

The Better Leaders Better Schools Podcast | The #1 Downloaded School Leadership Show
Daniel Bauer Loves School Leadership
BETTER LEADERS BETTER SCHOOLS is the most downloaded podcast for K-12 school leaders — sitting in the TOP 0.5% of over 2 million podcasts worldwide.
Launched in 2015, BLBS exists for one kind of leader: the Ruckus Maker — the principal who refuses to default to the status quo and is creating a campus experience worth showing up for.
Every week, host Danny Bauer sits down with the sharpest minds in leadership, learning, and culture. No permission slips required.
Turn your commute, your workout, or your chores into the best professional development of your career.
Do School Different.
Launched in 2015, BLBS exists for one kind of leader: the Ruckus Maker — the principal who refuses to default to the status quo and is creating a campus experience worth showing up for.
Every week, host Danny Bauer sits down with the sharpest minds in leadership, learning, and culture. No permission slips required.
Turn your commute, your workout, or your chores into the best professional development of your career.
Do School Different.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Mar 15, 2024 • 14min
3 Stories and Your Last 24hrs
Show Highlights & Resources Opportunity for educational disruptors to create a lasting influence. Key cultural values to be addressed at the summit, exemplified by gaping void's culture tiles. Broadening school success metrics beyond academic scores. This summer you're invited to attend the ONLY event in education available to Ruckus Makers. Join us in Nashville this July 12-14 for The Sustainable School Leadership Summit. Learn more here: https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/school-leadership-summit/ Jump Start Passes are available until March 15 (50% off ticket price). Get the episode transcript here! Read my latest book! Learn why the ABCs of powerful professional development™ work – Grow your skills by integrating more Authenticity, Belonging, and Challenge into your life and leadership. Read Mastermind: Unlocking Talent Within Every School Leader today! Copyright © 2024 Twelve Practices LLC

Mar 14, 2024 • 7min
5 Benefits You will Experience In Nashville
5 Benefits You Will Experience In Nashville Show Highlights & Resources Danny highlights five benefits that attendees can expect from the Sustainable School Leadership Summit. This summer you're invited to attend the ONLY event in education available to Ruckus Makers. Join us in Nashville this July 12-14 for The Sustainable School Leadership Summit. Learn more here: https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/school-leadership-summit/ Jump Start Passes are available until March 15 (50% off ticket price). Get the episode transcript here! Read my latest book! Learn why the ABCs of powerful professional development™ work – Grow your skills by integrating more Authenticity, Belonging, and Challenge into your life and leadership. Read Mastermind: Unlocking Talent Within Every School Leader today! Copyright © 2024 Twelve Practices LLC

