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Show Highlights
Beyond the Institution: Redesigning School Spaces
Danny
Absolutely. So I want to start talking about intentional space design teaching, and being an administrator, being a student. And often schools were kind of dreary, very institutional, terrible lighting. It wasn't an exciting place that I wanted to be in. And I know that you're very passionate about designing school spaces that are not traditional or institutional. So can you talk about the design process at the district level?
07:12
Dr Vitale
Sure, I'd love to. First of all, I should begin with school superintendents and our training. Even in our doctoral level classes, we don't get any training on school construction. We might talk, and today there's a little more discussion surrounding learning spaces. But in my undergrad training, graduate training, and my doctoral level training, I never talked about that. And I always thought, I never want to be involved in construction because that's not really my forte. I want to be involved in instruction, not construction, but ministry. Absolutely. We're outgrowing our buildings, and they're old, and like many districts in, you know, haven't really saved to update buildings. And so we reached a point at Seneca Valley where we were growing again, and it was time for an older building to be so, you know, we began down this path knowing very little about school construction.
08:20
Dr Vitale
Most school leaders, school board members, know very little. You might have a board member who has some background in construction, and hopefully your director of buildings and grounds has a little bit of background. But the reality is, I can work with our business manager on funding. I'd like to think I'm pretty good at getting teachers what they need. I see myself as kind of like the resource queen sometimes. You got a good idea, I'll find a way to fund it. But what I wasn't prepared for was $100 million. That's bigger than I pride myself on. If I can find a million in a year to get an initiative off the ground for a teacher, that's huge, because, let's face it, if I knew how to make 3 million, I probably would be talking to you from a different scenery, nevertheless.
So it's just not an area that school superintendents are well versed in. So when we went down this path of looking at first feasibility studies, what do we do with the old buildings? Can they renovate? Or is it time you look at a car and you say, at what point? Do you just need a new car? So we had reached that point, we'd be researching around 1516 where to start first, because we have many old buildings. And so the board, after feasibility studies, after bringing in construction managers, construction experts, engineers, decided that it was time to replace our oldest building, which was designed to be a high school, and then morphed over the years into an elementary school. So that happens a lot in the United States. And so when I told my husband I was embarking on this journey of construction that I knew nothing about and he knows nothing about, he said, whatever you do, just don't build another institution. Now, I don't like to give him a lot of credit, so I'm hoping he doesn't listen to this podcast.
10:24
Danny
I won't send it to him because.
10:25
Dr Vitale
I'd like to take it. Okay. I take good ideas from everyone. And I thought about the institution. I was a little offended at first. We don't have institutions. What does he mean? And I got very defensive. And then one day, not long after that conversation, I was walking through our intermediate high school, which is a 910 building, and the walls were so drab. We must have had a discount on state paint that year, because I thought, okay, I need to look at this differently. This yellow, pale yellow paint. This is what he's talking about in this long hall that almost looks like a hospital, not a school. Shame on me. Have I become part of these institutions? And I don't see it. So from that point on, it was like an epiphany. That's it.
11:19
Dr Vitale
I said to my team, where can we find some of the newest schools that have been built in the United States? Where can we find schools outside of the United States? And we just began on this journey as a team, trying to find the coolest environment for a school that we could find. And really what we did was we set out to not build a school at all. And this new building that we just opened is called Irman Elementary Ermine Middle School. It opened in 2002. So we're about a year and a half into utilizing this building. Brand new building. It, to our surprise, was recognized by Times magazine as one of the best 200 inventions in 2022, which we never set out to do. Again, this is social media the Times magazine Time found us.
12:11
Dr Vitale
Again, we didn't set out to design an award winning building. We set out to design not an institution, not a school. But instead we settled on, let's design a school, especially an elementary, lower level, middle school, as kind of like a children's museum. I'm a big fan of museums. I love museums, especially children's museums. They're very hands on. So we hired a consultant from the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh and Fulham. She sat with us at design, and there's no doubt through all the design processes, all the pictures we looked at, all the things that she said would maybe work in a school. We went and visited the children's museum again. I had been there, but went again to Pittsburgh and took our whole leadership team and said, what do you love about this learning space?
13:05
Dr Vitale
And then we tried to replicate that in a school. So it's easy to build on the perimeter. That's easy. But I was not going to do that. Number one, to prove my husband wrong, but number two, I just wanted this to be an environment where as soon as kids saw the building from the outside, be excited, right. That they would be like, wait, is this a school? And then when they walked inside, was this still a school? It does not look like a school, which I love.
13:39
Danny
So can you paint a picture of what kids and staff experience as they enter this building? Just because this is an audio format. Right. And I bet right now people are getting excited. Okay, so you did build an institution. We get what a museum could be like, especially a kids museum. But what are some of the things that we might see or hear or experience?
14:02
Dr Vitale
I was really focused on and taken by all the museums I had visited. And I also had this amazing opportunity to visit the schools in Finland back in 2017. I think that was. And so that really impacted the way I think about schools and what they could be in America as well. So there's a little taste of the Finnish schools. There's a taste of our Pittsburgh children's museum. There are pieces that, all good ideas should be replicated, in my opinion. And you may not be able to do that necessarily in the business world with patents, but in schools and in education, we love to steal good ideas and give people credit. The Carnegie Science Museum here in Pittsburgh, I always loved when I was in that with my younger children, the big ramp, like, you didn't have to take the steps. Those are boring. You didn't have to take one of these circular ramps in the Helsinki library. It was a newer library when I had visited, and I thought, what a cool space like this is a learning space. So we have a circular ramp as soon as you open the foyer doors, and that is the first thing the kids see. That, too, is a learning space. And where we really landed through all of this brainstorming and meeting with stakeholders and involving a lot of people over many years, we landed. I kept pushing this notion that the building should be a teaching tool. It should be part of the learning, part of the teaching.
15:40
Dr Vitale
It shouldn't be just a space where we learn, but in every aspect of the building, there are little curious and curious questions that we pose throughout the outside of the building before you come into the building. So as soon as you park your car and look at the building, there are curious questions as soon as you come to the front of the building about why these pillars are angled? What are these measurements? This measures x amount of kips. What are kips? So we have metric, we have standard measurements, but we don't give the answers away. But the adults, too, are thinking about, what is the story here? What's going on here with these beams that are holding the canopy up? And in the.
16:48
Dr Vitale
Another question, I will tell you, I'd love for you to come see the building, but we'd love to have you in our canopy. I insisted that the lights portray the night sky in the month that we would open the building. And so they are placed in star constellations, what the September sky looked like in western Pennsylvania when we opened the building in the fall of 2022. But we don't give that away. We pose questions about, what do you think? What could these be that cost us? Nothing. So there are a lot of unique design components that are very cost efficient as well.
