Why are Students not Successful in School? with Mitch Weathers

WEBVTT

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Music.

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We are officially recording according to the red light as always.

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How are you? What's going on? This is Joe Vitale and Jamie Wonko.

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This is the Balancing Act podcast on human content. We are so happy that you

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are joining us once again.

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How are we doing, friend? What's going on? I mean, you know,

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I am a little bit upset because I ripped my shirt today. It's cool. Oh, man.

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You know, when you walk out of a bathroom stall in the fancy places where we work.

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Yes. you know it's just there's like raggedy jaggedy edges and i i ripped my

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shirt so i was like you know what i'm gonna wear this shirt today because it's

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going in the garbage right after this oh i i like that can't be repaired and

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you know i thank you and i liked i really like where you know one of those were

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like oh this is a great fit and no it ripped in like a little crochet,

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it's not fixable oh because guys this girl can sew right so if i could sew it

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i would fix it but it's it's unfixable i mean you could just cut the sleeves off and just go you know.

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That would be a look same sleeves it's

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the swan song for the shirt but i think what's going to pick me up is our uh

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is our guest today yeah of course he is well let's bring it let's make the day

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brighter of course he is let's bring him in hello mitch weathers how are you

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sir i'm well thanks for having me we are sorry to hear about that you know yeah

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but the fact that you sew is,

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very impressive both of my daughters are knitters and

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crocheters and sewers so you know what's really interesting i have a number

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of we you know uh mitch both of us teach middle school and i have a number of

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of girls who've been doing like those uh they're like what are they called woobles

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or wobbles or something like you can order like a thing and they'll learn how to do it,

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um seems to be very relaxing i think it actually would be something that i would

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like to do Because it's just like very repetitive and you do like the same thing.

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But yeah, maybe I'll have to. And Jamie also famously did a we have a thing

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at our school called Discovery Day where we teach kids like things that we wouldn't

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normally they wouldn't normally learn during the school day.

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She did a class called That's So Basic where she was teaching kids how to like,

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what did you do? The basics of sewing.

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You know, what the eye of a needle is and how to, you know, I mean,

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just foundational, but yeah, you know, I went from sewing to now I'm going to

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make homemade dog biscuits.

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So you just never know where discovery day is going to take you.

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Listen, something different every time it keeps us fresh, right?

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It's true. So Mitch organized my life.

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So be right over. Yeah. So Mitch is the author of a book called the executive

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functions for every classroom.

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And also something called the Organized Binder, which you can find him on Instagram

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and all the socials and all that fun stuff.

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And we talk often about executive functions, study skills, what our students are lacking.

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So we're really excited to talk to you today. Hopefully you're going to fix

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everything. Amazing. I'm going to fix it all. Yeah.

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That's what we're hoping. Lay it on me. Yeah. So we'd love to hear about you

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and your journey and how this whole thing came about with your foray into executive function.

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Yeah. Well, thanks again for having me. I'm one of you. I'm a teacher.

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I teach, taught, I should say. Spent most of my career as a ninth grade science teacher.

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And so just beyond you middle school teachers who are a breed of your own that I admire and respect.

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Um and you know

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when i started i didn't have any of the the

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language or i just it felt

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like something was missing i i'm based in

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california northern california at the time i was teaching

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in the bay area and at a

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spent most of my career at a large comprehensive title one

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public high school and most of my students uh were

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multi-language learners um and

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i in addition to my credential i have a master's degree in cross-cultural pedagogy

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oh wow so i'm supposed to be the guy that knew like hey i know how to you know

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come in and help here and it just no matter what i did and i taught science

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right so it can be fun we can go outside we can blow things up i could engage kids.

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You can have Bunsen burners in the classroom or whatever. And I really leaned

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in heavily as a teacher into his student-teacher relationships.

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And so all of that felt good, but there was something missing.

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My students weren't progressing. They weren't experiencing any success,

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which was kind of their journey prior to that.

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And so I just tried to figure that out. I tried to answer a question like what

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what has the greatest impact on student success and if we can figure that out

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let's do more of that stuff and if we can't figure if it doesn't then maybe

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let's do less of that and i just kind of.

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Became somewhat obsessed with that and is

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good thing i was a brand new teacher and very

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naive i just not that i had any expertise but i

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just started throwing things out and was like i

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don't understand how homework is related specifically for

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example to student success and i'm not

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here to get into a homework debate but at that time

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i was like well then i'm just going to stop giving it and see what happens and

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it was that kind of iterative process where i

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landed um you know

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now having the language it was like oh something's missing and what

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I first told my students is like oh you don't know how to do school that's

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what it is and I get it because I was

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never a very comfortable student in the

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classroom it was not an easy space for

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me I was I of course made it through but

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I remember being in class and feeling like this

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thing's happening all around me and I don't really know how to

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jump in with any agency or dexterity but

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some of you a lot of you seem like you do and you know how to do school and

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i don't and why is that and so that that all of that kind of swirled together

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looking at my kiddos early on and just saying oh like i know exactly what you're

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feeling you want to be successful but you just don't know something's missing here.

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And that's where these executive functioning skills you know come in where when

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students get a chance to practice them over time while seeing them modeled within

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the context or in conjunction with what they're learning, the grade level or subject.

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Things start to change pretty powerfully.

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So, I mean, I love how you approach the problem like a real science teacher.

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It was right. It was like, I'm going to use a scientific method on this thing.

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I'm going to form my hypothesis.

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Right. And you went through to see and, and, and that's excellent that you saw a problem.

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And you are now able to, to help kids. Joe, were you going to say something?

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Yeah. I, I, there are two things that you mentioned. Um, you mentioned about

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cross-cultural education, cross-cultural,

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what, what your master's was in again, I'm sorry. Pedagogy.

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Yeah. I mean, I'm interested in hearing about that, to be very honest,

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like, like what, what does that look like?

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Um, because we, Jamie and I are in a school with a large amount of English language learners. Um.

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So, I mean, I've never heard of that before, that there's an actual master's

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in that particular area.

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Right. It's been so long, Joseph. I don't even know if I could remember everything I learned.

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But I can tell you what I did take away from it was some of the,

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one, the fact that, you know, my first day in the classroom,

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and I should back up a little bit.

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But I started after undergrad, I was an ED of a nonprofit that worked with at-risk

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middle school and high school age kids.

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So I wanted to work with kids and back to that relationship piece.

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So when I got into the classroom, and I've learned this now for all the years

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I've been in this and have been mentor teacher for new teachers and whatnot,

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especially at the high school level, it can take a year, two,

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or three to just learn how to interface with this alien species.

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Yeah. it's 15 year old in your class right and i

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came in and it was like this is my this is my

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wheelhouse like i can do that part of it because i've had all this

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experience with it and i think it allowed me it afforded me the opportunity

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or kind of maybe some of the bandwidth to noodle on like well why why aren't

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you guys being successful um but to back up and what it that graduate work did was it One,

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it introduced me to Paulo Ferreri's work, and that was a whole other journey of mine,

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just radically transformed me as a human and as a teacher.

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And he's definitely the one that this idea of, you know, we need to take students

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from being passive objects to active subjects in the classroom.

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How do you transform that?

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But a lot of it, too, was just like, oh, I get it.

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This system was built for people that look like me

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and have a lived experience like mine and it's

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not working well for all of the students in my

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classroom and now what can i do about that so there was

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an equity piece there but some of the like pedagogical things that hit me early

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on and one i'll just sticks out because it also lends itself to organized binder

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in this program that evolved out of my practice was i i realized like wow i'm

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relying on verbal communication far too much.

