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

🧰 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: "Sit down, listen, and learn" instruction that assumes students will care. The shift: Design experiences students want to engage in through hands-on learning and real-world tools. Impact: Students move from passive to fully alive — creating, building, and owning their learning. 🎯 Key Insight #2: Teach the Same Lesson Every Year What's broken: Repeating "greatest hits" lessons while the world (and kids) evolve rapidly. The shift: Use the engineering design process to constantly iterate, improve, and adapt instruction. Impact: Lessons stay fresh, relevant, and aligned with how students actually experience the world. 🎯 Key Insight #3: Technology is Extra (or Too Hard) What's broken: Fear, overwhelm, or waiting for the "perfect time" to try something new. The shift: Start small, pick one tool, and adopt a "Why not today?" mindset. Impact: Teachers build confidence, students gain exposure, and classrooms transform over time — not overnight. 🎙️ 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: Pick ONE new tool or strategy — even Play-Doh counts — and try it with your students This Month: Redesign one existing lesson using the engineering design process (build → test → improve) This Semester: Create at least one "can't miss" learning experience that students will talk about years later 🔗 Connect & Continue 🎯 Get the full episode transcript here 👩🏻‍💻 Follow Jesus Huerta: Website: https://mrhuertasclass.weebly.com/ LinkedIn: 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: Rooms are labeled — classroom, corridor, cafeteria — and that label locks in every expectation about how the space gets used. The shift: Name the activity, not the room. A "peer-to-peer instruction zone" unlocks possibilities a "hallway" never will. Impact: Ravenscroft School opened a reimagined student center and students claimed full ownership within the first week — filling it from 7am to 7pm daily. 🧰 Key Insight #2: Bus riders get the back door What's broken: Car drop-off gets the front entrance. Students who ride the bus — often from lower-income households — enter through a secondary, less welcoming entry. The shift: Hilltop Needmore Road Elementary redesigned both entries with equal prominence, a canopy, and a shared convergence point so every student arrives feeling welcomed. Impact: Equity gets built into the physical infrastructure of the school day — not just the curriculum. 🧰 Key Insight #3: Underused spaces sit idle most of the day What's broken: A school stage gets used once or twice daily for music and theater, then goes dark. The shift: Design the stage with a folding wall so it opens to the cafeteria for dining, closes for performances, and opens the back side to the corridor as a teaching space and after-care zone. Impact: A single space now serves three distinct functions across the full school day instead of one. 🎙️ 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: Walk your building and identify one underused or unnamed space — a wide corridor, an empty stage, a forgotten corner — and ask: what activity could happen here? This Month: Remove or repurpose a row of unused lockers in one hallway and add a marker board and two chairs to create a visible collaboration moment. This Semester: Convene students and staff to co-design one shared space on your campus — name the activity, not the room, and give students the ability to reserve and own it. 🔗 Connect & Continue 👩🏻‍💻 Follow Anne Seeley: Website: Littleonline.com | Blog | LinkedIn | Instagram | Vimeo LinkedIn: 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: Schools assume more devices = better learning. The shift: Question the role of Tech through a child development lens. Impact: Leaders prioritize cognition, focus, and real engagement over screen time. 🧰 Key Insight #2: Convenience Over Relationships What's broken: Grade portals, emails, and AI replace human conversations. The shift: Bring back friction — phone calls, dialogue, real connection. Impact: Stronger trust with families and deeper student-teacher relationships. 🧰 Key Insight #3: Teach Tech Early and Often What's broken: Giving young kids constant access to devices in the name of "preparation." The shift: Later is better. Less is more. Skills before screens.. Impact: Students build communication, resilience, and critical thinking first. 🗣️ 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: Audit one tech tool on your campus — ask: Is it effective, safe, and necessary? This Month: Reintroduce one human-centered practice (phone calls, in-person feedback, discussion-based learning) This Semester: Build a campus-wide "tech intentional" philosophy rooted in relationships and skill development 🔗 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: @thescreentimeconsultant LinkedIn: @emily-cherkin Facebook: @thescreentimeconsultant Youtube: @thescreentimeconsultantllc6072 BlueSky: @emilycherkin.bsky.social First Fish Chronicles: Unplug EdTech, Save Democracy 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 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 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: Central office controls decisions, budgets, and strategy. The shift: Push power, money, and responsibility to campuses. Impact: Faster decisions, stronger ownership, and leadership at every level. 