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A weekly podcast to improve the quality of life and leadership for assistant principals.
Our audience is growing! Thanks for the enthusiastic support. We have downloads from seven different countries and no wonder... we are the ONLY English language podcast dedicated solely to the assistant principalship. You can also check out the new LinkedIn group for assistant principals here. |
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Episode 35: Recapping the Daily Emails, June 27-July 1, 2022
Episode 34: Persistent Growth with Emily Parks
We are all teachers here, right? So, I can be honest, Right? We love all children equally and we have no favorites. That said, there are always those students who give us energy. They bring a passion for learning that inspires us to be at our best. I had those kinds of learners when I was a middle school teacher, when I was a professor at Clemson University, and I have them now as I work with APs in the APEx program. In fact, today’s guest is one of those special “students” because she is passionate about her learning, always brings her A game, and inspires me to be better.
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Air Date: June 30, 2022
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Episode 33: Recapping the daily emails 6-20-24
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This is an experiment! Each weekday at 6 am I send out a 100-330 word email on leadership. I thought it might be fun to do a recap of those emails to share with the podcast audience. In the future I'll try and do better tying the content specifically to APs, but this was the first attempt and I'm going to roll with it.
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Air Date: June 24, 2022
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Episode 32: The Flywheel with Dr. Melissa Burns
In Jim Collins’ Iconic book, “Good to Great”, he describes the flywheel. An organization’s flywheel consists of some core practices that, when executed consistently, drive organizational excellence. If you’ve been listening for a while, you ‘ve heard me reference the flywheel, but we’ve never done a deep dive. The basic flywheel for schools goes like this: provide professional development for teachers, follow up with targeted observations, use the observation data to inform the next round of PD. When we execute this cycle repeatedly, we grow great teachers, and great teachers equals great schools. Let’s be real, and let’s be clear – the flywheel is going to look different in different schools. This fall in APEx we will be focusing on building each part of the flywheel, so I thought it would be a good time to bring back Melissa Burns, one of our most popular guests, to talk about their instructional team and what that flywheel concept looks like in her school.
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Air Date: June 23, 2022
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Episode 31: Prioritizing Your Own Leadership Development with Maria Werner
Dealing with discipline, being the test coordinator, and taking care of a million things for everyone else. Somehow you find the time. But do you find – or make – that time for yourself? What are your strategies for nurturing your own growth? Today, Maria Werner talks with us about how she juggles school, kids, and even dogs, and manages to still prioritize her own growth. We also discuss how Maria has grown her leadership through APEx and some of her key takeaways.
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Air Date: June 16, 2022
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Episode 30: Six Ways to Eliminate Interruptions
In a noisy world, is it possible to find the quiet necessary to do work that moves us forward? In this episode, we cover six suggestions for creating a saner and more productive leadership life
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Air Date: June 9, 2022
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Episode 29: Culture with Brad Coleman
Culture. What is it? How do we shape it? Why is it so critical? You could fill an entire library with books related to culture and how leaders influence it. Or you could listen to this episode of The Assistant Principal Podcast with our special guest, Brad Coleman.
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Air Date: June 2, 2022
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Episode 28: The Ship is Sinking
Imagine you’re on a nice little boat, floating along a gentle river or out on a calm lake. Everything is fine until you hear a gurgling sound. You look down and are astounded to see water pouring in from a how in the bottom of the boat. You grab your red Solo cup and begin scooping out water, but it isn’t enough. You look around for something to patch the hole with – nothing. As you look around despondently, you notice a faded plastic bucket floating your way. You manage to get ahold of it and redouble your efforts. Aided by the size of the bucket you begin to get the boat emptied and over the next few hours you alternate between bailing and rowing. The shore is getting closer. You may make it.
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Air Date: May 26, 2022
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Episode 27: Why is Instructional Leadership so Hard?
Have you noticed how many first-year teachers have trouble managing their classrooms? And if they never receive really good support, they become 5 and 10-year teachers who can’t manage their classrooms. And then they leave the profession.
