The Better Leaders Better Schools Podcast | The #1 Downloaded School Leadership Show

She helps principals stop surviving their schools and start leading them. Michelle Sloan is an educator, author, and leadership coach who spent seven years building a school from the ground up — which gave her something rare: "firsthand proof that mission-driven leadership isn't a feel-good concept, it's a survival strategy." Her book The Purpose Driven Principal is the framework she wishes she'd had in year one. School leadership burnout is not a willpower problem. It's a systems problem. A principal walks in energized, writes down what matters, and by 6pm hasn't touched a single item on the list. This episode is about diagnosing that drift — and building the structure to stop it from swallowing another year. 📚 What You'll Learn 🔨 Breaking Down the Old Rules ✅ Key Insight #1: Principal Burnout Is a Symptom of Missing Purpose Filters What's broken:The shift:Impact: ✅ Key Insight #2: Processes Are a Leadership Superpower, Not an Administrative Chore What's broken:The shift:Impact: ✅ Key Insight #3: The Open Door Policy Is a False Virtue What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🎙️ MICHELLE SLOAN QUOTES FROM THE RUCKUSCAST "A good principal is in their office solving problems. But a great principal is out in the classrooms preventing them." — Michelle Sloan "What's predictable is preventable." — Michelle Sloan "If you never get out of that cycle, you can never be intentional about fulfilling your purpose in your mission. You're just in that cycle of whatever the day brings." — Michelle Sloan "You shouldn't lose yourself in the process because you stepped into leadership." — Michelle Sloan "There's a difference between perfection and being excellent. Do and just loving your people." — Michelle Sloan "You get out of alignment when you don't know who you are and why you exist." — Michelle Sloan "You were created on purpose and for a purpose. You have unique gifts and talents that only you have and the world needs." — Michelle Sloan 🧗‍♂️ Your Do School Different Challenge Ready to implement? Start here: Tomorrow:This Month:This Semester: ⌚️ Episode Timestamps 🔗 Connect With Michelle Sloan 👩🏻‍💻 Website: Sloan Leadership Solutions 🔗 Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn 📕 Book: Purpose-Driven Principal Book 🗞️ Purpose-Driven Principal Weekly Newsletter 🎧 Listen & Subscribe Listen to Better Leaders Better Schools on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Youtube or wherever you get your podcasts. If today's episode moved you, leave a review — it helps more Ruckus Makers find the show. 🧔🏻‍♂️ Your Selfmentorship Guide Meet Digital Danny — your Selfmentorship guide. Always available, never forgets, and evolves with you. Think through your next leadership move at myprincipalcoach.com 🎙️ Today's Ruckuscast Partners ODP Business Solutions has 30 years of experience helping school districts build spaces where learning actually happens. They helped Belago Academy go from ordinary classrooms to collaborative environments so engaging that students forgot to check their phones — through tech integration, flexible furniture, and sustainable design, all from a single supplier that keeps your purchasing compliant and your budget sane. 🔍 Visit ODPbusiness.com/education to see what's possible. Frontline Education's 2026 K–12 Lens Report exists because staffing, student support, operations, and technology aren't separate problems — they're the same pressure showing up in different forms. Built from insights across more than 1,000 school leaders, this report gives you the clearest available picture of how districts are adapting right now. 🔍 Get the full report at FrontlineEducation.com/leaders IXL takes differentiated instruction from aspiration to 20-minute reality. Its universal screener identifies which students need intervention fast, and its adaptive learning platform then adjusts difficulty for each individual student as they work — so one teacher can actually reach every kid in the room. Over a million teachers are...

The principal drive home test: if you can't name one thing that mattered today, you're in reactive mode. Here's the fix. Principal burnout doesn't start in a crisis. It starts in the car at 6pm, when you've done a lot but moved nothing forward — the instructional leadership, the culture work, the long game stuff that actually changes outcomes never got touched. That's not a productivity problem. It's an access problem. This episode introduces selfmentorship — the practice of being your own first coach instead of waiting for permission-based PD, the right mentor, or the right conference to land in your lap. You'll hear how Elaine, an AVID coordinator stepping into a brand new school, used 90 minutes of clear thinking to walk in day one with a real plan instead of firefighting her way through week six. Then you'll hear how to join the next Selfmentorship Sprint on Thursday, May 28 at 7pm Eastern — a live one-hour training plus 90 days of Digital Danny access for $100. Reserve your seat: https://ruckusmakers.news/sprint

A professor at San Diego's High Tech High Graduate School of Education and co-author of PLC+: Better Decisions and Greater Impact by Design, Nancy Frey has spent decades studying how teachers actually collaborate — and why most of it doesn't work. Her research-backed PLC+ framework is the difference between a Wednesday morning ritual and a genuine engine of collective efficacy. She teaches full-time at a high school that runs every student through a real-world internship program, so her frameworks aren't theoretical — they're road-tested. Find her work at hightechhigh.org. Professional learning communities were supposed to fix teacher isolation. Instead, most schools turned them into a weekly meeting where teachers explain why students failed. If your PLCs feel like compliance theater, this episode of the Ruckuscast is the reset you need — Nancy Frey breaks down the PLC+ model and the exact questions that shift a team from admiring problems to solving them. 🌟 What You'll Learn 🔨 Breaking Down the Old Rules 🧠 Key Insight #1: PLCs Have Become Problem-Admiring Sessions, Not Problem-Solving Ones What's broken: Research shows that 85% of PLC conversations focus on student deficits — language barriers, behaviour, home life, or suspected disabilities — rather than instructional changes. The shift: Name a specific, solvable common challenge your team can actually affect, then spend PLC time designing and evaluating actions toward that challenge. Impact: Teams move from collective helplessness to collective efficacy — and teachers stop feeling like they're carrying student achievement alone. 🧠 Key Insight #2: Organizing PLCs by Grade Level Locks Out the Most Valuable Collaboration What's broken: Grade-level and department groupings leave singleton teachers — art, PE, music — without a collaborative home and trap everyone else with the same colleagues year after year. The shift: Organize teams around a shared common challenge, letting staff self-select based on what's genuinely perplexing them right now, regardless of content area. Impact: Teachers encounter new practices, new contexts, and new colleagues — what Nancy calls a more "vivid" way to experience school as a professional. 🧠 Key Insight #3: The Wrong Question Is Driving Every PLC in America What's broken: Schools open PLCs by asking "how do we raise reading scores?" — a question so broad it guarantees vague answers and no accountability. The shift: Drill down to a problem statement specific enough to act on, like "our multilingual learners struggle to answer questions about details from an audio presentation of an academic topic." Impact: When the problem is scoped correctly, teams can design targeted actions, measure impact, and actually see what's working — instead of chasing a metric nobody controls. 🎙️ NANCY FREY QUOTES FROM THE RUCKUSCAST "It's not problem solving, it's admiring the problem." — Nancy Frey "85% of the time, one of four approaches was used when data were shared — and none of them were about what to do differently instructionally." — Nancy Frey "The plus is us. There's a collective responsibility and a collective efficacy to what it is that we do." — Nancy Frey "When teams don't understand their collective wherewithal to be able to impact in a positive way, and they're left with going, I don't know what else to do — you can either say it's on me or it's on them. And it honestly is kind of easier to say it's on them." — Nancy Frey "They are your top, your advanced students. They already knew it and they did not benefit from what it was that you taught. Because your pre and your post information looks exactly the same. Those students are also hiding in plain sight." — Nancy Frey "Nothing is lonelier than feeling like you are the only person taking on all of these challenges." — Nancy Frey 🧩 Your Do School Different Challenge Ready to implement? Start here: Tomorrow:This Month:This Semester: ⏳ Episode Timestamps 00:00 -...

