In a landscape where educators are drowning in mandates and endless curriculum revisions, what if we could reimagine learning design as an art form of empowerment and innovation? Assistant Superintendent Taryn Miley is about to challenge everything you thought you knew about curriculum development.

Join us for a transformative conversation with Taryn Miley, Assistant Superintendent of Academic Affairs at Springfield Local School District, as she dismantles traditional curriculum construction and offers a revolutionary approach to educational design. With over two decades of experience in K-12 leadership, Miley brings a powerful, compassionate perspective on how educators can shift from being passive implementers to intentional learning architects.

In this must-listen episode, you’ll discover:

• Why current curriculum development models are fundamentally broken
• How to create learning experiences that genuinely engage students
• Strategies for managing initiative fatigue and communication overload
• The critical difference between designing curriculum and architecting learning
• Practical approaches to center student agency and meaningful educational experiences

Notable Quotes:

“We want you to be the architects of learning, not just bricklayers of worksheets.” – Taryn Miley

“Clarity is kind.” – Taryn Miley

Key Insights:

Miley challenges listeners to move beyond traditional curriculum mapping, offering a nuanced, empathetic approach to educational design that respects both educator expertise and student potential.

Don’t miss this game-changing episode that will transform how you think about learning design. Subscribe now and join the educational revolution!

 

FULL PODCAST Transcript

Lighthouse Therapy (00:01.581)

Hello everyone and welcome to the brighter together podcast. My name is Janet Courtney and my special guest today is Taryn Miley. Taryn is the assistant superintendent at Springfield local school district and that is in Holland, Ohio, which I just found out is a suburb of Toledo. Taryn, thank you so much for being on the show today.

Taryn Miley (00:23.01)

Thank you. so delighted to share my story and just engage with you today. Very excited.

Lighthouse Therapy (00:29.709)

Well, we are are thrilled to have you here as I was telling you a little bit before the show My husband is a buck. I threw in through from Cradle to grave I would say So it’s kind of fun to talk to somebody else who’s from Ohio So tell me a little bit and tell our listeners a little bit about your journey to becoming an assistant superintendent and a little bit about Springfield local school district

Taryn Miley (00:54.766)

Sure. So I am homegrown. I grew up here. I went to school and graduated from Springfield High School in 1991 and then decided to become an educator. It was just very natural for me. I had three older siblings and my sisters are still my heart and I love them dearly and they helped kind of mentor me and I was.

the teacher and they were my classmates, even though they were quite older. So I just I loved the profession and ended up becoming a teacher at Christie Elementary in our district for 17 years. I taught a variety of grade levels, general education, served on several committees and really wanted nothing to do with administration. And not because it’s, you know, often called the dark side. It’s just I didn’t really believe in myself yet that I had those those tools.

Lighthouse Therapy (01:21.929)

awesome.

Taryn Miley (01:48.878)

to be an effective leader. And I just had some great people that surrounded me that were kind of cheerleading me on saying, you know what, we do see a lot of leadership capabilities in you. You’re just very quiet. And I’m also more of a listener than a speaker. So I just like to take it all in and think through things before I just, you know, start communicating. And so

Again, going back to my journey here, you know, taught for 17 years and then became an administrator, specifically a curriculum director for several years. And then the opportunity came about where I decided to take the leap into upper administration and I’m the assistant superintendent of academic affairs. you know, I really primarily still deal with curriculum, but lead a lot of our larger initiatives. And when we talk about, we love it.

Lighthouse Therapy (02:44.086)

Hmm.

Taryn Miley (02:48.878)

acronyms in education. I help coordinate all of our efforts when it comes to the multi-tiered systems of supports, MTSS, our federal programs, specifically Title I, II, and IV, and just all of our professional development lead.

those initiatives and as well as our continuous improvement plan. And so our district is about 3,300 students and we are very proud of our diversity when it comes to we’re very diverse across many different layers and we love that our kids come from different backgrounds and we bring them all together and provide as much support as possible in a very nurturing

environment.