Mar 13, 2024 • 38min
Lead With Two Rules
Nurturing Trust and Building Connections In Education With over two decades of experience as an educator in various school settings, I have cultivated a profound philosophy of education known as Two Rules. This philosophy serves as a foundation for fostering building-wide support for the social-emotional learning and mental health needs of students. Through the years, I witnessed the transformative impact of prioritizing these essential aspects of education, contributing to a positive and nurturing school environment. Since my retirement from formal education, my commitment to educational advancement has not wavered. I have found a meaningful role as a mentor and coach with the Illinois Principals Association, where I guide and support aspiring and early-career educators. This role allows me to share my wealth of experience and insights, contributing to the growth and development of the next generation of educational leaders. Show Highlights Leadership in education focusing collaboration and feeling safe. Early life incidents influence stress, empathy and resilience. Tips to help students reflect on emotional regulation and the difference between responding and reacting. Importance of every student having at least one caring adult. Guiding questions to encourage students in problem-solving solutions. 12 Resiliency Resources in Brenda's book. Choose edges on a continuum to guide leadership decisions. "I think it would be, together we can be the solution. Home, school and community. I think together we can be the solution." -Brenda Yoho "Clarity. How we communicate and how we are clear with what our message is and what we're trying to do. Everybody is valuable to what we're doing, and we're placing value on everything that we're saying. We have so much power in the words that we use, and I think that we forget that as educators." -Brenda Yoho Get the episode transcript here! Brenda's Resources & Contact Info: Website:Brenda Yoho Linkedin Read my latest book! Learn why the ABCs of powerful professional development™ work – Grow your skills by integrating more Authenticity, Belonging, and Challenge into your life and leadership. Read Mastermind: Unlocking Talent Within Every School Leader today! Apply to the Mastermind The mastermind is changing the landscape of professional development for school leaders. 100% of our members agree that the mastermind is the #1 way they grow their leadership skills. Apply to the mastermind today! How We Serve Leaders The School Leadership Scorecard™ Identify your highest leverage areas for growth this year in 10 -minutes or less. https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/scorecard Month-to-Month Principal Checklist As a principal with so much to do, you might be thinking, where do I even start? When you download The Principal Checklist you'll get 12-months of general tasks that every campus need to do Space to write your campus specific items. Space to reflect and not what worked as well as a space of what didn't work Go to https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/principal-checklist to download now. Ruckus Maker Mindset Tool™ The "secret" to peak performance is ot complicated. It's a plan on how to optimize the five fundamentals found in The Ruckus Maker Mindset Tool™. https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/mindset The Positive Spotlight Tool™ Energy flows to where attention goes! If you want to get more of what you want, when you want it as a school leader I have a tool for you… Download The Positive Spotlight Tool™ for free here: https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/positive The Ruckus Maker 8-Step Goal Setting Tool™ Are you ready to accomplish more? With less effort and in less time? When you download The Ruckus Maker 8-Step Goal Setting Tool™ I'll send you the tool and a short 8-minute coaching video that shows you how to work smarter, not harder…and create more value for your school campus. Download The Ruckus Maker 8-Step Goal Setting Tool™ for free at https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/goals SHOW SPONSORS: TEACHFX How much student talk happened today? When classrooms come alive with conversation, learning improves, students feel a sense of belonging, and teachers feel inspired. The TeachFX instructional coaching app gives teachers powerful insights into their student talk, student engagement, and classroom conversation. With TeachFX, teachers see how much student talk happened, the moments of students sharing their brilliance, and the questions that got students talking.Learn how to pilot TeachFX with your teachers. Visit: teachfx.com/betterleaders ORGANIZED BINDER Why do students struggle? I'd argue that they lack access to quality instruction, but think about it. That's totally out of their control. What if there was something we could teach kids there was something within their control that would help them be successful in every class? It's not a magic pill or a figment of your imagination. When students internalize Executive Functioning Skills they succeed. Check out the new self-paced online course brought to you by OB that shows teachers how to equip their students with executive functioning skills. Learn more at organizedbinder.com/go IXL IXL is the most widely used online learning and teaching platform for K to 12. Over 1 million teachers use IXL in their classrooms every day for one reason: They love it. Visit IXL.com to lead your school towards data-driven excellence today. Copyright © 2024 Twelve Practices LLC

Mar 12, 2024 • 9min
Attracting Top Talent / Scorecard
Attracting Top Talent / Scorecard Show Highlights & Resources School leadership scorecard with seven categories to assess effectiveness. A tool to set your school apart when competing for teachers with other similar schools. Set "now" and "next" goals for improvement. This summer you're invited to attend the ONLY event in education available to Ruckus Makers. Join us in Nashville this July 12-14 for The Sustainable School Leadership Summit. Learn more here: https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/school-leadership-summit/ Jump Start Passes are available until March 15 (50% off ticket price). Get the episode transcript here! Read my latest book! Learn why the ABCs of powerful professional development™ work – Grow your skills by integrating more Authenticity, Belonging, and Challenge into your life and leadership. Read Mastermind: Unlocking Talent Within Every School Leader today! Copyright © 2024 Twelve Practices LLC