17:30
Danny
Yeah. Offline. We'll talk about a visit, because I feel like I have to see the place now. You're making me want to come.
17:38
Dr Vitale
It's a fun place. It's really a fun place for all learners of all ages.
17:42
Danny
And if we could backtrack a bit. I latched onto this idea because, big reason I didn't tell you this in the pre chat before we hit record, but this show was created because of the gaps that I found in my leadership. Right. The things that weren't taught at graduate school or within the district or whatever on how to be more effective as a leader. And I just knew. And so I figured if I talk to the Dr. Vitals of the world, learn from your stories of success and failure, and most importantly, implement one idea that you teach me, then I would grow, and I didn't know that it would change my life by doing this learning in public. But you've identified it. Sounds like a big gap for superintendents in terms of construction and designing learning spaces. Can you give an overview?
18:32
Danny
Because I don't think we'll have time to get into the nitty gritty details. You don't have to give a master class on this either, but just some sort of like, the big ideas of what a superintendent needs to sort of process when considering creating a new building that's not an institution. Right. Does that question make sense?
18:52
Dr Vitale
Yes, but it goes back even further that all of my ideas would not have put together a very good building. I'm one person, and I'm not the whole answer for a large community like Seneca Valley. And so we have 53,000 constituents. We have very diverse thinking, very different political parties on both sides of the aisle. And so how do you bring all these ideas of what people want in a building from all different ages? And therefore, I think even to go into a project like this, where I was lucky, where I had things in place that I didn't realize at the time when I was an assistant superintendent, I revamped the entire hiring process. That's really my expertise. Teacher selection. How do you find good teachers? How do you get them to the table? How do you recruit once they're there?
19:56
Dr Vitale
How do you grow them? How do you retain them? And that's a huge discussion right now in our country with the teacher shortages in schools, which is very different from the business world. And so I really focused on relationships. I focused on listening to people who had totally different ideas than me. And I might initially get defensive, like I did with my husband when he said, don't build another institution. But then being curious, saying, well, tell me what you mean by that. Let me think more deeply about that. And can I put my own ego, this person in front of me, whether they're an educator or not? And I think having a good team in place is what made this building so amazing. Good leaders, good teacher leaders, good administrators, good construction managers. It just was a whole conglomerate of people.
20:58
Dr Vitale
Because I might have had an idea of what the playground should have looked like based on a playground I saw in Helsinki. But what should that look like in the United States in our, I think those are the pieces that we sometimes miss the mark on with leadership in general, teachers or administrators. But the huge gap, even if I had a class in school construction, I'm not sure it would have helped me as much as getting the right experts to the table. And that is because of relationships. That is because of honoring diverse voices. That is because of setting aside your ego as a leader and saying, maybe I don't know everything, even after 28 years, and I don't involve stakeholders. But most importantly, we're not taught this as superintendents. I hope this is changing.
22:24
Danny
Solve this problem that we're facing. And the challenge is to not evaluate any idea as bad or dumb or wouldn't ever work. To get that judging mind out of the way, throw it all down. And what you'll find is some of those wild ideas are actually like really great solutions. I appreciate you sharing that and tapping into students. Actually, before we get to students, one more question. Obviously Helsinki, Finland. You were really inspired by spaces there. Pittsburgh and Children's Museum. I heard you say, were there any other spaces around the US? You might just tell the ruckus maker listening. Hey, check out what this school is doing in terms of how it's designed. It's a pretty cool thing to see and experience. We had a difficult time finding creative elementaries. Isn't that kind of sad?
23:19
Danny
It's very sad, actually.
23:21
Dr Vitale
If our most creative, craziest looking building should be elementaries, I'm now looking for high schools. And when I ask my colleagues, I get one or two, you know, maybe this school in California. I'm researching because of cost, that's one of the main driving forces, right? Because you have to be able to pay for it. And so that's another reason we build these square boxes, because it's cheaper. But we're at a time where kids won't sit in cubicles and square boxes and work anymore. So why are we doing this in schools? Why do we still have this factory model after all these years? And so I don't have a lot that I could prop up.
24:10
Dr Vitale
I did some neighboring newer schools who I was like, okay, I like the way they're using light, natural light, and Helsinki is known for that. All the Finnish schools are about getting kids outdoors. And when they're inside in the cold winter months, bringing the outdoors in through a lot of glass. And when I first started looking at it, I wanted a lot of glass, I wanted to bring the outside in. I want these spatial sight lines to be out in every room we're in. I started getting some and we built institutions. But I would argue if you are willing to be creative enough and listen to diverse voices, student voices, people of all ages, people in all different industries. You can still do it efficiently and cheaply, but it takes time. We were five years planning this out before we ever had design on paper.
25:13
Dr Vitale
A lot of research went into it before we hired the architects. Then the architects, of course, added to that. But before we brought architects in, we needed an idea of what we were looking for. And this building is shaped to explain from an audio perspective, like a Y. As you come in, that's the base of the Y. And then they branch out and it's two stories. On one side we have k to four, kindergarten to fourth grade, and on the other side, fifth and 6th. And they share specials. And the ramp leads you to our amazing kindergarten wing because you are curious. The proof is in the pudding. Like the ramp did. It cost us a lot of money, almost a million dollars. And people would say, I would have used that in classrooms. What to add to the box.
26:02
Dr Vitale
I really pushed and fought our stakeholders to spend the money on the ramp. And the proof is in the pudding. The first day we opened, I'm at the building. I went to all the buildings on the first day, but I wanted to be there when those buses arrived. And we always have some criers, kindergartners, they're afraid to leave home. They have some school phobias. And this was the least amount of criers we ever had. And one young lady, her mom walked her to the door, she wouldn't get on the bus. And I got down at her eye level, grabbed her hand, and I said, I'm Dr. Vitel, can I walk you in? And she said. Shook her head, I'm not sure. And I said, have you been in this building? Did you see the ramp? And she said, ramp? And I said, let me show you the ramp. And the doors opened and she saw this circular ramp and she looked up at me and, with a big smile, didn't know where her mother was at this point, didn't care, and said, I love that ramp. That's all she cared about. I love that ramp. Proof is in the pudding, right? And the kids still love it. And the adults still love it. And talk about getting your exercise. This ramp, the kids walk more in the building than they do taking. There are steps that they can take and there are steps on the five, six sides, but you're trying to pique their curiosity. They're full of energy. We can do things differently. We need to do things differently.
