WHAT: PBL Podcast for School Administrators
FREE RESOURCE: WhatisPBL.com for free PBL Resources for Administrators
PBL Simplified for Administrators
Helping School Leaders Launch Their PBL Vision
Project Based Learning (PBL) isn’t just for classrooms—it’s a transformative school-wide approach that starts with leadership. Hosted by Ryan Steuer, founder of Magnify Learning, this podcast is designed exclusively for school administrators, principals, and district leaders who are ready to implement and sustain PBL in their schools.
Each episode breaks down real-world leadership strategies to help you build a thriving PBL culture, from crafting a clear vision to supporting teachers and engaging your community. Tune in for solo episodes with Ryan packed with actionable insights, as well as guest interviews with top educational leaders who share their challenges, wins, and best practices in making PBL a success.
If you're ready to shift from traditional instruction to authentic, learner-driven education, this is the podcast for you.
🎧 Subscribe now and start leading the PBL movement in your school!
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Emotional Intelligence and Project Based Learning With Matt Taylor | E225
Season 8
Tuesday, May 13, 2025 • Duration 38:22
This episode of the PBL Simplified Podcast features guest Matt Taylor, who leads the Noble Story Group, a consulting firm that focuses on emotional intelligence-based leadership development in education and nonprofits.
Matt’s “Why”
He had an epiphany while observing both urban district schools and charter schools that they either had teachers with great technical and instructional skills, but unhappy students and teachers or they were happy places where students weren’t being challenged. He believes the “sweet spot” is a place where adults and kids feel connected and challenged. His executive coaching training grounded in emotional intelligence changed his life and gave him a framework to address his observations. He seeks to create the conditions for learning and thriving for individuals, teams, and learning communities.
The Value of Executive Coaching
Executive coaching helps build competencies, not skills.
It focuses on the “below the surface” aspects, like beliefs and mindsets, that affect competency.
Coaching helps identify roadblocks that training alone can’t address, like being conflict-averse.
Coaching helps leaders shift deep-seated habits based on core values.
It empowers individuals to find their own solutions.
It creates a ripple effect, enabling leaders to coach their teams.
Success Story: The Second-Year Principal
A high-achieving assistant principal, promoted to principal, struggled with delegation.
Coaching revealed her underlying beliefs: She felt the need to prove herself, to be liked, to not overburden others, and that this was what leadership entailed.
This led to her disempowering her team and hindering their growth.
By connecting her actions to her core value of developing people, she found the motivation to change.
She learned to self-coach, interrupting her old patterns and reminding herself of her true goal.
The Five Square Method
This coaching process is based on the four dimensions of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.
It emphasizes that 75% of leadership happens internally.
Leaders must understand their own values, mindsets, and potential obstacles before engaging others.
Social awareness, particularly empathy, is key to understanding others’ perspectives and choosing effective engagement strategies.
A fifth square, “core values,” was added to highlight their importance in guiding leadership decisions.
The Importance of Listening
Executive coaching involves the coach listening 70% of the time.
This allows the person being coached to process information and find their own insights.
Expertise for School Leaders
The most important expertise for school leaders is being the “learning leader.”
This means embodying a growth mindset, fostering relational trust and belonging, and balancing challenge and care for adults as well as students.
Launching a Vision
Connect the vision to your core values.
Make it a shared vision by listening to and incorporating your team’s aspirations.
View implementing the vision as adaptive change, involving the people affected in the solution.
Focus on the common ground of shared values and goals.
Opportunities in the Future of Education
Shift from short-term fixes to long-term strategies that address teacher and leader retention.
Prioritize creating a supportive and challenging learning community for adults.
Recognize the contagious nature of emotions: Adults’ engagement in learning will inspire students.
Parting Advice
This work is a marathon, not a sprint: Take care of yourselves and each other.
Build a strong team that provides both support and challenge.
Maintain hope and belief in your collective ability to overcome challenges.
Call to Action
Don’t go it alone. Seek support through coaching or masterminds.
How to Help Your Teachers Love Teaching Again | E224
Season 8
Tuesday, April 29, 2025 • Duration 18:07
This episode focuses on practical ways administrators can address teacher burnout and reignite their passion for teaching. Burnout is characterized by a disconnect from the joy of teaching, often stemming from a lack of autonomy and meaningful teaching opportunities. Project Based learning (PBL) is presented as a way to combat teacher burnout by fostering a student-centered approach that can revitalize teachers' love of teaching. This episode emphasizes that while quick fixes like hot chocolate and meditation can help, it's important to address the root causes of burnout.
