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

📋 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?