Episode 58: Dr. Danny Steele on Becoming an Instructional Leader: How Principals Reclaim Time, Support Staff, and Strengthen School Culture

Feeling stretched thin by the demands of school leadership yet determined to move learning forward? We sit down with Dr. Danny Steele; teacher, AP, principal, and author of The Instructional Leader in You; to unpack the practical mindset shifts that turn busy administrators into true instructional leaders.

Danny shares how his path from urban high school classrooms to award-winning principalship forged a central insight: to help students, you must first win the adults. He explains the moment that transformed his leadership recognizing that principals are defined by their ability to support staff. From backing teachers in tough parent meetings to simplifying systems that steal time, he shows how culture becomes a daily practice that lifts both morale and outcomes.

We dive into three cornerstone strategies: lead with curiosity, operate with intentionality, and delegate with precision. Hear how asking better questions about curriculum, assessment, and schedules builds collective intelligence; how calendar discipline and focused agendas keep learning at the center; and how elevating teacher leaders accelerates change. Danny also tackles AI with nuance, why it won’t replace teachers, how it can reduce drudgery, and where human connection remains irreplaceable. Along the way, we discuss redesigning bell schedules to carve out intervention and enrichment time, building trust across departments, and combating passion drift with small daily wins.

If you’re ready to reclaim your time, strengthen your staff, and find joy in the work again, this conversation offers grounded strategies you can use tomorrow. Listen, share with your team, and leave a review to help other leaders discover the show. Then tell us: which leadership shift will you make first?

Connect with Danny Steele:

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Email: danny@steelethoughts.com

Instagram: @steelethoughts

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Chapters

• 0:00 Meet Dr. Danny Steele
• 4:16 Why Teach: Origins And Purpose
• 7:18 Kids’ Common Needs Across Contexts
• 10:45 Moving Toward Administration
• 14:48 Hard Lessons From Assistant Principal Days
• 20:59 The Paradigm Shift: Support The Adults
• 26:06 Principalship And School Culture
• 33:22 Advice For Aspiring Administrators
• 38:49 AI, Technology, And Human Connection
• 44:47 The New Book: Ten Strategies

Transcript

Principal JL: 1:20

Have you ever struggled with being an instructional leader? Have you sometimes wondered where the joy and the work is? You're not alone. In this episode, we learn from Dr. Danny Steele's educational journey that will provide insights to these questions we may have. For 31 years, Dr. Steele served as a teacher, coach, assistant principal, chief principal, and assistant professor of educational leadership. His work has earned statewide recognition. He was formerly the Alabama Assistant Principal of the Year in 2005 and Alabama Secondary Principal of the Year in 2016. He has authored six books, including two with Todd Whitaker, and he's become one of the most sought-after voices on school leadership, culture, and the human side of our work. Today we're diving into his leadership journey, the lessons he's learned across decades of service, and his newest book, The Educational Leader in You, Ten Strategies for School Leaders. Now let's get to the conversation with Dr. Danny Steele. Welcome back for another exciting episode of the Educational Leadership Podcast. Today I am so excited to bring in Dr. Danny Steele. Danny, welcome to the show. Jeff, I appreciate you having me. It's an honor to be with you guys. All right, Danny, I'm going to ask you the same question I ask every guest on this show. What inspired you to become an educator?

Dr. Danny Steele: 3:00

When I first went to college in the fall of 1988, my major was sociology, and I was set on being a social worker of some sort. But fall of my sophomore year, I listened to a tape recording that my brother gave me. It was a tape recording of a guy giving a talk at a conference. And his name was Guy Dowd, and he was the 1986 National Teacher of the Year. He spoke about his experiences as a kid himself in school and teachers that really had a transformative impact on his own life. And then as a teacher, he talked about ways that he's built relationships with his own students and the difference he feels like that that has made. And just listening to the power of his experiences inspired me to want to be a teacher. And so I changed that semester, I changed my major to history and education so I could be a history teacher. And yeah, that's that's uh it was all about the the potential to make a difference for kids.

