FocusED: An educational leadership podcast that uncovers what is working in our schools.

This is Season 2, Episode 11 of FocusED, and it features guest, Dan Domenech. It was originally recorded live for a studio audience in Delaware, provided as a professional development experience for Delaware teachers and leaders. Don’t miss what Dan says about developing others, stepping in when we need to, managing competing priorities, and so much more. _______________________________________ Dan Domenech Brings Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners Daniel A. Domenech has served as the executive director of the AASA, The School Superintendents Association, since 2008. Domenech has more than 45 years of experience in public education; for twenty-seven of those years, he served as a school superintendent. Prior to joining AASA, Domenech served as senior vice president for National Urban Markets with McGraw-Hill Education. In this role, he was responsible for building strong relationships with large school districts nationwide. Before he took the position at McGraw-Hill, Domenech served for seven years as superintendent of the Fairfax County, Va., Public Schools, the 12th largest school system in the nation with 168,000 students. Domenech began his teaching career in New York City, where he taught sixth grade in a predominantly black and Hispanic community in South Jamaica, Queens. He then became program director for the Nassau Board of Cooperative Educational Services, which is the largest intermediate school district in the State of New York. Following this, he was first named superintendent of schools for Long Island’s Deer Park Schools and then became superintendent of schools for the ethnically diverse South Huntington School District, also on Long Island -- a position he held for 13 years. From 1994 to 1997, he was district superintendent of the Second Supervisory District of Suffolk County and chief executive officer of the Western Suffolk Board of Cooperative Educational Services. Domenech, an AASA member since 1979, served as president of AASA from July 1998 to June 1999. He is also a past president of the New York State Council of School Superintendents, the Suffolk County Superintendents Association, and the Suffolk County Organization for Promotion of Education. He was the first president and cofounder of the New York State Association for Bilingual Education. In addition, Domenech has served on the U.S. Department of Education’s National Assessment Governing Board, the advisory board for the Department of Defense schools, the board of directors of the Association for the Advancement of International Education, the Board of Overseers for the Baldrige Award and the boards of the Institute for Educational Leadership, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, Sea Research Foundation, and Education Policy Institute. Currently, he serves on the boards of the Learning First Alliance, National Student Clearinghouse, Center for Naval Analyses, Horace Mann Educators Corporation, ACT, USAC, and board chair for Communities in Schools of Virginia. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hunter College in New York City and a Ph.D. from Hofstra University in Uniondale, N.Y. ------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for listening to FocusED, an educational leadership podcast brought to you by TheSchoolHouse302 @ theschoolhouse302.com where we publish free leadership content. Go to the site, subscribe, and you’ll get all of our content sent directly to your email. FocusED is your educational leadership podcast where our mission is to dissect a particular focus for teachers and school leaders so that you can learn to lead better and grow faster in your school or district with more knowledge, better understanding, and clear direction on what to do next.

This is Season 2, Episode 10 of FocusED, and it features guest, Starr Sackstein. It was originally recorded live for a studio audience in Delaware, provided as a professional development experience for Delaware teachers and leaders. Don’t miss what Starr has to say about grading, assessments, changing practices in schools, and much more. _______________________________________ Starr Sackstein Brings Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners Starr Sackstein was a Teacher Center teacher and ELA teacher at Long Island City High School in New York. She also spent nine years at World Journalism Preparatory School in Flushing, New York, as a high school English and journalism teacher where her students ran the multimedia news outlet WJPSnews.com. As a teacher, she completely got rid of grades, teaching students that learning isn't about numbers, but about the development of skills and the ability to articulate growth. Starr also has experience as the Director of Humanities (Business, English, Library, Reading, Social Studies, and World Languages) in West Hempstead, New York. It was from this experience that she wrote From Teacher to Leader: Finding Your Way as a First-Time Leader Without Losing Your Mind. She is the author of many books (I’m not going to list them all). Here are a few of her titles: Teaching Mythology Exposed: Helping Teachers Create Visionary Classroom Perspective Blogging for Educators, Teaching Students to Self-Assess: How Do I Help Students Grow as Learners? The Power of Questioning: Opening Up the World of Student Inquiry Hacking Assessment: 10 Ways to Go Gradeless in a Traditional Grades School Hacking Homework: 10 Strategies That Inspire Learning Outside of the Classroom co-written with Connie Hamilton. Peer Feedback in the Classroom: Empower Students to be the Experts with the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) From Teacher to Leader: Finding Your Way as a First-Time Leader without Losing Your Mind in 2019 (DBC). Assessing with Respect: Everyday Practices that Meet Students’ Social and Emotional Needs (ASCD), which just came out in March of 2021. Hacking Learning Centers in Grades 6-12: Teaching Choice and Providing Small Group Learning Opportunities in Content Rich Classes co-authored with Karen Terwilliger which is set to come out in 2021. At speaking engagements around the world, Starr speaks about blogging, journalism education, bring your own device, and throwing out grades, which was also highlighted in a recent TEDx talk entitled “A Recovering Perfectionist’s Journey to Give up Grades.” In 2016, she was named one of ASCD's Emerging Leaders. Starr has spoken internationally in Canada, Dubai, and South Korea on a variety of topics from assessment reform to technology-enhanced language instruction. She is now a full time consultant with the Core Collaborative, working with teams on assessment reform and bringing student voice to the front of all classroom learning. She is also the publisher with Mimi and Todd Press, helping other authors share their voices around making an impact for students such as Belonging Through a Culture of Dignity: The Keys to Successful Equity Implementation by Cobb and Krownapple. Most recently, Arrows: A Systems-Based Approach to School Leadership by Rosebrock and Henry. ------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for listening to FocusED, an educational leadership podcast brought to you by TheSchoolHouse302 @ theschoolhouse302.com where we publish free leadership content. Go to the site, subscribe, and you’ll get all of our content sent directly to your email. FocusED is your educational leadership podcast where our mission is to dissect a particular focus for teachers and school leaders so that you can learn to lead better and grow faster in your school or district with more knowledge, better understanding, and clear direction on what to do next.

