Dustin is a seven year educator in suburban Kansas City Missouri who teaches high school special education. Dustin is a devout believer and practitioner  of relationship building with all stakeholders and uses differentiated instruction, PBL, Inquiry, and career based practices to prepare his students for post secondary success. Dustin is also a leader, writer, learner,…

Is the mentorship program at your school not working? After years of experience, I find there are two main factors that make mentorship programs unsuccessful. This leads to less teacher success and more teachers leaving the field due to lack of support. This can all be easily changed with a mentorship program that provides teachers…

Do you want to become a standout leader? When you are a standout leader, you effect the teachers you lead and their students. Over time, your effect is ongoing and makes a big impact. In this episode I outline how to become a standout leader that is admirable, effective and top notch. Tune for actionable…

Did you know that could manage and lead at the same time? You don’t have to be one or the other, in any one role or title. What you do have to do is ADJUST. You have to be flexible and adjust the way you lead and manage, depending on what those that you lead…

Do you tell rather than ask? Do you solve rather remain curious? Do you check out rather than lean in? The quality of your listening muscles are directly related to the impact of your leadership. Therefore great leaders are great listeners. Specifically practicing our listening skills can have direct impact on in the way we…

As a former educator and literacy coach in Title 1 schools for over 20 years,  Lori has a passion for growing both students and teachers. She currently serves as a district literacy specialist, college instructor, and staff developer. She also is the proud mother of two struggling readers. While her children are almost grown now,…

We have lost so many great teachers in our profession and we are losing more each day. Teacher mentorship can help us save more of our elite educators but we have to get a better support system first. Mentorship in education has stigma of underperformance. We have to change our programs so that our structure is…

Your training as an educator did not prepare you for the job you are currently doing. It’s ok to acknowledge that this year is not your best and that you have weaknesses. What is important is that you also realize that weaknesses are just strengths in a different area. If you were to put yourself…

Even in the chaos swirling around you, there is a lesson to be learned. 2020 is going to be one of the most challenging seasons of our careers, however it doesn’t all have to be bad. Each day you are becoming a better version of yourself if you are choosing to stay present, positive and…

2020 has come with a lot of complex adjustments in regards to life and teaching. In order to be our best, we have to get back to the basics of why we love the profession we chose! We have to get excited about the lessons we are teaching and be fully present to make an…