27:34
Danny
100%. And in my first book, I talked about how Disney shouldn't be the most magical place on earth. It should be our schools, and they're not. And so, again, isn't that kind of sad? Because it's not that Disney does have an advantage with their budget. Of course. And their human resources and their team. But the reason Disney works is not the money where kids can imagine and be curious and learn and play and have fun. I think that's something that you believe, too. It's coming through in the design of your elementary school here. And I just want to commend you on the work you're doing. I'd like to shift a bit to sort of like students and teachers. And since we're talking about shifts, the traditional model is like lecturing.
28:32
Danny
Teaching, maybe even, God forbid, but there's still classrooms, right? Rows and all this kind of stuff. And I talk about how teachers should move from imparting or banking knowledge to co-creating wisdom with students. And you believe teachers should be coaches and facilitators. Would you like to riff on that perspective at all and how you maybe help teachers see themselves as coach and facilitator versus traditional lecturer?
29:02
Dr Vitale
What's interesting, just this morning I was having a text exchange with our three assistant superintendents about teacher talk versus student talk in the classroom. In traditional classrooms, the teachers do the majority of the talking. I'm guilty. I'm the former. I like to call myself a rehabilitated middle school english teacher and a senior high english teacher who would have been put out of business by now with Chat GPT. But that's a discussion, maybe for later. So how can we get teachers to reflect without it being so evaluative? Because if I say, hey, did you ever think maybe you talked too much and maybe we should let the kids talk more? It's about learning more than it is about when my husband said, don't build another institution, that's not how I want to be treated. That's not how I personally grow.
29:57
Dr Vitale
In order for me to grow, I need to be curious. We think adult learning theory is different from children's learning theory, but it's not right. We all want to have a say in our learning. I don't want to read a book that you make me read. If we learned anything through the pandemic, it should have been that people want choice. Adults and kids give me a choice in my learning. Let me have a say in my learning. Regardless of my age. I don't care if you're four or five or you are 60 or 70. Let me have a choice. And so I think we have to approach teachers, and we try to, at Seneca Valley, we are not perfect. We're trying to get better every day about choices.
30:45
Dr Vitale
And so the question would be, have you ever thought about teacher talk versus student talk? And what do you want your classroom to be, and what's the research out there? Because there's a lot of research on why kids should be talking more than teachers in the classroom. And I don't mean unorganized, chaotic talk, although chaos is okay sometimes as well. But we're even beyond that. Whole teachers should be on the side as the sage instead of being on the stage. We're beyond that. We need to be in a place, the Internet, information technology, AI, that has replaced kids and don't need me to deliver information anymore. They need me to help them organize and to assess the information and to evaluate the information. That's how my job should be changing as a teacher. And our best, our master teachers, they got that a long time ago. And when I walk into those classrooms, they just blend like they're not standing in the front. As a matter of fact, we let the teachers in this new building choose their furniture. They did not choose a stationary desk.
32:04
Danny
How about that?
32:04
Dr Vitale
There's a desk kind of built into some cabinets. They chose a technology podium, for lack of a better word, on wheels, that they can move around should they need it. But if you go into any of these elementary classrooms, and especially in the new building, the building kind of supports that whole notion of, hey, I'm moving around with the kids. I'm a learner in this classroom, and I might be facilitating some of this, but I'm not leading all the learning, but I'm guiding it.
32:38
Danny
Yeah. That's so good. Do you know the company TeachfX, by any chance?
32:43
Dr Vitale
I think that was one of the products we were looking at. Where is this the one where you record yourself as a teacher and it'll let you know how much you talked versus the kids? We're looking at that as one of the products and trying to. Again, we don't want to rule out a product that a teacher will fear. Who's going to listen to this? And will the superintendent be listening to it? And will my principal knock me down on my evaluation? That's not what it's about. It's about growth. And so a product like that, we would try to pilot with volunteer teachers who hold the data themselves for reflection.
33:21
Danny
I bring it into the conversation because they've sponsored the podcast for years and I know the schools that use it are obviously seeing positive results. And since you brought up teacher talk time versus student talk, I just wanted to make sure you knew about it or the ruckus maker listening knew about it as well. All right, great. I really enjoyed our conversation. I don't want it to end. Let me ask you one more question. And I've been asking this to all my superintendent guests, but basically with Einstein, he famously talked about if he had a problem to solve, he'd ask a question to ask and then spend 5 minutes to actually answer the question. Right. So I'm just curious as we end, you know, what's a question you would hope that more educators were asking right now?
34:23
Dr Vitale
What is AI? How will it impact teaching and learning? And I'm not as smart as Einstein, so I would spend my 55 minutes talking to kids about this.
34:38
Danny
Brilliant. Well, thanks so much for being a guest.
34:42
Dr Vitale
Thank you for having me.
34:42
Danny
I appreciate you.
A Principal Discusses How To Be Proactive and Play With The Lead
Thanks for hitting play. Do you feel like a square peg trying to fit into the round hole of education? If so, then you're in the right place. I'm Danny Bauer, and this is the better leaders, Better Schools podcast, the original Ruckus Maker podcast for visionary leaders who want to do school differently and make a legendary impact on their campus. Thanks to Ruckus Makers just like you, this show ranks in the top 0.5% of over 3 million worldwide podcasts. In today's show, I speak with Ryan, who's a principal and a coaching client, and we've been following his journey for the last few months. Today we're checking in, and even though we're releasing this and it's not June anymore, our conversation happened in early summer. So we're thinking about how to best prepare for the year.
This will still help you because you can save it, listen to it next year as well. But things that we talk about that are still important, the importance of 90 day planning, and we go through that framework, which, by the way, right, I share all that information in my bestseller, build leadership momentum. We talk about why it's so important to what Ryan calls play with the lead, and then we talk about some of the challenges. They get in the way in terms of taking care of ourselves in what I call the Ruckus Maker mindset. Eating, sleeping, moving, meditating, unplugging, taking care of these fundamental areas so that we're not pouring from an empty cup. Once again, thanks so much for listening, and we'll be right back after a quick message from our show sponsors. Hey, Ruckus Maker, I'll make this quick.
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04:14
Danny
All right, so we're back with Ryan, update me on school stuff. And what do you want to dive into? How can I serve you today?
04:21
Ryan
Well, it's just, holy cow, this first year I was assistant principal for nine years, and I kind of thought, well, I'll get into that leadership role and be able to handle business and be playing ahead. But at the end of the year just, I mean, that this year flew by, so I felt like I have been playing from behind all year, and this year the goal is just playing with the lead, playing ahead. So I just want that whole 90 building momentum, the 90 day start of the year plan. I mean, I really want to get into that.