This is Season 2, Episode 9 of FocusED, and it features guest, Rachelle Dene Poth. It was originally recorded live for a studio audience in Delaware, provided as a professional development experience for Delaware teachers and leaders. Don’t miss what Rachelle has to say about thriving in education by creating unconventional learning experiences for students and so much more. _______________________________________ Rachelle Dene Poth Brings Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners Rachelle Dene Poth is an edtech consultant, presenter, attorney, author, and teacher. Rachelle teaches Spanish and STEAM: What’s nExT in Emerging Technology at Riverview Junior Senior High School in Oakmont, PA. Rachelle has a Juris Doctor degree and a Master’s in Instructional Technology. She serves as the past-president of the ISTE Teacher Education Network and serves on the Leadership team of the Mobile Learning Network. She received the ISTE Making IT Happen Award and a Presidential Gold Award for volunteer service to education. Rachelle is the author of five books, including In Other Words: Quotes That Push Our Thinking, Unconventional Ways to Thrive in EDU, and The Future is Now: Looking Back to Move Ahead. Her latest books are Chart A New Course: A Guide to Teaching Essential Skills for Tomorrow’s World and True Story: Lessons That One Kid Taught Us. ------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for listening to FocusED, an educational leadership podcast brought to you by TheSchoolHouse302 @ theschoolhouse302.com where we publish free leadership content. Go to the site, subscribe, and you’ll get all of our content sent directly to your email. FocusED is your educational leadership podcast where our mission is to dissect a particular focus for teachers and school leaders so that you can learn to lead better and grow faster in your school or district with more knowledge, better understanding, and clear direction on what to do next. This episode was brought to you by GhostBed, a family-owned business of sleep experts with 20+ years of experience. With 30K+ 5-star reviews, you can’t go wrong with GhostBed. Their mattresses are handcrafted, and they come with a 101-night-at-home-sleep trial. For a limited time, you can get 30% by using our code — SH302 — at checkout. And, even if you tell someone about GhostBed, you can earn a $100 referral reward. Go to Ghostbed.com today and use SH302 at checkout.

This is Season 2, Episode 8 of FocusED, and it features guest, Derek McCoy. It was originally recorded live for a studio audience in Delaware, provided as a professional development experience for Delaware teachers and leaders. Don’t miss what Derek has to say about leading a revolution in education and engaging with the change we seek to make. _______________________________________ Derek McCoy Brings Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners Currently the principal of North Asheboro Middle School in Asheboro City Schools, Derek has over 20 years experience as a middle school principal, assistant principal and middle school math teacher. He’s been very fortunate to have been part of difference-making teams and schools that have helped learners and teachers grow and achieve in rural, urban, low-income learning environments. He embraces his mission to create learning environments that serve learners and help adults change practice and beliefs and skill sets to meet the needs of schools. Being the difference for learners by being the leaders we need them to be is a passion point he brings to celebrate and show how we all can be that Revolution@ry! In 2014, Derek was recognized as a National Digital Principal of the Year. As an active PLN builder in North Carolina, he was named 1 of 25 to Follow on #NCED. In 2018 he was asked to join a panel of experts on Capitol Hill to discuss with lawmakers the critical need to rethink middle school education. ------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for listening to FocusED, an educational leadership podcast brought to you by TheSchoolHouse302 @ theschoolhouse302.com where we publish free leadership content. Go to the site, subscribe, and you’ll get all of our content sent directly to your email. FocusED is your educational leadership podcast where our mission is to dissect a particular focus for teachers and school leaders so that you can learn to lead better and grow faster in your school or district with more knowledge, better understanding, and clear direction on what to do next. This episode was brought to you by GhostBed, a family-owned business of sleep experts with 20+ years of experience. With 30K+ 5-star reviews, you can’t go wrong with GhostBed. Their mattresses are handcrafted, and they come with a 101-night-at-home-sleep trial. For a limited time, you can get 30% by using our code — SH302 — at checkout. And, even if you tell someone about GhostBed, you can earn a $100 referral reward. Go to Ghostbed.com today and use SH302 at checkout.

