Coaching the Whole Educator

What if “we learn from our mistakes” is only half true?

In this episode of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca Silver talks with Dr. Doug Fisher, professor and chair of educational leadership at San Diego State University and a teacher leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College, about success-oriented learning and what it means for instructional coaching.

We’ve all heard that mistakes are opportunities for learning. But making a mistake doesn’t automatically mean we learn from it. And when failures keep piling up, especially in a public space like a classroom, students can become discouraged, disengaged, and less willing to try.

Doug shares why experiencing success matters for learning, motivation, and confidence, and how his school is putting that into practice. Through incremental success criteria, teachers chunk each hour of class into at least four checkpoints, giving students frequent opportunities to recognize their progress and experience success. What started in ninth grade a couple of years ago is now school-wide.

Then Becca and Doug turn the conversation to instructional coaching.

Full-cycle coaching (pre-observation, observation, debrief) has its place. But when it’s the only model a school uses, coaches run out of time to support the range of teachers, it can feel like evaluation when a leader runs it, and it reduces how often coaches are in classrooms.

Doug introduces two alternatives: short-cycle (goal-driven) coaching, built around a shared goal over two to four weeks, and micro-coaching, including his Notice → Name → Nudge approach for helping teachers recognize what they’re doing well and consider a small next step.

Becca makes the case that walkthrough forms are a data tool, not a coaching tool. When every visit turns into a laundry list, teachers walk away feeling like they’re never doing enough. And when teachers are stuck, experiencing resistance, or facing a lot to change, another full coaching cycle is often the opposite of what they need. The place to start is small, quick wins.

Because recognizing what needs to change is one thing. Believing you can change it is another.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why learning from mistakes isn’t enough, and how small successes help build confidence and momentum
• What the Eighty Five Percent Rule suggests about balancing challenge and success
• How incremental success criteria create frequent opportunities for students to recognize progress
• How remembering previous successes can support persistence with challenging tasks
• The differences between full-cycle, short-cycle, and micro-coaching
• How to use Notice → Name → Nudge to offer focused feedback without overwhelming teachers
• Why walkthrough forms shouldn’t be your default tool for every coaching conversation
• How frequent peer observations can help build a culture of coaching
• Why collective efficacy depends on experiencing success, not team building

Who this episode is for:
Instructional coaches, teacher leaders, principals, and district leaders who want practical coaching approaches that build teacher efficacy, treat resistance as information, and help educators experience meaningful progress.

Resources mentioned:

• The Art and Science of Teacher Coaching by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, John Almarode, and Toni Osborn Faddis (Corwin, 2026)
• Fisher and Frey: fisherandfrey.com
• Connect with Doug Fisher on LinkedIn: Douglas Fisher
• The Eighty Five Percent Rule for Optimal Learning (Wilson et al., 2019, Nature Communications)

Related research:

• Not Learning From Failure: The Greatest Failure of All (Eskreis-Winkler & Fishbach, 2019, Psychological Science)

Keep the conversation going:

• Get The Resistance Solution by Becca Silver: https://amzn.to/4pRCaa5
• Lead your team through it with Book Study Facilitator Training: https://www.thewholeeducator.com/book-study-facilitator-training

Let's Stay Connected!
www.thewholeeducator.com | info@thewholeeducator.com

Episode Summary

What if the scripted curriculum we hand new teachers is the very thing burning them out? In this episode of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca Silver talks with Bob Lenz, CEO of PBLWorks, about how project-based learning (PBL) helps early career teachers thrive instead of just surviving, and why school systems built for consistency keep pulling innovative teachers back into compliance.

Bob shares findings from a randomized controlled trial of the Knowledge in Action AP curriculum, where PBL students outscored peers on AP exams by 8% in year one and 10% in year two, across all demographics. He explains why teachers trained in student-centered schools often revert to traditional instruction within three years of moving to a traditional school, and why giving new teachers high-quality PBL curriculum acts as a “floor,” not a script. Becca connects the conversation to her resistance work, naming the compliance culture that shapes how we treat both students and adults.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why the portrait of a graduate works as a “Trojan horse” for deeper learning and PBL adoption
• The biggest gap between teacher prep programs and day one in the classroom
• How PBL partner districts improved chronic absenteeism (one middle school went from 66% to 96% attendance)
• The four areas leaders need to address for systemwide PBL: vision, conditions, professional learning, and measurement
• Why “two projects a year” is a realistic starting point for reluctant departments
• How making expert thinking visible builds new teacher agency and confidence
• Why PBL is an equity issue, and why it may be less “innovation” than overdue updating

Who this episode is for: instructional coaches, principals, district leaders, and teacher leaders supporting new teachers, implementing project-based learning, or working to reduce teacher burnout and turnover.

