BONUS: What Makes a School Feel Great?

In this S5E3 BONUS Schoolutions Teaching Strategies conversation, discover the game-changing difference between "marigold" and "walnut" teachers that transforms student success and school culture forever.

After 30 years in education, Sandy Halpin, a retired Teacher Center Director, reveals why some educators inspire thriving students while others create toxic environments. This isn't just about classroom management or student discipline—it's about collective efficacy, the research-backed strategy with a 1.57 effect size on student achievement.

What You'll Learn:
💫How to identify marigold teachers who enhance school culture vs. walnut teachers who poison it
💫Why collective efficacy beats traditional behavior strategies and classroom control methods
💫Practical tips for new teachers to find mentor teachers and build professional support
💫How effective teaching transforms when educators embrace collaborative leadership
💫 Student engagement secrets that turn low engagement into active learning
💫Why this approach works better than typical education strategies and lesson planning

Whether you're seeking teacher coaching support or looking to improve school leadership, this episode shows how the right mindset creates empowered educators and inspired teaching.

Perfect for teachers, education coaches, school administrators, instructional leaders, and anyone committed to student success and education transformation. No complex behavior strategies needed—just the power of choosing collaboration over competition.

Chapters:
0:00 Introduction: The Teacher Types That Change Everything
1:00 Walnut vs Marigold Teachers Explained 
2:00 The Power of Collective Efficacy (1.57 Effect Size!)
4:00 How to Identify Marigold Teachers in Your School
6:00 Becoming a Marigold Teacher Yourself
8:00 Building Collective Efficacy in Your School
10:00 Real Impact: When Students Feel the Difference
12:00 Your Challenge: Find and Be the Marigolds

🚀📚 Watch the full  @schoolutionspodcast S5E3 episode with Sandy Halpin here.

Join our community of educators committed to cultivating student success, inspired teaching, and creating inclusive classrooms with a pro-kid mindset focused on the whole child.

📧 Connect: schoolutionspodcast@gmail.com
🎵 Music: Benjamin Wahl

🔔SUBSCRIBE for more teaching tips, and 💬SHARE with fellow educators! 

#MarigoldTeachers #CollectiveEfficacy #TeacherCoaching #StudentSuccess #SchoolCulture #EducationStrategies #NewTeachers #ProfessionalDevelopment #TeachingTips #EffectiveTeaching #ClassroomManagement #StudentEngagement #EmpoweredEducators #EducationTransformation #TeacherSupport #SchoolLeadership #InstructionalCoaching #MentorTeachers #ThrivingStudents #InspiredTeaching

When coaches, teachers, administrators, and families work hand in hand, it fosters a school atmosphere where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged in their learning journey.

Transcript

[00:00:00] You know that feeling when you walk into a new workplace and immediately sense whether you're going to love it or dread coming in every day? Well, what if I told you that in education there's actually a scientific way to identify the people who will make or break your experience, and more importantly, your students’ success.

I'm talking about something Sandy Halpin discovered after 30 years in education. She discerns between two groups of teachers, marigold teachers versus walnut teachers. And here's the thing, this isn't just feel-good workplace advice. This is about one of the most powerful research-backed strategies for improving student outcomes that most educators have never heard of.

Picture this scenario with me for a second. You're a brand new teacher, your stomach is in knots. You walk into your first faculty meeting. You’re wondering if you belong, if you'll be good enough, if you'll [00:01:00] even survive the year. Now imagine two completely different realities in the first, you're surrounded by colleagues who roll their eyes when you ask questions.

Who guard their resources like state secrets and who seem to thrive on drama and negativity. In the second you're embraced by teachers who literally light up when they talk about their students. Who share their best ideas freely and who make you feel like you're part of something bigger than yourself.

Again, Sandy calls these two types of teachers, walnut teachers and marigold teachers, and the difference isn't just about your daily happiness, it's about something called collective efficacy, which has a 1.57 effect size on student achievement. To put that in perspective, most educational interventions we spend millions on, hover around 0.4 or higher.