Lighthouse Therapy (03:36.525)

Nice, yeah, that’s awesome. That’s really awesome. So you’re still making some decisions, a lot of decisions around education and curriculum and not, yeah, that’s really neat. love how it’s leaders, you don’t have to be loud like me to be a leader for sure. You can definitely lead from the quiet side and.

and leaders come from all different. And I love the fact that you had people in your life that saw that in you, you know, because that’s something that we, you we’re doing that with kids all day long, right? All year long, we’re lifting them up and telling them all of the great things about them and supporting them and supporting their dreams. So I love the fact that you had people and the fact that you gosh, you’ve been there your whole life. That’s really, really cool.

Taryn Miley (04:25.506)

Yes.

Lighthouse Therapy (04:26.988)

I’ve talked to a couple of people who have done that. I don’t have that. I’ve lived in so many different places and I got, I was 18 and left, I ran from Nebraska. I’m like, no, I don’t want to live here anymore. And went to the big city, the big apple. And oh my goodness, what a culture shock that was. it’s like, I’m always, life takes us in so many different directions. yeah.

Taryn Miley (04:50.99)

Well, and what I find growing up here is I had to really be intentional about how I collaborate with people that were formerly my colleagues, and I have a huge amount of respect. And one thing that I do want to share is that I use Brene Brown’s work a lot in

Lighthouse Therapy (05:02.956)

Mmm.

Taryn Miley (05:11.53)

all of my different committee work and just in relationship with people across our district and even when I’m working or collaborating with people across the region that are also in my field. But I use a lot of her tools and I just want to share a couple of ways those kind of those tools and how they have helped me especially kind of being homegrown and promoted within my district because it is unique and you have to be very intentional. One tool that really

saved me, especially early on in my administrative career, is I use this tool from Brene Brown, and I always give credit where credit is due. The story I’m telling myself. So for example, I actually have been a part of a lot of different curricular changes and adoptions throughout my years in administration, about 13 years. So we’ve pivoted from, you know,

Lighthouse Therapy (05:51.189)

Absolutely.

Taryn Miley (06:08.974)

curricular programs that I’ve used in the classroom as a teacher to new ones. And I had to make a change, quite a large change in our literacy curriculum. And one of the veteran teachers that served on the committee alongside myself, someone that I deeply respected had been using the same curriculum for several years and we were making a huge change. And so when I rolled out the change, this veteran teacher that again, that I deeply respect and admire,

kind of went silent in the meeting. Now in the past, before I had these new tools, I would have spiraled and I would have thought, gosh, she thinks I’ve forgotten my roots. She thinks I’m just now on the dark side or more of a bureaucrat and I’m just going to shove this, you know, at them. And instead, I was very intentional and I pulled her aside. And I just said, you know, I noticed that you went quiet when I brought up

Lighthouse Therapy (06:48.544)

Mm-hmm.

Taryn Miley (07:02.658)

the new literacy curriculum. The story that I’m telling myself is that you feel that I’m disregarding the work that you’ve done for the past, you know, 15 years or more. Is that right? And so, and that was me being very vulnerable. And so.

Lighthouse Therapy (07:11.904)

Right?

Lighthouse Therapy (07:17.322)

Mm-hmm.

Taryn Miley (07:18.88)

So this veteran teacher looked at me and said, no, actually, honestly, I’m just exhausted thinking about learning a new program. I’m not mad at you. I’m just tired. And so just again, that one phrase helped clear up the assumption that could have festered into resentment. And we really want to be clear about getting to the truth.

Lighthouse Therapy (07:25.996)

Right.

Lighthouse Therapy (07:40.064)

Mm-hmm.

Taryn Miley (07:40.256)

And I say this all the time and Brene Brown is the master at this clarity cuts through the history and we have to be very intentional as leaders. So I really tried to use and I have several other tools that I use. You know when it comes to working with teachers and collaborating with principals and I I try to.

