In this episode, Danielle Neufer focuses on teacher well-being and the pressures of the start of the school year. She encourages listeners to protect what matters, avoid unsustainable pacing, and treat the school year as a time of renewal.

In this episode, Danielle Neufer discusses educator self-care, burnout, and the pressure of the school year’s early pace. She shares a simple approach to staying focused: plan the work, use a timer, and return to what matters. The episode ends with an invitation to try one 30-minute work block and treat teacher well-being as part of school success.

Today we're sharing part three of the implementation series from Family Engagement Lab. Elisabeth O'Bryon of Family Engagement Lab and Rayna Flye of Illustrative Mathematics join us to discuss: When families say "this isn't how I learned math," what are they really reacting to? What teachers understand about today's math instruction that families never get to see Why the disconnect often starts with the day-one communication that goes home The difference between informing families about instruction and helping them participate in it What family math nights and bite-sized, curriculum-aligned communication actually change Who owns this work — teachers, school leaders, or curriculum providers? The risk a district takes when it adopts a strong curriculum but doesn't bring families along Listen to Implementation Series, Part 1: The Missing Instructional Layer: https://etss.bepodcast.network/episodes/implementation-series-part-1-the-missing-instructional-layer-with-vidya-sundaram-and-elisabeth-obryon Listen to Implementation Series, Part 2: Why Good Ideas Fail Quietly in Schools: https://etss.bepodcast.network/episodes/implementation-series-part-2-why-good-ideas-fail-quietly-in-schools-with-vidya-sundaram-and-elisabeth-obryon Learn more about Family Engagement Lab: https://www.familyengagementlab.org Learn more about Illustrative Mathematics: https://www.illustrativemathematics.org About the guests Elisabeth O'Bryon is co-founder and Chief Impact Officer of Family Engagement Lab. Elisabeth was previously the Director of Research and Evaluation at GreatSchools where she worked to design and implement evaluation projects, with a particular focus on rapid-cycle research approaches. Before GreatSchools, Elisabeth was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence where she contributed to the development and evaluation of school-based social and emotional learning programming for children, teachers, and families. Elisabeth has a doctorate in psychology and experience providing school psychological services to preschool through high school-age students in both English and Spanish. Elisabeth recently co-authored 45 Strategies that Support Young Dual Language Learners, a resource that provides practical, developmentally appropriate strategies for supporting children and families from diverse backgrounds and creating inclusive early childhood classrooms that foster the success of young DLLs. Elisabeth is enjoying the many adventures of parenthood with her husband and sons. Rayna Flye, PhD, is Senior Specialist in Market and User Insights at Illustrative Mathematics, where she leads research with families, teachers, and district leaders to understand how high-quality math curriculum is experienced in classrooms and at home. A social scientist by training, Rayna specializes in research design, survey development, focus group facilitation, and qualitative and quantitative analysis, and her work on family focus groups informs how curriculum providers and schools communicate instructional change to the families they serve. About the host David Cicero is the host of Education Talk Radio on the Be Podcast Network. Listen to Education Talk Radio at https://edutalk.bepodcast.network Learn about more shows at https://bepodcastnetwork.com

“Demand avoidance”, poor generalization, prompt-dependence, and social skills challenges seem like isolated issues.  But often they’re not. Many times they’re tied to executive functioning challenges.  That’s why when I describe “executive dysfunction”, I cluster it into five broad areas: Attention, Learning Challenges, Behavioral Issues, Organization, and Social Skills Usually, this is the point that the lightbulb goes on for a lot of clinicians and educators in the room as they realize executive functioning is the common sticking point behind many of their students’ challenges. When I support clinicians in designing executive functioning intervention frameworks, I start with explaining the external signs.  Things like: ✅ Refusing to do even the simplest of tasks, and putting more effort into avoiding the work than it would take to actually do it ✅Behaviors that seem disproportionate to the situation, melt downs over things that barely phase their peers ✅ Always appearing to be several steps behind ✅ Not “reading the room” during functional tasks, and requiring tons of prompts ✅ Lack of awareness of how they’re coming across to others In episode 266 of De Facto Leaders, I do a deep dive into these five external signs that tie back to executive functioning challenges.  In this episode, I mention the Task Execution and Planning Protocol, which gives school clinicians an intervention strategy that takes students from “demand avoidance” and prompt dependence to independence during daily academic and functional tasks.  You can learn more about the Task Execution and Planning Protocol here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/taskexecution In this episode, I mentioned School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps related service providers design scalable executive functioning interventions to ensure students get the scaffolding they need across the school day.  You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership

Summary Glenn Whitman is a distinguished educator who has worked with schools around the world to support schools and teachers bringing evidence practices to their classrooms. In this episode Glenn talks about his own school’s journey to becoming an evidence-based teaching institution, his continued role in that journey, and how his school supports schools around the world who also want to become evidence-based through The Center for Transformative Teaching. Episode Links Website: Home - The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning Glenn's Email: gwhitman@saes.org