This is [00:02:00] literally off the charts. But here's what's really exciting. You don't have to wait for your school culture to change around you. You can choose to be a marigold yourself, and when you do something magical happens. You create ripples that transform not just your own experience, but your students' outcomes too.

So whether you're a brand-new teacher trying to find your people, or a veteran educator who's feeling a bit worn down by the walnut trees in your building. This episode is going to show you exactly how to identify the marigolds, how to become one yourself, and why this might be the secret ingredient your school has been missing. Let's dig in.

This is Schoolutions Teaching Strategies, the podcast that extends education beyond the classroom. A show that isn't just theory, but practical try-it- tomorrow [00:03:00] approaches for educators and caregivers to ensure every student finds their spark and receives the support they need to thrive. 

Welcome to this Friday bonus episode. I'm Olivia Wahl, and I cannot stop thinking about my conversation with Sandy Halpin. It is season five, episode three. The episode is called The BEST Professional Learning Transforms Teaching (& Learning). If you have not already, pause this bonus episode. Go back, listen to Sandy and my conversation, and then come back and press play.

Right before her retirement as Teacher Center Director, Sandy gave the most beautiful piece of advice, during our conversation to new teachers, find the marigolds. Today I am going to dive deeper into this concept because I believe it holds the key to not just surviving in education, but absolutely thriving.

We're going to [00:04:00] explore how to identify these marigold educators, how to become one yourself and why this might be the secret ingredient to what researchers call collective efficacy, one of the most powerful forces for student achievement. Let me start with a little gardening lesson that will change how you see our school community forever.

In the garden, marigolds, our companion plants, they don't just grow alongside other plants. They actively make the soil better. They release compounds that enrich the earth, ward off harmful pests, and help neighboring plants flourish. But walnut trees, they're the opposite. They release a chemical called Juglone that's toxic to many other plants.

Nothing grows well in the shadow of a walnut tree. Now, here's what's fascinating, John Hattie’s research shows that collective efficacy, [00:05:00] that sense of we're all in this together and we can make a difference, has an effect size of 1.57 on student achievement. That's enormous. And to put that into perspective, most educational interventions aim to hover around 0.4 or higher. So collective efficacy is literally off the charts. When Sandy says, find the marigolds, she's not just giving warm, fuzzy advice. She's pointing us toward one of the most research-backed strategies for improving student outcomes. 

But how do we recognize a marigold teacher? Well, they're the ones who light up when they're talking about their students' breakthroughs, not just their problems. They share resources without being asked. They ask questions like, how can we solve this together? Instead of, that's not my job. They celebrate other teachers' successes genuinely, and they [00:06:00] see challenges as puzzles to solve, not evidence that everything is broken. And here's the thing about marigold teachers, they're not necessarily the ones with the most experience or the fanciest credentials. Some of the most nurturing growth-minded educators I know are in their first years of teaching. 

Now let's get practical. If you're listening to this and thinking, great, but I'm surrounded by walnut trees, don't despair. You have more power than you think. First, look beyond your immediate grade level or department. That marigold teacher might be the librarian who always has time to help you find just the right book for a reader. Or the PE teacher who notices when kids are having tough days and sends them back to you with a smile. Or the custodian who knows every child's name and makes them feel seen. 

Second, [00:07:00] remember, you can choose to be a marigold regardless of the environment around you. And here's something beautiful - marigolds are contagious. When you start operating from that place of abundance, sharing ideas, celebrating wins, assuming positive intent, it creates ripples. I think about Sandy's story of trying to facilitate a professional learning experience for teachers of bilingual learners without being an expert, a walnut teacher might have powered through protecting their ego. But Sandy? No, she reflected, she learned and she shifted to elevating teachers' expertise instead. That's marigold behavior; admitting you don't know everything and creating space for others to shine. 