Frequently asked questions

Does project-based learning improve test scores? According to Bob, a randomized controlled study validated by USC found PBL students scored 8 to 10% higher on AP exams than students in traditional classes, with strong gains in critical thinking and communication.

How can schools support new teachers with PBL? Pair high-quality, student-centered curriculum with embedded professional learning and coaching, so new teachers start from a strong floor instead of designing units from scratch on Sunday night.

Why do innovative teaching practices fade? When school policies, pacing, and observation practices conflict with student-centered goals, teachers drift back to compliance-based instruction. Leaders have to surface those conflicts and build a coherent system.

Timestamps

• 00:00 Welcome and introduction to Bob Lenz
• 00:58 What PBLWorks does and why agency matters
• 01:50 Portrait of a graduate as a path to PBL
• 05:10 Helping new teachers thrive, not survive
• 06:40 The AP study results
• 10:10 Curriculum as a floor and giving Sundays back to teachers
• 12:55 The gap between teacher prep and day one
• 15:00 Compliance curriculum, burnout, and attendance gains
• 16:20 Compliance culture and resistance
• 17:00 Schools built for consistency, not innovation
• 19:30 Moving the whole system: what leaders need in place
• 24:00 Agency, professional judgment, and making thinking visible
• 27:30 Innovation or overdue update?
• 29:20 PBL as an equity floor
• 30:20 Bob’s new book and resources

Resources mentioned

• PBLWorks: https://www.pblworks.org
• PBL for All: A Leader’s Guide by Bob Lenz and Lisa Morales
• PBL World coaching academy (June, Napa Valley)

Keep going

• Get The Resistance Solution: https://amzn.to/4pRCaa5
• Lead your team through it with Book Study Facilitator Training: https://www.thewholeeducator.com/book-study-facilitator-training

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You've modeled it, co-planned it, and practiced it side by side, and it's still not showing up in the classroom. In this Resistance Solution Mini-Session, Becca Silver reads from Chapter 2 of The Resistance Solution on why more PD and more modeling often miss the mark. Coaches and school leaders get one question to ask before their next coaching move.

In this episode:

• Why resistance often looks like a skill problem on the surface
• The quiet calculation teachers run before trying something new: Is this worth it? What if it doesn't work? Can I pull this off?
• Why a fourth round of modeling rarely fixes a will gap

This week's challenge: pick the coaching conversation that keeps looping and ask yourself, "Is this a gap in skill, or a gap in will?" If it's will, swap your next model for a question.

Take the free quiz, What Is Resistance Costing You?: https://www.thewholeeducator.com/resistance-quiz

Get The Resistance Solution: https://amzn.to/4pRCaa5

Free reader tools: thewholeeducator.com/book-resources

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What happens when a new school leader tries so hard to meet everyone’s expectations that they stop leading like themselves? In this episode of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca Silver talks with Joshua Stamper, author of Aspire to Lead and host of the Aspire to Lead podcast, about perseverance, adversity, and the quiet ways aspiring leaders slip into compliance while trying to prove they belong.

Josh shares his unexpected path from art teacher to athletic coach, Dean of Students, and assistant principal for nearly a decade, and now speaker, author, and leadership consultant. He opens up about his first months as Dean of Students, when staff and families expected him to be “the sheriff.” He tried to fill that role, and discipline referrals climbed every month. Then he made a shift: he got clear on his own values, rebuilt the campus approach to student behavior around teaching skills instead of punishment, and watched both the data and the culture turn around.