Principal JL: 4:08

Awesome. I mean, that you know, always we get inspired by some way, there's always interesting ways we all get into this profession. I know for me it was coaching, so that's what got me going to really start thinking about becoming an educator. So you're a history teacher, you're doing the work. What experiences do you have from being a teacher that informs your leadership today?

Dr. Danny Steele: 4:31

I think, you know, I began my career in an urban high school in Birmingham, and there were a lot of challenges there. The students didn't have many opportunities. And after four years there, I went to teach at a very, very affluent suburban school where the kids had every advantage in the world. And I loved both experiences. One of the things that I learned in those eight years in the classroom is that kids have a lot more in common than they have different. They all want to feel respected, they all want to feel connected, they want to feel valued, they they want to feel normal, you know, in a certain way. And they all appreciate their teachers that take a genuine interest in them. And I think I think all of those realities transfer to when you're working with adults. Like every teacher wants to feel like the work they're doing matters. They want their professional judgment to be valued and respected. They want to feel like they are have a voice in the school, and they want their administration to be genuine, to be authentic about caring about the students and about supporting the staff.

Principal JL: 5:56

You really kind of touched things on there is no matter where you're at, kids are kids, right? They all want the same thing, they all want to be build a relationship with them, they want that you know, connection with their people so they can you know have a great experience in their school. So I really appreciate you bringing that out. So kind of been teaching for a while, have these great experiences. What inspires you to go from the classroom into administration? What was it a push, a nudge, like it was time, or was you uh inspired by somebody?

Dr. Danny Steele: 6:34

I had the University of Alabama Birmingham had a program where if you already had a master's, and at the time I had a master's in history, you could do a year of classes and some 300 hours of internship and get your administrative add-on certificate. And and I had a couple colleagues at this school that had done that, and so they sort of planted that seed with me. At the same time, I was realizing that I just didn't like being confined to my classroom. Oftentimes on my planning period, like what I needed to do was just sit at my desk and grade papers or plan lessons, but I found myself getting up and walking the halls and poking my head in other doors. I checked my mailbox like five times in the teacher's lounge just because I liked being out and about. And so I decided to do this program. The very first course was on leadership and management. And it was it was a really good, good professor. And and I was so intrigued at the idea of the difference between leadership and management and seeing a bigger picture and thinking about the way I could potentially impact you know an entire school. And that that I just kind of during the course of that year and taking those classes, it really I got the itch. And so after that, as soon as I got my certificate, I was I applied to like 50 different schools to be an assistant principal.

Principal JL: 7:56

Awesome. So you moved into assistant principal role, what's his not easy, right? Because you deal with a lot of student discipline most of the time, and you may have some other things, but that's what people think of assistant principal, what they work through. So, what are some lessons that you have learned as an assistant principal that when it was time for you to become a principal, you were able to take away and and utilize in that position?

