5-Gen Leadership Leading 5 Generations in Schools in The 2020

Praise for 5-Gen Leadership
“There are so many nuances that take place within a school that we need to under-
stand, and Mark White focuses on one of the most important. 5-Gen Leadership
engages educators into understanding how different generations teaching within
our school approach our greatest issues and provides the tools to begin those
conversations.”
Peter DeWitt, EdD
Leadership Coach
Author, Collective Leader Efficacy and Instructional Leadership
“Here is a publication that celebrates the different generations that schools now
have teaching in and attending them. It offers practical tips to include the skills of
all the generations to offer the best teaching and learning for everyone.”
Joy Rose, Retired High School Principal
Westerville City Schools
Worthington, OH
“Where you stand depends sometimes on where you sit. And where you sit is often
influenced by how and when you grew up. Mark’s analysis and unique understand-
ing of the impact and needs necessary for today’s leaders to work with different
generations is timely, relevant, and revealing. One size rarely fits all.”
Jim Mahoney, Former CEO
Battelle for Kids
“How do we prepare today’s students for the rapidly changing workplace and soci-
ety in which they will live, work, and interact in an education system designed for
a century that has passed us by? In 5-Gen Leadership: Leading 5 Generations in
Schools in the 2020s, Mark White clearly provides a well-lit path to assist educators
to successfully make the necessary cultural, structural and instructional changes
that are needed.”
Bill Daggett, Founder
International Center for Leadership in Education (ICLE)
5-Gen Leadership
For my family and staffs, without whom this work would not have happened.
5-Gen Leadership
Leading 5 Generations in
Schools in the 2020s
Mark White
Foreword by Eric Sheninger
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Table of Contents
FOREWORD ix
PUBLISHER’S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi
ABOUT THE AUTHOR xiii
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER 1: FROM BOOMERS TO ALPHAS 5

Understanding the Four Generations in Staffs Today 8
Two Groups Are Trying to Lead, and Two Groups Are
Trying to Fit In. Sort of . . . 11
Millennial Teachers Are Walking Away 13
Making Generational Adjustments 16
Trouble in the Gen Z Teaching Pipeline 19
Recruiting Gen Z Teachers 20
Take Steps Now to Become a 5-Gen Leader 23
And After We Recruit and Retain Them . . . 25
CHAPTER 2: THE IMPACT OF THE SILENT GENERATION

AND GEN ALPHA 27
Lessons From the Silent Generation 28
Gen Alpha, the New Generation 34
Gen Alpha’s Impact on Education 37
The Transcendent Power of Relationships 41
CHAPTER 3: MOVING FROM MANAGING TO COACHING 45

The Challenge of Transitioning to a New Model 47
Millennials, Gen Zers, and Gen Alphas: Handle With Care 49
Coaching Into Grit and Professionalism 52
Rethinking Evaluations 56
New Channels for Communication 59
CHAPTER 4: TEACHING DISTRACTED GENERATIONS 63
Our Evolving Brains 64
Distracted Students, Distracted Teachers 65
Clues in the News 70
CHAPTER 5: TACTICS FOR CREATING

MULTIGENERATIONAL PD 75
Acknowledging the PD Problem 76
A Global Leadership Question: “How Do We Train These
Different Generations?” 78
Relevancy in PD 80
Finding the Generations in the Staff 84
Mind the Gap! 85
Presentation Methods for Teacher Z 92
CHAPTER 6 GENERATIONAL LESSONS OF COVID-19 97

Gen Z and Gen Alpha: The New Lost Generations? 101
The New Digital Divide 103
A Flipping of the Paradigm 105
Adjusting Mindsets 107
Advice for Changing Mindsets 109
The Digital Gap in Administrators 110
CHAPTER 7: UPAGERS AND POLITICAL ACTIVISM 113

Gen Z Survivors Leading the Way on Gun Reform 115
Gen Z Leading the Way in the Pursuit of Racial Justice 117
Lessons From a University Protest 118
The Coming of the Minority Majority 120
CHAPTER 8: MILLENNIALS AND GEN Z ASCENDING

IN THE 2020s125
Four Key Points and Questions for the 2020s 128
The University Model Could Affect the PreK−12 Model 129
New Paths to Leadership 131
The Future: Millennial Teachers, Gen Z Teachers, and AI Teachers? 132
Being Human in the 2020s 137
50 TIPS FOR TRANSITIONING TO 5-GEN LEADERSHIP 147
REFERENCES 151
INDEX 163
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sponsor, endorse, verify, or certify such third-party content.
Foreword
Growing up as a kid in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s brought about
immense benefits in my opinion. Through my lens, I experienced rapid technological
change, where some of the greatest inventions ever created made their way into my
life. I vividly remember the first computer that I laid my hands on: the Commodore
64. It was a beast of a device with limited functionality, but I didn’t care. Just being
able to have access to a computer was awesome because up until this point I had only
either seen them on commercials or read about them in encyclopedias.
It wasn’t long before the beloved Commodore 64 was replaced with the more
impressive Apple IIe in my house. My brothers and I were able to play a variety of
games using different floppy disks. There was this baseball game I played all the
time that allowed us to pick from a variety of historically great teams. I was mostly
privy to selecting the all-star roster that included the likes of Hank Aaron, Willie
Mays, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and others. Even though there was no real skill
involved, every canned home run that was hit by one of these icons felt magical.
Computer use became secondary when the most incredible gaming system ever
invented made its way into our house. Now, I say this because of the impact it had
at the time and the fact that this invention revolutionized video games while laying
the foundation for all that we have today. Those of you who grew up during the
same time that I did know that I am talking about Atari. Even though the graphics
were horrible, iconic games such as Pac Man, Donkey Kong, and Space Invaders
filled my life with so much joy. My brothers and friends and I engaged for count-
less hours in friendly and, at times, unfriendly competition. Collaboration and
communication fueled each experience. To this day, I still have the original Atari
system that I had as a kid. Even though it doesn’t work, it provides fond memories
as well as a reminder of the early years of my generation.
I am a proud member of Generation X and was taught by baby boomers.

Exponential change has pretty much been a staple in my life. There was no inter-
net or cell phones when I was growing up, but I experienced firsthand the evolu-
tion of both as a student and teacher. While Atari influenced me the most as a
child, the World Wide Web was utterly transformative in my mind. From dial-up
internet to AOL instant messaging, technology constantly impacted my life.
ix
While everything seemed to change at a rapid pace, one particular aspect was stuck
in time: how I was taught.
Now, this isn’t to say that I had a poor educational experience. On the contrary, it
served me well at the time. I had caring teachers and administrators who did what
they thought was best, and that almost always aligned with the way things have
always been done. Each class was pretty much a carbon copy of another and was
delivered in a mass-model format. Even though I was a child growing up mostly
during the Third Industrial Revolution, the methodologies squarely resided in
those most appropriate for the first Industrial Revolution preparedness. There was
little connection to the world that I was currently growing up in or what might be
needed as I headed into the great unknown. This lesson is something that many
leaders are still grappling with today.
So much has changed since the internet began to rapidly evolve in the 2000s.
Exponential change has created numerous generations of staff that are now teach-
ing in our schools. These include baby boomers, Gen Xers, millennials, Gen Zers,
and Gen Alphas. Don’t worry if you have never heard of or know the defining
characteristics of each group, as this book will thoroughly explain each. I myself
had never heard of Gen Alpha. The important takeaway as a leader is understand-
ing that the premise of “business as usual” needs to be disrupted. Each group has
been influenced by radically different experiences, and as such, the way in which
they are led has to be dynamic as opposed to static.
Leadership is not about telling people what to do, but instead taking them where
they need to be. Understanding the unique characteristics, qualities, and attributes
each group possesses will become indispensable as you work to create a culture
primed for success. As you will learn in this book, discounting what each genera-
tion provides can result in challenges to move important initiatives forward, inhib-
iting your district’s progress. It can also result in issues with retaining and attracting
the best staff possible. Knowledge is power only if it is used to develop and support
the various personalities you are tasked with leading.
Leaders need to think, act, and learn differently not only to help different generations
gel together but also to respond to a myriad of nonstop forces that are disruptive in
nature. It’s not just technological change that has and continues to influence educa-
tors and students alike; it’s also the COVID-19 pandemic. As schools pivoted to
remote and hybrid learning, we saw firsthand how the experiences of each generation
coalesced, resulting in scalable change the likes that have never been seen before in
education. It is important to not forget these powerful lessons and continue to lever-
age the most dynamic resource available—your people—to lead forward. This book
will pave the way. It’s up to you to initially follow and then create your own path.
Eric Sheninger, Author

Disruptive Thinking and Digital Leadership, 2nd Edition
x 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
Publisher’s
Acknowledgments
Corwin gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the following reviewers:
Margaret Bartlett, Teacher-in-Training

Azusa Pacific University
San Dimas, CA
Sean Beggin, Associate Principal

Anoka-Hennepin Secondary Technical Education Program
Anoka, MN
David Cash, Professor of Education

Governance Chair
University of Southern California
Long Beach, CA
Delsia Malone, Former Principal

Gadsden, AL
Joy Rose, Retired High School Principal

Westerville City Schools
Worthington, OH
xi
About the Author
Mark White is a school leadership and training con-

sultant. Previously, he was the director of education
and outreach at Mindset Digital and academic princi-
pal in the International Department of the Beijing
National Day School in Beijing, China. As the super-
intendent of the Gahanna-Jefferson Public Schools in
Gahanna, Ohio, he played a key role in the design of
Clark Hall and the implementation of global skills and
technology into its curriculum. During his tenure as
superintendent, the district earned the state's highest
academic ranking, opened Clark Hall, and achieved
financial stability. Mr. White has been a consultant to
both the College Board and the ACT and has served on two national education
reform committees. He has frequently been a guest speaker at schools and universi-
ties and at local, state, and national conferences. Prior to being a superintendent,
Mr. White was a band director, high school English teacher and department head,
high school assistant principal, principal, and assistant superintendent. He may be
reached at [email protected].
xiii
Introduction
In March of 2021, as the final edits of this book were being completed, I was sit-
ting in an elementary school conference room with some school administrators.
I was there to coach teachers, and we were discussing what we had just observed in
a classroom. Someone knocked softly on the conference room door, and when the
principal opened it, she found a young student standing there with a teacher. The
student wanted to have a conversation with the principal.
“I want to go back to remote learning,” the student said to her. This student, like
many others, had just recently returned to in-person learning, and he was still
adjusting to school—or in this case, not adjusting.
“Why?” the principal asked. “Don’t you want to give school a longer try? We like
you and want you here. We think you should be here.”
“I have a really good camera on my computer,” the student said firmly. “I think I
learn better at home.”
Then the assistant principal said, “But we’re only here tomorrow, and then we’re
out for the Easter holidays. Next week only has four school days. You can be here
that long, can’t you?”
“Yeah,” the student responded hesitantly, and then he added more confidently, “but
I still want to go back to remote learning.”
An administrator sitting beside me turned to me and laughingly whispered, “He’s

negotiating with his principal!”
The principal pleaded with the student to give in-person school another chance,
and the teacher was eventually able to lead the student back to the classroom.
When the conference room door closed again, I asked which grade the student
was in.
“Second grade,” said the principal. “We have kids coming to us every day wanting
to go back to remote learning. Maybe they miss the freedom of being at home.
Maybe they’re still adjusting to the structure of school.”
1
“Perhaps,” I said. “But he’s also a member of Gen Alpha. He’s part of a generation
that’s going to demand more choices in how it’s educated than previous genera-
tions.” Then I added, “But just think about this: That little second grader was brave
enough to walk down here to confront the principal and demand another way of
learning. As a baby boomer at his age, I would never have done that. He’s part of a
new generation with new ways of looking at the world.”
Which brings us to the topic of this book: If we’re going to make the most of
reforming our schools in the 2020s, we must understand today’s students and the
four disparate generations in our staffs.
It used to not be this complicated. When I began teaching in the early 1980s, the
generation gaps were not as deep. But the world is shifting more quickly now.
Knowledge is doubling at faster rates, and new generations are being created every
15 years. In our staffs, we have the baby boomers, Gen Xers, millennials, and Gen
Zers. Yes, members of Gen Z, those tech-minded youngsters, are now in our teach-
ing ranks. And more of them are coming.
Two of today’s generations, the boomers and Gen Xers, grew up before the advent
of the internet, while the other two generations, the millennials and Gen Zers,
grew up with the internet. The two older groups grew up in an analog world, and
the two younger groups grew up in a digital world. This has led to wider genera-
tion gaps than at any time in history. Each group has a different learning style with
varying views of the world and education.
Business leaders who are attempting to bridge these gaps in the private sector are
4-Gen leaders, but school leaders also lead a fifth generation: Gen Alpha, the stu-
dents born since 2011—including the second grader who wanted to negotiate his
return to remote learning. School leaders must develop a new sort of lens, a multi-
generational lens, through which to view their staffs and the challenges they will
face in this decade. Those administrators who understand and meet the challenges
of the tumultuous 2020s, many of which will be rooted in generational dissonance,
will be 5-Gen leaders.
To develop this multigenerational lens, this book will help school leaders
• Understand the four distinct generations in the teaching staffs
• Understand our youngest students, Gen Alpha
• Recognize how much of our work today was introduced by the Silent
Generation
• Move from a management model to a coaching model to help our

younger teachers
2 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
• Understand why today’s students and adults are so distracted
• Provide tips for transforming professional development (PD) to meet

the learning needs of a new type of adult learner called Teacher Z
• Close the digital generation gaps that emerged during the COVID-
19 school closures
• Realize Gen Z has a global view formed through the internet and is
the most socially/politically active generation yet to pass through our
schools
• Look ahead to the end of the decade to see a future in which millen-
nial and Gen Z educators ascend into leadership roles and bring their
global, tech-oriented perspectives into school reform
As this book is going to press, the world is emerging from the worst pandemic in a
century. Trying to predict the future of schools in the massive reset of education
that is now upon us is like looking through a shifting fog to see what awaits at the
far end of the highway. We can see where we are now and see glimpses of what is
in front of us; however, we can be sure that our success in dealing with the genera-
tional disparities will play a role in how well we navigate the fog and where we
reach the other side in the 2020s.
I’ve written this book as a baby boomer, and I’ve tried to develop my own multi-
generational lens. As I say over and over again in this book, when I write about the
characteristics of teachers and administrators in certain generations, I am writing
of broad characteristics. I am the first to say I don’t possess all of the characteristics
of a boomer, and I will be the first to acknowledge that readers might not possess
all of the characteristics of their generations. However, I find I own many boomer
traits, and in my many interactions with teachers and administrators, I see their
generational characteristics coming through again and again.
I’d like to thank all of the educators with whom I’ve conversed in the past five years
as I’ve consulted in schools from New York City to Southern California and many
spots in between. I’ve been lucky enough to train and coach thousands of teachers
and principals. I’ve been in over a thousand PreK–12 classrooms, and during
the pandemic, I viewed hundreds of online lessons that were either live or taped.
I’ve seen leadership and teaching from a lot of angles, and I’ve been blessed to have
great conversations with many teachers. Those insights are included in this book.
I have a great deal of respect for Eric Sheninger, and I’m grateful to him for taking
time out of his incredibly hectic schedule to write the foreword. I appreciate the
opportunities given to me through my work with the International Center for
Leadership in Education, and I’d also like to thank Ariel Curry and Corwin Press
Introduction 3
for their help in making this project a reality. Last but not least, I’d like to thank
the many educators who contributed their insights and words to this book.
The 2020s will be an era of massive change accelerated by the pandemic. I hope
this look at educators through this new sort lens helps school leaders, teachers, and
students of all generations to be more successful.
Mark White
April 2021
St. Petersburg, Florida
4 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
CHAPTER 1
From Boomers to
Alphas
Key Points of This Chapter
•• Four distinct generations are now in our teaching staffs.
•• Generation gaps are more pronounced than ever because the rapid
growth of technology has resulted in very different growth experiences.
•• Millennial teachers are leaving the profession in record numbers, and

fewer Gen Zers are choosing to become teachers.
•• School leaders need to adjust their recruiting and leadership tactics to

successfully recruit and retain young teachers.
“OK, boomer . . .”
In November of 2019, this phrase became a generational battle cry when 25-year-
old Chloe Swarbrick, a member of the New Zealand Parliament, addressed her
fellow parliament members about the dangers of climate change—or more pre-
cisely, about their lack of action in preventing it. “In the year 2050, I will be 56
years old. Yet right now, the average age of this 52nd Parliament is 49 years old,”
she said, hoping to spur her colleagues into action (Thebault, 2019). As Swarbrick
spoke, an older parliament member sitting in the audience began to heckle her.
Without pausing, Swarbrick deftly, calmly interjected, “OK, boomer,” into the
middle of a sentence and continued her speech, silencing the heckler—and becom-
ing a viral sensation (Thebault, 2019). Within hours, her response was being
shown on news stations around the world. Today, it has been viewed millions of
times (New Zealand Parliament, 2019).
While Swarbrick didn’t invent the catchphrase “OK, boomer,” she became its
heroic face for millennials and Gen Zers everywhere who have grown increasingly
frustrated with the societal and political structures put into place by baby boomers.
What was accepted in the past will not be readily accepted by today’s younger
5
g enerations, and Swarbrick’s “OK,
boomer” moment sums up the
angst of young people around the
world as they interact with older
family members, business execu-
tives, and politicians.
And by of some our younger teach-

ers who deal with structure
imposed upon them by older gen-
erations of educators.
I am a baby boomer, and in

November of 2019, as Swarbrick
sparred with her colleague in the
Photo courtesy of Tim Onnes
New Zealand Parliament, I had

my own “OK, boomer” moment—
one not nearly as dramatic as
Swarbrick’s, but one that was
deeply prophetic.
I was a consultant, leading a pro-

fessional development (PD) ses-
Chloe Swarbrick addressing the New Zealand
Parliament. sion for 40 elementary teachers.
One of the goals was to understand
how today’s students have evolved
into a new type of learner that is different from previous generations. To help make
this point, I wanted the teachers to briefly explore the characteristics of the four
generations in their teaching staff: the baby boomers (also known as boomers),
Gen Xers, Gen Yers (also known as millennials), and Gen Zers.
Yes, take a deep breath—the Gen Z kids are now old enough to join our teaching
staffs. And they’re here. That first-year teacher who is 22 or 23 years old? He or
she is a Gen Zer.
Three Gen Z teachers were in the group I was training, and at the end of the exer-
cise, I asked them a question: “If you could change PD, what would you change?”
The question put them on the spot. They were surrounded by their older, more
experienced peers. They were all in their first, second, or third year of teaching, and
they didn’t want to be seen as experts or rebels when answering. They smiled, and
they blushed, and then one teacher bravely said, “Sometimes, I just wish they [the
presenters] would just leave us alone. Tell us what they want done and let us go
figure it out.”
This brought a lot of laughter from the group. I laughed, too, but that young
teacher had plunged a Gen Z dagger into my boomer heart. I’ll never forget the
6 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
FIGURE 1.1 Generations of Teachers feeling. I had trained teachers all
over America, and I had felt a shift
taking place in the younger teach-
4 Generations of Teachers
and ers. I had spent over three decades
1 New Generation of Learners leading teachers, but I had sensed
they needed a new type of PD and
1945–1964
a new type of leadership. Her
words clarified it for me: For bet-
Baby Boomers
ter or worse, Gen Z teachers have
grown up as independent learners,
1965–1980
finding their way through new
smartphones, apps, video games,
Gen X and websites. While Gen Z teach-
ers still need our guidance, they
1981–1995
1981-1994
and their older millennial siblings
want more room than any previ-
Gen Y (Millennials) ous generation to “figure it out” in
their PD sessions and in other
1996–2010
things they do in school. They are
the “figure-it-out” generations.
Gen Z
1981-1994
2011–Present (Today’s youngest students)
As I stood in front of that group, a
jumble of thoughts raced through
my head about the four genera-
Gen Alpha
tions in our staffs. Boomers and
Xers, millennials and Zers, are all
mixed together in a school staff stew. Most of today’s school leaders are Gen Xers
and baby boomers, who grew up in eras that were more conformist. They don’t
“figure it out” like the younger generations. They do what they’re told and tend to
expect the same of their peers. How does this mindset work when leading millen-
nials and Gen Zers? And to make school leadership even more challenging, our
youngest students, the ones born since 2010? They’re our newest generation of
student: Gen Alpha. New generations are now rolling in every 15 years, which
means in 2025 Gen Beta will begin and be in our schools by the end of the decade.
It has always been hard to lead schools, but this generational disparity just laid a
new layer of complexity into everything we do. Because of the steady and acceler-
ating advance of personal technology, the four generations all grew up with differ-
ent life experiences. They all tend to see the world through the lens of their age
group, and they are all constantly adjusting to each other ( Jenkins, 2019).
Two new terms have emerged for business leaders managing these four genera-
tions: “generational leadership” and “4-Gen leadership.” These terms can be applied
to school leaders, but when we consider that school leaders are also leading their
Gen Alpha students (discussed in Chapter 2), it can be said that today’s school
Chapter 1 • From Boomers to Alphas 7
administrators are some of the first 5-Gen leaders in the history of the world. So,
from this point forward I’ll use the term “5-Gen leaders” to describe 21st century
school leadership.
Understanding the Four Generations

in Staffs Today
Exactly who are these four generations of teachers we are leading in schools today,
and how are they similar and different? Before I dive into the perilous process of
generational stereotyping, I want to make a few quick points about teachers in all
of the generations.
• They are all individuals, and it’s possible some of them don’t fit many
of the stereotypes.
• Some people might feel the generational characteristics don’t fit them
at all, and they could be right.
• Some people see themselves as a mixture of all the generations.
We should never make a blanket assumption that all people of a certain age have
certain characteristics, but I’ve done enough research, spoken to enough teachers,
and looked at how people in my training sessions respond to certain tactics and
how teachers in the classrooms teach to propose that school leaders should at least
consider generational characteristics to understand their staffs. In other words,
birth years often matter (see Figure 1.1). When we recognize each teacher’s forma-
tive decades, then we are more likely to help them bridge the generation gaps and
understand each other.
BOOMERS
My fellow baby boomers (birth years 1945–1964) were shaped by the civil rights
movement, the Vietnam War, and the Watergate scandal. They had Silent
Generation parents who had survived the Great Depression and World War II, so
they were raised to be loyal, committed, and to have a sense of duty. Their parents
also taught them that you need to pay your dues to get ahead; success comes to
those who work hard and play the game right. They grew up in an age when
households had one phone that hung on a wall; they still believe in the power of
phone calls and face-to-face communication (Purdue Global, 2021). Boomers
grew up using paper and had to make late transitions to digital products. However,
90 percent of boomers have Facebook pages, and they have adapted to other tech-
nology, mainly to stay in touch with younger family members and friends
(Kasasa, 2019).
8 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
In schools today, boomers have become the senior citizens of our teaching staffs.
Sometimes, they see themselves as the sages, the wise ones, the teachers who remem-
ber teaching before it became a series of tests and labels. Over the last three decades,
they’ve seen education become busier and more complex. I’ve noticed the boomers
who are still teaching often fall into one of two categories: those who have adapted
to the current best practices in education—and those who spend their days pining
for a forgone era and are dragged reluctantly through each iteration of change.
While some boomers are working long into their senior years, many boomers have
reached retirement age and are rapidly fading out of our staffs. As their fellow
boomers leave the profession, they are replaced by Gen Zers with whom they have
less in common than previous generations.
GEN X
Then we have Gen Xers (birth years 1965–1980), the latchkey, MTV generation
who first began to reap the benefits of cable and digital devices like the Sony
Walkman that made entertainment personal and mobile. They came of age during
the AIDS epidemic and the dot-com boom. They like to balance work with their
personal life; they are just as concerned about their personal interests as they are
about the company’s interests. They can resist change if it affects their personal
lives (Purdue Global, 2021). They are thought of as the forgotten generation,
wedged between the boomers and the millennials.
In our teaching staffs, Gen Xers are in their 40s and 50s. Like the boomers, they,
too, have become the formal and informal leaders of our schools. The reforms of
the last two decades have been perhaps the toughest on this generation. When I
speak with Xers, I hear the frustration in their voices about the state of education
today. Boomers are close to retirement, but Gen Xers feel trapped between stan-
dardized testing and the years they still have to work to reach their pensions. “How
long do you have before you can retire?” I ask, and I inevitably hear a deep sigh
before they answer. It might be eight years, 10 years, 15 years.
By 2028, Gen Xers will outnumber the baby boomers (Purdue Global, 2021). Some of
them have become principals and superintendents, and more of them will move into
senior leadership positions in the next few years.
They are the last pre-internet generation of lead- After the Gen Xers, all of the leaders
ers in our schools. After the Gen Xers, all of the will have grown up with the internet.
leaders will have grown up with the internet.
MILLENNIALS
The millennials (birth years 1981–1995), also known as Gen Y), have been shaped
by Columbine, 9/11, and the internet. They grew up as the internet entered society
on a broad scale, and it gave them an outlook and expectations noticeably different
than their predecessors. They are the first set of digital natives. They like to use
new types of devices. They use social media and are connected. Because of their
financial insecurities, they’ve been less likely to buy houses, and they have waited
longer to get married. Millennials embrace Uber and other services they can share
with society; for them, it’s not about ownership, but instead, it’s about access. They
believe in wellness. They exercise more, eat smarter, and drink less than previous
generations—and they like to keep track of their progress on apps (The Washington
Post, 2015).
Millennials are viewed as the sheltered kids who always got trophies whether they
won or lost their soccer game. and they became the helicopter parents of Gen Z.
They like to communicate via texts, personal messaging, and email (Purdue Global,
2021). Some have referred to them as the new “Lost Generation” because they
started entering the workforce during the recession that began in 2008 with record
amounts of debt and fewer opportunities for high-paying jobs. Outside of teach-
ing, they make up the majority of America’s bartenders, half the restaurant work-
ers, and a large share of its retail workers. Millennials were especially harmed
financially during the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020: A staggering
52 percent of people under the age of 45 were laid off, put on leave, or had
their hours reduced, compared with 26 percent of people over the age of 45
(Lowrey, 2020).
Millennials in our school staffs have several distinctions. They are the first genera-
tion to grow up in high-stakes testing. They entered the teaching force from
preparation programs that gave them “best practices” and “here’s-how-to-under-
stand-your-data” methods. They are the first group of teachers to have grown up
with the internet. Today, millennials are the largest group in the American work-
force, and they are the largest group in the American teaching force.
GEN Z
The Gen Zers (birth years 1996–2010) are entering our teaching force. They can
be characterized as the most technologically savvy, socially challenged, and dis-
tracted group we’ve ever led. Think of them as millennials on steroids. Their mind-
set has been formed since birth by the internet, social media, Starbucks, and
artificial intelligence in a post-9/11 world. They tend to be more independent, and
they value their devices more than any previous generation. The Girl Scouts of
America recently redesigned their uniforms, and the number-one request from the
girls was a pocket for their iPhones (Testa, 2020). They prefer to work with
millennial managers because they have more in common with them than with
boomers and Gen Xers. They love new technologies (Purdue Global, 2021); most
of them got their first smartphone when they were 10.3 years old (Kasasa, 2019).
America has been at war during their entire lives. They tend to be more fiscally
conservative than millennials because they’ve seen how millennials are burdened
with college debt (Kasasa, 2019).
10 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
Gen Z also is shaping up to be our most diversified, highest-educated generation
(Fry & Parker, 2020). They want to chase their dreams because they’ve seen some
of their peers achieving great things on the internet. For example, who are some of
the most well-known anti-gun leaders today? David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez,
survivors of the Parkland High School shootings, who became famous as high
school students. And who is perhaps the world’s most famous advocate for stop-
ping climate change? Greta Thunberg, a teenager from Sweden. Gen Zers have
admired them as they have achieved fame and followers around the world through
news outlets and their social media platforms. Gen Zers have seen other young
people start their own online companies, become wealthy e-gamers, and create
apps, but they are also seeing that 5 percent of today’s college graduates can’t find a
job. One study found that 41 percent of them plan to be entrepreneurs, and half of
them believe they can change the world (Entrepreneur Staff, 2019).
In our schools, they are the students in the upper-elementary grades, middle
schools, and high schools. They tend to be more deeply engaged when using tech-
nology, and they need both guidance from the teacher and the freedom to work
with peers and to be creative and unique. As students, they tend to be more driven
than millennials, and their drug abuse, smoking, drinking, and teen pregnancies are
lower than in previous generations (Preville, 2019).
Two Groups Are Trying to Lead, and Two

Groups Are Trying to Fit In. Sort of . . .
As we begin to look at how all of these groups mesh together, let’s start with this
realization: The crux of most 5-Gen leadership issues comes down to helping older
and younger educators work together. Older edu-
cators, especially leaders, want to lead the way,
and the young educators, who are often still The crux of most 5-Gen leadership
teachers, want to be led but have a different issues comes down to helping
idea of how that might look (see Figure 1.2). older and younger educators work
together.
Leading schools and teaching used to not be
this complicated.
As a teacher beginning his career in the 1980s, I was happy not to figure it out.
As a baby boomer, I was happy to have someone please tell me step by step how
to do something. When I started leading teachers as a high school department
head a few years later, I didn’t have to worry about generational differences
because back then we were all pretty much the same. Some of the teachers were
baby boomers, and our older peers were members of the Silent Generation—
they had lived through the Great Depression and World War II. Most of them
would do what they were asked to do without asking too many questions
(Purdue Global, 2021).
FIGURE 1.2 Generational Challenges
Generational Challenges
- 4 generations in 1 teaching staff -
Older teachers
Boomersand Gen X’ers who are leading schools as
department chairs, team leaders, principals, and
superintendents will find leadership more challenging
than at any time in school history because of
generational differences. They must lead an
increasingly diverse mix of teachers and students
with disparate generational views through a
constantly shifting educational landscape while
reshaping their own view of the world that was
formed half a century ago.
Younger teachers
Millennials and Gen Z’ers, who grew up with
radically different lifestyles and life experiences
than their Boomer and Gen X mentors, must find
ways to understand and learn from their older, more
experienced peers with whom they have less in
common than young teachers of previous generations.
They want to be independent, tech-driven explorers
as they work with older teachers who might not share
their desire to seek out new ways of doing things,
especially when they involve technology.
The rate of change was slower. Technology was advancing, but it was a slower
acceleration. In the second edition of my previous book, Leading Schools in
Disruptive Times: How to Survive Hyper-Change (written with Dwight Carter and
first published by Corwin Press in 2018), I wrote about how Moore’s Law, which
explained that processing speeds had doubled every 18 to 24 months for decades,
had led to an explosion of knowledge as chronicled in Buckminster Fuller’s (1981)
book Critical Path. All of this helps explain the amazing technology advancements
we’ve seen since the 1970s. Each decade brought incredible advances—and new
devices, new mobility, new individualism, and new, broader views of the world for
young people growing up in those decades. This means boomers, Xers, millennials
and Gen Zers all grew up with different life experiences and with increasingly
different views. These experiences shaped who they are today ( Jenkins, 2019).
We’ve always had generation gaps throughout history when the younger genera-
tion doesn’t buy in to the beliefs and actions of the older generations. But the rise
of the internet society has deepened these gaps and accelerated their numbers.
We now have digital generation gaps between all four generations, as shown in
Figure 1.3.
12 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
FIGURE 1.3 The Internet Gap Think of the gaps between
the boomers and Gen X as
one crack in the ground, and
think of the gap between the
millennials and Gen Z as
another crack. But the gap
between the boomers/Gen
Boomers Gen X Millennials Gen Z X and the millennials/Gen
Gap The Gap Z is deeper because it’s the
Internet
Gap internet gap; actually, it’s
more of a valley. The inter-
net lifestyle that emerged in
Rate of Change
the 1990s drove a wedge
1970’s 1980’s 1990’s 2000’s 2010’s
between the older and
younger generations: The
boomers and Gen Xers are
emailing each other and wondering why the young teachers aren’t responding to
their emails, and the millennials and Gen Zers are direct messaging each other via
social media and wondering why the older teachers aren’t answering their messages.
And the technology did more than create digital generation gaps: It reshaped
brains (Horvath, 2015). Each successive generation has a brain that has developed
differently than its predecessors. This means our younger teachers, our Gen Zers
and millennials who grew up with the internet, have brains and views that are
more similar to their students than to the brains and views of their boomer and
Gen X colleagues (Zachos, 2019). The biggest generation gap in school history is
now occurring in elementary schools between boomer teachers and their Gen
Alpha students.
There are multiple challenges for 5-Gen leaders to solve today, but two of the
challenges are existential threats that are endangering the teaching profession: Too
many teachers are leaving the profession, and too few people are choosing to
become teachers.
Both threats have their roots in the digital generation gaps.
Millennial Teachers Are Walking Away

We know the teaching profession has been in trouble. We’ve heard the political
attacks, watched teacher pay stagnate, felt the budget cuts, and observed (or partic-
ipated in) the walkouts in recent years that rocked Oklahoma, Arizona, Colorado,
West Virginia, Kentucky, and Los Angeles. If it were a patient, we would have
been panicked by its declining health in the past two decades. Today, the teaching
profession as a patient would be in intensive care.
The result? Teachers are leaving the profession in record numbers. Overall, it’s
estimated that 8 percent of teachers leave the profession each year and another 8
percent leave the classroom to take another job in education. The situation has
gotten worse in past 20 years; in the 1990s, only 5 percent of teachers left the
workforce (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017). The numbers are higher
in “poor districts and among teachers of color, who are more likely to have students
of color” (Varathan, 2018). A record number of teachers quit in 2018 (Fulwood,
2018). In that year, there was a national teacher shortage of 110,000 teachers. That
number is expected to grow to 200,000 by 2025 (Boyce, 2019).
Millennials are leading the way out of the school parking lot. While teachers of all
generations continue to leave the classroom, most of the teachers who now leave
are millennials, and they’re leaving in record numbers. The majority of them depart
when they are between the ages of 25 and 34 (Varathan, 2018). Think of where
these teachers are in their development at these ages. They have completed their
first years in the classroom and have a clear understanding of what is expected of
them—and they decide they don’t want to be teachers. They experience the long
hours, lack of respect, and diminished funding and choose other ways to spend
their lives (Akhtar, 2019).
One study found that 44 percent of American teachers leave the profession in the
first five years (Will, 2018), which means Gen Z teachers have joined the group of
millennial teachers who can’t find the door fast enough. And who do districts often
hire as their replacements? Young, inexperienced Gen Z and millennial teachers
who often get thrown into tough environments and are quickly overwhelmed and
leave the profession. And the cycle continues.
This is an American problem. Two countries that are considered to have highly
effective education systems, Finland and Singapore, usually have attrition rates of
3 percent or 4 percent (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017), half of that
found in the United States. Our teachers are leaving because of problems in the
American education system. According to one study from 2017,
The most frequently cited reasons in 2012–13 were dissatisfactions with

testing and accountability pressures (listed by 25% of those who left the
profession); lack of administrative support; dissatisfactions with the
teaching career, including lack of opportunities for advancement; and
dissatisfaction with working conditions. These kinds of dissatisfactions
were noted by 55% of those who left the profession and 66% of those
who left their school to go to another school. (Carver-Thomas & Dar-
ling-Hammond, 2017, p. v)
To expand on these ideas, the centralization of American education, especially

with its increasingly lockstep curricula and heavy accountability measures, means a
lot of the choice and individualization have been removed from teaching. Teachers
of all generations inherently don’t buy into scripted programs. This is especially
14 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
true and problematic when it comes to Gen Z and millennial teachers, who more
than previous generations were raised to value individual freedom and to walk
independent paths. Put another way, we have raised the most independent young
people in history and put them into a teaching box and told them what to do and
how to think. Another difference as they were raised is that they had more input
into family decisions; in schools, they are troubled by the constant administrative
turnover and a lack of input into organizational operations, including selecting
textbooks and other classroom materials (Boyce, 2019).
And of course there’s the pay issue—or more precisely, the diminished pay. The
average weekly pay for teachers has dropped over the past 20 years; when com-
pared with similarly educated adults, it had
dropped by 21.4 percent in 2018 (Gould,
2019). Almost half of American teachers work We have raised the most independent
a second job to supplement their income young people in history and put them
(Wade, 2019). Throw in the fear of being into a teaching box and told them
killed in a school shooting, and we can see why what to do and how to think.
young teachers (and teachers of older genera-
tions) are dissatisfied with their jobs. One
recent poll shows half of all teachers are actively
searching for other jobs (Mulvahill, 2019).
The vacancies created by teachers who choose to leave make up 90 percent of all
teacher vacancies (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017). In other words,
nine out of ten teachers hired each year are replacements for teachers who left the
classroom. If America could cut its attrition rate by half, it would almost eliminate
the nation’s teacher shortages (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017).
Think of all the time and energy that could be saved in screening and interviewing
teacher candidates each year. And think of the money saved. Those trips to job
fairs, mentor stipends, inservice days, and other services for new teachers? Their
costs add up to over $20,000 per year per teacher in urban districts (Carver-Thomas
& Darling Hammond, 2017) and a total of $7.3 billion per year across the United
States (Mulvahill, 2019). Just think if we could cut that cost by half. That would
pump another $3.6 billion back into districts.
Where do a lot of these teachers go? Many of them take jobs in health care and
social work. On average, these jobs pay less, but they offer more security and
better benefits (Varathan, 2018). These are people who became teachers because
they wanted to help people. They wanted to make a difference in the world.
But the teaching profession couldn’t offer them enough to stay in it, so they
jumped into other fields where they can use their skills and assist individuals
and families.
In an attempt to produce more teaching candidates, states have implemented
alternative certification programs that offer less content preparation and fewer stu-
dent teaching opportunities. The retention data for these teachers is even more
abysmal: Teachers who come from these programs are 25 percent more likely to
leave the profession (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017).
Making Generational Adjustments

As we look at ways to retain young teachers, let’s remember one of the frustrating
conditions of school leadership: There’s only so much we can do to improve our
profession. Some factors are beyond the control of school administrators, like
teacher pay, class sizes, violence in schools, state testing, and some of the other
national, state, and societal pressures that stress school leaders and teachers today.
However, there’s lots of room for improvement. A 2020 Gallup poll shows only
6 percent of superintendents think their districts understand what millennials
need in the workplace (Hodges, 2020). Again, in which age groups are most super-
intendents today? Boomers and Gen Xers. And if they don’t understand millenni-
als, then they certainly don’t understand Gen Z. Many school leaders might not
even understand that Gen Z teachers are in their teaching staffs. This is not meant
to criticize the administrators; they are working harder than ever, and these gener-
ation gaps are new leadership issues. But it shows these generation gaps are real.
It’s time to start making personnel adjustments built around generational knowl-
edge. As they transition in to 5-Gen leadership, boomer and Gen X school leaders
need to acknowledge that young teachers respond differently and are looking for
different sorts of experiences than the leaders were seeking when they joined the
profession—which means they are looking for different things in the workplace.
According to Staffbase (Lockley, 2017), a company that helps corporations merge

multiple generations of employees who work remotely, there are five characteristics
that Gen Z and millennials are seeking in their work environment—and these
things are often missing in our schools today.
1. High wages and career advancement. While we know there’s a prob-

lem with teacher salaries, let’s look at this issue from a generational
viewpoint. Gen Z and millennials are entering the workforce with
more college debt than previous generations. They need more money.
Collectively, they have over $500 billion in outstanding loans
(Friedman, 2020). They could spend decades crawling out of debt;
thus, salaries are critically important for them, even more important
than they were to previous generations. When Gen Z and millennials
choose their majors, they know they will be in debt when they leave
college, and they are looking ahead to the types of salaries they will
draw. The low teacher salaries make the positions less attractive than
in the past. And it’s hard to advance through the hierarchy. When
advancing in a school system to serve on committees or move into
16 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
administrative or other positions, they often are expected to wait their
turn behind older, more experienced teachers, regardless of ability.
2. The latest technology. Young people live with technology in their

personal lives; they want to be in environments that embrace it. While
schools have made progress in implementing more devices and digital
tools, they are not on the cutting edge of digital change. They are still
well behind the curve. Schools are not seen as cool places where work-
ers can have access to the latest apps, devices, and digital practices.
3. Leadership training. Millennials are now old enough and experi-

enced enough to begin moving into leadership positions in their
organizations, yet they feel they lack the “soft skills” to lead older gen-
erations of workers (Lockley, 2017). They feel they need more help
than aspiring leaders of the past and want hands-on, mentor-guided
programs to help them become leaders. And Gen Z leaders are not
far behind. Instead, how do school leaders traditionally acquire lead-
ership skills? Mainly through a bruising period of trial and error and
by studying leadership skills in university graduate courses that hope-
fully translate into authentic leadership practices.
4. Feedback and engagement. Gen Z workers and millennials want

more conversations with their leaders, more feedback, and more
engagement than previous generations, yet only 55 percent of employ-
ees worldwide think there are enough collaboration and communica-
tion with leaders and across departments (Lockley, 2017). Many
school leaders are Gen Xers and baby boomers. They are less likely to
value this concept, and the demands placed on school leaders today
mean they are working at faster paces than previous leaders, which
makes it harder to find time to communicate and converse with young
teachers. Young people today know school environments are not seen
as collaborative, creative spaces where teachers have constant interac-
tion with administrators and play active roles in decision-making.
5. Help in managing stress. In one study, workers were asked to rate

their stress level on a scale of 1 to 10. The average score was 4.9, but
the average score for Gen Z and millennial workers was 5.4, meaning
they are feeling more stressed than other generations (Lockley, 2017).
When we combine this number with the idea that teachers continually
cite stress levels as one of the contributing factors of burnout, we can
see younger teachers are especially likely to feel stressed. High school
students see what their teachers endure on a daily basis; they hear the
complaints from their teachers and hear the reports in the news about
low morale levels among educators. Thus, they view a life as a teacher
as a life filled with high stress and little reward (Lockley, 2017).
Notice a commonality of these five characteristics: They all have their roots in 21st
century societal changes. Young people are more in debt than previous generations,
they value technology more than previous generations, they are less confident than
previous generations, they need more encouragement and feedback than previous
generations, and they are more stressed than previous generations.
School leaders can be better in these five areas. When forming a strategy to retain
millennial and Gen Z teachers, boomer and Gen X leaders can begin by breaking
down how to help young teachers advance in different ways through the school
culture and hierarchy, use abundant education technology, learn to lead, receive
feedback and be engaged, and manage their stress.
Let’s compare the traditional leadership model with the 5-Gen leadership model
in how they would address these areas (see Figure 1.4).
FIGURE 1.4 Retaining Millennial Teachers
Traditional Versus 5-Gen