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And back to that equity piece, if you're sitting in a classroom and English

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is not your primary language, therefore everything you're reading,

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everything you're hearing, you're having to translate and you're spending a

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significant amount of your mental calories,

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aka your working memory, just trying to keep up.

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And if you're sitting next to

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a student for whom English is their primary language, Thank you very much.

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They're not using any of their mental calories there and they can take that

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and focus on what they're learning.

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So I had to figure out like, okay, um, how do I rely on nonverbal communication, right?

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To make that hidden curriculum explicit

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and organized binder is all about establishing a predictable routine.

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The reason it's a physical binder, so

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you can see it as modeling as part of that but it's

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all color coded and so where we are in this routine each

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step of the routine is a different color in the binder and

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so i could basically i tried to communicate my expectations and use no words

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and all of a sudden things started changing like oh i see that their capacity

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is opening up and then really the kind of if i boiled it all down the thesis of my work is that.

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The executive functions are just a byproduct of participating in the routine

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yeah so each step of the routine i get practice with a different skill time

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management organization goal setting,

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but it's just as a byproduct of this routine like

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oh the first step we're going to flex our working memory through retrieval

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practice aka we're going to review what we did last time

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and i'm going to be able to answer any questions give you multiple

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exposures to what you're trying to learn next step

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we take out our calendars and we're you know so it's this

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it's learning by doing within the

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context um but all that non-verbal mixed

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up in there that that i think that came from the master's degree so

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i hope that no absolutely and the second thing you mentioned was about you know

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you're you're we have a similar stance in regards to homework needs to be purposeful

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okay um but also like was there any pushback for you when you decided like you

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know what, I'm not going to give any homework? Or.

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Um, you know, whether from your colleagues or administration or even from the

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kids, like from certain kids that were like, Oh, phew, this is like a load off my back.

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Like definitely that. Yeah. You're the cool teacher if you don't give homework

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and it didn't stick for a long time. My homework, I've thought a lot about the

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homework question and what bothered me.

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Um, because I also, that first year or two, I, I created, I called it the student

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with it in this study, because I was really curious, because here I am literally

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just trying stuff, right?

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Jamie, like you said, like this iterative scientific method process.

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And therefore, things were changing. Like, I think I went through like five

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different iterations of an organizational system.

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And literally, I'd come in after like six, eight weeks, like a quarter,

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and be like, take everything and put it in the recycle bin. We're trying this

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now. That is not working.

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And so with all of this change, there were certain students that no matter what

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I threw with them, they were successful.

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And it was very diverse. It wasn't one demographic or cohort of students.

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And I just was fascinated by that.

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And I decided maybe I had a lot of time on my hands.

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I can't imagine doing this as a full-time teacher, but I invited families to

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this study and I interviewed students. They opted in.

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They wrote this piece for me. And then I went and had dinner at their home. Oh, wow.

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And recorded a conversation, just me and the family.

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And sometimes I'd have to bring a colleague because it was a Spanish speaking

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home. Sometimes it wasn't.

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And it was fascinating, of course, you know, completely eye opening.

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But no matter what I did, there were certain students that could just be successful.

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And in that, I bring that up because what I learned when I went to all these

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different homes in different environments, I'm like, if I'm relying on homework

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to guide my instruction, to understand what students are learning, to know where they are?

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Am I using homework as a formative assessment?

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Because if I am, it's completely inequitable because everybody's lived experience

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outside of school is different.

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And it's entirely, or I shouldn't say entirely, it may be unreliable because

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it's outside of my sphere of influence. Do you have a tutor?

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Did you get help? Did you copy it?

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I have no idea. So there's all these variables I can't control.

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And so I take this thing, spend my time, grade it, leave feedback,

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give it back to the kids. Do they even look at the feedback? I don't know.

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And no, those were my things with homework.

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So I just started saying, Hey, homework quickly became one thing,

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the opportunity to interact with the things we're learning again.

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I don't care if you're right. I don't care if you're wrong.

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It's, you know, learning when we move things to the long-term memory,

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which is the ultimate goal of everything we're teaching.

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It's all about multiple exposures which

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cause us to retrieve that which we're

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learning so if i can just give you more opportunities to

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interact in a no stakes way it's more

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likely that you are to learn it so i just kind of took the pressure off of it

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and and used it in that in that that way which made me the cool teacher you

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know right because homework was not the thing yeah i mean i I,

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we've all had different shared experiences, right?

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Uh, in regards to homework, I know, I know what changed my, I mean,

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I don't want to get off topic of course, but, um.

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You know, I witnessed my own kids come home and in elementary school,

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like I'm trying to explain them how to do the math and I'm not explaining how

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their teacher explained it. And then it becomes frustration and tears.

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And now my son is in a pre-calc and I told him when he started this semester, I was like, okay, buddy,

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if you need help in pre-calculus, go with God, my friend, because I do not have,

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yeah, I am not, there's no way I can help you.

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But I also think about kids that have algebra, pre-algebra, whose parents can't help them.

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Who's, you know, the kid who is a ELL student who goes home to a parent that,

00:16:20.572 --> 00:16:25.232
you know, can't help them with the language translation. They got to learn that stuff on their own.

00:16:25.332 --> 00:16:28.392
So I've, I've changed my stance on a lot of things. I know Jamie feels very

00:16:28.392 --> 00:16:32.492
familiar. I used to write on my children's paper whether I could help them or

00:16:32.492 --> 00:16:34.932
not. They could not do this.

00:16:35.952 --> 00:16:39.812
Period. I felt it was very important for the teacher to know.

00:16:40.092 --> 00:16:44.092
Just because I'm a teacher. Oh, your own personal children. My own children.

00:16:44.232 --> 00:16:48.312
Yes. I would send it back and I would say, as much as I want to help you,

00:16:48.752 --> 00:16:52.792
homework is supposed to be something that you have learned how to do this.

00:16:52.792 --> 00:16:56.012
This is a skill that you should be able to complete on your own.

00:16:56.012 --> 00:17:01.192
And if you can't do it, just because I happen to be a teacher...

00:17:01.895 --> 00:17:06.375
Doesn't mean that at home I'm supposed to be sitting with you and reteaching

00:17:06.375 --> 00:17:08.295
something you should have learned in school.

00:17:08.535 --> 00:17:14.215
And I felt like I was doing a disservice to my kids if I was doing that because

00:17:14.215 --> 00:17:17.395
it just never clicked with me.

00:17:17.435 --> 00:17:24.255
And I have a lot of feelings about homework and what should or should not be done.

00:17:24.815 --> 00:17:29.155
And I think a lot of it is a time

00:17:29.155 --> 00:17:32.475
waste genuinely for especially because

00:17:32.475 --> 00:17:36.555
my own children have so many unique interests and

00:17:36.555 --> 00:17:39.635
they do very well in school but would

00:17:39.635 --> 00:17:46.195
much prefer to do like to be able to explore their own interests and sometimes

00:17:46.195 --> 00:17:50.995
I have one that will say to me like I don't have any time to even think about

00:17:50.995 --> 00:17:57.295
my art because she's on her eighth of the same you know it's like Sheridan knows

00:17:57.295 --> 00:17:58.795
how to do it I know you know how to do it.

00:17:59.735 --> 00:18:02.075
Yeah, it's repetitive and unnecessary.

00:18:02.615 --> 00:18:06.575
And, you know, so I would say it's changed for me a bit as a parent.

00:18:06.835 --> 00:18:11.435
I'll cross the board to me. It's you should always be having some sort of interesting

00:18:11.435 --> 00:18:16.055
journey to something that you I think we used to call it like a walkabout.