Dr. Danny Steele: 8:20

Well, in a lot of ways, that's the million-dollar question for me. You know, certainly I was a I was an assistant principal for 10 years in in four different high schools. And most of that time I did discipline. And very, it was, it's hard to stress just how intense that discipline was. And so I saw a lot of kids that were misbehaving and disrespectful and defiant and given their teacher fits. And I also saw teachers that like would never send anybody to the office. And so I learned to sort of pay attention to what are the what are the dynamics in classrooms that that impact the extent to which students are more likely to get off task or more likely to be disrespectful. I experienced a lot of the drama that students are dealing with. You know, when students, it's been said that when a student acts out, it's often because of an unmet need. And so I I saw a lot of students in my office that were dealing with a lot of hard stuff. And it it makes your heart break. But it's important to be aware that the kids walk in our halls, the kids sitting in the lunchroom, the kids in the classrooms, they've got a home life sometimes that is a is a significant obstacle to them being successful in the school. So that that really hit home for me. And that's something that I always carried with me as a principal. But the other piece, the other piece is I really wanted to be a principal. And I had been an assistant principal for three years at this point when my principal was retiring. And so I thought, all right, I'm gonna get my shot. He's retiring. I've been an AP here for two years at this school, so I'm I'm next up, right? I got dibs on the spot. So I was very confident about my chances. And at one point in the application process in the spring, I was riding with my principal. We were in the car. And he said, Danny, I think some of the teachers at the school see you more as an advocate for students than for teachers. It immediately like I whipped my head around like, yeah, the kids need me. Like the adults can take care of themselves. I'm here for the kids. I couldn't even believe that would be held against me. I thought it would be a badge of honor that I was still here for kids. Well, I didn't get the job, as you can imagine. And so that summer, I think it was the summer of 2004, I had this administrative paradigm shift. What I realized, this was a tough lesson for me to learn. I say it was a tough lesson because I think it cost me that first principalship. Is you know, when we become an educator, we become teachers for kids. Because we love kids, we want to create a brighter future for them, make a difference for them. Well, what I learned the hard way, and what I tell any young administrator, is that the moment you become an administrator, your focus has to change. Your new mission is to win over all of the adults, to make a difference for your teachers. Now, we still love the kids. We never stop loving on the students, we never stop doing what's right for them. But when you're an administrator, your job is to support your staff. And I actually tell, I tell young administrators this that you will be defined by your ability to support your staff. So that is without a doubt the biggest lesson I learned as a young AP that has been stuck with me now for over 20 years.

Principal JL: 11:57

Awesome. I love that story because you know, you don't really think about the different paradigm shifts you have to make from when you go from the classroom into the assistant principal, then the principal, then maybe district or cabinet, or maybe superintendent, there's always a shift because your view becomes bigger and wider than it does when you're in the classroom. So now you're thinking, oh, I have this, and then all these things work together. And so when you talk about taking care of your adults, I agree with that 100% because if you take care of the adults, they take care of the kids, and then everybody wins, right? Yeah, and that's how you, as a principal, take care of the students, is by making sure this staff is being taken care of. Because if they're taken care of, they'll take care of the kids, and then everybody wins in that situation. So I love that, just that story in general, and it's very powerful, you know, big takeaway for people on this show. So walk us through some different administrative roles. It seems like you've got quite a few. Kind of, you know, talk about each one. Do you have any stories or things that you've learned from each role? We just talked about the AP, you know, you have your principal. Just take us through what your administrative career looks like and what did you learn through that time?

Dr. Danny Steele: 13:20

Well, the first six years as an AP, I did almost exclusively discipline. So I really learned a lot about kind of handling kids and handling the tough ones, and then what it means to support staff through the disciplinary process. Then my last four years as an assistant principal, I was in an academic and instructional role. So I was the coordinator of the AP program. I planned the master's schedule and and PD for the staff. I worked closely with our counselors. So if a if a teacher was, I'm sorry, if a parent was going to complain about a teacher, I was the administrator that it got routed to. So that was a process of me really learning what it meant to build good working relationships with my teachers, specifically the department heads. It was very significant to learn how to build the master schedule and what's involved in that. And so by the time I became principal in 2011, I really had, I basically had done everything I could do as an AP, I felt like. So I felt pretty prepared. Then as a principal, it is, you know, it's it's about trying to build the the best possible school culture where where kids thrive, where they want to come to school, where the adults like coming to work. It's it's about building relationships with kids, building relationships with staff, and you know, doing everything you can to ensure your teachers have the resources they need to get the job done and kind of get out of their way at that point, trying to trying to foster collaboration to where the adults are working together, not because they just have to be best friends, but because when the adults are collaborating, pulling when everyone's pulling the wagon in the same direction, it's best for kids. It's best for their learning. So, you know, I never worked in central office, so I can't really speak from the district level. I've worked with a lot of folks at the district level, and and so I know that the ones that I felt like are the most effective, the ones that principals really like working with, are the ones that view their role as a support to support the work that's going on in this school. So yeah, it's it's the best, the best administrative teams just view themselves as a supportive role. I mean, I've said at countless faculty meetings, there are two groups of people in a school building. I would even say there's two groups of people in an entire district whose job has inherent value, and that is the teachers and the CNP staff. Everyone else is really in a supportive role to help the teachers do their job more effectively. So certainly the best administrators, the best principals, they view themselves in a supportive role for the staff.