But guess what? We have a similar problem in the principalship. Most (not all) principals are not fully prepared to meet the challenges of instructional leadership. And if they never get really good support, their trajectories can mirror that f the teachers I just mentioned.
This issue is the reason I started this podcast, the reason I do a daily leadership email, it is the focus of my trainings and courses, and it is at the heart of my APEx program. If you’ve been listening for a while, you know that instructional leadership is a common focus. Today, we are going to look at the problem of developing instructional leaders and some things I think we can do about it.
But guess what? We have a similar problem in the principalship. Most (not all) principals are not fully prepared to meet the challenges of instructional leadership. And if they never get really good support, their trajectories can mirror that f the teachers I just mentioned.
This issue is the reason I started this podcast, the reason I do a daily leadership email, it is the focus of my trainings and courses, and it is at the heart of my APEx program. If you’ve been listening for a while, you know that instructional leadership is a common focus. Today, we are going to look at the problem of developing instructional leaders and some things I think we can do about it.
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Air Date: May 19, 2022
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Episode 26: Courage with Dr. Mary Hemphill
Are you living your leadership journey courageously? Before Dr. Mary Hemphill became the Director of Academic Standards for the North Carolina Department of education she was a passionate and innovative principal. Before that, she was an assistant principal with the courage to stand up for her convictions. The assistant principalship is loaded with values conflicts. How do you stay true to your values amidst complex power dynamics and competing interests? Mary helps us figure it all out in this week’s episode.
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Air Date: May 12, 2022
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Episode 25: Parents and Community with Dr. Leigh Ann Alford-Keith
“We need to increase family engagement.” I hear this all the time. We know what we want from families, but do we know what families want from us? Today’s episode will take us beyond reading rallies and pizza nights and even beyond my favorite parent event - donuts for dads. Today we focus on what teachers can do to build stronger parent partnerships and how school leaders can support those partnerships.
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Air Date: May 5, 2022
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Special Episode 24: The Four Patterns of Observation
I’m asking for your help.
I’ve put together an MVP (minimally viable product) training video and am looking for a few people to pilot it. In exchange for access to this mini-PD, you would be committing to the following:
The pilot will run from May 3-17, so you would have two weeks to watch the video and complete the feedback form.
If you want to make this commitment, please email me (frederick@frederickbuskey.com). You will then receive an invitation to join my website as a member of the 4-patterns pilot group and will have access to the video.
PLEASE – if you don’t have time to follow through, save both of us stress and pass on this opportunity. There will be others.
I’ve put together an MVP (minimally viable product) training video and am looking for a few people to pilot it. In exchange for access to this mini-PD, you would be committing to the following:
- Watching the video (about 45 minutes, but can be chunked into six parts)
- Completing the feedback form (5-15 minutes)
- Providing your email address knowing that I will not spam you but will provide you with updates on the project and updated materials
The pilot will run from May 3-17, so you would have two weeks to watch the video and complete the feedback form.
If you want to make this commitment, please email me (frederick@frederickbuskey.com). You will then receive an invitation to join my website as a member of the 4-patterns pilot group and will have access to the video.
PLEASE – if you don’t have time to follow through, save both of us stress and pass on this opportunity. There will be others.
Episode 23: Testing Coordination with Carrie Prochaska
April showers bring May flowers and May flowers bring…. Testing in schools! Many of the assistant principals I work with also serve double duty as test coordinators. It is a challenging job, but today’s show should contain some tips that make the job a bit easier.
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Air Date: April 28, 2022
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Episode 22: Growth Mindset with Becca Silver
If you have ever played buzz-word bingo, and had “growth mindset” on your card, you knew you odds of winning were good. But what is “growth mindset” all about? As an assistant principal, you probably already know where this is going. Yes, we want our kids to have a growth mindset, but if we can get our teachers to also have that growth mindset, then we will be in great shape!
