How does one navigate the journey from English teacher to Superintendent?

In this episode, I sit down with the recently retired Marie Wiles in a unique in-person interview. We dive deep into her 36-year-long career, from early teaching days and curriculum development to her tenure in various leadership roles, including her time as a BOCES district superintendent.

Marie shares her insights on the importance of instructional experience, the challenges of transitioning roles, the value of networks, and her unexpected journey into authoring a book, “Lessons from the Bard: What Shakespeare Can Teach Us about School District Leadership”. This engaging episode unfolds Marie's remarkable experiences and her perspectives on the future of education amid financial uncertainties.

If you have questions, feedback, or suggestions for future episodes, including great non-education books with lessons for school leaders you can email me at Dr.mike.doughty@gmail.com.

I would really appreciate it if you could leave a rating and review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. It helps a lot. And if you found this episode helpful, please share it with your colleagues.

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• Official Website: theschoolleadershipshow.org
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Chapters:

00:00 Introduction and Special Guest Announcement

00:49 Marie Wiles' Early Career in Education

01:46 Transition to Higher Education and Doctoral Studies

05:21 BOCES Experience and Leadership Roles

08:53 Personal Life and Career Moves

17:19 Balancing Lesson Plans and Student Interaction

19:51 The Dunning-Kruger Effect in Leadership

20:31 Challenges and Realities of Leadership Roles

23:23 Gender Disparity in Educational Leadership

25:49 Concerns for the Future of Education

28:48 Hope and Faith in Youth

31:46 Writing a Book: Lessons from Shakespeare

32:03 The Process of Writing and Publishing

37:26 Final Thoughts and Gratitude

Feeling overwhelmed by the complexities of leadership today?

Tune in to learn how building your self-regulation can help you navigate dysregulated times and have more effective conversations.

In this episode, my co-host Jenn David-Lang and I had the pleasure of speaking with the amazing Jennifer Abrams, whom I see as a guru of interpersonal relations in education. Jennifer, a full-time international consultant and author of impactful books like Having Hard Conversations and Stretching Your Learning Edge: Growing (up) at Work, joined us to explore the critical topic of self-regulation in dysregulated times.

We talked about living in a VUCA world, Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous, and how we need to build complexity fitness by developing our cognitive, emotional, and psychological skills. Jennifer shared that becoming more self-regulated involves building self-awareness, like cleaning up our emotional "dust". It turns out only about 10-15% of people are truly self-aware, and one way to improve is by bravely asking for 360 feedback from your team.

We also dove into practical skills for leaders navigating challenging moments, such as learning to suspend certainty that your way is the only way. Saying "Tell me more" instead of reacting can be incredibly powerful. For extroverts like me, focusing on listening instead of jumping in is key. I shared my favorite tactic when someone is stressed: asking, "How long do we have to make this decision?". This simple question helps shift from feeling "subject" to circumstances to viewing them more "objectively".

Jennifer left us with powerful parting advice: "Go have humane, growth-producing conversations. That's the goal.".

Jennifer Abrams’ Newsletter: jenniferabrams.com

If you have questions, feedback, or suggestions for future episodes—including great non-education books with lessons for school leaders—email us at Dr.mike.doughty@gmail.com. Please consider leaving a rating and review on Spotify or iTunes to support the show. Every bit helps! And if you found this episode helpful, share it with your colleagues.

Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Contact Mike directly at Dr.mike.doughty@gmail.com. To explore insightful summaries of top leadership books, connect with Jenn David-Lang at Jenn@TheMainIdea.net or visit TheMainIdea.net.

Timestamp:

00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction

02:08 Understanding Dysregulation and Self-Regulation

07:08 Building Self-Awareness and Team Dynamics

24:00 Mentoring the Next Generation of Leaders

27:29 Balancing Personal and Professional Needs

37:17 Personal Insights and Fun Tangents

In this episode, I had the privilege of speaking with Howie Schneider, the executive director of the Center for News Literacy at Stony Brook University's School of Communication and Journalism. Howie shared his fascinating journey from a 35-year career in journalism, including being the editor of Newsday, to leading the charge in preparing citizens to navigate today's complex information landscape.

We delved into why Stony Brook created the first university course in the U.S. focused specifically on news literacy, defining reliable information not just as "truth," but as "actionable information." Howie explained their crucial realization that teaching these skills at the university level was "way, way too late," which led them to partner with K-12 districts to integrate news literacy into required instruction, starting as early as kindergarten.

We discussed the major challenges students (and all of us) face, including information overload, the tension between speed and accuracy, blurring lines between sources, and the impact of our own biases. Howie outlined the essential concepts they teach: slowing down, asking critical questions about sources and evidence, practicing lateral reading, and becoming your own factchecker. He stressed that district leadership and commitment are key to making this transformative change and addressing the equity issue of relying on individual teachers.

Our conversation touched on what keeps him up at night, including the slow progress in states like New York compared to others, the crisis facing the news industry, and the overwhelming "tsunami" of misinformation and disinformation we all face. Howie shared valuable advice for school leaders on why this work is urgent and how they can get involved and set an example.

Are we ready to empower our students (and ourselves) to confidently discern reliable information in a world awash with news and fakes? Tune in to learn how we can help the next generation navigate the information revolution!

If you have questions, feedback, or suggestions for future episodes—including great non-education books with lessons for school leaders—email us at Dr.mike.doughty@gmail.com. Please consider leaving a rating and review on Spotify or iTunes to support the show. Every bit helps! And if you found this episode helpful, share it with your colleagues.

Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Contact Mike directly at Dr.mike.doughty@gmail.com. To explore insightful summaries of top leadership books, connect with Jenn David-Lang at Jenn@TheMainIdea.net or visit TheMainIdea.net.

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction and Guest Background

00:58 The Birth of News Literacy

04:30 Challenges in News Literacy Education

13:36 Implementing News Literacy in K-12 Education

23:23 Future of News Literacy and Final Thoughts