1 HIGH-LEVERAGE ACTION: Identify some of the root causes of fearfulness in your school.

1 RESOURCE: Doug has a series of “fearless” books such as Fearless Instruction, Fearless Coaching, Fearless Classrooms, and Fearless Grading

Connect with Douglas Reeves: https://www.creativeleadership.net 

Book: Fearless Schools: Building Trust, Resilience, and Psychological Safety

Connect with Jenn

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THE MAIN IDEA Subscription (monthly book summaries): https://www.themainidea.net/ 

Jenn’s Mastermind: https://www.themainidea.net/school-leadership-mastermind/ 

I’ve been more concerned about AI use lately so I’m glad I got to chat with Dr. Tony Frontier about his new book, AI with Intention: Principles and Action Steps for Teachers and School Leaders — a book that John Hattie calls “the best book I have read to introduce all to optimize the power of AI.”

Rather than offering quick tips or flashy tools, Frontier’s book and this conversation focus on something deeper: how educators and leaders can use AI ethically, thoughtfully, and intentionally to support — not undermine — learning. Together, Jenn and Tony explore how school leaders can guide their communities through one of the most transformational technological shifts in education.

We talked about how school leaders can:

• Lead by learning — understand AI’s power and limits before adopting it.

• Pursue transformational (not transactional) change by aligning AI use with core values.

• Emphasize integrity through transparency and explainability in student work.

  
  

“Just because a tool can make learning faster doesn’t mean it makes it better.”

Actions for School Leaders

• Model learning. Engage with AI tools yourself and share your learning transparently.

• Ask big questions. Don’t start with “Which tools should we use?” Start with “What do we value?”

• Revisit assessment design. Include questions that test for explainability and transparency.

• Foster open dialogue. Encourage conversations with staff and students about how AI should and shouldn’t be used.

• Prioritize ethics and purpose. Make sure every use of AI aligns with your school’s mission and students’ best interests.

  
  

Walk away with MAIN IDEAs…

1 MAIN IDEA: AI tools are created to process everything more quickly. Good learning happens when we slow down. Think about how we can use AI tools to slow down the more effective so we engage in more effective teaching and learning.

1 HIGH-LEVERAGE ACTION FOR LEADERS: Jump onto an AI tool like Claude, Gemini, or ChatGPT and just interact with it like you are a teacher. Ask it to plan some lessons, upload some standards. Ask for feedback on the quality and assignment or an assessment. Then jump in there like you are a student, and engage an AI tool as a tutor to help coach and teach you about some specific academic content.

1 RESOURCE: Ethan Mollick’s Substack, One Useful Thing

Connect with Tony Frontier: https://tonyfrontier.com/ 

Get the Book: https://www.ascd.org/books/ai-with-intention?variant=124032 

Jenn’s 1-pager for this book: Ensure Teachers Use AI for Purpose Before Efficiency

 Connect with Jenn

[email protected]

themainidea.net

Jenn’s Mastermind

It was nice to welcome back author and educator Berit Gordon to discuss her latest book, The New Teacher Handbook. 

Berit wrote this book to address the high attrition rate among new teachers by helping them to succeed.

She shares practical, research-backed strategies that leaders and coaches can use to support novice educators in thriving—not just surviving—their first years.

Far from being just for new teachers, this episode is a valuable listen for school leaders looking to provide the support our new teachers need.

Key Topics Covered:

Connect with Berit Gordon: [email protected], www.beritgordon.com

Book: The New Teacher Handbook

Get the Book: https://www.heinemann.com/products/e18110.aspx

Connect with Jenn

[email protected]

TheMainIdea.net

Jenn’s Mastermind: www.themainidea.net/school-leadership-mastermind

I truly loved my chat with Laura Lipton, co-author of Learning-Focused Supervision, to discuss her powerful, learner-centered approach to teacher supervision. 

Rather than focusing on compliance and evaluation, Laura shares how leaders can use supervision as a tool for growth, reflection, and transformation in teaching practice.

