Leading Collaborative Response Podcast
Leading organizations with intentionality and purpose is complex work, and dedicated leaders work tirelessly each and every day to build impactful cultures of collaboration! But effective collaboration is difficult and messy. The good news is you don’t have to do it alone! Join the Jigsaw Learning team for Leading Collaborative Response, sharing insights for leaders committed to establishing, refining and deepening Collaborative Response in their organization.
Reaching listeners in over 25 countries!
| 2025 Collaborative Response Retreat Presenter Series Get an exclusive preview of the insights and expertise coming to life at our upcoming Collaborative Response Retreat! This bonus podcast series features dynamic presenters, each sharing their unique perspectives, strategies, and stories to inspire your leadership journey. Don't miss this opportunity to connect with the voices driving meaningful collaboration in education. |
| Importance of Timing When Leading Collaborative Response - Ep 54 In this episode Kurtis and Lorna consider the significance of timing. As leaders, we have the ability to speed up our implementation or slow down our change intiatives but we should always be aware of and listen to who we are leading. |
| Grasslands District Collaborative Response: Multi-Layered Approach w/ Nicole Short/Sean Beaton Ep 53 Kurtis and Lorna connect with Grasslands Public Schools leaders Sean Beaton and Nicole Short to explore how collaborative team processes and equitable practices are transforming instructional leadership and student support. |
| Connecting Tiers of Support to Layers of Team - Ep 52 Kurtis and Lorna share the integral understanding of the connection between the tiers of support on the continuum and the layers of teams providing those supports. |
| No Such Thing as a Bad Kid: Impacting Behaviour Through Collaborative Response w/ Laura Elliott - Ep 51 Kurtis and Lorna engage in a conversation with Behaviour Consultant Laura Elliott, who shares why there is no such thing as a bad kid and how the intentional development of a behaviour continuum of supports can have a tremendous impact on staff mindsets regarding student behaviour. |
| Master the Continuum of Supports Strategies for Success - Ep 50 Kurtis and Lorna discuss in this episode of Leading Collaborative Response the utilization of a continuum of supports. Without clear strategies for using the continuum, it becomes 'a document that was created that one PD day'. |
| Establishing Collaborative Response for Middle School Success at Sir Wilfrid Laurier School - Ep 49 Kurtis and Lorna are joined by Andrea Petroni and Tanya Dann, the administrative team at Sir Wilfrid Laurier School with the Calgary Board of Education. They unpack how they have structured their Collaborative Response efforts with a high degree of fidelity at the middle school level and what they consider to be the thing that has had the greatest impact on Collaborative Response. |
| Maximize Your Success: How to Schedule Your School Support Team Like a Pro! - Ep 48 Kurtis and Lorna discuss the importance of scheduling a regular school support team weekly or bi-weekly and the impact that this routine meeting has on the culture of the school. |
| Examining the Impact of Collaborative Response on Instructional Leadership w/ Alyson Archibald Ep 47 Kurtis connects with Alyson Archibald, principal of Dr. Hamman Elementary School in Horizon School Division. Alyson and Kurtis discuss how Collaborative Response has evolved for Alyson over the years and how Collaborative Response impacts elements such as instructional leadership, collective efficacy and wellness. |
| Preview of the Collaborative Response Retreat - Ep 46 Kurtis and Lorna preview the Collaborative Response Retreat, happening May 2-3, 2025 in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada. They not only share the unique format for the Retreat to engage in learning, networking and team planning, but also share how to sign up for notification when an early and exclusive registration window opens on January 27, with a bonus gift for anyone who registers during this early registration window! |
| The Vital Role of Sr. Leadership in Leading Collaborative Response /Thérèse deChamplain-Good - Ep 45 Lorna and Kurtis are joined by Thérèse deChamplain-Good, Assistant Superintendent of Educational Excellence with Elk Island Catholic School Division. Thérèse, Lorna and Kurtis explore how Collaborative Response has been sustained throughout Elk Island Catholic School Division over a number of years and the critical role Senior Leadership plays in leading the work. |
| Introducing the Collaborative Team Meeting - Ep 44 Kurtis and Lorna share the collaborative team meeting a unique and critical structure in Collaborative Response that provides an avenue for supporting students and growing staff capacity. |