This is Season 2, Episode 7 of FocusED, and it features guest, Stefani Arzonetti Hite. It was originally recorded live for a studio audience in Delaware, provided as a professional development experience for Delaware teachers and leaders. Don’t miss what Stefani says about leading collective efficacy in schools and so much more. _______________________________________ Dr. Stefani Arzonetti Hite Brings Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners Dr. Stefani Arzonetti Hite wide-ranging career began as a pre-digital drawing-board marketing designer. She eventually became an award-winning art director, developing unique approaches to marketing by harnessing new possibilities offered by emerging technology solutions in the industry. After a decade, Stef switched careers, earning both a Masters and Doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania. Over the years, she has taught students ranging from ages 5 to 75, she became a school administrator, and she headed up an international school in the UK. In 2009, Stef moved into the learning and development field and began to design and facilitate professional learning experiences for a range of organizations. She now works worldwide on process design and change initiatives with a particular focus on building collective efficacy. Stef’s customized support enables groups to collaborate and build team capacity to address both small and large-scale improvement needs. We hope you enjoy this episode. Also, don’t forget to like, share, and follow. You can always get more by following theschoolhouse302.com. Go to the site, click on follow. ------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for listening to FocusED, an educational leadership podcast brought to you by TheSchoolHouse302 @ theschoolhouse302.com where we publish free leadership content. Go to the site, subscribe, and you’ll get all of our content sent directly to your email. FocusED is your educational leadership podcast where our mission is to dissect a particular focus for teachers and school leaders so that you can learn to lead better and grow faster in your school or district with more knowledge, better understanding, and clear direction on what to do next. This episode was brought to you by GhostBed, a family-owned business of sleep experts with 20+ years of experience. With 30K+ 5-star reviews, you can’t go wrong with GhostBed. Their mattresses are handcrafted, and they come with a 101-night-at-home-sleep trial. For a limited time, you can get 30% by using our code — SH302 — at checkout. And, even if you tell someone about GhostBed, you can earn a $100 referral reward. Go to Ghostbed.com today and use SH302 at checkout.

This is Season 2, Episode 6 of FocusED, and it features guest, Robert Jackson. It was originally recorded live for a studio audience in Delaware, provided as a professional development experience for Delaware teachers and leaders. Don’t miss what Robert has to say about supporting all students in schools, especially those who are traditionally marginalized. ______________________________________ Robert Jackson Brings Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners Robert Jackson began his teaching career almost 25 years ago in Indianapolis Public Schools with a No More Excuses teaching approach with all of his students after being cut from the NFL Minnesota Vikings. As an educator, he didn’t allow his students to feel sorry for themselves or let their circumstances define their futures. He set high expectations for his students and expected them to do well. As a coach, the same rules applied. Those same students went from low performing to successful pastors, lawyers, school administrators, teachers, pharmaceutical sales reps, business owners, pro athletes, entertainers and more. He has become one of the most sought-after speakers in the country, delivering keynote addresses and workshops to educators and administrators at national conferences, parents and student workshops, corporate events and churches. Mr. Jackson has written and published 6 books. His new book, Becoming the Educator They Need: Strategies: Mindsets, and Beliefs for Supporting Male Black and Latino Students just won the Gold Excel Award for Technical Writing in July 2020. His “No More Excuses” Curriculum has been featured in publications nationally and is being used in K-12 Schools, Colleges and Universities in the US and Canada. His books include, “Black Men Stand Up”, “A Boys Guide to Manhood”, “A Young Woman’s Guide to Womanhood”, “Put a Stop to Bullying” and “Solutions to Educating Black and Latino Males.” He is married to Essence Best Selling Author, Tajuana “TJ” Butler-Jackson and they have 3 children and 1 grandson. “His motto is, “For Every Problem, there is a Solution” ------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for listening to FocusED, an educational leadership podcast brought to you by TheSchoolHouse302 @ theschoolhouse302.com where we publish free leadership content. Go to the site, subscribe, and you’ll get all of our content sent directly to your email. FocusED is your educational leadership podcast where our mission is to dissect a particular focus for teachers and school leaders so that you can learn to lead better and grow faster in your school or district with more knowledge, better understanding, and clear direction on what to do next. This episode was brought to you by GhostBed, a family-owned business of sleep experts with 20+ years of experience. With 30K+ 5-star reviews, you can’t go wrong with GhostBed. Their mattresses are handcrafted, and they come with a 101-night-at-home-sleep trial. For a limited time, you can get 30% by using our code — SH302 — at checkout. And, even if you tell someone about GhostBed, you can earn a $100 referral reward. Go to Ghostbed.com today and use SH302 at checkout.