First, Laura shares the four key components of learning-focused supervision. 

Then she describes the continuum of how directive you can choose to be as a supervisor (from very directive to more teacher-directed). 

Finally she outlines how leaders can develop the skills to truly support teacher growth — starting with deep listening and effective questioning.

Whether you're a principal, coach, AP, or district leader, this episode provides practical tools and a refreshing mindset shift for instructional leadership.

Walk away with MAIN IDEAs…

1 MAIN IDEA: The supervisor is most effective when acting as a growth-agent, not a fix-it agent.

1 HIGH-LEVERAGE ACTION: Pay attention to how you listen — be aware of the noise in your head.

1 RESOURCE: Because many of our supervisory behaviors (like how we listen, how we respond to teachers, etc.) are HABITS, read the work of Charles Duhigg (The Power of Habit) or James Clear (Atomic Habits).

***Jenn is offering a FREE SUMMARY of their books here:

Atomic Habits: https://tinyurl.com/4juyejup

The Power of Habit: https://tinyurl.com/497ca4hx

Connect with Laura Lipton and learn more: https://miravia.education/

Book: Learning-Focused Supervision

Get the Book: https://www.solutiontree.com/learning-focused-supervision.html

Jenn’s 1-pager for this book: Who’s taking the lead in supervisory conversations?

Connect with Jenn

[email protected]

TheMainIdea.net

Jenn’s Mastermind: https://www.themainidea.net/school-leadership-mastermind/

We’re sacrificing too much student learning when we wait years and years for teachers to get better.

Instead, Paul Bambrick-Santoyo shows leaders how they can help new teachers grow as much in 1 year as most teachers develop in 20!

How? In his book, Get Better Faster 2.0: A 90-Plan for Coaching New Teachers, Paul outlines the foundational MANAGEMENT and RIGOR skills teachers need. 

Plus he puts them in order (yes, he has a scope and sequence for each) so leaders know which skills to work on with newer teachers first, and what the order is. 

In this podcast Paul shares more about how he developed this list of skills, gives examples of them, and really helps leaders understand his approach to developing teacher skills.

Also, in addition to WHAT we should coach newer teachers on, Paul also describes HOW we can help teachers develop those skills. That is, he outlines the type of coaching skills that have truly helped teachers improve. 

He describes one school that was performing at the bottom of its district, but with these coaching skills, it moved to the top!

These are NOT your typical coaching skills — listen to learn how to give bite-sized feedback, getting teachers up and practicing, and how some tools can help you give much more frequent feedback.

Walk away with MAIN IDEAs…

2 MAIN IDEAs: 

1. Be the model (whatever you expect of teachers, do yourself) 

2. Use the tools in the book to coach new teachers (don’t recreate the wheel)

3 HIGH-LEVERAGE ACTIONS:

1. Attend a training with Paul.

2. Print the Scope & Sequence of MANAGEMENT and RIGOR skills teachers need and carry it with you when you observe teachers to identify the next skill they need to work on.

3. Find another leader and practice giving feedback to each other. Practice helps you improve as a coach. 

Connect with Paul Bambrick-Santoyo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-bambrick-santoyo-570a1b5/ 

Connect with Paul's work: https://www.relay.edu/professional-education/leadership-programs/leverage-leadership-institute

Book: Get Better Faster 2.0: A 90-Plan for Coaching New Teachers

Jenn’s 1-pager for this book: List of Skills New Teachers Need, in Order! 

Connect with Jenn

[email protected]

THE MAIN IDEA Subscription (monthly book summaries): https://www.themainidea.net/

Jenn’s Mastermind: https://www.themainidea.net/school-leadership-mastermind/

What’s the worst thing, as a school leader, you can do about AI?

Nothing.

AI is here to stay and it’s our responsibility to dive in and learn more – Ask your teachers how they’re using it. Ask your students. And read and experiment yourself.

In this podcast I got to talk to Kim Marshall about our latest “chapter” on AI in Schools.

