Latest / THE RCA MIX / School Excellence and Engagement: What the House System Really Does | Dr. Junior Bernadin
Transcript
- speaker-0: But junior, you got teachers right now, they're overworked, they're overwhelmed, they're underappreciated, they're exhausted. They have to-do lists that are miles and miles long. They got to do all this different paperwork, they've got to do all this data, they've got to do they they're trying to be parents, they're trying to help with discipline, they're trying to make sure that the kids show up for school, they're trying to contact parents, they're trying to do all those things. And you're gonna add another thing, you're gonna tell them now they gotta do the house system. What are you gonna say to them? speaker-1: We love the house system because it gives kids the opportunity to have a voice in the culture that they are a part of. speaker-0: Let's talk for a minute about what it is and what it's not. speaker-1: The health system isn't a program, it's a culture. speaker-0: Why does school culture even matter? As long as the kids are getting the content, shouldn't that be enough? speaker-1: Kim, when kids feel like they belong, they will perform better for you. speaker-0: Hi, I'm Kim Bearden and this is the RCA mix. Each episode I sit down with an expert to talk to them about things that matter in schools, things that we get right, the things that we sometimes miss, and actionable items that we can take back to our schools. And look, in my 41-year career, I have visited over 519 school districts. And we've had over 170,000 educators come to this very building where I'm sitting right now to learn things. And I can tell you what they always ask about. Climate culture. How do you create a school where the teachers want to be in the building? Because you know if the teachers don't want to be there, then everything else falls apart, but where the teachers look forward to coming in every day, where the parents and the teachers are working together because they want what's best for kids. Where you have kids who are so excited that they can't wait to be at school. Matter of fact, they don't want to be absent, where they're academically motivated, where they're driven, and where their discipline is on point. All that sounds like it's complete fairy tale and impossible, but it can be done. And I think we have a solution. And a matter of fact, I know it's not just a solution for the Ronkark Academy. I know it's a solution for countless schools because we have seen it implemented with tremendous success. So I am so excited today because I have an expert to talk about the house system and what it is and what it's not and how to implement it in the correct way and what are the pitfalls and the misconceptions, all things houses. So I have my dear friend and an incredible human being, Dr. Junior Bernadin, with me. Now I'm gonna have to read this because I don't wanna miss any of the things that this man has accomplished. And by the way, this is the shortened bio because he's done so much. But Dr. Junior Bernadett is a global specialist in the house system. He is a strategist in school culture, a leadership ex leadership expert. And the chief student affairs officer here at the Ron Kirk Academy. And for over a decade, he's helped schools design, launch, and sustain their house system programs to enhance belonging, which is a key component we're going to talk about, student leadership, motivation, and even school spirit. And during his 18-year career here, Dr. Bernard has trained thousands of educators worldwide alongside his colleagues, and he has recently received his doctoral degree. Now get this, I have to tell you the name of his dissertation. It was titled Leadership traits and strategies for successful implementation of the house system in elementary and middle schools, a qualitative exploration, which looked at ways in which leaders can inspire participation, deal with the challenges of implementation, and establish house systems that become an integral part of a school's culture rather than remaining a temporary initiative. Because you all know in education, how many times have we done that spray and pray type of program where we just hope that it sticks and works, but nothing ever really comes of it? So he has also coached the nine time, nine-time national middle school step team champions, The Essentials, and he has received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. That is the short list of what he's accomplished, in addition to being a phenomenal human, a phenomenal friend, a tremendous mentor, someone who's been a mentor to my sons, someone who is a incredible team leader and team player, and a beloved person here on our staff. So With all of that, welcome to the RCA mix, Junior Bernadin. speaker-1: Kim, it's such a pleasure to be here, to sit here with you, to talk house system, to talk school culture, and to talk about all the things that are like really exciting. I feel like educators should know about this system that's revolutiona revolutionizing the world. speaker-0: And I think that first of all it is so important we talk about the house system because if you are online at all as an educator and you are scrolling any social media feed, educators see images of house systems. Now here's the thing though, what we know is that some of those house systems are really just simply a lot of costumes or maybe pepper alleys and and that can be fine and well, but there's so much more to it. And so it really is a big part of school culture. So before we even get into what the house system is and is not, let's take a moment and really emphasize and let's talk about why does school culture even matter? As long as the kids are getting the content, shouldn't that be enough? What should we all keep in mind when we're considering just creating a school culture that matters even if we're unable to do the house system? speaker-1: Well, Kim, one of the things that I think are important is for us to understand just what our biological evolution is, right? So as human beings, we were born to be connected to individuals. And we are some of the rare species of mammals that actually do something called allo parenting, where somebody who's not a biological parent sometimes occasionally takes on the role of parenting in someone else's life. So basically the community is kind of coming together. You know, you you've heard the term it takes a village to raise a kid and that's that's what we've that's what we're thinking about, that village of raising this kid. And the reality is most kids spend most of their waking day with educators in a school. So how are we supporting this family dynamic within our school space to make sure that our kids are successful? So if you look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs, if kids have their basic needs met And then we start attacking these psychological needs, right? The the feeling of intimacy, like relationships, belonging, then they're more likely to reach their self fulfillment. But what if we can pull that off within the education setting where students can feel seen, heard, respected and feel like they're a part of something special? And I think that's the magic of a good school culture. speaker-0: Okay, well first of all, there's so much that could be a whole podcast and what you just said. There's so much to unpack there that I think is really, really important. First of all, this culture of belonging. We keep hearing that there's a loneliness epidemic. That's the phrase I keep hearing in our country, not only among children, but among adults as well. we're less connected, we're on our screens, and and there's even a lot of students who don't even know how to have a meaningful conversation with another human being. And as a result, this loneliness is really, truly a problem. And There are even groups out there to try to help adults make friends. And so I think that this is a crucial thing to understand that this is a big part of culture is that sense of belonging. Now, I know there's some teacher out there when you're talking about there saying, look, I can't be a parent to another kid. I'm a parent to my own kids. Well, this is a parent job. Parents need to, you know, do better job in the homes. And I guess I would say hold on and wait till we get to that part, because as we know. Engaging parents is a huge part of this house system. That it they're part of the connectedness as well. And the other piece of that that it made me realize too is this. I think a lot of teachers individually feel like they're trying to do it all. As a matter of fact, I know they are because teachers care and we're we're trying to do everything. We're trying to do it so well. But what I love is that when we've seen house systems implemented correctly, I don't feel alone. I've got all the other adults that are also contributing to the house and contributing to their houses. And so you don't feel like you're trying to do everything. You feel like you have other adults who are stepping up to be a part of your team. So I think that it is hugely important that we emphasize this sense of community, that we are communal humans and this is a solution for us. I love it. I love it. speaker-1: I want you to think about it, Kim, too. If you think about the concept of isolation or being isolated, in our society that's actually considered a punishment. Why is it considered a punishment? So for example, if you do something wrong, you go to jail, you're placed in isolation. If you misbehave in jail, they will put you in solitary confinement. That is one of the worst punishments that you can ever have. Because we are communal beings. We thrive having relationships with one another, being able to grow, being feeling like we are a part of something. Every area of our life, we belong to something, whether it's a college or university, whether it's a football game where we're going, we're representing our kids, putting on their putting on the the team paraphernalia or making a sign, whether it's you know, I'm part of the Sky Mouth Club for a certain particular day, you know, for a certain particular airlines and I get to go into this special club that allows me to feel like I'm a part of something and creating a sense of belonging. And the reality is that's something that we need. It helps us through some of our hardships. And you know, people you know, research has shown that when somebody actually has a a form of trauma, they're more likely to be able to work past that trauma if they feel like they have at least one person in their corner. But Kim, imagine if you had a whole army, like a whole school or half of a school, a faction of a school sitting here supporting you throughout that entire dynamic. I th Kim, I think it there's some magic that's happening here. speaker-0: I love that and I love the way you put that because there is something about us, even if I, you know, I'm a Georgia Bulldog fan. If I am in the grocery store and I see someone else in a Georgia Bulldog sweatshirt, immediately I might not always go say something, but it does give you a sense of, we have something in common or we're both rooting for the same team. I think we are designed to seek out relationships or just commonalities with other human beings to know that I fit in the social order somehow or I'm a part of something. So this is beautiful. And so by creating this house system, it does that for kids, but I I wanna keep drilling it down because I think this is so important. When it's done correctly, it doesn't only do it for the kids. It does it for the adults as well. speaker-1: I love it. 