Her career started in Philadelphia public schools in the 90s, full of idealism and a master's in counseling psychology. A decade later, she was coaching executives in global corporations. Now Sage Hobbs coaches school principals and superintendents on the skill that drives everything else — the ability to have conversations that actually matter. She is the author of Naked Communication: Courageously Create the Relationships You Really Want and the host of the Principal Pep Talks podcast. School leadership research points to strategy, curriculum, data, and policy as the levers that move outcomes. Sage Hobbs will tell you those are all downstream of something simpler: the conversations principals are avoiding. If you've ever softened a message that needed to land hard, or left a difficult conversation for "another time" that never came, this episode is the diagnosis. 🤩 What You'll Learn 🔨 Breaking Down the Old Rules 🧰 Key Insight #1: Hard Conversations Are a Leadership Tool, Not a Soft Skill What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🧰 Key Insight #2: Certainty Is Rewarded, But Curiosity Is What Works What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🧰 Key Insight #3: Community Is Not a Program — It Has to Be Built in Conversation What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🎙️ SAGE HOBBS QUOTES FROM THE RUCKUSCAST "Conversations are currency — every conversation is an opportunity for connection, and they're highly effective for building trust and collaboration. And they're free." — Sage Hobbs "To lead is to risk. You can't please everyone. You don't always know the best next steps. You have to be willing to learn and pivot and be wrong — and that runs counter to everything, because you get rewarded for knowing the answers." — Sage Hobbs "Leadership and management are not the same thing, and they're both important. But leadership requires hard conversations, and that's really where change often happens." — Sage Hobbs "Can we lead with curiosity as opposed to assuming that person is incompetent or wrong? I wonder what's going on there. I wonder why they see it that way. I wonder if it's a skill deficit versus an actual incompetency." — Sage Hobbs "If you don't believe that community and connection is central to an organization running well, this book probably isn't for you. I'm not there to build the case for that — I'm here to tell you how to do that part better." — Sage Hobbs "Schools should be community hubs — a real sense of belonging and connection happening there. Make friends, learn cool stuff, and feel cared for." — Sage Hobbs 🧗‍♂️ Your Do School Different Challenge Ready to implement? Start here: Tomorrow:This Month:This Semester: ⌚️ Episode Timestamps 👩🏻‍💻 Connect With Sage Hobbs sagebhobbs.comlinkedin.com/in/sagebhobbs https://www.amazon.ca/Naked-Communication-Courageously-Create-Relationships/dp/099817131X 🎙️ Listen & Subscribe Listen to Better Leaders Better Schools on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Youtube or wherever you get your podcasts. If today's episode moved you, leave a review — it helps more Ruckus Makers find the show. 🧔🏻‍♂️ Your Selfmentorship Guide Meet Digital Danny — your Selfmentorship guide. Always available, never forgets, and evolves with you. Think through your next leadership move at myprincipalcoach.com Today's Ruckuscast Partners ODP Business Solutions has been transforming school learning spaces for 30 years — from smart boards to flexible furniture to sustainable solutions that free you from managing five different suppliers. They help you design dynamic environments that make students excited to show up, and their cooperative contracts keep you compliant without the procurement headache. 👉 Visit ODPbusiness.com/education to see what's possible. Frontline Education's 2026 K-12 Lens Report is built from insights gathered from over 1,000 school leaders across the country — giving you a clear picture of where staffing pressures are easing, where they aren't, and how districts are making...

A Chicano educator from Los Angeles has spent nearly 20 years building the infrastructure that schools won't — the kind that catches students before they fall through the cracks. Hector Flores is the CEO of the Latino Film Institute, home to the Youth Cinema Project, a filmmaking mentorship program now operating in 21 California school districts across 61 classrooms. YCP brings professional filmmakers into English classes to guide students from concept to screen over a full school year. The results — in test scores, reclassification rates, graduation, and lives redirected — are impossible to ignore. Find ALIFI at latinofilm.org. Arts integration in schools has been underfunded, undervalued, and cut first for decades. This episode is the case against that pattern — told through data, two schools that are outperforming their affluent neighbors, and a story about a kid living in a motel who just won Best High School Actor. 🧠 What You'll Learn 🔨 Breaking Down the Old Rules 🎯 Key Insight #1: Student Engagement in Schools Requires Creation, Not Consumption What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🎯 Key Insight #2: Arts Integration Drives Academic Outcomes in Title I Schools What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🎯 Key Insight #3: Redefining Success Unlocks Student Potential That Test Scores Miss What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🎙️ HECTOR FLORES QUOTES FROM THE RUCKUS-CAST "We firmly believe that students need to be creators and not just consumers." — Hector Flores "Access is everything. When we can bring quality program and meet them where they are — that reinforce that investment in time, talent, treasure leads to impact." — Hector Flores "We need to redefine what success looks like. It's not a new conversation, but if we can anchor it where our students are, then they're going to show up." — Hector Flores "It only takes one person to lead a difference. Had I not walked up to mom, you would not have heard this story." — Hector Flores "Art isn't extra — it's actually essential. It physically shapes the brain, strengthening learning, memory, and executive function." — Hector Flores "Take the first step. If your intentions are aligned with the goals and the purpose — take the first step. You're going to find a way." — Hector Flores "We're stepping into a very traditional system and shaking it up. Anyone can lead a difference." — Hector Flores 🧗‍♂️ Your Do School Different Challenge Ready to implement? Start here: Tomorrow:This Month:This Semester: ⌚️ Episode Timestamps 00:00 - Student finds purpose through filmmaking 03:08 - Hector introduces the Latino Film Institute 07:17 - What access and high expectations actually produce 10:10 - Youth Cinema Project explained 13:19 - Academic results from arts integration 19:35 - Why arts get cut — and why that's wrong 21:44 - Two schools proving arts integration works 26:15 - Identity, culture, and who this work is for 34:10 - Marquee message: take the first step 37:52 - Dream school: three guiding principles 41:50 - One thing every Ruckus Maker should remember 🔗 Connect With Hector Flores 👩🏻‍💻 Hector Flores Website https://www.linkedin.com/company/latinofilminstitute/https://www.instagram.com/latinofilminstitute_/ 🎧 Listen & Subscribe Listen to Better Leaders Better Schools on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Youtube or wherever you get your podcasts. If today's episode moved you, leave a review — it helps more Ruckus Makers find the show. 🧔🏻‍♂️ Your Self-Mentorship Guide Meet Digital Danny — your self-mentorship guide. Always available, never forgets, and evolves with you. 👉 Think through your next leadership move at myprincipalcoach.com 🤝 Today's Ruckus-cast Partners ODP Business Solutions 🔍 Visit ODPbusiness.com/education to learn more. Frontline Education's 2026 K12 🔍 Download the full report at FrontlineEducation.com/leaders IXL 🔍 Visit IXL.com/leaders to get started today. META DESCRIPTION: Arts integration in schools is changing student...