This is Season 2, Episode 5 of FocusED, and it features guest, Vernita Mayfield. It was originally recorded live for a studio audience in Delaware, provided as a professional development experience for Delaware teachers and leaders. Don’t miss what Vernita says about confronting racism in schools and so much more. _______________________________________ Vernita Mayfield Brings Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners Dr. Vernita Mayfield hails originally from Los Angeles, California, where she began her career teaching elementary school. As a teacher, Mayfield found her first love serving and supporting students who have been historically marginalized. Since then, she has continued to do so through numerous positions of service, including secondary school principal, researcher and lecturer, and educational consultant at state and national levels. In 2012, she founded Leadervation Learning to support organizations seeking to build leadership capacity, particularly in marginalized communities. The company evolved into a vehicle supporting leaders at all levels to understand and dismantle inequitable systems and organizations by building the cultural competency of staff. Don’t forget to pick up a copy of her book: Cultural Competence Now: 56 Exercises to Help Educators Understand and Challenge Bias, Racism, and Privilege. ------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for listening to FocusED, an educational leadership podcast brought to you by TheSchoolHouse302 @ theschoolhouse302.com where we publish free leadership content. Go to the site, subscribe, and you’ll get all of our content sent directly to your email. FocusED is your educational leadership podcast where our mission is to dissect a particular focus for teachers and school leaders so that you can learn to lead better and grow faster in your school or district with more knowledge, better understanding, and clear direction on what to do next. This episode was brought to you by GhostBed, a family-owned business of sleep experts with 20+ years of experience. With 30K+ 5-star reviews, you can’t go wrong with GhostBed. Their mattresses are handcrafted, and they come with a 101-night-at-home-sleep trial. For a limited time, you can get 30% by using our code — SH302 — at checkout. And, even if you tell someone about GhostBed, you can earn a $100 referral reward. Go to Ghostbed.com today and use SH302 at checkout.

This is Season 2, Episode 4 of FocusED, and it features guest Evan Robb. It was originally recorded live for a studio audience in Delaware, provided as a professional development experience for Delaware teachers and leaders. Don’t miss what Evan says about his 6 Pillars of Leadership, self-reflection, figuring out what you believe in, taking control of how you use time in your day, and much much more. _______________________________________ Evan Robb Brings Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners Evan Robb is the Principal of Johnson-Williams Middle School in Berryville, Virginia. He has over twenty years of experience serving as a building level principal. Prior to being a school principal, he was an English teacher, department chair, and Assistant Principal. Evan is a recipient of the Horace Mann Educator of the Year Award. In addition, the NCTE Commission on Reading selected him to serve on its national board. A TEDx Speaker, Evan offers inspirational keynotes, workshops, webinars, and on-going professional learning opportunities on leadership, mindset, culture, impactful change, and how to improve literacy in schools. Evan has shared his ideas with thousands of educators at dozens of workshops across the United States and in other countries. His first book titled, The Principal’s Leadership Sourcebook: Practices, Tools, and Strategies for Building a Thriving School Community was published in 2007. He then wrote The Ten-Minute Principal released in 2019. Evan and Laura Robb collaborated with Dave Burgess Publishing to write, Team Makers, which was published in August of 2019. His latest book, again with Laura Robb, is called A School Full of Readers. Please explore The Robb Review Blog and Scholastic EDU for more of his thoughts on teaching, learning, and leadership as well as his podcast, The Robb Review Podcast. Finally, Evan has been named one of the top educational leaders to follow on Twitter @ERobbPrincipal. Let’s Tweet to him today #FocusED. ------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for listening to FocusED, an educational leadership podcast brought to you by TheSchoolHouse302 @ theschoolhouse302.com where we publish free leadership content. Go to the site, subscribe, and you’ll get all of our content sent directly to your email. FocusED is your educational leadership podcast where our mission is to dissect a particular focus for teachers and school leaders so that you can learn to lead better and grow faster in your school or district with more knowledge, better understanding, and clear direction on what to do next. This episode was brought to you by GhostBed, a family-owned business of sleep experts with 20+ years of experience. With 30K+ 5-star reviews, you can’t go wrong with GhostBed. Their mattresses are handcrafted, and they come with a 101-night-at-home-sleep trial. For a limited time, you can get 30% by using our code — SH302 — at checkout. And, even if you tell someone about GhostBed, you can earn a $100 referral reward. Go to Ghostbed.com today and use SH302 at checkout.