'Cause Kim, I remember the early years here at RCA when we were we you know, we would have a first day of school and we would celebrate the first day of school and sort the kids. But there was a time period, I'm not sure if people know, where the parents weren't involved in the house sorting ceremony. They just used to be on the outside. And I vaguely remember when the parents were outside it was like, Hey, can we come to the first day of school? And we were like, Well, yeah, really? Why would you wanna cut like this is for the kids speaker-0: Well but why not? speaker-1: Yeah, this is for the kids. And I think my favorite memory was the first year that we allowed parents to kinda come into the house sorting ceremony. And there's a parent, she shall r remain nameless. but I love it 'cause she had like a blue hat on, blue lipstick, new blue nail polish, blue shoes. And she thought that her child was gonna land in the blue house. And I remember how excited it it was and she goes and I'm sorry, the kid goes and spins the wheel and you and I are at the wheel and we're spinning, we're cheering and chanting. And she lands in the house of Al turismo. And by noon she had a black hat on, black short And for me I love it because we recognize, man, we were creating a sense of belonging for these kids, but we recognize the parents wanted to feel like they belong to something as well. And they can be evolved in this environment and this culture and kinda help to kind of create this culture. So most people don't know that our parents are so involved that in within the house system, within our school, that they also kinda created started creating these little identities that are associated with the houses, man. And I just for me, I just love it. There's so much there to kind of as you mentioned, so much there to kinda unpack. But I want that for every school. I want that for every teacher. I want that for every student where that community can kinda come together and so we can support one another along the way. I can contact a parent and we can have on the same shirt and celebrate with each other and lift this child up and create a moment for them. I think that's magical, Kim. speaker-0: It's beautiful. So for those individuals who might not even know what in the world we're talking about, we know what is a house system or maybe they think they have an idea of what the house system is. Let's talk for a minute about what it is and what it's not. So how would you define the house system, your elevator pitch to somebody if they're if they see your shirt and say, What is this about? What are these houses? explain how you would really summarize what the house system is. speaker-1: So, the house system, well most will think of the house system in the form of something like Harry Potter, right? where they would go and say, it's like you break these kids up into teams and little groups and they compete against each other and so forth. I think more importantly what we are doing is creating what we call homes within our school. We are creating basically stu sub subsections of our student population, we can almost say student bodies of sorts where they have a culture. They have a value that's a time assigned to it. They have traditions and so forth. So we find a way to make a big school feel more smaller, more intimate, more involved, and then we create leadership opportunities within there. One of the things that's very interesting about school programs is many times the program is applied to the student and the student is experiencing this program. With the house system though, the students have a voice, they have a leadership, they have an opportunity to advocate for themselves. They do things like have pep rallies and create little cool assignments and or they can be the ones who are in charge of basically lifting up and motivating their fellow peers. We love the house system because it gives kids the opportunity to have a voice in the culture that they are a part of. So it kinda adds a stronger sense of belonging, but allows kids to help build the type of educational surroundings that they can feel proud to be a part of. speaker-0: And that student voice I do love because, you know, when we are providing training for educators often and they will ask us, Well, how do you decide what things the house are g is gonna do and what what things the kids would like and and I always kinda stop and think, Well, you asked them I I I I'm not a mind reader and and honestly, you know, I've been teaching forty one years. What might have been cool five years ago, ten years ago or two years ago may not be the same thing that's cool now. And of course When we meet with students, we say there's guardrails here about what you can and cannot do. But we it does give them the opportunity to contribute to the things that matter to them in terms of school culture and opportunities and what that feels like and activities that they do. And it's it's beautiful. Let's talk about that's what the the house system is. And of course, we did not invent houses. I mean in for generations in Europe these have been done, but perhaps the way the spin that we've put on it I think is Is a whole lot more focused on this sense of family and belonging. And we do have points in our house system. We'll get to that because even though we get points, the point isn't just points, right? And the point is this belonging, this culture of of of where where kids can come together and support each other, but make it cool to do well and to thrive. So some things that you would say to people say, I know what the house system is, and they get it wrong. What are some things that you think are misconceptions about the house system? speaker-1: Well, one of the biggest misconceptions that I tend to hear from schools is they'll say something along this because they see it hear about the points. They sometimes can hear about rewards and the first thing they say is, this is PBIS. You know PBIS is a behavior system that has been implemented all around the schools, right? it's a program that can work really well for s various environments, but that's what it is, it's a program. But I like to say the house system isn't a program. It's a culture. And it is a school culture that you are building. PBIS can actually work within a house system. We have plenty of schools that do that as well, right? But it is not about necessarily getting points where A system that can be in place like PBIS where kids can earn points and they can be able to cash in those points for rewards. One of the things that's cool about a house system is my points mean a little more. Because when I earn a point, it's not just for me, but it's for my community. So think about the same concept of that football game that you're in. And when you're in the football game and Georgia scores, you are excited. I'm a Florida State Seminole. When Florida State scores, I'm I'm crazy. I'm I'm excited in my house. Why? Because that is where I belong. That is the team that I have feel like I have an ide identification. with and that I want to see win. Now imagine if we can create that within a school space where students feel like even when other kids earn points that we're winning together, I think there's something special there. speaker-0: I love this football analogy because truly on a football team, along the way students get closer on that team because they're working for this common goal. It may not be the person that they would choose to hang out with outside of that that team environment, right? But along the way they become closer. They're pushing each other to do their best. They're challenging each other. They're supporting each other. They're saying, I got you, I got your back because we're trying to have a common goal to win. And so that is what points do for us. And for those of you that don't know you can assign different categories for awarding points. For us, one point is the standard, but it could be for character, behavior, academics, athletics, excellence in many, many different forms. Really just catching a child doing something well or right. Now, naysayers might argue this. well, why should a kid get a point for doing the right thing? They should do the right thing because it's the right thing. Junior and I would a hundred and fifty percent agree with you. You should do the right thing because it's the right thing. But again, if you're working together with a team to push and challenge each other for good, it it's it's wonderful. And I you what I love about it too, Junior, is quite often, there are some kids, it may not be the straight A student, may not be the star athlete, but by gosh, it is the child that you wish was your child's best friend, or the child that you hope your your child grows up and marries somebody like that with that type of character. Sometimes those students do not receive any recognition of just being a good human. And so what I love is you don't have to wait till the end of the year at the award certificate, you know, to give them, character certificate or the end of the character of the month. In real time, in the moment, I really appreciate how you went above and beyond to help that underclassman. I saw you doing that and you didn't even know I was watching. That's the kind of thing that if you do that in life, you're gonna have such a beautiful life, I'm gonna give you a house point. To have moments like that, that's powerful life. speaker-1: And I c I definitely believe that as well, Kim, because with the house app that we use, we have the RCA House Points app. one of my favorite memories is when we assigned a point to a student and what most people don't know is on the other end of the app, parents have access to the app, students have access to the app, teachers have access to the app and I can say, Hey, I feel like Johnny did an excellent job in class today and I can go ahead and write up a little narrative and I send that. But to see parents at Carpool who are excited to see their kids It's like, my gosh, he earned a point today. It's something that I think is truly magical because normally guess what happens with parents when they're receiving communications from school. If speaker-0: It's it's just for the negative. speaker-1: normally it's informational or it's just for the negative. It's like, hey, we've having a problem with your child. For us, this is a new way of kind of sharing some positive information. with parents where we're letting them know that their child is seen, their child is heard, we are noticing and celebrating these small moments with this kid. And those moments can really, really matter with these kids. Because the kids remember them. And when you have a strong house system and strong house system implementation, one of the things that we say that makes us a little different, you know, again PBIS you can receive some points for meeting certain key metrics and expectations. But for us, we believe in the house system being above going