Really think about again, putting myself in their shoes because I live that world for 17 years longer than actually being an administration. This is my 30th year in the district and I’ve seen, you know, the pendulum swing and I understand it can be exhausting and change is hard and some people embrace it faster than others. I’m I’m I kind of love change, but not everybody does. I have to really be understand that.

Lighthouse Therapy (08:11.488)

Mm-hmm.

Lighthouse Therapy (08:26.219)

Right.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, that’s that’s incredible because it and that’s a tool that just really can cut through. mean, I’ve used that tool in my marriage because it’s like I heard you what I heard and what he says worth we’ve married 31 almost 31 years 30 years now we’ve been together for 31 years, but love my husband dearly. He drives me crazy sometimes, you know, like like like I do him.

Taryn Miley (08:41.816)

shirt.

Taryn Miley (08:55.778)

Thank

Lighthouse Therapy (08:58.358)

But one of the things that I learned fairly early in our marriage is I heard, when you said this, I heard this, you know, and he’s like, what? That is not what I meant at all. And you’re delusional, he loves to tease me, but you know, he’s like, I don’t know where your brain is, but that’s not what I meant at all. And it’s so critical because people don’t think the same. People don’t, yeah.

Taryn Miley (09:05.806)

Sure.

Taryn Miley (09:09.23)

I’m feeling good.

Taryn Miley (09:23.16)

Right, absolutely. And communication is key. And I always say clarity is kind, clear. And that’s right from Brene Brown as well, that we have to be clear. You know, and during COVID, we had to, again, totally change our, our way of educating students when we had to go exclusively online. And one of the things that was very challenging, again, in that

Lighthouse Therapy (09:30.302)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Taryn Miley (09:51.202)

pivot and that quick switch was how are we going? How am I going to communicate with the teachers and with the principals and then in turn with families with this radical shift? And again, I go back to I’m a very detail oriented person. That clarity is kind is huge and I have to be very clear in my communication methods, not just in how I’m speaking, but in how I’m.

Lighthouse Therapy (10:13.462)

Mm-hmm.

Taryn Miley (10:17.134)

communicating in emails and newsletters, and also just thinking through all the different perspectives. because we know that perception is reality, everyone has a different perception. So I kind of want to talk about how I’m using that idea of the story I’m telling myself with a new math curriculum that we’re looking at. So we’re going to be, again,

Lighthouse Therapy (10:28.992)

Mm-hmm. Right?

Taryn Miley (10:43.926)

Looking at a whole new shift in how we teach math because this state is, you know, has a new mandate with looking at math intervention and how we’re serving our students. So our K5 math committee is really kind of trying to embrace a new math curriculum. But I also know that this is a big change for our teachers, and so when they see new materials just land on their desk.

that can create a reaction and I have to make sure that I properly communicate way ahead of time. And so I’m trying to think through of you know, what are the teachers going to be thinking? The story? What story are they going to be telling themselves? And I want to make sure that I think about it from kind of three different perspectives. Are they going to think the districts the district thinks we’re not doing a good job so?

Lighthouse Therapy (11:36.62)

Mm-hmm.

Taryn Miley (11:37.302)

Here’s the script. They’re going to fix it with giving us a new math curriculum because we have seen some declining test scores, but we have to remember that comes from many different factors and we cannot place blame on our teachers. That is never our intent ever. I always say I always want to keep in mind where I came from and teacher first. They also might think this is another pendulum swing. If I wait two years, it’s going to go away. Why should I invest my energy in this?

Lighthouse Therapy (11:48.48)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 1,000%. Mm-hmm.

Lighthouse Therapy (12:04.992)

Right? Right?

Taryn Miley (12:06.828)

Right? Or I’m an expert. If I try a new way, I might look incompetent in the eyes of my students. I already have mastered this old way. So now you’re going to expect me to learn something totally new. So again, I want them to understand.

