FocusED Show Notes with Guest Matthew Woods

Dr. Woods starts the conversation with the fact that collaborative leadership means that we’re all coming to the table with perspective, and it’s important to recognize that everyone has a unique contribution to the team.

Matt discusses a pitfall when we invite people into our offices to air their grievances--it’s not as simple as it sounds.

We talk about the limits of our decision-making at each level of the leadership ladder, and sometimes people in the field don’t realize those limits.

It was great to hear him talk about setting a vision and then letting folks set goals to reach that vision.

He says that great leaders are the ones who identify the right people for the right aspects of a problem.

Matt uses his experience at the school and district level to share how we can scale collaborative leadership within a system.

Don’t miss what he says about a literacy initiative across the curriculum and monitoring that during walkthroughs.

He tells a story about teachers who were hungry for support and the collaboration that came from it. It reminds us of Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink.

Matt says that the first strategy of a leader is to assess the current conditions. Before making any changes, we have to understand the environment.

He talks about his response to others when they say, “Matt, you need to slow down.” He gets energy from the speed and intensity of his work.

Matt discusses the inception of his podcast and what he hopes others will take from it.

Leadership can be tough but it’s a privilege. ~ Dr. Matthew Woods

Books We Recommend Based on this Podcast with Matthew Woods

How Leaders Decide by Greg Bustin

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

FocusED Show Notes with Guest Kristy Volesky

Kristy Volesky is the author Transformational Work-Based Learning: Leading Exceptional Internship Programs.

Kristy starts by defining work-based learning with a simple explanation: learning that is based on working. But, she says that it doesn't have to be students working.

Don’t miss what she says about having a before, during, and after strategy for WBL.

Kristy describes the fact that WBL should be with industry partners, and students should have access to people in the field.

She says that the outcomes have to be mutually beneficial for the industry partner and the student. For the partner, they can train their future workforce early, gain access to future employees, and maintain relationships over the course of college or apprenticeship programs and then bring students back into the economy.

Kristy provides school leaders with talking points for developing industry partners who might be reluctant to take on minors.

She tells a story about a construction company and how the process for building partnerships grew from one to many.

Joe asked about innovative partnerships, and Kristy points to an example of a partner that took on a bunch of different career paths within the same organization.

We discussed how work-based learning can start in elementary schools where students can do activities for career awareness. Kristy says that 80+ opportunities to learn about different careers in the K-12 experience is ideal.

She literally walks listeners through the design of an elementary work-based learning experience by making minor adjustments to events that already exist.

Kristy is inspired by her former role as a WBL coordinator. She grew a program, making it more effective, and then went to the state level to scale that work.

She says that her network is where she learns and grows. “I surround myself with really smart people.” ~ Kristy Volesky

Joe reminds listeners of Jim Rohn’s quote: “We are the average of the 5 people we spend the most time with.”

Books We Recommend Based on this Podcast with Kristy Volesky

Smart Brevity by Jim Vandehei, Mike Allen, & Roy Schwartz

Simply Put by Ben Guttmann

FocusED Show Notes with Guest Kim Marshall

Kim’s book, Rethinking Teacher Supervision and Evaluation, came from work that he was doing as a school leader where teachers wanted more frequent and meaningful feedback.

He updated the book twice because of changes to evaluation systems around the country, some of which he used as examples in the book.

The third edition of the book has a huge focus on bringing student learning into the conversation.

Kim advocates for short, frequent, unannounced teacher observations at about 10 minutes each that are always followed up with face-to-face meetings.

Kim tells leaders to focus on one “leverage point” with teachers--one thing that the teacher either does well or should change.

He talks about time management for school leaders so that instructional leadership, including classroom visits and follow up feedback.

One tip that he mentions is an “out-of-office” message for principals during the school day. “Unless this is an emergency, you can expect me to get back to you after the student and teacher day.”

Kim discusses the various ways that principals can be instructional leaders beyond just the classroom visits. It’s important to layer

He tells listeners that feedback can be 100% positive. You don’t always have to find something that isn’t going well.

After an observation, one approach is teamwork for helping a teacher problem solve, and Kim mentions using AI to help with this.

Joe asks Kim about how and why he started the Marshall Memo, and he talked about synthesis. He casts a wide net, up to 100 articles, and he picks only 8 or so to highlight. He hopes people use the Memo for 5 reasons: 1. Professional learning, 2. To share good ideas with others, 3. To search previous Memos for articles, 4. So that people read The Best of Marshall Memo, and 5. To use at faculty meetings for everyone to read together.

Kim talks about reading widely. Take a look at the books he mentions during the show.

Books We Recommend Based on this Podcast with Kim Marshall

Leverage Leadership by Paul Bambrick-Santoyo

Whistling Vivaldi by Claude Steele

The Talent Code by Daniel Cole

Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath

So Much Reform by Charles Payne