Three Key Ways to Reignite Teachers' Love of Teaching:
Autonomy and Creativity: Teachers need the freedom to design meaningful and engaging projects that are tailored to their students' needs.
Following a rigid scope and sequence can stifle creativity and excitement.
PBL provides opportunities for both teachers and learners to have autonomy.
Building Relationships: Focus on both student-teacher and teacher-teacher connections.
Teachers want to connect with their students on a personal level beyond just the curriculum.
Creating opportunities for teachers to collaborate and connect with their peers is crucial.
Relevance and Purpose: Teachers need to feel that their work is meaningful and connected to real-world problems.
PBL can provide this sense of relevance and purpose.
When students are engaged, teachers are also more likely to be engaged and feel fulfilled.
Practical Steps Administrators Can Take Immediately:
Start with small wins.
Redesign faculty meetings to be more collaborative and to celebrate successes.
Use faculty meetings to build relationships between teachers.
We offer a free resource for how to redo your faculty meeting on our website, magnifypbl.com.
Empower student voice.
Encourage teachers to give students voice and choice in their learning.
Consider starting a student voice group to gather feedback.
Identify what "fills the bucket" for teachers: Find out what activities or actions bring joy to individual teachers and implement them.
The One Page Playbook to Transform Your Faculty Meetings | E215
Season 8
Wednesday, January 1, 2025 • Duration 15:22
Transform your faculty meetings into the highlight of the semester! Imagine your teachers leaving every session not only informed but inspired and ready to implement Project Based Learning in their classrooms. This episode will equip you with the tools to revolutionize your meetings by shifting away from mundane announcements and passive professional development. Say goodbye to the old "sit and get" approach and usher in vibrant, interactive gatherings that truly reflect the teaching excellence you want in your classrooms. You'll learn how to energize your team—even during the February slump—with practical insights and a simple playbook to ensure your meetings are as effective as they are engaging. Join us as we discuss the power of giving voice and choice to educators, creating a collaborative and positive meeting culture that mirrors what we aim to cultivate in our classrooms. Explore our strategies for gathering valuable teacher input and fostering genuine collaboration through structured protocols like Chalk Talk and connections activities. We'll also introduce engaging protocols like the "Zones of Comfort, Risk, and Danger" to motivate your staff and inspire them to adopt similar practices with their students. Plus, don't miss our exciting new podcast offerings: PBL Movement for Leaders, PBL Movement for Teachers, and the binge-style series Binge PBL for Leaders and Teachers, packed with the knowledge you need for successful Project Based Learning.
In this episode of the PBL Simplified Podcast, Ryan answers the Need to Know “What is the research behind Project Based Learning? The research is out there! You can go back to past PBL Simplified episodes E88 and E90 to hear Ryan talk about this research or Ryan can send you the research. Just go to WhatisPBL.com and click on Ask Ryan.
In our main episode, Ryan does a deep dive into the book Be Unstoppable by Alden M. Mills. Be Unstoppable is a parable style book that gives us a format for personal leadership. Tune in to the heart of this episode to get another high level leadership book for your bookshelf.
PBL Showcase - How Do You Find And Use Community Partners? | E125
Season 6 · Episode 125
Wednesday, April 12, 2023 • Duration 32:06
Are you looking for high quality Project Based Learning examples to share with your staff? If yes, then you have found the right episode! Haley Culp from Neosho, Missouri shares her PBL unit and offers some advice on what went well, and what she learned.
In this episode of the PBL Simplified Podcast, Ryan answers the Need to Know “How do I get Project Based Learning to spread organically?” In the Leadership Leap, Ryan talks about Eat, Move, and Sleep by Tom Rath. This book is backed up by research and filled with advice about how you should Eat, Move, and Sleep. Get your copy in the links below. In the main episode, we have Haley Culp from Neosho Missouri. Haley was a teacher in the classroom and has recently switched roles to assistant principal. Today, Haley shares her favorite PBL Unit from her classroom.
Do you ever wonder how high achievers reach such a high level? Contrary to popular thought, they did not just suddenly rise to the top. It was all of the little things they did every day, compounding over years, that brought them up to where they are today. The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson captures this idea perfectly. What is the Slight Edge? In his book, Jeff Olson says “They are not big sweeping things that take huge effort. They are not heroic or dramatic. Mostly, they are just little things you do every day and nobody else will notice.”