Leadership Leadership
Teachers have to "pay their dues" Young teachers are purposely
before they are placed on placed on school or district
committees or are considered for Wages and committees to get their input and to
prominent committees or positions. advancement keep them engaged. They are given
There is little chance for early chances to apply for positions that
advancement. might increase salary.
Teachers might have interactive Technology training is systemized,

whiteboards and students might and young teachers are encouraged
have Chromebooks. Training is to be innovative in using new digital
haphazard, and young teachers Technology tools. The school constantly
might be able to offer their updates its devices and gives young
opinions. All teachers tend to use teachers chances to model their
the same digital tools. tactics for their peers.
There is little or no leadership Teachers are paired with leader

training for teachers. They are mentors (either with teachers or
expected to learn as they go if Leadership administrators) who take a
they happen to be placed in a training systemized, proactive approach to
position where they formally or helping the teacher learn how to
informally influence others. lead in a school.
Administrators meet with teachers Administrators seek new ways to

periodically. It might be part of the give feedback. They connect via
evaluation process or as issues Feedback social media. Teacher leaders are
arise. Administrators often want to and asked to engage more with young
engage more with teachers but engagement teachers. Systems are in place for
their busy schedules prevent it. teachers to give each other
feedback.
Some school leaders recognize the School leaders give stress

importance of stress management management a high priority and
and have begun to put programs Managing partner with outside parties, fund
in place. Others don’t have the stress initiatives, provide space, and
resources or have not prioritized it. promote it as a necessary part of
leading schools today.
18 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
FIGURE 1.5 Millennials’ Shifts in Priorities The Gallup organiza-
tion summed up
changes in job perspec-
Millennials’ tives for millennials (see
Figure 1.5). For this
Shifts in Priorities generation, developing
the company is no lon-
Past VS. Present/Future ger the priority. Instead,
the priority is develop-
ing the individual.
My paycheck My purpose
My satisfaction My development For school leaders, this
My boss My coach also means millennials
t review
My annual My conversations still care about school
My weaknesses My strengths
and being professionals,
My job My life
but the leaders should
(Gallup/Hodges) approach them with
the concept of coaching
them (not just supervising them), focusing on their strengths as teachers (not just
their weaknesses), and understanding that millennials will place a priority on living
a high-quality life (and will not place the highest priority on a career). These ideas
can also be applied to most Gen Z teachers.
This sums up the challenge of 5-Gen leadership: understanding what motivates

each generation, respecting the desires of each generation, understanding how
each generation learns, and using tactics to help all generations understand and
assist each other (which will be explored in Chapter 2 when we look at what hap-
pens when the four generations are working together in one group).
Trouble in the Gen Z Teaching Pipeline

We know a cohesive staff is a challenged, happy staff, but what happens when we
can’t find enough young teachers to join our staffs?
To compound the problems in the generational teaching ranks, we’re seeing fewer
Gen Zers who want to even want to become teachers. Millennials are leaving in
record numbers, and Gen Zers don’t even want to start.
According to one study, since 2010 national enrollment in teacher preparation

programs has dropped by one-third. In 2016 to 2017, almost 350,000 fewer stu-
dents were enrolled in the programs than were enrolled in 2008 to 2009 (Partelow,
2019). In some states, it’s even worse. Oklahoma, Illinois, and Michigan have seen
enrollment in their teacher preparation programs drop by 50 percent since 2010
(Akhtar, 2019). More teachers are leaving; fewer teachers are coming in. The
teacher pipeline is drying up.
Why is this happening? A number of factors are discouraging Gen Z students
from entering the profession. Some of the reasons are the same ones that make
millennials want to leave. But they’ve also experienced new generational problems
in schools.
They’ve grown up in the age of No Child Left Behind and the Common Core.
They are the “most tested generation.” The standardized tests and the bevy of for-
mative assessments preparing them for the tests mean they might have taken
extensive formative assessments and tests “as frequently as twice per month and an
average of once per month” (Boyce, 2019). Today’s high school graduates are less
likely to see K–12 public schools as a place of free thinking and intellectual growth
than as a place where the goal is to prepare for and take standardized tests.
Also, while millennials and older teachers have had to adjust to the possibility of
experiencing a school shooting, Gen Zers are the first generation of students to
spend their entire school lives fearing school shootings. From their first year of
school in early 2000s, they have gone through lockdown drills and have lived with
the incessant fear of being murdered in a classroom. Some of them, like their
teachers, have written their last will and testaments (DeGuerin, 2019). And some
of them have gone online to buy bulletproof backpacks (Reagan, 2019).
They are already heavily stressed. One study found Gen Z high school students are
more worried about their grades than they are about unplanned pregnancies and
binge drinking (The Economist, 2019). When we add worries about testing and
safety to what social media is doing to them psychologically in their teenage years,
we can see that schools for them are not bastions of intellectual freedom and
prosperity. Instead, they are stressful, accountability-driven, potentially deadly
places. It’s not surprising fewer Gen Z students are choosing not to spend their
professional lives in this system when they choose their college majors. Become a
teacher today? For many of them, the answer is, “No way!”
Recruiting Gen Z Teachers

We, as school leaders, cannot solve all of the societal ills that are keeping Gen Zers
from joining our profession, but if we adjust some of our organizational practices
(as listed earlier for the millennials) and adjust our Gen Z recruiting tactics, we’ll
make school environments that will be more likely to attract and retain more young
people. Plus, if there are fewer Gen Z teachers from whom to choose to fill teach-
ing vacancies, it makes it even more imperative that school leaders understand Gen
Z’s professional preferences in order to successfully recruit the best candidates into
their staffs.
School leaders work with Gen Z students every day, but information is now emerg-
ing about how Gen Z is meshing into the workforce. An article on LinkedIn
20 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
(McLaren, 2019) for corporate recruiters had these nuggets of information to help
them understand Gen Z workers:
• Gen Zers make up 24 percent of the overall workforce.
• They are seeking stability: paid time off, good health care, and high
wages.
• They’d rather ask Google than ask for advice.
• They are independent, but risk-averse.
• They seek constant interaction with their supervisors.
• They want to be recognized for their efforts.
• They are seeking a diverse a workforce, and 75 percent of them say it

will affect where they choose to work.
• They want to work for ethical companies, and the top qualities they
are seeking in a leader are integrity and transparency.
• They are competitive.
• They want to use the latest social media platforms.
• They want to use technology in their jobs; 91 percent of them say

how they get to use technology will affect their job choice.
Now think of what this information means for school administrators recruiting
Gen Z teachers. When they speak with Gen Z teaching candidates over the phone,
at job fairs, in one-on-one interviews at their schools, or when the candidate is
interviewing with teams of teachers, the administrators need to be sure to focus on
the things about which Gen Zers are most concerned. Figure 1.6 shows some
essential points to work into the conversation.
Here’s another tip: Since Gen Zers prefer having millennial managers (but the
millennials might not be administrators yet in some schools), administrators
should try to include a Gen Z or millennial teacher from the staff in the interview
process. Pull the teacher into the office to help out. Take the teacher to job fairs.
And let the teacher do a lot of the talking. Maybe the teacher could cover the points
listed in Figure 1.6. If possible, give them time to talk alone. Let the young teacher
give the tour of the building or create some other opportunity in which the recruit
can connect with the other young professional.

FIGURE 1.6 Tips to Recruit Gen Z
TIPS TO RECRUIT GEN Z

• Mention TECHNOLOGY early and often. Give examples of teachers using
new apps and devices in innovative ways. Tell how it’s modeled in staff meetings
and in professional development sessions. Talk about how students are using it.
Showexamples of teacher and student work done online. Let
them know how much you value technology for your own use and for teachers
and students. Stress your desire to stay at the forefront of education technology
usage and let them know they could be a part of an exciting journey.
• Be TRANSP
TRANSPARENT
PARENT in mentioning your own need to grow and adjust with
the changing times.
• Use SOCIAL MEDIA for showcasing student and teacher work, and for
reaching out to candidates after the interview.
• Stress the room for INDEPENDENCE in how they work, but that they would
be part of a team to help them be successful.
• Mention the desire to have a DIVERSE teaching staff that brings different
perspectives and as different role models for all students.
• Talk about the CORE V VALUES
ALUES of the school. Have a student or staff
handbook open to the page that lists them so they could be easily accessed and
Blank
the candidate will know they areTvalued. emplate
• Discuss all the ways school leader give the candidate FEEDBACK and what
the candidate can expect in terms of coaching and mentoring as a part of the
entry-year program and beyond the requirements of the program.
• Give an example of a young teacher on the staff who is doing well, and talk
about what has been done to RECOGNIZE that teacher.
• Talk about need for CHANGE in schools and how the young teacher can
help reshape schools and teaching in the future.
• Appeal to the candidate’s COMPETITIVE nature by saying it will take the
best and the brightest to achieve the school’s goals.
• Show pictures or videos of teachers and students being ETHICAL
community members as they assisted senior citizens, raised money for the
homeless, volunteered at animal rescue shelters, or participated in some other
community projects.
• Stress the value in today’s work environment of having BENEFITS like a
state pension plan, a health care plan with comparatively low premiums, and paid
sick leave.
• Remind the candidate of the job’s FLEXIBILITY in that teachers might work
long hours but they are rarely assigned official duties in the evenings, on
weekends, or during long summer breaks.
Many principals today are justifiably driven by test scores, so they often spend a lot
of time in interviews recounting percentages, accountability labels, and what the
administration and teachers are doing to raise scores. Young candidates need to
know this, but it probably won’t be exciting for them. Actually, if the candidates
think they will be walking into an environment driven by test scores, it could dis-
courage them. The administrators should balance the accountability piece with the
motivation of having an exciting job.
22 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
It’s important to note that boomers and Gen X leaders don’t need to change who
they are as people in order to work with young teachers; they just need to adjust
some of their tactics and leadership philosophies. They don’t need to act like Gen
Zers to be accepted. As one Gen Zer has written, “Just because you’re trying to
appeal to us doesn’t mean you have to try to be like us. . . . If you’re authentic, you
will stand apart from your competition because authenticity resonates with Gen Z”
(McLaren, 2019).
Of course, some of these points appeal to multiple generations and can be used
when interviewing all generations of teachers. While there are some differences
between Gen Z and millennial candidates, many of these tactics can be used to
recruit millennials as well. For example, they also value mentoring, purpose, social
media, and ethical actions. A few of these concepts could be highly valued by Gen
X and baby boomer candidates. They often value diversity and advancement; how-
ever, they tend to be less interested in mentoring, social media, and having the
latest technology. This means today’s 5-Gen school leaders need to know the
workplace characteristics valued by different generations, and they must be able to
pivot between each one as they address different types of candidates.
Take Steps Now to Become a 5-Gen Leader

In my conversations with school leaders, I often hear them say they understand
today’s young people are different. They know millennial and Gen Z teachers have
grown up in a different world and are plugged into technology and social media,
and they understand these teachers have a different way of looking at life. They
understand how hard it is to hold on to millennials, and they’ve heard through the
professional grapevine that fewer Gen Zers are heading their way as teachers. But
when I ask these school leaders exactly what they are doing to specifically attract and
retain young teachers, they often don’t have clear answers. I don’t write this to be
critical. They have crazy hectic lives, and as I mentioned, this is a new problem that
has only recently been identified. Still, they need to do more than say they know
the issue is there; they need to commit to action.
Businesses have begun to use formal retention plans to recruit and hold on to
younger employees, and schools should do the same. A plan can be done in
four steps:
1. Analyze retention data.
2. Choose strategies.
3. Form a plan of action.
4. Create the document. (Perucci, 2020)

School district personnel could analyze their millennial and Gen Z teacher data,
brainstorm tactics to use to recruit and retain young teachers, pull the ideas
together in a loose format, and then create the written document. They could call
it the Teacher Recruiting and Retention Plan (TRRP) and have action steps and
dates for implementation. These don’t have to be complex, lengthy documents. A
good rule would be to write them as if they are being written for millennials and
Gen Zers: They should be concise and easily understood. School districts and
individual schools have one-year and multiyear strategic plans that outline their
goals; they could add the TRRP to these documents. Figure 1.7 shows an example
of how one might look.
FIGURE 1.7 Teacher Recruiting and Retention Plan
Teacher Recruiting and

Retention Plan
OBJECTIVE: Study and use the recruiting and retention data.

KEY QUESTIONS: Are we successfully hiring the teachers we
want? Are we retaining them?
Person in charge of analyzing the data: _______________________________

How the results will be disseminated: _________________________________
Date by which it will be done: _______________________________________
OBJECTIVE: Retain more young teachers.

KEY QUESTION: Which 5-Gen leadership ideas are we using?
Person in charge of gathering the ideas: ___________________________________

How the leaders will be trained: __________________________________________
Date by which it will be done: ____________________________________________
OBJECTIVE: Be more successful in hiring young teachers.

KEY QUESTIONS: Which Gen Z recruiting tips are we using?
How are we appealing to Millennial teachers as we recruit
them?
Person in charge of gathering the information: __________________________
How the recruiters will be trained: ____________________________________
Date by which it will be done: _______________________________________
24 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
And After We Recruit and Retain Them . . .
There are other issues to resolve in 5-Gen leadership. Teachers in different gener-
ations respond differently to various types of leadership. They need different t actics
in professional development, and they respond differently to societal changes. We
need to understand Gen Alpha and prepare for the end of the decade when Gen
Beta enters our schools. Millennials are now joining the administrative ranks. How
will they mesh with older leaders? And what will be the impact on schools at the
end of the decade as Gen Z teachers start to become administrators and link up
with their millennial siblings? The world is changing rapidly, and so are our lead-
ership ranks, teaching force, and student populations. Helping to lead education
into this environment begins with transitioning to 5-Gen leadership.
OK, boomer?
FIGURE 1.8 Tips for Transitioning to 5-Gen Leadership
Tips for Transitioning to 5-Gen Leadership
1. Know four distinct generations are in our teaching staffs,

including Gen Z.
2. Understand the differences in the four teaching generations.
3. Recognize the digital generation gaps between each
generation.
4. Realize the biggest digital generation gap is the one between
the boomers/Gen Xers and the millennials/Gen Zers.
5. Know millennials are leaving the profession in record
numbers and fewer Gen Zers are joining the teaching
profession.
6. Study the characteristics millennials and Gen Zers are
looking for in a workplace and adjust practices.
7. Adjust recruiting strategies to find the best Gen Z teaching
candidates.
8. Study the district’s recruiting and retention data, brainstorm
solutions, create a loose format, and then create a written
Teacher Recruiting and Retention Plan.

CHAPTER 2
The Impact of the

Silent Generation
and Gen Alpha
•• The Silent Generation shaped a significant part of the culture of our cur-
rent schools.
•• Gen Alpha will be the most tech savvy and advanced generation in history.
•• We need to repurpose our schools to meet the needs of Gen Z and Gen
Alpha students.
•• Some ideas, like the power of professional mentorships and positive rela-
tionships with students, transcend the generations.
A llow me to tell you a tale of two Theodores, a tale of two generations at

separate ends of our education history.
One Theodore is Theodore “Ted” Smith, and the other Theodore is his great-
grandson, who is named after Ted and goes by the name of “Theo.” Ted was born
in 1933 and is a member of the Silent Generation (T. Smith, personal communi-
cation, July 12, 2020). Theo was born in 2014 and is a member of Gen Alpha. Ted
is 88 years old, and Theo is five years old; Ted is a retired school administrator, and
Theo has just started kindergarten. They are separated by four generations—83
years of technology accelerations, dramatic societal shifts, a globalized economy,
and vastly varied life experiences.
If we understand these two Theodores, it can help us make more sense of where we
are and where we need to go as 5-Gen leaders. Think of these two groups as the
bookends of 5-Gen leadership. Their generations represent our education past and
our education future.
27
Lessons From the Silent Generation
First, let’s look at the impact of Ted’s generation on American schools. When we
look at the history of generational leadership in schools, we would be remiss not to
mention the generation that did so much to create the school systems we have
today: the Silent Generation, whose members were born between 1925 and 1945.
They are the parents of the boomers, and they led our schools through the 1960s,
1970s, and 1980s.
They had a tough start. This generation grew up in some of the most frightening
times in American history. In their formative years, they experienced the uncer-
tainty of the Great Depression in the 1930s, the existential fear brought about by
World War II in the 1940s, and the global tensions created by the Atomic Age
that lasted through the 1950s and 1960s.
Imagine the nightmares coming out of that trifecta of American angst.
The Silent Generation was given its name by Time magazine in 1951 because its
members didn’t complain about their lives or the state of the world; they kept their
heads down and remained silent (Howe, 2014). They were taught to survive. To
them, work was a privilege, and they took whatever job they could find. They didn’t
believe in fads or quick success stories. They believed the way to success was
through hard work, and there were no shortcuts. Members of the Silent Generation
were known as being persistent. They couldn’t survive a Depression and a world
war unless they knew how to dig deep and see the job through to the end. They
were able to ride the growing post–World War II American economy for most of
their adult lives. Money was to be saved, so their thriftiness allowed them to
become our wealthiest generation. The remaining members of the Silent
Generation today still tend to be civic-minded and patriotic, and they vote in high
numbers. Conformity is still valued, and they are known as team players
(Kane, 2019).
The Silent Generation school leaders didn’t have to deal with social media, school
shootings, and the challenges of preparing students to enter a global economy, but
they led schools through a radically changing American society: the civil rights
movement and the integration of schools, the counterculture and hippie move-
ment, the introduction of illegal drugs on a broad scale into American life, and the
Vietnam War protests. Those could not have been easy times to lead schools for
many Silent Generation leaders.
I think of my superintendents and principals, who were members of the Silent

Generation, I knew when I was a student in the 1960s and 1970s. Most of the
school leaders in my hometown were white men who wore white shirts and bland
ties with silver tie clips. I would guess their leadership abilities ranged from aver-
age to good. Maybe one or two were great, and perhaps one or two weren’t compe-
tent. I wouldn’t know about that. The public was often shielded from what
28 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
happened behind the principal’s door—it was a different time when leadership
foibles were less public and weak administrators could be more easily hidden.
I sometimes wonder what I would say to my former principals if I could go back in

time and sit across their desk from them, a school leader from the future talking to
a school leader from the past, which brings us to a bigger question: “What can we
learn today from the Silent Generation school leaders?”
I interviewed our first Theodore, Ted Smith, to find out (T. Smith, personal com-
munication, July 12, 2020). He spent most of his education career as a school
administrator, and he epitomizes the Silent Generation (see Figure 2.1).
Ted was born in 1933 in Huntsville, Ohio, and like many other members of the
Silent Generation, he grew up in a small town. By 1920, more Americans lived in
cities and small towns than lived on farms (Recchiuti, n.d.). Technology took a
huge step in the 1920s and early 1930s when radios were introduced on a broad
scale into American households (Scott, n.d.). Ted remembers his family’s radio,
which was large. He estimates it was over 30 inches tall, about half as large as the
FIGURE 2.1 Equity Through the Generations
Equity through the 193

0’s
Generations
Schools were often segregated in the 1930’s. While the
“separate but equal” clause was in place, the facilities and
1 1 education opportunities were usually not equal (Koning).
Many Cherokee children attended missionary schools that

required them to speak English and encouraged them to
forgo their native beliefs. Alternative programs were then 2
created to maintain their heritage (Koning).
In the South, the salaries of black teachers was @ 60% of

3
3 what white teachers made (“Jim Crow’s Schools”).
Latino children feared arrest and deportation. The Hoover

administration promoted widespread raids and roundups
of Mexican Americans. Anyone who looked Mexican could 4
be taken into custody during street sweeps (“Minority Groups
and the Great Depression”).
Chapter 2 • The Impact of the Silent Generation and Gen Alpha 29

television he watches today. “We had electricity,” he said, “but my grandparents
both had battery-operated radios. . . . They had kerosene lights in their house.”
When asked what kind of toys he had as a child, Ted dug back into his memory and
said, “I had a wooden truck, and I had a wind-up car.” He laughed and added, “That
was high tech for those days!” Games were an important part of childhood fun for
the Silent Generation, and they were usually played with others, not alone. Checkers
was a popular game, he said, “and card games like euchre. My cousins always came
to my grandparents’ house on Sundays. We would play ‘Red Rover, Come Over.’”
I can’t help but compare Ted’s childhood to my childhood as a boomer. I see some
similarities, but technology was already changing toys. The technology transition
had begun. Some of my toys in the 1960s were wind-up, but we had a lot of toys
powered by batteries. The batteries didn’t last nearly as long as they do today. I
remember a lot of batteries being dead by Christmas night. I played “Red Rover,
Come Over” on my elementary school playground in the 1960s. Perhaps it was
taught to us by one of our Silent Generation teachers who, like Ted, had played it
in her youth? All of my elementary teachers were women. It was one of the few
professional avenues open to Silent Generation females. I visit a lot of elementary
schools today, but I don’t see “Red Rover, Come Over” played at recess anymore.
Ted attended the same high school as his parents, and one of his teachers had
taught his parents, which means that teacher had probably begun teaching in the
early part of the previous century. Ted played varsity basketball for all four years—
there were only 11 boys in the entire school, so being on the basketball team was
mandatory in order for the school to field a team. He was the valedictorian of his
graduating class. And here’s something wonderful Ted shared about his school: “It
was such a small school that if a new family moved in and new students came into
the school, we all went down to talk to them, to say, ‘Hi.’”
Ted’s childhood occurred during the Great Depression and during the food-
rationing days of World War II, but Ted’s family was lucky: Both sets of his grand-
parents were farmers. “Farmers always had plenty of food,” he said. “Even though
we didn’t live on a farm, we’d go to my grandparents’ and bring back food we’d cook
later.” It helped that his father had a steady paycheck. “My father was lucky,” said
Ted. “He had a teaching job. . . . For those times, we were fairly well off.”
Now let’s compare Ted’s youth to his Gen Alpha great-grandson, five-year-old
Theo, a member of Gen Alpha in today’s schools. While Ted grew up with wooden
toys and a big box radio, Theo is growing up with an iPad, apps, and YouTube vid-
eos. For Ted, playing card games with his cousins was an interactive, social event.
Theo likes to play a few card games, but most of his games are found on his iPad—
and he plays them alone. One of Theo’s favorite activities is to FaceTime his grand-
mother, who lives over a thousand miles away. He can take his mother’s phone (he
figured out the password to open the phone by watching her), open the app, and
30 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
tap on his grandmother’s name to initiate the call. As a child, Ted’s view of the
world came from what he heard on the radio and what he saw in his small town,
but Theo’s boundaries will stretch as far as his YouTube videos and FaceTime con-
versations will take him. As an adult in his 20s, Ted’s life changed when he got a
television. Try to imagine the technology Theo will have in his life when he is 25
years old in 2040. Then think about what he’ll experience in 2050, 2060, and beyond.
Like the Silent Generation, Gen Alpha will have to overcome its own childhood
existential challenges. The Silent Generation grew up with outbreaks of polio and
whooping cough. Theo, in the fall of 2020, began his first official year of his school-
ing (kindergarten) at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a five-year-
old, he learned to look forward to a future when the virus would be less of a threat.
“When the virus is over . . .” he would say, and then he would talk about how much
fun it would be to take a vacation and swim in a pool again.
Ted began his career as a junior high school science and history teacher. “Junior
high” was the term used at the time, and the schools usually had seventh, eighth,
and ninth graders in them. Today’s middle school concept of forming an environ-
ment to help young adolescents didn’t exist; junior high schools were designed to
leave the elementary culture behind and to systematically prepare students for the
perceived rigors of high school. After all, think of their names: junior high schools.
They were mini high schools for the younger students (Davis, 2008). The mem-
bers of the Silent Generation attended junior high schools, and then some of them
helped reshape junior high schools into middle schools. It was a bold move: School
leaders of the Silent Generation pushed back against a deeply ingrained education
philosophy that had been around for almost a hundred years.
The idea of forming junior highs came out of a reform effort launched in 1888 by
the president of Harvard University, Charles Eliot. At that time, American educa-
tion often had two levels: elementary schools, which were Grades 1–8, and high
schools, which were Grades 9–12. Eliot and his peers, who formed the powerful
National Education Association’s Committee of Ten on Secondary School Studies,
wanted to increase the rigor of the upper-elementary grades to better prepare them
for high school, so they decided to shift the seventh and eighth grades into more of
a secondary setting: They kept six grades (Grades 1–6) in the elementary schools
and moved Grades 7 and 8 into the secondary level. Thus, we had six grades in the
lower level and six grades in the upper levels of American education. Secondary
schools across America began to form into intermediary schools (Grades 7–8),
junior high schools (Grades 7–9), and junior–senior high schools (Grades 7–12).
By the 1940s, over half of America’s young adolescents were in junior high schools.
By 1960, that number had climbed to 80 percent (Middle Schools, 2021).
It wasn’t just middle school educators that began to form a new philosophy of
teaching and learning in the last two decades of the 20th century; during the Silent
Generation’s tenure as leaders, the overall American K–12 system began to

recognize the fundamental importance of emotional well-being in the formation
of academically successful students. This philosophy continues in American
schools today.
Sort of.
The shift to the middle school concept is also symbolic of a strange paradox in
American schools, one we have to resolve if we are going to transition into schools
that fit the needs of Gen Z and Gen Alpha: At the time we began to focus on
developing each individual, we also began to give them standardized tests and
accountability labels. Educators said to their students, “Be who you are! Let us help
you develop as an individual!” while the system was saying, “But take this test now
regardless of where you are in in your individual growth or abilities! You are this
age, so you take this test, and this is how we will rank you, your teacher, your
school, and your district!” Educators were gravitating to more student-centered
views at the same time government leaders were moving toward mass accountabil-
ity. This conflict survives in schools today. It is at the heart of the tension in school
reform movements. Educators want to treat students as individuals, yet most of
them in the public schools are forced to throw their students into the meat grinder
of standardized testing (more of this topic will be covered in Chapter 3).
Ted later became a high school principal and an assistant superintendent in vari-
ous spots in Ohio. When asked about his biggest challenge as a principal in the
1950s and 1960s, he says it was having to discipline students—but it wasn’t quite
like the discipline challenges school leaders face to today. “The kids were much
different then,” he said. The transgressions were simpler. Corporal punishment
was an accepted form of discipline in American schools. “If you got a paddling at
school,” he said, “you got one at home. It was a rural area, and the kids were usually
honest. I didn’t have to call the parents when they got a paddling; the kids would
tell them, and then they got one at home. They would come back and tell me.”
While it was a tumultuous time in American society, Ted was somewhat shielded
from it in his schools. “In the country schools, there weren’t a lot of social issues,”
he said. Even when Ted became an assistant superintendent in a suburban com-
munity in the late 1960s and 1970s, he didn’t have to deal with the student unrest
that was roiling university campuses at that time. Social media and viral videos
were still four decades away, and while some middle school and high school stu-
dents were politically active, many of them had views of the world that were more
confined to their own city blocks and schools.
Ted is most proud of impact on the quality of teachers he was able to bring into the
school. “I hired good teachers. They made me as a principal,” he said. A significant
number of his hires would have been boomers. Times were already changing, and
teacher preparation programs were beginning to transform. “I thought the younger
teachers might have been better prepared than the older teachers,” Ted added.
32 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
While Ted’s generation is generally thought of as being risk averse, some of its
school leaders were extreme risk takers: They led the way into one of the most
daring concepts ever tried in American schools, the open classroom experiment of
the 1970s (Cuban, 2011). This generation grew up conforming, yet it tore down
the classroom walls. In that decade, they also presided over a period of increased
opportunities for African American students, for immigrant students, and for stu-
dents with learning and physical disabilities. Women began to take on more prom-
inent roles in school leadership
(Encyclopedia.com, 2020); some of the
Silent Generation leaders opened the When I assumed my first administrative
leadership doors for them—and some of jobs, the trend was beginning to change
the boomer women had to kick in the regarding female administrators. The
leadership doors to get into those offices. greatest challenge was probably that of
From 1988 to 1998, the percentage of men who had been in administrative posi-
female school principals increased from 20 tions for some time. They did not readily
percent to 48 percent (Helterbran & Rieg, accept that women were now leading
2004). Today, 54 percent of American building staff. They had been accustomed
principals are women (Ramaswamy, 2020), to doing minimal job requirements and to
which means they have achieved a slight keep their verbal responses to a minimum.
majority in building leadership positions. As more women entered into leadership
positions, there was a silent resentment
One of these early pioneers was Dr. Mena from males to females “doing more than
Leo, a former superintendent in the Rio was necessary to get the job done.”
Grande Valley of Texas. Dr. Leo is a
boomer who was born shortly after World I remember sitting in a meeting with 20
War II, and she led through the transition other principals, participating in a lively
as more opportunities opened for women. discussion about our guiding staff to change
When asked about her challenges, she our philosophy about the teaching/learning
points to challenges many professional process. I was sitting next to my former
women today experience: the balancing of boss, a male middle school principal who
a career with motherhood. “My greatest never offered any of his thoughts. He had
challenge was that of being a mother to five been a principal for over 10 years. I had
children as I was being expected to be avail- been somewhat verbal, thinking how excit-
able to staff and parents and c ommunity.” ing it was to learn from one another. At the
end of the session, I asked him why he had
Dr. Leo offers these insights from her
not participated in the discussion. His
leadership days.
answer was, “Why? The more you talk, the
It’s clear Dr. Leo, like other female trail- more they call on you and the longer we
blazers, had to be resilient, especially to have to be in there!” Needless to say, that
move all the way up the leadership ladder was not enough to keep me quiet, ever.
to the superintendent’s office. That resil- (M. Leo, personal communication,
iency is still needed today. Even in 2021, September 14, 2020)
female administrators are brushing up

against the glass ceiling when it comes to being a superintendent. Three-fourths of
American educators are females, but only 24 percent of American superintendents
are women (Ramaswamy, 2020). If the majority of the building-level leaders are
female, why don’t we have more female superintendents? There could be a number
of reasons. Like Dr. Leo, many female leaders today still balance the roles of being
an administrator and a mother. Moving up the administrative ladder often requires
a series of moves from one district to another, and if the administrator is the pri-
mary parent, this could be hard on kids, which makes it hard for the administrator
to change districts. One study found 81 percent of superintendents came from
middle schools and high schools, and men have 67 percent of the high school
principal positions and 60 percent of the middle school principal positions, while
women fill 68 percent of the elementary p ositions (Ramaswamy, 2020). Men
appear to have the inside track to superintendent’s office.
Other reasons are also in play. Some women won’t apply because they might view
their qualifications differently than men. A study by Hewlett-Packard in 2013
showed that men are more likely to apply for a job if they have some of the quali-
fications, but women often won’t apply unless they have the majority or all of the
qualifications. This was backed up by a LinkedIn study of what it had observed
through its site in 2019 (Youn, 2019). A Pew Research Center (2015) study found
that most people believe it’s easier for men to achieve key leadership positions than
it is for women.
It’s fair to say many female educators and educators of color must still fight harder
to get into leadership positions. But it’s also fair to say we’ve never had as great of
a need for diverse leadership as we have today—because Gen Z and Gen Alpha are
the most diverse generations in history (Fry & Parker, 2020). They need to see role
models who look like them in leadership roles.
Gen Alpha, the New Generation

Before we take a close look at the generation at the other end of our leadership
lens, Gen Alpha, let’s first consider some commonly asked questions: “How did we
get the name Gen Alpha? How did we jump from Z to A, from Gen Z to Gen
Alpha? Who’s making up these names?”
To get the answers, we have to jump across the Pacific, all the way to Australia,
and study the work of Mark McCrindle. He’s also a demographer, futurist, and
social commentator—and he and his company are credited with creating the
Gen A moniker (Bologna, 2019). According to McCrindle, a movement was
already underway to follow the name of Generation Z with the name of
Generation A, but he felt a more appropriate moniker was needed, so he sug-
gested Alpha, which translates more into a beginning or the “start of something
new” (Bologna, 2019).
34 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
It’s appropriate to think of Gen Alpha as the beginning; we are entering a new
phase in global history. In Leading Schools in Disruptive Times (2021, 2nd ed.),
I wrote with Dwight Carter about three essential points to know if we are going to
understand technology accelerations: Processing speeds keep getting faster, which
leads to more information, which has brought the world to a point that knowledge
is doubling every year and will be doubling every 12 hours in the future (see Figure
2.2). This is the world in which Theo and his Gen Alpha peers will live: The infor-
mation learned this morning will be supplanted by twice as much information this
evening, and it will be doubled twice tomorrow, the next day, and the next day.
Gen Alpha is already showing trends that separate it from previous generations. Its
members can be called “upagers” because it is expected they will physically mature
faster and adolescence will arrive earlier in their lives. They are also expected to be
more sophisticated socially, psychologically, educationally, and commercially at an
earlier age than their millennial and Gen Z predecessors (McCrindle Staff, n.d.a).
Much of this is because of what they are seeing and experiencing on the internet.
A study by Common Sense Media in 2017 found 98 percent of Gen Alpha stu-
dents under the age of eight in America are growing up in a household with mobile
FIGURE 2.2 Three Things to Know About the Rate of Change in the World
3
things to know about
the rate of change in
the world
Moore’s Law
In 1965, Gordon Moore predicted computing power would grow
at an exponential rate and the cost of technology would steadily
drop. As processing speeds accelerated, more and more
information was created.
The Knowledge Doubling Curve

In 1982 Buckminster Fuller wrote in his book Crical Path
that knowledge in the world was doubling at faster rates.
This doubling of knowledge has led to more devices, more
apps, and more cloud computing.
Information is now doubling even faster ...

In 2012, an IBM White Paper reported that information in the
world was doubling every 12 months and would be doubling
every 12 hours in the future. Some researchers think we have
reached that point today.
SOURCES: Moore’s Law (“Over 50 Years of Moore’s Law”; Knowledge Doubling Curve (Rosenberg);
Information is now doubling. . .(Rosenberg)

devices like tablets and cell phones. That number is up dramatically: Six years ago,
the percentage was 52 percent. The number of minutes of usage has grown from
five minutes per day in 2011 to 15 minutes per day in 2013 to 48 minutes per day
in 2017 (Kamenetz, 2017). Another study by Common Sense Media in 2019
found Gen Alpha and Gen Z students between the ages of 8 and 12 spend almost
five hours each day online, and Gen Z teenagers spend seven-and-a-half hours
online. That doesn’t count the number of minutes spent online in school—and this
was before the school closures of 2020 when kids were home all day doing school
online and had more free time for online gaming (Rideout & Robb, 2019).
According to researcher Mark McCrindle, Gen Alpha come from families that
move more often, increasingly live in urban environments, and have parents who
change careers more frequently (Bolonga, 2019). Elwood Carlson, a demographer
and professor at Florida State University, says that Gen Alpha has a higher number
of kids who are not growing up with two biological parents in the household. In
the United States, this generation will have more young people who have immi-
grant parents or are immigrants themselves (Bologna, 2019).
If we thought Gen Z was the technology generation, consider the life of Gen
Alpha: When Gen Alpha was “born” in 2010, the iPad was introduced, and the
American Dialect Society’s word of the year was “app.” McCrindle says Gen Alpha
is being born into “the great screen age” (McCrindle Staff, n.d.a). Another name
given to Gen Alpha is “Generation Glass” because of the way they will constantly
interact with their computer screens, the pop-up screens they will have on their
vehicle dashboards, and the interactive desks at which they will sit in the future
(Bologna, 2019). They will be the most tech-savvy generation ever, even more than
Gen Z (McCrindle Staff, n.d.b): “Not since Gutenberg transformed the utility of
paper with his printing press in the 15th century has a medium been so trans-
formed for learning and communication purposes as glass—and it has happened
in the lifetime of Gen Alpha” (McCrindle Staff, n.d.a, para. 13).
Take a moment and think about that comment: The 2020s will be a decade of the
most dramatic teaching and learning transformation since the 1400s.
Natalie Franke, the head of community at the

The 2020s will be a decade of the business management firm HoneyBook, believes
most dramatic teaching and learning Gen Alpha will merge with technology more
transformation since the 1400s. completely as increasingly powerful technology
enters its daily life. She says they might “prefer a
virtual world over their real world.” They will live
with autonomous cars, stronger AI, and have more apps
that do things for them. “I predict this will lead to an unprecedented rise in cre-
ativity, education and self-care, with Gen Alpha spending more time exploring
their passion, prioritizing mental wellness and seeking education for the simple joy
of learning,” notes Franke (Bologna, 2019, para. 23). Furthermore, Franke believes
36 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
“technological advancements, combined with the rising cost of college, will allow
Generation Alpha to reject traditional education and pursue learning through
other avenues. That attitude promotes ‘the passion economy’ as younger genera-
tions may continue the growing trend of freelancing and starting their own busi-
nesses” (Bologna, 2019, para. 24).
In 2030, Theo will be a teenager, and he will have devices, apps, and artificial intel-
ligence that we can barely imagine. He already loves his iPad; his journey on the
Gen Alpha moving sidewalk of change has begun.
Gen Alpha’s Impact on Education

Now, what can we do as 5-Gen leaders today to help Theo and his Gen Alpha and
Gen Z peers stay ahead of the massive societal/economic shifts that will shape
their lives?
Assuming Franke is right and Gen Alpha rejects traditional education, it means
they will be searching for a new model. Today’s school leaders have the expertise,
research, and experience to create new types of schools for Gen Alpha.
To begin to understand how to transform our schools, let’s look at the legacy
handed to us by the Silent Generation and see how parts of it can help us to
educate Gen Alpha and which parts must be overcome as we move into this
new model.
Our schools are meant to be mirrors of American democracy, and the Silent
Generation built the pillars that still support today’s school cultures. Think of this:
Which character values are most rigorously promoted in schools today? Here are
some of them: hard work, tenacity, a respect for authority, efficiency, safety, security,
consistency, teamwork, fairness, and friendliness. In many ways, these quintessential
American school values given to us by the Silent Generation form the “American
Way” of doing things. These are the ideals most often associated with the Silent
Generation (Kane, 2019). These traits are still considered great values, and they can
still be a part of a roadmap to success in the 21st century for Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
Yet when we look at Gen Alpha’s screen-dominated, independent lifestyle, we have

to ask: Can today’s schools add to or adjust their cultural pillars to make room for students
whose learning styles, interests, and goals are more varied and more independent than
ever before? Remember how Ted told us part of the reason he was successful was
that he “worked hard”? Besides being a part of the Puritan work ethic that has
been passed down through generations since the colonialization of America, the
characteristic of hard work is an integral part of the Silent Generation. It was an
era of conformity; Ted was expected to play basketball for the good of the school
and the team. And he did. While there are still some small schools where students

would make this sacrifice, most Gen Alpha and Gen Z students are being raised
differently from the Silent Generation; students have become more independent,
and their voices are heard today. They usually are not expected to participate in an
extracurricular team activity unless they want to do so.
Schools in the 2020s must balance the need to teach collaboration with the need
to promote entrepreneurial thinking. The students will have to want to come to
school. As one researcher has written,
Existing evidence suggests that our schools will have to establish their
presence in more than content and skill. Generation Alpha students will
look for reasons to go to school that are beyond learning to read and
master numeracy skills. These expectations start in kindergarten and are
expected to continue. They will love their teachers and enjoy their
friends but question why they have to spend six hours (or more), five
days a week inside of a school. They will look at software programs that
are used (often with fidelity) to develop literacy and numeracy skills and
wonder why they are using programs at school (instead of being in the
comfortable confines of their home or public library). For this genera-
tion it is the experience and action that leads to learning; not just
instruction and content-based inquiry. (Britten, 2019, para. 20)
Our graduates will need to have an entrepreneurial mindset, which means we have
to build an education model for Gen Alpha and Gen Z centered on creativity, not
standardized test scores. In a world in which people explore their passions, learn
for the sake of learning, and have increasingly powerful virtual worlds into which
to escape, students and parents simply will not tolerate an education model cen-
tered on high-stakes testing. Gen Alpha’s constant exposure to screens is resulting
in shorter attention spans, higher levels of digital literacy, lower levels of social
competency, and a greater need for schools to employ digital gamification to
engage them (McCrindle Staff, n.d.b). Their biggest requests are for more devices
and screen time (Pasquarelli & Schultz, 2019). The teaching and learning must
have a strong technology component. Artificial intelligence can’t be shunned in the
classroom; it must be embraced (see Figure 2.3).
Let’s think of the type of school five-year-old Theo will need in this decade. As he
matures and reaches a point where he wants to learn in his own way, will the sys-
tem allow him to do so? What if he wants a different schedule, a different end and
start time to his school day, a mix of synchronous and asynchronous learning, and
his own way of showing he has learned something? These are the traits of Gen
Alpha, not the traits of today’s schools.
Consider this: Theo will graduate from high school in 2033. We need to imagine
the world of 2033, 2043, and 2053. But we can’t stop there. Because of advances in
medicine, procedures, and gene modification, the average Gen Alpha child will
38 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
FIGURE 2.3 Five Steps to Lead Gen Alpha probably live to be over 100
years of age (Malito, 2019),
which means Theo could be
Steps alive in 2120. Gen Alpha will
5 to Lead Gen Alpha
be the first generation of this
century to survive in record
numbers to see dawn of the
01 22nd century (McCrindle

Hold on to the values of the past but
allow for more entrepreneurial
thinking in teaching and learning. Staff, n.d.c). That’s a long life
built upon the skills we help
Embrace artificial intelligence. It will a
02 be a central part of Gen Alpha’s life and

should be an integral part of teaching
and learning.
them acquire today.
So 5-Gen leaders must retain

Redesign school days around the needs, pillars given to us by the
03 lifestyles, and learning preferences of
Gen Alpha and Gen Z.
Silent Generation, but 5-Gen
leaders must add six new pil-
lars to serve Gen Alpha (see
04
Curricula should have some traditional
elements but should be more focused Figure 2.4).
on 21st century skills.
Adaptive mindset: A part of
Have a transformative mindset to
05 quickly adjust practices for each new

generation and wave of technology.
the new education model is
to understand that the teach-
ing profession will have to
adapt at constantly faster
FIGURE 2.4 New Pillars for Gen Alpha speeds to keep up with accel-
erating increases in artificial
New Pillars intelligence. One of my
for
Gen Alpha favorite sayings for teachers
in my trainings is “We must
be comfortable being
Casual Learning Spaces
New Types of Devices
Flexible School Hours

Artificial Intelligence
uncomfortable.”
Adaptive Mindsets
Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship: As we
reconfigure schools today, we
also need to push our imagi-
nations out into a Star Trek
world and think of Theo’s
life in 2080 and 2090. Can
we see what that future will be? No. But we know we need to give our students a
head start in developing their own entrepreneurial mindsets so they can more
effectively sort through options and create new paths and new lifestyles.
New types of devices: Hopefully, we’ve reached a point in our progression where
we will readily adapt and use new technology as it appears in our classrooms,

from artificial intelligence to robots to holograms. But this means we must be
willing to let go of some of our old technology. When I was in junior high, I was
taught to use a slide rule (a slide rule is a ruler-like, hand-operated computer
used to figure mathematical equations). Besides learning of the novelty of the
device, it was pretty much a waste of teaching and learning time: I’ve never used
a slide rule in my life other than in 8th-grade science class. I don’t fault the
teacher or the district; electronic calculators were just being introduced, and slide
rules were still used in industry. But the slide rule can be a metaphor of technol-
ogy that was once a mainstay in classrooms and has been relegated to the history
pile. As education technology in the future morphs into something incompre-
hensible today, will laptops or handheld calculators become the slide rules of the
21st century? Old devices must be abandoned more quickly than ever to keep up
with accelerating change.
Artificial intelligence (AI): Consider how AI will affect schools in this decade.
In 2020, a company called OpenAI launched a new software called GPT-3,
which was “the most powerful ‘language model’ ever created” (Manjoo, 2020).
In other words, it could write letters, reports, scripts, and short stories in a
more convincing manner than any previous software. We already have speech-
to-text apps on our phones, and they are becoming more popular. In 2018, 20
percent of Google searches were done with voice commands; that number was
expected to jump to 50 percent by 2020 (Romero, 2018). The day is coming
when Gen Alpha students will ask, “Why do I have to write this paper when
my AI does all of my writing at home?” Or “Why do I have to solve this math
or science problem when I can quickly ask Alexa to do it for me?” And what
does this mean for standardized testing as we know it? We are already using an
obsolete testing model; will we also be testing obsolete skills? By the end of the
decade, 5-Gen leaders will have to lead their staffs through a complicated, tor-
turous, thrilling process of determining what it means for Gen Alpha to
be educated.
Flexible hours: The rise of artificial intelligence, the demands of Gen Z and Gen
Alpha, and the COVID closures of 2020 will force schools to do what other busi-
nesses are doing: take a hard look at the set hours and schedules for schools, espe-
cially in the upper levels of high school for students who are more independent
and mature. We are in the last iteration of huge brick-and-mortar high schools.
The Gen Z and Gen Alpha upagers will be looking for new options. School will
be where they use their AI; it will not always be the desk where they sit in the
classroom.
Casual learning spaces: Have you been in a new school lately? Almost every
school built today has some form of common, flexible learning space where stu-
dents can spread out, sit in alternative types of furniture, make presentations, and
work together. We will still need schools in the 2030s and beyond, but the increase
40 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
in education apps that link learning, the lifestyles of students, and the demands for
collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and communication will mean the
schools will continue to morph into new floor plans and functionalities.
To build these pillars, school leaders must create staffs that function as strong
collaborative teams while allowing individual teachers to take new, entrepre-
neurial approaches to teaching. As we saw in Chapter 1, our younger teachers—
our millennials and Gen Z teachers—sometimes feel they are in too restrictive
of a teaching environment. This problem is only going to deepen with each
passing year as more Gen Alphas rise through our schools in the 2020s and
begin to join the millennials and Gen Zers in our teaching ranks in the early
2030s. As 5-Gen leaders create new types of schools, they must create new types
of staffs. They must hold on to the values provided by the Silent Generation,
look at Gen Alpha’s needs, and then translate these ideas into new types of
teaching and learning.
The Transcendent Power of Relationships

Finally, two of Ted Smith’s recollections provide insight into how leaders of the
Silent Generation are similar to today’s generations of educators. More precisely,
they remind us that, as we take steps to repurpose our schools, we must remember
the importance of using our kindness and wisdom to help others.
First, Ted was effusive in his praise of his mentor, Jim Diley. Diley had been
Ted’s coach in high school, and he later became an administrator who hired
Ted. Then Ted followed him through several school districts, working his way
up under Diley’s tutorage from teacher to principal to assistant superintendent.
“Mentors did a lot for me. They determined my career,” Ted said. “What Jim
Diley did for me allowed me to take all those steps. I’m grateful for what he
did for me and my family. He was really influential on my career. And I
tried hard.”
Can’t most educators today, especially school administrators, point to mentors who
helped them at key points in their careers? As Ted points out, mentors can be
heavily influential. It’s a reminder that the mentorship chain though the genera-
tions of educators is vital and powerful. When we mentor young educators today
and then they mentor younger educators during their careers, it means we are
doing more than just helping our younger associates—we are shaping education
far into the future. The leadership chain continues. Think of it this way: Part of our
mission now is to mentor the next group of leaders so we can assist the Gen Z,
Gen Alpha, and Gen Beta leaders we will never know. And with the changes com-
ing to the world and to education in the next decade, mentorship is more essential
than ever.