| Collaboratively Ensuring Success for Students in an Alternative School with Chris Zottl - Ep 43 Lorna and Kurtis are joined by Chris Zottl, principal of Sunrise School in Grasslands Public Schools, an alternative school for junior and senior high students. Chris and his team have established an exemplary culture of response and collaboration, which requires rethinking what it may mean when we define success for all learners. |
| Structure of the School Support Team - Ep 42 Kurtis and Lorna discuss the importance of a proactively designed school support team that functions as the hub of decision making for supporting students and staff. |
| Establishing the Collaborative Team Meeting with Clarity and Fidelity at Ron Southern School - Ep 41 Kurtis is joined by Zoe Serediuk and Ankush Garg, the administrative team at Ron Southern School with the Calgary Board of Education, to explore one element of Collaborative Response, the collaborative team meeting, and how Ron Southern has introduced this specific structure specifically into their school with a high degree of intentionality and fidelity. |
| Collaboratively Responding Across a System with CBE Chief Superintendent Joanne Pitman - Ep 40 Lorna and Kurtis Hewson are joined by Joanne Pitman, Chief Superintendent of Schools with the Calgary Board of Education, serving more than 138,000 students across more than 250 schools. Joanne shares insights related to leading Collaborative Response in a complex and dynamic system, ensuring high degrees of clarity, intentionality and purpose. |
| BLAST-ing off for Literacy Intervention Success with Nancy MacLellan - Ep 39 Lorna and Kurtis are joined by Nancy MacLellan, a retired teacher and current educational consultant who has formed her company - Nancy Mac Consulting. We dive into the importance of responsive literacy interventions and share a number of tips and reminders when establishing school-wide literacy supports in a school. |
| Impacting School-Wide Culture Through Collaborative Response at a High School with Chris Good - Ep 38 Kurtis and Lorna are joined by Chris Good, principal of Lindsay Thurber High School in Red Deer, Alberta, discuss why collaboration is so critical for student and staff success and how Chris went from not thinking Collaborative Response could be implemented effectively at a high school to seeing it have success in their large high school of over 2000 students and over 100 teachers! |
| Leading with Intentionality, Vulnerability and Patience - Implementing CR with Peter Barron - Ep 37 Kurtis is joined by Peter Barron, Superintendent of St. Paul Education Regional School Division. Peter has led the introduction of Collaborative Response now in three school divisions in Alberta and shares insights connected to leading with intentionality, vulnerability and the importance of patience! |
| Supporting Complex Students by Not Focusing on Them in the Collaborative Team Meeting - Ep 36 Lorna and Kurtis discuss why focusing primarily on your high needs students can actually have a negative impact on building a culture of Collaborative Response within your school. They discuss why layers of team are critical in schools, the collaborative team meeting should not focus on students with complex needs and share some ideas and strategies related to how that can be accomplished. |
 | Ensuring Follow-Up for Actions Determined in the Collaborative Team Meeting - Ep 35 Lorna and Kurtis tackle a question often posed by leaders - how to follow-up on actions from collaborative team meetings? They review the process that generates actions in the CTM and then offer considerations to ensure follow-up on actions from those meetings that are critical to Collaborative Response. |
 | Shifting Conversations by Colour-coding Data and Evidence - Ep 34 Lorna and Kurtis explore how colour-coding data can be used to support discussions about students and how the same data can be reorganized to be used for different purposes. |
| 5 Key Considerations for Facilitating Highly Effective Team Meetings - Ep 33 Jennifer has an opportunity to engage in a conversation with Kurtis regarding what facilitators can do to ensure highly impactful team meetings. As leaders, we are constantly refining and growing our practice when it comes to leading teams and Kurtis shares some things he has learned that can have a positive impact when facilitating for high impact collaboration. |
| Establishing a Culture of Collaborative Response as a Guiding Mindset - Ep 32 Lorna and Kurtis are joined by the Leadership Team at Joan Carr Catholic School, located in Edmonton, Alberta. The team shares what Collaborative Response looks like in their K-9 school of roughly 800 students, only in its second year of existence. They share the impact that it is having for students and staff and how the Collaborative Response mindset has helped envision a powerful approach they’ve come to call “TLC”! |
| Getting to the Root: Building Continuums of Supports to Respond to Behaviour and Attendance - Ep 31 Jennifer and Lorna discuss the adjustments that need to be made when developing a continuum of supports focused on behaviour or attendance needs of students. A continuum of supports can become a powerful resource for school teams, but it is important to look below the surface regarding what is being communicated through behavior and attendance concerns and how best to support those root causes. |
