Our Books
Two Playbooks to Transform Behavior, Performance, and Culture
Connecting Through Conversation: A Playbook for Talking with Students
Connecting Through Conversation: A Playbook for Talking with Students is a must-read for all educators. The practical and easy-to-implement tools, strategies, and templates will create a culture of connection in our schools. Readers will be inspired and equipped with immediately applicable moves to build connected relationships for learning, avoid power-struggles, and apply communication as a universal support for all students in kindergarten through twelfth grade.
Bare and Burns use their over forty years of combined experience, stories from the field, and a good dose of humor to share an approach that will transform student behavior. The conversational tone, accessible table of contents, CTC Tips, and Connected Takeaways summarizing each chapter make this an ideal tool for book studies, professional development, and growing together as an educational community. Readers will find themselves returning to the tools in this playbook again and again as they embark on the daily adventure of talking with students.
The author's love of students and admiration for educators comes through in every page. They share a framework for connecting through conversation that is student-centered, trauma informed, culturally responsive, rooted in equity, and founded in care for kids while honoring the educators who serve them.
This book is essential for anyone who loves and talks with students. Join the Connected Communicator Movement today!
Practical tools for talking with students to reduce behavior, build connection, and support learning.
Buy book on Amazon or Kindle,
A School Leader’s Playbook for Tough Conversations
A step-by-step guide for navigating tough conversations with staff, caregivers, and colleagues to strengthen performance and culture.
The toughest conversations in school leadership finally have a playbook.
As a school leader, there is no escaping tough conversations. We enter the profession to make a difference for students, but our impact depends on how skillfully we communicate with adults.
Long-time educational leaders and authors of Connecting Through Conversation: A Playbook for Talking with Students, Erika Bare and Tiffany Burns offer practical tools and field tested strategies for the hardest adult conversations - especially those tense moments with staff, caregivers, and colleagues that feel heavy, live rent-free in our heads, and keep us up at night.
This playbook gives you a clear, step-by-step guide for navigating the toughest conversations with care, clarity, and confidence. You’ll learn how to address poor performance, de-escalate conflict, stay grounded when emotions rise, prepare for high-stakes conversations, and coach adults in ways that strengthen both performance and culture. Inside, you’ll find frameworks, scenarios, planning tools, and sentence stems you can use immediately.
This book is packed with resources to help you expertly navigate the moments that matter most by increasing your efficacy, improving relationships, and strengthening culture. It may even help you sleep better at night.
Buy book on Amazon.
Together, these playbooks give teams a shared approach to connect through conversation with students, staff, caregivers, and the community.
We became educators many miles apart, both with a genuine desire to make the world a better place. We were lucky enough to connect professionally just over a decade ago as students, writers, and educators in the same administrative licensure program. We were both moms of young children, working as dedicated teachers, and discovered we had the same vision for education. We were thrilled when we found administrative jobs within the same district. As we continued to grow together in the profession, we would often share stories, compare notes, and problem solve together.
This collaboration led us to write our books and start the movement:
Connecting Through Conversation.
Erika & Tiffany teach the art and science of building connected relationships for learning.
If your team is ready to strengthen behavior, culture, and performance across your organization, let’s talk.
“Connecting Through Conversation: A Playbook for Talking with Students is a timely and practical handbook for communicating with students of any age. Keeping connections and relationships at the center of the work, Erika and Tiffany provide immediate, applicable strategies to navigate even the most difficult conversations. This is a must read for all educators!”
Melanie Marrone, Ed.D
Executive Director, Molalla River Academy
Let’s Work Together
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All educators care about kids, they just don’t always have the knowledge and skills to effectively show it. Engaging in a fully customizable Book Study will give educators the tools they need to create a culture of connection.
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IN PERSON, REMOTE, OR HYBRID
Personalized coaching and consulting will help leaders build staff capacity and gain the tools needed to navigate challenging behaviors with students, staff, and caregivers with increased confidence and effectiveness.
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NATIONAL AVAILABILITY
With a fast-paced and humorous approach, speaking engagements are designed and tailored for every educator - and everyone who talks with students is an educator.
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NATIONAL AVAILABILITY
Support your team in learning how to transform student behavior through engaging content, model demonstrations, and back-pocket strategies.
Become a Connected Communicator Now
As a member, you gain access to a wealth of resources and exclusive content tailored to your interests.
Your solution to effective ways to transform student behavior! We’re excited to offer a new and exclusive online course designed to help educators manage and navigate student behavior with confidence. Learn immediately applicable and practical strategies to de-escalate situations, avoid power struggles, improve communication, strengthen relationships and build a culture of connection in your school communities.
Becoming Connected Communicators
“When we utilize Connected Communicator strategies, we transform behavior. Student interactions become more joyful, meaningful, and connected. We can then dedicate our time and energy to impact teaching and learning.”
BARE & BURNS