Principal Matters: The School Leader's Podcast with William D. Parker

MONDAY MATTERS with Jen Schwanke and Will Parker – Wellness for the New Year

Welcome back to this week’s episode of Monday Matters where Will Parker and Jen Schwanke are discussing the topic of wellness. Will shares some takeaways from a book he is reading called Super Agers: An Evidence-Based Approach to Longevity by Dr. Eric Topol. The book highlights a study with 1400 participants called a ‘well-derly” study. Participants ages ranged from 85-102 years old who had no health problems and were not on any medications. When compared to a control group of ‘normal’ elderly people 85 and above, DNA samples revealed no significant differences in their genetics. Yet, they had higher immunity, better cognitive and cardiac functions. “Long-term benefits are often worth the short-term commitments.” The takeaway from this study highlighted by Dr. Topol is that prevention really is the best medicine. The way to stop heart attacks, Alzheimer’s, or cancer is twenty years before it has time to develop into a condition or disease through movement, rest, and nutrition. Will and Jen share some of their thoughts and practices about approaching wellness and talk about the importance of wellness for school leaders. Listen in to hear the entire conversation! You can watch an interview with Dr. Eric Topol here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW-VcyD54 The post MONDAY MATTERS with Jen Schwanke and Will Parker – Wellness for the New Year appeared first on Principal Matters.

PMP482: Empowering Learning Through Physical Education with Charles Rizzuto

Meet Charles Rizzuto: Charles Rizzuto currently serves as Assistant Principal at Islip High School, following 15 years as a health and physical education teacher at Oyster Bay High School. A nationally recognized speaker, he has presented across the country on high-quality instruction, leadership, school culture, cultural proficiency, and social and emotional wellness. His highly regarded keynote address, The Driver’s Seat, has been featured by numerous school districts and state organizations. In addition to his school leadership role, Rizzuto teaches graduate courses at Adelphi University and Cambridge College, focusing on the influence of social issues in education, instructional technology, models-based instruction, and social-emotional literacy. His teaching excellence has been recognized by students and peers alike—he was nominated as a Professor of Excellence at Adelphi in 2021 and named National Teacher of the Year by SHAPE America in 2022. Additionally, Charles was named Eastern District Physical Education Teacher of the Year, New York State Physical Education Teacher of the Year, New York State Health Education Amazing Person of the Year, and Drug-Free Hero. He was a contributing author of the New York State Physical Education Learning Standards, served as President of Health Education for New York State, and sat on the National Health Education Council. Let’s Get Into the Episode: In this episode of the Principal Matters Podcast, host Dr. Jen Schwanke welcomes guest Charles Rizzuto, an assistant principal at Islip High School in New York, former National Teacher of the Year, and a self-proclaimed “super fan” of the Principal Matters Podcast. Rizzuto, who previously served 15 years as a decorated health and PE teacher at Oyster Bay High School, shares his extensive experience and insights into elevating health and physical education from mere “glorified recess” to an essential component of a school’s academic, social, and emotional framework. The conversation delves into the nuances of effective health and PE programs, Rizzuto’s transition into administration, and how his deep classroom experience shapes his current leadership role. For any principal wondering why a high-quality health and PE program matters, and what school leaders can do to get one, here are a few things to consider. “PA is not PE”: Rizzuto emphasizes a critical distinction between physical activity (PA) and physical education (PE), stating that mere physical activity does not constitute a comprehensive PE program. Movement serves as the “text” in PE, acting as a vehicle for deeper, more meaningful learning across cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains. A quality PE program focuses on these learning outcomes, not just whether students are moving, sweating, or smiling. Skills-Based Health Education: Rizzuto asserts that a quality health education program is skills-based rather than solely content-driven. While content (like the recent addition of vaping education) changes, the essential life skills taught—such as analyzing influences, accessing valid information, goal setting, and decision-making—remain constant and are paramount for students’ transferrable learning. Health and PE as a Central Engine for SEL: Rizzuto highlights that health and physical education are the environments where social-emotional learning (SEL) and social-emotional literacy can surface most organically. Due to the nature of interactions in PE and the topics discussed in health, these subjects provide unique opportunities for students to develop conflict resolution, leadership, and emotional regulation skills, using frameworks like the Zones of Regulation. He shares a personal anecdote about building relationships with students by explicitly expressing care and love in his health classroom. Elevating Health and PE Departments: To truly support and elevate health and PE, school leaders should recognize the discipline’s nuances but not lower expectations for lesson structure, assessment, rigor, or participation. Feedback to health and PE teachers should be rooted in the same principles as feedback for other disciplines, including expectations for posting mastery objectives using a “what, why, how” framework. Leaders should also regularly communicate with health teachers to help them advocate for their curriculum with community members. Addressing Reluctant PE Teachers: Rizzuto advises principals to handle resistant PE teachers as they would any other resistant educator, but also to consider that the pushback might stem from feeling invisible or undervalued over time. Leaders should explicitly communicate their value to the staff, reflect on any unintentional messages (e.g., consistently using the gym for non-PE activities), and include them in building-wide professional development. Fostering Inclusivity in PE: For genuine inclusivity, Rizzuto recommends that educators embark on a journey of cultural proficiency, seeking to deeply understand their students beyond superficial surveys. Practical solutions include differentiating the scope and sequence of activities from year to year to keep students engaged and interested, and moving away from grading based on participation, as this can turn students off to physical activity altogether. After all these critical conversations about Heath and PE, this episode concludes with Rizzuto sharing an item from his “if/when I become a principal” list: prioritizing a structured, intentional, and frequent meeting schedule for the leadership team. He proposes daily “What We Know” (WWK) and “What We Learned” (WWL) meetings, and weekly “Planning and Goal Setting” (PAGS) meetings to proactively address issues and foster shared leadership. This comprehensive discussion underscores the transformative potential of health and PE when viewed through an educational and leadership lens, and we know it will inspire principals to mirror Rizzuto’s dedication to expanding positive impact in our schools. Staying Connected: You can stay connected with Charles Rizzuto via Linkedin The post PMP482: Empowering Learning Through Physical Education with Charles Rizzuto appeared first on Principal Matters.