Becca and Josh also dig into:

• Influence vs. control: how to tell whether you want to lead people or simply want more control over decisions, and why “I’m just a teacher” holds back progress
• How “no” creates compliance culture: why turning down a teacher’s idea can move them from ownership back to compliance, and what a “yes, and” leader does instead
• The cost of being chosen: navigating jealousy, rivalry, and shifting peer relationships when you’re tapped for leadership early
• Rejection as “not yet”: what Josh learned from being passed over for promotion, and why talking about what you have done beats what you would do in leadership interviews
• Regulation under pressure: why anticipating hard moments (and deciding in advance who you’ll be) is one of the strongest leadership practices, plus Becca’s reframe that every breakdown carries the seed of a breakthrough
• The ASPIRE framework: Activate, Support, Persevere, Identity, Reflection, and Execution, with practical advice on “activating” by becoming visibly available to your admin team

This episode is for teachers considering an administrative path, assistant principals eyeing the next role, instructional coaches, and any educator who leads with or without a title.

About the guest: Joshua Stamper is a former art teacher, coach, Dean of Students, and assistant principal who now speaks, writes, and coaches educators nationwide. He is the author of Aspire to Lead and The Language of Behavior, hosts three podcasts, and leads the Aspire to Lead cohort for aspiring school leaders.

Connect with Joshua: https://joshstamper.com | Instagram and X: @joshua__stamper

Explore Becca’s book: The Resistance Solution: https://amzn.to/4pRCaa5

Lead your own book study with the Book Study Facilitator Training: https://www.thewholeeducator.com/book-study-facilitator-training

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Ever leave a coaching conversation feeling great about the advice you gave, only to come back a week later and find nothing has changed? You're not alone, and it's probably not the teacher's fault.

In this episode, Becca sits down with her friend and colleague coaching master Chrissy Beltran, known to many as Buzzing with Ms. B, to unpack why coaching conversations so often go nowhere. Chrissy shares why coaches feel pressure to have all the answers, how teachers often ask for help in the only way they know how (a complaint), and the simple mindset shift that keeps every interaction moving toward real partnership.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why our "advice monster" is so loud as coaches (hint: it feels really good)
• The difference between coaching and consulting, and why quick fixes rarely change thinking
• Why "it doesn't matter what you say, it matters what they hear"
• Chrissy's ABC model: Always Be Coaching, and where the idea came from (spoiler: knives)
• How to narrow your follow-up to a simple yes or no ("Can I come by tomorrow at 9?")
• Why you should offer two or three support options, tops
• The red flag phrases that signal it's time to point the finger back at yourself
• The difference between manipulation and intentionally building connection
• Why connection is the shortest distance to coachability

Timestamps:

• 00:00 Welcome and introducing Chrissy Beltran
• 00:55 The problem: a whole conversation and nothing changes
• 01:29 Why coaches feel they have to have all the answers
• 03:26 Taming the advice monster
• 05:22 That's not coaching, that's consulting
• 06:30 The psychology on both sides of unsolicited advice
• 08:00 When "okay" at the end of PD really means compliance
• 08:57 Selling Cutco and the birth of Always Be Coaching
• 11:45 Making follow-up easy to say yes to
• 13:00 Showing up the next day with two or three options
• 14:37 "Guess what? They're coming back tomorrow."
• 15:42 Red flag phrases like "Well, I told them"
• 18:07 Manipulation vs. authentic connection
• 19:47 Being right vs. making a difference
• 21:24 Chrissy's new book, Expand Your Coaching Toolbox

About Chrissy Beltran:
Chrissy Beltran is an instructional coaching expert, the voice behind Buzzing with Ms. B, and host of the Instructional Coaching with Ms. B podcast. Her new book, Expand Your Coaching Toolbox: 20 Practical Strategies That Improve Teaching and Learning (ASCD), is a hands-on guidebook with strategies for relationship building, knowledge and alignment, and instructional skill, each with a note on how to forward the coaching conversation.

Resources mentioned:

• Expand Your Coaching Toolbox by Chrissy Beltran: pre-order through ASCD now, available everywhere (including Amazon) in November

Connect with Becca:
Learn more about Becca's work and The Resistance Solution at thewholeeducator.com.

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The strategy everyone nodded along to in August? It's thriving in one classroom and missing in action next door. And that eye roll from the back of the room is still living rent-free in your head.

In this first episode of Solution Sessions, a new weekly segment of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca reads the opening pages of The Resistance Solution and names what most leaders feel but rarely say out loud: the emotional whiplash of thinking a teacher is on board, then walking into their classroom and finding nothing has changed.

When that happens, most of us reach for one of two explanations. Either some people just don't want to change, or we need more accountability. Both are understandable. Neither gets you very far.