The man who co-created category design — the strategic framework behind companies like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Drift — has a blunt message for principals: your recruiting ads are announcing that nobody wants to work at your school. Christopher Lochhead is co-author of Play Bigger, Niche Down, and Category Pirates, the wildly popular business newsletter read by some of the sharpest operators in tech and venture. His latest book, Creator Capitalist, makes the case that the creator economy isn't a trend — it's the future of every career, including the ones you're trying to build on your campus. Most principals spend their careers trying to fix a reputation problem they don't realize they have. This conversation with Christopher Lochhead lands like a two-by-four: your school's reputation is built entirely by what people say when you're not in the room, and most of the signals you're sending are saying the opposite of what you intend. The connection between category design, teacher recruitment, AI in education, and what it means to do school different turns out to be a single through-line — and it starts with the courage to be different. 🤩 What You'll Learn 🔨 Breaking Down the Old Rules ✅ Key Insight #1: Your Recruiting Language Is Telling Candidates to Stay Away What's broken:The shift:Impact: ✅ Key Insight #2: Reputation Capital Is Everything — Principals Are Building It Whether They Know It or Not What's broken:The shift:Impact: ✅ Key Insight #3: AI Doesn't Threaten Good Teaching — It Exposes Bad Teaching What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🎙️ CHRISTOPHER LOCHHEAD QUOTES FROM THE RUCKUSCAST "The people who make the biggest difference, by definition, are different. Because if you're the same, you fit in. And when you're the same, you don't stand out. And as a result of not standing out, you don't make much of a difference." — Christopher Lochhead "When you put an ad out there that says we need teachers, and here's a list of 200 job openings or whatever it is, what's the unspoken? The unspoken is nobody wants to work here." — Christopher Lochhead "If I'm an educator, I want my school to equal working at Nvidia. Because if somebody qualifies to get into my school, when they go forward in their life and they say, I was a teacher at X, everybody goes, oh, wow, that's a great school. That's a halo." — Christopher Lochhead "AI makes the availability of existing knowledge closer and closer to free every day. And many people in the education business thought they were in the business of imparting knowledge. Well, not so much anymore." — Christopher Lochhead "I want to teach young people to learn from AI and to create and build things on their own with AI. Just like when the pen was invented, we learned to create things with the pen. This is the new pen." — Christopher Lochhead "People don't go to school to see Professor Danny or Teacher Danny perform. They go to school for themselves. So the real question is, what do we need to create for them — for the students to be legendary?" — Christopher Lochhead "You are more legendary than you know. The vast majority of people, including insanely successful people, undervalue the value of their value." — Christopher Lochhead 🧗‍♂️ Your Do School Different Challenge Ready to implement? Start here: Tomorrow:This Month:This Semester: ⌚️ Episode Timestamps 🔗 Connect With Christopher Lochhead 👩🏻‍💻 Website: https://lochhead.com/, [https://www.categorypirates.news/,](https://www.categorypirates.news/) https://categorypirates.com/ linkedin.com/in/christopherlochhead📕 Books: Creator Capitalist: Discover Your Superpower, Design Your Dream Career, & Get Paid To Be Youhttps://categorypirates.com/pages/creator-capitalist The Existing Market Trap: (a Primer) Escaping The 13 Deadly Sins that Destroy Companies, Careers and Portfolios Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers, and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets 🎧 Listen & Subscribe Listen to Better Leaders Better Schools on ...

Ten years of school leadership podcasting reveals one consistent truth: most principals are doing it alone when they don't have to. In this special anniversary episode, Danny Bauer sits down with co-host Dan Watt to trace the arc from isolated AP to category-defining podcast host — and what he's learned coaching hundreds of school leaders along the way. Dan Watt is a school principal, leadership coach, and Mastermind coach for Better Leaders Better Schools, based in northern British Columbia, Canada. He joined the Ruckus Maker community as a member before stepping into a coaching role, and now co-writes the weekly Ruckus Makers newsletter. He brings a practitioner's lens to every conversation — someone still in the building, still doing the work. Find him through the Ruckus Makers community at ruckusmakers.news. ☑️ What You'll Learn 🔨 Breaking Down the Old Rules 🧰 Key Insight #1: Working More Hours Is Not a Leadership Strategy What's broken: Districts treat effort and visibility as the measure of a leader's worth — the longer you're on campus, the more you're seen as committed. The shift: Value created and culture built are the real metrics — not hours logged or sleeves rolled up. Impact: Mastermind member Justin stopped seeing more hours as the solution to feeling overwhelmed, found his North Star, and called it transformative. 🧰 Key Insight #2: Isolation Is a Choice, Not a Condition What's broken: Most school leaders wait for the district to provide mentorship, community, or coaching — and the district almost never delivers. The shift: Choosing yourself means actively seeking a community, a coach, and the tools to grow on a weekly basis — not waiting for permission. Impact: When Danny built the Mastermind in 2016, he introduced peer coaching to an industry that had nothing like it; leaders who join stop leading alone. 🧰 Key Insight #3: You Become What You Think About What's broken: Leaders absorb a deficit mindset — kids are broken post-COVID, resources are disappearing, the system is against them — and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The shift: The Beautiful Constraint mindset asks: given this reality, what needs to be true to accomplish what we want? Impact: Principals who reframe obstacles as constraints to work within — rather than walls to hide behind — lead higher-engagement campuses regardless of what the district hands them. 🗣️ DANNY BAUER QUOTES FROM THE RUCKUS-CAST "The strangest secret is we become what we think about." — Danny Bauer "I no longer see putting in more hours as a solution to this feeling. I very much feel like I'm failing forward with this approach, but I feel like I've found a North Star." — Danny Bauer (quoting Mastermind member Justin) "You can work in isolation and get bumps and bruises and learn from sparring in real life — or you could join a community and hear about everybody else's war wounds and scars, and learn from that without having to go through it yourself." — Danny Bauer "I don't want it to be like a cult of personality. I have an expiration date. And also, I'm only one guy with one perspective, and it's not always the best." — Danny BaueR "Every school leader that wants to grow and meet their potential should join our Mastermind. If you don't want to do that, don't join." — Danny Bauer 🧗‍♂️ Your Do School Different Challenge Ready to implement? Start here: Tomorrow: Identify one place you're measuring your leadership worth in hours instead of value — and write down what the actual result looks like instead. This Month: Audit your professional development diet: if a conference once a year is your only growth structure, find one weekly or monthly touchpoint — a book, a community, a coach — and commit to it. This Semester: Build or join a peer learning structure where you're both giving and receiving feedback on real leadership challenges, not just sitting in a room listening to a presenter. ⌚️ Episode Timestamps 00:00 - Why Danny started...

🧰 The Ruckus Report Quick take: This episode is a masterclass in what happens when a teacher stops delivering lessons — and starts creating life-changing experiences. 🙋‍♂️ Meet Your Fellow Ruckus Maker Jesus Huerta is an educator and innovation coach who transforms classrooms into launchpads for curiosity, creativity, and future careers. From 3D printing to robotics, his work centers on one mission: give students access, spark possibility, and let them build what's next. 🔨 Breaking Down the Old Rules In this episode, Jesus Huerta challenges traditional education paradigms: 🎯 Key Insight #1: Engagement Comes from Compliance What's broken:The shift:wantImpact: 🎯 Key Insight #2: Teach the Same Lesson Every Year What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🎯 Key Insight #3: Technology is Extra (or Too Hard) What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🎙️ Quotable Ruckus "If I'm bored teaching the lesson, the kids are definitely bored learning it." – Jesus Huerta 🏋️‍♂️ Your Do School Different Challenge Ready to implement these ideas? Start here: Tomorrow:This Month:This Semester: 🔗 Connect & Continue 🎯 Get the full episode transcript here 👩🏻‍💻 Follow Jesus Huerta: https://mrhuertasclass.weebly.com/linkedin.com/in/jesus-huerta-750375141 📌 Ruckus Makers Don't Just Listen — They Act If education ain't a bit disruptive, then what are your students really learning? This show isn't about doing school better. It's about Doing School Different — and joining a growing movement of bold, creative school leaders who reject legacy models and reimagine what's possible. 🧠 Four Ways We Can Help You on Your Do School Different Journey 📬 Subscribe to the Free Newsletter — An opportunity to Do School Different 3x a week. Tools, mindset shifts, and strategies that actually work: https://ruckusmakers.news 🗞 Read Ruckus Maker Media — Exclusive content on Substack. Premium leadership insights, AI prompts and custom GPTs, new books before the bookshelf. https://ruckusmakers.media 💥 Join The Ruckus Maker Club — Our private network + workshops, The Automatic School tools, AI Prompt Library, and more: https://ruckusmakers.club 🧨 Apply to the Mastermind — Weekly coaching, peer mentorship, and our proven leadership system (The Ruckus Maker Flywheel) to help you transform your campus: https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/mastermind Every tool, community, and coaching program we offer is built to help visionary school leaders play the new game — one where leadership is creative, tech-enabled, and unapologetically student-centered. 🎙 The podcast is your starting point. The movement is just getting started. 🤝 Today's RUCKUScast in Partnership with: ODP Business Solutions®: Looking to create the kind of campus experience students never forget? ODP Business Solutions® transforms ordinary spaces into extraordinary learning environments. 🔍 Learn more: https://odpbusiness.com/education IXL: Over 1 million teachers rely on IXL because it is empowering, it helps them make better decisions with reliable data, and it adapts instruction based on student performance. 🔍 Learn more: https://ixl.com/leaders Frontline Education: 1,000+ school leaders just weighed in on staffing, absenteeism, AI, and funding shifts. The 2026 K-12 Lens Survey Report gives you a national view of where the pressure is — and where momentum is building. 🔍 Learn more: https://frontlineeducation.com/leaders Twelve Practices LLC © 2026 | Create a Campus Experience Worth Showing Up For

