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Are you in the trenches as an educator? You're not
alone. Hear from those who have been in the trenches and managed to come out intact. Hear their stories!
Episodes

Apr 13, 2025
Apr 13, 2025
25 min
Special episode: Spotlight on Master Scheduling
Dr. Laurie Barron is the superintendent of the Evergreen School District in Kalispell, Montana, and was named 2021 Montana Superintendent of the Year. She has been a high school English teacher and coach, a middle school assistant principal, a middle school principal, and a part-time assistant professor. A National Board–certified teacher, she was 2012 Georgia Principal of the Year and 2013 MetLife/NASSP National Middle Level Principal of the Year. Barron is a coauthor of the books What Parents Need to Know About Common Core and Other College-and Career-Ready Standards and Middle School: A Place to Belong and Become and has authored numerous articles. She is also a speaker who provides motivation and professional learning to teachers and administrators throughout the United States.
Find Laurie online: https://www.evergreensd50.com/page/superintendents-office

Apr 9, 2025
Apr 9, 2025
27 min
Dr. Debbie Zacarian is known for her expertise in strengths-based leadership, policy analysis, instructional practices, and partnerships with culturally and linguistically diverse student and family populations. With over three decades of combined experience as a district administrator, university faculty member, and educational service agency leader, she founded Zacarian & Associates and has been providing consulting and professional development throughout the United States.
She has written many books (including top- and best-selling) and more than 100 journal articles as well as district and state policies focused on leadership, strategic planning and analysis, and instructional practices with diverse learners- including multilingual learners and students living with adversity.
Find Debbie online: www.zacarianconsulting.com

Apr 2, 2025
Apr 2, 2025
29 min
Joe Davis is the author of The Generous Leader: 7 Ways to Give of Yourself for Everyone’s Gain. Joe is a Managing Director and Senior Partner at the Boston Consulting Group. He is a former Head of BCG in North America and member of the firm’s Executive Committee. He oversaw BCG’s operations in the US, Canada and Mexico and was recognized as one of the Top 25 Consultants of the year in 2011. He has 4 children and 8 grandchildren. Board chair of the Center for Inclusion and Equity.
Find Joe online? www.JoeDavis.com LinkedIn, FB @JoeDavis

Mar 26, 2025
Mar 26, 2025
36 min
Debra Armstrong is an Educator, Trainer, and Coach (ETC) dedicated to guiding professionals and small business owners on their journeys to achieve professional growth and business success. With years of experience, she has honed the art of personalized coaching, offering tailored solutions that fit her clients' unique needs, goals, and personalities.
Find Debra online: www.nexxtlevelcareers.com LinkedIn: @debraarmstrong

Mar 16, 2025
Mar 16, 2025
17 min
Rick Hess is a scholar, author, and educator. Pens “Rick Hess Straight Up” for Education Week and “Old School with Rick Hess” for Education Next. Senior contributor to Forbes, executive editor of Education Next, contributing editor to National Review, and author of books including A Search for Common Ground and The Great School Rethink. Dr. Hess started his career as a high school social studies teacher. He has taught at the University of Virginia, the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, Rice University, Johns Hopkins University, and Harvard University. He is also the senior founding fellow of the Public Education Foundation’s Leadership Institute of Nevada.
Find Rick online: Twitter/X: @rickhess99
Website: https://www.aei.org/profile/frederick-m-hess/
Read Rick's weekly policy brief via his profile page.

Mar 12, 2025
Mar 12, 2025
30 min
For over 20 years as a school principal, educator, author, and coach, Rob Owen has seen the deep impact that stress and burnout have on teachers. After a life-changing car accident at 17, Rob found healing through Tai Chi and Qigong, practices that became central to both his personal and professional life. Now, he shares these mindful practices through Move 2 Focus, helping educators and students—especially those with ADHD and anxiety—find calm, focus, and emotional balance in the classroom and beyond.
Find Rob online: https://www.instagram.com/move_2_focus/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertowen2019/
This link will direct listeners to a teacher stress test (10 questions) and 3-day mini course that will offer free lessons in Tai Chi and Qigong for the classroom - for both teacher and students.

Mar 5, 2025
Mar 5, 2025
19 min
Dr. Shelby Kretz is the creator of Little Justice Leaders, an organization that provides social justice education resources for educators and families. Shelby earned her Ph.D. in Education from UCLA, and her research explores social justice education at the elementary school level. Over the past decade, Shelby has worked with thousands of parents, teachers, and school leaders to bring social justice education to elementary aged kids.
Find Shelby online:
Get her free guide for talking to kids about difficult current events! https://view.flodesk.com/pages/621d377d78ab99224ea6dddc
https://littlejusticeleaders.com/
https://www.facebook.com/littlejusticeleaders
https://twitter.com/justiceleaders
https://www.pinterest.com/littlejusticeleaders/
https://youtube.com/@littlejusticeleaders
https://www.instagram.com/littlejusticeleaders/

Feb 26, 2025
Feb 26, 2025
34 min
Scotty Aemis is passionate about helping parents navigate childhood trauma. After he and his wife adopted two children, they found themselves learning everything they could about helping their children thrive. Everything that felt instinctively “right” was actually not helpful for children trying to heal from trauma. That set him on a journey to develop his PSR (Positive Safe Relationships) Approach toparenting. It’s helpful for all children and parents, but especially those navigating childhood trauma. Find Scotty online:
He has a number of free resources on his website, a free Facebook Group, and a bestselling book available. Lakeside collaborative he works for offers training.
Find Scotty online:
https://www.childtraumasherpa.com/
https://www.instagram.com/childtraumasherpa/
https://www.facebook.com/childtraumasherpa
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1002238933611804
He has a number of free resources on his website, a free Facebook Group, and a bestselling book available. Lakeside collaborative he works for offers training.

Feb 19, 2025
Feb 19, 2025
32 min
Renes Lophanor is a multilingual (speaks English, Haitian Creole, French, German, Spanish and Slovak) author and certified teacher (Spanish/French at secondary ages 11-18) with over two decades of experience in education. Has also taught music, drama, art. He is a musician and performs every weekend. He is the author of I Still Love Teaching Despite Having All The Reasons In The World To Quit: Observations Of The Education System. Find Renes online: https://reneslophanor.com/
https://www.facebook.com/bbwi.renes/ also on FB/IG https://www.youtube.com/@renesbbwi - his music life
https://www.linkedin.com/in/renes-l-468a94/

Feb 12, 2025
Feb 12, 2025
24 min
Mike Anderson has been an educator for many years. A classroom teacher for 15 years, he has also coached swim teams, worked in preschools, and taught university graduate-level classes. In 2004, Anderson was awarded a national Milken Educator Award, and in 2005, he was a finalist for New Hampshire Teacher of the Year. Now an independent education consultant, Anderson works with schools in rural, urban, and suburban settings across the United States and beyond. A bestselling author, he has written nine books about great teaching and learning. In 2020, Anderson was awarded the Outstanding Educational Leader Award by NHASCD for his work as a consultant. Find Mike online: Linkedin at
/ mike-anderson-37953512
X/Twitter at @balancedteacher www.leadinggreatlearning.com you can connect with the courses he’s developed Here's a link to his newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/leadinggreatlearning/back-to-school-reminders?e=5503dc48f7