above And beyond in regards to our expectations. What is that moment and that thing that we can drive, that we can align with our school improvement plan, our school culture? What are the things that matter to us the most? Is it character? Is it effort? Is it academic performance? Is it school spirit? And we have the ability to kind of recognize those students in that manner. Everybody wants the opportunity to be motivated and recognized for the hard work that they put in. We can recognize a kid for growth, Kim. Right. You don't have to be the smartest kid in the class, but you've been trying really hard and we have the opportunity to recognize you. But when you have a team behind you, you win together, you lose together, you find ways of supporting each other. You know, in our house we have study hall from six thirty to seven thirty on Sundays on a Zoom and it's ran and operated by the students. There you go. Staff members, we're there. We're just I mean, we're there on the Zoom just to you know, as just to monitor to see what's going on, but the kids are helping each other. The kids are helping each other to stay out of trouble because they want those points. They're helping each other make the honor roll because as a team together, we want those points. They're setting goals and so forth. Shouldn't kids have a voice in the type of education that they want to have? The type of experience and culture that they have? So if you see the house system as just a bunch of kids doing pep rallies and cheering and chanting, yeah, we give points and we're having convers competitions, you're missing something. It's deeper than that. And if your house system isn't rooted in that type of care where people feel like they can be seen, heard, and supported, and that we are a family, then there's an opportunity that's missed right there because everybody wants to belong to something special. And kids do not want to learn from people that they don't like. speaker-0: Say that second part again. People they don't like. Now I know there's gonna some teacher listening, I'm not everybody child's best friend, nor am I. Look, look, we don't play around here. We are all about expectations. But this is what there's something really key I think that you said, you know, when you think about your school's values, your goals, your things that you really want to focus on for the year, whether it, you know, it be kindness or whether it be generosity or or hard work, you know, growth, those kind of things, being able to show students This is what it looks like and this is what it sounds like right in real time when it happens. Child does something and you can announce that is a house point. That is what I'm talking about. When I say kindness, this was above and beyond. And so it it really does help all students really understand what is it that that really matters here. So for those of you who don't know, the way the house system works in our school and in many schools, the way that we suggest is that students earn these points. One point is the standard. and they don't earn them just for doing the right thing or getting every right answer. That would make all of us crazy. That'd just be like spraying them like confetti. It's when a child earns a point, it's because they they know even intrinsically, I did I did well. And so they earn points and then they're competing against the other houses. But at the end of the year, what do they get? Bragg and rights. The just the the just the idea that we're the house champions and we have fanfare, we have a ceremony, everybody dresses in the color of the winning house, everybody comes in and cheers, they get on the stage. And everybody, you know, celebrates. We have one of those trophies you pass around with the nameplate, you know, that each year. it's been stuck on Amistad for several years. they tend to be the w the winning house a lot. But it it it doesn't require that we we buy something or do something. It's just that we are building this idea of school spirit for that kid who might never be on a basketball team. but the kid who's on the basketball team also loves the house as well. It's very cool. speaker-1: So Kim, I think what you're really talking about there is it's a certain level of buy-in that the kids have for this system. And I can tell you one of my favorite memories was actually during an awards assembly, right? And I remember sitting down and it was the very first time this happened at a awards assembly where a student from the House of Izabindi, which is like the Zulu word for courage, right? The student of the House of Isabendi, I forget what student it was, but they got an a got a ro got an award and their name was called and everybody started clapping. And what most people don't know is every house, remember we mentioned they have their own culture, they have their chants and cheers and different ways they choose to celebrate. So Isabindi has a chant that goes, B-I-N-D-I, B-I-N-D-I, Bindi. So when the student from Isabendi was awarded and it was walking to the stage, all of a sudden a kid from Isabendi stood up, B-I-N-D-I, B-I-N-D-I, Bindi. And it was that moment watching that kid be celebrated by the house. But watching what happened with the other houses. All the other houses kind of looked like, that's what we're doing. So when a student from Alturismo got the award, L T R-U-I-S-M-O. And Kim, we were literally in an awards assembly where the kids became the loudest people celebrating other people in their house. speaker-0: And even if it was an award that that child wished that, you know, he or she had gotten, they were celebrating because they may not have received it but their their classmate, their house member did. Mhm. That's beautiful on so many levels, is it not? speaker-1: Yeah, it is, it is. And I think Troy, you know, our good friend Troy Kemp always says, you know, people have to have a crew and a cause, right? And I think that's one of the things that this house system gives them. You have a sense of belonging. You are a part of this. You are a member of this. You sh we share the same values. We win together. We lose together. We work together. But most importantly, we have the opportunity to love each other and be supportive. Not just the students, but the parents as well. And I just love this watching our students and families learn to kind of cover each other as a community, step in as those allo parents that's kind of helping to make things happen. But the magic that it creates for the students, including this the results, students feeling feeling that they're stronger, have stronger connections with educators. When you have stronger connections, they're less likely to misbehave. And they're less likely to misbehave. Research has shown they're more likely to pay attention in class and get better grades and so forth. So just the impact that this house system has had on so many schools where the staff members have truly believed in this mission. of the house system has been like to me one of the biggest takeaways I can ever take in all my experience of working with these schools. They understand the why, then they start working on the process of kind of contributing to this house system concept. And most importantly if I could say something, they just believe. When they're capable of believing in it, the staff staff members move differently, the kids move differently, and then the results just kinda happen. speaker-0: I love it. So for an educator they might be thinking, look, I've seen I've seen, you know, people's social media feeds, I've seen houses doing that. Looks to just like there's pep rallies and look our kids, we got discipline issues already. If we send them to the gym to have a pep rally every week, we're we're never gonna regain control. For some schools it it does work that they have pep rallies, but that is just one piece. And I think I always, you know, reiterate it's not just, you know Tutos and woo-hoos. It's not just you know teachers, you know, li if a teacher wants to be cute in that tutu, wear that tutu in those house colors. But that if you were like you're not gonna get me a tutu to save my life, you don't have to be. It's it's more just the idea that no, I'm a part of something and and this is something that is a motivator and it also really points out what we value here in this school. So if as teachers listening or in maybe an administrator saying, Look, we tried this house system thing, it failed, or I saw a school where they tried it and it fizzled. there are some common pitfalls. You know, what would you say to that person to maybe have them reconsider approaching the house system and maybe even a little bit differently? What would be your just the simplest advice at and we know we can't delve into we do a two-day conference here and we still could talk more about all the different details, but what would be some of the common pitfalls and what would you say to probably have them consider re-engaging with the thought of doing the house system? speaker-1: I would say the number one issue that I've seen with failing house systems, the Achilles heel of the house system, is the staff. If the staff is not fully bought into this system and believe that it can work, it almost kinda sets sets up the school for failure. speaker-0: But junior, you got teachers right now, they're overworked, they're overwhelmed, they're underappreciated, they're exhausted. They have to-do lists that are miles and miles long. They gotta do all this different paperwork, they've got to do all this data, they've gotta do they they're trying to be parents, they're trying to help with discipline, they're trying to make sure that the kids show up for school, they're trying to contact parents, they're trying to do all those things, and you're gonna add another thing, you're gonna tell now they gotta do the house system. What are you gonna say to them? speaker-1: So came at speaker-0: No, I will say but but we've heard these arguments. speaker-1: I can understand that level of concern. But when a house system is implemented correctly at a school, it is not just an additional program that gets done at the school. When you're thinking about what a house system can truly do for an educator, I mean you're being held accountable for academic standards, you're being held accountable for the way in which these kids behave in your class, you're being held accountable by state standards and testing and so forth. What if I told you by implementing this house system correctly, you can get kids to be more engaged in your classroom, better behaved in your classroom, and have a better performance overall at your school. It has happened, not just at the Ron Clark Academy, but it has happened to schools all around the nation. I know of a school in Kentucky. They were the bottom five percent of all Kentucky schools implemented the house system, took on our practices, and you know what? They ended up climbing. They went from an index score of a 33 to a 50 point five in one year, Kim. That's Four percent growth was considered four percent growth is considered huge, right? And they jumped in one year. Right now I think they're at a sixty nine point seven They were three points away from the second highest tier. And what's the magic? They're speaking at school board meetings