Principal JL: 16:20

Awesome. I love it. Danny, we have a lot of you know, people that are thinking about making the jump into administration. What advice? I think you kind of touched on it a little bit, but what advice would you give someone that's you know aspiring to be an administrator someday?

Dr. Danny Steele: 16:40

Like you have to have you have to have the joy. You have to have joy in the job. And so you it has to be your passion. I mean, you know, it's a stressful job, just like teaching is a stressful job. And if you're not passionate about teaching, then it will wear on your last nerve. And and you're gonna want to switch careers. If you're passionate about leading a school, about being an administrator, you're gonna love it. It's an amazing career. I was a school building administrator for 22 years and I loved it. And so, you know the term light bulb moment, right? For teachers. Like the light bulb moment is this gratifying moment for a teacher when they're teaching a lesson and the kids' eyes light up like a light bulb because they're getting the lesson. They're they're having this insight. And it's such a rewarding moment for educators. Well, I had some stress early on as an administrator because, you know, I don't have those light bulb moments as an administrator because we're not teaching the kids, right? So, what was important for me, an important kind of aha moment, is when I learn to redefine my light bulb moments. And so for me, a light bulb moment now is anytime I can make a teacher's job a little bit easier. If I can help a teacher with a challenging kid, if I can help a teacher with a high maintenance parent, if I can help them write an email, if they have their back in a tough parent conference, if I can help them move their filing cabinet across their room on their planning period, if you you know this, when you walk the halls, if you have your head on a swivel, light bulb moments are all around you. And so it is a great, great career and just unbelievably rewarding if you're always looking out for ways to make a difference for the adults in the building. We still love on the kids. You never stop loving on the kids, eat with them at lunch, talk to them at carpool. When you're making a difference for the teachers, for the staff, and having fun doing it, you know, cut goofing off with your secretaries, playing practical jokes on custodians, whatever it is, have fun. Have fun, and it's a great career.

Principal JL: 18:46

Yeah, I love it. I love that you talked about finding the joy. Yes, you have to be passionate about it. I'll be honest, I was a math teacher for 11 years before becoming a principal, and I was a small rules principal at first, so I was doing the discipline and the building level stuff kind of all at the same time, but now I'm uh a building principal at a larger district where I can really focus on the adults and the vision of the building, where I have a system principal that helped me out. We we just make sure we're consistent on everything. And it's got to be a pretty big issue if I'm involved with some of that because my system principals are amazing, do a great job with that. But I love finding the joy, and then you're right, those light bulb moments are when you're helping those adults and things are clicking, things are moving in the right direction. And like you said, if you take the time to see it, it's there. And you just sometimes when you're down and out in this job and you feel like, oh man, I'm just getting beat up today. Stop, look for the joy because there it's there, you just got to find it and be intentional about it, and that gives you that motivation to continue on. And so uh that's kind of my experience, but I really appreciate you kind of pointing that out. You hear a lot about negative things in the media about education, but I want to kind of talk about something a little bit different. What gets you excited about the future of education? Because there are a lot of exciting things that are gonna get ready to happen for education. What's something that excites you about it?