MONDAY MATTERS with Jen Schwanke and Will Parker – Reflections and Goal-Setting for the New Year

Happy New Year! This week on Monday Matters, Jen Schwanke and Will Parker take some time to reflect on the past year through a series of questions. They talk about reaching major milestones, meeting personal and professional goals, overcoming challenges,  and learning lessons. Reflecting back is an important step to growing forward. Will challenges listeners to take the questions asked in this episode and answer them on their own as they set their goals for the upcoming year. Listen in to hear the full conversation, and thank you for doing what matters! The post MONDAY MATTERS with Jen Schwanke and Will Parker – Reflections appeared first on Principal Matters.

PMP481: Think Remarkable with Guy Kawasaki

Note from Will about Guy: Principal Matters listeners are primarily education leaders, so they may be surprised at first that today’s guest is a specialist in marketing and communication. But I’ve been an avid listener of Guy Kawasaki’s podcast and recently read his book Think Remarkable: 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference. His insights on making compelling presentations have been incredibly helpful to me personally. What I appreciate most about Guy is how his spirit of curiosity, joy, and authenticity shines through in every episode and interaction. He has a gift for making complex ideas feel accessible and inspiring across all professions, including education. That’s why I’m so honored to have him join me on the show. Meet Guy Kawasaki: Guy Kawasaki is a marketing specialist, author, and Silicon Valley legend best known as Apple’s former Chief Evangelist. He played a key role in marketing the original Macintosh in the 1980s and later became a pioneer in evangelism marketing. Today, he’s the Chief Evangelist at Canva and host of the Remarkable People podcast. Guy is also the author of 15 books, including The Art of the Start and his most recent book, Think Remarkable: 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference. Guy has been inspiring entrepreneurs and innovators worldwide. His career blends tech, storytelling, and a passion for helping people change the world through bold ideas. The Impact of Education: Guy Kawasaki shares that he thinks educators are the unsung heroes of society. Part of why he feels this way is because of a 6th grade teacher who saw potential in him. Guy grew up poor in Hawaii, and in 6th grade, his teacher told his parents that he should be in a college prep school. Attending this prep school is what got him into Stanford, and Stanford got him his job at Apple. He says that in many ways, he can attribute the success in his life to that 6th grade teacher who believed in him. Guy is a huge proponent of higher education, and pushes back against the myth that people do not need a college degree to be successful. He challenges listeners not to focus on people who became successful without a college degree, but rather to focus on how many people who do not have a college degree and are not successful. Guy also believes that college can broaden the horizon for students and can be useful in helping them explore the world. What Makes People Remarkable: In his podcast “Remarkable People”, Guy Kawasaki interviews people he believes are remarkable, not necessarily rich or famous people. To him, what makes someone remarkable is the difference they make in the world. Guy says that what makes someone remarkable is hard to define, but it is not correlated with wealth or power. His mindset around what makes someone remarkable was greatly influenced by Carol Dweck’s book The Growth Mindset. While defining what makes someone remarkable is hard, Guy shares that he considers a person’s grit, growth, and grace when determining remarkability. Tips on Public Speaking: On top of being Canva and Apple’s top evangelist, Guy shares a lot of feedback on speaking or presenting in public. So, he graciously offers some advice to listeners who want to make the most impact when speaking publicly. One tip he shares is the 10-20-30 rule, which says that presenters should never have more than ten slides, those slides should be presented in twenty minutes, and the smallest font size that should be used is 30. The second tip he shares is the glance test. When making slides, presenters should make sure that people can glance at their slide and then look back at them. The glance test helps presenters make sure they do not lose their audience. Guy’s third tip on presenting is to use a light colored font on a dark background. This makes slides easier for the audience to read. His final tip is to not start a presentation with a joke, because if the joke does not land then you have to fight to get the audience back. He says that this final tip is the only tip he does not follow; he tries to start every presentation with a joke for the sheer challenge of it. Advice for Educators: Educators feel a lot of tension in today’s climate and culture of trying to serve the needs of their school community while also sometimes being the punching bag of politics and outrage. When asked what advice he has for teachers who want to be remarkable in today’s climate, Guy tells listeners to keep their students’ best interests at heart. When people in your community can see that you care about your students and truly want to make the world a better place, they will often agree with you even if you do not share all the same politics. To reiterate how important education is to him, Guy says that education is what got America to where it is, and is what is going to save us. Parting Words and Staying Connected: To wrap up the interview, Guy says that he wants listeners to know that at least one person in Silicon Valley appreciates what educators do. To stay connected with Guy Kawasaki, check out his podcast, Remarkable People. The post PMP481: Think Remarkable with Guy Kawasaki appeared first on Principal Matters.