about what turned their school around. And their students are speaking on the house system. They are sharing thoughts and ideas of the things that they've been able to accomplish. Kim, when kids feel like they belong, they will perform better for you. Hands down. When we are incentivizing and celebrating the things that are important, the kids go and try to rise and meet those expectations. If a house system is not working at a school or it fizzled out, one question I wanna ask, if you built this house system, did you have the voice of the students as a part of it? Mm. Because if you didn't, you built a house system for adults. Right. I've heard that so many times at schools where staff members come together, we put together the programming and the and then halfway through the year they're like the kids don't speaker-0: They're exhausted, they're burned out, but yeah, they they're doing too much. They're instead of having the kids be a part of it. speaker-1: Kids have a voice. You know, one of my favorite I think one of my favorite memories was actually dealing with our reward store. We have a reward store here at RCA that you can do with it in the app, kinda very similar to PBI. speaker-0: Most of the things are things you can do for free at any school in the country. speaker-1: Yes, and that's what I love. So some people get caught in the tangible gifts. Like, what are the tangible things? Well, we have some pretty cool things that we put in our reward store, right? Like the kids went out of the opportunity to play hide and go seek or have a dinner with the staff and so forth. And they're like very memorable moments. I know some schools they have the opportunity to slime their principal if they can meet a certain metric, right? Or if they're trying to have an at they have an attendance competition if the school can meet the attendance requirement. for the month, they do something to celebrate. So what we do is we have milestones. And when kids meet these milestones, we celebrate it. We make it cool. We make it poppin'. You know, we create opportunities for kids to be able to cash in their points, yes, that they've earned for the crew, but maybe do something like jump to the front of the lunch line, right? Not everything has to be physical and speaker-0: And and the kids came up with this list of great things. They wanted to one child to save his points all year so he could play there's a game called Murder, which sounds terrible, but it's not terrible. It's just like a like a mystery clue kind of game. and so that the whole class could have thirty minutes playing that game with their teachers. They wanted to play with all their teachers. speaker-1: And here's Kim, here's the reality of it. At the end of the day, a house system is built on relationships that costs us nothing but frequent interactions with one another and making sure that we can show care. That's it. That's what a house system costs. speaker-0: What what I hear you saying and I think this bears being said even again is, you know, for the teachers that are saying, look, you're trying to give me another program. We we got programs th that have come and gone, we we're exhausted, we've got too much, you tell me to do this, to do this, to do this. But what I hear you say is we're not telling you to do anything, we're providing solutions to the work you're already trying to do. Yes. So w we have teachers who are trying to figure out attendance issues, how to create a culture of belonging in their school, how to make sure that kids treat each other with kindness. How to make sure that kids show up in the first place? How to connect with parents. You know, these are the things that we are worry about student behavior and discipline. These are the things that teachers are exhausted from. And if implemented correctly, what we've seen in school after school and schools of all different demographics, all different age levels, all different backgrounds, when it's done with fidelity, that this becomes a solution. And so, yes, it takes some energy, but it's proactive energy instead of the reactive energy to all those challenges that we have, I think, as educators. So it's really it's solutions not to do lists. speaker-1: Yeah, and I think in addition to that, I think there's it's for it's perspective as well, right? If you look at how we tend to approach the problems around us, it's extremely important that we keep an open mind. Because I always say we have this area in our brain called the reticular activating system and it's kinda like it kind of controls how we view the world, right? It's the same reason why if you buy a Honda Accord, all of a sudden gets what you notice on the road. More Honda Accords. It is not because there are more Honda Accords on the road, we have reconditioned our brain to notice the Honda Accords. With a house system, we're reconditioning our brain to focus on relationships. And the reality of that is as we focus on these relationships, something happens. Now the staff You may have a student who has never spoken to you a day in their life. They're walking down the hall, but they know you're in their house and they throw up a house sign or they say good morning to you. That's already progress. We have teachers who are in the classroom and we have families in our building, right? Well who have maybe dealt with something very traumatic. And who comes to their rescue? The house comes to their rescue. This is what we're talking about, creating this village and cra allowing that village to be something supportive to our school and not necessarily take away from the culture of our school. For some strange reason, we found a way to get parents in the building, help to keep kids excited about what's happening in the classroom, and showing teachers key strategies on how they can even use their their ability to assign points to help drive instruction in their classroom. Why wouldn't a teacher want something like that? You're telling me I can get a kid to pay attention in class, to participate, raise their hand and so forth because they're interested. in these points because they want to represent their house, because that's part of their bigger family, and they want to make that family proud. Look, I say go for it. speaker-0: You know, I've gotta tell you one of my favorite experiences ever with the house is so many have happened here in this building. But I was actually at a gas station in a you know minute market, walk walked in to get my soda, and I had on my Ultra Rismo sweatshirt and I hear someone a little voice and a little boy that had some special needs and he's like, She's in my house, she's in my house, she's in my house. So excited. And I turned around to see this boy who was towering over me size wise, but d developmentally, you know, seemed much like a young boy with so so much joy, he was beside himself because he was in altruismo at his school. And I said, you're in altruismo. He's Yes, I'm an altruisma. You're in my house. You're in house. So then his mother walked up and said, you know, I apologize. I please don't apologize. This just made my whole day. And she said, It has been the greatest thing to happen to my son because my son, in much part of the day, you know, he's in different classes, smaller classes, But when he's going through the building, now he's a part of something with all the other kids. And so it's the first time he's ever really felt this sense of inclusivity. And so for him to run into me at the store in my altruismo shirt and and couldn't wait to meet me, just because of that, that was one of my most beautiful moments made me think, this this is really something that has taken on and become really, really special. And the other piece is that, you know, when you mentioned in in my administrator's hat here right now, both of us can speak as administrators and you know, in addition to to me being a teacher, I'm an administrator, one of the things that we always want our teachers to do is is to collaborate, is to work together and to support one another. Because if if we feel like every teacher feels like they're part of something. And so one of the things that we always tell our staff is that, you know, yes, we all should treat each other well, but your house, they're supposed to have your back. I mean, like they're the first line. You know, when something goes awry or when something goes well, they're the first ones that should be celebrating you. They should be the ones to make sure I got you what you need. And that really has happened here. And so even when new staff come on, immediately for them, they're a part of something. It's not just their mentor teacher, it's everybody in their whole house. All of a sudden I've got a crew in my cause too, people I can hang with that I might not in a big building ever even lay eyes on. Because, you know, some sch schools have over a hundred and fifty, you know, staff members, but if you can somehow make those connections with houses, you might really get to know somebody at the other end of the building you might not have ever gotten to know. speaker-1: I'm gonna tell you, Kim, it's funny how house systems can even impact families. And I'll tell you how my family was personally impacted by the house system. During COVID we had one of our amies, that's one of the identities of the the family. speaker-0: They're the Ami Mommies and they have an i they are they're fans fans speaker-1: Fans, they're just they're they're a vibe, right? speaker-0: that they will sit there and carry and pop they they're everything. They're fantastic. speaker-1: So so let me tell you about this moment. One of the ami Mommies reached out to me and said, Hey, I have a nephew who is interested in becoming a doctor. So for those of you who don't know, my wife's a physician and just say, I would love for him to just be able to talk to your wife for a bit. And I said, okay, sure. She said Saturday at 10 o'clock, will that work? I said, sure. We'll jump on a Zoom. She's like, cool. She said, can you jump on and just make sure that you like you can just introduce your wife because we know it'd be kind of weird. We don't know what to say about her. I said, sure. So my wife and I, we get dressed up on On a Saturday, we're sitting there and we log in on the Zoom. And when we log in on the Zoom, we notice everybody has the same background on there. And it says, Congratulations, baby Bernadine. My wife was pregnant at the time. They threw us a virtual baby shower during COVID. And that's kinda how they chose to do it. And they had made a video. They reached out to students that I had I had experienced here at RCA over a decade ago. And they got videos and video made this whole beautiful reel and everything. And I'm sitting there like choked up. My wife is choked up because she's looking also looking at students that she remember from my first year at RCA. And it just kinda reminded me like this house system for us is it's real. It's as real as you make it, it's as real as you support it. And when you give it the love and you water it, it's like a plant that continues to grow and bloom. And I honestly a plant, it's a tree. And it's a tree that continues to grow and it can bear fruit and so forth. So my challenge for people, if you really believe in the magic of what we call this house