Dr. Danny Steele: 20:15

Well, I think what's exciting, it's the same thing that makes a lot of people uneasy right now. It's that, you know, technology, AI, it's it's causing us to really reevaluate what we're doing and why we're doing it. I think it it could change the landscape. We don't know. There's nobody knows exactly what the future is gonna be like. And so we're preparing kids for an uncertain time. I think that's exciting. I mean, it's it's stressful in a lot of ways, but it's important that educators have have the courage to just jump in and say, okay, we're gonna figure this out. We're gonna figure out how to work with our kids, we're gonna look to see how we can use AI to be more effective as educators, as leaders, and we're gonna look to see how to teach our kids to thrive in a world that's in so many ways now gonna be dominated by AI. But one thing that's never gonna change is the is the personal relationships, those personal connections. I mean, I know that there's Chat GPT can simulate in so many ways a relationship, but it's you know, it's scary what it can do. But I I still think nothing is going to replace you know, people having personal connections. And so, you know, educators with their heart in the game, they're gonna continue to make a difference for kids.

Principal JL: 21:32

And I really appreciate that point because AI is not here to replay. Teachers, right? If you utilize it as a tool, like the calculator or like any other technology, like the internet, right? When it first came out, people were having the same issues with those technologies as AI today. But if we learn how to use it appropriately and we utilize it as a tool, and as a teacher, it could actually help you become a better teacher because it's going to be able to differentiate the information you already have and you already know in ways that's going to be much quicker than you can personally do it. You're the one guiding it, you're the one prompting it. AI can't do it without you. So that's what people got to realize. AI can't work itself, it has to be prompted. You know, we have to utilize it in a way that, in my way, way of using it, our building is we use it with through Magic School AI, which is an educational platform to where teachers can use it to help them differentiate instruction, but also come up with fresh ideas that they would spend lots of time doing on their own. At a teacher that's an English teacher able to differentiate instruction. And they said, Man, this saves me hours, hours of time. And now I have more time to do these other things, and I'm becoming a better teacher because of it. And I think that's what other people, you know, need to realize if you learn how to usalize it right, it can be a big help. I use it, and I know there's a lot of things with the environment, won't get into that. I use it to help streamline some of the things I do so I can spend more time on the things that matter most, and I'm not stuck in all these mundane stuff. And so that's kind of how I look at it or view it. And some people may agree or disagree. If you disagree with me or agree with me, I'd like to hear from you. Hit in the comments, love to hear those things. But coming down to it, I had a guest on the show that said he heard someone say, AI is not gonna take your job. The people that know how to use AI is gonna take your job. So I think that's something to kind of remember as well. And then I saw an article where it talks about like AI is gonna replace all the teachers by 2036. And I was like, You're an idiot. It's like, no, it won't, it won't replace the human connection people gotta have to learn. That is why in-person learning is so much better than virtual. Remember COVID when we were doing virtual? It wasn't the same. You gotta have those human connections. Learning is better because you had a lot of learning loss during that COVID time with the virtual learning, but human connection is so key when it comes down to just learning and having those experiences that you just can't get sitting at a computer screen. So there, I'm off my tirade. Sorry, Danny, took over a little bit there. Let's get into your book, right? You have a new book titled The Instructional Leader in You: 10 Strategies for School Leaders. So, what inspired you to write the book?

