TRANSCRIPT: 3 Strategies for Reinventing Learning in Your School Community (feat. Dr. Dave Richards from the Future of Learning Council)
12:24AM Feb 23, +0000
Speakers:
Nikki
Dave
Keywords:
learning
people
kids
educators
challenges
teachers
leader
education
school
michigan
vision
conversation
create
part
building
child
hallway
districts
community
opportunity
It's incredible. When kids begin to co author their learning, you see the level of engagement just go through the roof. And that's because they're like, you're saying I have a voice that I can participate, learn, know what I know, express but I don't know, and then lay out a plan for me. That's how can I not want to be a part of that.
I'm Nikki Herta and this is bright stories of hope and innovation in Michigan classrooms, a podcast where we celebrate our state's educators and explore the future of learning. Bright is brought to you in part by Meemic insurance company, insuring the educational community for more than 70 years. teachers and school employees visit meemic.com/quote to see how much you can save. In today's episode of bright a chat with Dr. Dave Richards, an executive learning strategist for Michigan Virtual, former superintendent of Fraser public schools, and one of the founding members of the future of Learning Council, a group of Michigan School leaders dedicated to redefining learning to better meet the needs of our students. Dave shares his personal story of how school transformed his life as someone who is born into extreme poverty articulates a vision for what learning can be at its finest. And of course, offers three strategies for reinventing learning in your school community. It's a pleasure to have you on the right podcast today. Thank you so much for joining me.
Absolutely. Nikki, I'm so excited to be here.
We're starting our season three by asking everybody, can you tell me about the most interesting project that you're working on professionally right now?
Absolutely. First and foremost, I think the the law to the future learning council for me, is incredibly exciting. That is a group that we started back when I was a superintendent in Frazier in 2017. As the Michigan competency Consortium, and coming out of the pandemic, we realized that the challenges were for our leaders was so much bigger than just talking about competency based Ed, that we renamed it. And with the support of Michigan Virtual, really coming along beside the school districts, it turned into the future of learning because all things learning seem to be on the table for consideration right now. So for me passionately, I love working with leaders helping them to build capacity themselves, but also in helping their districts to really set a clear vision, a shared vision for what is learning today? And where is learning going? And then how do we navigate that? Because it's been so disruptive, especially because of the pandemic, that districts are really looking for that extra insight on where do we go from here? So the future learning council for me, I'm excited, I believe the sky's the limit with what we can do in Michigan, and putting Michigan on a national stage around learning.
Yes, and I've been lucky enough to sit in on a couple of those conversations. And I always leave, just feeling a lot more hopeful. So I appreciate the work that you all are doing there to move learning forward. So thank you so much. Can you tell me about a moment in time when you fell in love with education?
Yeah, that's such a great question, because it really causes you to reflect and go back in time. And very honestly, for me, it started in high school. I never had the thought, well, I want to be a teacher in high school. But honestly, I grew up in pretty extreme poverty. I mean, I was a kid that we moved like 19 times before I got out of high school. And so school was my safe place. It was a place where I knew there would be adults that cared about me, there would be a solid meal every day. I had my friends, I had the social, and I was not academically driven at all. But all those SEL needs that we talked about. That's very real. That's where kids get a lot of that validation. And that's where I really started hearing adults tell me, Listen, you can break the cycle of poverty. You don't have to settle for what you've known. You can be whatever you want to be if you're willing to work. And so it was really the teachers in my life and I still have relationships with them today that I connect and we get Christmas cards from each other because they changed my path. And so for me, having the opportunity to go back into education become a teacher, especially as a high school principal, and to see kids in that hallway go, I know what you need. And I'm that guy, I'm going to help you get it. And I'm going to high five here today. And I'm going to tell you that I love you, even though you may think that's weird for a high school principal to tell you that he loves you and cares about you, I'm going to do it because I want you to have the same belief that you can change you can be and you can have whatever it is you want in life. And that, to me, was the game changer for me. So when I reflected on that question, Nicky, it was really, it's my roots, and it's going home. And so it was a no brainer for me to go into education could have made a lot more money, probably doing a lot of other things, and drive. But it's a life changer. It's a calling most educators will tell you, it's a calling. And when you answer that call, it's easy, because kids are amazing in the chance to work with him every day, is it's a true blessing. So yeah, that's where I started.