Mar 11, 2024 • 7min
Play-It-Safe-Principal or Ruckus Maker
Show Highlights & Resources Play it safe principals fear, risks and potential failure. Embrace the unknown, pivot, and adapt This summer you're invited to attend the ONLY event in education available to Ruckus Makers. Join us in Nashville this July 12-14 for The Sustainable School Leadership Summit. Learn more here: https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/school-leadership-summit/ Jump Start Passes are available until March 15 (50% off ticket price). Get the episode transcript here!! Read my latest book! Learn why the ABCs of powerful professional development™ work – Grow your skills by integrating more Authenticity, Belonging, and Challenge into your life and leadership. Read Mastermind: Unlocking Talent Within Every School Leader today! Copyright © 2024 Twelve Practices LLC

Mar 10, 2024 • 16min
10 Steps to Sustainable School Leadership
Show Highlights & Resources This summer you're invited to attend the ONLY event in education available to Ruckus Makers … Teach about the friction versus flow continuum in school leadership. Discuss the concept of ruckus makers investing in runways for sustainability. Encourage firing oneself to build team capacity and open new opportunities. Join us in Nashville this July 12-14 for The Sustainable School Leadership Summit. Learn more here: https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/school-leadership-summit/ Jump Start Passes are available until March 15 (50% off ticket price). Get the episode transcript here!! Read my latest book! Learn why the ABCs of powerful professional development™ work – Grow your skills by integrating more Authenticity, Belonging, and Challenge into your life and leadership. Read Mastermind: Unlocking Talent Within Every School Leader today! Copyright © 2024 Twelve Practices LLC

Mar 9, 2024 • 18min
Challenges of Creating a Thriving School
Show Highlights & Resources This summer you're invited to attend the ONLY event in education available to Ruckus Makers … Avoid a square peg in a round hole feeling in education. Emphasis on sustainability in school leadership Delve into the question of what education is for and the need for innovative shifts in the educational system. Join us in Nashville this July 12-14 for The Sustainable School Leadership Summit. Learn more here: https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/school-leadership-summit/ Jump Start Passes are available until March 15 (50% off ticket price). Read my latest book! Learn why the ABCs of powerful professional development™ work – Grow your skills by integrating more Authenticity, Belonging, and Challenge into your life and leadership. Read Mastermind: Unlocking Talent Within Every School Leader today! Apply to the Mastermind The mastermind is changing the landscape of professional development for school leaders. 100% of our members agree that the mastermind is the #1 way they grow their leadership skills. Apply to the mastermind today! Copyright © 2024 Twelve Practices LLC Bonus: 5 Reason To Come To The Sustainable School Leadership Summit

Mar 8, 2024 • 21min
5 Reasons To Come To The Sustainable School Leadership Summit
Show Highlights & Resources This summer you're invited to attend the ONLY event in education available to Ruckus Makers … Friction versus flow continuum in school leadership. The concept of Ruckus Makers investing in runways for sustainability. Firing oneself to build team capacity and open new opportunities. Join us in Nashville this July 12-14 for The Sustainable School Leadership Summit. Learn more here: https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/school-leadership-summit/ Jump Start Passes are available until March 15 (50% off ticket price). Get The Episode Transcript Here!! Read my latest book! Learn why the ABCs of powerful professional development™ work – Grow your skills by integrating more Authenticity, Belonging, and Challenge into your life and leadership. Read Mastermind: Unlocking Talent Within Every School Leader today! Copyright © 2024 Twelve Practices LLC