This is Season 2, Episode 3 of FocusED, and it features guest Todd Nesloney. It was originally recorded live for a studio audience in Delaware, provided as a professional development experience for Delaware teachers and leaders. Don’t miss what Todd says about his experience in schools, teaching kids to shake hands, what it means to have a “kids deserve it culture,” and much more. _______________________________________ Todd Nesloney Brings Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners Todd Nesloney is the Director of Culture and Strategic Leadership for the Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association (TEPSA). He has also served as an award-winning principal of a PreK-5th Grade campus of over 775 students in a rural town in Texas. He has been recognized by the White House, John C Maxwell, the Center for Digital Education, National School Board Association, the BAMMYS, and more for his work in education and with children. Todd has written four books, including Kids Deserve It, Stories From Webb, Sparks in the Dark, and his brand new book When Kids Lead. He also recently released his first children's book Spruce And Lucy. He hosts the podcast "Tell Your Story" and is very active on social media under the moniker Tech Ninja Todd. He is passionate about doing whatever it takes for our students and helping others tell their story. ------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for listening to FocusED, an educational leadership podcast brought to you by TheSchoolHouse302 @ theschoolhouse302.com where we publish free leadership content. Go to the site, subscribe, and you’ll get all of our content sent directly to your email. FocusED is your educational leadership podcast where our mission is to dissect a particular focus for teachers and school leaders so that you can learn to lead better and grow faster in your school or district with more knowledge, better understanding, and clear direction on what to do next. This episode was brought to you by GhostBed, a family-owned business of sleep experts with 20+ years of experience. With 30K+ 5-star reviews, you can’t go wrong with GhostBed. Their mattresses are handcrafted, and they come with a 101-night-at-home-sleep trial. For a limited time, you can get 30% by using our code — SH302 — at checkout. And, even if you tell someone about GhostBed, you can earn a $100 referral reward. Go to Ghostbed.com today and use SH302 at checkout.

This is Season 2, Episode 2 of FocusED, and it features guest, Matthew Joseph. It was originally recorded live for a studio audience in Delaware, provided as a professional development experience for Delaware teachers and leaders. Don’t miss what Matthew says about mentoring programs, leading in schools, and much more. _______________________________________ Matthew Joseph Brings Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners Dr. Matthew X. Joseph is currently the Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment in Leicester Public Schools. He has been a school and district leader in many capacities in public education over his 27 years in the field. Experiences such as the Director of Digital Learning and Innovation, elementary school principal, classroom teacher, and district professional development specialist have provided Matt incredible insights on how to best support teaching and learning and led to nationally published articles and opportunities to speak at multiple state and national events. His master's degree is in special education and his Ed.D. is in Educational Leadership from Boston College. He is the author of Power of Us: Creating Collaborative Schools and co-author of Modern Mentoring: Reimagining Mentorship in Education. Follow him on Twitter @matthewxjoseph, visit his website at mxjspeaker.com or visit his blog: techinnovation.live. And, don’t miss his weekly Sunday series, called Mentor Round Table. ------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for listening to FocusED, an educational leadership podcast brought to you by TheSchoolHouse302 @ theschoolhouse302.com where we publish free leadership content. Go to the site, subscribe, and you’ll get all of our content sent directly to your email. FocusED is your educational leadership podcast where our mission is to dissect a particular focus for teachers and school leaders so that you can learn to lead better and grow faster in your school or district with more knowledge, better understanding, and clear direction on what to do next. This episode was brought to you by GhostBed, a family-owned business of sleep experts with 20+ years of experience. With 30K+ 5-star reviews, you can’t go wrong with GhostBed. Their mattresses are handcrafted, and they come with a 101-night-at-home-sleep trial. For a limited time, you can get 30% by using our code — SH302 — at checkout. And, even if you tell someone about GhostBed, you can earn a $100 referral reward. Go to Ghostbed.com today and use SH302 at checkout.