04:56
Ryan
I just finished reading that book last night or two nights ago, and then I was going to kind of game plan a little bit with my assistant principal, but then he had his headaches, decided to rupture, so.
05:07
Danny
Oh, gosh. Can't make up real life.
05:10
Ryan
Oh. Every time I've been trying to get ahead, it's like something happened. So at some point when he's a little bit better, we'll sit down and plan things out.
05:19
Danny
Yeah. Is he all right?
05:20
Ryan
Yeah, yeah, he's all right. It was funny because he has a few kids, and when he came, one of the kids said they had a road trip. And one of the kids comes in and says, hey, my stomach hurts. So his wife's like, okay, well, you're probably sick. So the other kid comes in, says, my stomach hurts. They come inside and then he comes in and says, hey, my stomach hurts. I'm going upstairs. So she's like, all three of them must have gotten sick. Well, then he comes down. He's like, hey, I'm going to the ER. Something's not right. And sure enough. Yeah, they went in, and they pulled that appendix out. And right when they got it right, when they were pulling it out, it ruptured.
05:53
Danny
Oh, gosh.
05:55
Ryan
So he had to stay overnight.
05:57
Danny
All right, I hope he's on the mend. You say he's doing okay, 90 day plan. Thanks for reading the book. Is that what you want to jump into, or is there something else that's more of a priority first?
06:10
Ryan
Well, I've had. I did. I talked to Mitch Weathers.
06:15
Danny
Awesome guy, my man.
06:16
Ryan
Organized binder., that's all good stuff. And I've kind of been putting him on the back burner a little bit because, oh, we just had our end of the year principals meeting last week, and I just can't build anything for next year until I knew what district had coming down the pipeline for us and how much time I'm going to have for in my own building and not having to do district stuff. And so I'll be reaching out to him with kind of a game plan. I did have. I am having to drag my feet on that a little bit, and I feel bad, but, yes, like, that 90 day plan, like I said, I want to be playing with the lead man. I don't want to be playing catch up all year long. And that's exactly how I felt like I was doing it my first year.
07:02
Danny
Well, give yourself grace. First of all, you. You finished. You're still standing. You know what I mean? Barely. That's big. That's a big deal. Well, yeah, barely doesn't matter. But you didn't even if he got knocked down, if you get back up is what matters, you know? And you're still standing. So I think that's a. That's a massive accomplishment. Now, know that enough leaders sit and pause and say, all right, that was pretty cool. And reflect on what you learned and that kind of thing. And actually, separately, outside of our call, if you want this resource, this month in the mastermind I shared, it's a three page document that I call the Ruckus Maker end of year review with just some really meaty reflection questions, because that's an area of optimization for many school leaders. You talk about playing catch up. And I get it. All the things that you need to do, that kind of deal. But top performing principles, they make the time, they create it to pause to do deep thinking and also learn from experience.
08:11
Danny
And so just to reflect on what were those most important moments, I'd be happy to share it with but in terms of playing with the lead, how can I support you?
08:21
Ryan
Well, I'm glad you mentioned that, because when I was at the end of the year principal meeting, I don't know, we've done it in the past, surveyed the staff just on how the year went. And that's meaningful data. And you build the next year with that, too. And all the high schools talking about it, I'm like, gosh, ding. Why did I not get that knocked out, too? Just so I have more of a roadmap for next year. What worked? What needs to be improved? Cause I think I know what needs to be improved, but obviously, that's not I mean, staff's probably seen things a little bit different, too, and are driving the ship based on what they're thinking, too. Again, this year was just like, all those things that I'm going to do better next year.
09:04
Danny
Yeah. Have you made a list of those things?
09:06
Ryan
I have a list. And that was one of the things I was also going to ask you for, too, just because I'm building. I mean, one of the big things is just communication. And I had what I thought was a great staff dashboard, and then staff's telling me, well, it's overwhelming. It's overwhelming. I actually had a staff member send me out a much simpler dashboard that we'll be using. But one of the things that I want is a calendar for the entire year. And I just got that done yesterday. And right at the end of the year, all the test dates are finalized. Everything kind of cemented. That's a big picture for everybody in the building. Obviously, we still need to put in our assemblies and just some of our other student incentive days and just different things in there. Do you know of a calendar that has everything educational, like secretary, admin, secretary week, a teacher appreciation week? What, all those principal nurses?
10:08
Danny
Do you have a secretary or admin assistant?
10:11
Ryan
Well, I do, yes.
10:13
Danny
That sounds like an incredible task to delegate to that person.
10:17
Ryan
But is there, like, a sheet that you're like, oh, yeah, I know of a calendar. It's right here.
10:21
Danny
I bet if you google it, like, you could get 80% of it and not you, but your assistant. And then once they put that together for you, that works every single year. Or at least you have a general sense. It might move from a Monday to a Tuesday or whatever because of the years change, but I think that would be a really great resource to have. I actually want to pause a second, go back a bit, because I heard you. You share that a staff member simplified the dashboard. Awesome. What have you done? Or what have you planned to celebrate with that staff?
10:57
Ryan
Oh, I definitely need to celebrate that staff member. I have not planned anything, though. I just thanked her and I'll give her all the kudos when we start the school year, though.
11:09
Danny
Yeah, that's fantastic. And there's a story around that, too, because you mentioned communication, right. There's a story around that in terms of celebrating her effort, making it simple. And it's also sort of showing you as a leader who's open to feedback. Right. Because you built something you thought it would serve, and it did, but it was too much. And so she came in and somehow made it simpler. But yes, I don't have all the answers for you, but the right questions. And so for this staff member, I think there's just to spend a little bit of time and not just saying in the staff meeting, back to school, thank you for doing this, but is there a way to push that out via email or social or the website? Also, you could challenge the staff because I'm kind of curious about the staff member. Did you ask her to make it simpler? Did she just proactively add value to the school by doing that? Or how did it. How did that happen?
12:12
Ryan
I had some people that said, wow, this is kind of overwhelming. It's nice to have all this at our fingertips, but it ain't a little bit big. And were actually at a, like a technology conference, asti, and were both in this dashboard seminar. I don't remember the name. Staff dashboard, something like that. Building dashboards. And she was like, hey, yours is overwhelming. Can we narrow it down? And I'm like, yeah, absolutely. Whatever we do as a communication tool has to be usable by you guys.