🧩  Key Insight #2: Collaboration Isn't a Meeting What's broken: PLCs and meetings that waste time and kill momentum. The shift: Create space for real-time, problem-solving collaboration between educators. Impact: Teachers stop retreating and start growing together. 🧩 Key Insight #3: Scarcity Is a Leadership Trap What's broken: Leaders fixate on what they don't have (budget, staff, time). The shift: Reframe constraints into creative opportunities using available resources. Impact: Innovation increases, victim thinking decreases, and results improve. 💬 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: Ask your team: "What decisions are we holding at the top that should live closer to students?" This Month: Redesign one meeting into real collaboration — focused on solving a live student problem This Semester: Pilot a shared leadership model that gives teachers real authority, time, and responsibility 🔗 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/HoldsworthCentr Holdsworth 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: Schools rely on surveys, incentives, and interventions to "drive" engagement. The shift: Create authentic success experiences first. Impact: Students become intrinsically motivated and eager to participate. 📌 Key Insight #2: The "Invisible Middle" Doesn't Need More Programs What's broken: Schools focus only on high achievers or behaviour problems. The shift: Design opportunities for the disengaged majority to feel capable and connected. Impact: 68% of students report feeling more connected to school. 🧰 Key Insight #3: Motivation Comes After Success (Not Before) What's broken: Expecting students to care before they've experienced competence. The shift: Give students a win → build confidence → unlock effort. Impact: 34% of students say they work harder in class after experiencing success. 🎙️ 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: Identify 5 "invisible middle" students and ask: where can they experience a quick win? This Month: Launch or pilot one new opportunity (club, program, experience) designed for belonging — not performance This Semester: Build a system where every student experiences success in at least one meaningful domain on campus 🔗 Connect & Continue 🎯 Get the full episode transcript here 👩🏻‍💻 Follow Tommy Floyd: Website: https://www.naspschools.org/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/naspschools/ Youtube: 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: District leaders build a strategic plan internally, then try to convince the community to support it. The shift: Bring 60–160 diverse stakeholders together to co-create the vision. Impact: When people help build the future, they defend it, support it, and help implement it. 🎯  Key Insight #2: Replace Hub-and-Spoke Engagement What's broken: Schools collect feedback separately through surveys, focus groups, and stakeholder meetings. The shift: Put parents, teachers, students, business leaders, clergy, nonprofits, and civic leaders in the same room so they talk to each other. Impact: Silos disappear, polarization drops, and the community discovers real common ground. 🧨  Key Insight #3: Make Strategic Planning an Event, Not a Process What's broken: Two years of scattered meetings that lead to a plan nobody owns. The shift: A 12-hour Future Search event across three sessions where stakeholders explore the past, analyze the present, and design the future together. Impact: Stronger trust, better ideas, unexpected partnerships, and a plan the community actually wants to execute. 🎙️ 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: Website: *www.howickassociates.com,* AASA JSP Comm'ty Engage using Future Search.pdf 👩🏻‍💻 Follow Dr. Jeffrey Axelbank: website: https://axelbankconsulting.com/ The website of the Future Search Network: https://futuresearch.net/ Amazon page for the book, Future Search: Getting The Whole System in the Room for Vision, Commitment, and Action: https://a.co/d/0dMt4o3p The article can be found on the web here: https://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: Ask three stakeholder groups (students, teachers, and parents) one simple question: What are you glad, sad, and mad about in our school system? This Month: Map the full ecosystem of your school community — businesses, nonprofits, faith groups, civic leaders — and identify who's missing from your conversations. This Semester: Host a community vision event that brings diverse voices together to define what success for students actually looks like. 📌 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 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: 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 broken: We blame students and teachers for being unmotivated. The shift: Redesign the system so motivation is the natural outcome, not a constant battle. Impact: Transforms passive learners into engaged problem-solvers without more effort. 