PMP480: Maximizing Your Systems with John Boyd

John Boyd is the Principal of Ste. Genevieve High School in Missouri, where he leads with a passion for innovation, efficiency, and creating memorable experiences for students and staff. A proud SGHS alum, he returned to teach for seven years, served three years as Assistant Principal, and is now in his fourth year as Principal. Named Missouri’s 2023 Jim L. King High School Principal of the Year, John also serves as President-Elect of the Missouri Association of Secondary School Principals. John has a passion for integrating AI, coding, and automation. He’s developed tools from digital hall passes to real-time dashboards that streamline operations and enhance communication. With over 30 years connected to Ste. Genevieve, John is committed to reimagining possibilities for learning and staff empowerment. He and his wife, Sierra, are the proud parents of their children, J.B. and Emery. Previous episode https://williamdparker.com/2023/pmp357-leading-your-hometown-school-with-john-boyd/ Thinking Outside the Box: John often utilizes AI to help him think outside the box and solve problems in completely new ways. He shares how as an assistant principal, his principal and mentor was big on coding and took pride in thinking through problems analytically. This mentor helped John develop the skills he uses now to integrate coding into their systems. One way that John has integrated these skills into the systems at his school is by using it for attendance reports, a task that used to take hours to complete. Typically, John takes time each summer to build these pipelines. While the front-end work takes time, the systems that John builds end up saving him and his team a lot of time. Practical Uses: One way that John utilizes AI in his school is through a digital hall pass system, a system that John built himself. His process for building these tools starts by thinking about what he wants the tool to do. In the case of the digital hall passes, John used AI to create a form that takes data and processes it on a google sheet. Each classroom in his school now has a kiosk in it that allows students to fill out a hall pass request before they leave, and it is where they check in when they get back to the classroom. The hall pass system is set up so that administrators are notified if a student has been out of class for more than 15 minutes, and meetup notifications for students who should not be in the same place at the same time. John finds that this hall pass system is very helpful for his school. Another way he utilizes this technology is for scheduling sports physicals, which has saved his secretaries and support staff a lot of time. Navigating AI with Students and Teachers: Although John embraces using AI as a tool, he acknowledges that it is a topic that requires nuance. Recently, John, along with his staff, have begun having conversations about the need for consistent language regarding AI for students and teachers. It is important for teachers and administrators to have consistent messaging about AI so that students know when it is appropriate to use and when it is not. Without that messaging, it can be confusing for students. There is a definite need for teachers to be able to monitor if AI is being used or not. The best solution to this is for teachers to know their students and to build relationships with them. Through intentionality, teachers, principals, and students can navigate these new technologies with confidence. Staying Connected: You can stay connected with John Boyd via email at jboyd@sgdragons.org. The post PMP480: Maximizing Your Systems with John Boyd appeared first on Principal Matters.