Becca offers a different read: the eye roll, the polite nod, and the strategy that never shows up aren't verdicts on the teacher or on you. They're information.

In this episode:

• Why uneven implementation is one of the most common pain points coaches and leaders report
• The two default reactions to resistance, and why neither one works
• One question to bring into your walkthroughs this week

Your challenge: Pick one classroom where the training isn't showing up yet. Before restating the expectation, ask, "What's getting in the way right now?" Then listen.

Wondering what resistance is costing your school? Take the free What Is Resistance Costing You? quiz and get next steps matched to where you are: https://www.thewholeeducator.com/resistance-quiz

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What if the colleague you've been describing as "quirky" is the most underused talent in your building?

In this episode of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca Silver sits down with Justin Permenter of NDI Institute to talk about building workplaces where neurodivergent educators, coaches, and leaders can perform, contribute, and lead without lowering expectations. Roughly one in five people is neurodivergent, including people with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and dyspraxia. Yet most schools and organizations are built for neurotypical ways of working by default. Students get IEPs and 504 plans. Adults get a workplace that expects everyone to sit at the same table, the same way, on the same timeline.

Justin shares his journey from the classroom in Kansas City to international education in Qatar and his work with Franklin Covey's Leader in Me, plus the story of Omar, a 16-year-old autistic intern who outperformed full-time staff at the Waldorf Astoria within three weeks. Becca opens up about her own ADHD diagnosis and the moment she started seeing it as a strength instead of a deficit.

You'll learn:

• Why accommodation and compliance checklists aren't the same as strengths activation
• How curiosity (the C in NDI's CLEAR framework) replaces judgment when a colleague works differently
• What "results alignment" means: keeping outcomes high while allowing multiple pathways to get there
• One thing school leaders and instructional coaches can do tomorrow to lead more neuroinclusively

Perfect for instructional coaches, principals, district leaders, and anyone who leads adults in schools.

Resources mentioned:

Website: http://www.ndiinstitute.com/

Webinar on October 6th: https://www.ndiinstitute.com/webinar

Free C.L.E.A.R. Framework: https://www.ndiinstitute.com/download

The Resistance Solution: Why Educators Resist and What They Need Instead: amzn.to/4pRCaa5

Resistance Solution Book Study Facilitator Training: https://www.thewholeeducator.com/book-study-facilitator-training

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Ever notice how the same piece of feedback lands beautifully with one person on your team and completely bombs with another? Robyn Jackson is back, and this time we're digging into Will Drivers, her framework for the four things that motivate every human being: mastery, purpose, belonging, and autonomy.

Here's the twist. Each driver comes with its own core question running in the background of someone's mind: how, why, who, and what. Once you know someone's dominant driver, you stop guessing why they're not responding to your coaching and start speaking a language they can actually hear.

We get into:

• What Will Drivers are and where the theory came from
• Why the people you connect with most easily probably share your dominant driver
• How the same feedback needs to be delivered four completely different ways depending on who's receiving it
• Why some of the meanest, most aimless, or most struggling people on your team are driven by the exact thing they seem worst at
• The principal who couldn't get his staff moving because he was autonomy driven and they were mastery driven, and neither one understood the other
• Robyn's reframe for ditching the shoulds: be curious, not furious

This one will have you diagnosing your own driver, your partner's, and probably three people on your leadership team before the episode is even over.

📖 The Resistance Solution: https://amzn.to/4pRCaa5

Book Study Facilitator Training: http://www.thewholeeducator.com/book-study-facilitator-training

About Robyn Jackson: Robyn R. Jackson is the founder of Mindsteps and the creator of the Buildership framework. She's spent years helping leaders move from compliance-driven management to real ownership, and her Will Drivers work grew out of motivation research she originally applied to students before realizing it works just as well on adults.

Connect with Robyn: 100PercentPrincipal.com — free weekly newsletter with practical tools for the challenges you're actually facing.

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**Join the Resistance Solution Facebook Community** https://www.facebook.com/share/g/19TRR5VfpX/

Danny Bauer of Better Leaders Better Schools joins Becca Silver to unpack self mentorship, why traditional PD falls short, and how to become a ruckus maker.

Most professional development follows the same script: someone else decides what educators need to learn, when they need to learn it, and how. Danny Bauer, founder of Better Leaders Better Schools and creator of the Ruckus Maker movement, calls this "permission-based development," and he thinks it is holding school leaders back.