I really appreciate you sharing that, because I've known you for a couple of years now. And I hadn't heard that story. And it sounds like it's a pretty critical part of who you are. As an educator. I'm wondering if you'd want to reflect at all about how that drives you to want to think about the future of learning since that's both, you know, what you talked about the future of learning council and a critical part of the conversation we're going to have today.
Yeah, you know what, absolutely. For me, that drive has never left, because it's interesting, when we talk about all kids, all means all. And we don't know every day those kids are walking through the doors, what they've dealt with at home, what they're dealing with on the weekends, you know, there's a lot of kids that Christmas break, we just got through Christmas break, that's a difficult time for them. You know, that's one of the things where I'm so passionate about with closing schools, because of the pandemic that's so hard on kids to not be in school, even kids that are maybe more fluent. Life is challenging in schools a safe place on many, many levels. And so, for me, when I think about the future of learning, and it really comes back to, are we creating pathways for every child, if we say every child every day, and we really truly mean it, then what are we willing to do as professional educators to design those experiences to design that instructional opportunity for kids, because every child is different, they learn differently, they need to be able to express what they've learned differently. And then you know, the tackling of time and saying, we're going to set you free, you demonstrate mastery, you demonstrate proficiency. And we're going to let you move at your pace. If you can move faster, let's make that happen. If you need more time, we need to create space for you to be able to have that more time as well. And if you're gifted and you're creative, how can you express your learning that maybe is in a way that I'm used to? And I think that's one of our greatest challenges right now is how do we take the best of what we've done traditionally, and blend it with this new model of learning. I'm not saying that our schools are broken. But I do believe that there's there's an opportunity right now, to really, truly design learning, rather than create a structure of school. How do we design learning, and then wrap school in the structure of school, including seat time, and grading and all those other buses and athletics? wrap those things around learning? And that's, that's a passionate part of what I do and why I do it.
I really appreciate that you brought up the learning versus school? Because I've heard you mentioned that a few times. And the first time I heard it, I didn't quite register with me. But then I think one time I had to explain it and you needed I was like, oh, you know, it just it was like a floodgate moment for me and understanding some of the other concepts that we discussed, you know, the future of learning council and the workgroup. And I'm just wondering if you could give us our listeners a little bit of a definition there learning versus school, at least the way that you see it.
Yeah, for me, it's just really quick. When you concentrate when you focus on the learning, you really look at every child in regards to student agency, creating opportunities for them to have the voice and choice in their learning, co authoring their learning experiences, and the lens isn't about the bell schedule. It isn't about compliance. In regards to the structure of what we've always done, well, that's just the way we do things we need to it's got to fit inside this box. And really you you when you focus on learning, there is no box. There is a creative canvas where you start to design and use Say, we know this child, we have more data, we have more information on this on every child today than we ever have, how do we create and differentiate for that child to create their success going forward, so that they can be intrinsically motivated to be a part of the learning experience, and not just receivers. It's incredible. When kids begin to co author their learning, you see the level of engagement just go through the roof. And that's because they're like, you're saying, I have a voice that I can participate, learn, know, what I know, expressed what I don't know. And, and then lay out a plan for me. That's how can I not want to be a part of that. And, and that's the difference school, we can do school, we know how to do school, everybody knows how to do school, you can change schedules, you can, you know, look at tardy rules and attendance rules and all of that all day long. You're not going to impact student learning, if you don't start tackling the learning side of that conversation.
Yes, thank you. That was a great definition. What I'm hearing you say, that I really like is that learning is the is that's the heart of it all, you know, that is an individual child's growth and development through education. You know, that's like the stuff that teachers love. That's what drew you to education. That's what draws probably everybody to education, yeah, that really has that calling. And school is the system. School is the, you know, the system that's in place and the structures in place that you know, at its heart is trying to achieve that goal. But you're the whole point of this discussion that we're having today. And I assume your work on the future of learning council is, how can we now that we have all this, these new ways to do things? How can we rethink that system to more authentically honor, and facilitate at scale that vision of, of a student co authoring their education for every child?