Here’s a second powerful point to consider that transcends generations: the satis-
faction to be found in positive relationships with students and other educators. Ted
said helping young people was the best part of his job:
I particularly liked the students. I knew all the students’ names and knew
basically their abilities, and we had really outstanding students. I guess the
best part was just knowing the students and knowing their families and
where they came from and knowing about their lives. It was a school district
where we knew the parents. Many of them were from farm families or
worked locally for other farmers. Just being able to know the students and
their parents [was the best part].
Dr. Leo (personal communication, September 14, 2020) also mentioned helping
students and educators:
For myself, the most enjoyable part of being an administrator was that of
being able to help other educators grow in their personal beliefs about how
they, too, could influence others around them to make the educational experi-
ence for children more relevant. I valued the skills and abilities of others and
wanted to help them develop to their fullest capacity.
We shouldn’t be surprised by this, should we? That message resonates with me as a

boomer. As I consult in schools, I spend around 170 days on the road each school
year. I usually take 45 to 50 flights per year, and I’m in a lot of airports, shuttle
buses, rental cars, and hotels. It’s a hard, exhausting trek, but luckily, I get to spend
my days in schools. When I become weary, I often remind myself, “It’s about the
students. What you are doing to help principals and teachers will help their stu-
dents.”
When I speak with teachers and school leaders of younger generations, they,
too, get the most excited when they discuss their students. This is the magic
thread of purpose and fulfillment that runs through
generations of educators: It’s an innate, altruistic
desire to help young people to live better lives,
This is the magic thread of
to help them grow and to be happy. It will
purpose and fulfillment that runs
always be dominant. If five-year-old Theo, as a
through generations of educators:
member of Gen Alpha, dedicates his life to
It’s an innate, altruistic desire to
education and is a teacher in the middle of the
help young people to live better
21st century, then he probably will say the same
lives, to help them grow and
thing. Regardless of what technology can do at
to be happy.
that time, students will still need human inter-
action. Educators will play a vital, somewhat
new role in the 2020s and beyond: In a world
increasingly shaped by artif icial intelligence, teachers will show students the beauty of
being human.
42 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
9. Honor and build upon the work of previous generations of

educators.
10. Recognize the themes that link the generations of school
leaders: the love of working with students, the power of
teachers, and the need to mentor the next generation of leaders.
11. Continue the work done before us to equalize opportunities
for all ethnicities, genders, and lifestyles.
12. Understand the speed with which technology is reshaping
our lives and education.
13. Know the characteristics of Gen Alpha and consider how to
adjust teaching and learning to fit its needs.
14. Examine school culture to ensure it has the pillars needed to
support Gen Alpha.

CHAPTER 3
Moving From Managing

to Coaching
•• 5-Gen leaders must be coaches, not managers.
•• Millennials and Gen Z teachers tend to be more stressed about their

evaluations than boomers and Gen Xers.
•• Millennials and Gen Z teachers want constant feedback.
•• 5-Gen leaders must know and use the communication methods that work
best for the different generations.
A few years ago, I made a decision that had far-reaching consequences on my

daily life: I switched from using a PC to using a MacBook. In today’s world,
switching platforms is a big event. My laptop is a huge part of my life. I write,
prepare my keynotes, make slides, and type all of my coaching notes on my
computer. It’s more than a computer—it’s my digital doorway into my work and
into much of my entertainment. If I don’t have a good computer, I feel like our
Gen Z and Gen Alpha students do when their phones are offline.
When I was in the Apple Store talking with the sales rep—a tech ninja
millennial—I noticed he was called a “specialist,” not a sales rep. Most, not all, of
the specialists I saw were Gen Zers and millennials. The store manager happened
to be walking by, and he introduced himself as the “team leader.” The team leader,
who was probably a Gen Xer, led the team of “specialists.” I wondered what other
terminology and phrases Apple used, so when I got home, I checked its website.
And I found an introduction taken from the millennial and Gen Z playbook.
Do you love music? Photography? Fitness? Games? Video? Whatever

your passion, bring it. Because sharing what you love through Apple
products sparks others to pursue their own passions. And that’s why
45
we’re continuously reinventing the retail experience: to open up all kinds
of potential for our customers—and you. . . . Whether you work up front
or backstage, every day you’ll have the chance to make a big difference—
for your customers, your team, and yourself. (Apple, 2020, para. 1)
Music, fitness, games, and video. Helping others pursue passions. Reinventing the
system. Helping “you” reinvent yourself. Making a big difference. Apple has real-
ized something most businesses and school systems don’t yet comprehend: The
Gen Z and millennial employee needs to feel that they matter, that they are organic
individuals and not just cogs in the corporate machine.
I wondered what the job description would have said 20 years ago for boomer and
Gen X applicants. Perhaps something like this:
Wanted: Someone who knows how to help others use new technology. Good
pay and benefits. Apply in the store between the hours of 9:00 and 5:00 on
weekdays. Ask for the store manager.
As 5-Gen leaders create productive staffs, they need to make sure the millennial
and Gen Z teachers feel almost as important as the customer. It’s a good philoso-
phy to have for the boomers and Gen Xers too; everyone wants to feel they matter.
It also made me think about the titles we use in schools in the 2020s. A “teacher”
is a highly evolved specialist. The title of “teacher” is still a revered title in our soci-
ety; there’s no need to ponder a new moniker. But what about the leader, the
“school administrator”? The word “administrator” conjures forth images of men
sitting at a desk administrating: signing papers, issuing edicts, and being in control
of all situations. In the 20th century, Silent Generation and boomer administrators
administrated, but in the 21st century, the changing
workforce is forcing them to evolve. Like the
When viewed through a Apple Store manager, they must become team
multigenerational lens, the need to leaders. Being a collaborative school leader isn’t a
be a coach instead of a manager new concept; researchers have constantly stressed
becomes even more imperative. this idea (Anrig, 2015). However, when viewed
through a multigenerational lens, the need to be a
coach instead of a manager becomes even more
imperative. Perhaps we should do away with the term “school principal” and replace
it with “school leader.”
I looked up the description Apple was using on its website to attract leaders:
As an Apple leader, you’ll do more than manage employees. You’ll help

build diverse, highly collaborative teams that deliver the amazing cus-
tomer experiences people expect from Apple. You’ll lead through inspira-
tion, using our culture of open, honest feedback to actively develop each
team member’s talent and skills. You’ll also build relationships with the
46 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
local community and its businesses, creating an atmosphere where all are
welcome. (Apple, 2020, para. 5)
What if we rewrote this job description to make it fit school leadership?
As one of our school leaders, you’ll do more than manage teachers. You’ll help
build diverse, highly collaborative teams that deliver the amazing educational
experiences people expect from our district. You’ll lead through inspiration,
using our culture of open, honest feedback to actively develop each team
member’s talent and skills. You’ll also build relationships with teachers,

students, parents, and community members, creating an atmosphere where all
stakeholders are welcome.
Isn’t this what we’re trying to do? But note that this job description uses the pro-
noun “you,” as in “You’ll help build . . .” and “You’ll lead . . .”
Now consider the wording of job descriptions posted in the job vacancy sec-
tion of school websites. The descriptions often begin with, “The administrator
will . . .” do this and do that. It’s all written in “legalese,” that cold, boring,
impersonal language that keeps people from being sued. I’ve written like that
too. Like other school administrators, I can flip a switch in my brain and sud-
denly become a technical writer and use the language of the school machine.
It’s the language of “educationese,” and it’s meant to be professional, but it’s so
much less personal than “you’ll.” We are taught in ELA classes not to use “you”
and to write in the third person in our formal writing, but it’s a less formal
world now, which brings us to the crux of the problem in switching leadership
styles from managing to coaching: A struggle has begun between the profes-
sional and personal sides of who we are. It used to be clear what was expected
of us as professionals, but as the line blurs, it becomes harder to know how to
appeal to the different generations. Writing formal job descriptions would be
fine for boomers and Gen Xers, but millennials and Gen Zers are looking for
more passion. They’re looking for “you’ll.”
This shift to a less formal leadership and writing style will benefit the majority of
our teachers. The torch has been passed from the older generations to the younger
ones; by 2017, millennials had become the largest part of the American workforce
(Fry, 2020), and they and the Gen Zers make up the majority of the new hires in
the American teaching force (Hodges, 2020).
The Challenge of Transitioning to a New Model

As 5-Gen leaders shift their leadership philosophy from management to leader-
ship, boomers and Gen X leaders who were trained in the last century could find
this shift challenging because it conflicts with the leadership model we were
Chapter 3 • Moving From Managing to Coaching 47

trained to use, the one most revered, in which the tough leader stands up and leads
the masses through sheer force of will and tenacity. We grew up watching John
Wayne movies where he led people by shouting and punching people (he was like
an Avenger in a cowboy hat).
In my first teaching job in the 1980s, a boomer school leader told me, “Mark, all I
care is that I have 51 percent of the people who support me. If the other 49 percent
don’t support me, then that’s their problem.” He was a successful leader, and he was
revered by 51 percent of the community—but despised by the other 49 percent.
He had such a strong personality that he could successfully command his support-
ers while ignoring his detractors; the slight majority empowered him while almost
half the town detested him.
But that was in the 1980s before smartphones gave every detractor a camera
and before social media gave every detractor a microphone. If 49 percent of the
people are constantly posting and attacking a dictatorial, high-profile school
leader today, it’s extremely hard for that leader to be effective. Or to survive.
The acrimonious complaints are just too loud and heard by too many people. A
contemporary scenario would be to look at the leadership style of our last pres-
ident, Donald Trump, who thought he could bend all people to his will. Look at
the anger and hostility unleashed on both sides through social media. Can we
imagine a school leader this controversial surviving today? It’s interesting to
note Trump was born in 1946, which is the first birth year of the boomer gen-
eration. He represents the oldest boomers. He, too, grew up watching John
Wayne movies.
This doesn’t mean team leadership is naturally easier for millennials and Gen
Zers. I recently spoke with a fine principal I’ve known for many years. The prin-
cipal is a Gen Xer, and she was having a conflict with a millennial assistant
superintendent. When I dug a little deeper, I heard stories of how the assistant
superintendent, who had been rapidly promoted without a deep reservoir of
experience or leadership skills, would retreat to the ancient, “I am your boss, and
you will do what I say!” mentality when challenged. In other words, when she
became frightened by a subordinate or couldn’t summon a good rejoinder when
put into an uncomfortable situation, she would retreat to the administrative cave
that bosses have used for centuries: the one where collaboration is abruptly cast
to the side in favor of authoritarian rule. Leadership is hard for everyone; being
young and in tune with apps and collaborative peers doesn’t always translate into
leadership success.
All 5-Gen leaders, from boomers to millennials, must understand how to move
from being administrators to being team leaders. In other words, we must
move from behind the principal’s desk to sit in the chair beside the teachers.
Now more than ever we must be their guide on the side. We must focus more
on the “you.”
48 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
Millennials, Gen Zers, and Gen Alphas:
Handle With Care
How did “you” become the center of the 21st century leadership model? I found an
answer when talking with a teacher.
During the COVID-19 closures, as I sat at home and watched the world grind to
a halt, I tried to focus on completing positive daily tasks, such as reaching out to a
few great teachers and leaders from my past to see how they were doing. When I
asked a Gen X high school teacher who has spent over 20 years teaching what it
was like teaching today’s Gen Z students, he said this: “It used to be I could
criticize my students, but these kids today are so fragile. They’re like glass.”
This is the second time we’ve come across the glass metaphor to describe today’s
students. We saw in Chapter 2 that Gen Alpha can be referred to as “Generation
Glass” because its members will be interacting with so many screens in their lives,
but this teacher has given us another reason to call them that: They’re easily break-
able. Before I proceed, I want to make a quick, perhaps redundant disclaimer: I am
discussing characteristics that fit generations, but it doesn’t mean all of today’s young
people have these characteristics. Not all young people are fragile; some are
incredibly resilient. When I write about millennials and Gen Z, I know there are
exceptions to the broad brush I am using to make my points.
But I’ve seen and heard enough in my coaching, and studied enough data, to real-
ize today’s younger people need a different, slightly softer leadership style than was
used in the past. If we understand how our millennials, Gen Zers, and Gen Alphas
became easily breakable as kids, we can understand more about how to lead them
as adults. And millennial leaders can learn more of what they can do to reach
across the generation gaps to lead boomers and Gen Xers.
This fragility begins with parenting.
My Silent Generation parents raised me in the 1960s and 1970s with a different
mindset from the one used today. It’s not that one style is necessarily better or
worse; the styles are just different. All parents of all generations have loved their
kids, but the relationships and expectations have shifted through the decades.
In my workshops, I tell the story of an adage my mother used to say to me, a quote
that was not uncommon and is now associated with a different time, a different
philosophy of raising kids. When she would become upset with something I said,
she would sternly say to me, “Children should be seen and not heard!” I ask my
workshop participants if any of them also heard this comment when they were
growing up. Inevitably, it’s my fellow boomers who raise their hands. It was a man-
tra from the Silent Generation parents for their precocious boomers who wouldn’t
stay silent—many of whom became so outspoken they would later rail against the
establishment and burn their draft cards to avoid going to Vietnam.
Gen Z and Gen Alpha, on the other hand, have been raised in a much kinder,
more participatory model. According to one marketing study,
• Millennial parents feel closer to their children than they think their
boomer and Gen X parents were to them.
• Millennial parents are more afraid of disobeying their boomer and

Gen X parents than Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids are afraid of dis-
obeying their millennial parents.
• Millennial parents consider their Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids to be

some of their best friends.
• Seventy-one percent of millennial parents seek the opinions of their

Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids when making most purchases—and this
number is higher for millennial parents outside the United States.
(Gauthier, 2019)
In other words, our students today are being raised in families where the parents
are closer to their kids, where the kids have less fear of disobeying them, where
parents and kids are best friends, and where kids have more say in family decisions
than in the past. Boomers and Xers were told to stay silent, but millennials and
Zers were encouraged to speak up.
The millennials and some of these Zers who have grown up and joined our teaching
force were raised in a model that put them at the center of the family circle, which
helps explain why millennial and Gen Z teachers would want more interaction with
authority figures. It also explains why they see themselves as being more equal to the
authority figures and are less inclined to blindly adhere to their mandates.
The same can be said for our Gen Z and Gen Alpha students. A study in 2015
found millennial parents were much more likely to praise their children more than
previous generations (Suglia, 2017). When I first began teaching in the 1980s, if a
Gen X student was disrespectful to me or to some other teacher, most parents
would quickly side with the teacher; however, when I last helped lead a middle
school a few years ago, I found that while parents of Gen Z students were generally
supportive, I found more parents who would quickly blame the teacher, me, or the
school system for any problem encountered by their kids. Not all parents did this,
but I noticed a significant increase.
A Pew Research study in 2016 found parents also wanted a new emphasis on
skills: Millennial parents expect more from schools than have previous generations.
There is a general consensus that while academics are still of primary importance
in the classroom, students should also be learning practical and personal skills
(McBirney, 2018).
50 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
Overprotective parenting, for lack of a widely accepted definition,
describes a collection of behaviors by parents toward their children that
work together in an attempt to prevent children from taking on any risks
to their emotional or physical health. Sheltering, constant supervision
and micromanagement, prevention of taking responsibility, excessive
catering and overconsoling, controlling of the social sphere, and exces-
sive caution are all identifiable behaviors that can be considered a part
of the scheme of overprotective parenting. Many people will find most
of these behaviors, if not all, to be very familiar simply because they have
become more commonplace in today’s dialogue and observable in our
own personal lives. (Chae, 2019, para. 3)
Chae (2019) also points out that, according to studies, overprotective parenting
can lead to risk aversion and an overdependency on the parent, as well as psycho-
logical disorders and a lack of coping mechanisms. And it can lead to chronic
anxiety, which leads to problems when the young person has to face the realities,
which are often harsh, they will find in the adult world.
This describes many of our Gen Z and Gen Alpha students today. Again, this
describes many of our millennial and Gen Z teachers.
In our staffs, this means our boomers and Gen Xers grew up as roamers, and our
millennials and Gen Zers grew up as homers. We’ll find some wonderful millennial
and Gen Z teachers who are huge risk-takers in the classroom, but if we encounter
young teachers who are adverse to taking risks, it might be that they are intimi-
dated by our testing system or by the normal travails of learning how to teach, just
as their predecessors before them had to learn the tricks of the teaching trade—or
it might be because they grew up in a model that minimized risk-taking.
Conversely, when boomer and Gen X administrators and teachers faced adversity
as kids, they were told to “suck it up and get back out there.” This John Wayne–like
philosophy manifests itself in some schools today when boomers and Gen Xers
encounter struggling young teachers and think, “You’re out of college now. You
have a job. What’s wrong with you? Be quiet and just do it.” But it might not be
that easy for Gen Z and millennials, especially if the overprotected lifestyle
extended all the way into their university lives.
As an example of the extended reach of today’s parents and the power of technol-
ogy to reshape parenting, it’s not uncommon for parents to have tracking apps on
their college student’s phone so that the parents can monitor and keep track of
their child’s location for safety reasons—and to know if their child is going to class,
where the child is hanging out, and how late the child is staying out. Not all par-
ents do this; it’s controversial. Some parents shun the apps because they want to
respect their child’s privacy (Cianci, 2018), and some mental health experts fear it
could prevent young adults from being free to explore more of their college world
(Greenthal, 2021).
Either way, some of our youngest teachers are coming to us from a university life-
style boomers and Gen Xers could never imagine. When boomers and Gen Xers
packed their footlockers and headed off to university, they were free from the fam-
ily nest; today’s college students might be partying in the dorm or down at the
local bar, but their iPhones are still tethered to the parental nest.
I wonder how many of our Gen Z teachers still have the tracking apps active when
they come to our schools for interviews? When I went to my first interview in the
early 1980s, my parents were waiting for a phone call so they could hear all about
it; parents today still want to hear all about it—but they can see in real time when
their child is approaching the school, is inside the school, and leaves the school.
As school leaders, we have high expectations for all teachers, and there’s always
been a steep learning curve for first-year teachers, but today’s newbies might carry
some new type of growth experiences in their backgrounds that they need to over-
come to be independent professionals.
We saw earlier that millennial teachers are leaving the profession in record numbers.
Will Gen Zers also leave? Could it be some of them are leaving because they’re bro-
ken? Some of our breakable students have now become our young, breakable teachers.
As we help struggling first-year teachers, it’s no longer just a question of them having
the best practices; it’s also about helping a few of them to leave part of their sheltered
past in the rearview mirror and giving them the c onfidence to walk into a new future.
Coaching Into Grit and Professionalism

TriNet is a firm that specializes in human resource services for the private sector. It
conducted a survey that targeted millennial professionals and how they feel about
job evaluations, which could help 5-Gen leaders apply its findings to our young
professionals in education:
• A good majority—62 percent—of millennials have felt “blindsided”

by performance reviews.
• Almost half say that performance reviews leave them feeling they
can’t do anything right.
• Over half said they lack confidence in their supervisor to give them
accurate feedback. (TriNet, 2015)
Consider how this evaluation information fits with what we’re seeing about millen-
nial and Gen Z childhoods and how this could play out in a school setting: As
central parts of their family units, millennial and Gen Z teachers had constant
communication and feedback; however, when they don’t have this communication
and feedback in their jobs, and then they receive average or below-average ratings,
52 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
they feel isolated and feel like failures. They often express their disappointment to
their peers (with whom they are in constant communication) and look for a new job
where they can feel more accepted. Because of the lack of connection, communica-
tion, and input with their evaluator, they lack faith in the evaluator to help them.
This is not to say this scenario plays out for all young teachers. Some of them will
adjust and grow quickly. Some young teachers approach their evaluations in the same
way boomers and Gen X teachers approach theirs, which is usually with a lower stress
level. Also, the fault might not lie with the young teacher; it might be lie with the prin-
cipal. Maybe the teachers feel isolated because the principal is not a good communica-
tor or is overwhelmed. We’ve all seen our share of weak leaders, but when they lead a
school today, the negative results can become magnified with younger staff members
who need even more dialogue, clarity, and competence than their predecessors.
There’s still something to be said for encouraging all teachers to work through
adversity. Angela Duckworth, a psychologist and the author of the best-selling
book Grit, believes millennials are lacking the grit found in older generations
because the millennials were raised differently, and they just haven’t had the life
experiences to acquire it. To be an educator, especially today, is to accept one of the
toughest jobs in the world; grit is a necessity (Duckworth, 2016).
Now let’s take this information about millennial evaluations and think of ways
5-Gen leaders can use it to coach millennial and Gen Z teachers. Let’s focus on
creating ongoing feedback and dialogue, setting professional expectations, and
providing specific, clear feedback (see Figure 3.1).
Are these steps much different from what we would use with today’s boomer and
Gen X teachers, who really aren’t used to being “coached” but are more likely to
have been told explicitly what to do and how to do it? Not really. Everyone is bet-
ter with ongoing, clear feedback, and every teacher deserves specific proof of how
an evaluation score is tabulated.
However, one area deserves more emphasis than in the past: professional behavior.
The world used to be a place where informal behavior happened in personal lives,
and formal behavior occurred in professional lives. All generations, especially
millennials and Gen Zers who grew up in the age of Starbucks and Panera, want a
more casual work environment, but what does that mean when generations have
varying views of what it means to be a professional?
One human resources consultant quoted an office manager who said this about
millennial professionals:
They are intelligent, capable, and technically savvy . . . but they show up
not knowing how to behave and engage professionally in the workplace.
They have to be told not to curse when speaking to clients, that ripped
jeans are inappropriate work attire, and that emails need to be written in
complete sentences. (Doss, 2017, para. 2)
FIGURE 3.1 Four Steps to Help Millennial and Gen Z Teachers
With Evaluations
TO HELP
MILLENNIAL &
4 GEN Z TEACHERS
WITH
STEPS EVALUATIONS
Step 01
Regular, ongoing feedback is needed,
not just once or twice per year in their
evaluations. They are seeking
continuous feedback.
Step 02
Make the summative sessions a time
for dialogue. Reassure them. Provide
resources to help them.
Step 03
If needed, explain professional behaivor.
Stress the need to accept constructive
criticism, the need for growth, and
maintaining a positive attitude.
Step 04
Provide specific proof to support the
evaluation score and comments. Provide
clear tips and set achievable goals.
The first point in Figure 3.2, professional dress, is not just an education issue; it’s
a global workplace issue. More people everywhere in all fields want to dress more
comfortably, but what does that mean? Where’s the line between professional and
sloppy? It’s hard to define in an era of disparate generational views. One study
showed that 38 percent of millennial professionals have been asked by a manager
to dress more professionally because they were dressing too casually (Bayern, 2019).
More than ever, school administrators need to be proactive in discussing a ppropriate
dress to prevent awkward conversations in the future.
54 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
FIGURE 3.2 5-Gen Leadership Tips Some of the areas in the business
world that receive the most atten-
tion in dress codes revolve around
wearing clothing that is too casual,
reveals too much skin, and is too
wrinkled. Wearing blue jeans can
5-Gen Leadership Tips be an issue, and some businesses
Include all generations in discourage clothing that reveals
professional dress too many tattoos (RMI, 2015). But
discussions.
Model acceptable how much is too much? What a
communication for everyone. boomer considers to be too much
Honor everyone’s
commitment to excellence. might fall well within the norms of
Provide constructive a Gen Z employee, especially when
criticism as an opportunity
to grow from a strength- we consider that Gen Z is the
based perspective rather generation that is the most diverse
than deficit thinking.
and the most inclusive of all
generations.
We often find teacher dress code

issues in schools revolving around
the same issues as in the business
wor ld. W hen working with
today’s teacher force, especially with the number of millennials and Gen Zers
in the ranks, dress code edicts coming from the principal or superintendent will
not be well received; there must be dialogue between the leaders and the teach-
ers, an understanding of the need to have professional dress, examples provided
of professional and unprofessional dress, and a willingness to compromise. I’ve
seen this done in some schools: Teachers and administrators agree to have
“Blue Jean Fridays,” or teachers can start the week wearing t-shirts while show-
ing school spirit with “Spirit Shirt Mondays” during which they wear t-shirts
in the school colors and with school logos. There has been a growing accep-
tance that jeans, shorts, hoodies, and flip-flops can be worn daily by teachers
and even some administrators. Comfort is essential in today’s workplaces,
including schools. One of the first points I tell new administrators today is
“Get rid of the dress shoes. Find some comfortable walking shoes because
you’ll be on your feet all day!” But dress is still a contentious topic: It has
reached a point that it’s often defined in teacher union contracts. Most educa-
tors of all generations recognize that clothing won’t improve teaching, but they
need to reach a consensus about what is accepted so it’s clearly understood by
all generations.
It’s especially important when school leaders look at professional dress to reimag-
ine the committee process. In most situations, the leaders rely up on the input of a
committee of teachers who represent the entire group of teachers. As mentioned in
Chapter 1, these groups often consist of experienced teachers who have risen
through experience to become department chairs, grade-level leaders, or informal
leaders in the school; this model is woefully outdated when dealing with teacher
dress codes. Think of how teacher dress has become more liberated in the past
10 to 15 years as the millennials and Gen Zers joined our staffs. They’ve led the
way in moving to more casual dress, so they must be included in the front lines of
the conversations. They need to see a few of their peers on the committee, and
their ideas need to help form the policy. If the committees only consist of boomers
and Xers, the millennials and Gen Zers will feel shut out.
While conflict around communication between staff members has always been an
issue, the advent of social media and text messaging has changed the way all genera-
tions communicate. Boomers and Xers have been immersed in the professional culture
long enough to have a grasp of professional communication, but millennials and Gen
Zers who grew up posting and texting might need to be reminded that communication
in the workplace is not the same as their communication in their personal lives. Actually,
this would be a good reminder for all generations today, but 5-Gen leaders in particular
need to prioritize discussing the need to write in complete sentences, to be tactful, and
to use periods and other traditional conventions in written messages (Inman, 2020).
Since the data indicate the millennials and Gen Z teachers have grown up in a more
sheltered environment, they will need constant encouragement to take risks in the
classroom and to survive the challenges of 21st century teaching; they will need a
strong sense of commitment. Five-Gen leaders should remind them that their
boomer and Gen X peers also faced challenges and that feeling overwhelmed and
insecure at times is a normal part of teaching, especially in the first years of a career.
Now, more than ever, 5-Gen leaders need to provide constant support through dia-
logue and coaching to help young teachers grow their self-confidence, which brings
us to the final point: the need to accept constructive criticism. The only way
millennial and Gen Z teachers, who have spent much of their life not receiving the
level of parental criticism received by previous generations, will accept criticism
from a school leader is through the establishment of strong relationships, reminders
of the need to constantly improve through various critiquing, and constant dialogue.
“Dialogue”—there’s that word again. It’s the new secret sauce of leadership in
the 2020s.
Rethinking Evaluations
1. I’ve sent feedback to the principal who shared it with teachers.
2. I’ve emailed teachers.
3. I’ve spoken to teachers that day during their conference period.

56 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
4. I’ve spoken to teachers immediately after the observation while another
teacher, an aide, or a substitute teacher covered the class.
And here’s what I’ve found: Millennial and Gen Z teachers want the last option
mentioned—they want real-time, immediate feedback. They would prefer to get
the feedback in minutes, not hours or days after their observation. I’ve also seen
boomer and Gen X teachers who prefer this method; however, I sense they are
eager to hear my points because they want to be better teachers and because they
are fearful they will hear negative feedback. They want to know they are not in
trouble with the administration.
The younger teachers are also nervous, but they need to hear my points; they are
genuinely excited to speak with me so their actions can be affirmed. They have
more of a need to be reassured that they are being successful. Part of this is being a
professional who has a new job, but I sense a huge part of it is their desire to
receive praise as they did in their childhood.
This brings us to a difficult point: It’s extremely hard for today’s overly burdened
school administrators to meet with teachers in the minutes after an observation.
It’s often hard enough just to find time to observe the teachers; providing prompt
feedback is an even bigger obstacle. Perhaps we’ve reached a point in our school
development, as the disruptions continue to grow and campus administrators have
more items added to their daily routines, that more full-time evaluators be hired
whose main, or perhaps only, job is to evaluate and coach teachers. Another solu-
tion is this: Just try to find one to three minutes during the day of the observation
to give some quick comments to the teachers so they can have an idea of the con-
tent of the formal conversation coming later. This can be done in person, in email,
or even in a text. This quick note can be something as simple as, “Hey, Alex, I
enjoyed being in your class today. You did a great job with your rigor and technol-
ogy usage. Let’s talk tomorrow during your conference period so I can share other
ideas and get your input!”
As evaluators, we have to be more ready than ever to defend the content of our
evaluations and the scores. One day I was coaching in a high school, and it was my
second trip into the school. The assistant principal with whom I was working got
an email from one of the teachers I had seen on my previous visit and to whom I
had given feedback via email. The teacher heard I had returned to campus and was
asking the assistant principal if she could have a quick conversation with me. I
didn’t know what she wanted, but I was happy to chat. At the end of the day, the
teacher was able to sit down with me, and she pulled a copy of the evaluation rubric
out of her folder, along with the scores I had given her: She wanted clarification on
why I had marked her down in one of the categories. She was in her second year of
teaching, and probably in Gen Z. Luckily, I give every score and comment with the
premise that I might have to defend it, so I was ready; however, it had been a few
months since I had been in the school, so I had to dig into my memory to r emember
specifically what had transpired in the lesson. As I looked over the comments I had
given her, the lesson content came back to me. I pointed to a phrase in the rubric,
read it aloud to her, and asked, “Did you do this in your lesson?” She paused for a
moment, and then she said she thought she had done it. I clarified the phrase: “It
says ‘all students will have the opportunity to respond.’ Did all of your students
have an opportunity to respond?” She paused again and said, “No.” I assured her
that’s why she had received a slightly lower score, and I gave her some examples of
ways she could have solicited responses from all of her students.
As a young boomer teacher, I would never have had the confidence, or the need, to
confront a visiting instructional coach whose observation had no impact on my
official performance rating or job security. Yet the assistant principal had told me
this particular teacher had been insistent on speaking with me. I admired the
teacher’s courage and tenacity. She was bright, articulate, and a fine young teacher.
But she struck me as the type of person who had always been successful in most, if
not all, of her academic studies; she had always been a star and wasn’t used to being
told she had to improve. It could be she happened to have a personality that can be
found in any generation that drove her to confront what she thought had been an
incorrect score—or it could be she was showing a Gen Z characteristic and ques-
tioning my ability to give her accurate feedback. While evaluation scores have to
be based on the evaluator’s ability to accurately assess what is happening in the
classroom, generational views could now be coming into play. The boomers and
Gen Xers might accept evaluation scores more readily because of the experience
and credentials of the evaluator, but the millennials and Gen Zers need to first be
able to trust the administrator.
Moving to a coaching model doesn’t mean we have to abandon all of the tradi-
tional best practices of teacher evaluations. Actually, some of them can still help us.
For example, Grant Wiggins (2012) has written that evaluators need to share
feedback that is understood and believed, and they need to share achievable goals.
If millennial and Gen Z teachers are less trusting of their supervisors, then evalu-
ators need to be sure they can support the points they’re making. They need to be
able to point to specific evidence from the lesson to assure the teacher the feedback
is correct. A number of video options are also available today with which teachers
can video themselves and critique their own performance. It’s always good to help
teachers set goals to be achieved in the long term, but it’s become increasingly
important that younger teachers also be given short-term goals. If they have a
fragile ego, they need to be given goals they can achieve in the near future so they
can see progress sooner rather than just later.
Providing timely and accurate feedback isn’t just a

A part of good leadership today trait to use with millennials and Gen Z teachers;
is to coach everyone, regardless of they should be used with boomer and Gen X
their generation. teachers as well. However, the expected tone of
the conversations varies between what younger
58 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
and older teachers expect. As mentioned,
As a building administrator assigned to for-
younger teachers want to be coached; older
mally evaluate a few dozen teachers bian-
teachers are more used to being told what
nually, I have noticed similarities in
to do. A part of good leadership today is to
expectations among teachers of similar age
coach everyone, regardless of their genera-
groups. My personal coaching style tends to
tion. The days of the imperious principal
fit millennial and Gen Z teachers well and
sitting behind the desk while he or she
sometimes leaves older teachers caught off
dispenses evaluation scores to teachers
guard. Younger teachers require my feed-
have been disappearing, and they now
back as quickly as possible and seek affir-
need to be abolished.
mation and celebration. Once they know I
One successful school leader who has believe in them, they are then able to dis-
experienced some of these leadership chal- cuss options I provide for their learning and
lenges is Kristy Venne, an administrator in growth. In fact, they want much more
Dublin City Schools in Dublin, Ohio. She attention on a regular basis with frequent
has been a teacher, dean of students, assis- visits and involvement with their class-
tant principal, and principal. She currently rooms as compared to their experienced
is the district’s K–12 career education peers. Older teachers, when empowered by
coordinator. When asked what she has this coaching model that is new to them,
noticed about evaluating and coaching are sometimes confused at first. Often,
teachers of various generations, she offered they have experienced years of traditional
her insights. evaluations, being passed between many
evaluators, receiving high marks, and not
Note the themes of Venne’s words: a need being provided constructive feedback. Most
for rapid feedback, trust, and affirmation end up appreciating and embracing the
for new teachers; a needed adjustment for new coaching approach, but a few of the
the older teachers who aren’t used to more senior teachers I have worked with
receiving constructive feedback; and a do not come around before soon retiring.
reluctance by some (but not all) of the
older to teachers to shift their mindsets. (K. Venne, personal communication, March
15, 2021)
New Channels for Communication

Consider how quickly the world has changed. I remember my first personal email
address was through my America Online account, and when I opened my inbox if
I had a new email, a recording in the program would excitedly exclaim, “You’ve got
mail!” It’s hard to believe we were so innocent as to be excited about getting email.
Now I know how my grandparents, who were both born before we started giving
names to generations, felt the first time they heard their telephone ring.
But email didn’t jump immediately into our workplace. I first began working as an
assistant principal in the mid-1990s, before email began to rule our lives. The way
I and other administrators communicated with the staff as a whole was to type a
memo, make copies on the copier in the workroom, and then get some student
office aides to help us stuff a copy into each of the teacher mailboxes. It was a
slower world. When I was a teacher, my principal tried to speed it up. He had a
rule: Teachers had to check their mailbox in the staff workroom not once, but twice
each day so they wouldn’t miss any time-sensitive memos or handwritten notes
from the receptionist about phone calls she had taken from parents, doctors, or
the babysitter.
By the early 2000s, email had made its jump into school communication,
but not all teachers had embraced it. I remember a conversation I had with one
of our technology specialists. He explained to me in 2001 that every
teacher had been assigned his or her own school email address. It was a big
deal. “So how do we get people to use it?” I asked the technology specialist.
He thought for a moment and said, “Start sending them some important
information they can only get in email. They’ll have to log in to get the
information.”
It was great advice.
I did the same thing with Twitter 14 years later. Twitter was already established,
and some of the best teaching ideas were being shared there. I wanted more of my
staff using it. “Follow me on Twitter,” I told them. “It’s the first place I’ll announce
school closures because of icy roads.” Teachers who had been reluctant to use
Twitter didn’t want to miss the big news about snow days. They were suddenly
following me and getting used to Twitter.
The lessons for 5-Gen leaders that can still be used today are these:
• Embrace different ways of communicating.
• Help people understand the new channels that will continue to work
their way into our lives.
According to one global survey of private-sector employees in 2018 by a U.S.

recruitment firm, communication is where generational differences are most
apparent. Thirty-eight percent of workers said interacting with colleagues is diffi-
cult, often because generations might prefer different ways to interact (Murray,
2020), so 5-Gen leaders can help staffs avoid communication breakdowns with the
tips found in Figure 3.3.
Here is one of the most important tips: Everyone

should accept the need to teach others and to be
Communication is where taught by others (Rivers, 2019). One of the
generational differences are enduring beliefs of educators is that all stake-
most apparent. holders have something to offer; this is especially
beneficial in four generations of staff members.
60 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
FIGURE 3.3 Communicating Over the Generation Gaps
Communicating Over the

Generation Gaps
Give teachers options in how they communicate, such
as through email, video chatting, texting, or phone calls.
Remind people that settling disagreements is best done

face to face, not through email or texting.
Stress that everyone needs to to understand the

different channels so they can all use them.
Different generations need to know the different

perspectives on smartphones. Older teachers might not
look at them in meetings, but younger teachers might
check them constantly. The older teachers might find
this annoying, while the younger teachers are just doing
what they’ve always done during most of their lives.
Everyone needs to know the generational perspectives

when setting differences. Older teachers are driven
more by mission and loyal, but younger generations are
driven more by individual praise and guidance.
Working space, especially in large schools can be a

barrier to face to face communication. Try to provide
common spaces where teachers can meet and mingle.
Relationships and face to face communication still

matter. All educators need to be known as individuals
by their leaders and peers.
Sources:
Murray: The Other 5G: Learning to Lead the Multigenerational Workforce
Rivers: 8 Tips to Improve Communication Between Generations in the Workplace
Every generation has something to offer, and every generation can teach each
other generations. This is called reverse mentoring (and it will be covered more
deeply in Chapter 5). Younger teachers might be more technology savvy, but older
teachers have more years of experience in working with all kinds of students and
parents. Boomer and Gen X teachers can be calming influences in difficult times,
and millennial and Gen Z teachers can bring fresh energy and perspectives to old
initiatives. When establishing work groups, 5-Gen leaders should look at the gen-
erations on the team to ensure all are represented. They can help each other.
Remind them to coach each other. This is where teachers have a solid advantage
over their peers in the business world; teachers know how to coach every day.