00:18:16.295 --> 00:18:20.915
Right. So what are you designing for yourself that you are developing your own

00:18:20.915 --> 00:18:26.915
interests rather than doing 57 math problems or, you know, whatever else it

00:18:26.915 --> 00:18:28.355
might be. But yeah. Yeah.

00:18:28.675 --> 00:18:31.575
And I'm not, you know, for the kid that needs the extra help and the extra work.

00:18:31.695 --> 00:18:35.075
And I always use the example of like, look, when I wanted to get a B in algebra

00:18:35.075 --> 00:18:36.415
in high school, I had to have a tutor.

00:18:36.915 --> 00:18:41.075
I had to ask for extra problems. I, there, you know, there was no Khan Academy

00:18:41.075 --> 00:18:43.915
or, or online programs at the time.

00:18:44.055 --> 00:18:48.095
Like I had to figure all that stuff out on my own because if I wanted to get the good grade.

00:18:48.788 --> 00:18:52.568
I had to put in the extra work. But we've talked about, too,

00:18:52.708 --> 00:18:56.128
that with tutors and things like that, it's not an equitable situation.

00:18:56.528 --> 00:19:01.008
And I've hired tutors for my own children. And that's also not fair because

00:19:01.008 --> 00:19:06.868
there's lots of people who I'm sure would absolutely do that if they could financially

00:19:06.868 --> 00:19:09.648
do it for their children. And they cannot.

00:19:10.108 --> 00:19:14.748
Which leads me to the whole reason why we're talking to you today.

00:19:14.748 --> 00:19:19.348
I, you know, part of the reason anyway, is I work for a company outside of teaching

00:19:19.348 --> 00:19:22.508
called Educational Connections, and I do executive function tutoring myself.

00:19:22.828 --> 00:19:27.888
And it is like day after day after day that we get, hey, kids are looking for

00:19:27.888 --> 00:19:30.088
coaches, kids are looking for new tutors.

00:19:30.088 --> 00:19:36.028
We get anywhere from, let's say, late elementary through college,

00:19:36.228 --> 00:19:41.568
we get kids that are like, you know, I'm amazed by getting college students

00:19:41.568 --> 00:19:46.908
that need help with planning and organization of figuring out their schedules.

00:19:47.328 --> 00:19:50.788
That amazes me because I to me, I'm like, well, how do you get to that point?

00:19:50.968 --> 00:19:53.008
Not already being able to do these things.

00:19:53.188 --> 00:19:56.628
And then I think to myself, well, it's probably the parent that is doing all

00:19:56.628 --> 00:20:00.748
those things for them. So I'm just, I'm so interested in, in also,

00:20:00.988 --> 00:20:05.148
yeah, if, if that, I'm glad you just said that Mitch, if they're lucky, right?

00:20:05.328 --> 00:20:08.888
Because some parents don't, don't have the capability to be able to do that.

00:20:09.228 --> 00:20:14.128
And many teachers struggle with executive dysfunction, which complicates the

00:20:14.128 --> 00:20:16.688
environment for students even more.

00:20:16.688 --> 00:20:20.868
Well, and that's the second problem is all the kids that I deal with,

00:20:20.928 --> 00:20:27.468
and we talked about this on a previous episode, even the routines are not all the same routine.

00:20:27.748 --> 00:20:29.868
Like everything gets posted in Google Classroom differently.

00:20:30.128 --> 00:20:32.368
This teacher writes this thing on the board over here.

00:20:32.488 --> 00:20:36.548
This one does it on Google Classroom. This one posts it on, you know,

00:20:36.868 --> 00:20:38.768
a smoke signal, like whatever.

00:20:38.988 --> 00:20:43.148
Like everybody's using something different and it becomes very difficult for the kid to...

00:20:43.693 --> 00:20:47.553
Weed through all of that and figure out, well, what is it exactly that I'm supposed

00:20:47.553 --> 00:20:51.413
to be doing? What needs to get the most important part of my effort?

00:20:52.613 --> 00:21:00.173
So I'm curious as to how teachers like myself and Jamie could implement a program

00:21:00.173 --> 00:21:04.333
such as yours in our classroom, which is going to make it effective and helpful

00:21:04.333 --> 00:21:06.693
for those kids in other classes. Right.

00:21:07.013 --> 00:21:09.853
And it is that you speak truth, of

00:21:09.853 --> 00:21:12.953
course and yeah it's not only do students

00:21:12.953 --> 00:21:16.573
struggle with like that that ambiguity that

00:21:16.573 --> 00:21:19.813
all of these the differences bring because

00:21:19.813 --> 00:21:22.773
there's already enough difference in middle school one i've

00:21:22.773 --> 00:21:26.353
made the transition from a self-contained experience my

00:21:26.353 --> 00:21:29.633
whole academic career now which is scary and now

00:21:29.633 --> 00:21:32.373
i'm with big kids you might have lockers i have to you know

00:21:32.373 --> 00:21:35.393
i was speaking at a district that

00:21:35.393 --> 00:21:38.733
i won't mention um and it was

00:21:38.733 --> 00:21:44.693
a district-wide um symposium and we were at a middle school like you guys and

00:21:44.693 --> 00:21:47.993
it was in this big auditorium that the middle school had and i was making my

00:21:47.993 --> 00:21:52.733
way to the to place where i was going to give a talk and i noticed their bell

00:21:52.733 --> 00:21:58.033
schedule on the wall and they have 10 class periods a day plus lunch.

00:21:58.889 --> 00:22:02.269
And I, I was like about like fell out of my chair.

00:22:02.289 --> 00:22:07.209
Like what, how is that even possible? And you start to think of this through

00:22:07.209 --> 00:22:11.729
like the lens of cognitive load, which is what you're referring to, Joseph.

00:22:11.869 --> 00:22:14.949
Like, okay, so what am I supposed to, how do I do this one? Like this one's

00:22:14.949 --> 00:22:17.549
a smoke signal. This one sends something home on paper.

00:22:17.709 --> 00:22:19.869
This one sends it in Google classroom.

00:22:20.049 --> 00:22:22.669
And I'm trying to figure all of that out. Right.

00:22:23.089 --> 00:22:28.309
And if we can reduce that cognitive load through collective efficacy,

00:22:28.309 --> 00:22:32.669
like what can we rally around collectively that

00:22:32.669 --> 00:22:35.589
reduces some of that those i'm not using

00:22:35.589 --> 00:22:38.349
my mental calories just navigating the school day or

00:22:38.349 --> 00:22:41.609
the school year true for parents too you we've all

00:22:41.609 --> 00:22:44.989
had that experience with our if you have children yeah where you are trying

00:22:44.989 --> 00:22:48.249
to help them with their homework and it's like well because you have there's

00:22:48.249 --> 00:22:51.889
no organizational structure in this class where are your notes for math like

00:22:51.889 --> 00:22:55.269
yeah because i don't want to say it the way i like i want to do with the way

00:22:55.269 --> 00:22:58.909
your teacher is doing math and all of that complicates it.

00:22:59.109 --> 00:23:04.149
But, and you, and not to interrupt, sorry, Mitch, but we, we haven't talked about it.

00:23:04.209 --> 00:23:07.309
We were going to talk about another episode, but even like Kelly Clarkson recently

00:23:07.309 --> 00:23:10.829
made a comment on like, you know, my kids and, and they have like these things

00:23:10.829 --> 00:23:13.669
during the day and like, I missed it and I didn't see the, uh,

00:23:13.929 --> 00:23:17.809
the announcement and they had a choir rehearsal or choir recital and I wasn't there.