| The Value of System-Wide Implementation with Scott Brandt and Brita Goldie - Ep 30 Lorna and Kurtis are joined by the Superintendent of Grasslands School Division, Scott Brandt, and the principal of Bassano School, Brita Goldie. In the conversation, we explore how the division has implemented a Collaborative Response journey across all of its schools, the impact the work is having on students and staff, what it looks like in a K-12 within the division and how the structures and processes have been utilized at the divisional level. |
| Ensuring Fidelity: The Key Lies in the Collaboration Processes and Structures - Ep 29 Kurtis has the opportunity to engage with Vice Principal Colin Desynoyers, currently part of the leadership team at St. Mary’s Junior High School in Medicine Hat, Alberta, discussing his reflections and advice to leaders engaging in Collaborative Response, based on his experiences introducing the framework in three different schools over his career. |
| Think Big, Act Small - Leading a Culture of Response with Principal Kari Huk - Ep 28 Lorna and Kurtis have an opportunity to engage with Kari Huk, principal of Woodbridge Farms Elementary with Elk Island Public Schools. Kari shares her Collaborative Response journey, what the work looks like specifically at her current school and some outstanding lessons learned along the way. |
| Planning for Purposeful Collaboration: Lessons Learned from Principal Nancy Roy Halun - Ep 27 Jennifer, Lorna and Kurtis engage in a conversation with Nancy Roy Halun, principal of Ecole Notre Dame, a francophone school of 445 Kindergarten to Grade 6 students. Nancy shares some of the key lessons she has learned through implementing Collaborative Response in her school, including the value of being purposeful in planning and how intentionally aligning the layers of teams ensures clarity and focus for their staff team when discussing the needs of students. |
| Implementing Collaborative Response with their Early Learning Team - Ep 26 Jennifer, Lorna and Kurtis have the opportunity to meet with Erin Norrish, Early Learning Coordinator with Grasslands School Division in southern Alberta, to discuss how her and her team have implemented Collaborative Response with their Early Learning team. |
| Are Your Team Goals in Alignment Creating Intentional Focus? - Ep 25 Jennifer and Kurtis ask the question. “Are you aligning your school goals to make the biggest impact?” |
| 5 Mistakes Leaders Make When Organizing Data - Ep 24 Jennifer and Kurtis share with you five mistakes leaders make when organizing data for their teams. |
| Five Mistakes Leaders Make When Planning Team Meetings - Ep 23 Jennifer and Kurtis explore five mistakes leaders make when planning team meetings (and how to overcome them!). Kurtis continues to talk about his favourite words: clarity and predictability. Considerations in this conversation may be leveraged in order to level up already high-functioning teams! |
| Welcoming New Admin to a School with a Culture of Collaboration - Ep 22 Jennifer, Lorna, and Kurtis discuss how, internally, teachers and staff can plan to welcome a new administrator into their collaborative culture. Of particular note is the idea of shifting the mindset away from the fear of losing Collaborative Response to the opportunity that presents itself when new eyes can be shown the value of collaboration and be invited to contribute. |
| Bringing New District Office Personnel into a Culture of Collaboration - Ep 21 Jennifer, Lorna, and Kurtis explore the nuances of bringing new personnel into key district roles where a culture of collaboration has been established. Topics include ensuring the Board is aware of the impact of Collaborative Response, how district personnel might partner with or shadow one another, and how schools might invite new district personnel to experience the positive results of Collaborative Response. |
| Onboarding New Leaders to a District with a Culture of Collaboration - Ep 20 Jennifer, Lorna, and Kurtis explore the scenario of bringing new school leaders into a district where a culture of collaboration has been established within and between schools. Where these leaders may not have the lived experience of the journey of the district that has implemented Collaborative Response over time, there are steps that can be taken to bring them up to speed. |
| Onboarding New Staff to a School with a Culture of Collaboration - Ep 19 Jennifer, Lorna, and Kurtis discuss one of many scenarios around bringing new personnel into an established collaborative culture. This conversation focuses on how to bring in new staff to a school where Collaborative Response is already “the way things are done”. |