Lighthouse Therapy (12:13.42)

Mmm.

Mm-hmm.

Taryn Miley (12:22.614)

We’re not buying a new curriculum. We’re not pivoting again because we’re broken. We bought this and this is really key when you’re working with teachers. We bought this because the cognitive load on you as the teacher to create materials from scratch every night is unsustainable.

or trying to learn something new all the time because this isn’t meeting our student needs. So this is something that I always try to remind our teachers is we want you to be the architects of learning, not just bricklayers of worksheets. That’s really important. So again, using these tools is really has been instrumental in my work as a leader, but I’m not done. I still have a lot more to learn. And growing alongside our teachers and our principals as well.

Lighthouse Therapy (12:54.124)

Nice. Yeah.

Lighthouse Therapy (13:05.92)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Lighthouse Therapy (13:10.496)

Yeah. One question I have for you, just because it’s when you were talking about clarity is, and I have my own opinion, obviously, but how do you know clarity? How do you know that you’re being clear? What what kind of key indicators do you have or do you use that help you to see that? maybe that wasn’t as clear as I thought it was, you know, because we we think we know we’re being clear, but sometimes even our message.

isn’t as clear as we think it is.

Taryn Miley (13:41.678)

Yeah, so I have something that I and this is again a jewel from Brene Brown because I love her work and I read several of her books. One of my favorite books that I have read is The Daring Dare to Lead and I always have to remind myself and she has something called The Square Squad and she says that you should write down the names of the people whose opinions really matter on a one inch by one inch piece of paper. So

Lighthouse Therapy (14:04.864)

Mm-hmm.

Taryn Miley (14:08.554)

Obviously, we know everyone has an opinion and working in my hometown, you know, I hear a lot more probably because I actually live here. I grew up here, so I hear a lot of different opinions. And again, they’re all valid, but I have to.

Lighthouse Therapy (14:20.694)

Mm-hmm.

Taryn Miley (14:25.206)

I can’t please them all. Okay, it’s impossible. So I have my square squad and these are the people who love me enough to tell me when I’m being unclear, unkind, but who also support me and they’ll be brutally honest with me. So I really listen to those people and their feedback.

Lighthouse Therapy (14:26.784)

Bro,

Taryn Miley (14:44.846)

And there are a lot of the people are boots on the ground there. They are people that are still in the school buildings that I truly trust and I will send out something to them beforehand or I will call them and just ask their opinion. Is this clear enough? What am I not thinking of? What are the barriers? What do we need to anticipate? And I always say when I when I form a teacher committee, I try to.

Lighthouse Therapy (14:44.95)

Mm-hmm.

Taryn Miley (15:08.832)

include people who are also the naysayers, the ones that are going to push back the strongest because I need them because I need to know their input because they’re going to help me see I’m excited. I’m excited to make the change. They may not be, but I need to know we know what they’re thinking and what I need to anticipate.

Lighthouse Therapy (15:27.702)

Right, yeah, that’s a big one. You can’t just put all of the yes people, yes men, right? Yes men around you because that doesn’t help you to make sure that you are being clear and make sure that you are, it’s so interesting. One of the things that I have discovered and probably this is probably a part of what you do as well, I know that I’ve not been clear when I keep getting the same question.

It’s like, thought we had it. I thought we had communicated that well, but you’re the third person to ask very similar questions. Obviously, I missed a piece. So go back and look at our messaging and make sure. also have, very smart, I put really, any leader’s push, really smart people around them too that support them. So, yeah, yeah.

Taryn Miley (16:15.02)

You have to write and it takes it. always say it takes a village, you know, and and so even working in a central office position, we have to make sure that we understand what you know, have have a pulse on what’s going on in the district and being mindful of how people are feeling and reacting to new initiatives. And. I try to send out a newsletter every month to the.

Lighthouse Therapy (16:19.233)

Mm-hmm.

Lighthouse Therapy (16:30.304)

Mm-hmm.