And absolutely, and you know, it's exciting, it makes me very honestly, just in this conversation that we've had today, you now can go and have that conversation with your network with the people that you know, as other parents or friends, and they say, Well, tell me about that. Now you can talk them through, and then pretty soon it spreads, right? It's kind of the cooties game. And everybody kind of goes, You know what, that is a great way to look at learning, and school and structure school, and then they reflect on their own environment. And they think about their own kids, and they go, Well, is my kid being exposed to that? Is that what's happening for my child? And if it is, that's amazing. If it isn't, let's talk about that. And the whole goal is to really get people thinking through that process. And you now are part of that evangelist of saying, let's talk about learning. And so that's pretty exciting.
So today, we're gonna be talking about three ways to think outside the box to reinvent learning. And we've hinted at some of those, but I want to pause to break down a few, a few things first, and just dig into the wire a little bit. I actually just had a conversation a couple weeks ago, about burnout, right? And we're seeing high rates of burnout in educators period, you know, teachers, administrators, but the therapist that I spoke to her name's Molly Davis, she was talking about how, even though it's obviously very difficult, burnout can be a catalyst for change. Because when you start seeing those signs as an individual, right for your own life, but also we were talking about, you know, as a system, when you start seeing this at this level, it can be a catalyst for Okay, things, something needs to be different. What are your reflections with that, you know, like, some of the challenges we're seeing and that teachers and administrators are facing? Does that speak to the story of wanting to innovate change?
Absolutely. So this is, this would be my response. I do believe that this is a window of opportunity. Right. And I understand that the burnout, I talked to superintendents and staff members every day, who are dealing with some of the insanity of you know, what's going on within public schools and even the external forces. I keep wondering, and this is just a wondering, I keep wondering if we are spending a tremendous amount of our time and energy, keeping the old system alive. Meaning we're juggling all of these challenges to keep a traditional model in place, when maybe there's opportunities To hit a pressure release valve, and flip the script and say, You know what, we're not going to worry about seat time, as much as we have been, we're going to realize that kids are going to be embracing mobility on and off campus. So it doesn't matter if you're face to face or you're virtual. We're gonna design digital ecosystems, and we're gonna design our environment that allows you to quickly toggle between face to face and online. Without it being this life changing event, to without it being such an emotional, I strongly believe, Nikki, that there are many, many of us in the field going through a grieving process right now, no different than the five stages of grief that we go through in life when someone passes away. And I think you're seeing I think you could label it, and there's probably Molly is a Davis could look at this and say, you know, what, let's identify the five stages. Is there anger? Is there denial? You know, when do we get to acceptance, which is the fifth stage, right? I feel like we're going through the grieving stages over the traditional model of school. And it would be interesting if we were to unpack that, and to say, Okay, are there things in each of these that we can let go? And you've heard me refer to it as organized abandonment? Right? When do we intentionally look at that traditional model? And say, Do we really need to spend as much time and energy on this piece that we are, because if we can let go of that, that creates space and time and capacity for us to focus on the things that are new challenges for us new issues that we need to deal with? So I think that there's definitely an emotional relationship there. William Bridges, has a book where he really talks about, in order for there to be a new beginning, there has to be an end. So in order for there to be a sunrise, you had to have a sunset. And it's true in relationships. And it's true and designs and systems thinking, right? How do we have go through the process of letting go so that we can launch new and exciting opportunities? Right now as well?
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And I like the metaphor of the pressure release valve? Because, yeah, this you know, it doesn't seem right, that we could just add more to what is already like, a huge, you know, a lot of pressure on teachers and administrators in our system, you know, and so I think that question of what aren't we going to do is an important one. So I think everybody's feeling the pressure of another thing. So it's a good frame for us to keep in mind.
Absolutely. And imagine if you had a leader who said, I'm going to make it okay for us to stop doing things. Why? Like, what? Well, you tell me, what can we stop doing right now that we don't necessarily have to do every day? And sometimes, and I've talked with some superintendents about this, sometimes you have to have courage over compliance. And how do we look at their courageous pieces right now? And then tackle the compliance stuff?