📋 The Ruckus Report Quick take: Most principals accept their school building as a fixed constraint. Anne Seeley proves it's actually your most under-utilized leadership tool — and you don't need a construction budget to start. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Ruckus Maker Anne Seeley, a Senior Associate Project Manager, NCARB, LEED, AP, AIA is an accomplished architect with a distinct blend of expertise. For over 20 years, she has focused on educational architecture, creating everything from visionary master plans and engaging student Centers to complex campus renovations. Anne doesn't just design buildings; she creates thoughtful environments that reflect the goals and ideas of the people she works with. Anne's commitment to improving the user experience makes her a leading figure in educational design. 🔨 Breaking Down the Old Rules In this episode, Anne Seeley challenges how school leaders think about physical space: 🧰 Key Insight #1: Space is named, not designed for purpose What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🧰 Key Insight #2: Bus riders get the back door What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🧰 Key Insight #3: Underused spaces sit idle most of the day What's broken:The shift:Impact 🎙️ Quotable Ruckus "Rather than giving a name to something — this is a classroom, this is a corridor — what if the space is a space for engagement? – Anne Seeley What if it's a zone for peer-to-peer instruction? When you start naming the activity, it breaks down our association of what the space looks like and starts to give us opportunities to reimagine it." – Anne Seeley 🧩 Your Do School Different Challenge Ready to implement these ideas? Start here: Tomorrow:This Month:This Semester: 🔗 Connect & Continue 👩🏻‍💻 Follow Anne Seeley: Website:Littleonline.comBlogLinkedInInstagramVimeoLinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/anne-seeley 📌 Ruckus Makers Don't Just Listen — They Act If education ain't a bit disruptive, then what are your students really learning? This show isn't about doing school better. It's about Doing School Different — and joining a growing movement of bold, creative school leaders who reject legacy models and reimagine what's possible. 🧠 Four Ways We Can Help You on Your Do School Different Journey 📬 Subscribe to the Free Newsletter — An opportunity to Do School Different 3x a week. Tools, mindset shifts, and strategies that actually work: https://ruckusmakers.news 🗞 Read Ruckus Maker Media — Exclusive content on Substack. Premium leadership insights, AI prompts and custom GPTs, new books before the bookshelf. https://ruckusmakers.media 💥 Join The Ruckus Maker Club — Our private network + workshops, The Automatic School tools, AI Prompt Library, and more: https://ruckusmakers.club 🧨 Apply to the Mastermind — Weekly coaching, peer mentorship, and our proven leadership system (The Ruckus Maker Flywheel) to help you transform your campus: https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/mastermind 🤝 Today's RUCKUScast in Partnership with: ODP Business Solutions®: Looking to create the kind of campus experience students never forget? ODP Business Solutions® transforms ordinary spaces into extraordinary learning environments. 🔍 Learn more: odpbusiness.com/education IXL: Over 1 million teachers rely on IXL because it empowers better decisions with reliable data and adapts instruction based on student performance. 🔍 Learn more: ixl.com/leaders Frontline Education: Strong school culture doesn't happen by accident — it's built through meaningful support and growth. Frontline Education's 2026 K-12 Lens Report shows how districts are connecting professional development to stronger staffing outcomes. 🔍 Get the full report: frontlineeducation.com/leaders Twelve Practices LLC © 2026 | Create a Campus Experience Worth Showing Up For

Principal leadership development is broken — 3 out of 4 school leaders have no coach, no mentor, no one to think it through with. Principal coaching and self-mentorship are the difference between leaders who wait for answers and leaders who generate their own. Corey, a Chicago principal, logged 910 conversations with Digital Danny over one school year — not for generic advice, but to think through the hardest decisions he faced: a staff situation, a career crossroads, a coaching conversation he needed to get right. He called it "almost like your self mentor." That's the category. That's what this is. This sprint on April 30 gives you one hour to experience the framework, watch a live Digital Danny session, and work through something real you're carrying right now. $100 gets you in — and that includes 30 days of Digital Danny access. Register for the sprint here: https://ruckusmakers.news/sprint ⌚️ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - 3 out of 4 principals lead without a mentor 00:46 - Corey's first Digital Danny conversation 01:38 - The basketball coach situation and the shift 02:25 - Corey's career question and interview prep 03:13 - Digital Danny retrains — Corey accelerates 04:14 - What self-mentorship actually means 05:12 - The Self-Mentorship Sprint: April 30 details

📋 The Ruckus Report Quick take: Schools didn't gradually adopt tech — they surrendered to it. This episode is a wake-up call for leaders ready to reclaim learning, relationships, and childhood from screens. 🎓Meet Your Fellow Ruckus Maker Emily Cherkin, M.Ed., The Screentime Consultant, is leading the fight for a Tech-IntentionalTM childhood. Emily works with schools, families, policymakers, and advocacy organizations to ensure the future of education prioritizes skills, safety, and relationships over screens, EdTech, and A.I. Emily is an author, speaker, consultant, and associate professor of public policy at the University of Washington. She is also co-chair of Fairplay's Screens in Schools Action Network and the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against one of the largest EdTech companies in the world. Emily is also the creator of the UnPlug EdTech Toolkit. 🌱 Breaking Down the Old Rules In this episode, Emily Cherkin challenges traditional education paradigms: 🧰 Key Insight #1: EdTech = Innovation What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🧰 Key Insight #2: Convenience Over Relationships What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🧰 Key Insight #3: Teach Tech Early and Often What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🗣️ Quotable Ruckus "If Tech is doing the thinking, your students aren't!" – Emily Cherkin 🧩 Your Do School Different Challenge Ready to implement these ideas? Start here: Tomorrow:This Month:This Semester: 🔗 Connect & Continue 🎯 Get the full episode transcript here 👩🏻‍💻 Follow Emily Cherkin: 💻 Website: https://thescreentimeconsultant.com 😎 The Unplug EdTech ToolKit https://thescreentimeconsultant.com/resources/unplug-edtech-toolkit 🤝 Emily speaking to UK Parliament: https://firstfish.substack.com/p/testimony-to-uk-parliament?r=250yb9 📕 Book: https://www.amazon.com/Screentime- Solution-Judgment-Free-Becoming- Tech-Intentional/dp/B0CB9JS5KB Instagram:LinkedIn:Facebook:Youtube:BlueSky:First Fish Chronicles:http://firstfish.substack.com 📌 Ruckus Makers Don't Just Listen — They Act If education ain't a bit disruptive, then what are your students really learning? This show isn't about doing school better. It's about Doing School Different — and joining a growing movement of bold, creative school leaders who reject legacy models and reimagine what's possible. 🧠 Four Ways We Can Help You on Your Do School Different Journey 📬 Subscribe to the Free Newsletter — An opportunity to Do School Different 3x a week. Tools, mindset shifts, and strategies that actually work: https://ruckusmakers.news 🗞 Read Ruckus Maker Media — Exclusive content on Substack. Premium leadership insights, AI prompts and custom GPTs, new books before the bookshelf. https://ruckusmakers.media 💥 Join The Ruckus Maker Club — Our private network + workshops, The Automatic School tools, AI Prompt Library, and more: https://ruckusmakers.club 🧨 Apply to the Mastermind — Weekly coaching, peer mentorship, and our proven leadership system (The Ruckus Maker Flywheel) to help you transform your campus: https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/mastermind ✅ Every tool, community, and coaching program we offer is built to help visionary school leaders play the new game — one where leadership is creative, tech-enabled, and unapologetically student-centered. The podcast is your starting point. The movement is just getting started. 🎙️ Today's RUCKUScast in Partnership with: ODP Business Solutions®: Looking to create the kind of campus experience students never forget? ODP Business Solutions® transforms ordinary spaces into extraordinary learning environments. 🔍 Learn more: https://odpbusiness.com/education IXL: Over 1 million teachers rely on IXL because it is empowering, it helps them make better decisions with reliable data, and it adapts instruction based on student performance. 🔍 Learn more: https://ixl.com/leaders Frontline Education: 1,000+ school leaders just weighed in on staffing, absenteeism, AI, and funding shifts....