Taryn Miley (16:44.186)

I really work primarily with grades K through five. That’s kind of we also have a secondary curriculum director that works with six through 12 and that’s worked really well in our district because it helps us focus in on those grade levels and work with those principles. I would say just more. I would say more intentionally and so every month they send out a newsletter and it just really I try to make sure it includes all of the important dates. You know, don’t forget.

Lighthouse Therapy (16:55.595)

Yeah.

Taryn Miley (17:09.964)

We don’t want to miss this because these are due dates. Here’s what’s coming up. You know, here are the updates. Be ready because, for example, starting in August we have to ensure that our students are meeting math benchmarks and if they’re not, we have to place them on a math improvement plan similar to what we’re doing in reading. And that’s a new initiative. It’s going to cause a lot of angst, but again, I have to make sure I prepare everyone.

Lighthouse Therapy (17:35.948)

Mm-hmm.

Taryn Miley (17:38.966)

You know, and make them on help make them understand what you know what what is the why the why is important and how we’re going to support them at the building and district level.

Lighthouse Therapy (17:47.946)

Mm-hmm.

Lighthouse Therapy (17:52.469)

Yeah, yeah, those are those are critical points. How do you deal with parents then when if you get pushed back from parents?

Taryn Miley (18:01.676)

Yeah, and I think a lot of that is is in how we frame it in again front load, making sure that we provide them as many opportunities to ask questions. We actually have a parent. We call it the parent booster committee and we meet with them quite regularly throughout the school year in which we.

make sure that they understand new initiatives that are coming forward and then they go back into the buildings and share those out with the families. Being involved in

You know other meetings that involve parents having parent informational nights. We have newsletters that we send out that help define what our curriculum looks like and just giving them tips and it has to be as brief as possible because our parents don’t have a lot of time and we’re inundating them nowadays through social media, just through you know text alerts.

So as brief as possible, even video videos are great for sharing with parents. And we did that a lot during COVID obviously, but making sure that we are intentional and also front loading new initiatives and telling them, you know, here’s what’s coming in August. And I think again, that being clear is really important and cutting through the things that don’t matter.

Lighthouse Therapy (19:03.452)

Mmm. Yeah.

Lighthouse Therapy (19:27.02)

Okay. Yeah.

Taryn Miley (19:28.728)

and making it as parent friendly as possible. And that is key.

Lighthouse Therapy (19:32.299)

Yeah. Yeah, we, you know, you learn in college that you’ve got to put it in layman’s terms, but sometimes we get so caught up in the making sure that they understand that we forget that piece of it and not I seriously doubt that you do that very often. But you know, I see it sometimes in IEPs to be like, okay, make sure that I you know, and again, asking the questions to make sure that that parent got what I was saying that

Does that make sense to you? Because they’re not even, again, it’s intimidating and they don’t want to feel like they’re stupid or they don’t, whatever they’re afraid to ask questions. So trying to always make sure that they got what I was saying and how important it was that they understood it. Because they’re the first teachers for those kids, aren’t they? Yeah.

Taryn Miley (20:20.266)

They sure are. And I always say, let’s keep it simple when it comes to, you know, at home when we went through the COVID period, we were online and you know, there were also various learning packets that we were we were sending out and we actually are still sending out learning packets. When we reach a certain amount of snow days, and I always say, okay, that’s, you know, we’re sending out some learning activities, but the best thing to do, especially when you’re talking about elementary students, is to read

with your students, listen to them read, read to them, chapter books, challenging books that enrich their vocabulary and practice their math facts. Those are just some basic things to keep it very simple. And I’m a huge believer in going outdoors in nature. We actually have four prairies in our district where we have students going out and collecting real time data and they’re sending it to real scientists.

through a citizen scientist program that we have through our Toledo Zoo. It’s a great partnership and students can go out in the prairie, collect samples. It’s very hands-on and it’s also getting them to connect with nature, which I think is huge. So anytime you can get the kids out off of the devices and.