system, truly believe in how it's rooted in this concept of pastoral care, which is Holding people accountable and bringing people along the way and caring for them as this as we need in society today. I said that house system that you have will transform not only the lives of your teachers, your parents, but especially your students. All right? And I just think this house system is I don't know. speaker-0: You're the best salesperson. And it but I I'm buying what you're selling because I've seen it I've seen it work. So we're gonna take a quick break because at the Ronkark Academy we do have professional development and we have professional development in all different types of areas, including we have House Mania for houses. But let's just take a quick break so people can learn a little bit more about the professional development opportunities available to them here at the Ronkark Academy. speaker-1: Imagine a school where students are excited to learn. Educators feel confident and equipped, and the culture is thriving. That's what every educator wants, but finding effective strategies in today's demanding environment can feel overwhelming. And you deserve support. The Ron Clark Academy is a nonprofit school and educator training facility in Atlanta. Our nationally recognized educators still teach and lead, so we understand both the challenges and the possibilities. By attending RCAEXP and our other professional development programs, you can observe effective teaching and action, learn proven strategies from practicing educators, and leave ready to adapt them for your own students in school. Thousands of educators attend and learn from us every year, and we would love for you to be next. So come see it, understand why it works, and make it your own. Visit RCAEXP.com to register for one of our professional development experiences today. speaker-0: And we're back. If you're just joining us, I am talking with Dr. Junior Bernadin, a house system expert, among many other things. And Junior, something you mentioned right before we took a quick break, very important, I think, is that you use the expression pastoral care. There are some people that have had pushback, perhaps from parents, saying, that's you know, evil if we're bringing houses and there's some kind of evil, but yet there are many faith-based schools, many faith-based schools who actually use the house system. And Sometimes they use the house names that we use, sometimes they use others, sometimes they use, you know, biblical principles or fruits of the spirit or things like that as the titles of their houses. But speak to that piece of pastoral care and what you mean when you say that. speaker-1: When we talk about pastoral care, the concept is thinking about a structure, right? Or thinking about a program where we are supporting one another, whether they feel alienated, lost, confused within, but we're serving as a support system for them. And in the I would say in the religious world, there are seven key principles of pastoral care. And I would say out of those seven key principles, I know there's like two of them that don't necessarily align with what a public school may want, right? Like sacramental duties and worship leadership and so forth. But the The reality is this, the things that support past I mean the thing that the ideas that support pastoral care are things that we can do in our everyday life. And it's ultimately rooted in being there for one another, helping kids to develop as leaders, creating opportunities for them to gather and learn various virtues, skills, and so forth. And if you think about this concept of pastoral care, it is an opportunity to create culture. And according to Harvard University's Department of Education, there are these five interwoven elements that create a good school culture. Fundamental beliefs and assumptions, norms, behaviors, tangible evidence, and so forth. And what that means is collectively we're coming together and building a culture where people understand, hey, here's what we believe, here's how we should act, here's how Here's how we believe we should act, here's how act actually people act. And here is the idea and support that if you look around our building, there's never a question about who we are. We say four houses, one RCA. That's an example of a message that we stand on the business of meaning that we are one solid community. speaker-0: I love that and I'm I'm glad you mentioned that piece of four houses, one RCA as well, because I've had the question, well, aren't these houses divisive? Now within a classroom, and I'll come back to the classroom in a moment, but they're not all in the same house. They're in different houses. The we have just like with everything, we have standards of excellence and we have values and one value is that you can say, My house is phenomenal, but I can never say anything bad about your house. I love my house, but I can't say your house is awful or something worse than that. So the idea is that we in a good natured way might say, we're gonna win, we're gonna win, but you can't speak ill of someone else. It is all about support and and belonging and uplifting each other. So that's why we say even though we have in our school four houses, but we're still one school community and I love that. speaker-1: I would like to touch to that point but where you talk about this divisive nature of of students and in individuals and beings like being a part of a team at a school. So I want people to really know this. You have whether you think you have a house system or you interested in starting one at your school, you kinda have one at your school already. Walk into your lunchroom. You'll see it. The kids Have groups and separated themselves into factions where they create the norms, the beliefs, the assumptions, they create the incentives, whether it's I'm gonna misbehave to get your attention or I'm gonna act like this, or I'm gonna they create those. With the house system, it gives us the opportunity to create the framework and say, Hey kids, this is the house. Now what color would you like to see this wall? Or this is the game room. What type of games would you like to see within here? But it's our house. It is our rules. It is the way in which we choose to operate this system within our space, but we give them a little say so. So we're kind of meeting them halfway versus allowing them to create their own rules, enforce their own rules. speaker-0: And not let anybody else sit with them in the speaker-1: Exactly. And in addition to that, they create their own rules and they start moving and behaving and incentivizing their things and many times their rules are not in line with the school rules, which gives you the problems that you experience, right? But what if we can incentivize those kids in a way where they understand by following these rules, here are the rewards, here are the things that you can take away from. Here is this global leaderboard that you can look at and get an instant feedback loop as a young teen to understand what I did. mattered, it was received, I got celebrated for it, and now I get to move on to the next challenge. That's what they do in video games and that's why they love video games so well. So I think it's like a great way to kinda gamify your school environment. speaker-0: I never thought about that with the lunchroom, but that is so spot on. You know, my daughter is now 36 years old. But when she was young in high school, I remember she told me that her greatest fear the first day of high school was that she'd be walking through the lunchroom with her tray and have nowhere to sit. You know, there's always that that idea of I don't, you know, where am I gonna go? Where am I gonna belong? What what kind of what can I do? So we do have their own our own houses that are created in other schools, and the difference is that those are very exclusive. They won't let others be a part of them. And so that changes the rules completely. I love that. The other thing, you know, you mentioned is just, you know, that kind of activity of sitting at lunch. I want to touch on that for a minute. So when schools tend to go awry with houses, one of the other challenges I see is that they're they're trying to figure out how do we meet? How do we meet? When do the houses meet? Well, we do meet weekly in our houses. We're a smaller school. Some schools do that. But you don't always have to meet, you know, every child K through eight every single week. You may not even have the physical ability to do that. But there are other ways that you can do this without it having to be a year's of lessing plans of meetings. I've told teachers if they're doing that, they're doing it wrong. Our our meetings are, you know, there there's order to it, but they're run by the students. And sometimes we do recognize the students who've earned the most points. They set strategies and goals as a house. They talk about upcoming events, which we'll touch on. and then if for us that you know there's the spirit piece where they, you know, they work on a cheer or song or something like that. But it's so simple for us as adults because once we've taught the students leadership skills, the students run it. But then there are other things schools can so easily do. For example, we have some days where we walk in on the schedule, it says house, you know, lunch with your houses. So at lunchtime, you go and sit with your houses. You're gonna eat anyway, but what if you even you could say, Okay, if you're an eighth grader, go sit with a fourth grader in your house? So there is some of that kind of cross grade level mentorship kind of thing that happens. Or we do have some things outside of school, but they're usually driven by kids' ideas and they're usually simple. For example, one of my favorite altruismo events was we had game night, and everybody was told, all the families came, everybody came. Bring your favorite game. And it was so beautiful because we're just spread out all over this rotunda area at our school, and they got mamas over there playing spades, and we got kids playing Twister, and we got little kids over here playing snakes and ladders, and you know, the and Uno cards going everywhere, and everybody's just playing and laughing. It cost us nothing because everybody brought the games. But it was just like an hour of board games, and it was so much fun. So There are simple things. Or I know Almostads had a movie night, right? When everybody just came and brought their favorite snacks and we went in the theater and, you know, you watched a movie. So and community service things we've done. We've done community trash pickup and things like that. And there's something about when you're with your house and you're doing something to help someone else, that's that's a beautiful feeling as well. speaker-1: So Kim, there's this thing called the social identity theory, right? And it talks about the breaking down of people into groups, but most importantly, those groups having the ability to compare each other's personal values, beliefs, and so forth. It's kinda like what we were talking about with the whole like you walk in, you're you're a Georgia Bulldog, right? If somebody from you know, somebody who plays from the University of Alabama or a fan like there, you're