📋 The Ruckus Report Quick take: Most systems are designed to control people, not empower them.This episode shows what happens when a leader flips that script — and trusts the people closest to students to lead. 🙋‍♂️ Meet Your Fellow Ruckus Maker Dr. Lindsay Whorton is president of The Holdsworth Center, a nonprofit building stronger leaders for public schools. She's the author of A New School Leadership Architecture, a bold blueprint for redesigning leadership roles so educators are supported, developed, and able to help students thrive. ⚒ Breaking Down the Old Rules In this episode, Dr. Lindsay Whorton challenges traditional education paradigms: 🧩 Key Insight #1: Stop Hoarding Power at the Top What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🧩 Key Insight #2: Collaboration Isn't a Meeting What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🧩 Key Insight #3: Scarcity Is a Leadership Trap What's broken:The shift:Impact: 💬 Quotable Ruckus "You're not punishing anyone but your students if you stay stuck in scarcity." – Dr. Lindsay Whorton 🧗‍♂️ Your Do School Different Challenge Ready to implement these ideas? Start here: Tomorrow:This Month:This Semester: 🔗 Connect & Continue 🎯 Get the full episode transcript ****here 👩🏻‍💻 Follow Dr. Lindsay Whorton: Website:https://holdsworthcenter.org/LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsay-whorton-9685aa26/Holdsworth Center on X:https://x.com/HoldsworthCentrHoldsworth Center on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/HoldsworthCenter/Holdsworth Center on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/holdsworthcenter/ 📌 Ruckus Makers Don't Just Listen — They Act If education ain't a bit disruptive, then what are your students really learning? This show isn't about doing school better. It's about Doing School Different — and joining a growing movement of bold, creative school leaders who reject legacy models and reimagine what's possible. 🧠 Four Ways We Can Help You on Your Do School Different Journey 📬 Subscribe to the Free Newsletter — An opportunity to Do School Different 3x a week. Tools, mindset shifts, and strategies that actually work: https://ruckusmakers.news 🗞 Read Ruckus Maker Media — Exclusive content on Substack. Premium leadership insights, AI prompts and custom GPTs, new books before the bookshelf. https://ruckusmakers.media 💥 Join The Ruckus Maker Club — Our private network + workshops, The Automatic School tools, AI Prompt Library, and more: https://ruckusmakers.club 🧨 Apply to the Mastermind — Weekly coaching, peer mentorship, and our proven leadership system (The Ruckus Maker Flywheel) to help you transform your campus: https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/mastermind 📌 Ruckus Makers Don't Just Listen — They Act If you're waiting for more resources, more clarity, or more permission… you'll be waiting forever. The leaders changing schools right now aren't waiting. They're redistributing power, building leaders, and creating campuses worth showing up for. 🤝 Today's RUCKUScast in Partnership with: ODP Business Solutions®: Looking to create the kind of campus experience students never forget? ODP Business Solutions® transforms ordinary spaces into extraordinary learning environments. 🔍 Learn more: https://odpbusiness.com/education IXL: Over 1 million teachers rely on IXL because it is empowering, it helps them make better decisions with reliable data, and it adapts instruction based on student performance. 🔍 Learn more: https://ixl.com/leaders Frontline Education: 1,000+ school leaders just weighed in on staffing, absenteeism, AI, and funding shifts. The 2026 K-12 Lens Survey Report gives you a national view of where the pressure is — and where momentum is building. 🔍 Learn more: https://frontlineeducation.com/leaders © 2026 Twelve Practices LLC | If Education Ain't a Bit Disruptive, Then What Are Your Students Learning?

🎯 The Ruckus Report Quick take: You can't force engagement — but you can design for success. Tommy Floyd breaks down how one meaningful win can transform disconnected students into confident, motivated learners. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Ruckus Maker Tommy Floyd originally became involved in NASP® in 2003, while serving as a high school principal and NASP® coach. Several of the first NASP® state champions were on the Somerset High School team that Tommy coached. He has seen, first-hand, how the program positively impacts students, parents, and teachers. He has seen NASP® promote constructive teacher/student relationships, academic motivation and the promotion of students becoming involved with their school – many for the first time. 🔨 Breaking Down the Old Rules In this episode, Tommy Floyd challenges traditional education paradigms: 😎 Key Insight #1: You Can't Force Engagement What's broken:The shift:Impact: 📌 Key Insight #2: The "Invisible Middle" Doesn't Need More Programs What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🧰 Key Insight #3: Motivation Comes After Success (Not Before) What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🎙️ Quotable Ruckus "Every child needs success. What are you doing?" – Tommy Floyd 🧗‍♂️ Your Do School Different Challenge Ready to implement these ideas? Start here: Tomorrow:This Month:This Semester: 🔗 Connect & Continue 🎯 Get the full episode transcript here 👩🏻‍💻 Follow Tommy Floyd: https://www.naspschools.org/https://www.facebook.com/naspschools/https://www.youtube.com/user/ArcheryintheSchools/videos 📌 Ruckus Makers Don't Just Listen — They Act If education ain't a bit disruptive, then what are your students really learning? This show isn't about doing school better. It's about Doing School Different — and joining a growing movement of bold, creative school leaders who reject legacy models and reimagine what's possible. 🧠 Here are four ways we can help you on your Do School Different journey 📬 Subscribe to the Free Newsletter — An opportunity to Do School Different 3x a week. Tools, mindset shifts, and strategies that actually work: ruckusmakers.news 🗞 Read Ruckus Maker Media — Exclusive content on Substack. Premium leadership insights, AI prompts and custom gpts, new books before the bookshelf. ruckusmakers.media 💥 Join The Ruckus Maker Club — Our private network + workshops, The Automatic School tools, AI Prompt Library, and more: ruckusmakers.club 🧨 Apply to the Mastermind — Weekly coaching, peer mentorship, and our proven leadership system (The Ruckus Maker Flywheel) to help you transform your campus: Apply Now 🎙 Today's RUCKUS cast in Partnership With: ODP Business Solutions® For over 30 years, ODP Business Solutions® has helped schools transform from whiteboards to smartboards. Why? Because when you get the right tools, everyone wins. 🔍 Visit odpbusiness.com/education to revolutionize your school's learning spaces. IXL Over 1 million teachers rely on IXL because it is empowering, it helps them make better decisions with reliable data, and it adapts instruction based on student performance. 🔍 Get started today at ixl.com/leaders Frontline Education: 1,000+ school leaders just weighed in on staffing, absenteeism, AI, and funding shifts. The 2026 K-12 Lens Survey Report gives you a national view of where the pressure is — and where momentum is building. 🔍 Learn more: https://frontlineeducation.com/leaders © 2026 Twelve Practices LLC | If Education Ain't a Bit Disruptive, Then What Are Your Students Learning?