12:47
Ryan
After that conference, I thought I'd narrowed it down more, and then I had some other feedback, and she's like, no, no, it's still too big. She did a very nice job this last week of simplifying it.
13:02
Danny
Awesome. When you're telling that story, too. The call to action, potentially, is dear staff, what can you help improve? Process, system, so and so forth on campus, what are you going to step up and create that's better than what we have today? Because this superstar rose to the challenge. But there's more creative, amazing people on campus that can optimize all different aspects of your school. But they might just need the challenge potentially, in the. Yeah, the call to action. So see what happens if you do that.
13:39
Ryan
Yeah, no, and I am. I'm blessed with the staff that. I mean, they. They do rise to that. I mean, there's just a lot of leaders in the building.
13:47
Danny
Fantastic.
13:48
Ryan
And they love diving in and helping out and showing their different strengths.
13:53
Danny
Brilliant. All right, cool. So thank you for allowing me to bring us back a few steps, but. Again, playing with the lead, what do you want to jump into?
14:02
Ryan
Just that 90 day plan. I mean, I'd sat down, I went over my sticky core values. I went over there. Oh, what was the other one? The enemies. But I thought that in the book it said that it was like a PDF, there was an outline for it, but I can't find that. I don't know if I had the email to add help there.
14:24
Danny
I'll email it to you now so that you have that resource.
14:28
Ryan
I gotta let the dogs in real quick. All right, sure.
14:30
Danny
While you were getting the dogs, I emailed you the resource page. I just have a bunch of links to different things. And you were talking about the enemies. What else were you looking for?
14:42
Ryan
Just that 90 day outlook or just that 90 day plan? I know all the steps to go through.
14:47
Danny
When you go and get it. You got the books and now you got the resource page. I wish there was a way to automate that, but, I just send it to everybody. I get emails every day, a number of them. Can I get the resources so you have? And just for you, as a refresher for the Ruckus Maker listening, there's five parts to the framework and within generally every framework I create for school leaders. And I was just on a coaching call with Lorraine out in California today, too, and she said, danny, I love the tools because they help you become a more effective school leader, but they also remind you to take care of yourself.
15:29
Danny
And I share that because step one in every part of your 90 day plan is like, what are you doing for yourself, right in your family? And that's really important because if we're not careful. We just get sucked into the job. I am not. I'm guilty of that as well. My. I got feedback from my wife right now that I'm working too much. That's because I got some speaking. I have a live event coming up. I'm launching a new thing called the Ruckus Maker Club. And so that's. That's given. That's taken a lot of focus, but I still need to. It'll get done, and I need to create more time for her and the family. I'm just sharing that to be. To be vulnerable. Your number one. Is there something you wanted to add before I continue, Jeff?
16:15
Ryan
I guess it's twofold with that, too, because of the 90 day plan. But then that whole mindset tool just went through that and you nailed it, too. I have not. One of my sticky values is just to be there. And this last year, I was all over the place and it was. School was the focus. It does need to be that family piece, man. Glad you mentioned that, too. I guess two things to just really stretch next year, just going through that mindset tool and then having that 90 day plan, because I think both of those really play into playing with the lead, too.
16:52
Danny
Absolutely. Some things that help people, too, are setting. I think we talked about this actually one of our calls earlier, but setting for next year, what is that? End of day time. And then you go to communicate it to your family because your kids and your wife will love to hold you accountable on that.Or if you tell your. Your assistant, they're also going to be like Ryan. You said you're going to leave if they're still around, they'll love to tell you that, too.
17:23
Ryan
And it hasn't. Like, leaving wasn't really a problem this year because, well, toward the end of the year, because you're back. Anyway, like I was saying, I was able to get out of the office at a semi decent hour, but then the evenings are just taking up with. Just doing school stuff. And then it was interesting, too, because towards the end of the year, too, I'm making phone calls late, semi into the evening there because that's. I'm able to do them. And then I kind of had a couple parents complain that, oh, man, this guy's not calling us. Like, right during the day when this stuff happens. And he's calling us in the evening and I'm thinking stuff that, heck, I'm communicating with you.
18:06
Danny
. Yeah, it's tough.Some of those things you can't take to heart. And that's something you could explain to parents too. Like, hey, I'm focused on x, Y and Z during the day on campus. Parent calls will happen generally around this hour, just so I can add the most value to campus and that kind of thing. And not just disrupt you at work potentially if you have a nine to five and ensure that you're home too when I call. So there's a number of ways to take that, but I think the most important lesson is parents are going to be unhappy if you call at noon, if you call at six, if you call at eight in the morning, you're always going to be in there's always something.
18:49
Danny
So some of that you just let it just roll off type of thing.
18:54
Ryan
It's so funny too but I mean, I'm good at letting stuff roll off, but all of a sudden when I pride myself in making phone calls, talking to parents, and all of a sudden it's like straight to your boss, you're like, what the heck? Like, I'm good at this, these conversations.
19:12
Danny
Some people love to do that. And you're not going to change them. So use that first part as you're working through the rest. The communication you've already at least touched on in our conversation here. Then it's thinking about the business of school, which is academics, thinking about culture, thinking about operations. And when you do see the downloads I sent you, there's a blank one and there's one that's filled out. Right, okay, hold on. Yeah. The process is what's happening before school starts. And that's what's happening with our discussion now. The second part is like the first day of school, it's chunking it. Before school, the first day of school, what do you want to see happen in those five pillars? Your first week, your first month? Month number two, month number three. And that's how you roll it out. The sort of the punchline of the whole 90 day plan, which, like, you just doing this for the first 90 days will probably put you in the top, I would say, 5% of principals. It's amazing how many school leaders I talk to and they just, they don't put this into practice. And then that number goes from the top five. You could be in the top 1% if you do it for the next 90 days. In the next. In the next. Cause you could do this four times a year. And for Ryan, the people that do that, I'm telling you, the job is still hard, but they say I have a calm and a confidence that I've just never had before. Because you have the plan. Write it in pencil. Things change. But at least you have a much stronger structure. And to use your words, you're playing with the lead versus playing catch up.
21:00
Ryan
Yeah. And that is. That's the goal. I mean, how nice would it be to just have all that mapped out and then. Obviously it is Pennsylvania. Things are going to happen during the school year, but to just be able to do that, it'd be awesome. My wife's like, hey, you want to go into work and do this? No, I'm going to be at the house and do this.
21:25
Danny
It's all good. It's all good. We love kids. Right?
21:28
Ryan
So I'm just looking at these ebook files here. Chapter one.
