Latest / The Thriving School Podcast with Jenni Awesome / A Better Tomorrow is Possible: We Have to Build It
Transcript
- Jenni Awesome: So today's podcast is gonna be a little different. I know I haven't been out here talking to you guys as much as I had at the beginning because I've been going through some changes and going through a lot of growth. So today's episode I'm gonna share that something has changed in me. There's something I've been afraid to say out loud for years. And it's it's funny because I'm in this lunchtime group, and honestly, the notes I took today. the homework is what are you going to say or stop doing before tomorrow. So there's something I've been afraid to say out loud and it's not because I don't believe it. I think because saying it means I have to take sorry, we're gonna say that again. I think because saying it means I get to take responsibility for it, which I haven't in the past. I've spent a lot of my life trying to figure out how to make things better. How do we make schools better? How do we improve student behavior? How do we create belonging? How do we support teachers who are completely exhausted? How do we help principals who are carrying impossible workloads? How do we address chronic absenteeism and school avoidance? How do we get kids engaged in learning again? questions truly matter. I've spent more than two decades in education asking them. I've been the teacher. I've worked in curriculum. I've been the administrator dealing with discipline. I've sat across from angry parents. I've sat besides hurting kids. And I've worked with burnt out teachers. I've worked with overly aggressive administrators too. I've looked at systems and wondered, why are we doing it this way? But lately another question has gotten louder, and it's much bigger than education. What kind of world are we building? And even more importantly, is it worthy of our children? Because I don't think I'm here simply to help kids become more successful inside the world we've already created. I get to participate in creating something better. And I think I've been playing small with that. I've been waiting. Waiting until I had more credibility. Waiting until the podcast was bigger. Waiting until I had all the answers. Waiting until someone invited me into that conversation. Waiting until I knew exactly what my role was supposed to be. And I'm realizing I'm done waiting. Not because I've suddenly figured everything out. It's quite the opposite. There are a lot of things that I don't know. I've never been the teacher that knew it all, and I was never afraid to tell the kids, hey, I don't know, but we can certainly figure it out together. There are things I believe today that new information may cause me to reconsider tomorrow, and that's learning. There are ideas we're going to explore on this podcast that might fail spectacularly, and that's a good thing. Because I'm not interested in creating another place where somebody sits behind a microphone and tells everyone else what to think. I want to create a place where we think, where we question, where we challenge, where we imagine, where we build, where we fail forward. And ultimately we ask, what is possible? And I want you in this conversation. Not as a download number and not as a follower, as another human being. So if you're listening right now and something I'm saying is stirring something inside of you, come find me. I'm at Miss Ms Jennifer Awesome on social media. You can send me a message, tell me where you're listening from and what brought you here. But most importantly, let's answer this question: What kind of world do you want us to leave our children? And if you want these conversations delivered directly to you, I've created a place for that too. Go to awesomeconsulting.org slash subscribe. You can join the email community I have a feeling that we're about to go somewhere So I wanna talk about some of my beliefs. And this is the first belief. I'm gonna start saying what I actually believe in, so let's start here. Number one, human dignity is non-negotiable, period. And this is where I want to start talking about something we don't talk about enough in leadership, education, or politics. Love. And I don't mean sentimental love. And I d I don't mean being nice all the time. Love is not avoiding difficult conversations. I definitely don't mean pretending everything okay everything is okay when it isn't. I'm talking about a much more demanding kind of love. Love that tells the truth. Love that says no. Love that establishes boundaries. Love that can hold somebody accountable. Love can challenge injustices. The love that can require change. And love does something else. Love refuses to require the dehumanization of another person. And I think that as a society we've forgotten how important that is. Look at our public discourse. Look at social media. Check out our politics. Increasingly, we aren't simply disagreeing with ideas. We're deciding that the people holding those ideas are bad. They're stupid. They're dangerous. They're ignorant. Unworthy of being heard. And I don't believe we're going to build a better world that way. That doesn't mean every idea deserves equal credibility. It does mean harmful behavior goes unchallenged. It means I want to learn how to fiercely challenge an idea without forgetting the humanity of the person sitting across from me. And that is difficult. And that's leadership. And this is where I know the podcast is going to change because I'm going to start talking about politics. Not because I want to tell you which team to join, but because politics affects our children. Policy affects classrooms. Housing affects children. Healthcare affects children. Poverty affects children. Technology affects children. Public safety affects children. The economy affects family. The economy affects families. Education funding affects opportunity. These aren't abstract political arguments. They're decisions about human beings. Being in education, when I first went into the district office, I was immediately opened up to the world of politics and the politicking that happens inside of the school system. And I didn't like it. I didn't like it at all. I really liked being in my classroom thinking, this is fun, this is exciting, I get to, you know. Have opportunities and experiences to watch kids learn every day. And then I got to learn about the political side of our education system. I'm not sure that everyone's aware