Dr. Danny Steele: 24:41

So I was working a year and a half ago, I was doing some coaching with a couple young principals, and the superintendent said, these guys are young, they were coaches, you know, one of them was a PE teacher. They don't really have any instructional leadership capacity. So that's what I really want you to work with them on. And after I spent the first day with them, what I realized is that while they did not view themselves, nor do their teachers view them as instructional leaders, they had great relationships with their teachers. And the school culture was good. The teachers trusted them. And so, you know, I said, guys, y'all have like done the heavy lifting. Like you've won over the teachers, and that's 95% of the job. If you can just learn to leverage certain strategies or or mindsets, shift your thinking a few slightly, you really can move the needle with teaching and learning and student achievement. And so I wrote a blog post about kind of 10 strategies that school leaders can use. My editor liked it and said, you know, that can be a book. So wrote the book, each chapter a different strategy. So I'm excited because I, as a school leader, you know, every principal knows they're supposed to be the instructional leader. And certainly every superintendent wants their principals to be their instructional leader. But as a principal, you're oftentimes just trying to keep your head above water, right? You're just like sometimes you feel like you're drowning, you're going from one fire to the next. And the management piece of leading a school just is you're pulling in a million directions. And so oftentimes instructional leadership sort of takes a backseat. And so this was a book that was designed. I want it to empower teachers that, yeah, you can make a difference. Even if you don't have a PhD in curriculum and instruction, even if you don't know all of the research from John Hattie, you can make an impact. For me, I think instructional leadership is about adding value to the instructional program. It's not about having all the answers. It's certainly not about having all the expertise. That's part of what's so intimidating about it, is so many principals put this idea of instructional leader up on a pedestal and they feel like they have to be all and do all, and that's just not the case. That's where these strategies come in.

Principal JL: 26:53

So I have a question for you because you got me thinking, right? I try really, really hard to be good at being an instructional leader. I've tried different strategies. For me, it's kind of like, okay, I'm gonna try these things. I mean, I block out time in my calendar, I go around, I do my walkthroughs, I do my form, I mean, I do all the things, and I use my little cards and all that stuff. There's times where there's things I gotta do, and I feel bad because I can't be the instructional leader like I had wanna be all the time, but I'm always trying to find one little thing to do a little bit differently so I can make that progress towards that. And I think you talked about putting this instructional leadership on a pedestal. But I think what you're saying is, and maybe tell me if I'm wrong, you want to strive to be the best instructional leader you can. We all know that we can't do it the way we think we should do it. So maybe if you just learn to infuse these strategies a little bit at a time, that you'll eventually get to where you want to be. Is that kind of where I'm picking up upon? I yeah, I I but I feel bad when I don't do it the way I envision myself doing it. Because I'll come in like I'm gonna do it this way, and it's gonna be great. And then it's like, oh no, the low of the seat of the year goes, and I don't do what I set out to do as best as I thought I would.

Dr. Danny Steele: 29:03

Yeah, I think a lot of it is just it's it's so easy for administrators to feel inadequate in that capacity. Yeah, because they are pulled in so many directions, or because maybe they don't feel that they have the skill, the or or the expertise. And and and my strategies don't that I've identified in this book don't require expertise. You know, they require a commitment. You know, things like being curious, things like being intentional, being focused more on student learning than on teaching, that doesn't take a PhD. That doesn't take expertise, but it does take a shift in your thinking.

Principal JL: 29:40

So if someone's reading your book, I mean there's 10 strategies, and you probably can sit here for hours talking about all of them. What are some of the big takeaways that you would say you would hope leaders would take away from the book after they read it?

Dr. Danny Steele: 29:58

Well, the the one big takeaway is I want principals to to read this book and think, all right, I've got this. Yes, I can do it. I can be the instructional leader in my building. So I want it to be, I want teachers to to, or principals rather, to come away feeling inspired and empowered. The foundation, the very first chapter is curiosity. Again, that doesn't take expertise, but it does take a commitment to asking questions, asking good questions. And you don't have to have all the answers, but you commit yourself and and hopefully you foster a collective commitment with your team that we're gonna figure out these answers. And it can be questions about what is the what's the right curriculum for us? What are the best strategies? What's the best belt schedule for our students? How is AI going to be changing the way we teach? What's the best way to assess our students? You know, you can come up, sit here, and you could come up with a thousand questions and asking questions of yourself, asking questions of your staff, that jump starts this process of moving forward in the right direction. It all starts with curiosity. And I would say the other thing is another foundational strategy is being intentional. Like instructional leadership typically doesn't happen by accident, but it's about being mindful. I mean, you made reference to the fact that you've got things blocked time blocked off in your calendar. If you don't block off time in your calendar, it ain't happening because of all this stuff. You have to be very deliberate about okay, I'm gonna be in the classrooms these this time. I I'm gonna look, maybe I'm gonna leave my phone in my office so I'm not I'm not pulled by my phone. The announcements that you make over the intercom, what you choose to talk about, the emails that you send out, what messages are in your emails to staff? Does it reflect your commitment and your priority for teaching and learning? The agendas of the faculty meeting, is it just a bunch of housekeeping stuff, or are you focused on building capacity with your staff? Are you is it focused on things that matter for student learning? So that that being intentional is just being mindful of the fact that teaching and learning is the core business of our school. And I don't want there ever to be any ambiguity about what our priorities are, and it's not going to happen by accident, but it's gonna be a focus. It's gonna be we're gonna be intentional.

