The School Leader's Podcast

In this episode, I interview Dr. Zach Groshell. Zach is an instructional coach in the Seattle area and an experienced elementary teacher. Zach holds a PhD in Education and presents often about cognitive science and education research. Zach’s recent contributions include evidence-based presentations for Think Forward Educators and InnerDrive’s Cognitive Science Network, and a chapter on assessment and feedback for the book, Amplifying Instructional Design.

Zach hosts the podcast, Progressively Incorrect, and maintains an active professional presence on Twitter (@mrzachg) and his blog, educationrickshaw.com.

Listen in to the entire conversation for lessons and tips to become a better instructional coach:

Connect with Zach Groshell:

Twitter: @MrZachG

Website: www.educationrickshaw.com

Book: Amplifying Instructional Design

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In this episode, I interview Fedrick Cohens. Mr. Cohens is the Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction (Elementary Schools) at Georgetown County School District, where he supports all elementary school leaders and principals. He provides technical assistance to early learning centers, supervises elementary schools, and creates optimal opportunities for effective teaching and learning experiences.

He is a former Elementary Principal for nearly a decade (10 years). He is also a creative and effective leader with demonstrated skills in standards-based education, early childhood development, literacy education, technology instruction, and building and sustaining school/community partnerships.

Listen in to the entire conversation for lessons and tips to become a better instructional leader:

Connect with Fedrick Cohens:

LinkedIn: Fedrick Cohens

Instagram: @Fedcoh

Twitter: @CohensFedrick

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In this episode, I interview Heilange Porcena. Mrs. Porcena is a servant leader and elementary turnaround principal. She has been an educator for 28 years and 12 years as a school-based administrator. She is a phenomenal leader. She has been instrumental in improving student achievement and moved her school from an F to a C in 1 year. She is passionate about making a difference for all children to succeed by equalizing the playing field through high expectations and a positive school culture. She is also the 2022 Principal of the Year for Broward County Public Schools, FL.

Listen in to the entire conversation for lessons learned in how you can transform your school culture and climate, improve student achievement, and move your school from an F to a C:

Connect with Heilange Porcena:

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In this episode, I interview Dr. Karen Dudek-Brannan. Dr. Dudek-Brannan is the founder and CEO of Dr. Karen, LLC, a company focused on empowering educators to support language, literacy, executive functioning, and cognitive wellness. She currently offers online professional development focused on helping K-12 therapists (SLPs, psychologists, social workers, and other service providers) develop programs and services that support students in the areas of language, literacy, and executive functioning. She also helps IEP teams work together so they can provide more comprehensive support for students despite having big caseloads. Dr. Karen is a licensed SLP and has a doctorate in special education, a special education director license, and an assistive technology graduate certificate. She spent 14 years in the school systems before starting an online education company in 2015. She's currently the host of the De Facto Leaders podcast, where she shares up-to-date evidence-based practices, my own experience, and guest interviews designed to help clinicians and educators feel more confident in the way they serve their caseloads, so they can help school-age kids grow up to be successful, kind, well-adjusted people. You can listen to the show on most popular podcast directories, and can scroll through past episodes on this page here. You can learn more about her programs for speech-language pathologists here, and you can learn more about her programs for IEP teams and leadership development here.

Listen in to the entire conversation for takeaways for emerging leaders, ESE/ IEP team members, and principals:

Connect with Dr. Karen Dudek-Brannan:

Instagram: @drkarenspeechlanguage

Facebook: Dr.Karen Dudek-Brannan

Twitter: @drkaren2014

LinkedIn: Karen Dukek-Brannan

Website: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/

I hope you enjoyed today’s episode. Please subscribe to the podcast, leave a 5-star rating, and comment! Share this episode with a friend and on social media. Join the School Leader’s Podcast on Facebook. Connect with me on Twitter & Instagram at @DrGHarrigan, and Facebook & LinkedIn at Gastrid Harrigan for leadership tips and ideas. If you are interested in being featured on the podcast, contact me at [email protected].

Episode 19 – Strategies for Scaling Up STEM Initiatives with Ms. Osas Guis-Obaseki

In this episode, I interview Ms. Osas Gauis-Obaseki. Ms. Osas is an engineer, STEM, and Computer Science Teacher. As a current programmer and engineer, he has been instrumental in scaling up her school's STEM and Computer Science Initiatives. She has exposed students to building computers, coding, programming, and digital tools. She has quarterly Hackathons, where students demonstrate their coding skills and compete with other students. Under her leadership, students have complete the Microsoft certifications in HTML and CSS Programming, Website Design, and MS Office.

Ms. Osas has spearheaded a STEM Club that meets biweekly to expose students to programming and the computer science field. She has garter various businesses as partners to support the STEM Initiative at her school, such as Oracle, ReGenerate Tech, and many more.

Ms. Osas is also the 2021-22 Teacher of the Year for her school.