Yeah, I imagine I've read somebody posted a few years ago, the day in the life of the teacher, you know, and just you look at the list of just all the things that they're juggling on a daily basis. Sure, you're seeing that, but it's a lot. And so I imagine if somebody came to them and said, what, what on this list? Do you believe in your heart, you know, is not important for us to do every day? Or if it is important, you know, one thing that we might think about is, if it's important, but you can't do at all, how do we innovate the system so that we bring in additional people and supports to help you. So it's not all
on you? Absolutely. Yeah. All right.
So let's talk about the why. And specifically, let's talk about why is it so important, that we think outside the box to reinvent learning? And why now,
when the why now for me really comes back to the fact or the reality that society has a new ask of us as educators, I think the pandemic really exposed some of the gaps, but it also really lifted up the the reality that choice is here to stay. And not just choice in regards to which district you attend, or if you go public schools or charter schools, but choice and location. You know, kids are realizing that hey, I can learn on campus or I can learn off campus. And parents are looking at this and saying, You know what, for my child's health and well being, maybe they don't need to be at school at 7am in the morning. You know, they're there. They function a little bit differently. Their clock is a little different. They can get up and take that first class online. But then they'll be on campus for the you know, these three or four classes and then or during band season, they want a different schedule. So I think the flexibility in the mobility piece is really being embraced everywhere and schools are realizing, if we want to be thriving, we have to figure out how to design around mobility, flexibility in the schedules, flexibility in the location. How do we embed community in our learning? How do we allow kids a lot of different ways to demonstrate learning and proficiency. The other part of it is we know that disruptions the pandemic was disruptive. But there are a lot of other disruptions that are on the horizons like artificial intelligence, the landscape is changing so fast, that the why we have to have a healthy sense of urgency to do this work. And again, it's not that our schools are broken. This isn't criticizing or saying, you know, we've been doing it all wrong. Like any other industry, though, it's time for us to redefine what learning looks like.
I'm Nikki Herta and you're listening to bright stories of hope and innovation in Michigan classrooms. Bright is brought to you in part by Meemic insurance company, insuring the educational community for more than 70 years. teachers and school employees visit meemic.com/quote to see how much you can save. today I'm chatting with Dr. Dave Richards, an executive learning strategist for Michigan Virtual, former superintendent of Fraser public schools, and one of the founding members of the future of Learning Council, a group of Michigan School leaders dedicated to redefining learning to better meet the needs of our students. Up next, we dive into Dave's top three strategies for reinventing learning in your school community. All right, let's dig in. So what are the top three practical strategies, you have to offer us on ways to think outside the box to rethink education.
Number one, for me, first and foremost, and this is probably the the teacher in me. I always, always, always encourage leaders to if you lead, you must read. And that means you have to stay current. I always like to say, I use the term future scaping as a leader, you have to constantly be scanning the horizon, and to have an idea of what's coming. Because everyone in the organization is counting on you to cast the vision. And part of that is reading enough things watching enough listening, talking, building your personal network out, being in the room where people are having these conversations, so that when someone asked you, you know, how are we doing? You not only give them an idea of where we're headed, you also give them hope about how exciting it's going to be to code that go in that direction. So reading, staying current, and really building out that, that network and saying Who do I need to talk to? Again, that's where the future learning council to me is a powerful opportunity. Because we get people in the room. And even though you're not comfortable initially, maybe having some of these conversations, we're gonna make each other better.
I'm curious if you could just give us a teaser. Do you got any a couple titles that have recently like influenced you in the past few years that you like, just want to recommend to everybody?
Yeah, you know what I actually do, and that's something I could add anything that is connected to developing global competencies. Microphones work is fantastic, where they're really truly talking about what does it mean to be a productive and contributing member of society? We talk about it all the time. But what does that look like? I read a lot of reports out of like Christiansen Institute, knowledge works Foundation, getting smart. Tom Vander Ark Rebecca middles, a lot of the work that they're doing is really talking about next level, next generation learning models. So those are resources always to have at your fingertips, get it in your inbox, it's easy. Click Scan, sign up, you know, folks are producing some great content right now. One book, I would just say as a staple, and I would encourage others to share this with their teams is inevitable mass customized learning by Chuck tshwane. That's one it's a quick read, but it will unsettle a traditional model thinking,
Alright, want to lead us into number two, your second strategy.