like, man, like they'll walk in a building and be like roll tide, right? Right. So there's this thing that begins to happen, but one of the most important components of that is That there's differences between the houses. That allows the kids to buy into it. So when we think about houses, sometimes I see schools who make the mistake of every house does the exact same thing. Right. It's like every house is going to do this together. Every house is going to have a bingo night. Every house is going to No, part of the magic, well, some people may say, but we want all houses to be able to feel good and so forth. No, part of the magic is Every house has some signature traditions and things that they do that allow the other houses to feel a little like, man, that was a really good idea. That's a What are we gonna do? Yeah. Yeah. speaker-0: But it's gonna be ours. speaker-1: So like I love House of Isabendi has what they call the Bindi breakfast. On that day, the parents of Isabendi come in, they have green eggs, green pancakes, green ham. they have they'll turn their orange juice, put a little blue food color in there, turn it green, and it's like this whole thing and that's Isabendi's moment as at RCA Mr. Clark always talks about making your own sandwich. That's it's a Bendy sandwich, right? They'll do that. And what we love is that every house has its own series of traditions and events and so forth that I mean we truly love that they get to use that to buy in to their belief system within the house. Right. And a example of easy things that people can do, I remember one of my favorite memories was Mr. Wen who is now the head of house of Amy right now. Mr. Wen came up with the idea, he called it Extended Recess. And people are like, Extended Recess? What is that? School gets out at three thirty. On that day he was he sent we sent a message to our parents that says, Hey, Amy parents, we're gonna have extended recess today. For fifteen minutes, we're gonna stand outside with the kids, we'll allow them to play. You're invited to kind of come in and play with us as well. Very similar to a game that Kim, it was fifteen minutes. But you know what was cool about that? Fifteen minutes, other houses were walking out to carpool. Wait a minute, how come we don't get to play in the so forth or whatever? But that was Omni's moment, right? Just like other houses have their moments as well. Create these moments where your kids are proud to feel like, you know, because we are a part of this. House, we get to experience certain things and that we get to celebrate together. So again, I love it's not about throwing, you know, a bunch of parties and pepper allies and a pizza party here 'cause you earned this many points and so forth. The smallest things are the things that the kids really remember. The we made hot chocolate and we had marshmallows and s'mores during lunchtime for the kids, right? Or we bought cupcakes on Valentine's Day and we made little Valentines for the kids as well. That I think are some of the most important things because those are the things that allow kids to feel like they feel seen, they feel heard, they're a part of something, and now they have the opportunity to celebrate as a group what this event and what this what it means to be in a house. It's belonging one on one and we just love how it just has impacted so many schools, including our own and our own personal families, and watch what this does. speaker-0: I love that. It's fifteen minute. I feel like that's a book title, The Power of Fifteen. I speaker-1: It really is. speaker-0: mean, that you can do something that significant in just fifteen minutes because time is you know, it's something that we all feel like we struggle with, right? We don't have enough of it, but just being out there for fifteen extra minutes. Now at our school, I guess we should share the make our sandwich expression. So at at RCA you can steal this, y'all. So we have an expression. We say, make your own sandwich. And so what that is, and we tell that to the kids too. y if they say, Well, why don't we get to have fifteen minutes or e that's their sandwich. They made that. That's their sandwich. They made their sandwich. That was their sandwich. They picked the top ends. They decided that's what they wanna do. What what can be our sandwich? We can come up with something that we want to do that we're all game to do. And so that's important. Another thing, so those are some of the kinds of activities we do in houses. I do wanna just make sure I circle back for a moment to in the classroom. So in the classroom setting, yes there are times when I might give a student a house point for you know helping another student or or being extremely helpful or going above and beyond. Now one thing our students can never ask for points. Yes. They can't solicit them like, Miss Beardon, you did not ask me to clean up, but I cleaned up other people's things as well. I'm like, okay, thank you, sweetheart. But that's not a house point, right? But we do give them for academics. Now it could be that if you had a test and a child just knocked it out of the park, you know, you want to give them a point for it or maybe even two points for that or three because it's like the big test. But Really a lot of times it's in real time moments. Yes. and it it could be that you're it's not every time a child gets the right answer. But i if a child let's say you're doing a directed lesson and different students are answering in different ways, and then one student stands up and just has an answer with depth or makes that connection that you've been waiting for, you were hoping or just remembered something that you just mentioned in passing a long time ago and just really brought it to this you know, Miss Beardon, this actually makes me, you know, reminds me of when we read that other story and And how this character was struggling with the same thing, you know, something that you're just like, okay, wow, that's a wow. Then we'll say, that was a brilliant answer, or I've been waiting for someone to make that connection house point. Then there's just this whole level of pride. And what it does is encourage students too that academically, no, we want to dig deeper. I mean, that's that's what rigor is, really, right? Is being having to have deeper to think critically to synthesize, analyze that information. And somebody who's doing that, once again, you're able to say, no, that's what I'm looking for. that type of thought, not just yes no kind of answers, but you know, the how and the why. And so it it is a wonderful tool to have in the classroom when it comes to that. So Junior, I want to talk for a moment about your dissertation. Okay. Okay. So so proud of you for getting your doctorate in addition to doing, you know, at the same time that you're you know j coaching the the national champion step team, at the same time you're doing the Lego robotics team, at the same time that you are You know, functioning as our dean of students at the same time, I mean, just it's so many affairs that you do on every single day. But when you were working on your dissertation, I know that there's so much research you did, maybe share with us first what was the one thing that you would love to say made you either the most pleasantly surprised or you were just so excited to see that what your gut told you all along it validated. speaker-1: I think I had a couple of those moments, Kim, to be honest with you. So part of my dissertation was a qualitative study where I interviewed eleven principals slash district administrators who had successfully implemented the house system, which means when I defined success I said they meet met three out of these five requirements. They had an increase in academic performance, they had a decrease in discipline referrals, they had an increase in attendance, they had an increase in par parental participation, and they had an increase increase in the overall satisfaction of their climate and culture at their school. And in order to be you know, again, in order to be considered successful, you had to meet three out of those five requirements. some of the instructors had actually taught at multiple schools. I mean there were principals at multiple schools and started a house system at multiple schools. And there was an overarching thread that I kinda saw just popping its head, right? And I mentioned it a little earlier. I talked about believing in this house system. There was a principal who was in a district, who the district wanted to use a particular behavior program. at their schools, amongst all their schools. And this principal says, I this my I wanna do this house system. I believe in this house system. This I have an idea how it works. I've seen it. I've come to RCA. I've had the house mania. I've learned from these strategies. This is possible. And the district was actually hesitant. The district was like, No, we don't think you should do this. We highly recommend that you don't do this and so forth. And it was a lot of hesitation. And this principal said that they actually thought they might lose their job if this does not work out. But they believed in the house system enough to risk it. And they did. And when they were done, performance, student engagement, discipline referrals decreased and so forth. And it was one of those things where he got to say, see, I told you so. And it turned actually turned around the concept of this house system being too d you know, being too too then speaker-0: Is there? speaker-1: It turned around the idea of the perception that these individuals had of what this house system is. And what I've found is that historically a lot of people have a misconception. Of what the house system actually is. And that's why I love watching the schools who come to RCA, they get trained, they spend two days with us and get to understand the inner work and at least the elementary or the primary parts of what we learn with the house. And just kinda looking up underneath this hood of this engine that's revving and going and creating magic, right? I love that. I love that for him. But what I also loved was there were schools that it was beautiful to watch how their community came together when they lost a student. And there was a school that lost a student and the school came together. The kid's student was in the house of his abendy and The House of Visabendi came together and dedicated a garden at the school that is named after the kids that all the houses come together periodically during time to help kind of, you know, handle the grooming the garden and so forth. And once in a while they go and do something celebratory there in honor of the student has passed. I'm like, yo, we're teaching empathy. We're teaching how to just be emotionally aware and understand and be there for individuals. It kind of has me thinking about the whole system with like the whole scenario with Jack and Jack. them up and just how there was a whole movement that was spearheaded to support people at some of their darkest moments. You can't tell me that this isn't important and I'm seeing this over and over again where people are sharing stories from different schools on different parts of the United States like and the stories saw sound all the same. speaker-0: I love it. You know, for those of