📕 The Ruckus Report Quick take: Most strategic plans fail for one simple reason — leaders try to sell a vision the community didn't help create. Drew Howick and Dr. Jeffrey Axelbank reveal how the Future Search process flips that script by putting the whole community in the room to design the future together. 🫂 Meet Your Fellow Ruckus Makers Drew Howick is the founder of Howick Associates, a highly regarded consulting firm based in Madison Wis, and is well regarded as a trusted advisor and collaborative partner to hundreds of schools districts, most of which are in Wisconsin. He is the author of the book, The New Compleat Facilitator: A Handbook for Facilitators. Dr. Jeffrey Axelbank is a psychologist and consultant based in Highland Park, NJ. His consulting work focuses on strategic engagement - getting everyone pulling in the same direction. He is particularly passionate about whole-system interventions such as Future Search, to help diverse stakeholders in organizations and communities discover common ground in their vision of their shared future. 🔨 Breaking Down the Old Rules In this episode, Drew Howick and Dr. Jeffrey Axelbank challenge traditional education paradigms: 🧰 Key Insight #1: Stop "Selling" Strategic Plans What's broken:The shift:60–160 diverse stakeholders togetherImpact: 🎯 Key Insight #2: Replace Hub-and-Spoke Engagement What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🧨 Key Insight #3: Make Strategic Planning an Event, Not a Process What's broken:The shiftImpact: 🎙️ Quotable Ruckus "Strong schools require strong community partnerships — and those partnerships don't just happen. Someone has to start the conversation." – Drew Howick "When people help create the vision for the future, they don't fight the plan — they help build it." – Dr. Jeffrey Axelbank 🔗 Connect & Continue 🎯 Get the full episode transcript here 👩🏻‍💻 Follow Drew Howick: *www.howickassociates.com AASA JSP Comm'ty Engage using Future Search.pdf 👩🏻‍💻 Follow Dr. Jeffrey Axelbank: https://axelbankconsulting.com/https://futuresearch.net/Future Search: Getting The Whole System in the Room for Vision, Commitment, and Actionhttps://a.co/d/0dMt4o3phttps://www.aasa.org/resources/resource/community-engagement-using-future-search-a-systematic-evaluation-of-the-wisconsin-experience 🧗‍♂️ Your Do School Different Challenge Ready to implement these ideas? Start here: Tomorrow:What are you glad, sad, and mad about in our school system?This Month:This Semester:community vision event 📌 Ruckus Makers Don't Just Listen — They Act If education ain't a bit disruptive, then what are your students really learning? This show isn't about doing school better. It's about Doing School Different — and joining a growing movement of bold, creative school leaders who reject legacy models and reimagine what's possible. 🧠 Here are four ways we can help you on your Do School Different journey 📬 Subscribe to the Free Newsletter — An opportunity to Do School Different 3x a week. Tools, mindset shifts, and strategies that actually work https://ruckusmakers.news/subscribe 🗞 Read Ruckus Maker Media — Exclusive content on Substack. Premium leadership insights, AI prompts and custom gpts, new books before the bookshelf.https://ruckusmakers.media 💥 Join The Ruckus Maker Club — Our private network + workshops, The Automatic School tools, AI Prompt Library, and more: https://members.ruckusmakers.club/plans/1428145?bundle_token=e8203ab7f9df767a6cf6b98e18a4ff0d&utm_source=manual 🧨 Apply to the Mastermind — Weekly coaching, peer mentorship, and our proven leadership system (The Ruckus Maker Flywheel) to help you transform your campus: https://www.betterleadersbetterschools.com/mastermind-application 🎙 Today's RUCKUS cast in Partnership With: ODP Business Solutions® For over 30 years, ODP Business Solutions® has helped schools transform from whiteboards to smart-boards. Why? Because when you get the right tools, everyone wins. 🔍 Visit...

🧰 The Ruckus Report Quick take: This episode flips the script on school culture and student motivation. Adrian Ireland shows why most engagement issues aren't about effort — they're about environment — and what to do instead. 🫂 Meet Your Fellow Ruckus Maker Adrian Ireland is an international educator, systems thinker, and author who reimagines the architecture of learning by challenging traditional, standardized education models. With experience leading across Asia and Europe, he champions learner-centered approaches that elevate curiosity, individuality, and creativity. 🔨 Breaking Down the Old Rules 😎 Key Insight #1: Schools don't have effort problems — they have architecture problems What's brokenThe shiftImpact 📌 Key Insight #2: Culture isn't spoken into existence — it's built by design What's brokenThe shiftImpact 🧰 Key Insight #3: Startup Week proves a different architecture delivers better results What's brokenThe shiftImpact 💬 Quotable Ruckus "Culture is really system architecture in disguise." – Adrian Ireland 🧗‍♂️ Your Do School Different Challenge Ready to implement these ideas? Start here: TomorrowThis MonthThis Semester 🔗 Connect & Continue 🎯 Get the full episode transcript here 👩🏻‍💻 Follow Adrian Ireland: https://designingdifferent.carrd.co/linkedin.com/in/adrian-ireland-413191278Designing different 📌 Ruckus Makers Don't Just Listen — They Act If education ain't a bit disruptive, then what are your students really learning? This show isn't about doing school better. It's about Doing School Different — and joining a growing movement of bold, creative school leaders who reject legacy models and reimagine what's possible. 🧠 Here are four ways we can help you on your Do School Different journey 📬 Subscribe to the Free Newsletter — An opportunity to Do School Different 3x a week. Tools, mindset shifts, and strategies that actually work: ruckusmakers.news 🗞 Read Ruckus Maker Media — Exclusive content on Substack. Premium leadership insights, AI prompts and custom GPTs, new books before the bookshelf. ruckusmakers.media 💥 Join The Ruckus Maker Club — Our private network + workshops, The Automatic School tools, AI Prompt Library, and more: ruckusmakers.club 🧨 Apply to the Mastermind — Weekly coaching, peer mentorship, and our proven leadership system (The Ruckus Maker Flywheel) to help you transform your campus: Apply Now 🎙 Today's RUCKUS cast in Partnership With: Play Piper Every student starts with curiosity — Piper keeps it alive. Our hands-on STEM kits turn gaming passion into real engineering skills. 🔍 Spark confidence in your students at playpiper.com/ruckus. ODP Business Solutions® Still scrambling for supplies like it's 1999? ODP streamlines everything from pencils to projectors so you can focus on what matters — making an impact. 🔍 Visit odpbusiness.com/education to learn more. IXL If you could differentiate instruction in 20 minutes or less, would you do it? Over 1 million teachers use IXL to make data-informed instruction effortless. 🔍 Start today at ixl.com/leaders. © 2026 Twelve Practices LLC | If Education Ain't a Bit Disruptive, Then What Are Your Students Learning?