00:23:17.929 --> 00:23:20.869
So like I was the bad parent and had to tell them that I wasn't there.

00:23:20.869 --> 00:23:22.809
Like, you know, she's got an assistant.

00:23:23.129 --> 00:23:26.789
She's got other people in her life that are helping organize her schedule.

00:23:27.269 --> 00:23:29.749
And she missed something important. Right.

00:23:30.749 --> 00:23:35.309
And not that it's a look, I feel the same way. Like, oh, we're doing this during the school day.

00:23:35.429 --> 00:23:38.249
So then you got to, like, get out of work and go do stuff. But that's the way

00:23:38.249 --> 00:23:39.429
it is. That's the way life is.

00:23:40.689 --> 00:23:44.609
Yeah. Just the more. So if I could break it down, like you're saying,

00:23:44.689 --> 00:23:45.829
like, what could you do in the classroom?

00:23:45.949 --> 00:23:50.609
And in my book, I explain that one executive functioning skills are.

00:23:50.869 --> 00:23:55.589
Are not taught in the traditional sense of the word i believe that they're best

00:23:55.589 --> 00:23:59.949
learned when students get one,

00:24:00.824 --> 00:24:06.144
when students clearly see them modeled and they get practice employing them

00:24:06.144 --> 00:24:09.764
by virtue of engaging in a predictable daily routine.

00:24:10.164 --> 00:24:16.464
So every day I'm seeing the, every day I see the table of contents that is what

00:24:16.464 --> 00:24:20.024
mine's supposed to look like. And I'm updating my table of contents while the

00:24:20.024 --> 00:24:22.844
teacher's doing it. And it's all this stuff the teacher's already doing.

00:24:22.984 --> 00:24:25.564
So this is no extra work for the classroom teacher.

00:24:25.804 --> 00:24:28.424
It's, this is already the content, the curriculum, the stuff you're teaching,

00:24:28.424 --> 00:24:32.864
But I'm not going to hand you a portfolio and say, like, now you're magically

00:24:32.864 --> 00:24:36.144
organized because of this tool I gave you, right?

00:24:36.584 --> 00:24:41.424
It's every day through repetition, not through teaching, because teachers don't

00:24:41.424 --> 00:24:44.664
have enough time to teach the stuff we're tasked with teaching in the first place.

00:24:44.664 --> 00:24:49.924
So even if I wanted to teach executive functions, realistically,

00:24:50.244 --> 00:24:56.544
it's not going to fit, which is why this work is not a curriculum.

00:24:56.764 --> 00:25:00.364
And so the three keys, and I know I said they're not taught,

00:25:00.464 --> 00:25:05.384
but the three keys to teaching executive functions are clarity, modeling, and routine.

00:25:05.384 --> 00:25:13.404
And when we look at the research, what has this consistently one of the most

00:25:13.404 --> 00:25:18.104
significant impacts on student success is collective teacher efficacy,

00:25:18.104 --> 00:25:20.144
when we're all in this thing together.

00:25:20.544 --> 00:25:26.144
And one of the conundrums I propose, if I'm ever giving a keynote or a talk

00:25:26.144 --> 00:25:30.384
or something, is saying, you know, what can we be collective about?

00:25:30.564 --> 00:25:35.424
Because by definition, we're so siloed. think of that middle school where i

00:25:35.424 --> 00:25:41.144
was visiting you have this student who and it's a six seven eight in fifth grade

00:25:41.144 --> 00:25:44.624
you know i'm with this teacher it gets to know me hopefully my family loves

00:25:44.624 --> 00:25:49.884
on me and i just have this experience now i'm going to 10 different classes 10 different.

00:25:50.684 --> 00:25:53.664
Classes 10 different places 10 different subjects 10

00:25:53.664 --> 00:25:56.644
different teachers 10 different cohorts of students in every class

00:25:56.644 --> 00:25:59.744
like the amount of cognitive load right

00:25:59.744 --> 00:26:02.864
that just and now i'm translating everything

00:26:02.864 --> 00:26:06.104
i'm hearing and reading i mean it's just overwhelming when

00:26:06.104 --> 00:26:08.824
you start to think about it so if we follow the

00:26:08.824 --> 00:26:11.904
research collective teacher efficacy has a significant

00:26:11.904 --> 00:26:16.964
impact well how do we get collective when by definition we're siloed right you

00:26:16.964 --> 00:26:20.224
teach math you teach ela i'm seventh grade you're eighth grade you're sixth

00:26:20.224 --> 00:26:25.464
grade i'm science like well we can get collective around clarity modeling and

00:26:25.464 --> 00:26:29.164
routine and all that means is i clearly model I have a class sample binder.

00:26:29.564 --> 00:26:33.864
My class sample looks exactly like you, my students. Your binder should look.

00:26:33.984 --> 00:26:35.664
I'm speaking organized binder now.

00:26:36.393 --> 00:26:42.133
And we implement a very simple but clear and predictable daily routine,

00:26:42.273 --> 00:26:44.573
and we never stray from it. We can all do that.

00:26:44.853 --> 00:26:49.313
And because it is content agnostic work and not a curriculum,

00:26:49.513 --> 00:26:53.713
we're just talking about how we start, how we transition, where do we put our

00:26:53.713 --> 00:26:55.333
stuff? How do we conclude?

00:26:55.573 --> 00:27:00.053
It's all wrapped up in a lesson. So if that's how we do school,

00:27:00.053 --> 00:27:04.793
I don't have to think about anymore. I just show up and I know the expectation

00:27:04.793 --> 00:27:07.833
because it's clearly modeled and we do it every day.

00:27:08.193 --> 00:27:14.753
And with all of that, the byproduct is you're practicing these specific executive

00:27:14.753 --> 00:27:16.813
functioning skills that research has shown.

00:27:17.453 --> 00:27:22.473
Move the needle for students. So it's pretty, I don't want to say easy,

00:27:22.593 --> 00:27:25.153
but it is quite easy to get collective around this work.

00:27:25.333 --> 00:27:31.173
And it, it's, you can feel it on campus when, when, when a staff gets serious

00:27:31.173 --> 00:27:33.173
about that. Yeah, I'm sure.

00:27:33.373 --> 00:27:42.433
We have a six-period schedule different from what we had had a block scheduling for four blocks a day.

00:27:42.453 --> 00:27:45.133
Now we have six one-hour periods a day.

00:27:45.373 --> 00:27:48.433
And this year, I'm... So normally we have...

00:27:49.482 --> 00:27:52.922
One day, we have two-hour preps, like one hour, one hour.

00:27:53.122 --> 00:27:58.102
And then the opposite day, we have a one-hour prep, and we also have some sort of a duty.

00:27:58.262 --> 00:28:02.882
So it's great for the teachers. What I've noticed and realized this year,

00:28:03.062 --> 00:28:08.622
I agreed to pick up a fifth class. So I teach 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,

00:28:08.622 --> 00:28:11.642
and I only have a prep every other day.

00:28:13.382 --> 00:28:18.542
And my duty is like hall monitor, so I have to walk around, walk around.

00:28:18.542 --> 00:28:24.662
And every other day that I'm doing my walking duty, I can see into the classrooms,

00:28:24.662 --> 00:28:28.002
specifically of my eighth graders. I teach four eighth grade classes.

00:28:28.262 --> 00:28:36.002
And I'm just walking. And I think to myself, I can't believe you guys have to have another class.

00:28:37.522 --> 00:28:43.042
Because I am so, I'm like, oh, my gosh, I am so, and we know they don't have recess.

00:28:43.382 --> 00:28:46.882
We know, you know, some of them don't have gym class. They would have a health

00:28:46.882 --> 00:28:51.262
class. So this is now the sixth. I'm like, oh my goodness.

