The TechEd Clubhouse is for STEM, CTE, and hands-on teachers who never fit the standardized script — and figured out better pedagogy because of it. Practical thinking on curiosity, judgment, and designing learning that actually demands something from students.
School culture isn’t built during the opening-day staff meeting.
It shows up on a random Tuesday in October.
Todd Bloomer joins me again in the Tech Ed Clubhouse to talk about his new book, Finding Your Red Bench, and what school leadership really looks like when the speeches are over, the year gets messy, and people are tired.
We get into the stuff that actually matters: getting out of the office, being visible, treating teachers like professionals, noticing the people who keep the building running, protecting your own energy, and paying attention to what your calendar says you truly value.
Todd’s “red bench” started as an actual place to sit for a few minutes during a chaotic school day. Over time, it became something bigger—a reminder that sometimes the best leadership move is to slow down, notice what’s happening around you, and talk to people.
And that leads to one of the biggest ideas in this conversation:
You can’t understand your school from behind a desk.
We talk about:
- Why culture is built through small interactions, not initiatives
- Why principals need to be in classrooms, hallways, lunchrooms, and conversations
- What it means to treat teachers and staff like adults and professionals
- Why secretaries, custodians, paraprofessionals, and support staff tell you a lot about the real culture of a school
- How a leader’s calendar exposes their actual priorities
- Why self-care has to be scheduled instead of talked about
- The operational details that quietly make or break a school year
- Why “I’ll fix it next year” is usually the wrong answer
Todd also shares how Finding Your Red Bench is structured around three areas school leaders have to continually balance:
Operations. Culture. Self-care.
Not as another leadership program.
As a practical month-by-month reminder of what matters and what might be coming next.
One line from the conversation sums it up:
If your culture isn’t where you want it to be, start tomorrow.
Not next semester.
Not next school year.
Tomorrow.
Website: ToddMBloomer.com
TikTok & Instagram: @todd_bloomer_author
Check out Todd’s new book, Finding Your Red Bench, wherever you buy books.
If you lead a school, work with school leaders, or simply believe education gets better when we stop managing people and start actually seeing them, this episode is worth a listen.
Connect with Todd Bloomer