Mar 6, 2024 • 43min
Cultivating Student Motivation
Husband and father who teaches high school in Cedar Springs, MI. His blog, DaveStuartJr.com, is read by over 50,000 educators each month, and his bestselling These 6 Things: How to Focus Your Teaching on What Matters Most has been cherished by teachers and leaders around the world. Accomplished creator of professional development facilitator, having spoken on nearly 200 different occasions, both overseas and in every US state. Show Highlights Five key beliefs for cultivating student motivation and desire to learn. Practical advice for teachers and school leaders for continuous growth Two questions you need to answers as a school leader Strategies to avoid sacrificing your personal life on the 'altar of professional success.' pedagogy became so much deeper and simpler because of making that decision. Tips to increase your ruckus ability and make the most of your year. Free book opportunity to maximize your ruckus factor. "More kids experience negative emotion in their high school days than experience overwhelmingly positive emotion. So that's a problem. And it's an interesting problem because that goes completely in contrast to everyone's intentions. There's not a single listener, it's not a single parent, not a single teacher that wants that to be true. And yet it is true. And what I argue in the book is it's because we're not paying attention to belief." -Dave Stuart Get the episode transcript here! Dave's Resources & Contact Info: website:Dave Stuart Jr. DSJR: Get Better at Teaching - YouTube Twitter The Blog of Dave Stuart Jr. FOCUS: Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve Read my latest book! Learn why the ABCs of powerful professional development™ work – Grow your skills by integrating more Authenticity, Belonging, and Challenge into your life and leadership. Read Mastermind: Unlocking Talent Within Every School Leader today! Apply to the Mastermind The mastermind is changing the landscape of professional development for school leaders. 100% of our members agree that the mastermind is the #1 way they grow their leadership skills. Apply to the mastermind today! How We Serve Leaders The School Leadership Scorecard™ Identify your highest leverage areas for growth this year in 10 -minutes or less. https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/scorecard Month-to-Month Principal Checklist As a principal with so much to do, you might be thinking, where do I even start? When you download The Principal Checklist you'll get 12-months of general tasks that every campus need to do Space to write your campus specific items. Space to reflect and not what worked as well as a space of what didn't work Go to https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/principal-checklist to download now. Ruckus Maker Mindset Tool™ The "secret" to peak performance is ot complicated. It's a plan on how to optimize the five fundamentals found in The Ruckus Maker Mindset Tool™. https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/mindset The Positive Spotlight Tool™ Energy flows to where attention goes! If you want to get more of what you want, when you want it as a school leader I have a tool for you… Download The Positive Spotlight Tool™ for free here: https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/positive The Ruckus Maker 8-Step Goal Setting Tool™ Are you ready to accomplish more? With less effort and in less time? When you download The Ruckus Maker 8-Step Goal Setting Tool™ I'll send you the tool and a short 8-minute coaching video that shows you how to work smarter, not harder…and create more value for your school campus. Download The Ruckus Maker 8-Step Goal Setting Tool™ for free at https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/goals SHOW SPONSORS: TEACHFX How much student talk happened today? When classrooms come alive with conversation, learning improves, students feel a sense of belonging, and teachers feel inspired. The TeachFX instructional coaching app gives teachers powerful insights into their student talk, student engagement, and classroom conversation. With TeachFX, teachers see how much student talk happened, the moments of students sharing their brilliance, and the questions that got students talking.Learn how to pilot TeachFX with your teachers. Visit: teachfx.com/betterleaders ORGANIZED BINDER Why do students struggle? I'd argue that they lack access to quality instruction, but think about it. That's totally out of their control. What if there was something we could teach kids there was something within their control that would help them be successful in every class? It's not a magic pill or a figment of your imagination. When students internalize Executive Functioning Skills they succeed. Check out the new self-paced online course brought to you by OB that shows teachers how to equip their students with executive functioning skills. Learn more at organizedbinder.com/go IXL IXL is the most widely used online learning and teaching platform for K to 12. Over 1 million teachers use IXL in their classrooms every day for one reason: They love it. Visit IXL.com to lead your school towards data-driven excellence today. Copyright © 2024 Twelve Practices LLC