In this episode, Becca Silver talks with Danny about self mentorship: a radical ownership model where school leaders define their own growth instead of waiting for central office to approve it. Danny shares real stories of principals who used self mentorship to build "sticky core values," eliminate outdated practices like midterms and finals, and protect their own boundaries without sacrificing results. He and Becca also dig into an uncomfortable pattern Danny has seen again and again: leaders who win Principal of the Year and then get placed on an improvement plan for doing the very work that made them stand out.

If you have ever sensed something was off in how your school or district operates but could not quite name it, this conversation gives you language and a starting question to explore it.

What You'll Learn

• What self mentorship is and how it differs from traditional professional development
• Why Danny calls conventional PD "permission-based development," and why that framing matters
• Real examples of self mentorship in action: sticky core values, eliminating midterms and finals, and protecting personal boundaries as a leader
• Why some of the most innovative school leaders get quietly punished for standing out
• How systems resist disruption, and why that resistance is not personal
• A simple question you can ask tomorrow to start thinking like a "Ruckus Maker"

**Join the Resistance Solution Facebook Community** https://www.facebook.com/share/g/19TRR5VfpX/

📖 The Resistance Solution: https://amzn.to/4pRCaa5

Guest Bio

Danny Bauer is the founder of Better Leaders Better Schools and the voice behind the Ruckus Maker movement in education. After years in the classroom and central office, Danny now helps school leaders build campus experiences worth showing up for through coaching, a mastermind community, and the Ruckusmakers Media Substack.

Key Quotes

• Danny Bauer on traditional professional development: PD is often too little, too late, and disconnected, arriving on a schedule the system sets rather than the leader.
• On self mentorship: it is a radical ownership over your own growth and vision, not a curriculum someone else hands you.
• On why leaders get punished for innovating: fragile egos at central office sometimes resent when a subordinate gets the credit for doing something new.
• On the mindset shift: the real question is not "can I change this," but what would need to be true for it to be different.

Timestamps

• 03:00 What is self mentorship, and how is it different from professional development
• 05:30 Why Danny renamed PD "permission-based development"
• 07:30 Real self mentorship stories: sticky core values, eliminating midterms and finals, protecting boundaries
• 12:00 The Ruckus Maker movement and questioning how school "has to be"
• 15:00 Why Principal of the Year winners sometimes end up on improvement plans
• 18:30 Systems built to stay alive, and why disruption meets resistance
• 20:30 Where to find Danny's free resources
• 22:00 One question to ask tomorrow to start your own self mentorship journey

Resources Mentioned

• Better Leaders Better Schools: https://betterleadersbetterschools.com
• Ruckusmakers Media (Danny's Substack of mini-books on leadership and school change)
• The Art of Self Mentorship (Danny's free mini-book)

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In this episode, Becca sits down with instructional coaching and lesson planning expert Lori Cohen (co-author of The PD Book) to talk about her new book, The Science of Lesson Planning, and what transformative lesson design can teach coaches and school leaders about building psychological safety in schools. They dig into psychological safety, the difference between coaching and "coaxing," and why celebration and reflection only work when they happen together.

In this episode:

• Why great lesson planning is about more than activities and standards
• How psychological safety gets built (and spent) in daily interactions, not just at the start of the year
• The real difference between conventional and transformative practice: who holds control of the "right answer"
• Why "coaxing" isn't coaching, and how it breaks trust
• Why celebration and reflection have to happen together for real growth

📖 The Resistance Solution: https://amzn.to/4pRCaa5

Book Study Facilitator Training: http://www.thewholeeducator.com/book-study-facilitator-training

About Lori Cohen:
Lori Cohen has spent three decades in education as a teacher, instructional coach, school leader, consultant, and author. Her new book, The Science of Lesson Planning, releases in September through ASCD (preorders open now). She is also co-author of The PD Book: 7 Habits that Transform Professional Development (with Elena Aguilar) and Integrating Educator Well-Being, Growth, and Evaluation: Four Foundations for Leaders.

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In this episode, Becca sits down with Jennifer Abrams, author of five books on adult-to-adult communication in schools including Having Hard Conversations and Stretching Your Learning Edges, for a conversation on hard conversations, school culture, and adult development in education.