📕 The Ruckus Report Quick take: Danny tells the brutal story of a "worst first day of school ever" moment — when half the students had no schedules — and uses it to make the case for a 90-day entry plan that builds trust fast, reduces stress, and keeps your campus from spiralling into avoidable chaos. 🔨 Breaking Down the Old Rules In this episode, Danny challenges the "vibes-only leadership" approach and lays out why leaders need a real plan — what you're doing, why you're doing it, and how you'll execute — especially in the first 90 days. 🧨 Key Insight #1 — The real "first day" starts months earlier What's broken:The shift:time-based entry planImpact: 📌 Key Insight #2 — Chaos is often a systems failure, not a people problem What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🎯 Key Insight #3 — Close the "Belief Gap" at 3 levels What's broken:The shift:YouYour teamStakeholdersImpact: 🎙️ Quotable Ruckus "As school leaders, we make a promise to our community — and it's important that you deliver on that promise, especially in the first 90 days." — Danny Bauer. 🧩 Your Do School Different Challenge Ready to implement these ideas? Start here: Tomorrow:one predictable breakdownprevent-it listThis Month:90-day entry planThis Semester:you/team/stakeholders 🔗 Connect & Continue 🎯 Get the full episode transcript here 👉Apply to The Entry Plan Intensive: https://entryplanintensive.com/ 📌 Ruckus Makers Don't Just Listen — They Act If education ain't a bit disruptive, then what are your students really learning? This show isn't about doing school better. It's about Doing School Different — and joining a growing movement of bold, creative school leaders who reject legacy models and reimagine what's possible. 🧠 Here are four ways we can help you on your Do School Different journey: 📬 Subscribe to the Free Newsletter — An opportunity to Do School Different 3x a week. Tools, mindset shifts, and strategies that actually work: https://ruckusmakers.news/subscribe 🗞 Read Ruckus Maker Media — Exclusive content on Substack. Premium leadership insights, AI prompts and custom gpts, new books before the bookshelf: https://ruckusmakers.media/ 💥 Join The Ruckus Maker Club — Our private network + workshops, The Automatic School tools, AI Prompt Library, and more: https://ruckusmakers.club/join 🧨 Apply to the Mastermind — Weekly coaching, peer mentorship, and our proven leadership system (The Ruckus Maker Flywheel) to help you transform your campus: https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/mastermind 🎙 Today's RUCKUS cast in Partnership With: ODP Business Solutions® For over 30 years, ODP Business Solutions® has helped schools transform from whiteboards to smartboards. Why? Because when you get the right tools, everyone wins. 🔍 Visit odpbusiness.com/education to revolutionize your school's learning spaces. IXL Over 1 million teachers rely on IXL because it is empowering, it helps them make better decisions with reliable data, and it adapts instruction based on student performance. 🔍 Get started today at ixl.com/leaders PLAY PIPER This episode is brought to you by Play Piper. At Piper, we believe STEM doesn't have to feel out of reach. Too many kids love gaming but give up on science and engineering because school doesn't spark their interest. That's where Piper comes in - They have hands-on STEM kits designed to turn curiosity into confidence and keep the pipeline of future innovators flowing strong. 🔍 Learn more at playpiper.com/ruckus © 2026 Twelve Practices LLC | If Education Ain't a Bit Disruptive, Then What Are Your Students Learning?

🧨 The Ruckus Report Quick take: Most leaders say they want innovation… then rebuild the same dusty campus experience with newer paint. Will Campbell shows what happens when you press reset, redesign the human experience of school, and trust students to build the culture while teachers get time to grow inside the workday. Meet Your Fellow Ruckus Maker Will Campbell is redefining what's possible with modern education. As the Founding Head of Franklin School in Jersey City, named the The Most Innovative School in the World by T4 Education, Will has built a learning ecosystem that fuses timeless educational wisdom with breakthrough innovation. His work challenges the traditional playbook, empowering students and educators to think boldly, act with purpose, and lead with vision. 🔨 Breaking Down the Old Rules In this episode, Will Campbell challenges traditional education paradigms: 🧰 Key Insight #1: Building from scratch isn't freedom, It's leadership under uncertainty What's broken:The shift:Impact:because 🧠 Key Insight #2: Student voice isn't a survey. It's shared ownership of culture What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🧰 Key Insight #3: Partnerships beat "exposure." Bring the real world into the building What's broken:The shift:nowImpact: 🎙️ Quotable Ruckus "Not everything can be a yes, but everything doesn't have to be a no." – Will Campbell 🧗‍♂️ Your Do School Different Challenge Ready to implement these ideas? Start here: Tomorrow:This Month:This Semester: 📌 Ruckus Makers Don't Just Listen — They Act If education ain't a bit disruptive, then what are your students really learning? This show isn't about doing school better. It's about Doing School Different — and joining a growing movement of bold, creative school leaders who reject legacy models and reimagine what's possible. 🧠 Here are four ways we can help you on your Do School Different journey: 📬 Subscribe to the Free Newsletter — An opportunity to Do School Different 3x a week. Tools, mindset shifts, and strategies that actually work: https://ruckusmakers.news/subscribe 🗞 Read Ruckus Maker Media — Exclusive content on Substack. Premium leadership insights, AI prompts and custom gpts, new books before the bookshelf: https://ruckusmakers.media/ 💥 Join The Ruckus Maker Club — Our private network + workshops, The Automatic School tools, AI Prompt Library, and more: https://ruckusmakers.club/join 🧨 Apply to the Mastermind — Weekly coaching, peer mentorship, and our proven leadership system (The Ruckus Maker Flywheel) to help you transform your campus: https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/mastermind 🎙 Today's RUCKUS cast in Partnership With: ODP Business Solutions® For over 30 years, ODP Business Solutions® has helped schools transform from whiteboards to smartboards. Why? Because when you get the right tools, everyone wins. 🔍 Visit odpbusiness.com/education to revolutionize your school's learning spaces. IXL Over 1 million teachers rely on IXL because it is empowering, it helps them make better decisions with reliable data, and it adapts instruction based on student performance. 🔍 Get started today at ixl.com/leaders PLAY PIPER This episode is brought to you by Play Piper. At Piper, we believe STEM doesn't have to feel out of reach. Too many kids love gaming but give up on science and engineering because school doesn't spark their interest. That's where Piper comes in - They have hands-on STEM kits designed to turn curiosity into confidence and keep the pipeline of future innovators flowing strong. 🔍 Learn more at playpiper.com/ruckus © 2026 Twelve Practices LLC | If Education Ain't a Bit Disruptive, Then What Are Your Students Learning?

🎯 The Ruckus Report Quick take: Kim Strobel's been attacked for teaching differently — and still chose joy. In this episode, she shows school leaders how happiness isn't fluff — it's the foundation. Learn how to fight for your fire, rewire your brain, and lead a school worth showing up for. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Ruckus Maker Kim Strobel is a former teacher and administrator turned global speaker, author, and happiness coach. After battling a debilitating panic disorder, she transformed her pain into purpose — helping educators reclaim joy, build resilience, and spark cultures of well-being in their schools. She's the author of Teach Happy: Small Steps to Big Joy and speaks on stages around the world, including events for the FBI and thousands of educators each year. 🔨 Breaking Down the Old Rules 🧨 Key Insight #1: You have to play it safe to survive school culture What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🧰 Key Insight #2: Productivity means grinding, not growing What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🚀 Key Insight #3: You can't lead culture — you're not responsible for staff happiness What's broken:The shift:Impact: 💬 Quotable Ruckus "If your classroom doesn't have joy, curiosity, or risk, then what exactly are you preparing kids for?" – Kim Strobel 📈 Your Do School Different Challenge Ready to implement these ideas? Start here: Tomorrow:This Month:This Semester: 🔗 Connect & Continue 🎯 Get the full episode transcript here 👩🏻‍💻 Follow Kim Strobel: http://www.strobeleducation.comhttps://strobeleducation.com/teach-happy/https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-strobel/https://www.instagram.com/kimstrobeljoy/https://www.facebook.com/groups/1798779396858380https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/she-finds-joy/id1487739752 📌 Ruckus Makers Don't Just Listen — They Act If education ain't a bit disruptive, then what are your students really learning? This show isn't about doing school better. It's about Doing School Different — and joining a growing movement of bold, creative school leaders who reject legacy models and reimagine what's possible. 🧠 Here are four ways we can help you on your Do School Different journey: 📬 Subscribe to the Free Newsletter — An opportunity to Do School Different 3x a week. Tools, mindset shifts, and strategies that actually work: https://ruckusmakers.news/subscribe 🗞 Read Ruckus Maker Media — Exclusive content on Substack. Premium leadership insights, AI prompts and custom gpts, new books before the bookshelf: https://ruckusmakers.media/ 💥 Join The Ruckus Maker Club — Our private network + workshops, The Automatic School tools, AI Prompt Library, and more: https://ruckusmakers.club/join 🧨 Apply to the Mastermind — Weekly coaching, peer mentorship, and our proven leadership system (The Ruckus Maker Flywheel) to help you transform your campus: https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/mastermind 🎙 Today's RUCKUS cast in Partnership With: ODP Business Solutions® For over 30 years, ODP Business Solutions® has helped schools transform from whiteboards to smartboards. Why? Because when you get the right tools, everyone wins. 🔍 Visit odpbusiness.com/education to revolutionize your school's learning spaces. IXL Over 1 million teachers rely on IXL because it is empowering, it helps them make better decisions with reliable data, and it adapts instruction based on student performance. 🔍 Get started today at ixl.com/leaders PLAY PIPER This episode is brought to you by Play Piper. At Piper, we believe STEM doesn't have to feel out of reach. Too many kids love gaming but give up on science and engineering because school doesn't spark their interest. That's where Piper comes in - They have hands-on STEM kits designed to turn curiosity into confidence and keep the pipeline of future innovators flowing strong. 🔍 Learn more at playpiper.com/ruckus © 2026 Twelve Practices LLC | If Education Ain't a Bit Disruptive, Then What Are Your Students Learning?