00:28:51.722 --> 00:28:58.022
And I can see like a lot of them like leaning back in the Spanish or whatever it might be.

00:28:58.182 --> 00:29:00.622
And they are wiped out.

00:29:00.822 --> 00:29:06.102
And honestly, I cannot blame them because I could not do another class.

00:29:06.642 --> 00:29:13.002
And then we got the bright idea of, I don't mean to knock anybody that made

00:29:13.002 --> 00:29:16.042
this decision because it's probably a top down thing and it comes from the state.

00:29:16.042 --> 00:29:21.362
It was we're going to implement this uh special social emotional component in

00:29:21.362 --> 00:29:25.322
our lessons and we're going to have the kids do it during gym so whatever it

00:29:25.322 --> 00:29:29.262
is twice once every two weeks or twice a month they're going to sit on the floor

00:29:29.262 --> 00:29:31.542
of the gym with their workbook and do an sel lesson,

00:29:32.102 --> 00:29:36.022
yeah that's a good idea like the only time that they could run around and blow

00:29:36.022 --> 00:29:41.322
off some steam and and you know release some energy let's have them sit again

00:29:41.322 --> 00:29:46.842
and fill out a book um not to mention like all the things that you're mentioning

00:29:46.842 --> 00:29:50.182
about clarity and modeling and routine, which I absolutely love.

00:29:50.762 --> 00:29:55.442
Um, we're also not mentioning like for the middle school kid,

00:29:55.522 --> 00:29:58.102
the biological component, right? They're all scrambled eggs.

00:29:58.362 --> 00:30:01.942
There's, there's, their hormones are out of balance. Their brains are still developing.

00:30:02.442 --> 00:30:05.342
There's a reason why they need these things.

00:30:05.362 --> 00:30:09.202
And it's also partially biological because it helps them to learn,

00:30:09.202 --> 00:30:15.722
um, you know, what is, the pathway that I should be on in regards to completing things.

00:30:15.902 --> 00:30:18.542
If they can remove... I love that you're using the word...

00:30:20.576 --> 00:30:25.136
Uh, cognitive load, but you also used a symptom of calories. Now pop that in my head.

00:30:25.476 --> 00:30:28.856
Mental, mental calories. I like to refer to it as mental calories.

00:30:28.936 --> 00:30:29.956
Yeah. Like I'm dead serious.

00:30:30.116 --> 00:30:32.216
Like there's some days where I get home and I'm like, I am just,

00:30:32.376 --> 00:30:36.436
I don't like decision fatigue, right? I've made too many decisions.

00:30:36.656 --> 00:30:38.596
What are we going to have for dinner? I don't know. I'll cook it.

00:30:38.936 --> 00:30:42.336
Somebody just tell me, I don't want to make any more decisions.

00:30:42.916 --> 00:30:46.296
Um, I have a question about the binder. Is there, um,

00:30:46.756 --> 00:30:49.676
it is, so it's a physical binder, right that

00:30:49.676 --> 00:30:52.836
you're and and so would that look different depending

00:30:52.836 --> 00:30:55.616
on the school is it one giant binder that

00:30:55.616 --> 00:30:58.376
the kids have like tabs for different subjects or is it

00:30:58.376 --> 00:31:01.456
different for each class yes you'd have a portfolio

00:31:01.456 --> 00:31:04.776
or binder for each class each subject and the

00:31:04.776 --> 00:31:07.676
reason for that is once students learn to get and

00:31:07.676 --> 00:31:11.076
stay organized and that second part i always

00:31:11.076 --> 00:31:14.676
make sure i say because that's the point of these skills but

00:31:14.676 --> 00:31:19.436
you only learn through repetition over time but once they do and it becomes

00:31:19.436 --> 00:31:24.596
a transferable competency like it's mine they don't lose things anymore they're

00:31:24.596 --> 00:31:27.996
not stuffing things in the book bag they're not you know and so that binder

00:31:27.996 --> 00:31:34.116
fills up and one of the other byproducts of this routine is students create a year-long.

00:31:34.996 --> 00:31:38.056
Portfolio an evidence binder of their effort

00:31:38.056 --> 00:31:41.236
and learning which we need to make this really

00:31:41.236 --> 00:31:44.996
clear here we're not talking about grades we're

00:31:44.996 --> 00:31:48.236
not talking about content we're not talking about testing or right this

00:31:48.236 --> 00:31:52.596
is a byproduct of routine so i can be struggling with the content of a certain

00:31:52.596 --> 00:31:57.616
subject we'll keep it in the middle school space for you where you're at i may

00:31:57.616 --> 00:32:03.116
be struggling with this particular subject or some maybe some part of that subject

00:32:03.116 --> 00:32:05.296
whatever it might be but i can still,

00:32:06.326 --> 00:32:10.906
get practice with executive functioning skills and create a year long portfolio

00:32:10.906 --> 00:32:13.686
of my evidence and my learning, my effort.

00:32:14.406 --> 00:32:19.046
And let's say I earned a C in the class where too often in the modern classroom,

00:32:19.326 --> 00:32:25.546
in my opinion, success is tied entirely to my grade, like how I'm doing academically.

00:32:25.786 --> 00:32:31.286
And so if I'm struggling with that, what content and what I'm trying to learn, I may be,

00:32:31.906 --> 00:32:34.766
less likely to engage because i

00:32:34.766 --> 00:32:37.826
don't feel successful right but if i can switch that

00:32:37.826 --> 00:32:40.666
and that was a big aha moment for me

00:32:40.666 --> 00:32:44.006
in my classroom is students now started having

00:32:44.006 --> 00:32:47.406
the opportunity for success within an

00:32:47.406 --> 00:32:50.886
academic context that wasn't tied to content so i

00:32:50.886 --> 00:32:53.826
could and i've talked about this in the book i thought you could

00:32:53.826 --> 00:32:57.946
celebrate victories you have to acknowledge i could walk around to a student

00:32:57.946 --> 00:33:01.906
who was struggling and i knew was struggling about hey way to go you got your

00:33:01.906 --> 00:33:06.546
like your think you know just identify things that were part of the routine

00:33:06.546 --> 00:33:11.246
and who doesn't like to feel good about that and the other thing well we can

00:33:11.246 --> 00:33:13.646
maybe this would be too deep a dive but.

00:33:14.286 --> 00:33:17.646
The more opportunities i can be successful within

00:33:17.646 --> 00:33:20.526
that context the more likely i am to

00:33:20.526 --> 00:33:23.486
take risks that are inherent to learning and we

00:33:23.486 --> 00:33:26.446
can't forget that inherent to learning

00:33:26.446 --> 00:33:29.286
is failure right so if i don't feel

00:33:29.286 --> 00:33:32.186
safe then i'm going to feel less like i'm

00:33:32.186 --> 00:33:37.126
going to be less likely to take those risks that's just human nature which is

00:33:37.126 --> 00:33:40.846
the subtitle of my book is creating safe and predictable learning environments

00:33:40.846 --> 00:33:47.646
the more predictable the safer especially for kids for their whose lives outside

00:33:47.646 --> 00:33:51.546
of school or anything but predictable and might skew towards chaotic.

00:33:51.846 --> 00:33:57.486
When I can find myself in a consistently predictable space with a teacher who's

00:33:57.486 --> 00:34:02.566
hopefully smiling and loving on me, it has a significant impact on my engagement,

00:34:02.566 --> 00:34:06.666
which then translates into learning.

00:34:08.806 --> 00:34:12.706
But yes, it's one by all that. Sorry. No, yeah. No, that's great. No.

