FocusED Show Notes with Guest Julia Bialeski

Julia shares that her book Leading with Grace was inspired by her personal and professional transitions within public education, reflecting on the impact of leadership roles on her growth and identity.​

She describes the “leadership lifespan” concept—emphasizing that leadership is temporary and every position involves unique phases and resets, regardless of prior experience.​

Julia talks about how pivotal and formative challenges, like becoming a principal just before the pandemic, reshape leadership perspectives, emphasizing the importance of calm, communication, and empathy during crisis.​

She acknowledges that meaningful reflection often happens after difficult moments, not during them, and encourages leaders to create mechanisms for regular reflection, such as notes apps, calendar logs, or journals.​

Julia highlights the value of having others help identify one’s strengths, and how post-crisis reflection can reveal qualities like strategic thinking and effective listening that may be overlooked in the busy moment.​

Julia stresses the power of consistency over intensity, encouraging leaders to track small daily wins and progress for long-term growth.​

She recommends creating a “time sanctuary” with protected personal routines, sharing how her morning routine keeps her energized and clear-headed for leadership decisions.​

Julia is a strong advocate for habit formation, minimizing decision fatigue through automation of daily routines, and finding what works individually for each person, citing books like Atomic Habits and The Miracle Morning.​

She discusses boundaries as essential for well-being, sharing recent reads and insights about setting personal limits and organizational support structures.​

Julia recommends integrating reading into daily routines to foster continuous professional growth, preferring physical books and sharing tips for making time for reading over distractions like TV or scrolling.​

She underscores the point that “leaders are readers,” encouraging ongoing curiosity and deep dives into “pockets of interest” for lasting impact.​

We hope you enjoy this episode of FocusED with Julia Bialeski and don't forget to follow us at TheSchoolHouse302.com for podcasts, blog posts, books to read, and more.

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FocusED Show Notes with Guest Hedreich Nichols

Hedreich, author of Finding Your Blind Spots: Eight Guiding Principles to Overcome Implicit Bias in Teaching, joins the show to discuss the need for systemic change in education.

Hedreich shares stories from her childhood and her son’s experiences in school, highlighting the pressure and discomfort that comes from expecting students of color to represent entire groups, especially during heritage months.

She urges educators to recognize that there is not one “history,” but multiple “histories”—valuing diverse perspectives and voices in the classroom.

The episode explores strategies to build inclusive learning environments, such as expanding our “us” circles, fostering empathy for all groups (including those who may feel unfairly blamed), and acknowledging America’s persistent social divisions.

She explains that everyone has “blind spots”—unconscious biases and stories we tell ourselves, often based on upbringing and past experiences. She shares techniques for self-reflection, like identifying emotional triggers and exploring their origins.

Storytelling is highlighted as a powerful leadership tool. Hedreich advises school leaders to use personal and community stories to bridge differences, build relationships, and promote meaningful change.

The conversation encourages listeners to reimagine broken relationships and to “go first” in mending divides—whether in family or professional settings.

The episode concludes with a reminder that building equity and inclusion is about embracing complexity, remaining open to new perspectives, and taking personal responsibility for growth as educators.

This episode is brought to you by Bullseye. If you're an instructional leader who wants to get more out of your walkthroughs, go to Bullseye.education today.

FocusED Show Notes with Guest Matthew Woods

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Books We Recommend Based on this Podcast with Matthew Woods

How Leaders Decide by Greg Bustin

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

FocusED Show Notes with Guest Kristy Volesky

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Books We Recommend Based on this Podcast with Kristy Volesky

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

Simply Put by Ben Guttmann

FocusED Show Notes with Guest Kim Marshall

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Books We Recommend Based on this Podcast with Kim Marshall

Leverage Leadership by Paul Bambrick-Santoyo

Whistling Vivaldi by Claude Steele

The Talent Code by Daniel Cole

Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath

So Much Reform by Charles Payne

FocusED show notes with guest Courtney Monterecy.

Courtney tells us about how the book came to be, which included her story about meeting her co-author, Todd Whitaker.

She says that the school she took over and needed to turn around had three principals during the previous school year.

We discuss the dilemma of what to attack and fix first when everything seems to be falling down all around you.

Don’t miss what she says about operations and managing, including improvements to the way the school looked and felt.

Courtney explains how her background as an instructional leader was natural, and, yet, in the beginning of her tenure as a turn-around principal she spent a lot of time with operations and had to revert back to her roots.