📣 The Ruckus Report Quick take: What if the cure for disengagement isn't better apps, but real tools in real hands? In this episode, Kris Rockwell challenges the one-way screen model that dominates modern classrooms — and makes a powerful case for hands-on learning that sparks joy, confidence, and curiosity. 🤝 Meet Your Fellow Ruckus Maker Kris Rockwell works at the intersection of venture capital, technology, and non-profit initiatives. After spending over fifteen years in the eLearning field, he went on to lead the S. Kent Rockwell Foundation, supporting initiatives in conservation, entrepreneurship, and addiction recovery. He currently serves as Head of Product Development at Play Piper Inc. an edtech company based in San Francisco, the founder of AoS Ventures, a Pittsburgh-based venture capital group, and the co-founder of Praxis Science, a company that focuses on blockchain applications for decentralized science. 🔨 Breaking Down the Old Rules In this episode, Kris Rockwell challenges traditional education paradigms: 🧠 Key Insight #1: The Tyranny of the One-Way Screen What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🧰 Key Insight #2: Tools Aren't Enough Without Freedom to Try What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🚀 Key Insight #3: Preparing Kids for the Jobs That Don't Exist Yet What's broken:The shift:Impact: 💬 Quotable Ruckus "Confidence doesn't come from clicking — it comes from building." – Kris Rockwell 🧗‍♂️ Your Do School Different Challenge 👉 Ready to implement these ideas? Start here: Tomorrow:This Month:This Semester: 🔗 Connect & Continue 📌 Get the full episode transcript here 👩🏻‍💻 Follow Kris Rockwell: www.playpiper.comwww.linkedin.com/in/krisrockwellhttps://www.facebook.com/StartWithPiperhttps://x.com/StartWithPiperhttps://www.instagram.com/startwithpiperhttps://www.youtube.com/@PlayPiperLLC 📌 Ruckus Makers Don't Just Listen — They Act If education ain't a bit disruptive, then what are your students really learning? This show isn't about doing school better. It's about Doing School Different — and joining a growing movement of bold, creative school leaders who reject legacy models and reimagine what's possible. 🧠 Here are four ways we can help you on your Do School Different journey: 📬 Subscribe to the Free Newsletter — Tools, mindset shifts, and strategies that actually work: https://ruckusmakers.news 🗞 Read Ruckus Maker Media — Premium insights and early book drops: https://ruckusmakers.media 💥 Join The Ruckus Maker Club — Private network, AI Prompt Library, and more: https://ruckusmakers.club/join 🧨 Apply to the Mastermind — Coaching + The Ruckus Maker Flywheel: https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/mastermind 🎙 Today's RUCKUS cast in Partnership With: ODP Business Solutions® For over 30 years, ODP Business Solutions® has helped schools transform from whiteboards to smartboards. Why? Because when you get the right tools, everyone wins. 🔍 Visit odpbusiness.com/education to revolutionize your school's learning spaces. IXL Over 1 million teachers rely on IXL because it is empowering, it helps them make better decisions with reliable data, and it adapts instruction based on student performance. 🔍 Get started today at ixl.com/leaders PLAY PIPER This episode is brought to you by Play Piper. At Piper, we believe STEM doesn't have to feel out of reach. Too many kids love gaming but give up on science and engineering because school doesn't spark their interest. That's where Piper comes in - They have hands-on STEM kits designed to turn curiosity into confidence and keep the pipeline of future innovators flowing strong. 🔍 Learn more at playpiper.com/ruckus © 2026 Twelve Practices LLC | If Education Ain't a Bit Disruptive, Then What Are Your Students Learning?

📣 The Ruckus Report Quick take: What if the best learning doesn't happen in a classroom? Dr. Annalies Corbin shares 5 proven strategies to design schools that actually connect learning to real life. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Ruckus Maker Dr. Annalies Corbin is the Founder & CEO of the PAST Foundation, a trailblazing organization transforming education for the 21st century. A relentless innovator, Dr. Corbin has been reshaping how we connect learning to life for the past 25 years, bridging the gap between scientific research, real-world problem-solving, and classroom experiences. 🔨 Breaking Down the Old Rules In this episode, Dr. Corbin challenges traditional education paradigms: 🎯 Key Insight #1: Student Agency What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🎯 Key Insight #2: Cultural Relevancy What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🎯 Key Insight #3: Mastery over Time What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🎯 Key Insight #4: Transdisciplinary Learning What's broken:The shift:Impact: 🎯 Key Insight #5: Problem-Based Learning What's broken:The shift:Impact: 💬 Quotable Ruckus "Say Yes! Too many great ideas die before they start because we begin with all the reasons why not." ** — Dr. Annalies Corbin** 📈 Your Do School Different Challenge Ready to implement these ideas? Start here: TomorrowtheyThis MonthThis Semester 🔗 Connect & Continue 🎯 Get the full episode transcript here 👩🏻‍💻 Follow Dr. Annalies Corbin: https://www.pastfoundation.org/annalies-corbinpastfoundation.org/hackingschoolpastfoundation.org/learning-unboxedlinkedin.com/in/annalies-corbin-4016121 📌 Ruckus Makers Don't Just Listen — They Act If education ain't a bit disruptive, then what are your students really learning? This show isn't about doing school better. It's about Doing School Different — and joining a growing movement of bold, creative school leaders who reject legacy models and reimagine what's possible. 🧠 Here are four ways we can help you on your Do School Different journey: 📬 Subscribe to the Free Newsletter — Tools, mindset shifts, and strategies that actually work: ruckusmakers.news 🗞️ Read Ruckus Maker Media — Premium Substack content, AI prompts, book previews: ruckusmakers.media 💥 Join The Ruckus Maker Club — Private network, workshops, The Automatic School toolkit, and more: ruckusmakers.club 🧨 Apply to the Mastermind — Weekly coaching, peer mentorship, and our proven leadership system: Apply Now 🎙 Today's RUCKUS cast in Partnership With: ODP Business Solutions® For over 30 years, ODP Business Solutions® has helped schools transform from whiteboards to smartboards. Why? Because when you get the right tools, everyone wins. 🔍 Visit odpbusiness.com/education to revolutionize your school's learning spaces. IXL Over 1 million teachers rely on IXL because it is empowering, it helps them make better decisions with reliable data, and it adapts instruction based on student performance. 🔍 Get started today at ixl.com/leaders PLAY PIPER This episode is brought to you by Play Piper. At Piper, we believe STEM doesn't have to feel out of reach. Too many kids love gaming but give up on science and engineering because school doesn't spark their interest. That's where Piper comes in - They have hands-on STEM kits designed to turn curiosity into confidence and keep the pipeline of future innovators flowing strong. 🔍 Learn more at playpiper.com/ruckus © 2026 Twelve Practices LLC | If Education Ain't a Bit Disruptive, Then What Are Your Students Learning?