So number two, I talked about this a little bit already creating a healthy sense of urgency. And to me that as a strategy, you can do that without having people feel like you're going dismantle the system, a healthy sense of urgency says, you know, I, I know that we need to do something, I know that this has some gaps in what we're doing has some gaps in it, how we do that, what it looks like, that's that sense of urgency, we can't just keep kicking the can down the road. You know, if we're going to make changes, it's up to me, I had a band teacher who always used to say, with the kids, and they would all yell it out. If it's to be, it's up to me, meaning I have to own the change. If I want to see positive change, I've got to be the one that steps into the arena. And to as a leader, you have to create a safe place. But at the same time, you have to say, we're not going to settle for good enough, we're not going to settle for Well, that's the way we always do it. And and that takes some risks, because not everybody likes to be nudged constantly. And you have to constantly nudge people and say, can we improve on its continuous improvement? And so that healthy sense of urgency is a big part of that's got to be a part of your identity, your makeup as a leader?
How do you straddle the line between healthy sense of urgency in a way that's productive and makes people inspired to want to change and improve? And panic and shame?
First and foremost, it's a positive conversation, right? There's so much great work that's happening. You celebrate those success. But you create that tension by saying, or casting that vision and talking about, what where are there opportunities for us to improve that? It's just like organized abandonment? What are some things that we could stop doing? So there's some hope there? You mean, you can take something off my plate? I am, because it's going to create space for us to look at this challenge a little bit differently, are there other ways? And that's where the shared vision and shared leadership really comes in? It's incredible when you get a team of teachers together and say, Do we understand the problem? Yes. Rather than just me solving this, how would we solve this, and they tackle it. And it's incredible to see the solutions they come up with, as a team as an administrative team. So I think that that tension is healthy, not because we're we're failing, it's not because we're not doing our jobs is tension, because we're saying we have a new problem that requires a new solution. And together, we just really think a lot better than if it's just one of us trying to solve it.
And would you say that this healthy sense of urgency, part of that is engaging the community and building that sense of urgency in the community? And would you be able to speak to that a little bit?
Yeah, the community pieces is so important. You know, the times I've seen challenges for districts has been when the central office has been the only one that knew where they were going. And then the community feels like everything has been done to the community. And they're, they're on the receiving end, without ever being a part of sharing and talking about it, you know, getting engaged in the process. That's where I like my first hire, I believe, as a superintendent was a communications person, because we had to tell our story every day. As educators, we're not really good at that we don't do a good job of bragging, we don't do a good job of saying, here's why we're doing what we're doing, and how all these pieces fit together. And so what ends up happening as people become disenfranchised, they become disconnected, because they don't understand it. And you know, this, Nikki, if people don't have information, they make it up. And just because they want to say like, oh, this is what I think is going on? Well, pretty soon that becomes the the truth, and their perception becomes a reality and you're going that's not what's happening at all. That's not why we're doing this. So engaging the community, engaging the staff together. And that's where you have to every day, be diligent, and talk about why we're doing what we're doing, how it's all connected to people understand what they're doing, and do they understand why they're doing it, that there's relationship between all the work. And that's where that healthy part stays because people aren't like, I don't feel threatened. I know, it's a big challenge. I know, we have a lot of work to do, but I don't feel threatened. So let's keep going.
Yeah, that's one thing that has really amazed me that I just didn't ever think about as someone who you know, has never been a superintendent or school leader. How much of it is communicating with the community and you know, and also the school community, right? But and it's storytelling, you know, and trying to instill that vision and show like, here's what it can give your child you know, like, don't, here are the things We want for your child and you want for your child. And here's how this other slightly different thing that might seem a little scary at first, because it's different, can help that can can give them that. And, you know, getting everybody on board for that. And that's, I never considered that aspect of school leadership. But it does seem very important.