📌 Key Insight #2: Culture isn't spoken into existence — it's built by design What's broken: Leaders treat culture like a vibe or vision statement. The shift: Treat culture as the emergent result of your systems, structures, and incentives. Impact: A culture of belonging and excellence that sustains itself beyond PD days and posters. 🧰 Key Insight #3: Startup Week proves a different architecture delivers better results What's broken: End-of-year burnout and throwaway lessons. The shift: Reclaim that time with a high-agency, high-authenticity program rooted in design thinking. Impact: Students work harder, retain more, and surprise themselves — even in the last week of school. 💬 Quotable Ruckus "Culture is really system architecture in disguise." – Adrian Ireland 🧗‍♂️ Your Do School Different Challenge Ready to implement these ideas? Start here: Tomorrow: Audit your current systems. Where are students swimming upstream? This Month: Start planning a low-stakes sandbox where your staff can test new structures. This Semester: Launch a Startup Week-style program to unlock student agency and authentic learning. 🔗 Connect & Continue 🎯 Get the full episode transcript here 👩🏻‍💻  Follow Adrian Ireland: Website: https://designingdifferent.carrd.co/ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/adrian-ireland-413191278 📕 Book: Designing 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: Treating the first day of school like a one-day event you can "wing." The shift: Build and execute a time-based entry plan with clear milestones and check-ins. Impact: Fewer fires, fewer surprises, and a campus experience worth showing up for. — starting day one. 📌 Key Insight #2 — Chaos is often a systems failure, not a people problem What's broken: Blaming individuals when a breakdown happens (or silently absorbing it alone). The shift: Own the outcome, stabilize the system, then fix the root cause with a plan you can communicate. Impact: Faster recovery when things go wrong — and fewer repeat disasters. 🎯 Key Insight #3 — Close the "Belief Gap" at 3 levels What's broken: Strategy that sounds good but doesn't create confidence. The shift: Close belief gaps for: You (internal confidence), Your team (shared belief + clarity), Stakeholders (parents/ board/ community buy-in). Impact: More trust, more autonomy, and more momentum — because people believe the plan is real. 🎙️ 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: Identify the one predictable breakdown that could derail your next "first day" (schedules, transportation, staffing, supervision, etc.) and write the prevent-it list. This Month: Draft a 90-day entry plan with milestone check-ins (what success looks like by week 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12). This Semester: Share the plan in a format your team can repeat back — then measure whether belief is rising across you/team/stakeholders. 🔗 Connect & Continue 🎯 Get the full episode transcript here 👉Apply to The Entry Plan Intensive: https://entryplanintensive.com/ Applications close March 20th at 11:59:59 pm ET. 📌 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: Leaders wait for the perfect plan, perfect clarity, perfect conditions… and then wonder why nothing changes. The shift: Get comfortable "building the bridge while you're walking on it," with feedback loops, iteration, and a team that can handle a little wobble. Impact: Faster learning, better decisions, and a school design that improves because it's alive — not because it's locked in. 🧠 Key Insight #2: Student voice isn't a survey. It's shared ownership of culture What's broken: Adults control the experience, then blame kids for not buying in. The shift: Trust students to lead earlier — then coach them with guardrails: "Not everything can be a yes, but everything doesn't have to be a no." Impact: Students build real leadership skill through reps, culture becomes self-sustaining, and the building stops depending on one adult to hold it all together. 🧰 Key Insight #3: Partnerships beat "exposure." Bring the real world into the building What's broken: Schools talk internships and career pathways, but keep professionals at arm's length — so students stay stuck in fantasies and assumptions. The shift: Build partnerships that put experts in front of students now (micro-courses, real conversations, real constraints, real options). Impact: Students pivot earlier, choose pathways with eyes open, and develop the confidence that comes from proximity to real work. 🎙️ 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: Pick one decision you're still hoarding "because it's faster." Give it away — with clear guardrails — and let someone lead. This Month: Create one student-led culture move (advisory, house system, rituals, onboarding, peer mentorship). Make it real. Make it visible. This Semester: Build a partnership pipeline: 10 professionals, 10 micro-sessions, 10 career reality checks — inside your building, not just on a poster. 📌 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?