Lighthouse Therapy (21:38.454)

Yeah.

Yes, yes, for sure.

Taryn Miley (21:42.912)

And getting them to connect with nature and there’s so many learning opportunities out there across curricular across all the different content areas in which students can learn, you know, without having to look at a worksheet and just. Embracing. Outside connecting with different various types of.

Taryn Miley (22:10.914)

living things. It’s really quite remarkable what kids can learn and kids are curious by nature. embrace that and that’s something I always tell families. I don’t want to see them on a device. I don’t want to see them in a worksheet like go outside, connect with nature, read books, practice those. That’s simple.

Lighthouse Therapy (22:12.15)

Mm-hmm.

Lighthouse Therapy (22:17.61)

Yeah. Yeah.

Lighthouse Therapy (22:23.564)

Absolutely. Yeah.

Lighthouse Therapy (22:29.81)

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, it’s all it’s all there. It’s all all there for sure. Okay. yeah.

Taryn Miley (22:35.66)

And I always say cooking with kids is great too. Going into the kitchen, there’s so many things you can learn just cooking with kids and connect it with a book. There’s so many books that have, you know, things that connect with cooking and kids kids. when I was a student teacher years ago,

One of my favorite lessons was called Gali Moto and it was about a boy in Africa who did not have the funds to have a real bicycle. And so instead he invented his own bicycle using his imagination with just simple pipe cleaners and he used those pipe cleaners to create a Gali Moto and just pretended to on that bicycle using those pipe cleaners. And then what we read that story we talked about, you know what it’s like in a different culture where they didn’t have funds to

have their own bicycles. so then we got out our pipe cleaners, made our galey motos. And again, it’s just a great connection. So using books, I always call them story souvenirs where you create something that would have a link to the book and the kids would remember it then.

Lighthouse Therapy (23:41.261)

When I was an SLP, you’re just like speaking right up my alley. Yeah, I started reading to my daughter, I think when she was four days old, my husband was like, isn’t it a little early? Nope, no, it’s not never too early, never too early. And my kids are all incredible readers. They’re better readers than I am actually. And I love that for them. Okay, anyway, so good. We could talk about kids and curriculum and how to teach and what to do for hours, I believe.

Taryn Miley (23:44.514)

That’s what saying.

Taryn Miley (23:49.486)

Absolutely.

Lighthouse Therapy (24:10.86)

Yeah, well, Taryn, tell people where they can go to learn more about Springfield Local and if they have any questions how to like connect with you.

Taryn Miley (24:11.04)

Absolutely.

Taryn Miley (24:23.754)

Absolutely. So if you go to our website, it’s pretty simple and obviously you can Google it as well, but it is Springfield-schools.org. And on our website, there’s a lot of great information.

including our district profile, which our department was instrumental in creating that district profile this school year. It lays out all kinds of information about our district, not just academics, but you know, we serve students when it comes to having extracurricular activities, wonderful sporting activities and sporting clubs and events and.

I encourage everyone to check that out because it really does have a lot of great information and data and demographics about our district. And when it comes to our department, we work in the teaching and learning department and I have amazing people that I work with that also have a passion for for teaching and learning and all things curriculum. And that is actually on our website as well. And I would encourage people to check it out.

and there’s a lot of great information there for families and for educators.

Lighthouse Therapy (25:36.14)

Awesome, awesome. Well, Taryn, it’s been a pleasure to have you on Brighter Together. I love your passion. I love the fact that you have taken something that is so critical to making sure that your clarity is there. It’s just, it’s so good to see it. And an affirmation for me, know, it’s like, yep, yep, yep, yep. Kind of do that, kind of do that, So.

Taryn Miley (25:56.686)

Absolutely.

Well, this has been a great opportunity to connect with you and your audience, and I am just delighted to share my journey so far. Thank you.

Lighthouse Therapy (26:02.473)

Yeah.

Lighthouse Therapy (26:07.84)

Thank you so much.