Just Schools Jon Eckert, Baylor’s Center For School Leadership

In this episode of the Just Schools Podcast, Jon Eckert engages with Alyssa Gallagher to discuss the intricacies of educational leadership and the importance of creating a culture of feedback. Alyssa highlights the optimism that persists among educational leaders despite high stress levels, noting the concept of "gritty optimism" as a key trait for effective leadership. Jon emphasizes the difference between naive and gritty optimism, celebrating the resilience of leaders who remain hopeful through challenges.Alyssa shares insights from her book "Messy Leadership for Schools," co-authored with Rosie Connor, and delves into the significance of collaborative problem-solving and shared decision-making in educational settings. She underscores the need for leaders to give themselves permission to pause and reflect, reducing burnout and enhancing their capacity to lead effectively.The discussion also covers practical strategies for fostering a feedback-rich environment, such as using the "www.evi" (what worked well, even better if) method to frame feedback positively. Alyssa stresses the value of frequent, constructive feedback and the importance of creating a neutral, non-defensive atmosphere for receiving feedback.Additionally, the conversation explores the Eisenhower Prioritization Matrix as a tool for helping leaders manage their time and prioritize tasks, distinguishing between urgent and important responsibilities. Alyssa and Jon advocate for a shift from a superhero mindset to one of shared leadership, where empowering others and co-creating solutions become central to effective educational leadership.To learn more, order Alyssa and Rosie’s book, "Embracing MESSY Leadership."The Just Schools Podcast is brought to you by the Baylor Center for School Leadership. Each week, we'll talk to catalytic educators who are doing amazing work.Be encouraged.Connect with us:Baylor MA in School LeadershipJon Eckert: @eckertjonCenter for School Leadership at Baylor University: @baylorcsl

In this episode of the Just Schools Podcast, Jill Anderson and Dr. Jon Eckert engage in conversation about the profound impact of educators and the importance of recognizing their contributions. Jon tells us inspiring anecdotes of teachers who have made a lasting difference in students' lives, reflecting on the transformative power of kindness and support in education. Jon recounts a personal experience from his own schooling, to emphasize the enduring influence of a compassionate teacher. They explore the crucial role of validation and collaboration between educators and parents in nurturing children's well-being and development. While acknowledging the challenges educators face, such as burnout and high expectations, they also highlight the resilience and hope inherent in the teaching profession. The dialogue focuses on the significance of prioritizing joy, growth, and meaningful connections in education, beyond mere academic success. Ultimately, the conversation stands as a heartfelt tribute to educators, celebrating their tireless dedication and profound impact on shaping young lives.To learn more, order Jon's book, Just Teaching: Feedback, Engagement, and Well-Being for Each Student.
 
The Just Schools Podcast is brought to you by the Baylor Center for School Leadership. Each week, we'll talk to catalytic educators who are doing amazing work.
 
Be encouraged.Connect with us:
Baylor MA in School Leadership
Jon Eckert: @eckertjon
Center for School Leadership at Baylor University: @baylorcslMentioned:The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan HaidtBad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up by Abigail Shrier 
 
Transcription:
Jill:Hi, my name is Jill Anderson and I'm the director of the Center for School Leadership. Jon is with me here, and we're going to flip the script today, and I will be asking the questions. Jon has heard and experienced so many incredible stories from educators across the world. And so to celebrate the Teacher Appreciation Week, we wanted to share some of those stories to encourage and to inspire the good work that each of the educators out there are doing to help each student flourish. So we'll go ahead and get started with the first question. Can you share a story or two of an inspiring teacher?Jon:Yeah. So as we always talk about, we have the best job in education because this is what we do. We just go all over the world and find good things that are happening and try to highlight those, elevate those, and spread those ideas. And they're always built around human beings. And so these stories of cool things happening, I have a ton of those and we'll share them throughout the episode today. But I have to go all the way back to my first grade because that's now I guess about 43 years ago, that would be, that I was in first grade, and this is still as memorable as something that happened yesterday to me. And that's where the power of an educator comes in into the life of a student, where that educator comes alongside and helps that kid become more of who they're created to be. So this happened.The first part of it, it's not such a great teaching example, the second part is good, so stick with me. So I'm in art class. I love art. It's one of my favorite parts of the day. We're getting ready for Halloween, so we're making witches and so we're having to cut out the circle part of the head. And Mrs. Fleshy, the art teacher who've been doing it for quite a while and was a little grumpy, but she's been managing elementary kids in art for probably 30 years, so that could wear anybody down. But she's going around and passing out the scissors. And I don't know if people that are listening, if you're old enough to remember this, but left-handed scissors were always green-handled scissors. And so I knew I was left-handed, but I'd also been diagnosed with dyslexia. And so I had a really hard time knowing which hand was which. I had a

