Coaching the Whole Educator

The strategy everyone nodded along to in August? It's thriving in one classroom and missing in action next door. And that eye roll from the back of the room is still living rent-free in your head.

In this first episode of Solution Sessions, a new weekly segment of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca reads the opening pages of The Resistance Solution and names what most leaders feel but rarely say out loud: the emotional whiplash of t...

 What if the colleague you've been describing as "quirky" is the most underused talent in your building? 

In this episode of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca Silver sits down with Justin Permenter of NDI Institute to talk about building workplaces where neurodivergent educators, coaches, and leaders can perform, contribute, and lead without lowering expectations. Roughly one in five people is neurodivergent, including pe...

Ever notice how the same piece of feedback lands beautifully with one person on your team and completely bombs with another? Robyn Jackson is back, and this time we're digging into Will Drivers, her framework for the four things that motivate every human being: mastery, purpose, belonging, and autonomy.

Here's the twist. Each driver comes with its own core question running in the background of someone's mind: how, why, who, and what...

 **Join the Resistance Solution Facebook Community** https://www.facebook.com/share/g/19TRR5VfpX/

Danny Bauer of Better Leaders Better Schools joins Becca Silver to unpack self mentorship, why traditional PD falls short, and how to become a ruckus maker. 

Most professional development follows the same script: someone else decides what educators need to learn, when they need to learn it, and how. Danny Bauer, founder of Bett...

In this episode, Becca sits down with instructional coaching and lesson planning expert Lori Cohen (co-author of The PD Book) to talk about her new book, The Science of Lesson Planning, and what transformative lesson design can teach coaches and school leaders about building psychological safety in schools. They dig into psychological safety, the difference between coaching and "coaxing," and why celebration and reflection only wor...

In this episode, Becca sits down with Jennifer Abrams, author of five books on adult-to-adult communication in schools including Having Hard Conversations and Stretching Your Learning Edges, for a conversation on hard conversations, school culture, and adult development in education. 

Topics covered in this episode: 

• The difference between resistance and a hard conversation, and where one line ends and the other begins
• W...

What if the pushback you're getting from teachers isn't about the initiative at all, but about a hidden cultural mismatch in how your school defines belonging?

In this episode of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca Silver sits down with Dr. Sheldon Eakins, author of Meaningful Classroom Management, What Are You Bringing to the Potluck?, and Leading Equity, to explore a dimension of belonging that rarely gets airtime in school leaders...

 In this episode of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca Silver explores the hidden costs schools and districts pay when resistance is misunderstood.

She calls it the resistance tax: the quiet drain on resources, relationships, and results that happens when leaders respond to resistance with pressure, compliance, or more accountability instead of understanding what is driving it.

Becca breaks down five major forms of the resistanc...

What if one of the biggest missing pieces in teacher retention is how we support mentor teachers?

In this episode, Becca talks with John Pascarella, professor of clinical education at USC and Chief Academic Officer of the USC Race and Equity Center, about why mentor teachers are often asked to support new teachers without the training, role clarity, compensation, or coaching they actually need.

They unpack why being a great teacher d...

In this episode of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca Silver talks with Principal Kafele about what happens when high expectations meet resistance in schools and how leaders can respond without slipping into compliance-driven leadership.

Together, they explore how school leaders can create a true culture of high expectations, not by demanding instant transformation, but by helping educators experience steady, measurable growth. Prin...

 What does The Resistance Solution actually look like in a real school?

In this episode, Chrystin Sheffield shares how the book transformed the way she leads.

She talks about how it helped her:

• Stop taking teacher resistance personally and start diagnosing what's really driving it

• Navigate difficult conversations with less frustration and more confidence

• Give walkthrough feedback that feels meaningful instead of repetitive

• B...

In this episode, Becca sits down with Jessica Werner, founder of North Shore Learning, to unpack a hard truth in schools: many leaders believe they understand staff well-being, but are relying on assumptions instead of real data.

Together, they explore how well-being, retention, and leadership decisions are deeply connected and why anecdotal signals like “people seem happy” or “no one is in crisis” are not en...

Okay y’all… this episode is basically what happens when two people who are deeply obsessed with leadership, resistance, ownership, and human behavior finally hit “record.” 😂

Becca sits down with leadership expert Casey Watts to celebrate the release of The Resistance Solution… but the conversation quickly turns into a deep, real-time exploration of what actually causes resistance in schools and why s...

[FREE] Find Your Resistance Type Quiz: Find out the type of resistance you are navigating

In this episode of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca sits down with Jason Adair from the Southern Regional Education Board to explore what actually makes instructional coaching effective in schools. Together, they unpack SREB’s new Powerful Coaching Practices framework and discuss why so many coaching initiatives fail to create lasting i...

Discover a conversation unlike any you’ve heard before as Dr. Courtney Tate joins Becca Silver to shine a spotlight on the real challenges and triumphs experienced by Black women in instructional coaching. This episode pulls back the curtain on the unseen emotional workload, the navigation of daily microaggressions, and the relentless pursuit of recognition faced by these dedicated professionals. Dr. Tate brings her research ...

In this episode of Resistance Chronicles, Becca Silver unpacks a coaching mistake many instructional coaches and school leaders make at the end of the school year: trying to solve exhausted teachers instead of helping them feel understood first.

When teachers are overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and running on fumes, even well-intentioned coaching strategies can accidentally create more frustration. Too often, leaders hear exhausti...

Change isn’t something school leaders do on the side. It is the work. In this episode, former principal and author Richard Gerver joins Becca to dig into why adults in schools resist change even though change and learning go hand in hand. They talk about why veteran teachers often push back the most, how forcing change shuts down curiosity and buy in, and what it looks like to respect lived experience while still moving forwa...

Resistance Chronicles, Part 5: Ownership Mindset™

[FREE] Find Your Resistance Type Quiz: Find out the type of resistance you are navigating (previously called The Resistance Audit)

In the final episode of The Resistance Chronicles, Becca Silver explores the Ownership Mindset and the form of resistance that often sounds like disengagement but is rooted in belief.

It can sound like:
 “There’s nothing we can do.&rdquo...

[FREE RESOURCE] Resistance Diagnostic Assessment: Identify the root cause(s) of the resistance you are navigating (previously called The Resistance Audit)

Are you an instructional coach or principal navigating endless data, tough decisions, and nonstop demands? In this can’t-miss episode, visionary school leader David Richards reveals why intuition is your greatest untapped superpower, and how mastering it can transform your l...