21:35
Danny
If you scroll down to the next page, it says bonuses. And you have. Here's your fill. Filled entry plan template and completed.
21:43
Ryan
Okay, sweet. So there isn't. There is a completed one, too, that.
21:47
Danny
You said, and they're general recommendations that all work for probably many schools. And then you just take that and revise. To fit the context of what you're trying to do.
22:01
Ryan
No, that's nice, man. That is nice.
22:03
Danny
I hope it gets you going. Yeah. This book has really taken off for me. You know, it's the second bestseller. Build leadership momentum. And it's been a joy to have people write in and talk about all the wins and success that they've. They've accomplished. I've actually. Since the book came out, there's. There's one guy featured in the book, John, and this really helped him as principal. He just got his superintendent job. And I know that he's going to be using this As he thinks about how he's entering the school year and that kind of thing now in a new role. It's fantastic to see those success stories. I don't think there's a room you can hide from the kids. I got a lot.
22:46
Ryan
I have a few rooms in this house, too, but everybody's got a room. Just migrating back and forth. Maybe I should have listened to my life on that one. I think Vincent, I think this is good.
22:58
Danny
Now, that's rule number one. Always listen. Always listen to your wife.
23:03
Ryan
Always.. No, that is nice. I'll get that knocked out and then just. Going through that mindset tool and making more of an effort to just be eaten. Better health wise, man. And Shelanette or talking to SAP about that, too. It's a long school year.
23:24
Danny
We got to take care of ourselves. To be able to last. I wonder sometimes how. How much of a correlation is between the crazy pace that we operate at, the sort of neglect of taking care of ourselves, and then the frustration that always seems to bubble up at the end of the year. And if we were really focused on that, eating, sleeping, moving, meditating, unplugging would we be at a better place in the spring? I think we would. So is there anything on the tool you want to talk about, or you're just saying it could be hard to implement?
24:02
Ryan
It's all pretty much straightforward. It's just making those actions a habit. I think, too, if you're doing all these things, I mean, you're less irritable at school, too, and 100% getting under your skin, and you're understanding, holy cow, like, I'm getting frustrated with these kids, but are they eating, sleeping, unplugging? No, man, they're. Too many lives are just craziness, for.
24:29
Danny
Sure, which is hard to control.
24:31
Ryan
You have no control over that.
24:33
Danny
But you have control over your life, I'll tell you. I don't know if I ever shared this story, but when I started doing deeper internal work as a teacher, I had this epiphany, which was, oh, I'm the problem in the classroom. It's how. It's how I respond to things, and I would often escalate them, and it would become a power struggle. And I didn't want to lose as the teacher, so kids were punished as a result because I wasn't going to lose. But when I. When I started really looking at my emotions and what was triggering me and how I was responding to whatever kid says you suck as a teacher. They don't want to do your homework or whatever, I would take that very personally the second I stopped taking that personally, because it wasn't.
25:20
Danny
They're just frustrated. Whatever. And it doesn't mean I ignored their bad behavior either. Right. But I actually never wrote up another kid ever and was able to deal with all the issues within my classroom. The second I learned I'm the majority of the problems. And that was such a huge thing for me because the biggest realization was the kids didn't change their behavior, didn't change how I was the being, the presence changed, you know what I mean? And that was like an absolute game changer for me. The same is true as a principal, see, was true as a husband and a dad. These things are important. I call them the fundamentals for a reason.
26:04
Ryan
No, that, yeah, and that's all reflecting. Acacia's big too. Speaking of the reflecting piece, I mean, you said you had that end of the year reflection too. Could I get that sent my way?
26:15
Danny
Yeah, I'll find that and send it off. We call this one the Ruckus Maker end of year review. If you're listening. Sorry, that's only for coaching clients and folks in the mastermind. By the time you hear this podcast, we'll have a new program called the Ruckus Maker Club. It'll be in there that's worth its price of admission just by itself. So they found you again. They're even saying, dad, don't ignore me. Dad, dad, here it is.
26:46
Ryan
I just said I spilled something and I didn't. And the little guy goes, that's not okay.
26:56
Danny
What makes an assessment effective? I would argue giving teachers access to quick, reliable and useful results that inform the next best steps for teaching. And that's where I excel, really stands out. Teachers get powerful insights into student performance on a daily basis so they can address issues the moment they arise. Imagine that. Ingesting instruction in real time before it's too late. Your teachers have a tool that helps them to be more effective and your students continue to grow. Check it out for [email protected]/Leaders. That's ixl.com/leaders. For some students, the meal or two you serve them, that's going to be it. That's what they get for the day. Which means we've got to get this right. Quest food management Services elevates the student dining experience, serving scratch made meals using high quality ingredients that are sourced locally and responsibly.
28:00
Danny
Now, you might be thinking, okay, Danny, I get it. The food's high quality. But do the students eat it and enjoy it? Bottom line, students love the food. Quest is one of the fastest growing companies in the school food service industry and has been consistently ranked in the top 50 food service providers by Food Management magazine. Learn more about Quest food management [email protected]. Or follow questfood on social media. That's questfms.com. When I was coaching the mastermind members on this, coaches of each cohort facilitated the experience. But I created a video. You know, there's 20 questions over the three pages. When you open this up, it's kind of like, choose your own adventure. I think it's good to answer them all, but just follow your interest in the moment and what's something that you want to reflect on now?
28:59
Ryan
The first one, what are you most proud of accomplishing this year? Just we haven't had leadership team really the last few years, and it was just nice to be able to have around again this year, just getting more staff input, letting them do some of the heavy lifting with things.
29:17
Danny
That's a sort of low hanging fruit, too, because that leadership meeting is so important.
29:21
Ryan
And we do, this is our second year of, we have PlC's, we have Plc. Mondays are an hour late. The leadership team pretty much helped me build those. And it's funny because, like, what am I most proud of, too? It's not necessarily looking at this year, it's looking at what I'm going to be doing differently next year. Am I the best fan for becoming the best version of myself? No, but I will be next year. Like, I think that with this 90 day plan, with being with playing with the lead or at school and at home, I'll definitely be taking more steps with that.
30:03
Danny
Ask that question from a different perspective, and it's fantastic that you're focused on this idea of playing with the lead. So there's an idea called the pre-mortem. So post mortem, why did somebody expire? What caused the death and all that pre mortem, when it comes to our work and our projects, like, what are all the challenges and obstacles that could get in the way? So you're pumped you're going to do the plan. I have no doubt that you're going to build something and it's great and you'll do the mindset tool and you'll have a sense of how you want to improve on the fundamentals, too. However, what could get in the way? It's a good question to consider because then if you build some more awareness around what the challenges could be, you can now also plan for those.