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Air Date: April 21, 2022
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Episode 21: Meeting the Needs of New Teachers
In today’s episode, guest host Mara Buskey leads us through a discussion with two relatively new teachers about what they need from their assistant principals, how they view leadership, and what kind of feedback and style of coaching best meets their needs. This is an inspiring episode that may yield some surprising but valuable insights.
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Air Date: April 14, 2022
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Episode 20: Change Starts from Within with Gabby Grant
The topic of this show is restorative practices, but the show title is the key to implementing such practices: Change starts from within. In this episode we take a detour from the common one-two-three approaches to kicking off a restorative justice program in your school. Instead, we focus on you. Or more accurately, we focus on getting you to focus on you? If the discipline approaches you are relying on aren’t working, then this podcast is for you. Just don’t expect a magic bullet or paint-by-numbers approach. The change will start from within.
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Air Date: April 7, 2022
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Episode 19: Exceptional Student Support with Elizabeth Schumpert
Serving exceptional students can be one of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of school leadership. In this episode Elizabeth Schumpert, Director of Student Support Services for Saluda County Schools, helps us gain some insights into supporting exceptional students and their families, and working with the variety of support services and personnel that make up part of the team that cares for exceptional students.
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Air Date: March 31, 2022
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Episode 18: The Math of Leverage
The four principles of leverage, described last week in episode 17, can guide us to creating progress in our organizations. A key to progress is focusing on incremental progress as opposed to big changes to fix things. In today’s episode, we will apply leverage to a real school situation.
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Air date: March 24, 2022
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Episode 17: The Four Principles of Leverage
Ever wonder why we are always driving change in our schools? Ever wonder why change initiatives rarely seem to produce the promised results? What if there was a better way? What if, instead of making sweeping changes, we just made tomorrow a little bit better today? If the concept of incremental yet immediate change appeals to you, then listen to today's show on the four principles of leverage
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Air date: March 17, 2022
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Episode 16: Becoming Strategically Reactive!
Developing teachers is important, but it is rarely urgent. When we are proactive, we can plan ahead and do this most important work of developing teachers. However, assistant principals operate in an environment where being reactive is a defining feature. One of the ways to move from being driven by the urgent to being driven by the purposeful is to become strategically reactive. What does that mean? Stay tuned!
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Air date: March 10, 2022
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Episode 15: Teacher Leadership with Melissa Burns
Dr. Melissa Burns is the principal at Sara Collins Elementary School in Greenville, South Carolina. Melissa is a remarkable principal and leader who balances wisdom and practicality. One of Melissa’s many superpowers is developing other people’s leadership. In the first half of this episode, we discuss the importance of developing teacher-leaders and how to do it. In the second half of the episode, Melissa provides some practical advice for how busy assistant principals can hone their instructional leadership skills.
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Air date: March 3, 2022
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Episode 14: The Teacher Tracking Document
Why does it always feel like improving teacher quality is an uphill battle? One big reason is that our schools are not structured to facilitate consistent teacher growth. Focusing on helping teachers to grow requires us to focus on the structures that can support growth first. In this episode we look at on important structure, the teacher tracking document. The teacher tracking document helps us to develop and document a coherent and consistent approach to helping individual and groups of teachers grow.
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This episode includes references to graphics, foremost of which is the Teacher Tracking Document. The video is about 13 minutes long and includes the sections of the podcast that describe the TTD as well as the Six Dimensions and the Eisenhower Matrix.
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Air date: February 24, 2022
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Episode 13: What Makes a Great AP with Brenda Byrd
Today I’m joined by Brenda Byrd, an Assistant Superintendent for School Leadership (and a former South Carolina Elementary Principal of the Year and a National Distinguished Principal). Brenda works for Greenville County School District in Greenville South Carolina. Brenda is here with us to talk about what makes an AP great.