While 5-Gen leaders have to understand differences in generations, they can’t
forget the generation commonalities among teachers:
• Teachers of all ages want to connect.
• Teachers of all ages want to be on the same page.
• Teachers of all ages want to be friends and good teammates.
• Teachers of all ages want happy, fulfilling careers.
And it’s easier for me to help them all, regardless of their generation, on another
commonality: Teachers want to be better teachers so they can help students. Many
teachers today, especially the younger ones, want to be coached to greatness.
15. Be a coach, not a manager.

16. Understand how new parenting models require
more attention to be given to Millennial and Gen Z
teachers.
17. Remember how stressed younger teachers get
over their evaluations.
18. Rethink evaluations: give faster feedback,
create dialogue, be specific and clear of what is
expected.
19. Stress professionalism to all generations.
20. Help staffs work through communication issues
that are caused by generation gaps.
62 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
CHAPTER 4
Teaching Distracted
Generations
•• All generations of teachers, not just young ones, are distracted

learners today.
•• Our Gen Z and Gen Alpha students are also distracted.
•• The four generations have their generation gaps, but the four genera-
tions also have similarities that have turned them into one new type
of audience.
•• We need to reimagine our PD and teaching to make them fit the learning
styles of this new type of audience.
W e’ve been looking at the disparities in the generations, but we need to

recognize another new wrinkle in leading today’s staffs: In some ways, all
of our teachers, from our boomers to our Gen Zers, are merging into a new type
of audience. A distracted one. You might say we are all sharing one brain today.
Let me explain.
In the early 1990s, before technology began to rewire my brain, I taught high
school English. I spent my days with Shakespeare and Hemingway. I was a 20th
century teacher whose students used note cards and wrote all their papers by hand.
My school had just gotten its first computer lab, and I remember sitting down at
my first keyboard and typing a sentence in green font on a black background. And
then I erased it with the touch of a button and typed another sentence, a longer
one. “What . . . is . . . this?” I asked, stunned by my first taste of the digital future.
“It’s a system called DOS,” the computer science teacher said, referring to that
now-defunct operating system that introduced word processing to the masses
before it was swept aside by that world changer we call Windows.
63
I was in DOS heaven. I walked down the hall to my principal’s office and said, “I
need computers in my classroom for my students. How can we do that?”
“That lab with 30 computers cost over $40,000,” he answered, chuckling at my

naiveté. “I agree with you, but it’ll be a long time until you see computers like that
in your classroom.”
He was a pragmatist; I was a dreamer.
It has, indeed, been a long journey, but two decades later, the advent of Chromebooks
and tablets have made my technology fantasy a reality. Technology availability, and
capability, have reached the point that I now say the history of teaching can be
divided into two categories: BC and AC—the time before computers were first used
in schools and the time after computers were first used in schools.
But looking back at that momentous day over 25 years ago, I see now it was the
beginning of another type of journey, one started in my brain that continues today.
That first taste of digital ecstasy started to change how I view the world and how I
want to learn. My brain is different today than it was in the early 1990s. DOS was
my gateway software.
Our Evolving Brains

The idea that technology is rewiring our brains is not new. It’s been debated for
over two decades. As educators, we know the power of plasticity, the ability of the
brain to rebuild itself and to become stronger. A researcher recently wrote about
the physical rewiring of the brain:
Our brains are truly extraordinary; unlike computers, which are built to
certain specifications and receive software updates periodically, our
brains can actually receive hardware updates in addition to software
updates. Different pathways form and fall dormant, are created and are
discarded, according to our experiences. (Ackerman, 2020, para. 8)
Many researchers now think those interactions with computers are changing our
adult brain structure (Horvath, 2015), but they’re also changing kids’ brains. Dr.
David Eagleman, a neuroscientist at Stanford who has studied brain development
and has been featured on PBS in The Brain With David Eagleman, stresses this
fundamental fact for educators about today’s Gen Z and Gen Alpha students:
The No. 1 thing they need to know is that kids’ brains are physically
different from the brains of kids a generation ago because of the way
they’re taking in information—because of this fast-paced digital intake,
which is different from the way a lot of people here grew up. We were
reading textbooks in black and white. (Noonoo, 2018, para. 6)
64 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
Even most of the boomer teachers, the ones farthest away from the digital revolu-
tion, get it: Kids are different today. However, I do encounter one or two boomers
every now and then who will tell me, “That’s malarkey! Kids are kids. They’re the
same now as they were 20 and 30 years ago!” Some of these teachers probably pray
the internet will one day crash forever (but only in schools) and 20th century
chalkboards will be reinstalled in their classrooms.
“Yes,” I respond, “in some ways kids are the same: They need nurturing, guidance,
and an education. But they’ve grown up with the internet and started playing
games on their iPads when they were two years old. For their brains, the internet is
what’s always been normal. For the rest of us, it’s the new normal.”
The data show us the amount of screen time being grabbed by our young people,
over 50 percent of whom own a smartphone by age 11 ( Jacobo, 2019). A report in
2019 showed American teenagers spent seven hours online each day, and the num-
ber jumped to almost 10 hours per day when online books and music were factored
into the data—and these were hours outside of school and before the COVID
closures of 2020. This means if middle school and high school students are in
school for seven hours each day, and then spend another 7 to 10 hours interacting
with devices, they are spending up to 17 hours of each 24-hour school day in school,
online, or sleeping. A third of each day is spent staring into devices. It’s not much
better with tweens, the students between the ages of 8 and 12, who spend almost
five hours online each day. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics,
tweens should be getting 9 to 12 hours of sleep, and teenagers should be getting 8
to 10 hours of sleep each day ( Jenco, 2020). Most young people today don’t get
enough sleep, and it’s partly because of the time spent online. Sleep deprivation in
young people can lead to “increased moodiness, trouble staying awake in school,
drowsiness while driving, disinterest in activities that used to introduce them,
depression-like symptoms” (Campbell, 2019). Experienced teachers today tell me
today’s kids are more reluctant to read, do their work in class, and pay attention.
Perhaps it’s because they are thinking of what they are missing online. But I have to
ask, “Is the same thing happening with all of our generations in the teaching staffs?”
Distracted Students, Distracted Teachers

In 2015, Microsoft released data showing that the average attention span for adults
had dropped to eight seconds, which is down from 12 seconds in 2000 (McSpadden,
2015). It’s not that people can’t pay attention; it’s just that if they don’t find you
interesting in the first eight seconds, then they are start dreaming of something
else they want to do.
A decade ago, Nicholas Carr, in his 2011 Pulitzer Prize–nominated book The
Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, chronicled the overall effect of
Chapter 4 • Teaching Distracted Generations 65

interaction with technology, including how it’s shortening our attention span. He
blamed Google:
“Every click we make on the Web marks a break in our concentration, a

bottom-up disruption of our attention—and it’s in Google’s economic
interest to make sure we click as often as possible,” he writes. “Google
is, quite literally, in the business of distraction.” (Snyder, 2010, para. 6)
I don’t know the length of the attention span for students, but it can’t be much
better. Perhaps it’s worse because they have spent their brain-formative years
locked into a screen. One of the topics I discuss in my trainings with teachers is
relevance: More than ever, today’s teachers of all generations need to know what is
relevant for their Gen Z and Gen Alpha students. Or else our students won’t find
us relevant, and their minds will wander off into the cybersphere.
To introduce relevancy, I often have the workshop participants do a Mentimeter

word cloud. Mentimeter is an online tool that allows teachers and students to do
some amazingly cool things, from answering open-ended questioning to making
word clouds to online voting. In this exercise, I have the teachers submit informa-
tion that goes into a word cloud; the more times a word is entered, the bigger it
shows up in the word cloud. The question I ask is “Which three adjectives would
you use to describe your students?” The teachers use a code to get to the site, they
submit their answers, and then wait for me to hit the “show screen” button so we
can all see the results. I often keep the results hidden as teachers enter their choices;
that way they won’t be influenced by their peers as they enter their own choices. I
first did this exercise several years ago at a high school in Southern California, and
here’s the resulting word cloud (see Figure 4.1).
“Distracted” was the word entered the most times by the 19 teachers. I went back
to the same district a few weeks later, but to a different school. I did the same
FIGURE 4.1 Distracted Word Cloud, Los Angeles, May 2018
66 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
e xercise to see which words would pop up; I did not show them the word cloud
from their peers a few weeks earlier. Here is their word cloud (Figure 4.2).
Distracted. “Okay,” I thought, “this is high school. I know high school students can
be challenging to teach in May. Perhaps that’s why the students are distracted.”
These were students in a school with high poverty and a high percentage of
English learners.
But a month later, I did some training at a high school in a suburb of Houston, one
with a very low poverty rate and few English learners. Here’s what I got (see
Figure 4.3).
Distracted. Again. And the school year was over. It was no longer May. All the
participants had had a few weeks off to decompress before they participated in this
FIGURE 4.2 Distracted Word Cloud 2, Los Angeles, May 2018
FIGURE 4.3 Distracted Word Cloud 3, Texas, June 2018

training. Their “distracted” description wasn’t a May product; it was description of
how they saw their students throughout the year.
A month later, I worked with a group of 25 PreK–12 educators in New York, in an

area where they said their students’ economic status ranged from “impoverished to
Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.” Do you want to guess what their word cloud said
(see Figure 4.4)?
Distracted. Yet again. This time at the PreK–12 level in another part of the country.
Our students were distracted from LA to Houston to New York. Coast to coast
distraction.
I still do this exercise, and I could show more examples with similar results. I want
to stress I don’t always get “distracted” as the largest descriptor. Sometimes, I see
“enthusiastic” or “creative.” Here’s an example from a New York City elementary
school with an extremely positive culture (Figure 4.5).
FIGURE 4.4 Distracted Word Cloud 4, Long Island, July 2018
FIGURE 4.5 Curious Word Cloud, New York City, August 2018
68 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
However, “distracted” is the most frequently shared response when I do the exer-
cise. I’ve noticed it usually happens when the audience is made up of secondary
teachers, especially high school teachers.
Something’s going on here with our students; they are distracted, and again, very
experienced teachers are telling me it’s harder to hold their students’ attention
than it used to be. This is something to remember as we help our teachers find
engaging content. I wonder, “Are students becoming more distracted as they get
older and become more independent and spend more time with their personal
technology?”
But this idea is also what we have to remember as we train our four generations of
teachers. They, too, are distracted. They, too, are all interacting with technology.
Look at how the use of smartphones has grown and how they have taken on cen-
tral roles in our lives. The first iPhone was introduced in 2007; now 81 percent of
adult Americans own smartphones (O’Dea, 2020), and 96 percent of adult
Americans have a cell phone of some type. Almost half of all Americans check
their smartphones before they get out of bed each morning (Keating, 2020). It
used to be we’d wake up thinking about making a fresh start to the day. Now, we
wake up to see how many “likes” we got on last night’s social media posting or
what we missed in other parts of the world as our brains took their brief cyber
sabbaticals. And it continues throughout the day. Americans check their
smartphone 96 times each day (Asurion, 2019). In 2019, American adults spent
three-and-a-half hours each day on the mobile internet, and that number is
expected to increase to four-and-a-half hours by 2021 (Molla, 2020).
We are so concerned about this addiction to smartphones we can buy Light Phones
that don’t have texting or app features, or we can check into some luxury
hotels that offer digital detox packages. We can even join a digital Sabbath
movement that encourages people to ditch digital technology one day each week
(Roose, 2019).
This cell phone interaction of the last decade—along with screen time on tablets,
computers, and other devices—has given people individual choices in which mov-
ies they watch, the music to which they listen, the news sites they read, and the
social media platforms they use to keep up with their friends. They also can choose
the amount of time they spend in each site and where they do it.
Here’s an important note for 5-Gen leaders: This is not just the young teachers.
This addiction crosses generational lines.
In one of my PD sessions, I was talking with teachers about our need to be con-
nected to our smartphones and how lost we feel when we’re offline. “How did it
feel that last time you got to work and forgot your phone at home and spent a
whole day without it?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” a middle-aged teacher said. “The last time I forgot it I turned
around and went home and got it!”
The other teachers laughed. Many of them nodded their heads in approval.
“Were you late to work?” I asked the teacher.
She smiled. “Just a few minutes late. No problem!” There was even more laughter.
This story has several lessons. This teacher was a baby boomer, not a millennial.
When we think of digital addictions, we tend to first think of millennials and
Gen Zers. While these two young groups have lived with technology more than
other groups, we have to remember that smartphones and the internet have crept
into the lifestyles of people of all ages. For older educators like me, the s martphones
first were gimmicky novelties that made us laugh and “ooh and aah” over all the
things it could do. But those frequent searches for restaurant menus and our need
for Google maps has allowed smartphones to move front and center into our daily
lives—to the point that we are willing to be late to school to avoid the discomfort
of not having that phone in our hands throughout the day. Even some members
of America’s oldest age group, the Silent Generation, have jumped the digital
fence. Great-Grandma has an iPhone and a Facebook account, and she’s not
giving them up.
Clues in the News

Digital waves have washed over all the generations. And it’s not just our cell phones
that are changing us. Besides blaming our smartphones, 5-Gen leaders can find
clues of what’s changed their audience and what they can do to improve teacher
training in a most unusual place: the cable news networks. The networks have ana-
lyzed the distracted digital masses—and have adjusted their presentations to try to
hold their attention.
We can start with Walter Cronkite.
For younger readers who don’t know of Walter Cronkite, he served for decades as
the anchor of the CBS Evening News and was an icon of American society. A poll
in 1972 showed he was the Most Trusted Man in America. Members of the Silent
Generation and the boomers came home each evening from their jobs in the fac-
tories and offices and turned on their pre-cable television sets so Walter, as he was
called by the masses—as if referring to their favorite uncle, would tell them what
was happening in the world. He sat behind a desk on a bare set, a lone face looking
seriously into the camera, reading reports about Vietnam, Watergate, and a world
when the internet and social media could only be imagined by a handful of f uturists
and dreamers.
70 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
While he told us of the complicated stories of the time, it was simpler, digital
world. Notice in the shot of Walter Cronkite (see Figure 4.6), we see three items:
him, a screen in the background, and parts of some decoration in the background.
There wasn’t much to see. He was the focus.
Compare that with what we see today on cable news programs today from CNN,
Fox News, MSNBC, or HLN. The news programming has become an arms race
of color, movement, and sound. Each station wants to outperform the other ones,
which means they bombard our senses to keep us watching. Figure 4.7 shows a
shot of a CNN newscast from 2018—and there are at least 14 different items to
grab the viewers’ attention.
We hear the words of the journalist, and everything is in vivid color: The donkey
and the elephant are squared off in combat with the U.S. Capitol in the middle;
the Democrats and Republicans are represented with giant gold numbers; the date
of a poll is given; it’s from the “NBC News Wall Street Journal Poll”; this is “America’s
Choice 2018”; we’re reminded the election is a
FIGURE 4.6 Walter Cronkite day away, and it’s high stakes; the president is
going “all out with five rallies”; a digital count-
down is running until they get to “Election
Night in America,” with the countdown spin-
ning down the seconds; CNN reminds you
that you’re watching CNN and also gives you
the time of day; and finally, across the bottom
of the screen is a never-ending stream of head-
lines, with dramatic words like “stoked fear”
and “takeover.”
FIGURE 4.7 CNN Broadcast, 2018
An example of how today’s news is presented with colors and a wide mix of information.

FIGURE 4.8 CNN Broadcast, 2020
The screens are becoming more crowded. Here’s a shot from 2020 in which there
are at least 28 items vying for our attention (see Figure 4.8).
But this screen won’t stay here for too long. It will be replaced by a looping video of an air-
plane crash, a hurricane coming ashore, or some other dramatic event that will be running in
three- or four-second continuous loops, drawing our attention to it over and over again. We
see the journalists in the studio. Their set is a mix of dazzling colors, and dramatic, cine-
ma-like music plays as the show cuts to a commercial and plays again when it returns, as the
camera zooms dramatically in toward the anchor. A “BREAKING NEWS” banner might
be on the screen—for hours—as the station keeps changing the content and updating the
story to keep you tuned in to what the “breaking news” is. We’re urged to stick around
because we don’t want to miss the next breaking news and be left behind. Perhaps two people
are talking to us, or there might be four, five, six, or seven commentators taking turns,
sometimes with different viewpoints. Maybe they’re arguing and talking over each other.
We’ve gone from watching lonely Walter Cronkite reading the news to being spec-
tators at a nightly event where the reporters and consultants spar like info-gladiators.
It’s dizzying. Will we reach a point where the screen will be so crowded that all we
see is a round face surrounded by numbers, images, and words? When I show these
slides of today’s newscast in my trainings, teachers tell me they sometimes feel
overwhelmed by the cable news and have to turn it off. This is a metaphor for our
world; there’s so much coming at us, sometimes we just want to screen it out. Our
brains are on digital overload.
All of the generations in our teacher force now have a variety of digital options in
their personal lives that can cater to their whims. They have home entertainment
systems with wireless speakers where Alexa can play their favorite tunes or take them
to a personalized Pandora station. The televisions are flatter and clearer, and teachers
can choose from hundreds of cable stations; or if they’ve “cut the cable” and only
72 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
receive their programming through the internet, they can choose which platform
they want to use, like YouTube, Apple TV, Hulu, or Netflix. If they’re driving, they
can stream satellite radio into their cars. When they’re walking or between classes at
work, they can log in with their smartphones for movies and music on the go.
Notice how this description could fit the lifestyles of Gen Z and Gen Alpha?
Teachers of all generations, like their students, are living a digital lifestyle. The
millennials and Gen Zers grew up with it, but research is showing boomers and
Gen Xers are embracing technology at home and closing the gap (Digital Media
Solutions, 2019).
Now, consider how these digital lifestyles are affecting teachers in our PD sessions:
They want the same presentation methods in PD they get in their personal lives.
I’ve trained thousands of educators in the past five years, and I can attest they want
fast-moving, interactive, choice-driven, rigorous, relevant, useful PD. And it needs
to have a strong technology element to fill their cravings to use technology.
Think of it as a tug-of-war: We yank them by one hand in our PD as they hold

their constantly connected, often-vibrating-with-notifications smartphones in the
other hand. And if we somehow get them to put their smartphones away, they will
still be tempted by their school-issued laptops or tablets, and their email and
Amazon are just a happy click away. In today’s PD, teachers might be facing us,
and they might be half-listening to us, but it’s oh-so-easy for them to bury their
faces in the screens and get sucked quietly into the cybersphere.
I’ve seen it. I’ve lived it as a trainer, and I must admit there have been a few times
when I’ve been in meetings or trainings and my cell phone apps have called me
like sirens onto the Rocks of Distraction. In today’s PD, the digital sirens are hard
to beat.
To open this chapter, I mentioned BC schools and AC schools: schools before and
after computers. I believe the history of PD can also be divided into two eras: BT
and AT—before technology and after technology started changing our brains. That’s
how big this shift has been. As we have sunk deeper and deeper into our gigabyte sea,
the parts of our brains that were once happy with three channels of black-and-white
television are now demanding constant interaction, stimulation, and choices from a
myriad of sources. Like our students, our teachers still need guidance, nurturing, and
education, but they have turned into an audience that learns differently. In other
words, our boomers and Gen Xers are becoming more like our Gen Z students.
I call this the Rise of Teacher Z. Audiences in our PD sessions have never been
more diverse and, paradoxically, similar. They are all distracted. As 5-Gen leaders
train the four generations, they need to know how to rework their PD methods to
match the way their teachers’ brains want to process the information.
We need new tactics.

21. Remember that all generations of teachers are more

distracted than in the past, which makes them harder to
train.
22. Know our Gen Z and Gen Alpha students are more
distracted than in the past, which makes them harder to
teach.
23. Recognize the constant interaction with technology
is changing brains and how people want to be taught.
24. Know the four generations of teachers have
different views and needs, but the four generations
share new similarities because of their digital lifestyles.
25. Look to different fields outside of education for tips
on how to connect with Teacher Z.
74 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
CHAPTER 5
Tactics for Creating

Multigenerational PD
•• PD leaders must determine which teachers are in which generation.
•• Teachers of different generations will view PD topics in different ways.
•• PD leaders should focus on four key areas while training: communication

methods between generations, what motivates each generation, reverse
mentoring that allows young teachers to share their talents, and bridging
the technology generation gaps.
•• PD leaders must find ways to differentiate PD for the different genera-

tions and to use common teaching methods that appeal to all generations.
First, a PD mea culpa.
I’ve been leading professional development (PD) for a long time—since the
days when Ronald Reagan unleashed A Nation at Risk and started us down
the long assessment tunnel that has led to America’s current PD system, and
I must admit not all the professional development I’ve led in my career has
been good. In fact, some of it has been bad. I, like other well-meaning school
leaders, have designed my share of boring, ineffective training sessions, the
type that made great teachers scratch their heads and say, “Hmmm, that could
have been so much better if he had just . . .”—just done this better or that
better, done a lot of things better. In other words, I’ve been part of the PD
problem.
But I’ve learned a few things, especially in the last few years as the world has accel-
erated and the internet has changed our lives—and our generations. I’ve tried to
take a drone’s eye view of what’s happening with the world, American society, and
75
its schools. As a boomer set in his ways, I was able to evolve in how I plan and
present PD to teachers.
And If I can do it, others can do it.
Acknowledging the PD Problem

Before looking at multigenerational PD, trainers need to acknowledge the PD
problem: the PD often isn’t very effective (Zarrow, 2020). Unfortunately, I’ve
worked with a lot of people leading the training who don’t realize their content just
isn’t sinking in.
I was on the phone recently with a district’s professional development director and
one of the district’s technology specialists. We were discussing some PD they
wanted me to lead. It was my first time to work with the district.
“We have great PD!” the PD director, a Gen Xer, told me proudly.
But later in the same conversation, I heard something else from her: In their last
two optional PD offerings, which were over a high-interest topic (how to use
technology in the classroom), only two teachers had signed up to attend—out of
over 700 teachers in the district. I looked at the district’s accountability ratings
given to it by the state: a solid “C.” Not a bad district, just an average one. With
average PD.
I frequently hear the comment “We have great PD,” but when I visit the district
or work with the teachers, I don’t see the results in the teaching and learning.
Even in the most dysfunctional districts, I’ve yet to come across any high-level
administrators who don’t speak highly of their PD. People will say, “We have bud-
get issues . . . We’re working on our curriculum pacing . . . We’re putting in more
formative assessments . . . ,” but they don’t ever say, “Our PD is not very good.”
Instead, they’ll usually brag about their PD. But when I talk with the teachers
about their PD, out of earshot of the administrators, they often give me a com-
pletely opposite view of what their administrators are saying. The teachers tend to
smile politely, shrug their shoulders, or come right out and tell me how bad their
PD is in the district.
It’s a widespread and expensive problem. According to a study of school PD by the

highly respected consulting firm McKinsey,
Many (school) systems invest significant sums in PD programs but do

so as a habit, tending to offer the same set of training courses each year
without regard for how they might fit into a comprehensive program or
how effective they are—even when teachers complain that some of the
courses are not useful. According to a recent survey, 59 percent of
76 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
teachers found content-related learning opportunities useful; fewer than
half found PD on non-content-related areas useful. ( Jayaram et al.,
2012, para. 1)
That means at least 41 percent of the teachers don’t find the content-related PD
useful, and over 50 percent of the teachers don’t find non-content-related
PD useful.
Here’s what I know is happening. The people who design the PD are sharp, knowl-
edgeable, hard-working, and can clearly lay out their PD plans and objectives.
They are pedagogically sound. They care. But their PD is ineffective because the
delivery of the content is weak and/or there’s not enough follow-up after the PD
to help teachers implement the changes. The PD designers have a clear idea of
what they want to achieve, but it’s not working. They deliver the PD in a tradition-
ally, pedagogically sound manner, but the teachers aren’t buying in, especially
Teacher Z, who wants to learn differently.
I came across this view of PD in an Edutopia article by Pauline Zdonek in which

she summarizes the feelings of too many teachers:
As I prepare for another afternoon of district-provided professional devel-

opment activities, I always make sure that I bring plenty of work to do
(papers to grade, lesson planning, etc.). This isn’t because I have a bad
attitude and hate professional development (PD). A great PD event can
really energize me to improve my classroom instruction. However, the sad
fact is that the majority of PDs I attend are repetitive, simplistic, or down-
right boring. I bring other work to do so that I don’t get irritated when
I feel that my time is being so carelessly wasted. (Zdonek, 2016, para. 1)
A waste of time. There’s no bigger sin in educational

leadership than to waste a teacher’s time.
The good news, and this is huge, is that she
There’s no bigger sin in educational
said great PD can energize her. There’s
leadership than to waste a
still hope.
teacher’s time.
I mentioned I had evolved as a trainer.
I recently met a teacher like Zdonek. I had been
leading a day of PD, and a teacher approached me at its end. “I admit I didn’t want
to be here,” he said. “I didn’t want to spend hours making a full day of lesson plans
to attend a PD session that would mean nothing to me. But this was the best
training I’ve had in years.”
And I thought, “What’s happening here?”
This teacher had been attentive throughout the day. He had participated actively
and positively. He had been engaged. I could tell he was a fine teacher, the kind
Chapter 5 • Tactics for Creating Multigenerational PD 77

I had wanted on my staff when I was a principal and superintendent. How is it, I
wondered, that we’ve reached a point where educators like this one, people who
have dedicated their professional careers to teaching and learning, dread attending
their own learning sessions?
Something’s gone wrong in how we train today’s teachers. Besides examining the
methods and the overall design, we should also answer this question to find part of
the answer to building better PD: “In which generations are the PD designers?” In
many schools and districts, the PD designers are curriculum specialists, principals,
and assistant principals who have risen through the ranks, and many of them are
boomers and Gen Xers. To improve PD today, let’s also look at it through a gener-
ational lens to design more useful systems and training methods.
A Global Leadership Question: “How Do

We Train These Different Generations?”
Here’s a message of reassurance for school leaders: We’re not the only ones try-
ing to figure out how to train today’s employees. It’s a new world for corporate
trainers too.
Knowledge Anywhere is a firm that designs systems to help companies train their
employees, at least three million workers worldwide. It, too, recognizes the chal-
lenges of training different generations, and it makes four recommendations.
1. Trainers have to recognize “the elephant in the room” ( Johnson,

2017), which is the negative perceptions the four generations often
have of each other. The younger generations see the older ones as
being behind the times and hanging on, while the older generations
view the younger ones as being lazy and spoiled. They need to blend
and work together.
2. Trainers need to use various learning styles that appeal to various

generations. They should provide face-to-face activities to appease
the older generations but also provide online opportunities for
younger generations.
3. Trainers need to know what motivates the different generations.

They should let everyone see how the training will benefit them,
but they need to give the younger generations more feedback and
encouragement.
4. Trainers should tap into the strength of the different generations.

They should blend the working groups to bring out the expertise and
experience of each generation ( Johnson, 2017).
78 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
What can 5-Gen leaders learn from these corporate points? They should recog-
nize the generational conflicts and misunderstandings between older and younger
teachers; the need to mix different training methods that appeal to different gen-
erations of teachers; how to motivate teachers of different generations; and the
need to find ways to blend the talents of the different generations in the staff.
Training matters. Another company in the private sector, APQC, which aims to
deliver “best practices and strategic guidance amid disruption” (APQC, 2021) has
studied the number of days employees are trained each year and how it correlates
with the success of that company.
Here’s what their study found:
• Companies that train their employees seven days each year are in the
top 25 percent of their fields in performance.
• Companies that train their employees five days each year are in the
middle 25 percent to 75 percent in performance.
• Companies that train their employees four days each year are in the
bottom 25 percent in performance. (P. Wiggins, 2018)
So we can see in the private sector that employees who get more training—in
this case, at least seven days each year—help their companies outperform other
companies.
Now, let’s look at the number of days teachers spend in professional development.
The number varies widely. A survey of 10,000 teachers in 2015 showed they aver-
aged 19 days, or around 10 percent of their time, each year (TNTP, 2015). That
would be a higher number of PD days than in many districts, where teachers start
the school year with a day or two of PD, followed by another day in the fall and
one in the spring. These teachers might have a total of four or five PD days set in
the calendar, with options to sign up for more during the year or during the sum-
mer. Other districts might have a week or more of PD to start each year, and they
might have regular, established PD days or hours established throughout the year.
There are other snippets of time devoted to PD: perhaps 20-minute segments in
staff meetings, some PLC meetings during school days, and an hour or two found
occasionally when time can be squeezed between other activities.
But is the PD working? Is it leading to better teaching and learning?
Researchers at the American University School of Education reviewed articles

about PD and found commonalities. According to their research, teachers support
the idea of professional development, but many of them find their PD to be “use-
less.” Why? Because some basic elements of good teaching were missing: time
spent on instruction, support, and relevancy of the content. The researchers

(American University, 2018) found that for PD to be effective, it should have these
three elements:
1. The PD must be ongoing and consistently focused to help teachers as

they grapple with new ways of teaching. The researchers state an
“analysis of 1,300 pieces of research found that PD programs of 14
hours or less did not affect student achievement at all—in fact, they
failed to even change teachers’ practices” (para. 4).
2. The PD organizers must provide support after the PD when teachers

implement the new ideas. The researchers cite research that says
“teachers require an average of 20 distinct moments of practicing a
new skill before it comes easily to them. They need support after PD
sessions are finished—but while they’re still in this practicing mode”
(para. 5).
3. The PD must be relevant and useful for teachers. They need content
they can use when they return to the classroom. The researchers cite
studies that say the top priority of teachers is to gain “information
and tips about the specific content they teach” (para. 6).
If 5-Gen leaders are going to create 5-Gen schools, they need to provide consis-
tent, ongoing, focused PD; they need to implement support systems as teachers
implement new ideas; and they need to make sure the teachers see the relevancy in
their PD content. Remember that eight-second attention span? Teacher Z needs
to see the relevance in a hurry.
Relevancy in PD
I recently participated in virtual PD for a school district in the Pacific Northwest.
It was a PD day for the entire district, and the teachers were able to choose five
one-hour sessions throughout the day from a long list of breakout sessions. In my
session, I presented information on how to use education apps to deepen engage-
ment and efficiency in remote learning. Teachers didn’t have to register beforehand
for the sessions; they just chose sessions that day and logged on with a Zoom link.
I didn’t know how many people to expect in my sessions, the grade levels they
taught, or their technology ability.
I would open each session in gallery view so I could see the faces of my audience
(only about half had their cameras on), and I noticed in the last session a teacher
who was probably a boomer, who appeared to be about my age, and who probably
had decades of experience. I remember thinking, “I’m glad he cares enough to be in
this session. Is he new to technology? Is he advanced? Is he catching up or leading
the way and searching for new apps to use?”
80 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
In the session, I quickly led the teachers through eleven different apps. Yes, eleven
apps in under 60 minutes. When dealing with distracted audiences, as detailed in
Chapter 4, speed is essential. An old slogan created to deter reckless driving is
“Speed kills.” In PD, I say, “A lack of speed kills.” I know I have to keep it moving.
In the first and second sessions of the day, I asked the teachers at the end, “Was I
moving too fast?” And they emphatically said, “No!” They liked the fast pace. In
the third and fourth sessions, when I didn’t ask about the pace, I noticed several
teachers thanked me without prompting for delivering the information rapidly.
Another essential element: I would open the apps, briefly explain what they all did,
and then send them into Zoom breakout rooms where they could explore a tool or
two of their choosing. I call this the “Digital Sandbox.” Two points detailed by
American University (2018) are that teachers need support and need to see how
they can use the information; in letting teachers play with the apps and jumping
between breakout rooms to answer questions, I was providing some support as
they applied the apps to their own teaching, which created relevancy.
When I entered the breakout room with the boomer teacher, I asked if anyone had
any questions, and he said, “I’ve been exploring Insert Learning (a Google exten-
sion that allows teachers to turn web-based articles into interactive documents).
I’ve been looking for something like this for the past few months, and here it is. It’s
probably going to change the trajectory of the rest of my career.”
Wow. Isn’t that what we live for as trainers? To know our training is impacting
teachers and will positively impact hundreds or perhaps thousands of young peo-
ple? But here’s the bigger point: This was a boomer teacher who found deep rele-
vancy in his PD, and it was centered on technology he could use immediately with
students. Relevancy is a common thread of effective PD for all generations.
I’ve seen all kinds of PD in my 30-plus years as a department head, school admin-
istrator, and consultant. Let’s take a look at the types of information usually cov-
ered in PD sessions or staff meetings. Some of it is more relevant than others. As
you read it, think of the PD you design and where it fits in these groups.
Exterior information is information that is such as the local police or fire department
presented in meetings from exterior who explain how they interact with the
sources. Examples could include motiva- school, or a fundraising drive hosted by a
tional speakers that might or might not be local or national organization that involves
effective, visitors from exterior agencies the school.
(Continued)

(Continued)
Nonessential organizational information is latest lockdown procedures, and how to

information from within the organization flee a school in the event of an emergency
that doesn’t affect the teacher directly. or active school shooter. This could also be
Examples could include new food nutrition information about how to help students who
guidelines for the cafeteria, new busing are being abused, are homeless, or are
procedures within the district, new organi- facing some other life-threatening crisis.
zational charts about district personnel or
procedures, and new information about the Teacher evaluation information is informa-
state testing system and how it will affect tion about the latest iteration of the state
the entire state but not necessarily the or district teacher evaluation system. Exam-
school or the teacher. ples could include guidelines and formulas
that affect teacher ratings and employ-
Essential organizational information is ment.
information for the teachers to function
efficiently within the local school system. Subject matter and teaching information
Examples could include the new information is information that allows the teacher to
management system, new substitute sys- more effectively teach specific lessons or
tems, whom to call when the copy machine subjects for the sake of better teaching and
needs paper, and this year’s new and not necessarily for better standardized test
improved standardized testing procedures scores. Examples could include unit and les-
for the school or classroom. son revision, new literacy and math tech-
niques to use in specific lessons, and how to
Standardized test prep information is use a new device or teaching app. This
information needed to survive and thrive in information tends to be useful in the short
the state’s standardized testing system. term but might not be useful for long peri-
Examples could include information about ods of time as new apps, devices, methods,
the school’s data, individual classroom and textbooks are created to replace the
data, practices specifically designed to previous ones.
improve test scores, unpacking curriculum
standards, and any other information about Profound information is highly rigorous and
ways test scores will impact the school and relevant information that has a profound,
individual teachers. broad impact on teachers’ careers. Exam-
ples could include how to raise rigor in all
Safety information is information meant to lessons, how to make all lessons more rele-
help teachers and students survive school vant, information about Gen Alpha and Gen Z,
shootings and other 21st century dangers. how to thrive as an educator in hyper-
Examples could include information about change, and understanding other trends
whom to call to help break up a fight, the that are affecting 21st century teaching.
82 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
The PD and its impact doesn’t always sort themselves cleanly into one of these
categories. For example, PD I led that day in the Pacific Northwest was about apps
teachers could use in their subjects, so for most teachers, it would be placed in the
“Subject Matter and Teaching Information” category; however, the teacher pre-
dicted it would profoundly impact his career, which could move the PD into the
“Profound Information” category. All of these categories can be essential and effec-
tive; they could vary by topic, by individual—and by generation.
Relevancy in teaching and learning is an ancient essential concept. In the 20th

century, in the days when I first began to lead PD sessions and generations were
more similar, the teachers also wanted relevant information. But the diverging
generations today have brought about a slightly diverging view of what is relevant
for each generation.
Let’s take another look at these eight PD topics, but let’s look at how different
generations, with different interests, might view them.
TABLE 5.1 PD Topics by Generations

PD TOPICS INTEREST LEVEL IN THE GENERATIONS
Exterior This used to clearly be the least relevant of topics; however, millennial and
information Gen Z teachers will be more focused on community causes and creating
values-driven organizations, which means they will find relevance in exterior
information related to partnerships with outside groups and other initiatives
that enhance the community. While boomers and Xers could care about
these topics, they often won’t share the urgency of the younger teachers.
Nonessential What is nonessential for one group might be essential for another group.
organizational While boomers and Gen Xers are used to hearing general district
information information, they tend to be more cynical because they’ve seen through
the years how the information is constantly changing. Millennial and Gen
Z teachers, on the other hand, might find some of the information
essential because of their different interests, such as the nutritional
content of the cafeteria food and the amount of time certain students are
spending on buses compared to other students.
Essential All generations will find information about the organization to be
organizational relevant; however, they could have different approaches to the topics. For
information example, younger, more tech-savvy teachers could request new systems
have a technology component. This is an excellent area to foster
collaboration between the generations: Younger teachers could assist
older teachers as they navigate new digital platforms, and older teachers
could assist younger teachers by using their experience to connect the
new organizational ideas to the previous ones so it makes more sense.
Standardized This is a great area to foster leadership in experienced teachers of all
test generations as they unite to help the less experienced teachers. Because of
information the accountability placed on test scores, all generations will find this
information relevant. Five-Gen leaders can remember that some of the
generations had different test experiences growing up. Boomers didn’t have
many tests; Gen Xers were in school when the state test initiatives began;
millennials were the first generation to feel the full weight of standardized
testing; and Gen Zers who attended public schools spent much of their K–12
careers in systems tightly refined and fully focused on test scores.
(Continued)

TABLE 5.1 (Continued)
Safety Safety is a constant concern for everyone in a school building, which means
information all generations will find this information highly relevant. Five-Gen leaders
should remember boomers and Xers grew up before Columbine, and
millennials and Gen Zers grew up with lockdown drills and evacuation routes.
Teacher Stress levels will rise for all generations when studying this information;
evaluation however, we’ve already seen how evaluations affect millennials (and probably
information Gen Z) teachers. Younger teachers will be more stressed than their older peers.
Subject All generations want to constantly improve their teaching, so they will
matter and find subject matter and teaching method information relevant. But they
teaching could be viewing the content through different sorts of lenses, especially
information when looking at how to use new types of devices and education apps.
Younger teachers will more quickly embrace them. Older teachers will
also be open to using them, but 5-Gen leaders should remember the older
teachers will be in more varied stages of development and will be more
selective in choosing which technology to use.
Profound Information that has a long-term, profound impact on teachers will be
information relevant for all generations, and they will find common ground in studying
this content. For example, when teachers look at rigor in their classrooms
(as in applying Bloom’s taxonomy to their teaching), they will all see it’s
ageless. However, boomers and Gen Xers might be more inclined to be
counting the years until they retire, which could reduce their urgency in
changing their methods and teaching styles.
Finding the Generations in the Staff

In the last chapter, we looked at how teachers are all forming some common learning
styles—how they are all turning into Teacher Z because of their affinity for their cell
phones and digital lifestyles. Yet we still will find significant gaps between the genera-
tions, especially in looking at their learning preferences in PD sessions. So as 5-Gen
leaders, we need to know how many teachers of each generation are in our staffs and
who they are. We can’t apply generational characteristics to solve problems unless we
know who is in which group, so we have to have an idea of when the teachers were born.
Important note: Birth years are tricky subjects. We need to be sensitive to the
feelings of the teachers, and we need to let the teachers know generational prob-
lem-solving is being done to help the staff and the individual teachers be more
efficient. Many teachers are comfortable as being identified as being a part of a
certain generational group—but not by giving their exact birth year. For exam-
ple, I’ve found boomers are more willing to laugh and say, “I’m a baby boomer,
and I remember when . . .” than to say, “I was born in 1960, and I remember
when . . .” If they are allowed to identify as the most experienced teaching gen-
eration and not as a teacher born over 60 years ago, then they feel more respected.
(Total disclosure: As I write this book, I am 60 years old . . . or 60 years young.)
One of the easiest ways for a leader to classify a teacher by generation is to consider how
many years of experience the teacher has accrued; this will often provide an estimate of
the teacher’s age. This is an unscientific method, but if the leaders know the teacher’s
years of experience, the leader can more accurately guess the teacher’s generation.
84 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
After they determine how many teachers are in each age group, here are some
internal questions leadership teams can ask about their staffs:
• In which generational group are most of the teachers?
• Which generational group is the smallest?
• How many boomers are still on the staff ?
• How many Gen Z teachers have joined the staff ?
• Are the Gen Xers and millennials about even in their numbers?
• Are recently hired teachers mainly in the millennial and Gen Z groups?
In Chapter 1, I mentioned a PD activity that I use to introduce the idea of getting

teachers to look at their peers and school issues through a multigenerational lens.
Let’s look at how this exercise can introduce multigenerational dialogue into a
school staff—and how we can work multigenerational PD techniques into its design.
Mind the Gap!