Principal JL: 32:25

I love it. Curiosity and being intentional are two things that were pretty simple to do, and you can implement those things right away. I know for this school year, I always try to have some sort of theme or something that we're trying to do. And this year we have a brand new superintendent, a brand new curriculum director, a brand new operations manager, a brand new SPED director. So we have four ones, yep, four different people in four different cabinet positions this year. So I came with the whole be curious mindset for this year because, guys, this is gonna be a different year. We have new leadership, and so we're not sure how everything's gonna go, but we need to be curious when we're, you know, hey, we let's let's ask questions, let's be curious about the whys and the things like that, and also how can you be curious about the things you do every day? And then the intentionality, like you said, being intentional with what you do and how you do that is a really important. So I really appreciate you bringing that that out there. Is there a third strategy you might want to talk about? That you know, those are two really good ones. Let's go one more.

Dr. Danny Steele: 33:43

I would say being strategic with delegation. And and I would take two angles there. One is there are some things that you're doing management-wise as a principal that probably someone else on your team can do, whether it's an assistant principal or a secretary or someone else, sometimes it's a lead teacher. There's things that that there are there are staff members that would like to step up actually and do and and handle some of that stuff. And when you delegate some of those tasks, that frees you up to get into classrooms and to have conversations with teachers about student learning. The other part of being strategic with delegation is recognizing that there is expertise on your staff and there is passion on your staff. There are, there are teachers, teacher leaders who would love to play a leadership role on your staff. Maybe it's a certain initiative, maybe it's helping to, you know, maybe you've got someone, maybe there's a teacher on your staff that just knows a whole lot about AI and about ways to use it in the classroom. Well, they need to be kind of having a leadership role in some of your staff meetings. We in my last school, we went through a year-long process of changing the bell schedule, which after 20 years, this was a big, big undertaking because it was like the schedule was like an institution that no one touched. Well, I had an assistant principal who was a wizard with bell schedules. And in a lot of ways, she led that effort in designing all different iterations and and leading staff through thinking through strengths and weaknesses because that was really that was her passion, and she was good at it. So identifying people on your staff that can step up and add value to the instructional program in maybe a way that you can't as the principal.

Principal JL: 35:31

Awesome. So, what bell sketches did you guys pick?

Dr. Danny Steele: 35:34

Sorry, I had to throw that out there. It was a combination. The the biggest, our sixth and seventh grade had kind of a kind of a block schedule. Eighth grade was not quite as much because we were trying to get them more transitioned to high school. But the big challenge we were trying to go through is we were trying to build in some time, like a 30-minute, 35-minute period for intervention. And and a lot of schools are doing that sort of thing, trying to build in, build in intervention time for students who need specifically tier three intervention, or it can be an enrichment time for kids who you know are already thriving. So that was really what was the impetus for the change.

