Relationship-building in secondary schools has a reputation problem. Content-focused teachers stacked with seven or eight periods a day treat connection as a nice-to-have they don't have time for. John Whalen and Doug Overton, co-founders of Ed Tomorrow, argue the opposite: teachers who invest a minute or two in connection get instructional time back, because bought-in students need less behavior management.
Whalen and Overton left stable school leadership jobs to build The First Five, a free daily email that gives teachers grade-banded ways to build connection, care, and character into the first minutes of class. They break down why kids buy into a teacher before they buy into the content, how to get a hesitant secondary staff to try it, and what they'd build if they started a school from scratch.
THINK THROUGH YOUR NEXT LEADERSHIP MOVE
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⌚️ TIMESTAMPS
- 00:00 - Why secondary teachers resist relationship building
- 04:11 - John and Doug introduce Ed Tomorrow
- 06:19 - The phone call that led to a cross-country move
- 09:15 - How COVID sparked the First Five
- 12:45 - Winning kid buy-in starts with relevancy
- 14:00 - Why kids buy into you before your content
- 17:01 - Meeting hesitant teachers where they are
- 23:58 - Why middle school is the hardest band to serve
- 33:07 - How the First Five actually works
- 34:34 - The three Cs behind every First Five resource
- 38:56 - The message they'd put on every school marquee
- 41:44 - Three guiding principles for building a dream school
- 47:04 - The one thing to remember before you start a ruckus
CONNECT WITH JOHN WHALEN AND DOUG OVERTON
WHENEVER YOU ARE READY, HERE'S 3 WAYS TO HELP YOU DO SCHOOL DIFFERENT:
TODAY'S RUCKUSCAST IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
IXL
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KIDS FIRST EDUCATION
Kids First Education builds professional learning around your district's priorities, your data, and your classrooms — not pulled off a shelf — and 98% of educators walk out ready to use what they learned.
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