And now here's where this gets really exciting. When you have a critical mass of marigold teachers, something magical [00:08:00] happens. Collective efficacy emerges. This isn't just we're all nice to each other. Collective efficacy means the entire school community believes deeply that together they can reach every student. It means when a child struggles, it's not just their teacher's problem. It's a puzzle the whole team works to solve.

Remember when Sandy talked about how all students are our students? That is collective efficacy in action. It's the high school math teacher who learns about trauma-informed practices because half her students are dealing with chaos at home. It's the kindergarten team that shares strategies with the fourth grade teachers because they know these same kids are coming their way.

Here's what I always loved about Sandy's approach as the Teacher Center Director in New Hartford, they didn't just offer professional learning. They required teachers to bring back [00:09:00] evidence of impact. Not as punishment, but as celebration. That not only created accountability, but it also built collective efficacy because everyone got to see proof that their efforts mattered, and they asked students directly about the impact. This is revolutionary because when kids can articulate how their teachers, teacher's new strategy, help them understand something better, that teacher feels the efficacy. When that story then gets shared with colleagues, that builds collective efficacy too. 

And here's what happens. When you truly embrace the marigold mindset, it changes everything. Your new teacher anxiety transforms into curiosity. Instead of that nagging, will I be good enough? You start asking, how can I grow? Instead of hoarding the few resources you've found, you start sharing them because you know others will share back. 

Your veteran teacher cynicism transforms into renewed [00:10:00] purpose. Instead of, oh, these kids today. It becomes, what do these kids need from us instead of, we've tried everything. It shifts to what haven't we tried yet? And your students, they feel it. They sense when adults are truly collaborating on their behalf, they see that their struggles matter to more than just their homeroom teacher.

They experience school as a place where everyone is invested in their success. Sandy mentioned something profound. She wants every child to be able to look at any adult in the building and know that that adult knows their name, they know that adult's name, and they know they care. That is not just a nice sentiment, that is psychological safety. That's belonging. That's the foundation for learning. 

So here's my challenge to you. Whether you're a brand-new teacher or a 30-year veteran [00:11:00] this week, identify three marigolds in your building. They might not be obvious. Look for the quiet people who consistently show up, the ones who ask thoughtful questions in meetings, the ones who assume positive intent. Next week, be a marigold for someone else. Share a resource. Celebrate a colleague's success. Offer to help solve a problem that isn't technically yours. This month start a small ritual that builds collective efficacy. Maybe it's a Friday wins email. Maybe it's a monthly student success share in your team meeting. Maybe it's simply starting conversations with how can we, instead of, why don't they?

And remember, collective efficacy isn't built overnight. It is cultivated through hundreds of small moments where educators choose collaboration over competition, growth over perfection and [00:12:00] we over me. As Sandy's getting ready to start her next chapter at Utica University, working with Transition B teachers who are jumping straight into classrooms without traditional student teaching, she'll be surrounding them with the marigolds from day one. 

Helping them understand that they don't have to figure it out alone. That's the gift we can give every educator: the knowledge that they're a part of something bigger, that their growth matters and to together we can reach every child.

Find the marigolds, be a marigold. And watch what grows. Thank you for listening to this bonus episode. If this resonated with you, share it with a colleague who could use some marigold energy in their life. Until next time, keep growing.

Schoolutions Teaching Strategies is created, [00:13:00] produced, and edited by me, Olivia Wahl. Thank you to my older son Benjamin, who created the music playing in the background. You can follow and listen to Schoolutions wherever you get your podcasts or subscribe to never miss an episode and watch on YouTube. Now, I'd love to hear from you.

Send me an email at schoolutionspodcast@gmail.com. Let me know what your plan is to identify the marigolds in your school community and how you're going to become one yourself. Tune in every Monday for the best research-backed coaching and teaching strategies you can apply right away to better the lives of the children in your care. And stay tuned for my bonus episodes every Friday where I'll reflect and share connections to what I learned from the guests that week. See you then.