Heather Bell Williams: Community Innovation That Leads to Student Growth
Welcome to the Better Leaders Better Schools podcast. This is a weekly show for ruckus makers — What is a ruckus maker? A leader who has found freedom from the status quo. A leader looking to escape the old routine. A leader who never, ever gives up.
As a new principal you are trying to figure out just who you are. What your leadership voice is, and the footprint and legacy that you’ll leave behind. How do you start to make change happen? How do you gain the trust, credibility and build relationships that you’ll need to take the school to the next level?
In today’s episode, our guest Heather Bell Williams is one of our ruckus makers who has a better idea about how to do this, how she would build her dream school and building leadership in teachers.
We hope you enjoy the podcast. All the highlights, resources, and next steps can be found below. Listen to the full episode here and learn more at betterleadersbetterschools.com
Key Talking Points
- Introduction to Heather
- Footsteps of principals
- Inviting people for change
- Community innovation
- How would you build your dream school?
- Building leadership in teachers
- Message for self-awareness
- Top three priorities
- Advice to make a difference
Key Milestones of the Episodes
[04:27] Introduction to Heather
[05:13] Following the footsteps
[10:25] Inviting people to the change
[13:12] Aha moments
[19:00] Community Innovation
[24:55] Building leadership
[29:19] Pre-testing and post-testing
[30:10] Heather’s message
[31:53] Heather’s top three priorities
[33:09] Advice from Heather
Key Quotes
- “The amazing gift to give your kids to just give them unfiltered undivided attention and pour into their lives.”
- “How can we make some subtle shifts to add value to these kids’ lives and continue to help them and push them?”
- “You’re not limited by any resources. You’re only limitations your imagination.”
- “I look back on my journey here in this building so much of a thing so many of the things that we had to overcome.”
About Our Guest
Heather is a Chief Ruckus maker of a small school in St. Stephen, New Brunswick where she and her husband have lived for 20 years. They have raised two great sons with a focus on community engagement. She is most proud of the summer intervention camp, on-site daycare, and the employment of a family coordinator whose sole job is to get kids to school.
Resources
Tip of the Week
Training, Mentoring and Leading Students: Be a principal that trains, mentors and leads a group of students. This will put you back in touch with the kids and with some of the things in the classroom. Putting yourself in position and sharing your knowledge with students build relationships quicker than you’ll ever imagine.
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You can learn more and improve your student’s success at https://organizedbinder.com/
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