Courtney says that “taking teachers into other teachers’ classrooms is the most powerful professional learning experience available.”

By tightening up classroom management, the teachers ended up with more teaching time and the students ended up with more time on task.

She tells leaders about a mistake she made at the beginning of the use of walkthroughs, which is to be sure to set a purpose for the visits. Without a clear focus, the team will be all over the place during the debrief.

It’s important to take note of the protocols she used for learning walks.

Her use of the teacher leadership team is what makes this show special. School leaders cannot run a school--or turn one around--with support.

We hope school leaders will relate to how she dealt with the resisters…there are always resisters.

Courtney reminds us to keep the joy and happiness first and foremost, otherwise the work can be too daunting and even debilitating.

Don’t miss what she says about “What’s up Wednesday.”

Her leadership growth strategies include social media, connections with other leaders, and going to conferences. Having a core group of people who you can rely on is critical.

FocusED Show Notes with Guest Adriana Villavicencio

Dr. Villavicencio decided to write her book because of the discrepancies in education--it can be both a wonderful experience for some students as well as an exclusionary one for others.

She says that we often have great policies that could work, but limitations and pitfalls can provide setbacks that bring us pause, prompting us to abandon them before they stick.

Adriana explains the Expanded Success Initiative (ESI) that was intended to decrease achievement gaps for students of color, particularly black and brown boys.

The ESI was implemented in 40 public high schools. She described some of what worked, including mentorships--both peer-to-peer and adult-to-peer.

One thing that mattered a lot was setting high academic goals and having high expectations for all students.

The curriculum was important in the project as well--advanced coursework, scaffolding, etc.

Adriana said that the school leader is critical and that the ESI strategies worked better in schools where the leader was strong and put teachers in charge.

She tells us that a loud minority can derail productive innovation. Adriana said that leaders ought to expect resistance to change. She offers two strategies: 1. Being persistent with the vision (a written statement of the north star) is critical. 2. Where leaders have the latitude to pick their team, they’ve been more effective.

Adriana discussed internal and external challenges to change, including media, boards, unions, and political divisions. She wants to study these challenges even further.

Dr. Villavicencio says that one of the biggest problems with educating young black and brown students is the deficit mindset that exists in schools. The stories that we tell shape our interactions, assumptions, and expectations.

Adriana says that much of the way we learn as children is the same way we learn as older pupils and adults.

She calls for mini-action research projects in schools to study ways that we might solve our problems of practice.

Adriana describes some of her reading habits; she likes to read widely and outside of education.

She ends with a quote “the personal is the professional and the professional is the personal.”

She has a call to action that we should challenge ourselves and our own assumptions about teaching and learning. Don’t let the fact that you can’t change everyone prevent you from doing the work to make the changes that you can.

Books We Recommend Based on this Podcast with Adriana Villavicencio

Mindset by Carol Dweck

Grit by Angela Duckworth

Lifelong Kindergarten by Mitchel Resnik

Weird Ideas that Work by Robert Sutton

Managing the Unexpectedby Carl Weick and Kathleen Sutcliffe

FocusED Show Notes with Guest Vicky Essebag

Vicky starts by defining “relationspaces” as the way that we bring ourselves to the spaces where we develop relationships.

Vicky tells us that we have preconceived notions about how we’re communicating and sometimes it’s effective and other times it’s not.

Vicky gives us an example of where our communication as teachers to students might be landing wrong in a way that only supports more misbehavior.

It’s better to minimize our noticing of the behaviors that are not desirable and maximize our noticing of the desired behaviors.

Solution-Focused is a strength-based approach. And, the future aspect of it asks the question, what does the person want?

Vicky says that success happens in small increments. Change happens gradually. Her advice is to take a few steps back when things aren’t going the way we want them to and then to become more inclusive.

She tells us that relationships have to be the foundation of everything we do and have to be prioritized as important in the minds of every leader.

Vicky explains that Solution-Focused has a premise that “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it; if it’s working, don’t change it; and if something is wrong, do something about it.”

Don’t miss what she says about future-oriented types of questions.

Vicky talked about a scenario and exercise that she did with students who were refusing to come to school, and they built hypothetical machines to help bring them back to school.

She talks about her own growth and a program she’s in right now to gain a certification that she wants for more international credibility.

Vicky says that the most important part about commuting with others is our presence.

We asked Vicky to give us some techniques for asking questions. She says that the best questions are open-ended and up to the person being asked to provide their answer versus searching for the right ones.

If we can inspire people with hope, why not. ~ Vicky Essebag