In this episode of the PBL Simplified Podcast, Ryan answers the Need to Know “How do I get my teachers to do a book study?” It's a trick question, you don’t! Your staff does not have time to do a book study. But can you get excerpts of really great books and bring them to your staff? Absolutely! For our main episode, Ryan takes a deep dive into The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson. This book is all about making slight improvements that compound over time adding up to major achievements. How does this help us in education and Project Based Learning? Ryan shares three ideas from The Slight Edge you can implement today. Get your copy in the links below.
PBL Working Session - How Do You Create Authentic Project Based Learning Units? | E123
Season 6 · Episode 123
Wednesday, March 29, 2023 • Duration 30:20
Do you wonder what conversations other Project-Based Learning schools have? If you answered yes then you’re in for a treat because we have a special PBL Working Session with Haley Culp from Neosho, Missouri. In this working session, you get to listen as Ryan works through some of the questions Haley has from her district. Haley has been a PBL teacher in the classroom and is now an Assistant Principal at a PBL-supportive district in Neosho, Missouri. Haley is also a PBL Certified Facilitator.
In this episode of the PBL Simplified Podcast, Ryan answers the Need to Know “When are my Learners ready for a public presentation?” In the Leadership Leap, Ryan summarizes The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson. This book is about little actions every day that eventually add up. Ryan highly recommends this book! Get your copy in the links below.
PBL Guest - Motivated Leadership - Danny Brassell | E122
Season 6 · Episode 122
Wednesday, March 22, 2023 • Duration 50:53
For this PBL Leadership Guest Episode we have Danny Brassell with us today. Danny is a speaker and author of 15 books including Leadership Starts With Motivation and Bringing Joy Back to the Classroom. Danny talks about different leadership ideas you can apply to your work today. You will definitely find several nuggets of advice in this episode. We will be talking about faculty meeting ideas.
In this episode of the PBL Simplified Podcast, Ryan answers the Need to Know “I get that grouping is important, but it is also hard and awful! Help!” In the Leadership Leap, Ryan summarizes the book Elite Minds by Dr. Stan Beecham. Elite Minds book's thesis is “The debate continues whether it’s in business or competitive sports, how much of one's performance is based on physical ability and how much of one's performance is based on mental acuity.” Get your copy in the link below.
PBL Leadership - Train to Expert - Where to Start | 121
Season 6 · Episode 121
Wednesday, March 15, 2023 • Duration 27:23
How do you define the path for your school? Without a path, no one knows where to go, but you will end up somewhere. The next step you need to take is what Ryan calls "Train to Expert", which is training your teachers to be experts in their chosen field. Ryan gives three key components to professional development. These components fulfill both culture building and the skillsets of your staff. This episode focuses on the first step of the Train to Expert path. There will be two more steps in the series of Defining the Path for your school.
In this episode of the PBL Simplified Podcast, Ryan answers the Need to Know “I’m a PE teacher. I’m in the gym. I’ve got health. How do I get started with Project-Based Learning and how do elective courses work with Project-Based Learning?” Ryan points to Jordan Manley as the PE expert. You can connect with Jordan in the links below.
In the Leadership Leap, Ryan summarizes the book Mindset by Carol Dweck. Mindset is about having a Growth Mindset, always thinking that you can improve versus a Fixed Mindset, that you cannot get any better. Get your copy in the links below.
PBL Showcase - How Do You Build Engagement In High School English? | E120
Season 6 · Episode 120
Wednesday, March 8, 2023 • Duration 39:36
Are you looking for other Visionary Leaders to connect with? Does English and Project Based Learning seem like a hurdle or a highlight? Visionary Leaders who employ PBL can create authentic learning experiences and inspiring classrooms for students of all ages. Project Based Learning also enables school leaders to fulfill their vision for academic growth and a thriving school community.
Carolyn White is a High School English teacher from the East Coast. Carolyn’s why is to help students understand their why. Carolyn walks through her PBL Unit of “How can we help local small businesses attract and retain employees?”. Carolyn recommends diving into your first PBL Unit and figuring it out from there. She also shares some student stories from the Unit.
In this episode of the PBL Simplified Podcast, Ryan answers the Need to Know “How long should a PBL Unit be?” In the Leadership Leap, Ryan summarizes the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. Atomic Habits is about making good habits, and stopping bad habits. Ryan highly recommends this book for your shelf! Order your copy with the link below.
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