30:50
Danny
So anyways, what do you think gets in the way of that?
30:54
Ryan
I think the big thing is life. Anything crazy health wise with life, I mean, staff, health those are the big ones that come to mind first and then just, I don't know. I mean, this is one of those jobs where you go in and you have your day planned out, but it seems like rarely does that ever come to fruition. There's always something that pops up in there and we, my mindset next year is going to be a lot more delegating to. We got a very good assistant principal and just yet that discipline, I like to be involved in discipline a little bit, but bigger picture stuff, I need to be focusing on more too.
31:33
Ryan
Delegate Matt, I was listening to a podcast on you the other day, and they're like, oh, man, Danny is so thin. Just so, he's just always so chill.
31:45
Danny
That was the best feedback I ever got from a 6th grade counselor. You brought this sense of calm to the building that we needed, and that just meant, that meant so much to me. But, what do you notice when you see this image?
31:58
Ryan
That the one you're focusing on more is probably getting, majority of, success?
32:03
Danny
Yeah. And just sort of the Ruckus Maker list then I created this image, I put it out on Max and probably Instagram. And anyways, it says working on five projects versus one project. And the working on five projects is in white and versus one project is in electric Papaya is the color name.
32:21
Ryan
Electric Papaya?
32:22
Danny
Yeah. Yeah, baby. Electric papaya. That's what my designer said. But then it's a line graph and our bar graph, and it has your five projects in white and they're all very low. And then the one in electric Papaya is like, obviously much further ahead. So you get the punchline there. And I think, I'll tell you this, when it comes to my productivity, to working within a school or even what I do now as an entrepreneur, less is more. And when I actually focused on what we call internally, the one big thing, when I focused on that and really made sure there was great progress on a major project, I saw myself being more productive. So that is the thing. And it's a common challenge that school leaders face is the intangibles within the school day in your schedule.
33:14
Danny
So my wondering is, what if you maybe just what if you plan the rest of the day. Like, what if. There's always a lot of stuff to do, but can you identify literally, seriously, what's most important? Protect a decent amount of time to work on that significant thing. Have a list of important things that you need to get to. And like you said, you can delegate some stuff to the AP, but then if you got the one thing and you could get to that and you feel successful too. Which builds momentum and just belief, confidence in yourself, that kind of thing. Got your other list. But as stuff comes up, it's okay because part of my job is being responsive to what comes up, you know? And I wonder if you're suffering from some over planning, maybe potentially.
34:00
Danny
I don't know. What do you think?
34:02
Ryan
One of my sticky core values there is aim small, miss small, because I think I do. And my old boss used to say, man, you got too many fries on the plate, Ryan. They're flowing over, they're falling out. Like, you need to focus on. Just focus on a few. And I agree, if I'm just focusing on a couple big things or one electric papaya, that would be one of those things where, hey, if my focus is just getting into making sure that I get into classrooms during the day and I'm visible in the building, and then instead of having ten things I want to walk out the door with at the end of the day, like that one, I can say, hey, I did a lot of other things today, but I did make sure that I got to the one I was focusing on.
34:47
Danny
Exactly. So I want to. Can I tell you one more story?
34:51
Ryan
It's a good one, Danny.
34:53
Danny
I think it's an okay one. Okay. People enjoyed it when I shared it the other day. So I was doing a workshop on endgame excellence, how to finish the school year strong. And I told this story. So here's how it goes. Give me just a second. Yep. Have I told you this? 90 in Pittsburgh.
35:12
Ryan
No. No.
35:13
Danny
Okay, so it's 1890. We're going back to the city of Pittsburgh in Andrew Carnegie, which I'm sure you've heard of that guy. He's kind of successful and historic. Andrew Carnegie meets this really young, I mean, super young green consultant. His name was Frederick Taylor. And Andrew says something sort of shocking. He says, young Mandy, if you could tell me something about management worth hearing, I will send you a check for $10,000. And by the way, that was 1890 money. If you fast forward, that's probably $343,000. Right. If you did what Frederick Taylor did today. And so Frederick thought about it for a minute, maybe five. And they said, okay, Mister Carnegie, here's your management tip. Make a list of the ten most important things and then start doing number one. And he got the check.
He got the check for ten k in 1890. But it's the same thing we just looked at, right. Five projects versus one project flies on the plate. So this is wise advice, right. And again for you to do the internal work and the reflection on what it will take to focus, make the progress have that sense of accomplishment each day and if you get to other stuff, that's just a bonus, right. And then you could be responsive to staff, students, family.
36:45
Ryan
Now that's wise advice. That ten K well earned back in 1890.
36:52
Danny
Rich man. I'll take 343,000. I just told you. Is that worth it? Can you send me a check for it?
36:58
Ryan
That was a good story, man. We said you did. Send you a virtual hug though, that.
37:04
Danny
I'll take a virtual hug. I need to choose my audience for that story.
37:08
Ryan
I throw a heart out over Zoom here.
37:10
Danny
I think Warren Buffett allegedly told a similar thing to his pilot. There's definitely a story about him. And you know Warren Buffett, the investor there in Nebraska. And I think his pilot asked him something about success and he essentially said, write down, I'm pretty sure it's right down your five or ten most important things and then cross off everything except number one. So this advice has been around for ages and I don't know why. I think the system puts pressure, right, to be doing all things, be all things, all people. But everybody who's successful does the opposite. And Ruckus Makers reject the premise. When our colleagues are doing ten things right, you say a lot of plates in the air. Okay, when you have plates in the air, you work at a circus. You're not a leader.
38:00
Danny
So it's like choosing to be great, choose to do school differently, choose to make a ruckus. You know, it's not ignoring the other nine things. You'll get to them, but you're going to get to them actually faster than your peers because you focus, you have sustained effort, you complete things and you do it well. And then you move on to the next. Takes a little bit of discipline, a bit of courage. But you can do it for sure.
38:24
Ryan
Is this in that 90 day plan? You have to add a section for this?
38:27
Danny
Yeah, I might need to add that to part two. Right? But these are the little nuggets that we drop in the mastermind and the Ruckus Maker club or my. I hope you come one day to one of my live events. That would be cool.
38:39
Ryan
Yeah. Yeah, no, I need to. It's always nice to get out of the state, too.
38:43
Danny
Yeah. We're kind of coming close to time. Is there anything else you want to dig into, or. No, I think you.
38:50
Ryan
You've given me four, saying each year.