There’s so much out there about AI, so we combed through the latest articles and selected and summarized the most useful ones for you.

Yes, AI has clear challenges like students cheating and leaving the thinking to AI.

But there are also opportunities. We talk about ways to ensure students do deeper learning and even use AI to write.

There are also opportunities for teachers – give more feedback with AI, make lessons more engaging, and improve student learning.

Take a listen!

Walk away with MAIN IDEAs…

1 MAIN IDEA: Balance your concern of kids getting lazier with an optimism for the flourishing and intellectual curiosity AI has the potential to spark. 

1 HIGH-LEVERAGE ACTION: Don’t wait. As the leader, dive into AI, ask staff how they’re using it and ask to learn from them. Read and engage with AI so you can find thoughtful, ethical, and impactful ways to bring AI to your school. 

1 RESOURCE: Kim suggests Tony Frontier’s book, AI with Intention and go low tech and read Peter Liljedahl’s Building Thinking Classrooms.

Jenn suggests Ethan Mollick’s Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI as an introduction, and for teachers who want to take a deeper dive into AI to support lesson planning, Catlin Tucker and Katie Novak’s Elevating Educational Design with AI.

Connect with Kim Marshall: [email protected] 

Book: The Best of the Marshall Memo, Book One and Book Two

Generative AI and Schools online chapter: https://www.bestofmarshallmemo.org/generative-ai-and-schools-top-27/ 

Connect with Jenn

[email protected]

THE MAIN IDEA Subscription (monthly book summaries): https://www.themainidea.net/ 

Jenn’s Mastermind: https://www.themainidea.net/school-leadership-mastermind/ 

We’re still dealing with significant achievement gaps in schools. Luckily I was able to sit down with Teresa Hill, a dedicated school leader and author of The Instructional Leader's Guide to Closing Achievement Gaps. Teresa shares her expertise on effective strategies for closing achievement gaps in schools, emphasizing the importance of instructional leadership. In this conversation, we discuss the five clear and practical areas she outlines in her book to help you start closing those achievement gaps:

1. Meaningful Assessments

2. Language & Literacy

3. Experiences & Exposure

4. Consolidation of Knowledge

5. Perfect Practice

Walk away with MAIN IDEAs…

1 MAIN IDEA: Although leaders are aware of achievement gaps at their schools, they often don’t know where to start – Teresa shares 5 high-leverage areas to address first. 

1 HIGH-LEVERAGE ACTION: Make a list of all of the assessments at your school and see how many of them are actually helping to determine what students need (that is, more formative than summative), and these are the ones to keep and emphasize to help address achievement gaps.

Connect with Teresa Hill: https://www.tdhilledd.org/ 

Book: The Instructional Leader’s Guide to Closing Achievement Gaps

Get the Book: https://ascd.org/books/the-instructional-leaders-guide-to-closing-achievement-gaps?variant=124003 

Jenn’s 1-pager for this book: 5 Keys to Closing Achievement Gaps

Connect with Jenn

[email protected]

THE MAIN IDEA Subscription (monthly book summaries): https://www.themainidea.net/ 

Jenn’s Mastermind: https://www.themainidea.net/school-leadership-mastermind/ 

Welcome to THE MAIN IDEA Podcast: Books for the Busy School Leader. I’m Jenn David-Lang, lifelong educator and creator of THE MAIN IDEA book summary service.

My passion is helping school leaders learn. When leaders grow, the entire school community benefits.

I know your time is limited. That’s why I read dozens of education and leadership books, select the most impactful, and distill them into clear, practical takeaways. 

Since 2007, I’ve been creating summaries for leaders around the world—and now, through this podcast, you’ll also hear directly from the authors and other experts.

Every episode will leave you with strategies, tools, and ideas you can use right away.

Learn more at TheMainIdea.net or email me at [email protected]. And if you find value here, please rate, share, and pass it along to colleagues. You can help your colleagues learn, too!