Topics covered in this episode:

• The difference between resistance and a hard conversation, and where one line ends and the other begins
• Why "niceness culture" in schools gets confused with kindness, and how it undermines belonging
• The cognitive load behind clear communication, and why so many educators avoid it
• The neuroscience of being right: why our brains reward judgment over effectiveness
• The five capacities from Stretching Your Learning Edges: knowing our identities, suspending certainty, taking responsibility for communication, building resilience, and engaging in reciprocity
• A simple, practical cue for naming dysregulation in a meeting, without shame
• Robert Kegan's stages of adult development (instrumental, socialized, self-authoring, self-transforming) and how understanding them builds empathy across a school team

Guest: Jennifer Abrams, adult communication and school culture expert, jenniferabrams.com | LinkedIn | jennifer@jenniferabrams.com

Grab your copy of 📖 The Resistance Solution

Book Study Facilitator Training: http://www.thewholeeducator.com/book-study-facilitator-training

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What if the pushback you're getting from teachers isn't about the initiative at all, but about a hidden cultural mismatch in how your school defines belonging?

In this episode of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca Silver sits down with Dr. Sheldon Eakins, author of Meaningful Classroom Management, What Are You Bringing to the Potluck?, and Leading Equity, to explore a dimension of belonging that rarely gets airtime in school leadership conversations: individualism versus collectivism.

Dr. Eakins explains why American schools are built around individualist norms (GPAs, valedictorians, teacher of the month, "stay in your classroom") while many students and staff come from collectivist backgrounds where success is defined by "we," not "me." When leaders don't recognize this mismatch, the result looks like resistance, disengagement, and retention problems.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How individualism vs. collectivism shows up in staff meetings, PLCs, and professional development, and why "sit and get" works for some educators and alienates others
• Dr. Eakins' LENS framework for leaders: Look for biases, Examine communication, Notice group dynamics, Shift perspective
• How to separate facts from interpretations when you catch yourself labeling a colleague "rude" or "disengaged"
• Why introversion and extroversion are NOT the same as individualism and collectivism
• Practical ways to design staff culture that balances individual recognition with collective connection

This conversation is essential listening for instructional coaches, principals, and district leaders working on teacher retention, staff culture, psychological safety, and buy-in for change initiatives.

Grab your copy of 📖 The Resistance Solution

Book Study Facilitator Training: http://www.thewholeeducator.com/book-study-facilitator-training

Connect with Dr. Sheldon Eakins:
IG: @sheldoneakins

Twitter: @sheldoneakins

Website: http://purposeful247.com

Books: Amazon

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In this episode of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca Silver explores the hidden costs schools and districts pay when resistance is misunderstood.

She calls it the resistance tax: the quiet drain on resources, relationships, and results that happens when leaders respond to resistance with pressure, compliance, or more accountability instead of understanding what is driving it.

Becca breaks down five major forms of the resistance tax:

• The turnover tax
• The implementation tax
• The time tax
• The trust tax
• The student success tax

She also shares why resistance should be treated as information, not defiance, and how educational leaders can begin identifying where their organization may be paying more than they realize.

The episode also introduces The Resistance Solution and the Resistance Solution Book Study Facilitator Training, a train-the-trainer experience designed to help schools and districts build the internal capacity to diagnose resistance, strengthen ownership, and lead sustainable change.

If your organization is struggling with teacher turnover, initiative fatigue, low buy-in, inconsistent implementation, or stalled change efforts, this episode will help you see the true cost of resistance in a new way.

[Book Study Facilitator Training] http://www.thewholeeducator.com/book-study-facilitator-training

Grab your copy of 📖 The Resistance Solution

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What if one of the biggest missing pieces in teacher retention is how we support mentor teachers?

In this episode, Becca talks with John Pascarella, professor of clinical education at USC and Chief Academic Officer of the USC Race and Equity Center, about why mentor teachers are often asked to support new teachers without the training, role clarity, compensation, or coaching they actually need.

They unpack why being a great teacher does not automatically make someone a great mentor, how mentoring adults requires a different skill set, and why schools need to stop treating mentorship like informal volunteer work.

This conversation is for instructional coaches, school leaders, district leaders, and teacher leaders who want to strengthen new teacher support, improve teacher retention, and build more effective mentoring systems in schools.

John's Info:

Faculty profile | CCTE Policy Brief (free download, includes my brief on mentor teachers) | Learning Policy Institute (Stanford University)

Grab your copy of 📖 The Resistance Solution

Access the FREE book resources here.