Feb 28, 2024 • 36min
From Traditional to Transdisciplinary: Stephanie Pierotti on Education Change
Stephanie Pierotti is the Director of Arizona State University's ShapingEDU Community. She leads this transdisciplinary network of over 4,000 "K to grey" education changemakers. Stephanie recently created a partnership with Learning Planet Alliance (powered by Learning Planet Institute in Paris and UNESCO), and forges new collaborative relationships within ASU, and across universities around the world. She also serves as an advisor to REFASHIOND Ventures, pioneers in the refashioning of global apparel supply chains, and as an advisor to Arizona Stitch Lab, a workforce development initiative that teaches industrial sewing skills to Native Americans. Stephanie is also a Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt and a certified sommelier. Show Highlights Choose your leadership edges with the 5 focus areas of ShapingEDU. Practical tips and AI chat bots for prioritization of mental health, resilience and retention. The power of thinking in possibilities and "what if." Ask these unconventional questions to drive change in exploring democratizing and decentralizing educational paths. AI tools are ingredients in a reduction recipe you can't substitute. Collectively change the way that lifelong learners learn and how educators educate. "Solutioneering '' and play as a priority to attract new educators into the education world. "You are not alone. There is a community of folks out there that share your passion and want to work together to make education better around the world. So stay strong and persevere, be resilient and be curious." Get the episode transcript here! Stephanie's Resources & Contact Info: Linkedin Shaping EDULinkedin ShapingEDU The Age of AI has begun by Bill Gates Pi, your personal AI Read my latest book! Learn why the ABCs of powerful professional development™ work – Grow your skills by integrating more Authenticity, Belonging, and Challenge into your life and leadership. Read Mastermind: Unlocking Talent Within Every School Leader today! Apply to the Mastermind The mastermind is changing the landscape of professional development for school leaders. 100% of our members agree that the mastermind is the #1 way they grow their leadership skills. Apply to the mastermind today! How We Serve Leaders The School Leadership Scorecard™ Identify your highest leverage areas for growth this year in 10 -minutes or less. https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/scorecard Month-to-Month Principal Checklist As a principal with so much to do, you might be thinking, where do I even start? When you download The Principal Checklist you'll get 12-months of general tasks that every campus need to do Space to write your campus specific items. Space to reflect and not what worked as well as a space of what didn't work Go to https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/principal-checklist to download now. Ruckus Maker Mindset Tool™ The "secret" to peak performance is ot complicated. It's a plan on how to optimize the five fundamentals found in The Ruckus Maker Mindset Tool™. https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/mindset The Positive Spotlight Tool™ Energy flows to where attention goes! If you want to get more of what you want, when you want it as a school leader I have a tool for you… Download The Positive Spotlight Tool™ for free here: https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/positive The Ruckus Maker 8-Step Goal Setting Tool™ Are you ready to accomplish more? With less effort and in less time? When you download The Ruckus Maker 8-Step Goal Setting Tool™ I'll send you the tool and a short 8-minute coaching video that shows you how to work smarter, not harder…and create more value for your school campus. Download The Ruckus Maker 8-Step Goal Setting Tool™ for free at https://betterleadersbetterschools.com/goals SHOW SPONSORS: TEACHFX How much student talk happened today? When classrooms come alive with conversation, learning improves, students feel a sense of belonging, and teachers feel inspired. The TeachFX instructional coaching app gives teachers powerful insights into their student talk, student engagement, and classroom conversation. With TeachFX, teachers see how much student talk happened, the moments of students sharing their brilliance, and the questions that got students talking.Learn how to pilot TeachFX with your teachers. Visit: teachfx.com/betterleaders ORGANIZED BINDER Why do students struggle? I'd argue that they lack access to quality instruction, but think about it. That's totally out of their control. What if there was something we could teach kids there was something within their control that would help them be successful in every class? It's not a magic pill or a figment of your imagination. When students internalize Executive Functioning Skills they succeed. Check out the new self-paced online course brought to you by OB that shows teachers how to equip their students with executive functioning skills. Learn more at organizedbinder.com/go IXL IXL is the most widely used online learning and teaching platform for K to 12. Over 1 million teachers use IXL in their classrooms every day for one reason: They love it. Visit IXL.com to lead your school towards data-driven excellence today. Copyright © 2024 Twelve Practices LLC