In this episode of the Just Schools Podcast, host Jon Eckert interviews Krystle Moos, an award-winning science teacher known for her innovative and engaging teaching methods. The discussion revolves around Krystle's approach to creating a dynamic learning environment that fosters curiosity, belonging, and genuine learning experiences for her students. Krystle emphasizes the importance of addressing distractions and creating a sense of belonging in the classroom, regardless of the evolving landscape of technology. She shares her strategy of making science hands-on and exploratory, moving away from traditional labs towards phenomenon-based learning to spark wonder and curiosity in her students.To learn more, order Jon's book, Just Teaching: Feedback, Engagement, and Well-Being for Each Student.
 
The Just Schools Podcast is brought to you by the Baylor Center for School Leadership. Each week, we'll talk to catalytic educators who are doing amazing work.
 
Be encouraged.Connect with us:
Baylor MA in School Leadership
Jon Eckert: @eckertjon
Center for School Leadership at Baylor University: @baylorcslMentioned:Limitless Mind: Learn, Lead, and Live Without Barriers by Jo Boaler
 

 
Transcription:
Jon Eckert:
Welcome back to the Just Schools Podcast. We're really excited today because in our podcast studio/my office, we have the award-winning amazing science teacher, Krystle Moos. A huge blessing to be able to work with her through our master's program. She's also a local educator that's impacted many, many kids' lives over the last several years. So, Krystle, thank you for being here first of all.
Krystle Moos:
Oh, it's honestly an honor and a joy to share education and our experiences with everybody we can.
Jon Eckert:
Yeah. Oh, and I should mention you're also... My kids got to pick one teacher that they dedicated the book just teaching to, and so one of my daughters picked Ms. Moos as her most just teacher. So teacher that leads to justice and flourishing, not just a teacher, but the most impactful teacher that she had. So she had selected Ms. Moos. And now my other daughter is getting the benefit from Ms. Moos as well. So I think this is the first educator that I've been able to interview that's taught my own children. So you can feel free to share any shortcomings as a parent that I have that you see through my children. But really, what I want to talk to you today about is you've been teaching for a while, and you've won these awards and these accolades for being a great teacher, which are well deserved. But I'm curious, what do you see that's different about kids today than when you first started teaching?
Krystle Moos:
Yeah, I don't think there's much that's different, honestly. They have different distractions. And so I started my first five years at Waco ISD. It was a title one school, and their distractions were very different than when I moved to Midway ISD. It's more of a suburban school. They didn't have as many phones back then. Not everybody had a phone. We weren't assigning digital assignments when I first went to Midway, but they still had other distractions.
I had distractions when I was a student. It was writing notes and finding cute ways to fold them and sneak them along, and we still... I would leave and go to the library to write a paper. And so, I think they're the same. They're still distracted. They still have the same fundamental belonging in the classroom. And when we look at students and we look at what they're facing, and I do think they're facing more, everything's just way more visible in their life and way more connected, which can be really distracting. But then I think about sitting in my course, three math class, and writing notes to my friends and folding them, and I definitely was not engaged.
I think that sense of belonging in any classes where that teacher really made me feel like things were meaningful, they really cared about what I was doing, and what I was learning, and wher

In this podcast episode, host Jon interviews two guests from Australia, Darren Iselin and his daughter Beck, about the concept of wellbeing in schools. Beck, a teacher, discusses the increase in mental health issues among her students, such as anxiety and depression, as well as the rise in neurodivergent behaviors. She also shares her observations about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student wellbeing. The conversation highlights the importance of relationships, trust, and cultural norms in fostering student wellbeing and flourishing. They conclude by expressing their hopes for the future of education, including a focus on connection and a joyful hope for student flourishing.To learn more, order Jon's book, Just Teaching: Feedback, Engagement, and Well-Being for Each Student.
 
The Just Schools Podcast is brought to you by the Baylor Center for School Leadership. Each week, we'll talk to catalytic educators who are doing amazing work.
 