Anyone who has traveled through a city by subway has probably seen signs that say
“MIND THE GAP”—those universal warnings not to step or fall into the gap
between the subway platform and the subway car. The same warning can be given
for educators today: They need to mind the generation gaps so they can avoid
misunderstandings, know how to better assist each other, and do a better job
teaching today’s Gen Z and Gen Alpha students.
So this exercise is called Mind the Gap!
Many teachers have known there FIGURE 5.1 Mind the Gap
are generational differences. It
might be that boomer or Gen Z
teacher looking around and saying,
“Some of these people are just dif-
ferent from me,” or “Why is that
boomer still doing it that way
when this new way is so much
more effective?” or “Can’t that Gen
Z teacher see that’s not going to
work?” The Mind the Gap! activity
is a fun way to introduce the idea
of looking at each other through a Photo by Suad Kamardeen on Unsplash

multigenerational lens. When designing PD, we need to have clear objectives, so here
are the objectives for Mind the Gap!
Objectives
1. Teachers will have a better understanding of the characteristics of the
four generations in today’s teaching force.
2. Teachers will have a better understanding of the generational charac-

teristics of the individuals with whom they are working on their team,
in the department, and in their school staffs.
3. Teachers will see how technology shaped them and the formative
years of their colleagues.
4. Teachers will have a better understanding of the generation gaps that

exist between them and their colleagues.
5. Teachers will gain ideas of what they can do to understand and assist
each other as they communicate and solve problems.
6. Teachers will gain ideas about teaching methods they can use when
teaching Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
Opening Points
To introduce the exercise, leaders should cover two key points. First, they should
let the staff know business and school leaders are now addressing generational
issues within organizations. This will be a new concept for many teachers. They’ve
known there are generational differences, but they’ve never realized that they are
drawing serious attention in today’s organizations.
Before leaders discuss the generational differences, the leaders should remind
teachers that they are speaking about generational characteristics accepted by many
companies and researchers, but these generational differences might not apply to
everyone; individuals in the audience might feel they are exceptions. Many teach-
ers will laugh and agree when they see how their generations are described, but
some might disagree and say, “No, that’s not me at all . . .” Perhaps that teacher is
not like the characteristics or perhaps the teacher has more of the characteristics
than the teacher realizes. It’s okay to feel this way. Leaders need to respect the
feelings and individuality of the teachers.
The Prompt
The exercise is built around the common thread running through all of the gener-
ations, the one that has had the greatest impact on changing each generation from
86 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
the previous generations: technology. So the question for the activity is “What new
technology changed your life when you were growing up?”
A Model for Introducing Mind

the Gap! 5-Gen Leadership Points
Here’s how a PD session around this exer- The leader solicits input from all of the
cise could be put together in a way that generations, including the staff’s young-
could fit the disparate needs of the four est members—the millennials and Gen
generations while addressing the new com- Zers—who feel they are an important
mon threads of the entire group, Teacher Z. part of the organization.
In this fictional school, named Hope
School, the principal is a Gen Xer named The leader also learns the staff members
Linda Change. Ms. Change has studied the will be interested in the topic, which is
generations and wants to introduce the important since today’s audiences tend
topic into her staff in a PD session. to be distracted, and it’s important for
them to see relevance in what they are
A week before the PD session, Ms. Change doing.
convenes a meeting of eight teachers: two
boomers, two Gen Xers, two millennials, and In sending out the agenda beforehand and
two Gen Zers. She discusses some of the points seeking more input, the leader has
she’s read about the four generations and seeks involved all teachers in the day’s design.
their input. When the teachers hear about the Even if most teachers don’t respond, they
generational characteristics, they share some of know they are part of a team.
their personal stories about generational dif-
ferences and conflicts they’ve observed within The leader wants multigenerational
the staff. They agree it will be a good topic for awareness to be a part of the staff cul-
their upcoming PD day. ture, so she will refer to it throughout
the day and in future events.
Two days before the PD day, Ms. Change
sends out an agenda to the staff, and she tells
The leader understands food, water, and
all teachers to feel free to offer suggestions on
coffee are ingredients that give teachers
improving the agenda or the layout of the day.
energy and provide a common area for
She lists the multigenerational dialogue as the
generations to gather and to bond.
first item on the agenda. She wants this item
first on the agenda because she will be using
The leader interjects herself into the dia-
multigenerational techniques for the rest of
logue by using a personal story about her
the day.
own growth. She is modeling a transfor-
When the PD day begins, the staff walks mative mindset and showing she is learn-
into the room and sees that coffee, water, ing alongside her teachers.
and snacks will be available throughout
the day. The leader uses a common piece of tech-
nology, an app, to grab the attention of
Ms. Change begins the Mind the Gap! the teachers.
activity by telling a story of a recent epiphany
she had about herself. She tells them she
As she works the topic into the PD
recently downloaded a new app onto her
agenda, the leader also lets the teachers
phone and was surprised at how useful it was.
know they will be addressing a topic they
She then points out that the younger staff
can use immediately in their classrooms.
members might not have been so surprised
She is also pointing out today’s students
because they’ve lived with increasingly more
are new types of learners.
powerful apps most of their lives. Then she
says, “I began to wonder how our generations
The leader uses technology early in the
in our staff are different and how our Gen Z
session. In this way, she involves all mem-
and Gen Alpha students should be taught
bers of the audience in an interactive
today.”
activity, and she is allowing millennial
and Gen Z teachers an opportunity to Ms. Change then asks, “Have you noticed any
respond in a way in which they are very way you might be different from other gener-
comfortable. ations?” But instead of seeking verbal
responses, she has them answer through an
The leader anticipates technical chal- education app. She gives them a code, and they
lenges in older generations and provides submit their answers digitally; then the
prompt assistance. answers are displayed on the screen in front of
them for the group to see.
The leader encourages teachers to help
each other with technology challenges, Ms. Change quickly scans the room see if any
which allows younger teachers to use their teachers are having difficulty. In particular,
skill set to assist peers, and when boomers she is looking for two boomer teachers she
and Xers help other boomers and Xers with knows are technology challenged. She sees
technology, they can see that older gener- them struggling and moves to assist them,
ations can also successfully use technology. and she also says, “Everyone, look around
you and help anyone who might need some
In asking for a group verbal responses, assistance.”
she is ensuring the boomers and Gen Xers
When all of the answers are submitted, she
are using a communication method with
encourages the teachers to analyze the results
which they are comfortable.
and to speak out with their findings. Popular
answers might include “I’m not as good at
Instead of telling the teachers about
using technology,” “I use more technology,”
common challenges, the leader allows
and “I have a slightly different view of the
the teachers to recognize some of the
world.” The teachers laugh good-naturedly at
multigenerational issues on their own.
their responses.
This makes them a part of the solution.
Then Ms. Change asks, “What are birth years
The leader understands the importance of and characteristics of the four generations in
humor. When teachers laugh, they are our staffs today?” She allows teachers to
entertained, which is important for answer. After a few teachers offer ideas, Ms.
training Teacher Z. Change then tells the group they are going to
learn more about the four generations. She
88 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
gives them three options in how they can
The leader differentiates by giving them
access the information:
choices in how they learn.
1. They can come to the front of the room Some teachers can have direct instruc-
so she can show them some slides she’s tion, which serves the needs of some
prepared. boomers and Gen Xers.
2. They can access a link to a Google doc Some teachers can use technology to find
that has the information in it. information already prepared. This will
benefit millennials and Gen Zers who want
3. They can Google “four generations in to learn on their own, at their own pace.
the workplace” and f ind their own
articles to read. Some teachers can use technology to
choose their own content and pace.
Teachers are allowed to stand up, move to
another part of the room, go into the hallway, The leader allows teachers to choose the
or go to another room to do their research. space in which they are most comfort-
able, and the leader encourages physical
The teachers are told they can work inde-
movement.
pendently or in groups of their own choosing.
In some later exercises, she will assign teach-
The leader knows some teachers might
ers to groups to ensure the generations are
want to work alone. The leader allows
represented.
some choice in groups to allow teachers
After 15 minutes, the whole group reconvenes, to feel comfortable, but she also is sure
and the leader asks a teacher to lead the to mix the groups at other times so the
debriefing (the teacher was chosen beforehand teachers can work on relationships and
and agreed to lead). The slides prepared by the communication skills as they bring their
teacher are f illed with bright images and different skills sets to the group.
large, colorful fonts, and a video is embedded
within the slides. The leader shares leadership with teach-
ers who can be chosen from a variety of
Ms. Change is sure to compliment and praise generations.
all teachers, particularly the millennials and
Gen Z teachers. The leader knows millennials and Gen Zers
respond well to praise and affirmation.
Ms. Change reminds the teachers they must
also understand their Gen Z and Gen Alpha The leader motivates boomers and Gen
students so they can do a better job of teaching Xers by reminding them of the mission.
them, which is their mission as educators.
Ms. Change then asks, “Why do we have dif- The leader has moved from having teach-
ferent characteristics for the generations, ers studying abstract generational infor-
including today’s students?” The teachers mation to having the teachers apply it to
respond that researchers point to different

growth experiences, particularly with differ-
themselves and to their students. This
ent types of technology.
increases relevancy and engagement.
Ms. Change explains that they are going go
The leader transitions into the prompt,
begin to develop their multigenerational
technology, and provides a common
understanding by doing a group exercise
thread for generational dialogue.
called Mind the Gap!
The Activity
As Ms. Change led her teachers into the Mind the Gap! activity, note that she was
inclusive in her leadership, distributed her leadership, and differentiated her lead-
ership; however, she did not abdicate her leadership. She controlled the flow of
the lesson.
Here are the steps of the Mind the Gap! activity. The teachers on Ms. Change’s
staff have already done Step 1, researching the generations. Now, it would be time
for them to move to Step 2 (see Figure 5.1).
What to Expect
This activity is fun and useful for a number of reasons, principally because teachers
will find commonalities in their generations and see how they differ from other
generations.
The boomers, Gen Xers, and millennials will look back at their youth and laugh at
the technology that seemed so advanced at the time. Examples of bygone technol-
ogy from the generations will include things such as rabbit ear antennas on televi-
sion sets, eight-track tapes, Atari video games, America Online (now known as
Aol. or AOL), and encyclopedias on compact discs. When they report, there is
often a mixture of nostalgia and awe at how the world has changed.
Gen Z teachers only need to look back a few years. For many of them, getting their
first smartphone was a big moment in their growth—and this is an essential point:
A boomer teacher will realize the Gen Z teacher grew up with today’s technology,
and the Gen Z teacher will realize the boomer teacher has had to adjust through
multiple decades and many technology iterations; yet they might be teaching next
door to each other. They grew up in different worlds and bring very different life
experiences to their profession. If they all see the differences and similarities, they
can start the generational dialogue.
Next Steps for Effective PD

Now that the generations have a better understanding of each other, it’s time to
help them work together and learn together in their PD. Here are four areas of
focus 5-Gen leaders can stress at the conclusion of the Mind the Gap! activity.
90 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
FIGURE 5.2 Mind the Gap! Activity
Mind the Gap!

An excrcise to get staff members to understand the
differences in the four generations.
Time needed: 25 minutes
1
Discuss
how growth Let the staff
experiences have research the
led to 4 different four
6 generational generations.
mindsets.
2
Ask each Have the
group to Helping the four staff break
report out on
the generations to up into four
groups, one
technology understand each for each
that shaped
them. other generation.
5
Give them time to Ask, "What new
discuss it in their
generational
technology
changed your life
3
groups. when you were
growing
up?"
1. Communication: Five-Gen leaders should let all of the teachers

know they have different communication strengths. One study of
millennials and Gen Zers found they considered in-person, face-to-
face communication to be their weakest mode of communication, and
they consider video and text messaging their strongest form of com-
munication (Morgan, 2015). This tends to be the opposite of boom-
ers and Gen Xers, who like to converse in person. All four groups
must now be able to speak face-to-face, text each other, and know
how to use video apps to communicate.

2. Motivation: Five-Gen leaders should constantly remind the
staff that while older teachers tend to value stability and the
younger generations tend to be focused on personal growth
and contributing to the common good (Fuscaldo, 2020), they
can find common ground in schools: helping kids. All teachers
entered the profession to have a positive impact on the lives of
students.
3. Reverse mentoring: Five-Gen leaders must stress the need for

reverse mentoring—the idea that all generations can help each other
(Quast & Hedges, 2011). This allows all of the generations to feel
valued, and it allows the entirety to tap into each other’s strengths to
advance the school’s mission of helping students. Reverse mentoring
should be used in committees, grade-level teams, departments, and
even in the traditional new teacher/mentor relationship—perhaps the
young teacher can find ways to mentor the more experienced boomer
or Gen Xer.
4. Technology: As 5-Gen leaders model technology usage in PD ses-

sions, they must remind teachers the world is becoming more digi-
tized, which means all teachers must develop digital mindsets. While
millennials and Gen Zers tend to embrace technology more quickly
than boomers and Gen Xers, studies are showing boomers and Gen
Xers are embracing more technology than in the past (Vogels, 2020).
The older teachers tend to be more selective and need to see a reason
for using the technology, while the technology is a way of life for the
younger teachers. In PD, 5-Gen leaders should constantly show
boomers and Gen Xers how technology can improve their teaching,
and they should allow millennials and Gen Zers to have time to
experiment with the latest apps to see how they can be used in the
classroom.
Presentation Methods for Teacher Z

There’s yet another element needed to ensure PD is successful today: using
presentation methods that match the learning needs of Teacher Z. The fictional
principal, Ms. Change, modeled some of these methods in her introduction to the
Mind the Gap! activity. In the classroom, we say it’s not just the content that mat-
ters but also how we teach the students. The same thing can be said for PD; 5-Gen
leaders differentiate their PD and use methods that appeal to their 21st century,
distracted Teacher Z audience.
92 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
As mentioned in Chapter 4, all the generations of our teacher force, like the work-
force in the private sector, have what I think of as “digitized attention spans.” We
must use methods that appeal to teachers who
• Are used to interacting with screens
• Are constantly exposed to colors, images, and videos on their screens
• Play digital games
• Are constantly on social media
• Hang out in Starbucks
• See lots of infographics online
• Need time to collaborate
• Need time to work alone
• Might have been raised with different parenting styles, which affects
their need to be a part of the PD planning
So how do we do this? Make sure we use the methods we’ve been promoting in
teaching and learning for the last decade—and add a few new ones, such as gami-
fication of some of the content, using social media to celebrate and share PD ideas,
and place an emphasis on the use of space in the PD.
Five-Gen leaders should also remember the ancient glue that can bond the gener-
ations: food. In my training sessions, some of the schools provide snacks, coffee,
and water throughout the day, or they provide breakfast and lunch. I’ve felt a dif-
ferent mood in the room when food is available. People are happier and more likely
to interact. They’re easier to coach.
While busy administrators have often acknowledged these presentation ideas, they
haven’t always worked them into their PD plans (see Figure 5.2). With Teacher Z,
these methods are no longer optional; they are mandatory.
Five-Gen leaders do more than just use these methods in their PD; they expect to see
teachers using them in their classrooms as they teach Gen Z and Gen Alpha. And if
Ms. Change were speaking to us, she would advise us to take the next steps needed in
effective PD as recommended by the American University (2018) article. Ms. Change
would say, “Make sure you return to generational topics in future trainings to provide
consistency, and provide support structure as the teachers implement change.”

FIGURE 5.3 Teacher Z PD Checklist
Teacher Z
PD Checklist
Tips for PD Success!
Incorporate these ideas into PD to engage Teacher Z.

√ Activities are included to make the PD engaging and fun.
√ Teachers will be allowed to share stories to make the content more relevant and engaging.
√ If slides are used they have large font and bright colors.
√ Photos connect the participants to the content.
√ Infographics help the content be more understandable.
√ Videos are used at key times to engage the learner and deepen learning.
√ The pace is effective and information is chunked appropriately.
√ Opportunities for participation in multiple ways are offered throughout the agenda.
√ Activities that require movement are inserted at key times.
√ Technology is used by the participants to make the PD more effective and as a model for
classroom usage.
√ Some or all of the activities are differentiated to accommodate for generational differences,
learning styles, and interests.
√ Social media or online learning platforms are used to capture the main ideas and allow for
24/7
follow-up activities.
√ Gamification is used to present material in a fun format.
√ The PD space is designed to promote comfortable seating, high-quality presentations, effective
collaboration, and creative thinking.
√ Time is given during the session to reflect, brainstorm, and incorporate the ideas into lessons.
√ Teachers are consulted before, during, and after the PD so that actives and future steps can be
adjusted.
94 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
26. Examine the effectiveness of the PD.

27. Know that companies in all fieds are searching
for effective ways to train professionals.
28. Create effective PD initiatives by ensuring they
are ongoing, that coaching and support are provided
to teacgers, and by providing relevant content.
29. Understand the eight types of PD and their
relevance for the different generations.
30. Know which teachers are in which generation.
31. Plan PD through a multigenerations lens.
32. Differentiate PD by generation.

CHAPTER 6
Generational Lessons
of COVID-19
•• The COVID-19 school closures of 2020 reset the education landscape,

with technology taking a more prominent role for all generations
of teachers.
•• Having access to the internet is now a fundamental right for Gen Z and
Gen Alpha students, regardless of income or location.
•• The school closures exposed a new digital divide, one often found along
generational lines, between teachers who can use technology and those
who can’t.
•• Five-Gen Leaders must be technology savvy; they must model technology

in PD and close the gaps between their own ability and the ability of
their finest teachers.
I n March of 2020, I was leading a training session at a high school in Southern

California, aka SoCal, where some teachers of all generations ride their skate-
boards to work. The COVID-19 virus had grabbed a foothold in America, and it
had begun its long march through the nation’s schools. One of the teachers in the
workshop was obsessed with getting the latest COVID-19 updates. She told the
group about a satellite radio station that ran COVID-19 stories 24/7. She kept
looking at the COVID-19 news bulletins, announcing every bit of data and the
latest medical opinions about the new virus as they flashed across her phone. Then
in the afternoon she said, “The Ohio governor just closed their schools.” The room
of teachers became scarily quiet as they wondered if they would be next school
system to close.
The closings in sports and entertainment had been coming all week. First, it was
the NBA, and then Broadway theaters and Major League Baseball, and then the
97
NCAA’s March Madness. We had heard schools might have to close, but would
they really? A world where kids are told not to come to school? This school apoca-
lypse was almost beyond our imagination.
As I left the school that day, I tried to check in with an administrator to give her a
summary of the day’s training, but she and the other administrators were huddling
in a hastily called meeting, discussing how to announce their school district was
closing the next day. Within a week, the doors of most American schools were
locked, and American educators were teaching in their sweatpants at their dining
room tables. The COVID-19 school dominoes had begun to fall—and they are
still falling.
In July of 2020, in what I think of as the COVID Summer, I was in a Zoom ses-
sion with Dr. Willard (Bill) Daggett, the founder of the International Center for
Leadership in Education. Daggett has been observing and leading in American
education for decades, and he’s long been one of the most respected voices in our
field. When Bill Daggett speaks, I listen. This is what he said: “I think when we
look back, we’ll say COVID-19 has had a greater impact on reshaping American
schools than No Child Left Behind, the recession of 2008, and all the other reform
movements combined.”
Combined. That’s a serious, and credible, prediction.
I thought of the words of Mark McCrindle, how he said we are in the most trans-
formative days for education since the 1400’s, and when I paired them with
Daggett’s prediction, it struck me that unprecedented historical forces were now
converging in the foyers of our schools. Hyper-change and the growth of AI, the
demands of the 21st century economy, and our Gen Alpha and Gen Z students are
all being mixed together in a concrete mixer of change—and the COVID-19
fallout became a catalyst that is reshaping American education and other educa-
tion models around the world. And I thought, “What’s this going to mean for
5-Gen leaders?”
When a building is burned and detectives determine the fire was intentionally set,
they often find evidence of an accelerant, something used by the arsonist to start
the fire. We should think of COVID-19 as an accelerant that has started a fire in
our education system. Some parts of the system will be burned down while others
will be left standing. Technology, already valued in schools but often underused,
has now taken a starring role and will never leave the spotlight. Standardized test-
ing was postponed in the spring of 2020, and most school leaders, teachers, stu-
dents, and parents didn’t care; it’s now being questioned with renewed vigor. The
negative and positive implications of online learning will be studied from new
perspectives. And while many students missed being in school for academic and
personal reasons (The Learning Network, 2020), I heard firsthand of some older
students who were questioning if they really needed to be in a classroom all day,
98 5-GEN LEADERSHIP
every day—or if ever again. It’s not just students who want to stay home; I person-
ally heard of teachers who would be perfectly happy teaching from home for the
rest of their careers.
As the schools struggled to open for the new school year in the fall of 2020, edu-
cators and parents everywhere implemented hybrid education models and looked
for more options. Some parents took education matters into their own hands as
they collaborated to create learning pods of students who could have daily face-to-
face instruction with a contracted teacher in their neighborhood (Blum & Miller,
2020). Some students and teachers didn’t want to return to regular school—some
because of health concerns, but others because they felt remote learning was more
attractive than the traditional model. An eighth-grade Gen Z student in New York
City wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times in which she preferred learn-
ing at home and advocated for deep, systemic changes in the system if she was
forced to return to it (Mintz, 2020).
The second book I coauthored with Dwight Carter, Leading Schools in Disruptive
Times (2018), in which we give tips to school leaders for surviving new and unprec-
edented school disruptions, became the urgent focus of administrative book study
groups around America. We quickly did a second edition (2021) updated around
the pandemic. How difficult had school leadership positions become in 2020?
Here’s what we wrote:
In five system-shattering months, school leaders saw their already

busy world turned upside down. In August of 2020, as the new school
year was about to begin, school leaders were asked to do perhaps the
most difficult task ever laid before them: to restart their schools with
face-to-face instruction or remote learning (or both) as they dealt
with a raging pandemic, savage political divisions, conflicting virus
data, and severe budget restraints, all while worrying that they, some
of their students, and some of their teachers could die because of
their decisions.
Let’s frame that to understand its significance: Prior to 2020, school

leaders just worried about school safety, test scores, and social media
problems; now they had to decide if their decisions might kill themselves,
their families, their students, and their teachers.
How much are we paying these school leaders? Not enough. (Carter &
White, 2021, emphasis in original)
The COVID-19 pandemic reset education; 5-Gen leaders who were racing to
keep up with the demands of the 2020s suddenly had to educate Gen Z and Gen
Alpha in the worst pandemic in over a hundred years and navigate incredibly
dangerous new barriers to keep them alive.
Chapter 6 • Generational Lessons of COVID-19 99

The pandemic’s impact will be felt forever by all of the generations. But as I looked
at all of the accelerations and disruptions reconfiguring our world, it occurred to
me that the pandemic, which started in a small market deep in China and quickly
spread around the world—so quickly that it stunned scientists with its speed—
shouldn’t be viewed so much as an aberration but a sign of the new normal for
5-Gen leaders. In the second edition of Leading Schools in Disruptive Times (2021),
we wrote about the constant and accelerating flow of disruptions buffeting our
schools, and we proposed a new framing model: cope, adjust, and transform (CAT).
School leaders often cope with new disruptions and then might adjust their poli-
cies or actions, but to survive today, they also need to transform their leadership
mindsets to learn from the disruption—and to prepare for the next disruption,
which will often be built upon the first disruption.
Let’s picture it as a tree of disruptions. Each limb growing out from the tree will
create new, smaller branches that will grow out from the limb, and they will all
become increasingly larger. Now, think of the COVID-19 pandemic as a new limb
in American education; the resulting changes will be the new branches stemming
from it that will help reshape American education throughout 2020s. Some of these
changes will arrive immediately, and some will morph out of new sprouts that even-
tually turn into robust branches. A writer for Brookings (Harris, 2020) highlighted
some changes that could be brought about of the post-COVID education reset:
• Schools saw the power of some of the digital tools used in the clo-
sures and will continue to use more of them in the future.
• As the teachers use more digital tools, they will more likely see their
roles shift from traditional instructors to facilitators.
• More virtual options for students and parents could result in families
seeking their own education solutions that fit learning needs and life-
style preferences.
And educators will race to stay ahead of Gen Z and Gen Alpha’s efforts to use
technology in the new ways; in 2020, some teens already figured out technology
could help them skip school:
Crafty teens figured out that they could cheat the system while attend-
ing online classes by looping a video or just adding a still image as their
custom background in Zoom Rooms. While Mrs. Such and Such
drones on about Franz Ferdinand, teens can leave their laptop running
while enjoying Animal Crossing on Nintendo’s Switch or watching
porn or whatever it is kids do these days. (Clark, 2020, para. 4)
Note the common thread running through these disruptions: technology. It’s the
sap running through the tree limbs. The pandemic accelerated the need for educa-
100 5-GEN LEADERSHIP

tion in the 2020s to have technology as a core component. Shifting into deeper
uses of technology, for all teachers, is not optional anymore. Remote learning and
new hybrid school/learning models have given our Gen Z and Gen Alpha stu-
dents visions of what education might be in the future. While the remote learning
model of 2020 was often ineffective, the school closings showed us how quickly
schools can shift into a new model, and it gave us glimpses of our potential to
reshape schools for the future. New school models are on the way, and the 5-Gen
leaders must forge the path.
But they must also address another new chal-

lenge: closing the learning gaps brought about Shifting into deeper uses of
by the closures of 2020. Gen Z and Gen Alpha technology, for all teachers, is not
will feel the impact for years—perhaps for the optional anymore.
rest of their lives.
Gen Z and Gen Alpha: The New

Lost Generations?
In the 1920s, Gertrude Stein referred to young survivors of World War I as the
“lost generation,” a term she had heard used by one of her acquaintances, because
they had lost their youth in the war; they had lost the years in which they could
build their dreams. Ernest Hemingway then made the phrase famous in his 1926
book For Whom the Bell Tolls (Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2019).
In the era of remote learning, did the education bell toll for too many of today’s
Gen Z and Gen Alpha students? What will be the long-term impact of the pan-
demic on them psychologically and academically, especially for students living in
poverty? Some are wondering if today’s K–12 students will form a new “lost gen-
eration” (Kelly, 2020) because of the prolonged school closures. John King Jr., the
president of the Education Trust, has said,
[W]e know that when we have summer learning loss, it is a significant

driver of our achievement gaps for low-income students. . . . Rather than
two months away from school, we’re looking at five or six months away
from direct instruction in the classroom. Even in places that do distance
learning well, we can expect that students will lose significant ground.
(Kelly, 2020, para. 5)
King summed it up well. The positive impacts of remote learning were minimal,
and even when schools did it “well,” students lost “significant ground,” especially
our students from poverty and many of our students of color.
A study begun in 1992, the Great Smoky Mountains Study, showed the impact of
family income on student achievement. If families have money to escape poverty,

their kids are more likely to be successful academically in school (Costello et al.,
2016). While the study has always been recognized for its findings, it’s getting
even more attention in the post-COVID education world as American families
experience the worst economic depression since the 1930s. Another study by the
National Academies of Science Engineering Medicine shows “a wealth of evi-
dence suggests that a lack of adequate economic resources for families with chil-
dren compromises these children’s ability to grow and achieve adult success, hurting
them and the broader society” (Duncan & Le Menestrel, 2019).
Today, that money buys a decent Chromebook and internet access.
But even new Chromebooks and a fast connection couldn’t guarantee a quality
education for many Gen Z and Gen Alpha students from poverty during the pan-
demic, mainly because the home situations in impoverished households are often
unstable, and the parents might not have the ability to assist their kids with their
studies because they are working multiple jobs or don’t understand how to use the
online programs (MacGillis, 2020).
Of 54 million American school students, nine million couldn’t access their online
assignments. Students who didn’t have technology were often reduced to complet-
ing worksheets and doing assignments the teachers printed out from their online
lessons. Students of color were especially hard hit in remote learning. The greatest
number of digitally disadvantaged students could be found in underserved
students—Native Americans, Blacks, and Latinx (USA Facts, 2020)—causing
fears of disengagement and higher dropout rates, which could have long-lasting
impacts on their lives and on the entire U.S. economy (Dorn et al., 2020).
When and how will this inequity be corrected? Finding answers has moved to the
top of the priority list for 5-Gen leaders.
To compound the challenge facing Gen Z and Gen Alpha, the consulting firm
McKinsey and Company asked over 800 business executives how the business
world would be reset by COVID-19, and it shows the economic mountain just got
higher. One of the findings is that “since the start of COVID-19, adoption of dig-
itization and automation technologies has accelerated” (Dua et al., 2020). The Gen
Z and Gen Alpha students who are being educated off the grid will be entering the
same transformative economy as their more affluent peers who have access to tech-
nology, an economy that has dug even more deeply into the digital landscape. As
the offline students do their worksheets with pens and pencils, their online peers
are typing and surfing. The most vulnerable kids are being left behind—again—
this time by a 21st century world relegating them to a 20th century learning mode.
In my workshops with teachers, I often tell a tale from my youth, of the night my
parents sat down at the kitchen table and ensured my brother and I that we would
have the knowledge needed to be successful in the 20th century. How did they do
it? They decided to buy a set of World Book Encyclopedias.
But first, they debated whether or not they could afford the monthly payments. It
was the 1960s, and while I was still in the primary grades learning my foundational
skills, my parents knew owning a set of encyclopedias allowed kids to access infor-
mation about the world at home; I would not be at the mercy of library hours. I
would have the information I needed at my fingertips to thrive in my elementary,
middle school, and high school classes. My mother finally settled the money debate
with an emphatic statement: “We need to do this!” Then she turned to me and
exclaimed, “Now you’re going to college!”
And I did go to college, partly because I was lucky enough to have access to one of
the most important learning tools of the era: a set of books filled with facts that
were never updated. Today, the internet is the new World Book. It’s updated by the
minute and opens the doors to the future for our Gen Z and Gen Alpha students.
In the 2020s, learning online should no longer be a privilege—it must now be
recognized as a fundamental right.
Our American society will never reach its potential until it prioritizes internet
access for every student in America. Five-Gen leaders must be more resolved than
ever to find ways for every student, regardless of income or location, to access the
internet.
But today’s Gen Z and Gen Alpha students have another new, fundamental right:
They deserve to have teachers who know how to teach in the digital space, which
brings us to the next challenge for 5-Gen leaders: helping every teacher be digi-
tally proficient.
The New Digital Divide

The COVID school closures exposed yet another digital divide in our schools—
between those teachers who can use technology and those who can’t, specifically
those teachers who know how to let their students use technology. This new type
of digital divide became exposed in March of 2020, and it was found in our gener-
ational teaching ranks. In April of 2020, I quizzed some administrators and
teachers I knew in various parts of America about what they were experiencing
with beginnings of online learning.
• I heard again and again from teachers and administrators during the
closings that it was the older boomer and Gen X teachers who had
the most difficulty in moving into remote learning because of the
technology aspect.
• I heard from a teacher in the Northeast, an older teacher, who wished

she’d paid more attention when the technology specialists were
leading professional development sessions.
• I heard from an older teacher who was determined not to be left
behind again and would quickly try to catch up with her peers and be
more proficient in the next period of remote learning.
• From the New York principal, I heard of a divide—like a curtain—

between teachers who could quickly transition into remote learning
because they had already been using technology in their classes and
those teachers who had shunned technology and fumbled away days
and weeks of instruction time as they wrestled with Google Classroom
or Nearpod or some other platform that could have made learning so
much more effective (and their teaching jobs easier!).
• I heard the frustration of another principal (who was born late in

the Gen X period, making her officially a young Gen Xer, though she
thought of herself as more of a millennial leader) as she described the
digital challenges encountered by her Gen X and baby boomer teach-
ers. I did some follow-up training with her staff via Zoom sessions,
and I, too, saw how some of the older teachers had trouble with the
most basic of functions, like clicking on links and opening a new win-
dow in their search engine. As I looked at the gallery view in the
Zoom sessions, I saw some of the younger teachers staring forlornly
into their screens, waiting for their boomer and Gen X peers to catch
up so they could continue the training.
So how is this new digital divide, often found between the older and younger
teaching generations, affecting our Gen Z and Gen Alpha students?
Consider this: Two students could be in the same grade in the same school.
Maybe their classrooms in school are side by side. Both students have top-of-
the-line computers at home with robust, fast internet access. Yet only one of
the two students has a teacher who knows how to navigate learning platforms
and use education apps that allow for online formative assessments, collabora-
tion, enhanced direct instruction, and digital creativity. The other student has
a teacher who, for whatever reason, never got around to learning how to use
much technology in the classroom. One student logs in and is able to use all
sorts of programs to vary the learning and accomplish different objectives in
various ways; the other student just logs in and watches the teacher
lecture and then does a lot of worksheets downloaded onto the teacher’s
webpage.
If the two teachers are equal in knowledge of the subject, attitude, work ethic, and
pedagogical best practices, which student has the advantage? The student whose
teacher knows how to let his or her Gen Alpha or Gen Z students plug into tech-
nology. The Gen X principal I mentioned who saw the digital divide in her staff
told me she was already seeing the divide in student achievement.
I thought of a line from Winston Churchill. In 1946 he famously said, “From
Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an ‘iron curtain’ has descended across
the continent” (Westminster College, n.d.). In the spring of 2020, as schools closed
and learning went online, a digital curtain descended between the houses of
students who had technologically proficient teachers and those who didn’t.
A Flipping of the Paradigm

Think of how technology proficiency has dismantled the seniority paradigm in the
teacher ranks (see Figure 6.1).
It used to be more experienced teachers were the ones to whom the younger ones
turned for guidance. While boomer and Gen X teachers still have a wealth of
FIGURE 6.1 The Impact of Digital Ability on Teacher Seniority
Experienced Teacher
Inexperienced Experienced
Teacher Teacher
Who Can Use Who Can’t Use
Technology Technology
Inexperienced Teacher
BEFORE AFTER
TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY
ENTERED ENTERED
SCHOOLS SCHOOLS
The Impact of Digital Ability

on Teacher Seniority
knowledge to offer, their lack of technology prowess, along with the fact that
millennial and Gen Z teachers have more in common with their Gen Z and Gen
Alpha students, has evened out the paradigm. Boomers and Gen Xers are like
Santiago, the protagonist of Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea: They know
many tricks of the trade, and they can pass them on. But the younger teachers
know many of the new tricks of the trade, specifically how to quickly move into a
new online platforms and apps.
In previous decades, experienced teachers were far enough ahead of younger teach-
ers in the traditional best practices that the older teachers could avoid incorporat-
ing technology into their practices, but the school closures of 2020 exposed this
attitude as a career-altering deficiency. They fell behind their peers in this emerg-
ing, critical area, and consequently, their students fell behind their peers in the
number of learning options.
Kristy Venne, the Ohio school leader who offered insight into coaching all gener-
ations in Chapter 3, saw her younger teachers helping to bridge the digital divide.
Venne also reaffirms the ability of boomers and Gen Xers to use technology
effectively—if they have the right mindset.
As an educator with a growth mindset, I believe all teachers can learn to use
technology well in their classrooms, regardless of their age. Prior to the pan-
demic, the divide between teachers using the latest education apps and district
Learning Management System was significant. Once those technologies were
no longer optional, the shift happened quickly. However, those who were
already making strides were able to fully transition smoothly and ended up in
an informal tech support role for their older colleagues. The older teachers that
were the exception to this were the staff that tended to demonstrate a strong
growth mindset, resourcefulness, and grit. (K. Venne, personal communi-
cation, March 15, 2021)
This same generation gap was also found at the university level in the spring of
2020 when younger staff members led the way into remote learning as the univer-
sities shut down. For example, at the Rutgers Business School in New Jersey, the
younger professors took the lead in helping the older professors learn how to use
technology and platforms. It was recognized that the younger professors had
grown up with the internet and were much more comfortable using technology
(Murray, 2020).
This technology deficiency had already been noticed in the private sector. In 2019,
the United Kingdom recruitment company Robert Walters conducted a survey of
business leaders. The study found 20 percent of the employers didn’t see much
value in having older employees in their companies, and “59 percent of workers
had experienced intergenerational conflict in their jobs” (Robert Walters &
Totaljobs, 2019). Even before the pandemic and employees were told to work from

home, some companies were already putting an emphasis on recruiting younger
employees because of their digital skills (Murray, 2020). As companies hire new
employees in the stay-at-home world of the 2020s, will there be an even heavier
emphasis on the applicant’s ability to use technology? Will applicants who lack
technology skills find it even more difficult to find employment? Will the same
thing happen in education?
We don’t have much time to get teachers caught up on their basic technology
skills. Principals need teachers of all generations who can teach well in the
classroom—and who can all quickly adapt when the next pandemic strikes, the
next great education app arrives, or new AI enters the teaching space.
But it’s not that easy. These technology-deficient teachers are in our staffs now.
We’ve already seen there’s a shortage of teachers, so easily replacing them is not an
option, especially in places where removing weak teachers is a contentious, costly,
time-consuming process. Plus, we have to remember teaching requires a wide skill
set often developed through experience—and boomer and Gen X teachers often
bring skills to the classroom their younger protégés
are lacking. The 5-Gen leader must bring out the
talents of each generation and allow them to
help each other through mentoring and reverse The 5-Gen leader must bring out the
mentoring. In the post-COVID reset, 5-Gen talents of each generation and allow
leaders must also deepen the technology skills them to help each other through
of their older teachers to rip down the new mentoring and reverse mentoring
digital curtain separating the generations.
But first, they have to get these technology-deficient

teachers to believe they can do it.
Adjusting Mindsets
I’ve mentioned that as a boomer teacher I used to teach high school English in
the 1980s. The term “language arts” was just coming into our education vernac-
ular. When I began my career, I saw myself as the defender of the canon, the
one charged with drilling literary facts, themes, and titles into the heads of my
students. I was old school. More like OLD SCHOOL. I look back at those
days and think of an apology the author Kurt Vonnegut made for his genera-
tion’s reliance on fossil fuels: “Dear future generations: Please accept our
apologies. We were rolling drunk on petroleum.” I say now, “Forgive me, former
students. I was a boomer teacher rolling drunk on a history of educa-
tion tradition.”
Those days, thankfully, are gone because the world has changed, the economy has
changed, our students have changed.