It's huge. And I will tell you, one of the the goals I always had, it didn't matter if you were a building principal, drove a school bus, cleaned a hallway served lunches, you need to have an understanding of our mission and our vision. Because if you're someplace with your friends in the summertime, let's say it's a classroom teacher, you're sitting around the campfire, and somebody says, Hey, tell me what's going on in your school district. And you don't have a healthy conversation about work cited, really, you know, it's been challenging, we've got a lot of things that we're coming up against. But we're on the right path. We're doing great things for kids. And here's why. That's a hit to all of us if that conversation is, oh, man, it's a mess. And we're just I don't know where we're at. And, you know, superintendents just often left field and doesn't really have no idea what's going on in my classroom, you know, what's happening. We're only as strong as that conversation. So each of us should be able to have it. And, you know, we talked about Frazier earlier. For me, the point of pride was, it didn't stop, the work has continued and people are still doing the work. And that's exciting. Because it wasn't just about Dave, Dave left, and it never there wasn't even a speed bump. People kept doing the work. That's exciting. Very exciting.
And I also think a testament to the leadership that you you demonstrated, I know you're being humbled, but in preparing and getting making sure it wasn't just your vision, you know that it was a shared vision. All right, well lead us into number three.
Yeah, number three is an easy one. In fact, it's a great segue from what we just talked about, you have to hire amazing people. You know, just make sure that you build a team. And know that, you know, not everybody, you don't want everybody's like you as a leader, but hire and empower amazing people. And it is incredible to watch, once they know that they can drive the vision and truly, truly have the responsibility to do this work. Everybody lights up. And that's when at the building level in the classrooms doesn't matter. You I could walk up to a head custodian at Fraser High School, and they could tell me exactly why we're doing what we're doing. I could go to the operations and maintenance director, and he understands the learning conversation, and why we need green walls in every building so that kids can create videos, right? And he's out. He's looking for opportunities and saying, You know what, this would really help us give our learning for kids, you know, furniture and flexible furnishings. I don't have to do all that work. He's doing it. And I'm just complimenting and supporting, he comes to me. And I just say yes, you know, and so hiring great people, and empowering them and then get out of their way, is an incredible, I think, strategy for any leader. And I know that's one that a lot of people know. But always, always put that top of mind.
Obviously, right now, there are some significant hiring challenges with teacher recruitment and retention and just in education in general. So obviously, you know, that would make it more challenging for someone. The thing I'm wondering, is, is it always about somebody being, you know, amazing at the start? Or is it about creating the kind of culture that is like when people are trusted and when they're empowered and a part of the vision that they will want to, like you said they light up? That what do you think about that?
Well, I think the challenge right now is definitely having a difficult time hiring people. But there's also a huge challenge and retaining people, getting people to not walk away from the profession. We're seeing that on a national level, where people are saying, it's not worth it. There was some articles recently talking about how the retirement system has changed significantly. And people are like, I can just move my 401k to another field, I'm going to leave education completely. So as a leader, you're now being challenged with how do I retain the talent that I have? So they don't opt out. And at the same time, make sure that we're creating an environment where people want to be a part of our team. So it's it's twofold. And I do believe that the shared vision piece goes a long way. And having people say, You know what, I love this district I want to be here. Good things are happening. This too shall pass. We'll get through this storm. And you know, we'll get back to the things that we're most passionate about. but retaining people right now is a big challenge as well.
Yeah. And my heart really goes out to I mean, teachers and school leaders, just with all the challenges that they're facing. So I'm not, not I don't think either of us are trying to suggest that any of this is is easy, especially right now, just saying that it's, you know, at the heart of it, here's what really matters.
Yeah, never a more difficult time in education than right now. I talk to leaders every day. And it's incredible. The internal and external pressures that they're under in the situations they're having to deal with. It's been politicized on so many levels. And the hard part is, is that the local school district is often the only avenue for people to express their political frustrations. And so people are really feeling that, instead of getting back to one question we should all be asking every day is what's best for kids? And then how do we design for that?