00:34:13.046 --> 00:34:20.226
Do you have one, or do you have any, like, pushback or any opposition because

00:34:20.226 --> 00:34:24.346
so many people teach in digital spaces or using so much.

00:34:25.303 --> 00:34:29.743
You know, that's odd. I've never been asked that. I'm kidding. Every time.

00:34:30.543 --> 00:34:34.143
I was about to do that. Every time. If I, you know, the whole thing,

00:34:34.223 --> 00:34:37.663
if I had a dime for every time someone has said, hey, should this,

00:34:37.823 --> 00:34:39.903
when is Organized Binder going to be an app?

00:34:40.643 --> 00:34:47.103
And I immediately reply, never. Because apps do things for us and they're wonderful.

00:34:47.483 --> 00:34:49.383
Take GPS, right?

00:34:49.883 --> 00:34:53.243
I don't need a Thompson's Guide anymore. If you're old enough to know what that

00:34:53.243 --> 00:34:54.683
thing was or a map in my car.

00:34:54.683 --> 00:34:57.563
Like this is a safer it's amazing but if

00:34:57.563 --> 00:35:00.923
you can't you know and this

00:35:00.923 --> 00:35:03.643
is true of an app or teachers doing it for you like

00:35:03.643 --> 00:35:06.243
i've put everything on the calendar for you for the

00:35:06.243 --> 00:35:09.083
whole week you should know it's like the only

00:35:09.083 --> 00:35:11.783
way to learn to manage and my times i have to be

00:35:11.783 --> 00:35:15.803
involved in that i have to have practice with that so the

00:35:15.803 --> 00:35:18.603
digital piece often comes up now with that

00:35:18.603 --> 00:35:22.703
said we have a educator dashboard and the entire program

00:35:22.703 --> 00:35:27.563
exists digitally of course our goal setting template our table of content like

00:35:27.563 --> 00:35:32.443
and a lot of teachers are accessing that just for projecting in class that modeling

00:35:32.443 --> 00:35:39.223
piece um but others you can you can use that in a digital application but it's still,

00:35:40.003 --> 00:35:46.163
there's a great saying so we work with some schools in hawaii and i travel quite

00:35:46.163 --> 00:35:49.443
a bit and I have the honor of being on all these different campuses.

00:35:49.843 --> 00:35:54.003
And yes, I do the hard work of traveling to Hawaii and supporting schools.

00:35:54.363 --> 00:35:57.883
But when I'm there, someone has, someone has to do it, man.

00:35:59.723 --> 00:36:03.503
But I've had multiple people tell me on different islands, different schools,

00:36:03.723 --> 00:36:06.343
um, and, and say, Hey, it's interesting.

00:36:06.603 --> 00:36:09.763
This, when I talk, when I, after a talk, they'll say, you know,

00:36:09.923 --> 00:36:13.683
this whole idea of them, these skills not being taught, they're best learned.

00:36:13.683 --> 00:36:16.583
When I get practice with them.

00:36:16.663 --> 00:36:20.943
There's a native Hawaiian expression called makahana kai'ike.

00:36:21.639 --> 00:36:25.759
And I've had multiple people totally different, you know, not really knowing

00:36:25.759 --> 00:36:29.879
each other, tell me, this really sums up your work, maka hanaka ike.

00:36:30.019 --> 00:36:33.359
And I go, what's that mean? And they said, well, it's a native Hawaiian expression

00:36:33.359 --> 00:36:35.199
that the knowing is in the doing.

00:36:35.859 --> 00:36:39.579
That there's certain things we learn by doing them.

00:36:39.799 --> 00:36:44.699
We have to get messy with them. We have to fail. We have to do it over and over and over.

00:36:44.859 --> 00:36:49.099
And I really believe that sums up this work. But executive functioning skills,

00:36:49.239 --> 00:36:53.619
which to be honest, are being referenced as future skills now,

00:36:53.799 --> 00:36:57.839
because if it's true that the jobs of the future,

00:36:58.059 --> 00:37:00.039
many of them don't even exist.

00:37:00.139 --> 00:37:05.019
And now with the AI revolution, like what's all this mean five, 10 years from now?

00:37:05.759 --> 00:37:09.859
Well, then what should we really be teaching our students if what we're preparing

00:37:09.859 --> 00:37:12.219
them for doesn't even exist yet? We can't. I know.

00:37:12.759 --> 00:37:17.219
Right. It's these transferable competencies, it's these executive functioning

00:37:17.219 --> 00:37:22.179
skills, future skills, that if I get enough practice with them,

00:37:22.199 --> 00:37:27.059
I make them my own, then when I find myself in that new environment, whatever it might be,

00:37:27.599 --> 00:37:33.259
then I'm more likely to be successful because I can put them into action.

00:37:34.039 --> 00:37:38.799
But historically they've we've left it up the chance and i have evidence for

00:37:38.799 --> 00:37:44.119
this everywhere i go i ask teachers it could be a room of 30 it could be a room

00:37:44.119 --> 00:37:50.259
of 300 and i'll pick any of these skills i'll just i'll do time and you know

00:37:50.259 --> 00:37:52.679
planning and time management time blocking and whatnot.

00:37:54.059 --> 00:37:56.919
And i'll ask people hey when you were a young person did did

00:37:56.919 --> 00:37:59.839
a caring adult give you a calendar or a planner of some

00:37:59.839 --> 00:38:03.199
sort and show you how to use it and then walk with

00:38:03.199 --> 00:38:06.819
you for a while to hold you accountable really to

00:38:06.819 --> 00:38:11.999
make sure you're using it over time and you might have one or two or three hands

00:38:11.999 --> 00:38:18.359
go up or organizationally did anyone ever show you and then walk this with you

00:38:18.359 --> 00:38:23.079
every day and it just we've kind of just hoped that these happen you know we

00:38:23.079 --> 00:38:24.479
pick them up as we move through life.

00:38:24.659 --> 00:38:28.179
And then that gets back to an equity issue. Well, based on my lived experience,

00:38:28.199 --> 00:38:30.779
I maybe have had some exposure.

00:38:30.879 --> 00:38:33.319
I may have seen him modeled at home. Maybe I haven't. So.

00:38:34.198 --> 00:38:38.918
Interesting conversation. That's always my first step when I'm working with

00:38:38.918 --> 00:38:42.158
executive function kids or I start out the school year the last couple of years.

00:38:42.418 --> 00:38:48.598
As I've done, I've suggested to parents getting a planner and a paper planner

00:38:48.598 --> 00:38:51.978
to be able to write down assignments because there's a connection between writing

00:38:51.978 --> 00:38:53.518
things down and remembering to do them.

00:38:53.678 --> 00:39:02.538
And using that as a communication tool between myself and the family.

00:39:02.538 --> 00:39:07.078
I've also, you know, Jamie had a great suggestion, and this is a great suggestion

00:39:07.078 --> 00:39:11.958
for any teacher, you know, to open those lines of communication back home is

00:39:11.958 --> 00:39:13.758
through your grading program,

00:39:14.018 --> 00:39:18.678
through your learning management system, there's probably some place where you

00:39:18.678 --> 00:39:22.698
could hit a button, check a box, and it's going to email everybody in your class.

00:39:22.698 --> 00:39:25.438
And I send weekly emails saying, hey, here's what we're working on.

00:39:25.818 --> 00:39:28.898
Here's some of the things maybe behaviorally that I'm seeing or like,

00:39:28.958 --> 00:39:32.598
here's a flyer for Spirit Week or, you know, just as a reminder,

00:39:33.038 --> 00:39:34.038
you know, we have a test coming up.

