Moving from Ideas to Implementation: A Principal’s Journey Creating Buy-In with PBL

Quick take: 

In this special coaching episode, a K-4 principal shares his honest struggles and breakthroughs in implementing project-based learning, revealing why communication and teacher buy-in are crucial for meaningful educational change.

First time reading? Sign up here and join 5,705 learning to Do School Different 🎉

A MESSAGE FROM CLASS COMPOSER

DONE WITH THE INDEX CARD SHUFFLE?

Stop wasting precious summer days manually sorting students into classes. Class Composer's intuitive drag-and-drop interface turns weeks of headaches into hours of data-driven decisions. 

The best part? You'll create more equitable classrooms that actually work. No more "oops, we put all the challenging students in one class" moments.

Ready to revolutionize class creation? 👇

• Apple

• Spotify

• BLBS Website

Are you subscribed?

🏴‍☠️ BREAKING DOWN THE OLD RULES

In this episode, Dan challenges traditional education paradigms:

Key Insight #1: Consistent Communication

• What's broken: Sporadic communication about new initiatives, assuming teachers will automatically buy in

• The shift: Consistently discussing and reinforcing PBL benefits while giving teachers autonomy to experiment

• Impact: Teachers feel more supported and are more likely to take risks with new teaching methods

Key Insight #2: Building Authentic Relationships

• What's broken: Traditional top-down mandate approach to implementing new programs

• The shift: Building genuine relationships and understanding teachers' individual goals and aspirations

• Impact: Increased teacher engagement and willingness to try new approaches

Key Insight #3: Meaningful Feedback Systems

• What's broken: Complex, jargon-filled evaluation systems that don't drive real improvement

• The shift: Simple, meaningful feedback focused on growth and celebrating small wins

• Impact: More authentic professional development and risk-taking in the classroom

✌️ YOUR DO SCHOOL DIFFERENT CHALLENGE

Ready to implement these ideas? Start here:

1. Tomorrow: Ask your teachers what's stopping them from trying something new in their classrooms

2. This Month: Create a weekly roundup to celebrate teachers taking risks and trying new approaches

3. This Semester: Develop an implementation plan based on teacher feedback and goals

✅ CONNECT AND CONTINUE

• 🎯 Get the full episode transcript: Link

• 🔗 Join The Ruckus Maker Club waitlist

• 💪 Apply to the Ruckus Maker Mastermind

🤝 TODAY’S POD IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:

• IXL: Meet your students where they are and take them where they need to go. Join over 1 million teachers who trust IXL to drive data-informed excellence in their classrooms. 🔍 Learn more: IXL.com/leaders

• Class Composer: Is your elementary school still creating class lists with colored index cards or sticky notes? Class Composer offers a streamlined solution for making well-informed student placement decisions in less time. 🔍 Learn more here.

• ODP Business Solutions®: ODP Business Solutions® formerly Office Depot® Business Solutions Division has been a trusted partner for schools for over 30 years. At ODP Business Solutions, we’re by your side to meet your evolving education needs. 🔍 Learn more here.

Podcast created by Danny. Audio engineered by Dragan. Show notes written by Christina. Email sent by Soniya