On this episode, Ann Marie and Todd discuss teacher recruitment and retention with Dr. Ann Byrd. Ann is the executive director of SC-Teacher, an organization that provides comprehensive research about South Carolina’s educator workforce. Through her work with SC-Teacher, Dr. Byrd partners with researchers, educators, district administrators, and other state education officials across South Carolina to transform data into actionable insights that guide policy, strengthen practice, and address educator pipeline challenges. Her work focuses on bridging the gap between research and practice, ensuring that decision-makers and education leaders have the evidence they need to support teacher recruitment, preparation, and retention.

In this episode of Unbridled, Ann Marie and Todd talk with Matthew Bowerman about creating trauma-sensitive spaces.

Bowerman is a trauma-responsive, culturally competent servant leader who prioritizes collaborative, discovery-based learning for K-12 and higher education staff, students, and families; also a passionately creative, critical thinker and solution-maker with over thirty years in education and the arts who seeks to balance equitable, social emotional supports with empowering student resilience, compassion, mindfulness, and academic exploration.

Read more from Matthew here:

Edutopia (https://www.edutopia.org/profile/matthew-j-bowerman)

➢ Trauma-Responsive Leadership in K-12 Schools

➢ Addressing Cyberbullying and Bullying in Schools

➢ Integrating Culturally Responsive Teaching and Trauma-Informed Practices

➢ How School Leaders Can Guide the Work of Paraeducators: Trauma Responsive Supports

➢ 3 Tips for Using Trauma-Informed Practices As A School Leader

➢ The School Leader-Counselor Alliance

➢ A Guide to Psychological Safety for Educators

➢ How To Safely Manage A Student In Crisis

➢ A School Administrator’s Strategy for Calming Disruptive Students

➢ 3 Types of Engagement

➢ Approaching Student Data Holistically

➢ Building Trauma-Sensitive Spaces in Schools

TeacherGoals

➢ Bridge-building: Keys to supporting equitable and authentic school-family

engagement

(https://teachergoals.com/bridge-building/?v=7516fd43adaa)

➢ Trauma-Responsive Living

(https://teachergoals.com/trauma-responsive-living/?v=7516fd43adaa)

National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP)

➢ Trauma-Responsive, Trauma-Informed School Safety in PreK-8 Schools

➢ 7 Tips to Restore the Hearts and Minds of Students

(https://www.naesp.org/resource/7-tips-to-restore-the-hearts-and-minds-of-students/)

Teach Better (https://teachbetter.com/author/matthew-j-bowerman/)

➢ Remove the Guardrails: Facilitate a Productive Struggle

➢ Carrying Heavy Things: Support Students

➢ Additional material: https://teachbetter.com/?s=matthew+j.+bowerman

Association of Middle Leaders in Education (AMLE)

➢ Navigating the Gray: Trauma in the Middle Grades

(https://www.amle.org/navigating-the-gray-trauma-in-the-middle-grades/)

Stronger Together with Dr. Matthew X. Joseph

➢ School and Life on Spin Cycle

(https://mxjedu.net/spin-cycle)

Principal’s Project

➢ Three Ways to be Rigorous With Our Care for Our Teams

(https://principalproject.org/3-ways-to-be-rigorous-with-our-care-for-our-teams/)

In this episode of Unbridled, Ann Marie and Todd sit down with Dr. Jon Eckert, Professor of Educational Leadership and the Lynda and Robert Copple Endowed Chair for Christians in School Leadership at Baylor University. With more than two decades of experience as a classroom teacher, policy advisor, and researcher, Jon brings a deeply human and hopeful perspective to what it means to teach and lead well in today’s schools.

Together, Todd and Jon explore the promise and challenge of collective leadership and why real change starts with relationships rooted in trust and purpose.

Whether you’re a teacher, school leader, or simply someone who cares about the future of education, this conversation will remind you why the work of teaching still matters, deeply.

Listen to more from Dr. Jon Eckert:🔗 ⁠Baylor Center for School Leadership⁠🎧 ⁠Just Schools Podcast on Spotify⁠ | ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠📚 ⁠jonathaneckert.org⁠