Principal JL: 36:18

I know my first principal ship, we actually changed up the bell schedule to put in what we call win time, what I need for interventions, but also for enrichment. It wasn't just because the kid was struggling, we're also finding ways to challenge kids above what they were already doing. And then I'm at the high school I'm at now. We do an A B block schedule, but we also do interventions. We have a 40-minute time frame where we go Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday for interventions. We don't do it on Wednesday because we had kids get out early and we do PLC work on Wednesday every week. So that's kind of the schedule we had. So I always like to hear how other people like to set their schedules and things like that. So it's always interesting to hear those conversations. So, man, this conversation has really kind of just flown by and we've talked a lot. So, what I want to do is kind of look ahead for you. What's next for you? What's you know, personally, professionally, you know, what do you got going? Because I know you kind of been, you know, on and off some podcasts. I've signed and seen you out there a lot talking to people about all the awesome things you're doing. So, what's what's going on? What's what's up with you coming up?

Dr. Danny Steele: 37:29

Yeah, well, the biggest thing is I am I'm growing a business speaking and leadership coaching. You know, my favorite thing is to help educators overcome passion drift, whether it's teachers or school leaders, the job is stressful. And everyone gets into education very idealistic, they're going to change the world. But then the weight of the job, the physical demands and the emotional labor, it can just sometimes we can lose some of our joy. We can lose some of our edge and our passion drifts a little bit. But what I love to do when I come in and do, you know, kickoffs at the beginning of the school year or coming in in the summer to do a leadership retreat, I like to bring bring in that spark and and rejuvenate folks, bring in the positive energy and help people reconnect with their passion and their ultimate purpose. So, yeah, I'm trying to speak at some conferences. I've been just been accepted to speak at ASCD in Orlando this summer and working with some other districts. I'm going to be on a the closing keynote on Saturday for the Thriving Educators Virtual Summit. So I know you could get access, I don't have that information off the top of my head, but it's through the organized binder. So if any anybody that's interested, there's a great lineup of speakers. So yeah, growing that business and just looking for ways to connect and make an impact with school leaders and educators around the country is that's that's my new light bulb moment. It's that's what that's what keeps me going.

Principal JL: 38:55

You bet. And I appreciate the work you are doing because we need people like you out there to help us with that pass and drift and make sure that we kind of just stay, you know, where to find the joy and and stay injuvenated and motivated to do the job because this is tough work, it's not easy, and the day-to-day grind can get to you, but having people like you out there, you know, makes everything you know better and possible. And I really appreciate that. There's people out there that may want to connect with you, you know, how can they do that?

Dr. Danny Steele: 39:24

Yeah, well, my my email is Danny@steelthoughts.com. Steel is spelled with an E. My website is steelthoughts.com, and my social media is at Steelthoughts. So yeah, I'd love to connect with any of your listeners. I appreciate everyone out there who's in the game and and you know in the arena working hard to make a difference for the students and staff of their schools. And I I appreciate you having me on and and giving me a voice and appreciate the way you amplify school leaders.

Principal JL: 39:54

You bet. Well, I appreciate you being on, and we're gonna get all that information down in the show notes so they can make it easy to find you. Um, social media email, you know, websites, all that stuff will be down in the show notes for you. So, you know, Danny, before we go, is there any last thing you would like to say to educational leaders out there that are listening to the show?

Dr. Danny Steele: 40:16

Well, I I just want to say thank you. Like, you know how stressful the job is, but we need school leaders who are passionate about the work that they're doing, that are passionate about building strong, positive school cultures, that are passionate about supporting their staff and they're they're and they're still committed to loving the kids in the building. So I appreciate everyone that's out there and just encourage them to keep keep plugging away because they make a difference.

Principal JL: 40:48

All right. Appreciate you know everything you're doing, and I appreciate everything that everybody else is doing out there. So, Danny, I'm gonna go ahead and let you go for the day. I'll talk to you later. Thanks, Jeff. I appreciate it. I hope you enjoyed this episode with Dr. Danny Steele. If you found this episode impactful, please share it with other educational leaders like you. Please don't forget to subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss another impactful episode like this one. Until next time, be curious and 1% better.