00:39:34.178 --> 00:39:37.658
Remind your children to write down their plan. Like, I always make sure to mention

00:39:37.658 --> 00:39:41.058
that to continue that conversation at home.

00:39:41.338 --> 00:39:44.558
And I, you know, Jamie had mentioned that. I said, why am I not doing that?

00:39:44.658 --> 00:39:47.178
And I just started doing it. It doesn't take long to write an email.

00:39:49.038 --> 00:39:53.398
So, you know, it's definitely a tool that I have students start with.

00:39:53.658 --> 00:39:56.938
I just give them a couple examples off Amazon and say, hey,

00:39:57.649 --> 00:40:00.249
You don't need to have the one that I'm, the one that I'm endorsing.

00:40:00.349 --> 00:40:02.989
I don't care what one you have, as long as you have one that's going to work for you.

00:40:04.589 --> 00:40:09.909
I do want to say, and I think that there is like some, sometimes an idea of,

00:40:10.049 --> 00:40:11.569
you know, like, oh, executive functioning.

00:40:11.849 --> 00:40:15.249
And is this a new thing? Or, you know, what did our parents do?

00:40:15.389 --> 00:40:18.329
Or, and it's something, it's just like me as a mom, I'm going to get,

00:40:18.509 --> 00:40:19.949
you know, I'm going to make my little mom speech.

00:40:20.109 --> 00:40:24.229
But when my sister and I, between us have seven children, and we often talk

00:40:24.229 --> 00:40:28.009
about my mom, our mom in the 80s, and how she just, you know, kicked it.

00:40:28.309 --> 00:40:32.429
And a lot of parents were, you know, our mom was home and it was great, right?

00:40:32.669 --> 00:40:40.209
But she had one folder, right? So we had one folder and the paper came home in the folder.

00:40:40.449 --> 00:40:46.749
There was no remind, there was no email, there was no, it was streamlined and

00:40:46.749 --> 00:40:50.769
simplified in a way that was incredibly manageable.

00:40:51.029 --> 00:40:57.609
And so I think we do have a generation of parents like me who were not,

00:40:57.609 --> 00:41:01.469
you know, raised by people who had to manage a thousand things.

00:41:01.609 --> 00:41:04.749
And so everyone is genuinely trying to do their best.

00:41:04.849 --> 00:41:08.669
But when we talk about like trying to teach our kids, we're all trying to sort

00:41:08.669 --> 00:41:12.169
of keep our heads afloat in many situations as well.

00:41:12.309 --> 00:41:17.609
So I think that it can translate for adults to the children and back again,

00:41:17.609 --> 00:41:22.209
because there are so many things that we're all expected to keep up with that

00:41:22.209 --> 00:41:26.169
it is, it's an unrealistic expectation, I think.

00:41:26.569 --> 00:41:30.229
And we think, oh, well, the kids could, it's like a lot of adults can't do it

00:41:30.229 --> 00:41:35.349
because it is a more recent, I mean, even just email, right?

00:41:35.529 --> 00:41:38.529
And how many, like my son's in band and then I have the app for band,

00:41:38.669 --> 00:41:41.449
then I get an email and who's at theater school and then they get an email.

00:41:43.119 --> 00:41:48.319
Right. And so it is this generational thing that is, you know,

00:41:48.399 --> 00:41:52.419
so important for all of us to to look into and to to teach the kids,

00:41:52.519 --> 00:41:55.599
because I think it's something that a lot of us struggle with ourselves as adults.

00:41:55.919 --> 00:41:57.979
Like you said earlier, not just teachers, you know.

00:41:58.339 --> 00:42:02.059
Right. And it's that that folder was clarity.

00:42:02.399 --> 00:42:06.439
Yeah. It was very clear where this communication.

00:42:06.759 --> 00:42:10.699
That's right. It brings up a few things. Right. Like one, I mean,

00:42:10.979 --> 00:42:15.299
teachers, we have our best intentions in mind when we send emails,

00:42:15.299 --> 00:42:17.699
but not all parents read email. Right.

00:42:17.939 --> 00:42:21.299
Right. And we have too many modes of communication.

00:42:21.599 --> 00:42:25.019
Pick one, even if it is email. But I could text you.

00:42:25.199 --> 00:42:30.299
I could send a message from my grading platform. I could send it from a student information system.

00:42:30.519 --> 00:42:34.959
I could email. I mean, there's too much, I think, for parents at times.

00:42:34.959 --> 00:42:41.319
But speaking of the parent piece this is where and Joseph you mentioned this

00:42:41.319 --> 00:42:44.999
earlier like I may not depending on the subject I'm teaching be able to rely

00:42:44.999 --> 00:42:46.539
on content support at home,

00:42:47.159 --> 00:42:52.799
and for me there was that was very true being a science teacher at the high

00:42:52.799 --> 00:42:57.539
school level and often times many of my students parents were working in the

00:42:57.539 --> 00:43:00.759
evenings and you know if you were the older sibling you took care of the younger

00:43:00.759 --> 00:43:04.259
siblings there was a lot there but what I found was.

00:43:05.373 --> 00:43:08.133
Executive functions it's a way to

00:43:08.133 --> 00:43:10.973
engage it's a really unique but compelling way

00:43:10.973 --> 00:43:14.413
to engage families because find me a parent that

00:43:14.413 --> 00:43:17.513
doesn't celebrate the teacher who's trying to develop the

00:43:17.513 --> 00:43:20.633
child as a whole person a whole learner and not just

00:43:20.633 --> 00:43:23.513
my math content or whatever it might be yeah and so

00:43:23.513 --> 00:43:26.193
for us and i can send you both a digital copy if you

00:43:26.193 --> 00:43:29.413
want to check it out but we have a it's a bilingual guide for families

00:43:29.413 --> 00:43:32.673
it's a it's a flip book that reads spanish or

00:43:32.673 --> 00:43:35.473
english for for us anyway it's some other

00:43:35.473 --> 00:43:38.733
language is digital but in in our student bundle

00:43:38.733 --> 00:43:41.393
that organized binder which is everything the kid needs for the

00:43:41.393 --> 00:43:44.073
whole school year one of those is a

00:43:44.073 --> 00:43:49.293
it's a gift for the family and it goes home and it explains what executive function

00:43:49.293 --> 00:43:55.013
explains the routine you see all this all color-coded and everything and i realized

00:43:55.013 --> 00:43:59.893
where i realized it my my oldest daughter's a freshman in high school and i

00:43:59.893 --> 00:44:03.853
went to back to school night for the first time as a parent.

00:44:04.393 --> 00:44:07.713
And not a teacher or a consultant

00:44:07.713 --> 00:44:10.913
or being on a campus or something i just had and i didn't realize

00:44:10.913 --> 00:44:14.293
what a different difference it

00:44:14.293 --> 00:44:18.833
was going to be but i walked around and kind of what we're all talking about

00:44:18.833 --> 00:44:25.333
here um every class was different everyone was you know but it was all about

00:44:25.333 --> 00:44:32.393
the content and the lack of clarity i was like oh my gosh i see it now where

00:44:32.393 --> 00:44:33.893
i would do back to school night.

00:44:34.053 --> 00:44:36.893
And I have parents come up afterwards and be like, oh my gosh, I love this.

00:44:37.233 --> 00:44:40.593
I love this binder. And I love that I can see my kids' reflections and where

00:44:40.593 --> 00:44:43.733
their work is and their goals because it was that clarity piece.