And I’ve changed. I began my journey down the winding Transition Road over two
decades ago, and now I use more apps in my trainings than most millennial and Gen
Z teachers use in their classrooms. Now my mantra to my boomer peers is, “If I can
do it, you can do it!” Training boomer and Gen X teachers in how to use technology
helps reduce the digital divide, but as Venne mentioned, the most important element
is mindset: The older teachers have to be determined and willing to take chances.
While some boomer and Gen X teachers have transitioned well with technology,
most younger teachers clearly have an advantage because technology’s been a con-
stant part of their lives; they are more likely to seamlessly and more quickly incor-
porate the technology into their new routines (Vogels, 2020). It’s not that boomer
teachers and Gen X teachers don’t use technology in their personal lives; they use
a wide variety, including computers, laptops, iPads, social networks, online banking
sites, Kindles and other types of e-readers, new home entertainment devices, home
health care technology, and GPS systems on their phones (Scheve, 2011).
But I’ve found older teachers are less inclined to quickly incorporate new technol-
ogy into their professional lives. Sometimes when I train groups of teachers to use
education apps, I hear these comments from boomer and Gen X teachers: “I have
my established ways of doing things, so I don’t need to use technology,” or
“Technology is great for other teachers, but not for me,” or “I’m too old for that
new stuff.” As a boomer, I must admit that I, too, have those thoughts when I come
across a new way to use technology to do something I’ve spent my entire life, six
decades now, doing without using technology. I think, “But I’ve been just fine
without it, so do I really need to use that app to do this?”
Boomers and Gen Xers are more likely to have to see a need to use the technology.
Here’s an example. I live in Florida, which, for better or worse, was one of the first
states to reopen during the pandemic, meaning I was one of the first ones in America
who could go back to my favorite Starbucks to grab a coffee in the morning. I didn’t
want to hang around inside the store. I didn’t want to stand in line swatting COVID
germs away, and unlike many Americans, I tend not to like drive-through windows.
Maybe that’s my 60-year-old mindset kicking in: Why sit in a car in a long line
when I can walk in and get it faster? (And the people who like drive-through win-
dows could say, “Because, dummy, you won’t be exposed to as many germs!”) But as
with other boomers, long-established routines stubbornly remain.
One morning I saw the need for change. I was in a short line inside my Starbucks
store when I noticed a lot of people who had ordered their drinks online were just
walking in, getting their order, and walking out. No waiting. “Hmmm,” I thought.
“Maybe it’s time to use that Starbucks app I downloaded onto my phone a while
back and never opened?”
Here’s my boomer thought process: I asked, “Is this new way going to be a lot bet-
ter than the old way? Is it worth the time to tap my way through the app to figure
out how to use it?” I decided it was worth it: I could still get out of my car, walk in
to get my coffee, and not wait in line. Plus, I hoped it was harder for COVID
germs to hit a moving target. So I started using the app.
I admit I was frustrated the first time I opened it. I couldn’t find where to order my
coffee. I scrolled down and saw advertisements for pumpkin spiced lattes, new sand-
wiches, and all the ways that Starbucks loves the environment and is committed to
social change, which is also Starbucks’s way of targeting their products for millennials
and Gen Zers. As a boomer, I just wanted to see a massive button in the middle of the
screen that says, “ORDER COFFEE HERE, BOOMER!” I finally found the order
button at the bottom of the screen. I ordered my coffee, drove to the store, walked in,
got my coffee, and walked out—checking the name on the printout on the side of the
cup four times to make sure I had the right one. It was a big deal, a huge shift for me.
But I did it. And I liked doing it. Now, ordering online is all I do. Actually, I’ve down-
loaded other apps for other restaurants, and I order everything before I go to pick it up,
and I laugh at myself and think, “Wow, standing in line in the store is so pre-COVID!”
I had to see a reason to change, but when I did see the reason, I adapted. That’s what
boomer teachers and Gen X teachers must do with incorporating more technology
into their lessons. They need to recognize the need for change. I’ve seen boomer
teachers do it successfully. I was talking a while back with an elementary teacher who
was close to my age, and I had been making periodic visits to her classroom for three
years. At first, her students used no technology—she just used a smart board in front
of the room—but she pushed herself to grow. By the time the pandemic arrived, she
was ready to transition into remote learning. It wasn’t easy. She made a confession to
me: “At first, I didn’t like you,” she said, only half-jokingly, “because your ideas scared
me. But now I can’t wait to try new apps in my classroom. I want to keep growing.”
I’ve trained thousands of educators, and I’ve never heard millennial or Gen Z
teachers say they don’t want to use technology, that they need to see a need for it.
They just use technology because it’s always been a part of their lives. They grab
every bit of digital advice I can give them—and then they often show me new ways
to use the programs. I learn from them.
It starts with a mindset.
Advice for Changing Mindsets

How can 5-Gen leaders help reluctant boomers and Gen Xers change their mind-
sets about technology usage? Here are four sentences I use to help teachers change
their perceptions of what they can do with technology.
1. “Make ongoing, personal improvement a priority.” Boomers and

Gen X teachers need to lower their shields and accept technology

improvement as a viable goal. Sometimes, they don’t even consider it
as a worthy objective because they feel so far behind.
2. “Keep short- and long-term goals and keep track of how you’ve
improved.” No step forward is too small, as long as it’s headed toward
the goal. Administrators should ask, “How will you use this app in the
next two weeks?” Then check on the teacher periodically to ask,
“How’s it going?” Help them—and let them know it’s an expectation.
3. “Take advice from your peers.” Teachers often learn best from their
fellow teachers. Staffs usually have a digital all-star teacher or two
who can guide these teachers. Or if there’s a designated technology
specialist assigned to help teachers, make sure that technologist is
spending time with the teachers who need it. Sometimes, the digitally
deficient teachers don’t reach out for help because they are intimi-
dated by technology or don’t want to admit they have a weakness. If
needed, administrators should reach out for them to get the conversa-
tion started.
4. “Don’t be afraid to fail.” One of the greatest fears for teachers is los-
ing control or failing in front of students; however, losing control and
failing are two of the prerequisites for teacher growth in the 2020s.
Sometimes, teachers will make a mistake or the teacher does every-
thing right—and the internet goes down or the app has some sort of
hiccup that day and won’t respond. Teachers need to regroup and try
again a few days later. Most of the time, they will be successful, but
occasional failure is now an acceptable option. Technology snafus are
a part of any professional’s life in the 2020s. It happens.
The Digital Gap in Administrators

I’ve talked about the digital generation gap between the boomers/Gen Xers and
the millennials/Gen Zers, but it’s time to shine a light on another digital genera-
tion gap, one that will be especially perplexing for boomer and Gen X school lead-
ers: the gap in technology ability between their most digitally savvy teachers—the
ones who know how to seamlessly use the latest apps and devices—and their
administrators, who are often boomers and Gen Xers. During my visits in schools,
I’ve heard many administrators speak with awe about their finest teachers who can
deftly incorporate various apps and platforms into their teaching; yet while these
leaders see the worth of technology prowess, they often don’t take the time them-
selves to learn how to use these apps or how they could be incorporated into the
PD they lead for their staffs. These administrators are missing a golden chance to
model and to lead.
Five-Gen leaders can answer these two questions to see where they stand in the
technology component of their development:
1. Can I have a conversation with my three or four most digitally savvy

teachers and know enough details about their apps or programs to
give them ideas on how to use them?
2. Do I know enough about these apps and programs to work them into
the professional development I lead with the staff ?
Put another way, the COVID-19 closures showed the importance of teachers
being digitally savvy, and this also ushered in a new era of digital accountability for
school leaders. School leaders do not have to be the digital trailblazers on their
campuses. They don’t have to know more than anyone else about how to use vari-
ous digital tools, but they have to know enough and use enough technology to be
able to join the conversation with their best digital teachers, and they should know
how and use some of them in their PD to make learning more efficient and
engaging for their staffs.
School leaders can lead the way into the digital space by showing teachers the
power of technology and by showing another new professional trait: accepting
vulnerability. We can control
FIGURE 6.2 Five Technology Goals for the textbooks, but we can’t
5-Gen Leaders control the internet. Weird
things happen with technol-
ogy. Sometimes in the middle
Five Technology Goals for of the PD, the internet or
the tools won’t work, and the
5-Gen Leaders administrator, like the teach-
ers, will have to quickly
Know how to use technology when
1 leading PD sessions. adjust. The administrator can
feel what the teachers feel,
Know enough to have academically rich
and just as importantly, the
2 conversations with tech-driven teachers. teachers will accept their
own need to be vulnerable.
Make technology improvement a Figure 6.2 has five goals
3 career-long goal. 5-Gen leaders can adopt to
close their own digital gaps.
Network with other administrators to
4 learn how they are using technology. Great leadership has many
components. Being able to
District level administrators should
commit the time and resources to train
help teachers use technology
5
campus level administrators. and using it in PD does not
guarantee leadership success,
but an inability to use
t echnology well in the post-COVID world will be considered a leadership weak-
ness. As more millennials and Gen Zers become administrators, this digital chal-
lenge will diminish; these generations are already using technology and will more
easily adapt it into their leadership roles (more of this will be covered in Chapter
8). But we can’t wait. Teachers and students need those administrators leading now.

33. Understand the COVID-19 pandemic could do
more to reset education than all of the reform
movements combined.
34. All teachers must now be able to use
technology efficiently; the digital generation gap
must be closed between the younger teachers and
the more experienced teachers.
35. Helping Gen Z and Gen Alpha students deal
with the emotional impact of COVID-19 will be an
ongoing challenge of the 2020’s.
36. Be aware that while teacher experience is still
valuable, the need to use digital tools has closed the
ability gap between younger teachers and some
older teachers; help mesh staffs by tapping into the
strengths of all generations.
37. Help the digitally deficient teachers by giving
them tips on adjusting their mindsets and by giving
them training and resources.
38. Close the digital ability gap between you and
your most digitally savvy teachers.

CHAPTER 7
Upagers and Political

Activism
•• Members of Gen Z have become globally famous for their political

activism.
•• Gen Zers and Gen Alphas are seeing the political work of their peers via
the internet and are adapting a more global view of political causes.
•• Five-Gen leaders must recognize that today’s young people want their
views to be heard.
•• Five-Gen leaders should be aware of the political causes their students

care about and help them find constructive ways to voice their opinions.
O ne day I was leading a workshop and discussing millennial and Gen Z

political activism. I pointed out that today’s young people, including our
students, tend to be more socially responsive and active than boomers and Gen
Xers (Paychex Worx, 2019) because they grew up with the internet connecting
them with others and seeing the political stands taken by other young people
around the world.
A boomer asked a valid question: “But haven’t young people always been the ones
to lead protests? In my day, it was the Vietnam War protests.” True. As someone
who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s, I, too, remember the photos and news video
of tear gas floating across university campuses as college students fought back
against what they perceived to be an unjust war they were being asked to fight.
Those were the days when the generation gap was on full display each night on the
national news.
“Yes,” I answered, “but those were mainly college students and people in their 20s
and 30s. Today, it might be high school teenagers who are leading the way. That’s
a huge adjustment downward in age. It’s one thing for adult college students to
113
protest, but when high school students are walking out of class and organizing
protests, that’s significant.”
Or being named “Person of the Year” by Time magazine.
Perhaps the most famous climate activist in the world is Greta Thunberg—and
she’s a Gen Zer. She was named Time magazine’s person of the year in 2019
because, within a span of 16 months the 17-year-old had
addressed heads of state at the U.N., met with the Pope, sparred with
the President of the United States and inspired 4 million people to join
the global climate strike on September 20, 2019, in what was the largest
climate demonstration in human history. Her image has been celebrated
in murals and Halloween costumes, and her name has been attached to
everything from bike shares to beetles. Margaret Atwood compared her
to Joan of Arc. After noticing a hundredfold increase in its usage,
lexicographers at Collins Dictionary named Thunberg’s pioneering idea,
climate strike, the word of the year. (Alter et al., 2019, para. 4)
Thunberg is from Sweden, but she became globally famous through the internet.
Gen Zers and Gen Alphas are watching. She has influenced “millions of students
around the world” (BBC News, 2020), and one of our most famous members of the
Silent Generation, the Pope, has encouraged her to continue her campaign. She’s
also been noticed by baby boomers—notably, former president Donald Trump,
who mocked her by telling her to “work on her anger management problem” (BBC
News, 2020). How did the Gen Zer respond? She mocked him by briefly changing
her Twitter bio to include his words. School leaders had already learned this lesson:
A disagreement with a Gen Zer can lead to a pointed rebuke on social media.
Five-Gen leaders need to remember access to the internet has given millennials,
Gen Zers, and Gen Alphas a much more global view of the pursuit of social justice
and political movements. Their views have shifted from those of earlier generations.
I was speaking with a high school principal after the January 6, 2021, riot at the
U.S. Capitol, and she was telling me how one of her teachers was indignant that his
students didn’t seem very upset by the attempt of a mob to stop the peaceful trans-
fer of power to the new president. Part of their nonchalant attitude can be chalked
up to just being teenagers who are more interested in other topics, but generational
shifts are also a part of their nonresponsiveness. As an American boomer, I was
raised by a World War II veteran on a street with houses owned by other World
War II veterans. We heard firsthand about their fight to preserve freedom; there
was very much an “America: Love it or leave it!” attitude. While all generations can
be patriotic, the life-shaping events and fears of World War II have faded into the
history books, and today’s Gen Zers and Gen Alphas with their global views could
be less inclined to quickly wave the American flag before first asking some hard
questions about their country that would not have been posed 20 or 30 years ago.

The causes that were untouchable in the past are now embraced by Gen Z. Consider
the case of Drew Adams, a transgender student in Florida who was told he couldn’t
use the men’s room in his school. So at the age of 17, he sued the school and spent
three years pursuing the case until a federal court ruled in his favor in 2020 (Pandey,
2020). Or Anusha Chinthalapale, a Gen Zer from Maryland who became dissatis-
fied with the way government was working, so she started the Montgomery County
Students for Change, also known as MoCo4Change. She also worked as an orga-
nizer in the youth subdivision of the Women’s March in 2017 (Chinthalapale, 2021).
Gen Z Survivors Leading the Way on

Gun Reform
Gen Zers are taking an active part in fighting one of their greatest fears: shootings
in their schools. Think back to the days after the horrific shooting spree at Parkland
High School in Florida in 2018. The protests were led by the school’s students, not
the recent graduates or the parents. Students like David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez
became household names.
I saw Gen Z activism firsthand on March 14, 2018, one month after the Parkland
shootings that killed 17 students, when one of the biggest student walkouts in
American history occurred to protest the lack of gun control and safety in American
schools. As described in The New York Times,
The first major coordinated action of the student-led movement for gun
control marshaled the same elements that had defined it ever since the
Parkland shooting: eloquent young voices, equipped with symbolism
and social media savvy, riding a resolve as yet untouched by cynicism.
(Yee & Blinder, 2018, para. 4)
In some parts of the country, school leaders punished students who walked out of
class—and these principals were thrust into national headlines. Fairly or unfairly, the
school leaders were viewed as being out of touch with their students. I’ve been in tight
situations as a principal and superintendent, situations where I felt like I was going to
lose any way I turned, but when these situations occur today, I’ve seen we have to step
back and see the big picture and what’s really happening—and what’s really h appening
is that social activism is now an essential part of teenage lives. There’s no way to stop
it. As mentioned in Chapter 2, Gen Alpha (and Gen Z students) are “upagers,” which
means they are doing things at an earlier age, like taking on school authority en
masse. There’s no way some of the 20th century discipline philosophies are going to
withstand the pressure reshaping Gen Z and Gen Alpha in today’s schools.
On the day of the national school walkout, I was consulting in a middle school in
the Los Angeles area, and I saw the 13- and 14-year-olds in that school as they
Chapter 7 • Upagers and Political Activism 115

articipated in the protest. The principal didn’t stand in the way; he worked with the
p
students to control the situation as they made their point. He wanted to let his
students protest, but he wanted to keep them safe and create a unifying moment in
the school culture—without losing a day of instruction. So he had conversations
with the student leaders and allotted them some time that day. The students designed
a silent protest on the school’s blacktop, a square of asphalt on the school grounds
used for PE classes. During the 15 minutes of protest, as other students around the
country were walking out of class or staging their own demonstrations, these
students lined up 17 chairs on the asphalt, and an eighth grader sat silently in each
chair, holding a piece of paper in front of his or her chest with the name of a Parkland
shooting victim written on it. All of the students in the school were released from
class so they could all see the silent protest and be participants. It was powerful. I’ll
never forget the sixth, seventh, and eighth graders standing in silence as they looked
at the 17 chairs and the names of the victims. Seeing it made it real; the students
reflected on what they were seeing. They felt the pain. There are so many days of
school that students forget, but they’ll never forget that day. I won’t, either.
This principal, like other principals around the country who supported the
students, exhibited 5-Gen leadership skills. He recognized the need in his students
to be socially active and assisted them. If he had not worked with the students and
instead had challenged them with discipline threats, they probably would have
stormed out of the building, and it would have been chaotic and unsafe.
This is not to say we shouldn’t have discipline procedures in place today. Students
must have safe environments conducive to learning, but school leaders today need
to recognize that individual students or groups of students who question authority
or take part in protests shouldn’t be seen as disrespectful—they should just be seen
as Gen Z kids being Gen Z. It’s who they have become.
One 11th grader in New York City put it this way: “Adults don’t think of children
as people. Our view of what happens now is more important than theirs because
we are the future” (Reilley & Bubello, 2018). More than ever, administrators must
partner with their students; fighting the entire student body is a losing battle, espe-
cially in this era of social media. Like our Gen Z teachers, our Gen Z and Gen
Alpha students must be coached and not just managed.
We saw in Chapter 1 how Gen Z and millennial teachers are more likely to be more
socially conscious and to seek out environments that prioritize social responsibility—
that they are seeking more diversity, including diversity of thought (Paychex Worx,
2019). School leaders should tap into their passion when helping their Gen Z and
Gen Alpha students tap into their desire to make social statements. When school
leaders are confronted with civil rights issues, including issues pertaining to
LGBTQIA+ rights and access for individuals with disabilities, they need to include
their young teachers (along with teachers of the other generations) in finding
solutions. They expect to be included—and they will demand to be included.

This brings up one of the most exciting points about the future of education: As
more millennials and Gen Zers fill our profession, we will have more educators
who could be even more purpose driven than their boomer and Gen X predecessors
(who also had a strong commitment—which is why they became teachers). Here’s
another way of looking at it: When I’m asked, “Why did you become a teacher?”
I often answer, “I wanted to make my small part of the world a better place.” If we
ask that same question to a purpose-driven Gen Z teacher, he or she might answer,
“I want to do my part to change the world.” We’ve moved from improving the
neighborhood to improving the world. Think of how this deeper commitment
could fuel educators as they confront the massive education disruptions of the
2020s, 2030s, and beyond. We should be grateful there’s a different sort of fire
burning in our young teachers.
Gen Z Leading the Way in the Pursuit of

Racial Justice
On May 25, 2020, as many American students and teachers were finishing the
end of their first, painful stretch of remote learning, George Floyd was killed
while being arrested in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A world already turned upside
down was jolted again—and because schools were closed, our students and teach-
ers were home to see the constant news coverage and the horrific, looping video of
Floyd on the ground, gasping for air because a police officer was pressing his knee
into his neck. School administrators were already prepping for ways to help stu-
dents deal with new, traumatic topics: fear of the COVID-19 virus, dealing with
the death of a family member, understanding why a parent or both parents lost
their jobs, not having as much food in the house, and handling the constant stress
that comes with an uncertain future. Then the death of George Floyd, the result-
ing growth of the Black Lives Matter movement, and the sudden American
collective soul-searching over racial equality added another layer of complexity to
the 5-Gen leadership lens. School leaders had to help guide their communities
through the pandemic and the friction that comes when confronting racism and
inequities.
As with other issues, the generational gap was evident. In the 20th century, we
would have said, “All of this is outside of school. Let’s focus on school and academ-
ics.” Boomers and Gen Xers, after all, represented a more disciplined, loyal, tradi-
tional view of the world. There was the real world, but then there was school, and
they didn’t always overlap. But the world has changed. Students are exposed to so
much online media that they can’t just turn it off when they walk through our
school doors. We saw in the previous example how the middle school principal
helped his students deal with school shootings; another real-world opportunity
was presented in helping students deal with the trauma of COVID-19 and the
pursuit of social justice.

But this could be challenging for a multigenerational staff. I’ve noticed that some
boomers and Gen X teachers, especially at middle school and high school levels,
have been transforming their views to be more student-centered than in the past,
but others still focus on the curriculum first and the students second. Since millen-
nials and Gen Z teachers bring more of a socially conscious view to their teaching,
it could be easier for them to relate to the feelings of students who need to work
through traumatic or controversial issues with a nurturing adult. This could be
made even more complicated for a staff when views on authority and loyalty come
into play: Boomers and Gen Xers will be more inclined to respect authority and be
loyal to the administration and to other officials. They tend not to want to do too
much to upset the status quo. On the other hand, we’ve already seen how
Gen Alpha, Gen Z, and millennials are more likely to challenge the establishment
and ask questions that might make boomers and Gen Xers uncomfortable.
In the summer of 2020, after many of the marches and protests around the world
subsided, it was the Gen Zers who often kept the conversations about race going
in the families. Teenagers talked with parents and reached out to other relatives
through Facebook and then posted about their conversations online. The family
secrets were suddenly in the open, and the resulting conversations led to more
posts, which led to more conversations, which led to more posts. Some teenagers
made Google docs with reading lists and links to videos and shared them with
family members. These were not always easy conversations (Morales, 2020).
Carlos Hinojosa, a 17-year-old in Laurel, Maryland, tried unsuccessfully to talk

with his mom about the racism they had experienced in their lives. Then he noticed
she was watching videos about the Black Lives Matter protests on her favorite
social media platform, Facebook, so he and his sister decided to start a conversa-
tion with her by sending her videos and messages from their own Facebook
accounts. By the time Hinojosa organized a protest in his town, his mom was so
engrossed in his efforts that she made signs, handed out water, and distributed
yellow volunteer vests. Over 2,000 people attended the rally. “I have been educated
by my children,” she said (Morales, 2020).
Another Gen Zer, 17-year-old Betsy Schultz from Baltimore, compiled and shared a
37-page Google doc with links to GoFundMe efforts, petitions, and information
about books, videos, and other resources. According to historians who study civil rights
movements, the protests of 2020 were set apart from previous movements because
social media provided platforms to communicate and share resources (Morales, 2020).
Lessons From a University Protest

Gen Z’s reluctance to accept the status quo around racial issues is not just a K–12
issue; it’s also a university issue. I’m a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin,
and I saw my alma mater, steeped in its traditions, rocked to its foundations by the
Black Lives Matter movement. In June of 2020, Black Gen Z athletes banded
together and released a list of demands to make the campus more inclusive. Some
of the demands dealt with honoring previous black athletes, allocating funding for
minority causes, and removing the remaining vestiges of the Confederacy from the
campus grounds, which means the university was being asked to rename buildings
named after Confederate war heroes and to remove Confederate statues
(Barnett, 2020).
In July, the university leadership complied with most of the demands, but it didn’t
grant one of the group’s wishes: that the university discard their school song, “The
Eyes of Texas,” which is set to a tune that was sung by slaves and was first per-
formed with its current lyrics in a minstrel show over a hundred years ago. The
song is deeply ingrained in school’s culture, and the acting president, Jay Hartzell,
said he hoped the university could “reclaim and redefine what this song stands for
by first owning and acknowledging its history in a way that is open and transpar-
ent” (Carlton, 2020).
Earlier generations might have accepted the president’s words, whether they
agreed or not, and moved on. But this is Gen Z. This social consciousness battle
was far from over. In August, the drum major of the University of Texas Longhorn
Band, Libby Morales, said she would no longer conduct the song because of its
racist history. “If the one thing that unites us all is a song, I feel like we’re missing
the real values of the university and the institution that we love so much,” Morales
said. “It’s about the community that brings us all together. There can be any reason
for that, but ‘The Eyes of Texas’ is no longer synonymous with community”
(Briseno, 2020, para. 10).
In my undergraduate days, I was a music major. I spent two years marching in the
Longhorn Band. I know its culture. No organization
has more school spirit and loyalty to the University
of Texas than this group. For its leader and some
Five-Gen leaders need to grasp that
of its members to come out in opposition to ever
for Gen Z it’s about inclusivity; the
again performing “The Eyes of Texas” was stun-
world no longer revolves around
ning. In my years in the band in the 1970s, it
tradition—it revolves around people
would have been unfathomable. But this is a
and causes.
new era. This young Gen Z leader and some of
her peers have prioritized the collective good. As
Morales said, “It’s about the community.” Five-Gen
leaders need to grasp that for Gen Z it’s about inclusivity; the world no longer
revolves around tradition—it revolves around people and causes.
Morales added another comment that symbolizes Gen Z: She showed she was
willing to directly challenge authority—in this case, the words of the acting uni-
versity president. “I think President Hartzell made a very—I don’t want to say
uneducated—but out of all the ways to respond to it, that was not the way to do it,”
Morales said. “Coming from a white man that is the president of this University,
it’s inappropriate for him to say, ‘Let’s reclaim this song’” (Briseno, 2020, para. 20).
The band members appeared to be split in their opinions, but Morales had the
support of a significant number of members—so many that it would have been
impossible to perform the piece at football games in the fall of 2020. (It also would
have been a mismatch of instrumentation with half the band refusing to play.) The
university responded by using a recorded version of “The Eyes of Texas” at home
football games, and the university administrators said the band would be prohib-
ited from performing in any way at the games until the group agreed to play the
alma mater. In other words, there would be no marching at halftime or playing
other songs.
In previous decades, the administration’s dictum probably would have forced the
band, which is made up of students who love to march and perform, back into the
stadium. They would have acquiesced. But not this generation. It became a high-
noon Texas standoff between Gen Z and the president, who’s a member of Gen X.
In the fall of 2020, the Longhorn Band did not perform at a single football game.
In the words of Don McClean’s “American Pie,” “the marching band refused to
yield.” The band members said they would rather continue discussions around the
topic than compromise their values (CBS Austin, 2020).
As of this writing in the spring of 2021, the debate over “The Eyes of Texas” con-
tinues. Like other discussions around race, its origins run deep and personal.
Regardless of the outcome of the standoff between the administration and the
band, here’s the lesson 5-Gen leaders everywhere at all grade levels need to remem-
ber: Morales and her fellow band members remind us that Gen Z doesn’t blindly
line up behind traditional authority figures. Leadership respect has to be earned
today more than with previous generations. Gen Z and millennial members are
often loyal, but they need to align with causes that match their views.
The Coming of the Minority Majority

The 2020s will be a decade of difficult discussions. Five-Gen leaders recognize
that ethnic diversity is growing steadily in America, and inclusivity will be a con-
stant theme for the rest of their careers. The percentage of Americans who are
white has dropped steadily. In 1950, over 87 percent of Americans were white.
That number dropped to 60 percent in 2017 and will drop below 50 percent by
2050 (Poston & Saenz, 2019). America will be a minority-majority country, one in
which no ethnic group is a majority. Another way of viewing it is to say America is
moving toward a future in which the majority of citizens are nonwhite, which
means whites also will be a minority. This is the future of America, and it’s the
future of American schools. Today’s millennial and Gen Z teachers, along with the
Gen Beta teachers of the future, will continue to see student populations becoming
more diverse each year. Five-Gen leaders must bring diversity awareness to the
front of their priorities. Studies indicate companies with diversity, including gener-
ational diversity, in their leadership have higher profit margins (Murray, 2020).
The greatest schools will be the ones that embrace diversity of all kinds.
Some districts are already responding by creating positions that oversee diversity,
equity, and inclusion (DEI), and sometimes individuals in these positions are titled
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officers, or DEI Officers. But creating the p
osition
is the first step. It takes commitment and a willingness to have honest, sometimes
painful, conversations over a long stretch of time. The challenges of racism, equity,
and inclusion aren’t solved with assemblies and posters in the hallways. One
blogger for ASCD, Erica Buchanan-Rivera (2020), has written,
This journey of racial equity requires much self-labor and introspection

that no one can do for a person. If your ideal image of equity work is
managing inequities through diversity celebrations and not dismantling
disparities, you may need to reevaluate your commitment to antiracism.
This work is not a social event. Hosting an international festival on a
Saturday evening is not going to eliminate racism when students return
to school on Monday morning. (para. 5)
Buchannan-Rivera also suggests that before schools create a DEI position they
should understand their “why” so that the officer can be empowered and all parties
can work together. She also recommends that the expectation must be that every
person in the district take ownership and be deeply reflective. It takes a strong
person to be in this position; the individual must be willing to speak truth to power.
And leaders must listen and be strong enough to adjust their own practices and
those within the system (Buchanan-Rivera, 2020).
But today, it’s more than just what the adults must do; it’s also about involving the
Gen Z and Gen Alpha students. When I was growing up as a boomer, the teenage
heroes were Donnie and Marie Osmond and Michael Jackson—pop music stars
who sang about teen love and broken hearts. If they were teenagers today, would
they still be singing about the travails of romance? Probably so. Some topics, like
teen angst and budding hormones, will remain relevant for each generation. But
Donnie, Marie, and Michael would probably have new topics in their repertoire;
among them would be lyrics about climate change, racial equity, equal pay for
women, equal rights for people who wish to change their gender, and stopping gun
violence. For 5-Gen leaders, this means they must keep an open mind and r emember
the days of silencing political dissent in the student ranks are gone forever.
One outstanding 5-Gen leader who understands this is Dwight Carter, a school
leader in Columbus, Ohio. He happens to be my friend and coauthor of my previ-
ous two books. He is a Gen Xer, and he explains what needs to be done to bring
more equity into America’s schools. His words are so powerful that we end the
chapter here.
America’s browning will continue to chal- I asked them to think more about their pur-
lenge our educational system to examine pose. Afterward, I immediately met with
our instructional, assessment, and social three outstanding educators who had their
structures so that diversity is not merely thumbs on our students’ pulse: ELA instruc-
tolerated but is embraced and normalized. tor Dr. Donja Thomas, school psychologist
Mrs. Johnel Amerson, and family consumer
We are charged with implementing more sciences instructor Mrs. Keah Germany. I
social–emotional learning strategies, using told them about my conversation with the
more formative instructional practices, and students and asked for their advice.
examining the resources we use in the Together, we brainstormed some ideas and
classroom to create a culturally relevant followed up with the students a few days
and personalized learning environment for later. Out of those conversations came a
all students. To do that, we must consider fantastic program called Diaspora: Voices of
the kind of professional learning opportuni- an Ever-Changing America, where students
ties we make available to our staff. Most, if showcase their thoughts, emotions, and
not all, schools across the country have experiences through art, song, dance, spo-
focused on some form of race, equity, and ken word, monologues, and the like. They
inclusion training this year. We have to be use this platform to tell their stories and to
careful that this work is not simply some- move others to action. They want to not
thing to check the box. This work has to be only share their scars but to celebrate their
normalized and included in our efforts to successes. Nearly 10 years later, the pro-
create a positive school culture and gram is still going strong and has received
climate. local accolades and state awards.
Our Generation Z and Generation Alpha stu- Fast forward to the spring and summer of
dents are not satisfied with the status quo. 2020 when social justice protests occurred
They have witnessed their peers impact across the globe. Educators ordered many
change when they use their collective books about anti-racism and researched
voices in response to injustices. For exam- ways to decolonize the curriculum to pro-
ple, when I was principal at Gahanna vide a more inclusive learning experience.
Lincoln High School in Ohio, Trayvon Martin The same thing happened after the death
was killed. In the days following this trag- of Trayvon Martin: outrage, protest, and
edy, I met with several students who reaction. Will the efforts to create a more
wanted to take action. They were hurt, equitable educational experience for all
angry, and frustrated. They needed to be students stick this time around? I’m opti-
heard and wanted to take a stand. They mistic and believe so because Gen Z and
proposed that they be allowed to wear Gen Alpha don’t settle, they don’t forget
hoodies in school in protest, which I what was promised to them, and they know
thought would have been a nice visual, but their voice makes things happen. While we,
I wondered what that would accomplish. as adults, may settle into a relaxed state,

they will continue to ask questions, an anomaly to have a Black or brown
demand change, and expect us to hear principal or executive leader in a district
them out and include them in the deci- because we are preparing students to
sion-making process. They are looking to take on these roles in the near future. We
us for guidance, assistance, and support. can’t afford to treat this time as merely a
Our role is to help them overcome swelling of emotion. We can ride this
hurdles in their way, help them develop momentum to create more moments that
the personal skills to navigate through make social justice for all students.
change, and eventually pass the leader- (D. Carter, personal communications,
ship baton onto them. Soon, it will not be March 16, 2021)
39. Help staff members understand Gen Z and Gen

Alpha have a more global view and are more
politically active than their predecessors.
40. Remember that political and civil rights topics
that were untouchable 20 years ago could be
embraced by Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
41. Some Gen Z students have become global
activists through Youtube, social media, and
internet; expect your Gen Z students to use
Youtube, social media, and the internet to further
their causes as they lead locally.
42. Gen Z and Gen Alpha students are much more
likely to question authority and reject the status
quo; be prepared to work cooperatively with them
to find solutions.
43. Consider the steps you can take systemically to
further the pursuit of racial justice; it's more than
cultural celebrations or social events.

CHAPTER 8
Millennials and Gen Z

Ascending in the 2020s
•• Millennials and Gen Z school leaders will assume more leadership posi-
tions by 2030.
•• PreK–12 school models will need to be adjusted to fit the needs of Gen Z
and Gen Alpha students and their families in a post-COVID world.
•• Artificial intelligence will reshape education to the point that it could

replace weak and average teachers.
•• Schools will have to find ways to help young people connect with other
humans and their own humanity as technology plays an increasingly
larger role in their lives.
A few months ago, I began the process a lot of other boomer empty nesters
have gone through: I began downsizing. I decided I just didn’t need as much
“stuff.” Years ago, my mother had given me and my wife her set of dining room
china; it had been given to her as a wedding gift by her father. We wanted to keep
the china in the family, so my wife boxed it up and shipped to my millennial son
and his wife, who live on the other side of the country. He didn’t ask for it. I just
did it on my own. Surprise!
Then I came across this latest development: Many millennials and Gen Zers don’t
want their parents’ possessions (Crosby, 2019). The china, the hutch, and the quilt
sewn by Grandma have been left behind as Amazon Alexa takes over and the gen-
erations form their own, new paths. And I thought, “Whoops! Did my son and my
daughter-in-law even want the family china?” When I spoke with them, they
assured me they “loved it” and would use it. Maybe they really did love it, but
they’re both super nice people—perhaps they were just being nice to their out-of-
touch boomer father.
125
And I wondered: What practices will our millennial and Gen Z education leaders
keep in the future as they take more prominent roles in reshaping our schools?
Will they keep the best of what we can give them and discard the rest? Or will
they choose to keep too many outdated practices that mire them in the past?
First, let’s look at the demographics to see the generational makeup of our schools
at the end of this decade and the role millennials and Gen Zers will play in leading
them. In 2030, we can expect this from our five generations:
• The last of the boomer educators born in 1964 will be 66 years old. Many
boomers will have retired from our schools by then, but a few of them
will still be teaching and leading schools. To still be relevant, they will
have been forced to make dramatic mental and operational adjustments
to keep up with the world dominated by AI, new types of students and
staffs, and increasingly differentiated education models.
• The Gen Xers will be between the age of 51 and 65. Many of them
will still be teacher leaders and in key administrative positions. While
generations today tend to work later in life and pension plans are
forcing educators into longer careers, a third of the Gen Xers will be
over 60 years of age in 2030. A significant number of them could have
left the profession, and their exit (along with the departing boomers)
will have resulted in a rapid expansion of the number of millennials
and Gen Zers in the school leadership ranks.
• Millennials will be between the ages of 35 and 50 by 2030, and more

of them will be superintendents and hold district office positions;
however, the majority of millennial school leaders could be in the
school campuses. Today, millennials make up the largest part of the
American teaching force, so by 2030, they could comprise the largest
group of school administrators; the impact of their technology/
global/altruistic mindsets will be fully impacting elementary, middle,
and high school operations.
• The oldest Gen Zers will be 34 years old, and they will have begun to
enter the administrative ranks in the lower levels. Consider this shift
in collective mindsets: We have many campuses today led by boomers
and Gen Xers; within a decade, many campuses will have millennial
principals and Gen Z assistant principals. The pre-internet leaders
will be succeeded by the post-internet leaders. Any boomer or Gen X
teachers (or administrators) on those campuses will be surrounded by
millennial and Gen Z teachers; the older teachers will encounter even
more pressure to adapt to technology and the learning demands of

their Gen Alpha and Gen Beta students. There will be no future in
the 2030s for 20th century mindsets.
• The oldest Gen Alphas will be 20 years old, and these young people
wishing to be teachers will be in the teacher preparation programs. It
used to be we could predict how these programs would function because
they’ve used similar systems built around traditional education courses
and various amounts of field experiences, including a capstone student
teaching experience. However, the reset of education in the 2020s—with
advent of new models and increasingly powerful AI—could reshape the
role of teachers, and teacher preparation programs will have to adjust or
perish. The use of more AI could result in a need for fewer teachers and
even fewer teacher preparation programs. There will still be place for
Gen Alphas in the teaching ranks, but they will have to be extremely
motivated, talented, and willing to have a career in which they share the
stage with increasingly powerful, dominant forms of AI—as will be the
case for most professions in the world.
So we can see by 2030 that a few boomers could still be leading, Gen Xers will be
leading but eyeing retirement, and millennials and Gen Zers will form the largest
block of school administrators as they ascend into the higher levels of administra-
tion. If they hold true to their generational trend of rejecting the status quo and
questioning the policies and operating procedures bestowed upon them by their
boomer and Gen X predecessors, then by 2030 the websites of many schools could
have a large banner streaming across the top of the landing page proclaiming,
“Under New Management!”
But here’s an indicator of how complicated school leadership will become: In 2030,
superintendents and principals will be leading these groups:
1. Boomers
2. Gen Xers
3. Millennials
4. Gen Zers
5. Gen Alphas
6. Gen Betas
This means by 2030 the 5-Gen leaders will become new types of leaders: 6-Gen
leaders.
Chapter 8 • Millennials and Gen Z Ascending in the 2020s 127

Four Key Points and Questions for the 2020s
What are the lessons of the COVID crisis of 2020 and 2021 that can guide school
leaders in the 2020s (including boomers and Gen Xers) as this generational transi-
tion takes place? In February of 2021, as the first vaccines began to go into arms
and people began to see the light at the end of the COVID tunnel, I gave a keynote
with Dwight Carter for Ashland University in Ohio for PreK–12 administrators.
My crystal ball predicting the future of PreK–12 education was murky, as if it were
filled with frozen vaccine, but Figure 8.1 shows us four pandemic points that cut
through the fog.
These four points can be the North Star of education transformation in the 2020s:
rapid adjustments, expanded technology usage, flexible schooling models, and shift
toward new types of accountability measures that are more effective and more
accepted by all stakeholders. It’s always been said that schools tended to move at
glacial speeds, but the pandemic showed how quickly education, like other fields,
can cast off the shackles and move into a new model centered on technology usage.
It showed how hungry many parents and students are for school systems that can
adjust with their unique needs. Educators, students, and parents have all com-
plained about the amount of testing done in public schools and the strict account-
ability system that drives so many public school agendas; the varied stakeholders
saw that schools did not come crashing down because the schools weren’t given
updated accountability labels in 2020. The pandemic opened the doors to change,
FIGURE 8.1 Lessons From the Pandemic
Lessons From
the Pandemic
2020–2021
The education system can transform

1 quickly when it sees the need to do so.
Technology can offer new types of

2 teaching and learning options.
Traditional school models are being

13 questioned more than ever before.
The current testing and accountability

4 models are coming under new scrutiny.

and millennial and Gen Z school leaders could be ideally positioned to embrace
these points—because their life experiences have prepared them to adjust more
quickly than many of their older peers.
In one of my coaching sessions in early 2021, a Gen X teacher said, “Remote learn-
ing has forced us all to adjust what we do. It’s like we’re all first-year teachers
again.” I agreed. Experienced teachers knew the content, but they had to question
and relearn every teaching method they had in their toolkit as they moved their
instruction online. Some did better than others. I observed hundreds of online
classrooms and noticed a pattern. Some of the more experienced teachers adjusted
quickly—but almost all of the younger, less experienced teachers adjusted swiftly.
First, they had the technology acumen to quickly learn to navigate the platforms
like Zoom and Google Meets. But here’s a second reason I think they were able to
more deftly adjust: They have mindsets that are less set by tradition because all
they have known is a life dominated by increasingly powerful technology that con-
stantly brings them new apps, new social media, new smartphones, and new types
of digital gaming. Remote learning threw teaching and learning into their wheel-
house, so they were more likely to reimagine their methods, including their pacing,
their checking for understanding, and how and when to incorporate breakout
rooms and other digital tools into their lessons.
This doesn’t mean it was always easy for these young teachers or that they were always
successful, but I saw a large number of them quickly move from one digital tool to
another when they learned which one was best for certain activities. As more Gen Z
and millennial teachers enter the teaching force and as more Gen Z and millennial
leaders assume more influential positions, they will bring a mindset of more rapid
adjustment than we have seen in many of our boomers and Gen X leaders.
This is good news because they’ll have to be fast to keep up with the rest of the
world.
The University Model Could Affect the

PreK–12 Model
We know a significant goal of PreK–12 education has been to prepare students to
enter universities; postsecondary practices have always trickled down into the
lower levels, especially into our high schools. But we can expect a new type of
trickle-down effect from universities—specifically, how Gen Z’s new expectations
for postsecondary life will help dictate how high schools function.
Most of this decade’s university undergraduates will be Gen Zers; the first Gen
Alphas will hit the college campuses in 2028. First, let’s consider what new
demands Gen Zers will make in their university instruction. When campuses
closed in March of 2020 and the students went home and stayed home in the fall
of 2020, it became very clear they missed being on campus. One survey of over
3,000 college students in April 2020 found that 68 percent found the online
instruction worse than what they had in person, and 26 percent of the students
questioned if they would continue their studies. Almost half of them said if they
had to do online learning they would prefer it to be totally asynchronous, and 36
percent would prefer a blended model of in-person and online learning (Top Hat
Staff, 2020). To improve online learning, the students suggested they have more
face-to-face interaction with faculty, more learning material, better overall coordi-
nation between the deans and administrators and the faculty, and more opportuni-
ties for online social experiences with other students. Many of them said they liked
the flexibility of online learning.
However, a new lifestyle trend emerged in the fall of 2020 for Gen Z: As universi-
ties remained closed, some students banded together to rent houses where they
could live as they did their online lessons, and sometimes the houses were far away
from the universities—like in other parts of the country. Basically, the Gen Zers
said, “We don’t want to be at home, but we can’t go to back to the campus, so
where would we like to live?” They chose cities and regions that fit their Gen Z
interests and lifestyles. Students who wanted to live in cities might have chosen
New York City, Portland, or Las Vegas. Some students chose the island life of
Barbados. Utah was popular because of its many outdoor activities. The students
grew up watching YouTube stars and influencers who lived together in large
houses, so they already had ideas on how to do it. Like their reality-star heroes,
they drew up their own social contracts, including protocols for quarantining. Of
course, the contracts were shared online, usually through Google Docs. How did
they find their houses to rent? Often though Airbnb (Lorenz, 2020). They used
the internet to find living quarters, share their collaborative contracts, and com-
plete their lessons. These students showed us they are resilient, innovative, and
viewing college life differently than their predecessors. It was a Gen Z dream come
true—one built around the internet.
Gen Alpha and Gen Z students at the PreK–12 level could emulate their older
siblings. This idea of remote learning during remote instruction is already taking
root in our younger students: In the winter of 2021, an internet ad for the com-
pany VRBO, which rents private residences for vacations, showed a Gen Alpha
youngster holding up some schoolwork outside a rustic cabin with a child’s voice
asking, “If school isn’t someplace you have to be, why not be someplace you want
to be?”
And they might not want to be in school, especially for five days each week. I
heard of a large number of districts around the country that had “asynchronous
Fridays” when students learned online, could catch up on what they had missed
during the week, took part in targeted interventions, and allowed teachers to plan.
Could this be a more regular fixture for all grade levels once school returns to
“normal”? Could younger students be given the option of attending school on
Fridays or learning from home if they have parental supervision?
I was talking with a high school principal about new types of flexible scheduling, and
he told me that, during the pandemic, students had a choice of coming to school or
staying home for online instruction. The students in extracurricular activities could
learn from home and come to the campus at the end of the day for their activities. A
few of them arranged their schedules to get their morning instruction online, but
they would attend one or two classes in-person in the afternoon before going to
football practice, cheerleader practice, or some other activity. When I asked him
what he could see happening in the future for his juniors and seniors, he said, “Why
can’t some of them do like they’ll do in college? They could have a choice. They
could take some of the courses online and mix it with in-person instruction for
others.” Our Gen Z students will be in our high schools until 2028. By then, many
11th- and 12th-grade students—our students who are the most mature, most inde-
pendent, and most likely to seek out their own learning paths—will probably demand
flexible models that allow them not to come to school every day for every period.
In summary, Gen Alphas are called the “upagers” because they are grasping adult
concepts earlier in their lives, but we can see Gen Z university students are also
doing things other generations didn’t do until later in life: organizing a new sort of
life in another part of the country as 18- to 22-year-olds. Now is the time for
5-Gen leaders to be ready to quickly adjust to new Gen Z and Gen Alpha demands
for more technology-centered instruction with different schedules and calendars.
New Paths to Leadership