Could you tell me about a student who touched your heart and change the way that you think about education,
I'm going to give you a quick story, I promise. And it's actually a group of students. When I first came to Frazier high school, they were in the process of remodeling the school. And then interior courtyard was going to turn into a hallway, that so you get from one side of the building, the other is about the size of two classrooms, but they were gonna just box it in, right? And I went to the superintendent, and I said, Is there any way I can have that space? And he said, Yes, but there's no money. You can have the space, do whatever you want in that hallway. And so through volunteers, we put up walls like Extreme Home Makeover, boarded the area off so kids couldn't see what we were doing on the inside. And through volunteers and donations, we built basically a Panera environment inside of those doors, right? And nobody could see it. And we got it all done. We got our lights from Taco Bell, a dad donated the tile floor. And we called it the Fraser cafe, the free cafes with the kids named it afterwards. So over the weekend, we take the walls down. And on Monday morning, the kids come in from the buses. And we're standing inside and we have you know, a party balloons and there's cake in there, you know, seven o'clock in the morning, and we're gonna feed kids cake and get them jacked up on sugar. Because that's what we do. And the kids, Nicky, you have to understand this. And there was a lot of resistance to this. We put any doors on this. And there were people there were staff that said, I can't believe you're not putting doors on this, you know, you're going to destroy kids are going to this is not going to last. And we said no, no, this is about the kids, we want them to have a place. That's theirs. But this is a true story that the kids walked up to the edge of this room, this hallway that now was a cafe, counters, mirrors cool setting, and they wouldn't step onto the tile. Because, and this is the part that always gets me. I'm like, I'm looking at these kids. And I literally just 50 kids on both sides of this hallway, looking in looking at the cake looking at the balloons. And and I said, Guys, what are you doing? And they're like, Doc, that looks amazing. Who's it for? It's for you. What it's for you, this is yours can get in here. But they wouldn't step onto the tile. And there was nothing holding them back. And so culture wise, that, that what touched my heart. That's what taught me. If we create those spaces with kids at the front of that decision, you can change an entire community. From that day forward, there was a different feel that kids were like, they love us here. They care about us. They're they're doing these things for us. That's my story.
Like gave me goosebumps. Because it's just the metaphor is so it's a real thing. And it's also symbolic. That's waiting at the threshold of the shiny room. Could you tell me about a teacher that had an impact on your life? Oh,
my goodness. Honestly, I started our conversation by telling you how many teachers had an impact on my life. But I will
give you permission to just pick one. And we'll acknowledge that there are so many that you could talk to. Just because you didn't pick them doesn't mean that they didn't have
Yeah, absolutely. I will pick on one couple because they're a husband and wife. That can't and Linda France, they're retired now. They live about 15 minutes from my house where I am right now. And they were just incredible. They guided me all the way through school. knew my family knew my situation. And they were champions and cheerleaders for me of saying listen, you You can do this you can do whatever you want. Even after high school, even after I went off, and you know, was trying to find my way, let me straight out high school, I was driving a truck, I was thinking, Okay, I'm going to be a semi driver. And they're like, you know, you have a lot of other abilities, would you like to keep trying, and guided me into college. And to this day, you know, it's, it's been amazing, I was able to come back and speak at their retirement dinners, and, and just tell them how much I love them. And, you know, it's, it's like that those, that's the power of being an education, the relationships, and there are educators, teachers, anyone that hears this that says, I've got that same story, because that's what it's about. And it's relationships. It's kids know, you care about them, and it changes their lives, you truly have a legacy of changing people's lives. But not many careers, can say that. I talked to a good friend of mine, he's like, hey, you know, you've had a whole career of making an impact. You know, I, I do this, I produce widgets, you know, it's not changing anything. And you're right. I'm very, very fortunate that I went down the path that I did, because that's the legacy is you can change lives doing this work.
Without a doubt, it's challenging work, to redefine your vision for learning, to get your school communities input and buy in, and to bring into reality, a system that allows each and every student to be the co authors of their own education. But with leaders like Dave, forging our path forward, if there's one thing we're certain of, it said the future is bright. You know, someone who's an inspiring Michigan educator, we should be featured on our show. Send us an email at Bright at Michigan virtual.org to let us know who they are, and why we should interview. Thank you for joining us for this episode of bright stories of hope and innovation in Michigan classrooms. This podcast is produced by Herbie Gaylord is hosted by me Nikki Herta and is shaped by many of our passionate and talented colleagues. Big thanks to Krista green, Cassie Harris, Ana Boyer, Sarah Hill, and Brandon Battista for their contributions to this episode. Right is brought to you in part by Meemic insurance company, insuring the educational community for more than 70 years. teachers and school employees visit meemic.com/quote to see how much you can save. The bright podcast is made possible by Michigan Virtual nonprofit organization. It's leading and collaborating to build learning environments for tomorrow. Education is changing faster than ever. Discover new models and resources to move learning forward at your school at Michigan virtual.org