of it, but it it is getting out there on social media. So one of the questions I'm going to start asking when we discuss public policy is does this policy preserve human dignity? Because if we're serious about building a better tomorrow, that has to matter. Here's my second belief. Education should create possibility, not compliance. And this one is deeply personal to me. I've spent most of my professional life inside education. I've watched us become extraordinarily good at measuring certain things. Attendance, grades, test scores, credits, behavior referrals, graduation rates, discipline incidents, minutes. Days, standards, things that are easily quantifiable, but I sometimes wonder whether we're measuring everything except the thing the thing I sometimes wonder but I sometimes wonder whether we're measuring everything except the thing that matters most. Who is this human being becoming? And I don't want the ultimate goal of education to be creating children who are really good at school. I get to help us create humans who are really good at life. People who can think. People who can create. People who can question. People who know how to communicate. People who can disagree. People who can solve problems. Nobody has solved before. People who can fail without deciding they are failures. People who love greatly, who can lead authentically, and people who can build the world worth being a part of. People who can look at something that isn't working and have enough imagination to say it doesn't have to stay this way. That's possibility. And this is why belonging still matters enormously to me. Reigniting belonging isn't disappearing. It doesn't have to stay this way. That's possibility. And this is why belonging still matters enormously to me. Reigniting belonging isn't disappearing. I'm actually beginning to understand things differently. I understand belonging in a different way. Because belonging was never the finish line. Belonging is the doorway. When I know I belong, I take risks. When I know I belong, I ask questions. When I know I belong, I fail. When I know I belong, I don't have to perform constantly to prove that I'm worthy of occupying the room. And from that level of safety and security comes something extraordinary. Curiosity, creativity, courage, and possibility. So maybe our questions shouldn't simply be, how do we get kids to behave? Maybe it's what is their behavior communicating? Maybe it shouldn't only be how do we improve attendance? Maybe it's why doesn't this child want to come here? Maybe instead of how do we motivate students, we ask, what happened to the naturally curious five-year-old who asked. Four hundred questions in a day. And that's a conversation about the future of education that I want to have. And this is also where I'm asking for something from you. Disagree with me. Seriously. If you're listening to this and thinking, Jenni, you're missing something, tell me what it is. If you're a teacher and you think I'm oversimplifying something, message me. If you're a principal dealing with realities I haven't considered, let's talk about it. And if you're a parent and your experience completely contradicts something I've said, I want to know. If you're a student, especially if you're a student, I want to hear from you. You can find me @msjenniferawesome Send me the research. Tell me your experience. Ask the questions that you think I'm avoiding. Because I don't want to build an audience that simply agrees with Jenni Awesome. I want to build a community willing to think together. Because only when we see our blind spots can we grow. In a truly authentic, full way. So here's my third belief. Who does this serve and does it work? So here's another principle I'm beginning to adopt. Whenever we're evaluating a system, a program, a policy, a tradition, or political idea, I want to ask two incredibly simple questions. Who does this serve? And does this work? Now the questions themselves are simple. I'm not saying that the answers are simple. The questions are simple. So who does this serve and does it work? Not which political party proposed it? Not which side of social media am I supposed to agree with? Not has this always been the way we've done it? Who does it serve? Does it work? And I'd actually like to add in a third question. Who bears the cost when it doesn't? So think about applying that to education. Our discipline system. Who does it serve? Or is it the school to prison pipeline? Does it work? Well our grading practices, who do they serve? Do they work? Are greeting practices that have been overly inflated and it's almost considered inappropriate to harm a child by telling them that you got a zero because you didn't do anything. Our school schedule. Who does it serve? I could tell you about the entire car ride I had with my son this morning about how he can't get to lunch and that's his biggest problem of the day is making sure he has food. He's going to get to have food. Our attendance systems. Who is that really serving? Does it really work? Standardized testing. Our professional development for our teachers. Who is that serving? Who is that truly making better? And does it work? Homework. Well, homework. For years I ended up being on the side of, well, you're a math teacher. You shouldn't be assigning homework. You didn't finish it in class, you still have things that you get to prepare yourself for for tomorrow. I actually could do a whole lesson on flipping the classroom, doing the notes and everything ahead of time, but that's off topic right now. Homework. College admissions. I mean are colleges even gonna be around? I don't think they're gonna be around with AI. Skills, skilled trades. Yeah, absolutely. People should be going to trade schools. Because AI doesn't run our trades. AI doesn't Well, so far doesn't run our buildings, build our buildings. Anyways, our approach to student behavior. Who does it serve? And does it work? And who bears the cost when it doesn't? Those questions are mightily uncomfortable because sometimes the answer is simply this. We're doing this because we've always done it. We've done this since the eighteen hundreds. We've done this for as long as we've had the system because this is how we build people who follow directions and are kept held small. And that's not good enough anymore. Here's something else I want to make clear about the direction that we're going. I really don't need you to agree with me. Authority doesn't