Be encouraged.
 
Mentioned:
Flourishing Together by Lynn Swaner and Andy Wolfe
Novice Advantage by Jon EckertConnect with us:
Baylor MA in School Leadership
Jon Eckert: @eckertjon
Center for School Leadership at Baylor University: @baylorcsl
 

Jon:
Welcome back to Just Schools. Today we have two guests in from Australia. Darren Iselin is one of our only ever repeat people on this podcast, he was so good the first time we brought him back again. And this time he's also brought his daughter Beck. Beck is in her sixth year of teaching year four in Australia. And so today we are going to have a conversation where we make a case against wellbeing. So if you aren't intrigued already, hopefully you will be after we start to hear from some of our friends here.
So let's start with Beck. So Beck, you're in your sixth year. So you've been teaching a little bit before Covid hit and then you've had almost half your time before and after Covid. How would you describe the wellbeing of your students in Australia now? And then we'll dig into why maybe that wellbeing is not the right term for our kids.
Beck:
Yeah, absolutely. Within my classroom context, in any given year post Covid, I generally have around 10 kids diagnosed anxiety. I've seen depression as well in addition to then neurodivergent behaviors, seeing a massive increase.
Jon:
Neuro divergent. I love the terms used. I mean five years ago, we never heard that but all right, so continue with neurodivergent. Sorry to interrupt.
Beck:
So that's an increase in that, in addition to what I was already seeing. I think there's been a lot of children coming in just not at their, we talk about battery packs and they're coming into that school day and their battery pack is just completely drained at the start of the school day. And I think Covid times are really interesting for me. I was still teaching grade one back then and in Australia we only had remote learning for a short time. But for my students, the students who attended school, their wellbeing if you want to call it that I guess, they just seemed happier and settled and then the students who were learning at home seemed the same. And so then coming back from Covid was really hard because the students at school that had had so much more attention had had a different school day, they then struggled with having everyone back together and then the students who were at home who had had Mom and Dad doting on them for the whole day and only having to do some hours.
Jon:
I want to be in that house. I don't think our kids felt like they were doted on our house.
Beck:
I know sitting in Mom and Dad's office chair, we saw Ugg boots with the school uniforms, so then they loved that time. And so what I found really interesting was the coming back to I guess what we had considered normal school. And I feel like we've kind of been struggling to still come back after that, if that makes sense.
Jon:
Yes. Well in the US some schools were out for long periods of time, so there's significant learning l

In this podcast episode, Jon Eckert interviews Deani Van Pelt, who leads an association of independent Christian schools in Ontario, Canada. They discuss trends in education, including increased parental engagement and the growth of alternative forms of education. They also touch on the work of Cardus, a think tank focused on education for the common good, and the importance of using industry best practices in education. Van Pelt highlights the ideas of Charlotte Mason, an educator from the early 20th century, who emphasized the importance of relationships and the development of the whole person in education. They also discuss the role of empathy and narration in learning, and the challenges and opportunities facing education today.To learn more, order Jon's book, Just Teaching: Feedback, Engagement, and Well-Being for Each Student.
 
The Just Schools Podcast is brought to you by the Baylor Center for School Leadership. Each week, we'll talk to catalytic educators who are doing amazing work.
 
Be encouraged.Connect with us:
Baylor MA in School Leadership
Jon Eckert: @eckertjon
Center for School Leadership at Baylor University: @baylorcsl
 
Mentioned:
Understanding by Design: Professional Development Workbook by Jay McTighe, Grant Wiggins
From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life by Arthur Brooks
The Whalebone Theatre: A Read with Jenna Pick by Joanna Quinn
 