00:44:43.853 --> 00:44:49.893
So if you can figure out a way to invite parents into this, because what I've

00:44:49.893 --> 00:44:54.793
also seen, and Joseph, I'd be really curious to get your take on this as an

00:44:54.793 --> 00:44:56.493
executive function coach.

00:44:57.253 --> 00:45:01.253
Executive functioning work done at home can

00:45:01.253 --> 00:45:04.353
turn into a battle of wills between the parents and

00:45:04.353 --> 00:45:07.093
the kid and i can say it this way like i come home from

00:45:07.093 --> 00:45:13.573
school jamie your point of like six classes i'm completely exhausted my just

00:45:13.573 --> 00:45:17.693
as a human being i think though all those kids need to be outside if possible

00:45:17.693 --> 00:45:22.033
for a couple hours running not on a screen hell yeah go like go be a kid but

00:45:22.033 --> 00:45:26.233
i digress you come home you're exhausted and your mom sits down and says, okay.

00:45:27.313 --> 00:45:32.053
Let's look at your goals that you set and let's talk about those.

00:45:32.133 --> 00:45:35.693
Can you take out your table of contents? Let's get ourselves organized. Okay.

00:45:36.710 --> 00:45:44.050
The kid's like, no, I don't want to do this. But if that is just a support where

00:45:44.050 --> 00:45:47.310
I can say, hey, here's your table of contents. We're updating it every day together

00:45:47.310 --> 00:45:49.310
in class, which takes about a minute or two.

00:45:50.310 --> 00:45:53.570
And if you just check in with your kid on occasion or every day,

00:45:53.770 --> 00:45:57.790
then you can hold them accountable. And it's these quicker checks.

00:45:58.630 --> 00:46:01.950
And doing your homework and all that, if you have homework, will be easier as

00:46:01.950 --> 00:46:04.270
opposed to trying to do it at home.

00:46:04.270 --> 00:46:08.210
And then bring it to school can, can be difficult. So there's a really interesting,

00:46:08.550 --> 00:46:13.310
I write about it in the book too, like the opportunity to engage families in

00:46:13.310 --> 00:46:17.030
a way that is not tied to content and they love it.

00:46:17.830 --> 00:46:22.270
Yeah. And I, you know, I have experienced that with pretty much every kid that

00:46:22.270 --> 00:46:25.030
I've worked with, that there's a little bit of pushback initially.

00:46:25.070 --> 00:46:27.210
I'm like, well, do I really need this?

00:46:27.310 --> 00:46:30.650
Like I'm handling all my work in. It's like, no, well, for your parent, it doesn't work.

00:46:31.330 --> 00:46:35.770
So like, but I'm also not a magic bullet. There's 187 hours in a week.

00:46:35.950 --> 00:46:37.850
I have you for 90 minutes, two hours.

00:46:38.430 --> 00:46:41.630
Like there are things that you have to put in place. Like let's put in place

00:46:41.630 --> 00:46:44.270
a system. And just like you were talking about, like you used to come in and

00:46:44.270 --> 00:46:46.370
keep scrapping stuff. Like, ah, we're going to try something different.

00:46:46.730 --> 00:46:50.710
Like I tell the kids that too, the kids that I work with, like if we try something

00:46:50.710 --> 00:46:53.390
and it doesn't work, we'll just try something else.

00:46:54.730 --> 00:46:58.530
But the parent needs to also hear that too. There's going to be some adjustment

00:46:58.530 --> 00:47:01.870
period for the kid to finally buy into what that system is.

00:47:02.030 --> 00:47:05.490
And I like the idea of clarity modeling and routine.

00:47:05.790 --> 00:47:09.530
Like, you know, it needs to be a routine thing. Come home, check the planner

00:47:09.530 --> 00:47:12.730
real quick. Here's what your assignments are. Okay. Hop to it. It's on the kid.

00:47:13.030 --> 00:47:18.630
And again, I'm teaching the middle school and I'm also, uh, you know,

00:47:18.690 --> 00:47:21.930
I'm also dealing with kids whose parents are very, very supportive and have

00:47:21.930 --> 00:47:23.310
the time and ability to do that.

00:47:23.510 --> 00:47:27.270
So not every kid has that at home. um you

00:47:27.270 --> 00:47:30.310
you bring up that accountability piece i really

00:47:30.310 --> 00:47:33.250
fundamentally believe we cannot even start talking

00:47:33.250 --> 00:47:37.270
about holding students accountable until that clarity

00:47:37.270 --> 00:47:39.970
piece is there like this is what i'm in a

00:47:39.970 --> 00:47:43.210
model for you what it looks like to be organized and when

00:47:43.210 --> 00:47:46.230
i do that routinely every day then i

00:47:46.230 --> 00:47:49.250
can and only then start to hold you accountable hey

00:47:49.250 --> 00:47:52.190
why aren't you this is the third step of the routine we update

00:47:52.190 --> 00:47:55.530
the table of contents every day just anything we're going to create or you're

00:47:55.530 --> 00:48:00.050
going to get it just gets indexed here um why aren't you doing that now that

00:48:00.050 --> 00:48:04.190
could be a red flag and that's why this work is meant to be tier one as opposed

00:48:04.190 --> 00:48:08.030
to a tier two or tier three intervention like all kids getting practice but

00:48:08.030 --> 00:48:10.870
if an issue or a concern is persistence.

00:48:11.666 --> 00:48:16.646
Then it can be a more authentic tier two intervention, right?

00:48:16.746 --> 00:48:18.586
Is it just you're being lazy and blowing it off?

00:48:18.706 --> 00:48:22.206
Or is there something going on here that we need to kind of through the UDL

00:48:22.206 --> 00:48:24.426
lens? Maybe this needs to look a little different for you.

00:48:24.846 --> 00:48:30.646
Okay. But until you have that clarity in that routine and you're modeling it

00:48:30.646 --> 00:48:34.906
for students, I've seen it where it's like, I gave you your planner and it's

00:48:34.906 --> 00:48:36.966
almost like a punitive thing. Why aren't you using it?

00:48:40.186 --> 00:48:43.366
Why it. So just as a point around accountability.

00:48:44.306 --> 00:48:48.286
Yeah. Yeah. Mitch, I can't thank you enough for being willing to join us today

00:48:48.286 --> 00:48:53.446
and talk to us about something that we're both passionate about,

00:48:53.506 --> 00:48:55.186
but I know that a lot of our listeners are too.

00:48:57.106 --> 00:48:59.866
I'll hold you to it. I'm hoping that you're going to fix everything.

00:49:00.946 --> 00:49:04.986
I mean, if you need anybody to carry your binders to Hawaii, Mitch, let me know.

00:49:07.046 --> 00:49:09.846
Yes i have said on a previous episode one day you

00:49:09.846 --> 00:49:12.546
may not see me for a while and i'll just have sold all my stuff to be an

00:49:12.546 --> 00:49:15.346
uber driver in oahu yeah uh because i was

00:49:15.346 --> 00:49:18.266
there this past summer and it's amazing um but yeah

00:49:18.266 --> 00:49:22.186
good for you some tough job but somebody's got to do it yeah yeah

00:49:22.186 --> 00:49:26.306
so mitch i appreciate you jamie i appreciate you friend thanks for being with

00:49:26.306 --> 00:49:30.866
us mitch we appreciate you so much for joining us today on the balancing act

00:49:30.866 --> 00:49:35.966
podcast everybody check out mitch's book entitled executive functions for every

00:49:35.966 --> 00:49:40.746
classroom and also follow him at organized binder yeah,

00:49:41.286 --> 00:49:42.906
all right thanks again mitch we'll see everybody next.

00:49:42.800 --> 00:50:21.012
Music.