you that heard him say, Jack, there's a student, a young man that would belong to the House of Rever in North Carolina and he was in a tragic accident and lost his life, but he loved Reverde. He loved it with everything he was and so his community knew that. And so to honor his legacy, they came together and actually have a scholarship where students are able to come to our House Leadership Academy here every year for many many they had sent thirty students, but it was their way of honoring Jack. I mean what a beautiful legacy for Ver, for just for the house system and and how much for them to realize that that's what the thing was that meant so much to him and to honor him that way. Yeah, I get n d you mentioned Jack, now I'm about to cry again about that. But it's beautiful. So you are you're finding when you first of all, kudos to that principal because to believe so strongly in something f that it's what's best for kids, to risk even possibly his job, but he believed he wanted to do what was right for kids. That's a true educator. and so you you just saw time and time again this evidence that it really speaker-1: works. Yeah, I found over and over again, like yes, the evidence really works, but they also talked about like what some of the challenges they face and one of the biggest challenges that a lot of schools face, believe it or not, is their staff. Yeah. It is their staff and their I g I would just say that speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: they don't want another to do list. Some of them think, well you know what, if I resist Just long enough, this becomes one of those another initiatives that we just gonna let go of a little later. And when we asked, okay, well what was your strategy to kind of get past that? And one of the things that they said was extremely important at all eleven principals and administrators said it said sharing their why. Because a lot of times when we're implementing programs, we don't share the why. speaker-0: What in the world is the benefit of this house system? What are we doing? speaker-1: So f and they said they spent the time kind of explaining where the school was. They spend the time saying, Here are the areas of focus, and here's how we're gonna do this, and here's why this house system is the missing piece that we've needed. And here's how we're gonna do this. And one of the things I love, there was a particular principle that mentioned one of the most important things that I think every administrator needs to take into account is that they need to make sure as they're implementing things, that if there's an opportunity to take something else off the table, you do that. And you kind of allow that to, you know, create those more. Maybe it's an opportunity to integrate. speaker-0: If you're a leader in me school, if you're B B I S school, your student government, any of these things that are positive school programs, they align beautifully and integrated into speaker-1: Yes, and the house system kinda serves as almost like the overarching umbrella that supports it and even gives it even more life as part of that experience. So again, when I talk to these principals and I'm talking to these administrators about what they're feeling when they're trying to you know, some people mention like funding issues, right? I I'm I run into issues funding, I run run into issues finding the funding I need to kind of support the system. And they say one of the biggest things they reminded their staff was, Y'all, this is not about money. This is about relationships. You don't need a sing it for me to be out in the hallways and the principal described how he showcases house pride. He was like, I just went in the hallways one day and the kids were walking through and he started chanting. He was like, B-I-N-D-I, B-I-N-D-I, Bendy. And he starts chanting. And he said, the other kids started chanting. And other kids started chanting. Now they're around the principal and they're over there, they're hype, they're showcasing their house pride. He said, That cost me nothing. Right. I didn't have to pay for a shirt. I didn't have to pay for anything. But what the kids knew was that me as the principal and as the head of this school that I believe in this program. So I've heard some teachers say, you know, some schools say, Well, you know, I want to be Switzerland. I I mean if I'm gonna be in the houses, I I I just I represent all houses. No no no no. You gotta speaker-0: you gotta go in. speaker-1: pick a side. Yeah. You have to pick a side and you have to be willing to stand by that side. speaker-0: And and to be clear, I'ma look right into the camera for those of you that are watching this when I say this part. Junior and I completely understand why teachers are overworked, overwhelmed, underappreciated, feel undervalued, feel stressed, feel like they have too much. one of my recent episodes with Yolanda Boyd, we talked about that and just how hard it is to meet all the needs that teachers are asked to do. We wouldn't try to encourage you to do something that we thought would add to that burden or make it worse for you. We're trying to offer solutions because we've seen when we even look at the surveys of of all the schools we did, we surveyed many, many schools about the house system. One of the biggest things that also it improved was teacher morale and it and retention. Yeah. So if it's done correctly, it's for you as well. And I and I think we can't say that enough. It's it's I think teachers are justified in being afraid, justified in saying, Don't you give me another thing if leadership hasn't explained This is the reasoning behind it. This is how it works. This is why it's a solution. This is why it helps. So we've got to all do a better job in in in in and really helping to build that. And that's what we really try to do when we try to share how to do the house system here at the Roncar Academy with schools, really try to break it down in that way for them. So speaker-1: And I I think that's important because what you're talking about is also the ability to kind of create something sustainable. Right. And that was part of my research. Like some of some of the things that we talked about with sustainability. There are schools right now, as part of their interviewing processes, they will interview teachers and they would ask them, Well, hey, so what are your what are your thoughts on us having a program where, you know, we break our kids up into subfamilies and you would be a part of one of those subfamilies. It kind of created a smaller, more intimate role. What are your thoughts on incentive? Kids and so forth. They actually included the house system as part of their hiring processes. And one of the most important things about the leadership styles of the schools that was successful at implementing the house system is something we kind of see on an everyday basis here at RCA. It was a distributed leadership style. It wasn't a single person who had to go and carry on this burden and get burnt out and so forth. It was the moments where principals or administrators identified key influential people within the building amongst their staff and had them lead a house, had them work with a team of individuals, and even found ways of incentivizing them. along the way. So what most people don't know is when we talk about this teacher morale aspect, we talked about the kids and their earning points and the pep rallies and so forth. Yo, we've done some really cool house games here as well with our staff. And I think back to I think back to those pumpkins, y'all. Yo, we had a pumpkin competition where these colored pumpkins this Doctor Vasquez came up the idea, she hid these fuzzy little pumpkins all throughout the building in the colors of our houses. There are approximately twelve for each house. And the staff members' job was to go and go and find these pumpkins. If we found another house's pumpkin, we could hide it. We can hide it somewhere. And I can tell you, I hid one of reverse pumpkins in the water fountain, right? There was a little hole underneath the water fountain. And I was like, I said, look, it's in the same area, right? And we loved it. But I think the w the winning house got I think they got dinner or something along those lines. But it was something else that's pretty cool. speaker-0: Yeah, we don't get house points on our staff because we are so competitive. It's just all for fun for us. speaker-1: Yeah, but it was so fun because like emails would be sent and I remember at first, you know, some houses are extremely competitive. They're running and they're going, right? And she was sending the update. All right, update, Revert has four pumpkins, Altarismo has six pumpkins, Amastad, you only have two pumpkins and so forth. And all the Amastad staff was like, We only have two pumpkins? no, we gotta go looking for those pumpkins, right? Like you gotta go after them, right? And it was just so much fun. But I just thought about it. It was an opportunity for us to work together as a team. come together towards a common goal and actually be representative like of what was going on. The kids would see us and say, Hey, like what are y'all doing? We're like, nothing. We're looking around, we're going around the place kind of s trying to see what's going on. But we enjoyed it. So I think it's awesome if principles as part of this house system, if you're gonna implement it. Let's find some ways to also recognize our staff members and create some moments where maybe they can earn something. Maybe they can earn like a a early release day or something or something along those lines where they get to feel the benefit of the house. But it's us again looking the speaker-0: We teachers, we get excited over just the simplest things mean the most. I mean, truly, sometimes. So one last thing that I really want to touch on because we could talk for days about this, but I do think this is another bonus that I want to make sure I mention is that it is a great way to engage your community. So our school's a non profit and so you know, we are funded by educator training that we do here in addition to other things, but Whenever we have community members come to our school or people that we're trying to engage with our school, as when they're here, the students talk about their houses, we walk them around, and then we have them always select a house. And sometimes we will give them a scarf in that house or some socks of that house. So they're walking through the building and they're holding this item that has, you know, the the house on it, immediately our students will go up and go, you're in my house. my gosh, you're in altruismo. You picked the best house 'cause we let adults pick the house. students we sort into houses, so to speak. But and so that excitement, that energy and what happens is that adult has this connectedness and we have community partners that we even have some that have gotten tattoos of the houses. Seriously they and I and none of us even have one you know, except for a a couple on our staff do. But because they come here and they feel so proud that, I'm a part of something with the RCA kids, I'm in their house. So that connectivity, it's a beautiful way to engage community members, you know, people that you want to get into your school, you