We started this series two months ago with the premise that what we focus on is what we get. So instead of accepting the media’s narrative of low test scores, broken budgets, and poor morale, Thriving Schools has decided to go in the opposite direction (and to focus on all the amazing things taking place in education). We’re excited to present our “back to school” edition of this list – stories and articles that our Thriving Schools network read and shared with us this past month! We hope you find a few nuggets of inspiration and intrigue!

Today, we’re doing something a little different . . . To celebrate the start of another school year, we’re sharing a few excerpts from the book Surprise: Embrace the Unpredictable and Engineer the Unexpected. Though the book is about bringing curiosity and wonder back into all aspects of life (relationships, responsibilities, and routines), its conclusions can be readily applied in the classroom. In fact, the book gives many examples of how its principles are used to engineer the unexpected at school. Enjoy these stories of surprise! And we wish you a strong and successful start to the new school year!

Earlier this spring, we had the pleasure of bringing you several pieces on the Bright Star Schools network. This week, we return to Los Angeles to ask the Bright Star team about their use of restorative practices. Today’s piece is a discussion with Hrag Hamalian, Chief Executive Officer at Bright Star Schools, about the importance of having a restorative justice program. We discuss the pitfalls of traditional discipline models in schools, how Bright Star has gone about implementing restorative practices, and the improvement in school culture they’re seeing as a result. Later in the week, we’ll follow-up with Marni Parsons, Bright Star’s Vice President of Student and Family Services, about specific programs and practices used in its schools.

We started this series last month with the premise that we focus on is what we get. So instead of accepting the media’s narrative of low test scores, broken budgets, and poor morale, Thriving Schools has decided to go in the opposite direction (to focus on all the positives and the amazing individuals who make them happen). This is the list of stories and articles that our Thriving Schools network read and shared with us this month! We hope you find a few nuggets of inspiration and intrigue!

Good school leaders know the importance of coaching and developing their teachers. However, finding the time to do so is often very challenging. Today, we speak with Mike McKenna, the Founding School Leader of Memphis Delta Preparatory Charter School, about how he strives to spend 100% of his time coaching staff. In this piece we ask Mike about the tradeoffs he makes to spend more time on development, the difference between short-term and long-term fixes, and some of the coaching drills he uses to provide effective feedback.

What we focus on is what we get. And for educators, that means the ubiquitous narrative of low test scores, broken budgets, and poor morale is unlikely to inspire positive action. At Thriving Schools, however, we’ve adjusted our lens – we simply focus on all the positives (and how all the amazing individuals behind the scenes are making them happen)! To that end, we’ve decided to start a monthly post that shares some of the articles, stories, and links that we receive (and read) each month that were published on other sites. Below is our list for June 2017 – we hope you find a couple nuggets of inspiration and intrigue!

Special education is challenging. And building the collaborative relationships within schools to help students with disabilities isn’t much easier. That’s why we decided to chat with Ruhi Khan, a Clinical Assistant Professor at Arizona State University. In addition to having nearly two decades worth of classroom experience, Ruhi now works to train and support dual-certification, special-education and elementary teachers. With her vast experience, Ruhi has developed a talent for finding ways to help general and special education teachers work together. And in this piece, we ask her how strong co-teaching relationships are formed.

In this piece, we speak with Natasha Nethero who has taught for the last 9 years in South Phoenix. While it’s tempting to think you’ve got it all figured out after nearly a decade of teaching, Natasha isn’t that way at all! In fact, she’s used this last academic year to experiment with problem-based learning in her classroom and understand the systems needed to make it work. Because Natasha’s constantly trying out new things, we thought this would be a perfect opportunity to ask her how she’s gone about implementing PBL.

We know we need to do a better job at helping our teachers develop and honoring that growth with prestige and pay. But the question is how to do it without sacrificing creativity and purpose along the way. This week, we are featuring a 2-part interview with Emily Schneider-Krzys, Chief Talent Officer at KIPP Austin.

KIPP Austin recently implemented a Teacher Career Pathway that elegantly ties together the development and advancement of its teachers. In this first part of our interview, Emily shares her thoughts on getting the design of a career ladder right, including the obstacles her team encountered, the specific structures of the Pathway, and the values the program is based on.

We recently had the chance to speak with Malka Borrego, Founder and CEO of the Equitas Academy Charter School network, about managing school facilities and creating a strong board of directors. In the first part of our interview, focusing on facilities, Malka shared with us some key metrics for managing the facilities budget and how she does her homework when making decisions in this area. In this piece, we shift our focus to how Malka built the board of directors at Equitas and how the needs of her board have changed over time.

Back in March, we posted the first installment of a conversation we had with Hrag Hamalian, Chief Executive Officer of Bright Star Schools. In that piece, Hrag told us that academic excellence is predicated on student culture and he shared with us a number of programs used at Bright Star. This time around, we shift gears and discuss staff culture. We cover topics like work-life balance, valuing teacher input, and creating a salary schedule that gets teachers to stay in the classroom. Oh, and along the way Hrag gives us plenty of ideas for infusing fun into an organization. We hope you enjoy round 2 with Hrag Hamalian!

Educators are quite familiar with the problems of traditional professional development – it’s often one-size-fits-all, it rarely focuses on what teachers need, and it’s really expensive. More and more, however, we’re seeing that it doesn’t have to be this way! In this piece we talk with Brian Nethero, Executive Director of the Sanford Inspire Program. Along the way, we learn about the program’s free professional development modules, how schools and teachers are using them to improve their development, and several creative uses of its curriculum.