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In this episode of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca Silver talks with Principal Kafele about what happens when high expectations meet resistance in schools and how leaders can respond without slipping into compliance-driven leadership.

Together, they explore how school leaders can create a true culture of high expectations, not by demanding instant transformation, but by helping educators experience steady, measurable growth. Principal Kafele shares why leaders must connect expectations to a larger purpose, build authentic relationships with staff, and understand what is beneath the pushback before deciding how to respond.

This conversation digs into the difference between teacher resistance, overwhelm, and low expectations, and why leaders cannot diagnose those differences without ongoing trust, coaching, and collaboration. Becca and Principal Kafele also discuss the role of leadership identity, including how the way leaders see themselves shapes how they respond to hesitation, pushback, and resistance.

Listeners will walk away with practical insight into how to:

• Hold high expectations without leading through compliance
• Recognize growth as progress, not perfection
• Build a school culture where expectations become normal behavior
• Respond to resistance with curiosity instead of judgment
• Strengthen leadership identity during difficult conversations
• Support educators through change while maintaining clear standards

This episode is especially valuable for principals, assistant principals, instructional coaches, district leaders, and school leadership teams who are navigating resistance to change, supporting adult learning, and working to build cultures of growth, accountability, and meaningful progress.

[BOOK] Grab There Resistance Solution: Why Educator Resist and What They Need Instead HERE!

Grab your copy of 📖 The Resistance Solution

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What does The Resistance Solution actually look like in a real school?

In this episode, Chrystin Sheffield shares how the book transformed the way she leads.

She talks about how it helped her:

• Stop taking teacher resistance personally and start diagnosing what's really driving it

• Navigate difficult conversations with less frustration and more confidence

• Give walkthrough feedback that feels meaningful instead of repetitive

• Build trust more intentionally instead of simply hoping relationships develop

• Create accountability without creating defensiveness

• Understand why teachers say "I don't have time" and how to respond in a way that actually helps

• Move beyond surface-level coaching conversations to uncover root causes

One of my favorite moments was hearing Chrystin say that before reading the book, she often felt like she should have all the answers as a leader. What she discovered instead was that the most powerful thing she could do wasn't solve the problem for people. It was understand the unmet need underneath the resistance.

This conversation is about what happened when the ideas in the book were applied in a real school by a real leader facing real challenges.

If you're a principal, assistant principal, coach, or district leader who has ever wondered why feedback isn't sticking, coaching conversations aren't leading to change, or teachers seem resistant despite your best efforts, I think you'll see yourself in this conversation.

Grab your copy of 📖 The Resistance Solution

Access the FREE book resources here.

(And you can find it at all major book outlets)

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In this episode, Becca sits down with Jessica Werner, founder of North Shore Learning, to unpack a hard truth in schools: many leaders believe they understand staff well-being, but are relying on assumptions instead of real data.

Together, they explore how well-being, retention, and leadership decisions are deeply connected and why anecdotal signals like “people seem happy” or “no one is in crisis” are not enough to guide action.

Jessica shares how collecting simple, meaningful data can help leaders identify what is actually impacting teacher satisfaction, workload, and long-term retention. The conversation highlights how proactive support, rather than reactive responses, can reduce burnout and turnover while strengthening school culture.

They also discuss how schools with stronger retention intentionally pair every new initiative with a support plan, recognizing that added expectations without support erode well-being over time.

In this episode:

• Why leaders often misread staff well-being without data
• The difference between anecdotal impressions and actionable insights
• Simple ways to start gathering meaningful well-being data immediately
• How attendance patterns, workload, and informal check-ins reveal hidden trends
• Why every initiative should include a parallel plan for teacher support
• The financial and cultural cost of reactive turnover versus proactive retention
• How acknowledging teachers’ full lives outside of school shapes morale and sustainability

The core message: well-being is not a single program or strategy. It is a set of conditions that can be measured, supported, and strengthened when leaders shift from assumptions to data-informed action.

Learn more about Jessica & Northshore Learning at http://northshorelearning.org, the place where school support meets real classroom impact.

Grab your copy of 📖 The Resistance Solution

Access the FREE book resources here.