When we think of school leadership today, we tend to think of the traditional
positions. In the district office, it’s the superintendent, assistant superintendent,
and various directors; on the campuses, it’s often the principal and assistant princi-
pal. In Chapter 1, we looked at the need to involve millennial and Gen Z teachers
in leadership decisions, to give them a voice on committees and in hiring practices.
Research shows millennial and Gen Z employees are seeking paths of advance-
ment (Gayle, 2019), but what does that mean for today’s millennial and Gen Z
teachers in the 2020s who want to advance? I recently had a conversation with a
millennial teacher, and she told me she was beginning her graduate coursework to
receive her principal’s certification.
“Why do you want to be a principal?” I asked, and she replied she was wary of the
stress that comes with being a principal, but she wanted to lead so she could help
others. “You’re wanting to lead for the right reason,” I told her, “but there are more
paths for you today and more will be opening up in the near future. You don’t have
to be a principal to lead in today’s schools.“
Twenty years ago I wouldn’t have said these words. As a boomer, my path to career
advancement was the most predictable one: teacher to assistant principal to princi-
pal to assistant superintendent to superintendent. I climbed the 20th century
ladder to the top. To be clear, we still need great administrators at these levels;
without the right people in those key positions, progress in the 2020s will be diffi-
cult, if not impossible. Experience gained while moving through various positions
still helps leaders have a greater understanding of the system. But the morphing of
the world has begun to open up new leadership positions in schools; there are new
paths to leadership.
For example, as technology becomes even more prominent in education, education

technology specialists will become even more important, and we will need more of
them. And what if more of our future principals will come out of these tech-savvy
positions and not just the assistant principals’ offices? They will step into the princi-
pal’s role with a deep background in the best education apps, device c haracteristics,
and—just as importantly—deep experience in helping teachers use technology. When
superintendents hire principals today, they should be looking for applicants who are
proficient in using technology; we can expect this requirement to be more widespread
with an even deeper level of knowledge needed by principals in the future. We’re see-
ing other new types of positions implemented at the district and campus levels: diver-
sity coordinators, interventions directors, community outreach coordinators, academic
coaches, and extracurricular activity sponsors (American University, 2019).
As 5-Gen leaders mentor the ascending millennial and Gen Z teachers, they
should embrace the idea that school leadership no longer has to be confined to the
traditional ladder that goes through the assistant principal and principal offices. A
new system will call for new types of positions with varied ways of thinking and
leading.
The Future: Millennial Teachers, Gen Z

Teachers, and AI Teachers?
I recently had an AI epiphany of how AI could be used in the late 2020s and
beyond.
It happened when I visited a high school and watched videos of Algebra I teachers
teaching online. The first teacher basically just blasted through the assignment. He
“taught” students how to solve problems by using a document camera to project
problems onto the screen as he solved each step. He didn’t bother to check on his
students’ emotional well-being when students joined his class, and there was no
fun banter during the lesson. Most of the students never spoke a word. These
socially isolated teens at risk of developing deepened states of depression never got
to verbally interact. The rigor was low; the teacher’s direct instruction was at the
lower end of Bloom’s taxonomy. He just explained each step, hoping the students
would understand it without asking questions to get the students to think, to
encourage them to analyze what was happening in the steps. There was no

relevance in the problems. I’ll be the first to say a teacher can’t make all content
relevant, but no efforts were made in this lesson. The Gen Z kids love digital inter-
action, but these students didn’t interact with digital tools; most of them had
logged into the lesson via a computer, but they didn’t get to show their thinking or
level of understanding with a Jamboard or any other interactive program. After 14
minutes of direct instruction with no interaction with the students, he asked,
“Everybody understand?” and then he quickly resumed his instruction when no
one answered. Of course they didn’t answer! I’m sure most of them were intimi-
dated, confused, or weren’t listening. Perhaps they were no longer even sitting at
the computer. They were part of the multitude of pandemic era students who
logged in to get attendance credit, turned off the camera, and then wandered off to
play Xbox or scroll through their social media.
This wasn’t really school; it was just a time for the students to log in and get the
facts of how to solve the problems. If they were one of the handful of students who
could learn algebra in this way, then they could succeed. Of course, most students
couldn’t. Failure rates in the class were high. Students weren’t logging on, and many
of those who did log on couldn’t understand the concepts and weren’t submitting
their work. The human element was absent in the teacher, buried some place on
the other side of the teacher’s screen.
Then I watched another math teacher lead an online lesson in the school, and his les-
son was pretty much the same. Then I watched another math teacher, and she, too, just
plowed through the content. I watched two more math teachers. I wish I could say I
found a math superhero, or at least a regular hero, but alas, they, too, were lacking in
personality and ability. They all knew their content. They were working hard. They all
cared and wanted their students to be successful, but either through fatigue or callous-
ness, they had developed a teaching philosophy of “Here’s the content. I’ll show you
how to solve the problems. Then it’s up to you to know how to solve them. Good luck.”
I had observed all of these teachers prior to the pandemic when they were doing tra-
ditional face-to-face teaching, and they had all been average. What is average teach-
ing? A lack of personality, a lack of interaction, a lack of checking for understanding.
These problems in a normal classroom were exacerbated during the COVID crisis.
These average teachers had slipped to below average when their students were no
longer held captive in their classrooms and were forced to listen to them and learn in
this way. These algebra teachers weren’t the only teachers who were teaching like this
in the pandemic and getting these low results; across America, too many students had
logged in but checked out—and so had too many teachers.
I turned to the administrator who had been watching the videos with me, and I
said, “AI.”
Of course, she looked at me with a puzzled look, so I added, “If this is the way
they’re going to teach, either online or in person, by 2030 many of them could be

replaced by artificial intelligence. I would trust a software program to do better
than these teachers. At least the software could build in questioning built around
student data, respond to answers, and insert activities that check for understand-
ing.” Then I said, “And probably show more personality. My Amazon Alexa at
home is more personable than these guys.”
It was a tough comment, but tough times call for honest answers.
In this pandemic age, AI is becoming more human while some teachers have
become less human. Throw in the race to prepare students for standardized tests
and we could say the humans who lack training, initiative, support, or imagination
are turning into teaching machines. They rush through the material as quickly as
they can so they can make sure the standards are covered. In my coaching, I saw
too many other teachers reading slides to students. I saw too many human-
designed lessons that were too boring and ineffective for the majority of students
to sit through on a daily basis. We need the human touch in teaching, but if the
humans aren’t human, they should be replaced with software that at least pretends
to be. Many teachers have told me a computer can never bring to teaching what a
human teacher can bring—but I say that’s true only if the teachers choose to bring
those human qualities into their jobs.
Artificial intelligence is already helping to teach some students. An article from

November of 2020 by Dylan Furness posted on Digital Trends details how AI was
recently used in a class at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The students in a
class had a teaching assistant (TA) named Jill Watson, and this TA would respond
to their emails promptly and in a casual tone that helped the answers be under-
stood. At the end of the semester, the students were told Ms. Watson was not a
human, but an AI program, also known as a chatbot or a bot. Furness (2020) writes,
Like computers and the internet, AI will alter both the face and func-
tion—the what, why, and how—of education. Many students will be
taught by bots instead of teachers. Intelligent systems will advise, tutor,
and grade assignments. Meanwhile, courses themselves will fundamen-
tally change, as educators prepare students for a job market in which
millions of roles have been automated by machines. (para. 4)
This will not just happen at the college level. Toys for young kids that use AI are
already on the market, and they will become increasingly stronger. One AI expert
predicts a growing role for them in classrooms and at home. According to Danny
Friedman, director of curriculum and experience at Elemental Path,
I foresee them in every classroom, as a supplemental learning tool that

is not only integrated in a teacher’s curriculum but connected to a stu-
dent’s personalized data, such as preferred learning methods and areas
of interest. I also foresee them in every home, not only to help answer
questions, but to help instill pro-social interactions. AI-powered toys
will be as ubiquitous in households as the cell phone. (Furness, 2020,
para. 7)
As students progress through the grade levels in the future, AI will be play an
increasingly larger role in their education. Pearson, the massive education and
assessment service, released a report in 2016 titled Intelligence Unleashed: An Argu-
ment for AI in Education in which it said all students could one day have an AI
“learning companion” that could assist individuals in their personal and academic
lives as the companion accompanies them from grade to grade, from class to class,
as it connects data, trends, learning requests, and experiences. Furthermore, the
report states
There are no technical barriers to the development of learning compan-

ions that can accompany and support individual learners throughout
their studies—in and beyond school. These lifelong learning compan-
ions could be based in the cloud, accessible via a multiplicity of devices,
and be operated offline as needed. (Luckin et al., 2016, p. 38)
So how will this look in future classrooms? Imagine a data bank for each student
that has been growing increasingly deeper since the student’s preschool days. The
teacher might be presenting material with assistance from the AI—or the AI
might be presenting the material with assistance from the teacher. Perhaps the
student will interface with AI through a keyboard or maybe through an Alexa-like
system that can personalize answers, refer to the student by name, tell a few jokes,
and is linked to the student data bank and can differentiate instruction for each
student.
Great teachers of the future will still bring great lesson plans, strong teaching
methods, and caring, entrepreneurial cultures; when those great teachers integrate
the AI into their lessons, they will reach the next level of superstar teaching as they
continue to provide the human touch through relationships and empathy.
But what about the weaker teachers, like the algebra teachers I observed? The AI
could help them be better teachers—or the AI could eliminate the need to retain
them as the AI assumes a more powerful, central role in teaching. School leaders in
the late 2020s and beyond could be asking, “Are my students in this class better off
learning from this average or below-average teacher—or from a software program
that brings great lesson design and differentiated methods?” We might not need as
many teachers, especially at the secondary level, as AI becomes more of an equal
partner.
Which brings us to another challenge millennial and Gen Z school leaders will
face later in this decade and into the 2030s and 2040s: how to incorporate stronger
AI into teaching and how to decide which teachers to retain, hire, or phase out.
Schools of the future might consist almost exclusively of great teachers—those
who made the cut when using (or competing with) AI.
When we look at our staffs today, this vision of a having staffs filled with our
greatest teachers might seem far-fetched, especially when we consider how hard it
is to dismiss weak public school teachers. In states with strong teacher unions, it’s
almost impossible. Also consider this: If students begin to leave a school system for
another one that better serves their needs, the original school system will have to
reduce the number of teachers. Most reduction-in-force procedures are done
through seniority. The teachers who have been there the shortest amount of time
are the ones released. And who will these teachers be? The young teachers who
have the most technology skills and the most adaptive mindsets. They could be the
ones hired by the charter school down the street trying to break out of the mold.
The teachers left behind in the public schools could be the boomers and Gen Xers
who struggle to log into their online teaching platforms. Now is the time for school
leaders to prepare for a period of incredible staffing disruptions by looking ahead
to their see how their staffs might need to look in a decade. It will be difficult.
But wait. There’s reason for hope. I found it in conversations with two young edu-
cators who were noble representatives of the millennial and Gen Z generations.
I was talking with a high school administrator in the winter of 2021, one of the
darkest winters in school history, one in which teachers and students worked in what
felt like perpetual isolation. Teachers and students struggled with sagging morale, as
I had seen in the online algebra classes. Around 96 percent of this administrator’s
students had chosen to learn from home; for various reasons, they didn’t want to
come to school. He and I discussed how his high school might function after the
pandemic recedes and then reopens in a fashion we used to know as normal.
“How many students do you think will return?” I asked him.
“I think a lot will want to come back,” he answered, “but others will go someplace
else if they offer schedules or options we don’t have. I keep telling our teachers,
‘You need to be your best NOW and we need to adjust NOW because the state
funding will follow our students next year. If we have less funding, we’ll need fewer
teachers.’” He was already concerned about laying teachers off. He was prescient in
seeing it; the accelerated reset of education had begun on his watch.
In the winter of 2021, I also had a profound conversation with a Gen Z teacher
who was navigating the shoals of remote learning. I was working with a group of
high school teachers, and I was stressing the need to build a positive classroom
culture to nurture their Gen Z students who were awash in self-doubt. A study
released in December of 2020 found that depression and suicide ideation had risen
dramatically among youth (Hill et al., 2020). It was truly the winter of school dis-
content. The teacher made a heartfelt confession: She felt she had spent the first
semester caring more about teaching her content than teaching her students.
There’s a difference, and this second-year teacher had figured it out. “I had lot of
material to cover online, and it was hard, so I would just start presenting the

c ontent from the first minute of the class on the first day of school,” she said. Her
career-changing epiphany came at the end of the first semester. “Then I found out
one of my students had been battling cancer, and I didn’t know it. I’d never given
her a chance to tell me. I hadn’t tried to get to know her as a person. Now, I make
a real effort, even in remote learning, to try to find out what’s happening in their
lives. I try to get to know them as people.”
And that brings us back again to a theme that will prevail in education models of
the future: the need to nurture students as we educate them. It’s the thread we’ve
seen run through the generations of educators, the thread of being human. Gen
Alpha and Gen Beta students in the 2030s and 2040s might interact more with
AI, but as developing humans, they will still need relationships with other humans
who can understand them, motivate them, and console them.
This millennial administrator and Gen Z teacher were both sharp and passionate
about the power of education to transform lives. If they have to compete with AI,
these two will make the cut. I imagine their career and the changes they will
encounter in 2030, 2040, and 2050. They will still be educating students, but they
might not be in public schools, especially the type of schools we see today.
The changes I saw in my career in the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, such as the intro-
duction of the internet, digital devices, and software into schools, were minor in
comparison. That was just the beginning of the disruptions our school leaders are
seeing today. I experienced what can now be described as the sun rising on a new
day for education; this millennial administrator and Gen Z teacher, along with their
peers, will lead multiple new generations through the morning fog and into the
afternoon sunshine. The light of disruption will be intense. They’ll need sunscreen.
But it will be amazing.
Being Human in the 2020s

Finally, as we look at the different generations of teachers, our new types of stu-
dents, and consider the sweeping changes that are coming to education, let’s con-
sider the ideas of two master teachers. Both of these teachers work at Gahanna
Lincoln High School in Gahanna, Ohio. While they both happen to be perform-
ing arts teachers, their voices represent all effective PreK–12 teachers in all subjects
who use teaching methods to fit the needs of Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Their words
can also be reminders to 5-Gen leaders of what is essential as we move forward.
Cindi Macioce is the school’s award-winning drama teacher, and Jeremy Lehman
is its acclaimed choir director. Macioce has had troupes represent Ohio in the
world-famous Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Lehman consistently
receives the highest adjudication scores for his multiple choirs in local and state

competitions. They both have taught students who have made professional careers
on Broadway, in Hollywood, and in North American and European opera compa-
nies. Both Macioce and Lahman are extremely respected by their students and
former students, and their programs are held in high esteem in the community.
Macioce is a boomer, and Lahman is a Gen Xer. They have accrued a vast amount
of knowledge about today’s students and how to teach them; they have successfully
adapted through the decades. They both have strong opinions about their roles
and the necessity of the arts in helping Gen Z, Gen Alpha, and Gen Beta in the
future. Five-Gen leaders can turn to teachers like these for ideas on how to balance
technology, AI, and humanity in the 2020s.
First, let’s look at some of Macioce’s ideas. She acknowledges she has experienced
the changes other boomer educators have experienced. In the pandemic school
year of 2020–2021, Macioce quickly realized she would need to emphasize one of
the most important emotions of humanity: empathy.
Let’s start with basic facts. I am old. I am After the initial explanation of the unit, we
an old teacher. Not “veteran,” not “sea- discussed WHY empathy is important for
soned,” just plain old. I began my teacher people to develop. We then expanded that
career right out of college, where I had to conversation to include theatre—as in, how
learn how to thread a projector. Google was does theatre help us develop empathy? I
the Dewey Decimal System. I am both spelled out the very simple requirements:
embarrassed and proud to say, “Yes, I DID They had to perform three random acts of
smell the ditto copies that left my nose kindness for three different people and
purple.” It was waayyy before the internet create a flip grid explaining what they did
and social media. and how the students (and their recipients)
reacted and felt. We created an ongoing list
One of the things I know to be true is that of ways we could perform the “random acts
the study of theatre (either as a student or of kindness” without using money and, in
audience member) helps develop a more most cases, how to do it while keeping
empathetic person; we are able to see and social distancing in mind. I encouraged the
experience the world through someone addition of pictures from the experiences.
else’s lens, and hopefully, that will in turn I did this in all my classes. The students did
allow us to think and feel in ways we may not disappoint.
not have ever considered. I just started
Googling words that I felt needed to be My theatre appreciation class is a small
explored in this newly developed unit. I hit class and all girls; they asked if we could
upon the word “empathy,” and our Empathy make it a yearlong assignment and wanted
Project was born. to know if we could do the acts of kindness

as a class. Since this pandemic is “the year “requested” that a specific student receive
of the yes,” I agreed we could make it an a letter.) The Theatre App students worked
ongoing unit. They chose one BIG act of on a master calendar and deadlines as a
kindness, which was to give a handwritten group and agreed that if one person was
letter to anyone who wanted one. (We had feeling stressed about writing letters due to
to work at narrowing down the filters so their own school work that the group would
they agreed, for this first go-around, to pick up the letters for that person. . . .
make middle school students their target I applied for a small grant and had special
audience.) They created a website, con- stationery and envelopes made so that each
tacted the middle school counselors and letter would be uniformed. We discussed
principals to introduce themselves and what what proper encouragement needed to look
they wanted to do, and created a Google like . . . and they were off! Our first
form for the counselors so they could send go-around we had 12 letters; this last round
it out to the students, asking them a little we had 51. Talk about authentic learning in
bit about themselves and if they wanted to the middle of a pandemic. . . . I am one
receive a letter. (Sometimes, the guidance proud teacher. (C. Macioce, personal
counselors and principals actually communications, March 21, 2021)
FIGURE 8.2 Lessons for 5-Gen Leaders Note how Macioce was able to
From a Master Teacher understand her Gen Z students. She
tapped into their desire to help oth-
Lessons for 5-Gen Leaders ers and empowered them by adjust-
from a Master Teacher ing her curriculum. She let them be
co-leaders and create their own
Tap into the desire of
website. They helped each other
teachers and students when they were stressed. She applied
to help others.
for a small grant to help them get
Empower the teachers their supplies for the project. They
and students around
you. Let them be
felt affirmed when their project
co-leaders. went from 12 to 51 letters. They will
Adjust budgets to be stronger performers because of
support new types of what they learned by empathizing
initiatives.
with others. They will draw on their
Praise them. Affirm experiences to see the world through
their efforts.
the eyes of other people.
Macioce provides a blueprint for

5-Gen leaders: They should do with their staffs and students what she does with
her s tudents (see Figure 8.2).

I have been fortunate to have a few I think that the advancing technology in the
supportive administrators who value what arts world is a double-edged sword. We have
the arts are able to do for students, but in been able to get theatre and music into
the majority of schools, arts classes are the people’s homes so that it can be seen, but
first to get chopped when the budget gets again, we attend a concert or the musical
tight. because it is meant to be experienced. I
also worry that technology has made us a
I fear that now that a huge part of our bit too comfortable. After all, we can watch
population has learned how to “work a streamed Broadway production in our
from home,” Zoom productions will be jammies from our couches. The problem is
expected to be “the new normal” of that we don’t have any way to connect to
theatre (and other arts) and not the others. We aren’t sharing moments that are
exception. While I think there is a place meant to be shared. We aren’t learning
for online theatre, we have to remember live-audience etiquette; we aren’t able to
that the arts are meant to be felt and engage and discuss the piece of music or the
explored in the moment . . . and show. I fear we might be regressing in this
certainly not through a square on a live performance arena. (C. Macioce, per-
screen. sonal communications, March 21, 2021)
Artificial intelligence will never be able to girlfriend is pregnant.

do these things: • Celebrate and applaud a group’s suc-
cess after their opening night.
• Pick up the meaning of a student’s
eye roll. • Respond when a student texts your
phone at midnight, wondering what
• Look a student in the eye and tell
to do because their best friend talked
them you are proud of them for not
of taking their own life.
forgetting their one line in the show.
• Give a student some cheese and
• Hold a student’s hand when they suffer crackers from your school fridge
a panic attack because they don’t see because they haven’t eaten.
an end to their academic workload.
• Address truth with love when a stu-
• Hug a student whose mother was dent’s actions do not live up to
murdered by her boyfriend. expectations.
• Put a hand on a student’s shoulder to • Apologize for misreading situations
help calm them when they think their and promise to do better.

• Take the lead in a teachable is or becomes, will EVER be able to
moment. replace me as a teacher. Maybe AI will be
• Stay past a long rehearsal to share able to regurgitate facts and information
laughs with students because that is about subject matter, but that isn’t true
what is needed in the moment. teaching and it never will be—there is a
reason it is called “artificial.”
• Share lunches and dinners with
alumni of your program because
The secret about teaching is that teach-
they want to share what has been
ing is not always about content. It’s also
happening in their lives.
about understanding and knowing how to
• Shape student behavior because you nuance every minute you are with your
model it. kids so that you can help them develop
into decent human beings. (C. Macioce,
These are just a few reasons why artifi- personal communications, March 21,
cial intelligence, no matter how smart it 2021)
Like other educators, Macioce has questions and concerns about how the e ducation
reset in the 2020s will affect education and especially the arts.
Macioce’s ideas lead to pertinent questions for 5-Gen leaders. As technology

becomes stronger in the Zoom world, how will they preserve human interaction in
education? In the 2020s, how will they preserve the arts? In the opening of this
chapter, I wondered which practices school leaders would hold on to and which
ones they would discard. Macioce brings up the idea of regression. For 5-Gen
leaders, where is the line between progressing and regressing?
When asked if she could ever see a day when AI could replace her, Macioce
responded with these points.
Many of Macicoe’s points, from hugging a distraught student to giving some

cheese and crackers to a hungry student, affirm the humanity that will always be
needed by all PreK–12 teachers when teaching young people. Artificial intelli-
gence, as Macioce says, will always be artificial.
But just as importantly, note another one of her key points: “Address truth with
love when a student’s actions do not live up to expectations.” Macicoe’s troupes
have achieved spectacular success, and some of her students have ascended to the
highest levels of their profession—this shows her expectations for her students are
high in both her behavioral expectations and academic expectations. She holds her
Gen Z students accountable. She expects them to work. She provides rigorous
instruction in that she constantly asks them to analyze, evaluate, and create, which

are the rigor levels at the upper end of Bloom’s taxonomy. These actions create the
skills students must possess to live productive lives in the 21st century and into the
22nd century. These are the skills 5-Gen leaders should be encouraging teachers to
use in all classes.
Now let’s look at another great teacher, Jeremy Lahman, and see how his ideas
parallel Macioce’s, especially with the need for students to be human. There are
lessons here for 5-Gen leaders.
In my 22 years as an educator, I think their use of social media to connect

the biggest shift I’ve seen in young with each other students are lonelier
people is their ability to communicate— than ever and suicide ideation is up 25
more specifically, how they communi- percent. Students are longing for real
cate. With the emergence of screens as connection, not virtual connection. I’ve
a form of communication, I’ve seen had students tell me that my class saved
the breakdown of students’ ability to their life. (J. Lahman, personal commu-
express themselves face-to-face—to nications, April 3, 2021)
each other and to adults.
While Lahman stresses the need for the arts
I started teaching in 1999. There were in the lives of today’s students, notice how
no cell phones and no Chromebooks. many of his points about Gen Z could apply
Interaction and engagement were at to all educators.
100 percent. It was the original Face-
Time. Students communicated and Despite their excessive use of social
learned differently during that time. media, students are lonelier than ever.
Over the course of two decades, that They know that social media is largely
human connection has waned, but I find fake, seen through a filter, but they
that students seek out the arts because continue to engage in it. The constant
there is a strong yearning for human comparison of themselves to what
connection and shared experience. appears to be a perfect life or person
has been harmful to young people. They
The arts are what often keep kids com- are longing for real human connection,
ing back to school. It’s because of the which participating in the performing
connection they have with their peers arts gives them. It fills a certain void in
and their instructor. It’s not limited to the human soul that cannot be replaced
kids who struggle academically or emo- with anything else.
tionally. It’s often high achievers that
say the arts are what keep them coming The goal of a rehearsal is to practice for
to school. The data shows that despite a performance. Performance allows

students to show what they have engaged in singing, that need is being
learned in a positive way to others. met at all times.
When it’s over, they receive validation
and recognition, along with a huge Research shows that one of the largest
sense of accomplishment for their factors of school success is a student’s
work. This shared experience is not sense of belonging to the school com-
something that can be done with, or munity. In our high school, we have
on, a computer. It’s good old-fash- seven bands, four orchestras, and five
ioned human connection. And they choirs. If you include theater, nearly
love it. half of the school of 2,400 students is
involved in the performing arts. In
What I find interesting is that when 2021, that speaks volumes about what
my students are engaged in a rehearsal young people are yearning for—that
they aren’t sneaking looks at their human connection, shared experi-
phones. They don’t even try. They go ence, sense of belonging, and feeling
into their phones for stimulation and of accomplishment. (J. Lahman, per-
entertainment. When they are sonal communications, April 3, 2021)
Let’s look at the significance of the numbers. According to Lahman, half of the
Gen Z students in his school are involved in the arts. Like most large high schools,
a significant number of students are probably involved in athletics. Then there are
students in various clubs. This shows us that while Gen Z is tethered to the inter-
net, the majority of the students in the school still value what we could call
“old-school” activities. This, like Lahman tells us, is where they get the human
interaction. As 5-Gen leaders determine which initiatives to retain and which ones
to discard, they should collect data and look closely at their Gen Z and Gen Alpha
students’ preferences. The arts and extracurricular activities are perhaps more
essential than ever in our increasingly digital society.
Here’s another sobering reality: Think of what was lost by Macioce’s and Lahman’s
students during the COVID school closures. Researchers have tried to measure
the academic losses of the pandemic in math and reading, but it’s not possible to
measure the extracurricular losses. The connections, the friendships, and student
growth were stymied when the activities shut down. When students of all ages
participate in school plays, musicals, concerts, art shows, and athletics, they gain
confidence, resilience, and creative skills that propel them through the rest of their
lives. Five-Gen leaders will need to address the COVID-19 academic regression in
the 2020s, but they must also seek ways to recoup some of the personal growth lost
in the nonacademic fields.

As mentioned, Lahman’s choirs consistently receive high marks at state-adjudi-
cated events. This happens because his students are constantly analyzing the
nuances of their singing, evaluating its quality, and creating ways to be better. He,
like Macioce, operates at the upper levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. Like other teachers
during the pandemic year, he did his best to be highly rigorous; yet he knew his
students needed more than rigor as they learned from home in a world turned
upside down—they needed kindness.
No significant learning happens without four essential elements to being an

a significant relationship. This year effective teacher: content knowledge,
I have prioritized connection over pedagogical acumen, classroom
content. I start each class with “Tell Me management, and the special sauce.

Something Good,” which is a time for They always get their pencils out
students to share positive experiences to take notes in their journal and get
or stories. At the beginning of the year, on the edge of their seat with wide
it was somewhat forced because the eyes and say, “This is great! What’s the
relationships weren’t forged yet. But special sauce?” I look at them with the
with time, it has blossomed into an eyes of a sage and say, “The special
amazing experience for students and for sauce is YOU! It’s what you bring to the
me. I’ve learned to listen in a different classroom that cannot be replaced
way. I’ve gotten to know students in a by someone else or a computer. It’s
way that I never have before. What has the magic that you bring to the room
come out of it is a classroom commu every day.”
nity that is supportive, nurturing, and
more connected than ever. It also has Every human civilization that has been
given a lot to me as their instructor and unearthed has some commonalities.
guide. Students have routinely said, What endures from cultures is often art,
“This is the only class that I talk in.” music, dance, and writing—all ways to
Incidentally, my retention rate for next express the human condition and reflect
year is the highest it’s been in my the human experience. If we continue
career—in a year without performances! to take the teacher out of the class-
Students feel seen, heard, and vali- room, what sort of enduring legacy are
dated. A digital tool or automated chat we going to leave behind as it relates to
box simply cannot do that. teaching, learning, and the importance
of quality education practices for our
During my tenure, I’ve had about a most beloved resource—our children? (J.
dozen student teachers. At some point Lahman, personal communications,
in our process, I tell them that there are April 3, 2021)

FIGURE 8.3 Special Sauce
Lahman, like Macioce, also points
out the limitations of AI and
reminds us that teachers bring “the
Special Sauce
special sauce” to learning. Of
Ingredients course, it’s not just the teachers of
the arts who bring the special
Help Help
students students be sauce (see Figure 8.3) into teach-
find a human part of a ing and learning; teachers of all
connection. community.
subjects and grade levels who form
strong, rigorous cultures also
Let students Commit to “bring the magic.”
feel seen, being the
heard, and special F ive-Gen leaders can view
validated. sauce!
Macioce and Lahman as examples
of a boomer teacher and a Gen X
teacher who successfully transi-
tioned their teaching from the 20th to the 21st century. Through the decades, they
constantly reassessed the emotional needs of their students as they provided highly
rigorous instruction. They, and teachers from all generations who bring their
humanity to teaching while providing high rigor in learning, cannot be replaced by
AI or teacherbots.
But what about the algebra teachers I mentioned earlier, the ones who were defi-
cient in these areas? After I observed their online teaching, I met with them and
asked if they considered humanity and rigor to be essential traits in their teach-
ing. Of course, they said they did. All teachers want to be humane and rigorous.
These teachers didn’t want to be viewed as callous or ineffective. But great teach-
ing is an art, and sometimes there’s a gap between what teachers think they are
doing and what they are actually doing. In the Digital Age, where the demands on
schools will be greater than ever before, it will be the 5-Gen leader’s job to help
struggling teachers find their special sauce—or replace them, perhaps by a new
form of AI.
Ultimately, 5-Gen leaders must remember Macioce’s and Lahman’s most import-
ant lesson: Regardless of where our technology takes us in the years ahead, we
will still be leading and teaching humans who need other humans. As boomers,
Gen Xers, millennials, Gen Zers, Gen Alphas (and eventually Gen Betas) bring
their disparate generational experiences and views into our schools, it is the job
of the 5-Gen leader to understand them and unite them with the eternal thread
of humanity.
This will be the special sauce of leadership in the 2020s.

44. Question everything. Keep what is worth

keeping and discard the rest.
45. Study what is happening at the university level
the practices will trickle down into PreK-12
systems.
46. New requirements in school systems are
leading to new types of administrative positions;
embrace them.
47. Know that student learning data will be more
abundant and will be used to drive instruction.
48. Prepare for the day when AI can replace some
teachers.
49. As technology makes the world less human, the
arts will be needed more than ever.
50. Five-Gen Leaders must never lose their own
humanity.

50 Tips for Transitioning
to 5-Gen Leadership
Chapter 1
1. Know four distinct generations are in our teaching staffs, including Gen Z.
2. Understand the differences in the four teaching generations.
3. Recognize the digital generation gaps between each generation.
4. Realize the biggest digital generation gap is the one between the
boomers/Gen Xers and the millennials/Gen Zers.
5. Know millennials are leaving the profession in record numbers and

fewer Gen Zers are joining the teaching profession.
6. Study the characteristics millennials and Gen Zers are looking for in
a workplace and adjust practices.
7. Adjust recruiting strategies to find the best Gen Z teaching candidates.
8. Study the district’s recruiting and retention data, brainstorm solu-

tions, create a loose format, and then create a written Teacher
Recruiting and Retention Plan (TRRP).
Chapter 2
9. Honor and build upon the work of previous generations of educators.
10. Recognize the themes that link the generations of school leaders: the
love of working with students, the power of teachers, and the need to
mentor the next generation of leaders.
147
11. Continue the work done before us to equalize opportunities for all
ethnicities, genders, and lifestyles.
12. Understand the speed with which technology is reshaping our lives
and education.
13. Know the characteristics of Gen Alpha and consider how to adjust
teaching and learning to fit its needs.
14. Examine school culture to ensure it has the pillars needed to support
Gen Alpha.
Chapter 3
15. Be a coach, not a manager.
16. Understand how new parenting models require more attention to be

given to millennial and Gen Z teachers.
17. Remember how stressed younger teachers get over their evaluations.
18. When doing evaluations, give faster feedback, create dialogue, and be
specific and clear of what is expected.
19. Stress professionalism to all generations.
20. Help staffs work through communication issues that are caused by
generation gaps.
Chapter 4
21. Remember that all generations of teachers are more distracted than
in the past, which makes them harder to train.
22. Know our Gen Z and Gen Alpha students are more distracted than
in the past, which makes them harder to teach.
23. Recognize the constant interaction with technology is changing

brains and how people want to be taught.
24. Know the four generations of teachers have different views and needs,
but the four generations share new similarities because of their digital
lifestyles.
25. Look to different fields outside of education for tips on how to con-
nect with Teacher Z.
Chapter 5
26. Examine the effectiveness of the PD.
27. Know that companies in all fields are searching for effective ways to
train professionals.
28. Create effective PD initiatives by ensuring they are ongoing, that

coaching and support are provided to teachers, and by providing rele-
vant content.
29. Understand the eight types of PD and their relevance for the differ-
ent generations.
30. Know which teachers are in which generation.
31. Plan PD through a multigenerational lens.
32. Differentiate PD by generation.
Chapter 6
33. Understand the COVID-19 pandemic could do more to reset educa-
tion than all of the reform movements combined.
34. The digital generation gap must be closed between the younger
teachers and the more experienced teachers.
35. Helping Gen Z and Gen Alpha students deal with the emotional
impact of COVID-19 will be an ongoing challenge of the 2020s.
36. Be aware that while teacher experience is still valuable, the need to
use digital tools has closed the ability gap between younger teachers
and some older teachers; help mesh staffs by tapping into the
strengths of all generations.
37. Help the digitally deficient teachers by giving them tips on adjusting
their mindsets and by giving them training and resources.
38. Close the digital ability gap between you and your most digitally
savvy teachers.
50 TIPS FOR TRANSITIONING TO 5-GEN LEADERSHIP 149
Chapter 7
39. Help staff members understand Gen Z and Gen Alpha have a more
global view and are more politically active than their predecessors.
40. Remember that political and civil rights topics that were untouchable
20 years ago could be embraced by Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
41. Some Gen Z students have become global activists through YouTube,
social media, and the internet; expect your Gen Z students to use
these resources to further their causes as they lead locally.
42. Gen Z and Gen Alpha students are much more likely to question
authority and reject the status quo, so be prepared to work coopera-
tively with them to find solutions.
43. Consider the steps you can take systemically to further the pursuit of
racial justice; it’s more than cultural celebrations or social events.
Chapter 8
44. Question everything. Keep what is worth keeping and discard the rest.
45. Study what is happening at the university level because the practices
will trickle down into PreK–12 systems.
46. New requirements in school systems are leading to new types of

administrative positions; embrace them.
47. Know that student learning data will be more abundant and will be
used to drive instruction.
48. Prepare for the day when AI can replace some teachers.
49. As technology makes the world less human, the arts will be needed
more than ever.
50. Five-Gen leaders must never lose their own humanity.

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Index
5-Gen leaders, 35–37, 41–42, 48–49, 52, American school values, 33

56–58, 65–66, 75–76, 80, 88, 94–99, American students and teachers, 113
103, 107, 117, 135, 137–39, 141 American teachers, 10
lesson, 116 American teachers work, 11
5-GEN LEADERSHIP, 2, 4, 6–8, 10, 12, American teaching force, 6, 43, 122
14–16, 20–21, 23–24, 38–39, 58, 70, American University School of Education, 75
90–91, 108, 118–19, 142–46 American workforce, 6, 43
5-Gen Leadership Tips, 51 America’s schools, 117
12th-grade students, 127 answers, 5, 16, 29–30, 45, 62, 74, 84, 107, 113,
129–30
ability, 13, 28, 38, 54, 60, 93, 98, 102, 129, 138 Aol, 86
applicant’s, 103 apologies, 103
abstract generational information, 85 appeal, 18–19, 43, 71, 74–75, 88–89
accelerant, 94 appeal to teachers, 89
access, 6, 13, 85, 93, 98–99, 110, 112 Apple, 41–43
access to technology, 98 applicant’s ability to use technology, 103
AC schools, 69 apps, 3, 6–7, 26, 31–33, 44, 47, 77, 83, 102, 104–7
activities, 61, 75, 81, 83, 86–88, 90, 125, 127, tracking, 47–48
130, 139 apps and programs, 107
old-school, 139 apps and programs to work, 107
administrator in Dublin City Schools, 55 apps teachers, 79
administrator in Dublin City Schools in APQC, 75
Dublin, 55 artificial intelligence, 6, 33–36, 38, 121, 130,
administrators, 12–14, 17–18, 21, 30, 37–38, 44, 136–37
51, 54–55, 72, 94, 99, 106–8, 122, 124, 126 arts, 118, 134, 136–42, 146
female, 29 performing, 138–39
administrators and teachers, 47, 99 asphalt, 112
administrator’s students, 132 assistance, 84, 119, 131
administrator to change districts, 30 assistant, 53–55, 127–28
advancement, 10, 14, 19, 127 assistant superintendent, 28, 37, 44, 127
affirmation, 55, 85 athletics, 139
African American students, 29 atmosphere, 43
agenda, 83, 90 attention, 34, 51, 55, 58, 61–62, 65–68, 82–83,
ages, 4–6, 10, 28, 31–32, 35, 58, 61, 66, 102, 98–99, 144
105, 109, 111, 122 audience, 1, 59, 65–66, 69, 76, 82–84, 88
algebra, 128–29 authority, 33, 114–15
altruistic, 38 authority figures, 46
American boomer, 110 average score, 13
American education, 10, 27, 94, 96
Americans, 25, 27, 65, 104, 116 baby boomer candidates, 19
adult, 65 baby boomers, 1–3, 5, 7, 13, 66, 80, 110
American schools, 24, 28–29, 94, 111, 116 fellow, 4
American school students, 98 band, 115–16, 139
163
batteries, 26 climate, 1, 7, 117
BBC News, 110 peers impact, 118
BC schools and AC schools, 69 societal, 14, 21
blend, 74–75 Change’s staff, 86
Bologna, 30, 32–33 change teachers, 76
boomer administrators, 42 Chapter, 3, 15, 27–29, 37, 45, 51–53, 57, 77, 81,
boomer educators, 122, 134 89, 101–3, 107–9, 111–13, 127, 143–46
boomer heart, 2 characteristics, generational, 4, 80, 82–83
boomer peers, 104 characteristics millennials, 21, 143
boomers, 1–9, 11–15, 17, 19, 21, 28–29, 41–49, characteristics of Gen Alpha, 39, 144
51–54, 69, 79–81, 83–88, 100–106, 109, charge, 20
113–14, 121–25 cheese, 136–37
experienced, 88 child, 26–27, 47–48
older, 99 average Gen Alpha, 34
boomers and Gen Xers change, 105 children, 29, 38, 45–47, 112, 114, 140
boomers and Gen Xers to use technology, 102 china, 96, 121
boomers and Xers, 3, 46, 52, 79–80, 84 choices, 10, 62, 65, 69, 85, 127
boomer set, 72 cities, 25, 81, 126
boomers/Gen, 9 class, 43, 47, 53, 61, 69, 100, 110–12, 128–31,
Boomers to Alphas, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21 133–35, 138, 140
boomer teacher rolling drunk, 103 classrooms, 10–11, 34–36, 46–47, 52, 54–55,
boomer teachers, 9, 61, 77, 84, 86, 103–5, 141 60–61, 76, 78, 80, 88–89, 94, 100, 102–5,
baby, 100 129–31, 140
young, 54 closures, 96–97
boomer thought process, 104 clues, 66
boomer women, 29 CNN, 67
boss, 15, 29, 44 coach, 15, 41–42, 54–55, 57–58, 89, 144
bots, 130 coaching, 15, 18, 41, 43, 45, 47–49, 51–53, 55,
brains, 9, 43, 59–61, 65, 68–69 57, 91, 102
changing, 70, 144 coffee, 83, 89, 104–5
breaking news, 68 co-leaders, 135
breakout rooms, 77, 125 collaborative teams, 42–43
Briseno, 115–16 college students, 48, 109, 126
budgets, 9, 135–36 adult, 109
business world, 51, 57, 98 colors, 10, 30, 67–68, 89, 97–98
bygone technology, 86 commitment, 51–52, 117
campus, 53, 115, 125–27 committee of teachers, 51
campuses, 107, 122, 125, 127 committees, 12, 14, 51–52, 88, 127
candidates, 17–19 Common Sense Media, 31–32
interviewing teacher, 11 Communicating, 57
capstone student teaching experience, 123 communication, 13, 37, 48–49, 51–52, 55–57,
careers, 27, 29, 37, 52, 58, 71, 77–79, 116, 87, 138
122–23, 133, 140 constant, 48–49
Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 10–12 community, 29, 32, 44, 79, 113, 115, 134, 141
century, 8, 14, 27, 32–33, 35–36, 38, 42–44, 79, companies, 12, 15, 30, 36, 75, 82, 91, 98, 102–3,
88, 138, 141 117, 145
century leadership model, 45 computers, 41, 60, 65, 69, 104, 129–30, 139–40
century school leadership, 4 conflicts, 28, 43–44, 52, 83
century teacher, 59 experienced intergenerational, 102
century teaching, 52, 78 constant interaction, 13, 17, 69–70, 144
Chae, 47 content, 53, 65, 68, 72–73, 75–76, 80, 85,
chairs, 44, 112 88–90, 125, 129, 132–33, 137, 140
challenges, 9, 24, 29, 52, 74, 117 contracts, teacher union, 51
chances, 14, 42, 104, 133 control, 12, 42, 107, 112
change, 5, 7–9, 29, 31, 33, 83–86, 88–89, 94, 96, gun, 111
104–5, 111, 113, 117, 119, 133–34 losing, 106