| So We've Established Our Continuum of Supports...Now What? - Ep 18 Jennifer and Lorna explore ways to intentionally and meaningfully engage with the Continuum of Supports to enhance our educational practice and support our collaborative culture to best serve our students. |
| Articulating Your Big Rocks: Establishing Tier 1 in Your Continuum of Supports - Ep 17 Jennifer and Kurtis discuss big rocks as they pertain to the Continuum of Supports: narrowing the focus of universal instructional practices to a handful of high impact strategies that can be agreed upon as non-negotiable across all classrooms in a school or district. |
| Good News! Your Continuum of Supports is Never Done! - Ep 16 Jennifer and Kurtis discuss the initial process of articulating a continuum of supports and the subsequent, ongoing, iterative process of continually refining this menu as we engage as lifelong learners. |
| Common Pitfalls of Collaborative Team Meetings - Ep 15 Jennifer engages with Marilyn Schmitke and Collette Sylvestre, Learning Associates with Jigsaw Learning, to identify and address common pitfalls that arise in the structure and process of Collaborative Team Meetings. |
| The Art of Facilitating CTMs - Ep 14 Jennifer engages with Marilyn Schmitke and Collette Sylvestre, Learning Associates with Jigsaw Learning, to better understand the art of facilitating Collaborative Team Meetings as an integral structure and process within Collaborative Response. |
| Why Successful Leaders Always Start With a Plan for Team Meetings - Ep 13 Jennifer engages with Marilyn Schmitke and Collette Sylvestre, Learning Associates with Jigsaw Learning, to better understand the practical and contextual considerations regarding planning for team meetings as one who is leading Collaborative Response. |
| 4 Mistakes Leaders Make When Setting Up Collaborative Team Meetings - Ep 12 Jennifer and Kurtis explore four mistakes leaders make when first setting up collaborative team meetings in schools, as well as ideas to consider to avoid and/or overcome these mistakes. |
| Reduce Your Meetings...By Adding One More! - Ep 11 Jennifer and Lorna explore the contradiction of reducing the number of meetings by adding one more through an in depth discussion of the various layers of team meetings that align with the continuum of supports as part of Collaborative Response. |
| The Psychology Behind Collaborative Team Meetings - Ep 10 Kurtis Hewson addresses the contradictory statement "support the student by not focusing on them during the Collaborative Team Meeting" as well as a number of collaborative structures and processes that are implemented intentionally to create psychological safety for staff as they build their collective efficacy. |
| Planning for Fall Start Up - Ep 9 Lorna Hewson shares some big ideas around reflective practice, building responsive relationships, transition planning, and taking the opportunity to leverage a new school year to refresh and revise one's approach to create an inclusive learning environment. |
| Timetabling for Collaborative Response - Ep 8 Kurtis Hewson discusses how shifting mindsets when timetabling can have a positive impact for staff and students when implementing Collaborative Response. He shares big rocks to be considered, provides examples based on personal experience as well as interactions with partners of Jigsaw Learning, and encourages school leaders to "try something". |
| Collaborative Response from a Systems Perspective - Part 2 - Ep 7 Lorna Hewson shares how districts can leverage a parallel Collaborative Response in responding to the needs of schools in the same way that schools respond to the needs of students. She speaks to the notion of being able to provide assurance that growth is taking place in schools through the way that support is provided from the district level. |
| Collaborative Response from a Systems Perspective Part 1 - Ep 6 Kurtis Hewson shares best practices and challenges when supporting Collaborative Response implementation across schools in a system. |
| A Leaders’ Role in Establishing Structures and Processes - Ep 5 Kurtis Hewson speaks to considerations and implications for leaders as they take on the responsibility of introducing and refining structures and processes with staff. |
| A Ready, Fire, Aim Approach to Leading Collaborative Response - Ep 4 Lorna Hewson discusses the notion of Ready, Fire, Aim as it applies to change theory generally and to Collaborative Response specifically. |
| The Power of Norms for Collaboration - Ep 3 Kurtis Hewson speaks to the power of co-creating norms, bringing them to life by unpacking them for deeper understanding and returning to them repeatedly to demonstrate them in practice as way to fortify their importance. |
| Seeking Alignment for School Impact - Ep 2 Kurtis Hewson shares insight into aligning Collaborative Response with school improvement plans and how putting faces on the data can have a significant impact on success for those plans. |
| Establishing Collaborative Response in a School - Ep 1 Kurtis Hewson offers considerations and advice for leaders looking to establish Collaborative Response in their school. |