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Air date: February 17, 2022
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Episode 12: Becca Silver and Instructional Coach Relationships
Today I’m joined by Becca Silver the founder and lead consultant at The Whole Educator. Becca has been posting some great stuff on LinkedIn, which is where we met. Becca is here to help us explore the AP – Instructional coach relationship.
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Air date: February 10, 2022
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Episode 11: O is for Omicron with Meagan Tarbert
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Air date: February 3, 2022
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Episode 10: O is for Omicron with Emily Parks
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Air date: January 27. 2022
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Episode 9: O is for Omicron with Libba Mattison
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Air date: January 20, 2022
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Episode 8: Who Should I Coach?
In this episode we look into the surprisingly complex question of “Who should I coach?” We examine the five ways that teachers grow, we overview what a systemic approach to teacher growth looks like in a school, and we answer the question. If you only have time to coach one or two people, then you can’t afford to choose the wrong person to coach. This podcast should help.
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Air date: January 10, 2022
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Episode 7: Dr. Sam Sircey and Perspective Taking
Today I’m joined by Dr. Sam Sircey, the Principal of North Buncombe High School in Weaverville NC. Sam is here with us today to explore perspective taking! As we change roles our perspectives change. Sometimes we get locked into our own perspective, but a key leadership skill is being able to take the perspectives of the different people we serve.
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Air date: December 9, 2021
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Episode 6: A Coaching Grab Bag
Today’s podcast addresses a variety of aspects of coaching teachers. We consider the approach to coaching, who to focus on, and how to break coaching into A-B steps. This is NOT a training on how to coach, but rather is a discussion about some of the issues that pop up in the coaching process.
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Air date: November 20, 2021
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Episode 5: Your Relationship with Email
On today’s episode, we examine your relationship with email. Email is such a critical thing because it impacts all four of the principles of strategic leadership!
• The way we typically use email today reinforces the primacy of the urgent at the cost of being purposeful.
• Email does not lend itself to deep and meaningful analysis and conversation, so it is almost always focused on surface level symptoms instead of root problems.
• Because email feels so urgent, we focus more on responding to email than actually using it to create progress.
• Finally, email consumes a disproportionate amount of time and attention at the cost of human interaction and helping people grow.
• The way we typically use email today reinforces the primacy of the urgent at the cost of being purposeful.
• Email does not lend itself to deep and meaningful analysis and conversation, so it is almost always focused on surface level symptoms instead of root problems.
• Because email feels so urgent, we focus more on responding to email than actually using it to create progress.
• Finally, email consumes a disproportionate amount of time and attention at the cost of human interaction and helping people grow.
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Air date: October 14, 2021
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Episode 4: 5-Minute Coaching DEEP Dive
This is a special edition of The Assistant Principal Podcast inspired by some work I did recently with nine assistant principals as part of the APEx program. This podcast assumes that you are familiar with 5-mc. If you aren’t, you can go to frederickbuskey.com/resources and download a one-pager. This is a deeper look at the purposes and techniques of 5-mc.
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Air date: September 30, 2021
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Episode 3: P-AP Relationships with Dr. Rhonda Rhodes
Dr. Rhonda Rhodes is a National Distinguished Principal with Greenville County Schools in South Carolina. An experienced principal, she is in her first year at the Rudolph Gordon School in Simpsonville. RGS is a K-8 STEAM focused school. Dr. Rhodes works with four assistant principals who are all relatively new to administration.
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Air date: September 23, 2021
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Episode 2: From AP to P with guest Holly Miller
Our guest this episode is Holly Miller, the first-year principal of Sandhills Primary School in Swansea, South Carolina. Holly is here with us today to share her experiences on going from an AP to a principal. Holly brings a wealth of experiences and perspectives to the job. We also touch on the challenges of COVID and the power of relationships.
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Air date: September 9, 2021
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Episode 1: The Strategic Assistant Principal
This episode covers three critical frameworks for strategic assistant principals. By the end of the episode listeners should be able to ask the four critical questions of strategic leadership.
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