explain the house system so that when they come in your building, then immediately you have kids that are gonna walk up and it and it's a starting point for conversation, quite honestly, as well as it gives the students something to talk about that's positive, what they love about their school, and to be able to engage with the adults. So that's an added bonus. And quite honestly, sometimes if an adult feels that way and they go back, when they're trying to think about ways that they could support education. They're gonna think about the school where that child made them feel like they were seen, right? Because we all wanna be seen. speaker-1: And you know, Kim, I think you hit on a really, really, really great concept there 'cause when you're thinking about this house system and you think about this the co opportunity to kind of create or bring in the community. one of my favorite memories is actually of a school, it was a Catholic school. they were trying really hard to implement the house system and I remember they're trying to create buy in and then when they found out they recognize it was linked to pastoral care, they was like, man, they went and they made the argument, right? And the first day they got they sorted their students, they sorted their students into the houses. I forget what the actual title is. I think it's like Arch Dionysus or yeah, Archdiocese. and he happened to come in town. He came into town and he was there and he was watching and he saw the joy in the kids' face And he looked at the the administrators of the school, he says, I want to get sorted. And the kids were freaking out. Here you are, you have this like I think he might have been about seventy five years old, eight eighty years. And he is going and he is climbing this inflatable slide and sliding down the slide everything. And it for me it was a moment. And I think about like these moments where the community sees when they can actually see what this really is, they choose to buy in. I know of another school who actually had it was a very small school I mean, very small, you know, area, neighborhood, not not a large population. They're in a b I would say they're in the middle of nowhere, right? Right. but they had a little donut shop. And one of the parents operated a donut shop so they're helped raise money for the house system. The mom said, Hey, we're gonna have this house donut competition. So we're gonna create these donuts in the colors of the houses. And everybody who comes and purchases a donut, a por s a portion of the proceeds, was gonna actually go as a donation to the school to help support their house system. Kim, we have car dealerships who have actually come and been willing to allow staff members who were their staff member of the year for a house to drive one of the cars on the car dealership as a reward for thanking them for just being able to do this. Now again they weren't given the car, but they were allow But they developed a relationship with the school and they were sorted into the houses where the teacher of the year would get a color I mean would get a house in the color of their would get a car in the color of their house and they would actually be celebrated as well as part of this. They got to drive it around for a year and again at the end of the year they would turn the car in. But my kids speaker-0: Beautiful. And and and that's the thing is at this time when we do know a lot of schools because funding is a legitimate issue and budgets have been cut, we do have to find more ways to rely upon community partnerships, rely on those businesses and and people in our community. So if you can have that segue in a way of making them feel like, I see you and and and you're part of us, that's what everybody's looking for. It it's it keeps coming back to that sense of we have a loneliness epidemic and everybody wants to belong somewhere. So We could talk for days, but I I do know that as we wrap this up, I do want to let people know that we do have educator training here at the Roncar Academy and we do specifically have training for how to implement the house system with fidelity and how to really find the greatest success. And we have had educators come here for our R C A EXP training and go back and implement the house system. But when they came and then they went specifically to House Mania conferences, they said, it's a whole other ballgame because it's two intensive days of everything you can imagine and you do hear from the parents. We have parents come into a workshop. You hear from the kids. How do you get everyone involved? And so I encourage educators to go to RCAEXP.com to learn more about how you can sign up to come to one of those conferences. So Junior, you truly are an expert and you're so brilliant and I'm so proud of you and I'm so proud to have you as my friend. As we wrap this up, if let's say to the educator who can't go back right away and do the house system. What would you recommend is something that they could go back and do in their classroom that it would at least give the a a f a touch, a flavor, or even at their classroom level, what would you encourage them to try? speaker-1: Well, I actually know of some educators who actually s ended up starting the house system at their school in their classroom. Yes. And because it was a nice smaller group, they created some subgroups amongst the students, like sub families and basically they made the they incentivize the kids for the things that happened within the classroom. Now if you or if you're kind of like, Well, you know what, I d I don't know if I can pull off this house system thing and think about the idea of creating my own houses and so forth, you can break your kids up to groups periodically, you know, maybe for a quarter. Or you say, hey, you're part of group one, two, three, and four. And occasionally, whenever we do a house challenge or a class challenge that we can break up into these groups, you can do that. But most importantly, Kim, it's all about relationships. It's all about connecting with the kids. What type of reward incentives can you give your kids for doing the things that you want them to do in the classroom? I love it. For paying attention, for being kind to one another. What are these incentives that you can kind of give? And again, they don't have to be monetary. It could be like to It's gonna be Cupcake Tuesday because you all killed it on my test today. We got 75% of the students to get a a an A or above in my class for do things, create challenges where you can allow kids to visually see where they stand amongst this challenge. If it's about coming to class on time or staying out of trouble, let's have a little chart. If it's about looking at different ways of them turning their homework in on time. If they can go seven days with turning their homework in on time, you can add a little star with each one of these so they see it building up. That's what happens in video games. Kids get to see their process. So what they get to know what they need to do to get where they need to go and have the ability to try to be motivated and try that. speaker-0: And this is I use the human component instead of the video game, which I love. speaker-1: And I think I think that's just it with kids. They wanna know that you care. They wanna they have ha had the opportunity to have so many broken promises in some cases. Like they've received so many broken promises. And you have the opportunity to be that person that can be the motivating factor for these kids. And I can tell you, I grew up in a you know, I grew up during a time period where my parents didn't have much. I've had some educators who bought into this experience. I went to drop out factories growing up, right? And but I've always had this one educator, this one person, this one person that continued to drive me, continued to push me, said Junior Burndon, yes, I recognize you can do this work well, but let me let me give you something a little harder to do. Let me expose you to this concept of like rocket ships and so forth. Here's this here's a book that I have for you. Why why do you try reading this during your free time? The smallest things matter because that actually placed me on a trajectory for me to love STEM, for me to embrace STEM robotics. I didn't have robots growing up, but there was a teacher and educator that got my mind curious enough and showed me enough care that that kicked off the evolution that led me to become a presidential awardee for science, technology, and engineering mentoring. speaker-0: Drop the mic, man. Drop the mic. That's beautiful. And Junior, you have been that person not only for one student, but countless students who have come here. I mean, you are so respected, you are so loved, you have been such an inspiration. And our alumni come back because and the first thing I want to do is they wanna find you. So thank you for that influence that you've had and not only on the students here, but also the students who were my three sons. Thank you for that because I know they they feel the same way about you. speaker-1: It was my pleasure. speaker-0: And for you educators, we do want you to know Again, we're not trying to give you to do lists. We're trying to find solutions and share with you solutions that we have found have worked. And for us, the Ronkark Academy, the house system has worked. But even moreover, we found that it's worked in hundreds, thousands of schools are implementing these different programs and the ones that are doing it and implementing it with fidelity, they are seeing huge, huge growth in so many different areas. And so that's what we want for you. We want you to have a school where you can't wait to get in the door. We want you to be excited about your job. And when things get hard, we want you to know that you've got people who have your back. And we want the same for your students and we want the same for your parents as well. And so if you want to learn more about the house system, if you go to rcahouse system.com, you can learn all about the house system there. But we also encourage you to come in person and learn more about it. You can go to RCAEXP to learn more about all of our educator training programs, but House Mania specifically would be the one where you probably would want to start. If you are already doing a house system and you want to take it to the next level, or if you're even thinking about considering doing one, we think that that's the best starting place for you. Thank you so very much for all you do, and we'll see you next time on the RCA Mix. Thank you for joining us. We hope you've enjoyed this episode and can take away something that you may be able to use in your classroom and school. And above all, the goal is to impact as many students as possible. So Please take the time to share this with your fellow teachers, colleagues, and friends as well. And please remember to subscribe to never miss another one of our amazing guests. While we hope you continue to watch and listen to the RCA Mix podcast, we would really love for you to come visit us in person here at the Ron Clark Academy to attend one of our professional development conferences. They happen almost every single week, and you can learn more about them and how to register at rcaexp.com. We hope to see you here.