Jon Eckert:
Welcome back to The Just Schools Podcast. Today we're here with good friend Deani Van Pelt, another friend from Canada. We've had some great insights from educators in Canada. So first of all, welcome, Deani. It's great to have you. And just tell us a little bit about what you do now and how you got to what you do right now. And then we'll jump into some trends that we're seeing and some cool ideas and how to better engage students.
Deani Van Pelt:
Great to be here, Jon. Always good to be in conversation with you. And greetings from Canada. I'm sitting here in a nice icy weather just outside of Toronto. Currently, I lead an association of independent Christian schools here in Ontario. We've got almost 100 private Christian schools that are part of our association. So many dynamic committed leaders and educators within the network, within there's about 20,000 students whose lives we're privileged to be part of through the work that we do in our association. We do some on learning, some on leadership, some on government advocacy and a lot of work on school support. Just helping schools to be the absolute best they can be, most professional, most effective in our times. So it's fantastic to be able to serve the independent school sector here in Canada in that way. We do lots of work as you know John, that's how you and I met, with leaders in Christian education across Canada but also across North America and across the pond with the UK and other countries.
And we've just learned so much from each other as we network and connect with one another. We're soon going to be bringing a whole cohort of Christian school leaders from Canada over to the UK. And just find that our optimism, our focus, our leadership abilities really increased through these engagements and just so privileged to be part of that.
Jon Eckert:
That's great. No, I was going to say I love what you do through Advance. And then we also get to overlap through Cardus as senior fellows because they're all looking at education for the common good. And what does that mean? To educate in ways that serve the public because sometimes, at least in the US, we think of public schools as obviously being for the public good. We want to do that. I spent 12 years teaching in public schools, but then how do other schools contribute to that public good? And so, Cardus is a think tank that does a lot of good work in one section is education, that's where we overlap. So just talk a little bit about your work there, how that ties into Advance and so

Mitch Weathers, the founder of Organized Binder, discusses his work and the importance of teaching executive functioning skills in schools. He explains that his program, Organized Binder, helps students develop organization and executive functioning skills, which are crucial for academic success. Weathers emphasizes the need for explicit instruction and modeling of these skills, as well as the importance of creating safe and predictable learning environments. He also discusses his new book, "Executive Functions for Every Classroom," which provides practical strategies for teachers to implement in their classrooms. Weathers believes that by prioritizing the teaching of executive functioning skills, schools can better support students and help them succeed academically.To learn more, order Jon's book, Just Teaching: Feedback, Engagement, and Well-Being for Each Student.
 
The Just Schools Podcast is brought to you by the Baylor Center for School Leadership. Each week, we'll talk to catalytic educators who are doing amazing work.
 
Be encouraged.Connect with us:
Baylor MA in School Leadership
Jon Eckert: @eckertjon
Center for School Leadership at Baylor University: @baylorcsl
 
Mentioned:
Organized BinderExecutive Functions for Every Classroom by Mitch WeathersThe Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain by Annie Murphy PaulWhat I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki MurakamiEffortless by Greg McKeownHungry Authors Podcast 
 
 

Jon Eckert:
Welcome back to the Just Schools podcast. Today, we're here with Mitch Weathers, who started a really fascinating intervention for kids called Organized Binder. That is the dream of every parent, and as a foreign middle school teacher, as a middle school teacher, that was a dream for me. I did my best, but I think I would've loved this tool. So, we're going to welcome Mitch in and then let him introduce himself... Mitch, if you'd just give us a little bit of a sense of what brought you to this work of Organized Binder and what makes you hopeful about it.
Mitch Weathers:
Thank you, Jon. Super honored, thrilled, humbled to be here and chatting with you. This work came to me early on in my teaching career. I started in the nonprofit space. I was actually a director in a program called Young Life, which you might be familiar with, and I only bring that up to say, developing relationships with kids, young people, I had just really learned to do that and saw the value in leveraging relationships and education and learning.
So, when I got into the classroom and I found myself in a big comprehensive Title I public high school teaching for the first time, and I remember clearly my first year or two having more than 40 kids in the class, and these were tough kids, they had struggled academically, most of them multi-language learners. And I just liked being there, the management, the relationships. I just kind of had that in my toolkit. This is all in hindsight, looking back.
But I realize now after being in education for over 20 years, those first few years for most teachers, even if they're fresh out of college, it's kind of like learning to interact and communicate with a different species. It's like, "How do I do this part of it and yet I'm hired to do this?"
I think there was something there for me that allowed me to focus on, "Why aren't you achieving?" And I had spent a lot of time in graduate school and reading Paul Freire's work and critical pedagogy and equity, and I was just like, "Why aren't you achieving? You're incredibly capable. You've been viewed through a deficit lens, most of your academic experience, I get that. How do we change that narrative?" And then it kind of just dawned on me like, "Oh, you don't know how to do school in the sense that I think maybe you should and certainly you can."
And I just started trying to answer the question, what has the greatest impact on student learning and student success. Not that I was an expert. And maybe