Insights for Impact
Welcome to the Making Champions of Change blog—where school leadership meets real-world strategy.
Here, you’ll find practical tools, powerful insights, and real stories to help you lead with confidence, empower your staff, and create a school where every student can thrive.
Whether you’re navigating MTSS, building a better PBIS framework, or just trying to make it through the week with your team intact—you’ll find support, clarity, and inspiration right here.
Let’s build change that lasts—together.
Purpose is one of the strongest stabilizers leaders can draw on during times of change. Beyond the poster or the branding language, it’s the deeper grounding that helps teams stay connected to why they are doing the work when change accelerates, tens...
Leadership in education is often described as charting the course and inspiring others to follow. However, anyone who has lived in the daily realities of a school or district knows that leadership is far less about certainty and far more about discer...
This Thanksgiving week, we are pausing with deep gratitude for the leaders and educators who continue to shape the work of Making Champions of Change. This fall reminded us that growth comes in seasons. Each season gives us space to reflect, adjust, ...
By the time this post is read, the landscape will likely have moved fully into winter. The leaves that inspired this reflection will have fallen, yet the underlying leadership message remains relevant: evidence of change may disappear from view, but ...
Fall often brings both rhythm and reckoning for school leaders. The newness of the year has faded, systems are settling, and the cracks in implementation begin to show. What once felt like shared excitement can start to sound like questions, hesitati...
As fall settles in and the landscape begins to shift, so too do our leadership rhythms. The turning of the season reminds us that change is constant. Even in familiar cycles, there’s room for reflection, letting go, and renewal. In leadership, espec...
Each fall, I’m reminded how important it is to pause and look beneath the surface of what we see. I didn’t grow up with changing seasons. I’m a transplant to Minnesota from Southern California, and now, raising my young kids here, I’ve come to apprec...
Gratitude is often equated with celebration: public appreciation, awards, and applause. These gestures matter. They lift morale, honor contributions, and remind us that we see and value one another. In education and leadership, gratitude that sustain...
Discipline in schools should aim to teach, guide, and nurture students, rather than excluding them. Non-exclusionary discipline focuses on fostering relationships, building a sense of belonging, and addressing behavior in ways that support both accou...
Every child deserves to be supported, believed in, and given the best possible chance at success. That responsibility lies not just in our curriculum or classroom tools, but in the capacity and mindset of the adults on campus. As we advocate for bett...
Change is a constant in education, whether it's refining instructional strategies, updating safety protocols, or introducing new systems for student support. As school leaders and changemakers, we know that how we communicate those changes is just as...
The work of educational leadership today demands more than operational excellence; it calls for critical consciousness. To lead schools that serve all learners equitably, leaders must be aware of social, cultural, and systemic dynamics that affect ed...
Empowerment isn’t just a buzzword, it's a cornerstone of sustainable leadership. In schools and districts, empowered educators and students build stronger communities and more effective learning environments. In today’s schools, educators are called ...
In a rapidly evolving educational landscape, adult learners and school leaders are navigating complex dynamics, from shifting generational traits to the need for inclusive, empowered learning environments. When we think about culture and climate in s...
With the launch of the making champions of change website I found myself reflecting on my why. As many of us do throughout our careers in education, remembering our why allows us to refocus on the next hurdle we are facing: The next school year, the ...
The messages teachers send in their interactions can significantly shape the mindsets of students. From day one, students are silently questioning:
- Am I valued and capable of learning here?
- Is this teacher enthusiastic and invested in my success?...
Schools are designed to be places of learning, growth, and connection. Yet, when students face disciplinary actions like suspensions, there’s often a disruption in their sense of belonging and academic progress. Research shows that students who are s...