conversations, 13, 15, 17, 19, 50, 52–54, 56, Distracted Students, Distracted Teachers, 61
106–7, 112, 114, 117–18, 132, 134 Distracted Word Cloud, 62–64
cost, 11, 31, 33 districts, 10–12, 14, 28, 30, 36, 43, 72, 74–76,
country, 10, 64, 110–12, 118, 121, 126–27 78, 117, 119, 126, 128
COVID-19, 93–95, 97–99, 101, 103, 105, 107, diversity, 112, 117–18
113, 139 Donnie, 117
COVID-19 school closures, 93 dramatic teaching, 32
COVID-19 school dominoes, 94 dress, 50–51
COVID school closures, 99, 139 Dublin City Schools, 55
crack, 9
crackers, 136–37 economy, 98, 103
cravings to use technology, 69 educating students, 133
Creating Multigenerational PD, 73, 75, 77, 79, education, 5, 21, 23, 32–33, 37–39, 69–70, 94,
81, 83, 85, 87, 89, 91 97, 103, 123–25, 128, 130–33, 137, 144–45
crux, 7, 43 traditional, 33
culture, 23, 42–43, 115, 140 education apps, 37, 80, 84
school’s, 115 education leaders, 122
curriculum, teacher’s, 130 education model for Gen Alpha and Gen, 34
Daggett, 94 education models, 34, 94, 133
data education system, 94, 124
retention, 11, 19–21, 143 education technology, 14, 36
school’s, 78 education technology specialists, 128
student learning, 142, 146 education technology usage, 18
days, 32, 38, 51–53, 55–57, 61, 65–67, 73, educators, 28, 30, 37–39, 49, 51, 56–57, 60, 78,
75–77, 79, 83, 94–96, 103, 106, 109, 81, 95–96, 102, 118, 122, 124, 137–38
111–12, 117–18, 126–27 educators and parents, 95
death, 113, 118 elementary school playground, 26
debt, 6, 12, 14 email, 6, 53, 55–57, 69
decade, 3, 8, 21, 29, 32, 34, 36, 61, 65, 116, 122, emotions, 118–19, 134
131–32 empathy, 131, 134
demands, 13, 36–37, 94–95, 115, 141 employees, 12–13, 42, 51, 74–75, 102, 127
demands on schools, 141 engagement, 13–14, 86, 138
design, 73–74, 77, 81 English learners, 63
detractors, 44 Entrepreneurship, 35
devices, 6, 13–14, 18, 31–36, 61, 65, 78, 80, 106, equity, 25, 117–18
131 racial, 117
devices and screen time, 34 evaluations, 41, 49–50, 52–53, 58, 80, 144
dialogue, 47, 49–52, 58, 83, 144 evaluation scores, 49–50, 54
generational, 86 evaluators, 49, 53–55
multigenerational, 81, 83 Examples of bygone technology, 86
differences, 11, 19, 21, 42, 57–58, 86–87, 132, 143 exercise, 2, 6, 62–65, 81–83, 85
differences in generations, 58 expectations, 5, 45, 55, 106, 117, 136–37
Digital Ability, 101 experienced new generational problems in
digital generation gaps, 8–9, 21, 106, 108, 143, 145 schools, 16
digital tools, 13–14, 96, 107–8, 125, 129, 140, 145 experience in helping teachers use technology, 128
Diley, Jim, 37 experiences, 8, 10, 12, 27, 29, 33–34, 52, 54, 57,
direct instruction, 85, 97, 128–29 74, 76, 79–80, 128, 130–31, 134–35
disadvantaged students, 98 exterior information, 77, 79
discipline students, 28
disobeying, 46 Facebook, 66, 114
disparate generational, 8, 50 FaceTime, 26, 138
disparate generational experiences, 141 FaceTime conversations, 27
disruptions, 53, 62, 96, 133 faculty, 126
unprecedented school, 95 families, 11, 32, 37–38, 46, 95–98, 114, 121
Disruptive Times, 8, 31, 95–96 farmers, 26, 38
dissatisfactions, 10 father, out-of-touch boomer, 121
INDEX 165
feedback, 13–14, 48, 52–55, 58, 74, 144 Gen Alpha’s life, 35
clear, 49 Gen Alpha spending, 32
constructive, 55 Gen Alpha students, 46–47, 59–60, 62, 81,
honest, 42–43 84–85, 93, 97–100, 102, 108, 117, 119,
fellow boomers, 5, 45 121, 144–46
females, 29–30 Gen Alpha students tap, 112
fewer Gen Zers, 1, 15, 19, 21, 143 Gen Alpha students visions, 97
Figure, 3–4, 7–9, 14–15, 17–18, 20–21, 25, 31, Gen Beta students, 123, 133
34–35, 49–51, 56–58, 62–64, 67–68, 86–87, generational, 54, 87
89–91, 101, 107–8, 124, 135, 141–42 Generational Challenges, 8
figure it out, 3 generational conflicts, 75
findings, 3, 48, 80, 84, 98 generational differences, 7–8, 56, 81–83, 90
fitness, 41–42 generational differences and conflicts, 83
fit school leadership, 43 generational disparity, 3
Five-Gen leaders, 79–80, 87–89, 93, 99, 107, generational diversity, 117
109–10, 115–17, 134, 139, 141–42, 146 generational issues, addressing, 82
Five Steps, 35 generational lens, 74
Five Steps to Lead Gen Alpha, 35 Generational Lessons, 93, 95, 97, 99, 101, 103,
Five Technology Goals, 107 105, 107
Flexible School Hours, 35 generational perspectives, 57
Florida, 104, 111 Generation Alpha, 33
Floyd, George, 113 Generation Alpha students, 34, 118
focus, 17, 28, 44–45, 49, 67, 71, 95, 113–14 generational problem-solving, 80
food, 26, 83, 89, 113 generational shifts, 110
forgot, 65–66 generational stereotyping, 4
formative assessments, 16, 72, 100 generational teaching ranks, 15, 99
Franke, 32 generational transition, 124
fulfillment, 38 generational trend, 123
Furness, 130–31 generational viewpoint, 12
generation commonalities, 58
Gahanna Lincoln High School, 118, 133 generation gaps, 1, 4, 8–9, 12, 45, 57–59,
games, 4, 26, 41–42, 116 81–82, 102, 109, 144
gap, 8–9, 69, 80–83, 86–88, 93, 97, 106, 141 Generation Glass, 32, 45
generational, 113 generations, 2–5, 8–10, 15, 19, 21, 23–25,
gap in technology ability, 106 29–35, 37–39, 49, 51–52, 54–62, 68–71,
gaps for low-income students, 97 74–75, 79–80, 82–89, 91, 102–3, 115–18,
Gen, 2–3, 5–17, 19–21, 30–37, 41–43, 45–55, 132–33, 143–45
57–60, 69–70, 78–81, 84–86, 93–106, 109, advanced, 23
111–19, 121–23, 125–29, 131–33, 135, boomer, 44
137–39, 143–44, 146 distinct, 1, 21, 143
fewer, 16 experienced teaching, 80
school administrators recruiting, 17 figure-it-out, 3
Gen Alpha, 3, 21, 23, 25–39, 45–46, 95, 97–98, first, 6, 16, 35, 79
100, 109–11, 118–19, 123, 126–27, fit, 45
133–34, 144, 146 highest-educated, 7
first, 125 lost, 6, 97
name, 30 most tested, 16
support, 39, 144 multiple, 12, 19
Gen Alpha and Gen Beta students, 123, 133 newest, 3
Gen Alpha and Gen Z, 32–35, 78, 94, 126 older, 2, 8, 11, 13, 43, 49, 74, 84
Gen Alpha demands, 127 pre-internet, 5
Gen Alpha’s constant exposure, 34 previous, 2–3, 5–8, 11–14, 31, 39, 46, 52, 83,
Gen Alpha’s efforts, 96 116, 143
Gen Alpha’s efforts to use technology, 96 teacher’s, 80
Gen Alpha’s Impact, 33 tech-savvy, 32
Gen Alpha’s Impact on Education, 33 wealthiest, 24

generations form, 121 hours, 1, 6, 31–32, 34, 42, 53, 61, 68, 73,
generation’s reliance, 103 75–76
generations ride, 93 hours of sleep, 61
generations share, 70, 144 hours online, 61
Gen Xers, 2–3, 5–6, 12–13, 41–45, 47–48, 69, houses, 6, 26, 101, 110, 113, 126
72, 74, 79–81, 83–88, 102, 104, 106, Houston, 63–64
113–14, 122–24 human connection, 138–39
Gen Xers change, 105 humanity, 121, 134, 137, 141–42, 146
Gen Xers to use technology, 102 humans, 121, 130, 133, 141
Gen Zers, 1–3, 5–9, 15–17, 19–21, 43–45, hungry student, 137
47–49, 51–52, 79–80, 83, 85, 87–88, hyper-change, 8, 78, 94
110–11, 113–14, 121–23, 125–26
Gen Zers and Gen Alphas, 109–10 if you got a paddling at school, 28
Gen Z Teachers, 50 immigrant students, 29
Global Leadership Question, 74 impact, 21, 23–25, 27–29, 31, 33, 35, 37, 39,
goals, 2, 16, 20, 33, 50, 54, 106, 125, 138 78–80, 94, 97
school’s, 18 Impact of Digital Ability on Teacher
teachers set, 54 Seniority, 101
Google, 17, 62, 85, 134 impact of family income, 97
grades, 16, 27, 73, 100, 131 impact of family income on student, 97
graduates, 34, 111, 114 impact of Ted’s generation, 24
grandparents, 26, 55 impact of Ted’s generation on American
grant, small, 135 schools, 24
great teachers and leaders, 45 impact on schools, 21
grit, 48–49, 102 impact on teachers, 80
group of millennial teachers, 10 inclusion, 117
groups, 2–3, 7, 10, 51–52, 64, 66, 74, 77, 79–81, inclusivity, 115–16
83–85, 87, 112, 115–16, 132, 135 individuals, 4, 11, 28, 57, 82, 112, 117, 131
generational, 80–81 Inexperienced Teacher, 101
largest, 6, 122 information, 16–17, 20, 31, 49, 56, 60, 62, 67,
next, 37 69, 76–80, 85, 90
guiding staff to change, 29 relevant, 78–79
input, 11, 14, 49, 51, 53, 83
helping, 7, 14, 21, 37, 42, 48, 87, 99, 102, 112, 130 instruction, technology- centered, 127
helping students, 38, 88 interaction, 46, 60, 62, 129, 138
Help Millennial, 50 interests, 33, 79, 90, 126, 130
Help staff members, 119, 146 International Center for Leadership in
Help staffs work, 58, 144 Education, 94
high school classes, 99 internet, 5–7, 9, 61, 66, 69, 71, 99, 102, 106–7,
high school department head, 7 109–10, 119, 126, 130, 133–34
high school graduates, 16 internet and social media, 66, 134
high school levels, 114 internet gap, 9
high school operations, 122 iPads, 26, 32–33, 61, 104
high schools, large, 139 issues, 7, 11–12, 14, 19, 21, 51–52, 112–14
high school science, 27 i use more technology, 84
high schools function, 125
high school students, 7, 13, 16, 28, 61, 63, 110 Jim Crow’s Schools, 25
high school teenagers, 109 job description, 42–43
hiring, 20 job fairs, 11, 17
history, 4, 8, 11, 23–24, 30, 60, 69, 115 jobs, 7, 10–11, 15, 17–18, 24, 29–30, 38, 47–48,
history of generational leadership in schools, 24 53, 66, 102
home, 27–28, 32, 34, 36, 41, 65–66, 69, 95, Johnson, 74
99–100, 103, 125–27, 130, 132 journalists, 67–68
home health care technology, 104 jump, 30, 36, 55–56
hoodies, wear, 118 junior, 27, 36, 127
Hope School, named, 83 Junior high, 27
INDEX 167
Kasasa, 4, 6 learning, 27, 29, 32–37, 39, 46–47, 55, 57, 72,
Kelly, 97 74–75, 88–89, 100–101, 125–26, 140–41, 144
KEY QUESTIONS, 20 remote, 76, 95, 97–100, 102, 105, 113,
kids, 2, 28, 30, 32, 45–47, 60–61, 94, 96, 98–99, 125–26, 132–33
112, 137–38 learning companions, 131
kindness, 37, 134–35, 140 Learning Network, 94
Know, 21, 31, 39, 70, 91, 107, 142–46 learning preferences of Gen Alpha and Gen, 35
knowledge, 8, 31, 74, 98, 100, 102, 128, 134 learning time, 36
generational, 12 lenses
Know millennials, 21, 143 multigenerational, 42, 81–82, 145
Koning, 25 multigenerations, 91
Leo, 29–30, 38
lack, 1, 10–11, 13, 47, 49, 77, 98, 102, lessons, 54, 56, 78, 86, 90, 105, 110, 114,
111, 129 124–26, 128–29, 131, 138, 141
lack of gun control and safety in American lessons for 5-Gen leaders, 56, 135
schools, 111 letters, 36, 135
lack of technology prowess, 102 life, 13, 15, 19, 32, 36, 38, 41, 87–88, 122, 125,
lack technology skills, 103 127, 136, 138
Lahman, 134, 138–41 life experiences, 3, 8, 49, 86, 125
Lahman’s students, 139 life of Gen Alpha, 32
language, 43 lifestyles, digital, 69–70, 80, 144
laptops, school-issued, 69 lifetime of Gen Alpha, 32
leaders, 5, 7, 12–15, 17, 19–20, 24–25, 27, 37, limb, 96
39, 42–45, 51, 80, 82–85, 115, 117 Lockley, 12–13
5-Gen school, 19 log, 56, 69, 100, 129, 132
boomer school, 44 lonelier, 138
business, 3, 102 longing, 138
collaborative school, 42 Los Angeles, 9, 62–63
discipline challenges school, 28 love, 6, 34, 39, 41, 110, 115–16, 121, 136–37,
guide school, 124 139, 143
high-profile school, 44 low-income students, 97
informal, 5, 52 loyal, 4, 57, 113–14, 116
millennial school, 122
post-internet, 122 Macioce, 133–37, 139–41
practices school, 137 magic thread, 38
pre-internet, 122 Making Generational Adjustments, 12
stress school, 12 manager, 41–42, 50, 58, 144
time government, 28 marching, 115–16
well-meaning school, 71 Master Teacher, 133, 135
leaders and peers, 57 material, 90, 130–32
leadership, 3, 8, 14, 21, 43–44, 52, 54–55, 73, matter, 4, 42, 57, 80, 137
79, 86, 116–17, 127–28 McCrindle Staff, 31–32, 34–35
educational, 73 member of Gen Alpha, 23, 26, 38
generational, 3, 24 members, 1, 7, 23–25, 27, 31, 45, 66, 83–84,
leadership days, 29 115–16
leadership doors, 29 band, 116
leadership philosophies, 19, 43 mentoring, 18–19, 103
leadership positions, 13, 29–30, 121 mentoring and reverse mentoring, 103
leadership roles, 30, 108 mentors, 8, 14, 37, 39, 88, 143
leadership skills, 13, 44 middle school concept, 27–28
leadership training, 13 middle school counselors, 135
Lead Gen Alpha, 35 middle school educators, 27
leading schools, 7–8, 14, 31, 95–96, 122 middle schools, 7, 27–28, 30, 46, 61, 99, 111,
leading teachers, 3 113–14
started, 7 male, 29
learners, 2–3, 84, 90, 131 middle school students, 135

millennial administrator, 133 nation’s teacher shortages, 11
millennial assistant superintendent, 44 new and unprecedented school disruptions, 95
millennial candidates, 19 newest generation of student, 3
millennial employee, 42 New generations, 3, 30, 35
millennial evaluations, 49 multiple, 133
millennial leaders, 45, 100, 125 new hybrid school/learning models, 97
millennial managers, 6, 17 new leadership positions, 128
millennial members, 116 new leadership positions in schools, 128
millennial parents, 46 new paths, 35, 121, 127–28
millennial principals, 122 new pillars, 35
millennial professionals, 48–50 New Pillars for Gen Alpha, 35
millennials, 1–3, 5–10, 12–17, 19–21, 37, 41–54, news, 13, 56, 66–68, 73, 87, 97, 102, 125
57–58, 66, 79–81, 83–88, 104–5, 108–10, new school models, 97
113–14, 121–23, 125, 127, 131–33, 141 new school year, 95
ascending, 128 new teacher/mentor relationship, traditional, 88
benefit, 85 new type of audience, 59
coach, 49 new types, 2–3, 33, 37, 48, 84, 122–25, 127,
fit, 55 133, 135, 142, 146
leading, 3 new types of devices, 6, 35, 80
role, 122 new types of devices and education apps, 80
millennials and older teachers, 16 new types of leaders, 123
millennials/Gen, 9 new types of positions, 128
millennial siblings, 21 new types of schools for Gen Alpha, 33
older, 3 new way to use technology, 104
millennial son, 121 New York, 64, 100
Millennials’ Shifts, 15 New York City, 64, 95, 112, 126
Millennials’ Shifts in Priorities, 15 New York Times, 95, 111
millennial teachers, 1, 9–11, 17, 20, 48, 112, New Zealand Parliament, 1–2
125, 127–28 next generation of leaders, 39, 143
millennial workers, 13 next group of leaders, 37
Mind, 62, 81–83, 86–88, 134 nurture students, 133
mindsets, 6, 45, 55, 87, 104–5, 108, 125, 145
minutes, 32, 53, 66, 77, 85, 87, 112, 129 observation, 53–54
mix, 8, 34, 67–68, 75, 85, 127 officer, 117
model, flexible schooling, 124 offline students, 98
model technology, 93 Ohio, 25, 28, 55, 117–18, 124, 133
model technology in PD, 93 Ohio school leader, 102
mom, 114 older teachers, 8–9, 16, 28, 55, 57, 79–80, 88,
money, 11–12, 24, 97–98, 134 99–100, 102–4, 108, 122
moniker, 30 older teachers to rip, 103
Montgomery County Students for Change, 111 ongoing, 49, 76, 91, 105, 108, 145
Moore’s Law, 8, 31 online, 16, 18, 32, 61, 100–101, 126,
Morales, 114–16 129, 132
movement, student-led, 111 teachers teaching, 128
Ms, 83–86, 88–89, 130 online in school, 32
MTV generation, 5 online learning, 94, 99, 126
multigenerational, 86 order, 104–5
multigenerational awareness, 83 organizational, 79
multigenerational issues, 84 organizations, 13, 78–79, 82–83, 115
Multigenerational PD, 71–72 pace, 13, 77, 85, 90
multigenerational techniques, 83 pandemic, 95–98, 102, 104–5, 113, 124, 127,
Multigenerational Workforce, 57 129, 135, 139
Mulvahill, 11 pandemic era students, 129
Murray, 56–57, 102–3, 117 pandemic school year, 134
music, 42, 61, 65, 68–69, 115, 136, 140 paradigm, 101–2
national school walkout, 111 parenting, overprotective, 47
INDEX 169
parents, 24, 26, 28–29, 32, 34, 38, 43, 45–48, pre-internet generation of leaders, 5
56–57, 94–96, 98–99, 111, 113–14, 121, 124 PreK, 64, 121, 124–26, 137, 146
parents and students, 124 preparation programs, fewer teacher, 123
Parkland High School, 7, 111 preparing students, 24, 119
Parkland shootings, 111 Presentation Methods for Teacher Z, 88
part, 14, 18, 23, 26, 33, 35, 38, 47–48, 53–55, president, 27, 44, 67, 97, 110, 115–16
83–85, 105–6, 110, 112–13, 126–27, 129 principals, 5, 8, 18, 24–25, 29, 38, 103, 111–12,
participants, 63, 90, 112 123, 128, 135
passions, 32, 34, 41–43, 112 female school, 29
past, 9–13, 15, 45–46, 49, 52, 69–70, 77, 111, priorities, 15, 117
114, 137, 144 private sector, 48, 75, 89, 102
paths, 97, 127 problems, 10, 12, 15, 37, 43–44, 46–47, 66, 80,
patient, 9 82, 128–29, 136
PD (professional development), 2–3, 21, 59, 69, experienced new generational, 16
71–77, 79, 86, 88–91, 93, 106–7, 145 profession, 1, 5, 9–10, 12, 16, 21, 86, 88,
PD by generation, 91, 145 122–23, 137, 143
PD days, 73, 75–76, 83 professional development. See PD
PD designers, 73–74 professional dress, 50–51
PD leaders, 71 programs, 12, 14–15, 18, 25, 100, 105, 107, 118,
PD Problem, 71–72 123, 130, 134, 137
PD sessions, 3, 65, 69, 73, 76–77, 80, 83, 88 project, 135
PD sessions and generations, 79 protests, 109–12, 114, 118
PD Topics, 71, 79 silent, 112
PD to teachers, 72 punished students, 111
peers, 3, 7, 49, 52, 57, 62–63, 81, 84, 100, 102, Purdue Global, 4–7
106, 109, 133 purpose, 15, 19, 38, 113, 118
experienced, 2, 8, 55 pursuit, 110, 113, 119, 146
peers and school issues, 81
performance, 54, 75, 138, 140 qualifications, 30
person, 20, 43, 53–54, 87, 117, 126, 129, 133, questions, pertinent, 137
135, 138
personal communications, 23, 25, 29, 38, 55, racism, 113–14, 117
102, 119, 135–40 Ramaswamy, 29–30
personality, 54, 129–30 rate of change, 8–9, 31
personal technology, 3, 65 Recruiting Gen Z Teachers, 16
Person in charge of gathering, 20 Redesign school days, 35
perspectives, 18, 57 Red Rover, 26
pertinent questions for 5-Gen leaders, 137 regressing, 136–37
phones, 17, 26, 36, 41, 65–66, 72, 84, 93, 104, rehearsal, 138–39
136, 139 reinventing, 42
college student’s, 47 relationships, 37, 42–43, 45, 57, 85, 131, 133, 140
phrase, 1, 54, 97 relevancy, 62, 75–77, 79, 86
place, 1, 3, 14–16, 25, 49, 66, 89, 112, 123–24, Relevancy in teaching and learning, 79
129, 136 remind, 18, 37–38, 52, 57, 88, 141
place for Gen Alphas, 123 reminders, 37, 52, 133
plan, 7, 19, 72, 126 remind teachers, 82, 88
political activism, 109, 111, 113, 115, 117, 119 Remote learning and new hybrid school/
poll, 11, 66–67 learning models, 97
Pope, 110 rents, 126
positions, 12–14, 117, 125, 128 research, 4, 33, 69, 75–76, 85, 87, 127, 139
principal, 30 reshaping, 8, 39, 94, 122, 144
posts, 114 resources, 14, 50, 107–8, 114, 118, 140, 145–46
poverty, 97–98 Retaining Millennial Teachers, 14
power of technology to reshape parenting, 47 retreat, 44
praise, 37, 46, 53, 57, 85, 135 reverse mentoring, 57, 71, 88, 103
precocious boomers, 45 revolves, 115

risks, 47, 52, 71, 128 school PD, 72
role of teachers, 123 school principal, 42
room, 3, 12, 18, 33, 83–85, 89, 93, 105, 111, 140 school psychologist, 118
Rosenberg, 31 school reform movements, 28
Rutgers Business School, 102 schools, 3–5, 10–21, 23–28, 32–34, 36–38,
46–49, 51–53, 59–63, 72, 77–79, 88–89,
safety, 16, 33, 80, 111 93–101, 111–13, 117–18, 121–24, 126–29,
salaries, 12, 14, 25 131–33, 138–39, 141
sales rep, 41 5-Gen, 76
savvy teachers, 106–8, 145 charter, 132
schedules, 14, 34, 36, 127, 132 country, 28
school administrators, 12, 25, 37, 42–43, 50, 77, elementary, 9, 26–27, 64
113, 122–23 fictional, 83
burdened, 53 force, 36
high, 132 greatest, 117
retired, 23 high, 26–28, 30, 34, 36–37, 53, 59, 62–63,
school agendas, public, 124 103, 110, 125, 127–28, 132, 139
school apocalypse, 94 intermediary, 27
school authority, 111 large, 57
school building, 80 missionary, 25
school campuses, 122 nation’s, 93
school closings, 97 new, 36
school closures, 32, 56, 93, 102 old, 103
prolonged, 97 public, 16, 28, 79, 124, 132–33
school colors, 51 reconfigure, 35
school communication, 56 regular, 95
school community, 139 reshape, 18, 97
school culture, 14, 33, 39, 112, 144 small, 26, 33
positive, 118 school safety, 95
school days, 34, 61, 75 school’s blacktop, 112
school development, 53 schools for Gen Alpha, 33
school discontent, 132 school shooter, active, 78
school district personnel, 20 school shootings, 11, 16, 24, 78, 113
school districts, 20, 37–38, 76, 94 school’s mission, 88
school doors, 113 school song, 115
school environments, 13, 16 school’s students, 111
school fridge, 136 school staffs, 6, 81–82
school history, 8–9, 132 school staff stew, 3
schooling, 27 school success, 139
school in protest, 118 school systems, 12, 24, 42, 46, 124, 132, 142, 146
school issues, 81 local, 78
school leaders, 1, 3–4, 12–16, 18–19, 24–25, 27, next, 93
29, 37–39, 42–44, 48, 51–52, 94–96, school websites, 43
106–7, 110–13, 131–33 school work, 135
school leaders give stress, 14 schoolwork, 126
school leadership, 3, 12, 29, 127–28 school year, 38, 63, 75
complicated, 123 scores, 18, 53
school leadership positions, 95 screens, 34, 45, 62, 67–69, 84, 89, 100, 105, 128,
school leadership ranks, 122 136, 138
school leaders recognize, 14 teacher’s, 129
school leaders work, 16 Secondary schools, 27
school logos, 51 Secondary School Studies, 27
school machine, 43 seconds, 61, 67
school models, 121 sentence, 1, 59, 105
school online, 32 sessions, 2, 29, 76–77, 84, 90
school parking, 10 shared experience, 138–39
INDEX 171
shift, 3, 15, 27–28, 43, 55, 69, 97, 102, 105, student logs, 100
122, 124 student populations, 21, 116
shortage, national teacher, 10 student ranks, 117
shot, 67–68 students, 2–3, 7–9, 14–16, 18, 23–24, 27–29,
showcasing student, 18 32–39, 45–46, 54–55, 57–65, 69, 77–79,
Showexamples of teacher and student work, 18 84–86, 88, 94–103, 105–6, 108–14,
Silent Generation, 4, 7, 23–27, 29, 33–35, 37, 118–19, 124–41, 146
45, 66, 110 student’s actions, 136–37
Silent Generation and boomer administrators, 42 students and parents, 34, 57, 96
Silent Generation form, 33 student’s eye roll, 136
sin, 73 students of color, 10, 97–98
sin in educational leadership, 73 students plug, 100
skills, 11, 34–35, 38, 42–43, 46, 103 student’s preschool days, 131
skills students, 138 students protest, 112
sleep, 61 student’s sense, 139
slide rules, 36 student’s shoulder, 136
slides, 41, 68, 85, 90, 130 students showcase, 118
smartphones, 44, 57, 61, 65–66, 69 students stick, 118
Smith, 23, 25 students to share, 140
social media, 6, 9, 14, 16, 19, 24, 44, 89–90, students use technology, 99
110, 112, 114, 119, 138 student texts, 136
software, 130, 133 student unrest, 28
software updates, 60 student walkouts, 111
someplace, 126, 132 student work, 18
song, 115–16, 118 styles, 43, 45
specialists, 41 subject matter, 78–80, 137
special sauce, 140–41 subject matter and teaching method
speeds, processing, 8, 31 information, 80
staff and parents, 29 subjects, 78–80, 100, 133, 141
staff and parents and community, 29 subway, 81
staff meetings, 18, 75, 77 superintendents, 5, 8, 12, 24, 29–30, 51, 74,
staff members, 52, 56, 83, 87 111, 122–23, 127–28
staffs, 3–5, 15–18, 36–37, 52, 55–56, 59, 74–75, support, 33, 44, 50, 54, 75–77, 91, 116, 119,
80–84, 87–88, 100, 102–3, 106–7, 132, 135 130–31, 135, 145
guiding, 29 Swarbrick, 1–2
mesh, 108, 145 systemized, 14
multigenerational, 114 systems, 14, 16, 27–28, 34, 72, 79, 94–96, 117,
staff workroom, 56 123, 128, 131
standardized tests, 16, 28, 130 district teacher evaluation, 78
Starbucks, 6, 49, 89, 104–5
state, 5, 11–12, 15, 24, 72, 78, 110, 132–33 TABLE, 79–80
station, 67–68 tactics, 4, 14–15, 19, 21, 71
steps, 7, 19, 25, 35, 37, 49–50, 81, 86, 90, 106, Tactics for Creating Multigenerational PD, 73,
111, 128 75, 77, 79, 81, 83, 85, 87, 89, 91
Steps to Help Millennial and Gen, 50 taste, first, 59–60
stories, personal, 83 taught students, 128
stress, 14, 18, 50, 57, 60, 64, 86, 88, 127 teacher and student work, 18
stress levels, 13, 80 teacherbots, 141
stress school leaders and teachers, 12 teacher bravely, 2
student behavior, 137 teacher career, 134
student body, 112 teacher data, 20
student data, 130 teacher dress, 52
student data bank, 131 teacher dress code issues, 51
student growth, 139 teacher dress code issues in schools, 51
student in America, 99 teacher dress codes, 52
student leaders, 112 teacher evaluation information, 78

teacher evaluations, 54 proficient, 101
teacher experience, 108, 145 proud, 135
teacher force, 51, 68, 89 removing weak, 103
teacher growth, 106 secondary, 65
teacher leaders, 14, 122 senior, 55
teacher learn, 14 stressed younger, 58, 144
teacher lecture, 100 student, 140
teacher mailboxes, 56 substitute, 53
teacher pipeline, 15 technology-deficient, 103
teacher preparation programs, 15, 28, 123 tech-savvy, 79
teacher ranks, 101 trained, 3
teacher ratings, 78 training, 84
Teacher Recruiting, 20 watched, 9
written, 21, 143 weaker, 131
Teacher Recruiting and Retention Plan weak public school, 132
(TRRP), 20–21, 143 white, 25
teachers, 1–21, 26, 28, 34–39, 41–59, 61–62, teacher’s age, 80
65–66, 68–91, 93–95, 97–108, 112–14, teacher salaries, 12
122–23, 125–35, 137–38, 140–46 low, 12
algebra, 129, 131, 141 teachers and administrators, 51, 99
average, 121, 129 teachers approach, 49
award-winning drama, 133 teachers chances, 14
below-average, 131 teachers chances to model, 14
best digital, 107 teachers change, 105
better, 53, 58, 131 teachers complain, 72
black, 25 teacher’s courage, 54
breakable, 48 teachers energy, 83
coach, 53 Teacher Seniority, 101
coaching, 55 teachers in leadership decisions, 127
computer science, 59 teachers laugh, 84
contracted, 95 teachers of color, 10
days, 75 teachers of older generations, 11
deficient, 106, 108, 145 teachers on Ms, 86
digital all-star, 106 teachers quit, 10
distracted, 88 teachers start, 21, 75
effective, 140 teachers support, 75
elementary, 2, 26, 105 teachers tend, 14
emailed, 52 teachers tend to smile, 72
experienced, 13, 52, 61, 65, 79, 101–2, 108, teachers tend to use, 14
125, 145 teachers tend to value stability, 88
fellow, 106 teachers to answer, 84
fewer, 15, 123, 132 teachers use, 62, 96, 104
finest, 93, 106 teachers use technology, 107
first, 128 teacher’s webpage, 100
great, 45, 131, 138 teachers work, 18, 133
greatest, 132 teacher to assistant, 127
high school, 45, 65, 132 teacher training, 66
hired, 81 teacher unions, strong, 132
history, 27 teacher vacancies, 11
human, 130 Teacher Z, 88
impacting, 77 Teacher Z PD Checklist, 90
math, 129 teaching, 5–7, 26–27, 34–37, 39, 45–46, 51–53,
middle-aged, 66 59–60, 74–77, 79–80, 85–86, 88–89,
new, 11, 55 124–25, 129–32, 137, 140–41
old, 134 better, 75, 78
performing arts, 133 teaching box, 11
INDEX 173
teaching candidates, 11, 17, 21, 143 technology Theo, 27
Teaching Distracted Generations, 61, 63, 65, 67, 69 technology to reshape parenting, 47
teaching force, 6, 21, 46, 82, 125 technology training, 14
teaching generations, 21, 143 technology transition, 26
teaching information, 78–79 technology usage, 53, 105, 124
teaching jobs, 26, 100 5-Gen leaders model, 88
teaching/learning process, 29 expanded, 124
teaching method information, 80 Ted, 23, 25–28, 33, 37–38
teaching methods, 82, 125 Ted’s childhood, 26
teaching profession, 9, 11, 21, 35, 143 Ted’s generation, 24, 29
teaching ranks, 37, 123 teenagers, 7, 32–33, 61, 110, 114, 117
teaching staffs, 1–2, 5, 8, 12, 18, 21, 61, 143 teens, 96
team, 17–18, 26, 33, 41–42, 57, 82–83 testing, 10, 12, 16, 124
internal questions leadership, 81 tests, 5, 16, 28, 79
team leaders, 8, 41–42, 44 test scores, 18, 78–79, 95
tech ninja millennial, 41 Texas, 29, 63, 114–16
technological advancements, 33 texting, 52, 57, 65
technologist, 106 theatre, 134, 136
technology, 7–9, 13–14, 31–32, 35–36, 38–39, Theatre App students, 135
59–60, 65–66, 69–70, 76–77, 82–84, Thebault, 1
86–88, 93–94, 96–98, 100–102, 104–8, Theo, 23, 26–27, 31, 33–35, 38
121–22, 128, 136–37, 141–42, 144 Theodore, 23
automation, 98 thread, 133–34
balance, 134 time, 11–13, 17–18, 24–25, 27–29, 45, 60–61,
digital, 65 64–67, 73, 75, 78–79, 86–90, 103–7, 110,
incorporating, 102 117–19, 132, 140
latest, 13, 19 first, 55, 72, 105
new, 6, 35, 42, 83, 104 long, 60, 71
old, 36 screen, 34, 61, 65
powerful, 32, 125 teacher’s, 73
shunned, 100 time for 5-Gen leaders, 127
value, 14, 18 time for students to share, 140
technology ability, 76, 106 tips, 17–18, 56–57, 70, 76, 95, 108, 145
technology accelerations, 23, 31 Tips for Transitioning to 5-Gen
technology acumen, 125 Leadership, 21, 39, 58, 70, 91,
technology advancements, 8 108, 119, 142–43
technology availability, 60 tips to school leaders, 95
technology challenges, 84 tips to school leaders for surviving, 95
technology component, 79, 107 titles, 42, 103
strong, 34 topics, 28, 62, 79, 83–84, 110, 116–17
technology deficiency, 102 generational, 89
technology element, strong, 69 towns, small, 25, 27
technology fantasy, 60 toys, 26
technology generation, 32 trade, 102
technology generation gaps, 71 tradition, 103, 114–15, 125
technology improvement a, 107 Traditional school models, 124
technology iterations, 86 train, 65, 70, 74–75, 107, 144
technology proficiency, 101 trainers, 69, 72–74, 77
technology prowess, 102, 106 Training boomer and Gen, 104
technology savvy, 57, 93 training for teachers, 14
technology skills, 103, 132 training methods, 74–75
basic, 103 trainings, 2, 14, 35, 62–64, 68–69, 71–72,
technology snafus, 106 74–75, 77, 100, 104, 108
technology specialists, 56, 99 traits of Gen Alpha, 34
designated, 106 transform, 28, 33, 96, 124, 133
district’s, 72 transformative days, 94

transformative days for education, 94 Wayne, John, 44, 47
transgender student, 111 weaknesses, 15, 106
Transitioning, 21, 39, 43, 58, 70, 91, 108, 119, wear hoodies in school in protest, 118
142–43, 145 websites, 3, 41–42, 123, 135
transitioning to 5-Gen leadership, 21 welcome, 43
Transitioning to 5-Gen Leadership, 21, 39, 58, windows, 104
70, 91, 108, 119, 142 wind-up, 26
Trayvon Martin, 118 winter, 126, 132
tree, 96 women, 26, 29–30, 117
tricks, 47, 102 word cloud, 62–64
TriNet, 48 words, 3–4, 36, 42, 44, 46, 52, 62–63, 67–69, 71,
TRRP. See Teacher Recruiting and Retention 110, 115–17, 127–28, 133–34
Plan work, 4–8, 17–19, 39, 41–42, 47, 49, 72–74,
truth, 117, 136–37 85–86, 107, 117–19, 135, 137, 139,
tweens, 61 143–44, 146
Twitter, 56 hard, 24, 33
work environment, 12, 18
underserved students, 98 workers, 13, 17, 56, 74, 102
understanding, 4, 15, 51, 78, 86, 113, 125, workforce, 6, 10, 12, 16–17, 89
128–30, 137 changing, 42
better, 82, 86 work groups, establishing, 57
unit, 78, 134 work multigenerational PD techniques, 81
universities, 47–48, 102, 115–16, 125–26 workplace, 12, 21, 49, 51–52, 55, 57, 85, 143
university lifestyle boomers, 48 worksheets, 98, 100
university students, 127 workshop participants, 45, 62
use, 6, 14, 17–20, 35–36, 41–44, 49, 56–57, 65, workshops, 45, 93, 98, 109
76–82, 84, 89, 100–101, 104–8, 118, 138, world war II, 4, 7, 24, 26, 29, 110
145–46
use education apps, 76, 100, 104 Xers, 3, 5, 8, 46, 52, 79–80, 84
use methods, 88–89 boomers/Gen, 21, 106, 143
Use SOCIAL MEDIA for showcasing student
and teacher work, 18 year of teaching, 2, 53
use technology, 17, 69, 72, 84–85, 93, 96, 99, young, 14
102–5, 107–8 young adolescents, 27
helping teachers, 128 younger educators work, 7
use technology and platforms, 102 younger generations, 3, 8–9, 33, 38, 57, 74, 88
younger staff members, 49, 84, 102
Varathan, 10–11 younger students, 27, 126
Venne, 55, 102, 104 younger teachers, 2–3, 8–9, 13, 53–55, 57, 75,
videos, 18, 41–42, 54, 85, 87, 89–90, 96, 79–80, 84, 100, 102, 104, 108, 145
114, 129 younger teachers to use, 84
videos of teachers, 18 younger teaching generations, 100
videos of teachers and students, 18 young teachers, 1–2, 8–9, 11–15, 17–20, 47, 49,
voices, 5, 34, 109, 118, 127, 133 52, 54, 65, 71, 112–13, 125, 132
young teachers approach, 49
Walter Cronkite, 66–67 young teachers of previous generations, 8
waste, 36, 73 young teachers to share, 71
water, 83, 89, 114 YouTube videos, 26–27
way, 10–11, 19, 29–30, 34, 37, 47–48, 52,
55–56, 60, 81–84, 107, 111–13, 115–16, Zdonek, 73
129, 140 Zers, 3, 46
way boomers, 49 millennials/Gen, 21, 106, 143
way millennial, 52 Zoom sessions, 94, 100
INDEX 175
Leadership That Makes an Impact
PETER M. DEWITT JOHN HATTIE & DOUGLAS FISHER, STEVEN M. CONSTANTINO

This step-by-step how- RAYMOND L. SMITH NANCY FREY, Explore the how-to’s
to guide presents the Based on the most current DOMINIQUE SMITH, of establishing family
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improvement through small ideas for leaders to distance and delivering
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Praise for 5-Gen Leadership

Corwin All rights reserved. Except as permitted by U.S. copyright law,

SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd. ISBN: 978-1-0718-3702-3

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR xiii

CHAPTER 1: FROM BOOMERS TO ALPHAS 5

CHAPTER 2: THE IMPACT OF THE SILENT GENERATION

CHAPTER 3: MOVING FROM MANAGING TO COACHING 45

CHAPTER 5: TACTICS FOR CREATING

CHAPTER 6 GENERATIONAL LESSONS OF COVID-19 97

CHAPTER 7: UPAGERS AND POLITICAL ACTIVISM 113

CHAPTER 8: MILLENNIALS AND GEN Z ASCENDING

50 TIPS FOR TRANSITIONING TO 5-GEN LEADERSHIP 147

I am a proud member of Generation X and was taught by baby boomers.

Eric Sheninger, Author

Corwin gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the following reviewers:

Margaret Bartlett, Teacher-in-Training

Sean Beggin, Associate Principal

David Cash, Professor of Education

Delsia Malone, Former Principal

Joy Rose, Retired High School Principal

Mark White is a school leadership and training con-

An administrator sitting beside me turned to me and laughingly whispered, “He’s

• Understand the four distinct generations in the teaching staffs

• Understand our youngest students, Gen Alpha

• Move from a management model to a coaching model to help our

• Provide tips for transforming professional development (PD) to meet

•• Four distinct generations are now in our teaching staffs.

•• Millennial teachers are leaving the profession in record numbers, and

•• School leaders need to adjust their recruiting and leadership tactics to

And by of some our younger teach-

I am a baby boomer, and in

New Zealand Parliament, I had

I was a consultant, leading a pro-

Understanding the Four Generations

• Some people see themselves as a mixture of all the generations.

Two Groups Are Trying to Lead, and Two

- 4 generations in 1 teaching staff -

Both threats have their roots in the digital generation gaps.

Millennial Teachers Are Walking Away

The most frequently cited reasons in 2012–13 were dissatisfactions with

To expand on these ideas, the centralization of American education, especially

Making Generational Adjustments

According to Staffbase (Lockley, 2017), a company that helps corporations merge

1. High wages and career advancement. While we know there’s a prob-

2. The latest technology. Young people live with technology in their

3. Leadership training. Millennials are now old enough and experi-

4. Feedback and engagement. Gen Z workers and millennials want

5. Help in managing stress. In one study, workers were asked to rate

FIGURE 1.4 Retaining Millennial Teachers

Traditional Versus 5-Gen

Teachers might have interactive Technology training is systemized,

There is little or no leadership Teachers are paired with leader

Administrators meet with teachers Administrators seek new ways to

Some school leaders recognize the School leaders give stress

This sums up the challenge of 5-Gen leadership: understanding what motivates

Trouble in the Gen Z Teaching Pipeline

According to one study, since 2010 national enrollment in teacher preparation

Recruiting Gen Z Teachers

CHAPTER 1: FROM BOOMERS TO ALPHAS 5

CHAPTER 3: MOVING FROM MANAGING TO COACHING 45

CHAPTER 6 GENERATIONAL LESSONS OF COVID-19 97

CHAPTER 7: UPAGERS AND POLITICAL ACTIVISM 113

50 TIPS FOR TRANSITIONING TO 5-GEN LEADERSHIP 147