The Modern Principal Podcast

Conducting Interviews Part 1: Preparing

Hiring a teacher is arguably the most important role of the administrator. SO much goes into the hiring process-  from reviewing resumes, to developing the interview team, to the questions to the reference checks! Join us this week as we conquer part one of a three-part series on the view from the other side of the interviewing desk. We tackle the work of resume review, creating the interview team, and preparing for the interviews!

Commute Considerations

Christy and Karen discuss the pros and cons of the long or short of a commute. With both of us having commutes ranging from 90 seconds to over 2 hours, we've seen the benefits and drawbacks of all things driving to work! Join us this episode to share strategies to maximize your commute, ways to think about work happiness over the commute itself, and several different scenarios related to decision-making about your career and your family balance!

Survival Tips When Everything is Hard

This week's pod topic comes from a listener who just wants to know, "What do you do to survive each day and come back the next?" We know it's tough right now, but there are things we can do to overcome! Check out this episode for practical tips on getting through those times that feel like everything is on fire. 

Working Mum Balance

Karen and Christy tackle the ever-popular topic of working mom balance in a much-requested follow-up to our past episode, "The Elusive Unicorn of Work/Life Balance." We tackle the topic from a more holistic perspective this time around and hope that if you take one thing away it's that we are all human and still figuring it out! 

Staff Communication Tips

Teachers routinely say one of the main things they are looking for in a principal is communication. But that's a BIG topic, so what exactly does that mean?! Christy and Karen tackle just that on this week's pod episode. We share resources from NSPRA as well as from our own experiences in the job. We go into the different ways principals communicate, and it's not just through what we say. Join us this week!

Resume and Interview Tips

It's hiring season! In this week's pod, we share some of our best resume and interview tips from our live workshops if you're looking to change roles in education. We discuss making your resume shine, nailing the interview, and how to stand out in your current role. 

When the Boss Goes the Wrong Way

We've all been there - your boss makes a decision you disagree with. Or maybe you're the boss heading in the wrong direction. This week on the pod, Karen and Christy dive into how to disagree with your boss respectfully and make the change you think needs to happen! 

Mistakes, Missteps, and Moving On!

Are all failures and mistakes created equally? This week on the Modern Principal Podcast, Christy & Karen discuss some important life lessons we've learned in leadership and how those have guided the leaders we are still working to become today. Learn from our missteps in this episode and discover how you can move forward even after a failure!

Welcome, 2022...Mixed Reviews So Far

In this recap episode, Karen & Christy reflect on 2021 and all the grand plans we laid out that may or may not have come to fruition. We discuss the crisis in education now with the stress facing our educators and the toll it is taking on people's mental and physical health. We hope you'll join us for this episode and this year as we drop more pods to guide you on your leadership journey!

The Inevitable Out-of-Balance Reading Implementation Missteps

This week we continue our focus on leading reading in your school, chatting through the common missteps Karen and Christy have both taken while focusing on implementing a reading initiative. Ever so often, our goal to strengthen one of the five pillars of reading and writing instruction causes the pendulum to swing and weakens another area. Covered in this pod is how to make sure balanced literacy stays balanced, guiding teachers on implementing reading strategies and reading standards and even the best ways to guide your teams through drafting a balanced assessment calendar. Listen in! Be sure to check out Just Right Reader for all your decodable text needs, too!