Listen in to the entire conversation for strategies to start and scale your STEM initiatives:

Connect with Ms. Osas Guis-Obaseki:

Instagram: @Odslab_llc

LinkedIn: Osas G

I hope you enjoyed today’s episode. Please subscribe to the podcast, leave a 5-star rating, and comment! Share this episode with a friend and on social media. Join the School Leader’s Podcast on Facebook. Connect with me on Twitter & Instagram at @DrGHarrigan, and Facebook & LinkedIn at Gastrid Harrigan for leadership tips and ideas. If you are interested in being featured on the podcast, contact me at [email protected].

In this episode, I interview Dr. Shanessa Fenner. Dr. Fenner is an elementary principal, writer, a print model, motivational speaker, actress, and has her own TV show “The Bronco Exchange” on channel 7. She is a former radio personality on KISS 107.7 FM and had her own radio show entitled “Real Talk with Dr. Shanessa Fenner” and was co-host of a radio show called “iTeach.” Dr. Fenner is also an adjunct professor and a licensed insurance agent. Dr. Fenner was the Principal of the Year finalist for her school district in 2021 and 2022.

Listen in to the entire conversation for takeaways for emerging leaders and principals:

Connect with Dr. Shanessa Fenner:

Twitter: @ShanessaF

LinkedIn: Dr. Shanessa Fenner

I hope you enjoyed today’s episode. Please subscribe to the podcast, leave a 5-star rating, and comment! Share this episode with a friend and on social media. Join the School Leader’s Podcaston Facebook. Connect with me on Twitter& Instagramat @DrGHarrigan, and Facebook& LinkedInat Gastrid Harrigan for leadership tips and ideas. If you are interested in being featured on the podcast, contact me at [email protected].

In this episode, I interview Jessica Lander. Jessica Lander is a teacher, author and advocate. She teaches history and civics to recent immigrant students in an urban Massachusetts public high school and has won several teaching awards, including being named a Top 50 Finalist for the Global Teacher Prize in 2021, presented by the Varkey Foundation and being named a 2023 MA Teacher of the Year Finalist, presented by the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Previously she has taught students in middle school, high school, and university in the U.S., Thailand, and Cambodia.

She is author of Making Americans, a comprehensive look at immigrant education as told through key historical moments and court decisions, current experiments to improve immigrant education, and profiles of immigrant youth and schools across the country.

She shared strategies and best practices for teachers, school leaders, and principals to create a sense of belonging and engagement for immigrant and ESOL students.

Listen in to the entire conversation for takeaways for educators and principals:

Connect with Jessica Lander:

I hope you enjoyed today’s episode. Please subscribe to the podcast, leave a 5-star rating, and comment! Share this episode with a friend and on social media. Join the School Leader’s Podcast on Facebook. Connect with me on Twitter & Instagram at @DrGHarrigan, and Facebook & LinkedIn at Gastrid Harrigan for leadership tips and ideas. If you are interested in being featured on the podcast, contact me at [email protected].

In this episode, I shared ideas and thoughts on Steps to be a Better Leader. Before we talk about what you will want to do in the New Year, let’s start with who you want to become. So many people make “do” goals. I encourage you to start with “who” goals. Who do you want to be as a leader?

Based on who you want to become, what do you need to do? Consider these six things so you can set goals to become a better leader:

I hope you joined today’s episode. Join our Facebook Community. Please subscribe to the podcast, leave a 5-star rating, and comments! Share this episode with friends and on social media. Connect with me on Twitter & Instagram at @DrGHarrigan, and Facebook & LinkedIn at Gastrid Harrigan for leadership tips and ideas. If you are interested in being featured on the podcast, contact me at [email protected].

In this episode, I shared ideas and tips for Setting New Year’s Goals. These five (5) essential guidelines for your goals are intended as reminders as you create and write down your SMART goals. You should also set goals for seven (7) areas of life.

As you enter the New Year, you should use these guidelines as guideposts for your goal setting. They are:

I hope you joined today’s episode. Join our Facebook community. Please subscribe to the podcast, leave a 5-star rating, and comments! Share this episode with friends and on social media. Connect with me on Twitter & Instagram at @DrGHarrigan, and Facebook & LinkedIn at Gastrid Harrigan for leadership tips and ideas. If you are interested in being featured on the podcast, contact me at [email protected].

In this episode, I shared 5 Leadership Self-Care Tips. These self-care tips are intended as reminders for school leaders and principals as they enter the holiday season and throughout New Year to refill and rejuvenate.

As you enter the holiday season and throughout New Year consider or ponder on these 5 leadership self-care tips. They are:

I hope you joined today’s episode. Please subscribe to the podcast, leave a 5-star rating, and a comment! Share this episode with friends and on social media. Connect with me on Twitter & Instagram at @DrGHarrigan, and Facebook & LinkedIn at Gastrid Harrigan for leadership tips and ideas. If you are interested in being featured on our podcast, contact us at [email protected].