[FREE WEBINAR] Breaking Through Resistance: Contact us for the recording

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Okay y’all… this episode is basically what happens when two people who are deeply obsessed with leadership, resistance, ownership, and human behavior finally hit “record.” 😂

Becca sits down with leadership expert Casey Watts to celebrate the release of The Resistance Solution… but the conversation quickly turns into a deep, real-time exploration of what actually causes resistance in schools and why so many leadership strategies fall apart after the initial excitement fades.

What makes this episode different is that Becca doesn’t just explain the ideas from the book. She tells the story of how the work evolved over years of coaching, research, frustration, trial and error, and eventually discovering the five Catalyst Mindsets™. The episode also dives deeply into ownership mindset, why buy-in is not the end goal, and the missing piece most schools overlook: agency.

There’s also a powerful conversation about language and why phrases like “resistant teachers” quietly shape the way leaders interact with people. Becca and Casey unpack why resistance is not a personality trait, but a temporary human experience tied to unmet needs.

If you’ve ever thought:
“Why are people still pulling back even after we communicated the vision clearly?”
or
“Why do some accountability strategies completely flop?”
…this episode is going to hit home.

📘 The Resistance Solution gives instructional coaches and school leaders practical tools, diagnostic frameworks, coaching processes, and human-centered strategies for navigating resistance without relying on pressure, compliance, or generic one-size-fits-all solutions.

Grab your copy of 📖 The Resistance Solution

[FREE WEBINAR] Breaking Through Resistance: Contact Usfor the recording

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[FREE] Find Your Resistance Type Quiz: Find out the type of resistance you are navigating

In this episode of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca sits down with Jason Adair from the Southern Regional Education Board to explore what actually makes instructional coaching effective in schools. Together, they unpack SREB’s new Powerful Coaching Practices framework and discuss why so many coaching initiatives fail to create lasting instructional change.

This conversation dives into instructional coaching strategies, teacher feedback, coaching cycles, relationship-based leadership, professional learning, and implementation challenges in K-12 schools. Becca and Jason discuss the importance of trust, goal-setting, observation and feedback, instructional leadership, and why coaching must move beyond compliance-based approaches to create real teacher growth and student learning outcomes.

They also tackle common coaching mistakes, including “facili-manipulation,” surface-level feedback, unclear goals, and the breakdown of coaching due to lack of time, competing priorities, and weak systems. The episode offers practical insight for instructional coaches, principals, district leaders, and anyone focused on improving teacher development and school improvement efforts.

Key topics include:

• Instructional coaching best practices
• Building trust with teachers
• Coaching cycles and feedback loops
• Teacher goal-setting and ownership
• Observation and actionable feedback
• School leadership and implementation
• Professional learning communities (PLCs)
• Coaching for meaningful instructional change
• Avoiding compliance-driven coaching
• Time management for instructional coaches and principals

If you’re a school leader, instructional coach, or educator trying to improve follow-through, teacher engagement, and instructional practice, this episode offers practical frameworks and real-world coaching insights you can immediately apply in schools.

Links from the episode:

SREB Summer Conference (Coaching Community)

Powerful Coaching Practices

Powerful instructional Practices

[FREE WEBINAR] Breaking Through Resistance: Contact us for the recording

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Discover a conversation unlike any you’ve heard before as Dr. Courtney Tate joins Becca Silver to shine a spotlight on the real challenges and triumphs experienced by Black women in instructional coaching. This episode pulls back the curtain on the unseen emotional workload, the navigation of daily microaggressions, and the relentless pursuit of recognition faced by these dedicated professionals. Dr. Tate brings her research and personal journey front and center, revealing strategies for building support systems, dismantling stereotypes, and ensuring visibility and respect within educational spaces. You will walk away with fresh insight, vivid stories, and clear guidance, straight from the source, on how schools can foster true inclusion and leadership for Black women coaches.

Check out Courtney's work here:

• Website: https://alignedcoachingandconsulting.com/
• Leading From the Middle Podcast
• Instagram: the_alignedcoach or ctatewrites
• Book signed from my website
• Order on Amazon

[FREE RESOURCE] Find Your Resistance Type Quiz: Find out the type of resistance you are navigating (previously called The Resistance Audit)

Grab the RESISTANCE PLAYBOOK for only $7 HERE.

[FREE WEBINAR] Breaking Through Resistance: Contact us for the recording

Let's Stay Connected!
Website | Instagram | Twitter | Linkedin | Facebook | Contact Us