38:53
Danny
What was most helpful of the four? Just prioritize one put into practice what we've been talking about.
38:59
Ryan
I would probably say that last story, it was a good one, because I do. I mean, we have a mindset on next year's feed. And that's the word. That's the acronym we've been using.
39:11
Danny
Fun.
39:11
Ryan
Like, you gotta have fun in middle school.
39:13
Danny
Yes, absolutely.
39:15
Ryan
I feel bad because when I was a teacher and as an administrator, too, I just got in this mindset. If I just see kids running around, are you know, green, yellow or red with the data, are you proficient? Are you getting there? Or are you a couple years behind? And I'm like, that's good. But they're kids, too.
39:34
Danny
We kids, too.
39:35
Ryan
We have to be celebrating excellence. We have to just. Just be celebrating that success. And then next, the e is engagement. That's the focus. Next year is engagement. And that's why I asked you for just. If you had any resources on classroom engagement, and I haven't. I kind of looked into her stuff a little bit or her website.
39:56
Danny
Cult of pedagogy. Jennifer is the best. I think that's who I sent it to.
40:01
Ryan
And then executive functioning stuff, and that was where Mitch Weathers was coming into play. And then d just comes back to that data culture, maybe just really me focusing on that. And it's going to be cool next year. We have a big language arts and math gap in the building, and the focus on that during. We call it our time and what I need for students and the focus on that, it's going to be math and language arts, and everybody in the building is going to be teaching that or doing some sort of enrichment piece with that. I think that the data culture, everybody's going to buy into that, because now they have ownership, now they have skin in the game with it.
40:41
Ryan
So we feed. You got four different things right there. What does the focus really need to be? And I think it all just comes back to that engagement piece.
40:52
Danny
That's a big lever to pull within a school setting. And it's not to ignore the other aspects of feet, but prioritizing that engagement, and you can build systems around fun and everything else. It almost goes in the calendar. In the calendar. But that helps support it almost automatically. So that's why systems thinking is so important, because then it's not dependent on you. I'll leave you with that. That's a bigger topic. I don't want to open that up at the end, but certainly appreciate your time and how you're playing to win and wanting to play with the lead. I like that idea..
41:37
Ryan
But playing with the lead is not always an easy thing, man. I like trying to play catch up.
41:42
Danny
Yeah. Yeah, I hear you.
41:44
Ryan
Celtics almost lose the 21 point lead?
41:47
Danny
No, they didn't, though. They hung in there. Yeah. Jalen Brown looks amazing. By the time people hear this, I'm sure the Celtics will be world champs, but, yeah, they're looking unstoppable. Cool. Well, I'll send you a link to schedule another one, and feel free. Always call or text if you need something in between. I'll reach out to Jennifer, too. I know her, so I'll see if she has anything specifically on engagement.
42:11
Ryan
Okay. And then I go out fishing. I won't be back till July 21.
42:17
Danny
So enjoy the time off. That's the. That's the Ruckus Maker mindset. Unplugging Mandy.
42:23
Ryan
Get a little busy out there, too. Yeah.
42:26
Danny
All right.
42:26
Ryan
All right, man. You take it easy.
42:28
Danny
See? Thanks for listening to the Better Leaders Better Schools podcast. Ruckus Maker, how would you like to lead with confidence, swap exhaustion for energy, turn your critics into cheerleaders, and so much more? The Ruckus Maker mastermind is a world class leadership program designed for growth minded school leaders just like you. Go to betterleadersbetterschools.com mastermind, learn more about our program, and fill out the application. We'll be in touch within 48 hours to talk about how we can help you be even more effective. And by the way, we have cohorts that are diverse and mixed up. We also have cohorts just for women in leadership and a BIPOC only cohort as well. When you're ready to level up, go to betterleadersbetterschools.com mastermind and fill out the application. Thanks again for listening to the show. Bye for now and go make a ruckus.
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Identify your highest leverage areas for growth this year in 10 -minutes or less.
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Month-to-Month Principal Checklist
As a principal with so much to do, you might be thinking, where do I even start?
When you download The Principal Checklist you’ll get
12-months of general tasks that every campus need to do
Space to write your campus specific items.
Space to reflect and not what worked as well as a space of what didn’t work
Go to https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/principal-checklist to download now.
Ruckus Maker Mindset Tool™
The “secret” to peak performance is not complicated. It’s a plan on how to optimize the five fundamentals found in The Ruckus Maker Mindset Tool™.
https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/mindset
The Positive Spotlight Tool™
Energy flows to where attention goes!
If you want to get more of what you want, when you want it as a school leader I have a tool for you...
Download The Positive Spotlight Tool™ for free here:
https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/positive
The Ruckus Maker 8-Step Goal Setting Tool™
Are you ready to accomplish more?
With less effort and in less time?
When you download The Ruckus Maker 8-Step Goal Setting Tool™ I’ll send you the tool and a short 8-minute coaching video that shows you how to work smarter, not harder…and create more value for your school campus.
Download The Ruckus Maker 8-Step Goal Setting Tool™ for free at
If education ain’t a bit disruptive, then what are your students really learning?
This show isn’t about doing school better.
It’s about Doing School Different — and joining a growing movement of bold, creative school leaders who reject legacy models and reimagine what’s possible.
Here are four ways we can help you on your Do School Different journey
Subscribe to the Free Newsletter
— An opportunity to Do School Different 3x a week. Tools, mindset shifts, and strategies that actually work: ruckusmakers.news
Read Ruckus Makers
— Exclusive content on Substack. Premium leadership insights, AI prompts and custom GPTs, new books before the bookshelf: ruckusmakers.media
Join The Ruckus Maker Club
Our private network + workshops, The Automatic School tools, AI Prompt Library, and more:
The Ruckus Maker
Apply to the Mastermind
— Weekly coaching, peer mentorship, and our proven leadership system (The Ruckus Maker Flywheel) to help you transform your campus:
Apply Now
The podcast is your starting point. The movement is just getting started.
SHOW SPONSORS:
Quest Food Management Services
Quest Food Management Services provides high-quality, scratch-made food in K-12 schools and universities across the country, prioritizing the health and wellness of students and elevating the cafeteria dining experience. Quest offers a full-service approach to their school partners, bringing 40 years of expertise through every stage of program development and nurturing a true sense of community through interactive events such as student food committees. For more information about Quest Food Management Services, www.questfms.com
IXL
IXL is the most widely used online learning and teaching platform for K to 12. Over 1 million teachers use IXL in their classrooms every day for one reason: They love it. Visit IXL.com/Leaders to lead your school towards data-driven excellence today.