mean that I have the answers and everyone should listen to me. That's not the kind of authority I'm interested in. I get to become a trusted voice because I'm willing and capable to do the work, to learn, to ask, to listen, to challenge. To admit when I'm wrong, and to say what I believe even when saying it carries some risk. And I want the same thing from this community. I don't want followers, I want thinkers, I want builders, I want question askers. I may limit the number of questions you get to ask in a class period, however, I want you here asking questions. I want people who are willing to look at the world and say, what else can could be possible and then do something about it. Because social media already has enough people yelling, we don't need more noise. We need places where meaningful conversations can actually happen. And that's why I'm building the email side of this community. Social media is great, but I don't want our ability to find one another determined entirely by an algorithm. So if you're one of the people who wants to be part of this conversation, go to awesomeconsulting.org/subscribe. You'll get the podcast and newsletter directly to your inbox. And I'm thinking about this as more than a newsletter. I want this to become a gathering place for people who believe another way is possible. I'll share ideas I'm wrestling with, questions, new episodes, resources, opportunities, experiments, things that are definitely not polished yet. Things that we can build together. So don't think I'm joining Jenny's email list. Think I'm joining the conversation. I'm pulling up a chair at the table. So let's take a moment and talk about failure. I've had a lot of growth and learning about failure. I've talked about it multiple times here on this podcast and through our Disc Golf Podcast, the Intentional Disc Golfer Podcast. Because if we're serious about changing anything, we're going to get things wrong. I am going to get things wrong. I do all the time, and that's almost guaranteed. And I'm okay with that. I've become increasingly convinced that our fear of failure is one of the things keeping us stuck. We expect leaders to know. We expect experts to know. We expect schools to implement the perfect program. We expect policies to work immediately. And when something doesn't work, we start looking for someone to blame. What if we did something different? Try, learn, adjust, and build again. And that's fail forward. Failure isn't the opposite of success. Sometimes failure is just information. And if we want innovative schools, innovative communities, innovative governments. Innovative organizations and innovative leaders, then we need cultures where people can say, We tried that. It didn't work, and here's what we learned. That sentence should not destroy someone's credibility. Sometimes it should increase it because they learned. And this is something I want our children to understand. You don't need to fear getting something wrong. You need to learn what to do. after you get something wrong. That might be one of the most important things we ever teach them. I've been thinking a lot about purpose, about calling, about what it means to live a life that actually reflects what you believe. Words like love, light, and possibility mean a lot to me. Following our North Star. But here's the challenge I'm giving myself. Those words have to become something. Because love without action is just a beautiful idea. So what does love look like in a school budget? What does dignity look like in a discipline meeting? Or what does possibility look like for the kid everybody has already given up on? What does belonging look like for someone who doesn't think like us? What does compassion look like when accountability is necessary? What does leadership look like when the politically convenient choice isn't the right choice? What does light look like when telling the truth costs us something? These are the questions I want to explore. Because stepping into purpose isn't about declaring ourselves powerful. It's about accepting responsibility for what we can contribute. I don't need a title to tell me I'm capable of creating change. I get Do the work. And maybe someone listening needed to hear that too. You don't need permission. Start. Start where you are. Bring what you have. Say what needs to be said. Build what needs to be built. And learn along. Quote the movie Robots: when you see a need, you feel a need. And that's who we get to be. And this is where I need your help. I'm inviting you in. I'm looking for people, not necessarily famous people, not people with enormous platforms. I'm looking for our builders, teachers doing something radically different in their classrooms. Principals reimagining what school can look like. Parents asking uncomfortable questions. Young people who have something adults get to hear. I'm looking for our researchers, our scientists, our artists, our entrepreneurs, our tradespeople, our faith leaders, our community organizers, political leaders, people inside systems, people challenging systems from the outside and especially The people who might disagree with me. If somebody came into your mind while I was talking, I want to know them. Send me a message @msjenniferawesome and tell me, Jenni, you get to talk to this person. And tell me why. Because imagine what happens if this podcast doesn't just create an audience. What if it creates connections? What if a principal in Washington hears an idea from someone new in New Mexico? And tries it? What if an entrepreneur meets an educator and they create something neither would have created independently? What if a young person's idea reaches someone with the resources to actually build it? What if people who would never normally sit at the same table actually talk to one another? That's interesting to me. And that is possibility. So where does that leave reigniting belonging? Right here. Except the room just got much bigger. We're gonna talk about education. We're gonna talk about leadership. We're going to talk about children. We're gonna talk about politics. We're gonna talk about systems. We're gonna talk about culture, faith, purpose, failure, human dignity, community, possibility. And we're going to ask questions that may not have comfortable answers because I don't believe my responsibility is to make everyone comfortable. I believe my responsibility is to remain curious enough to keep learning, courageous enough to speak, and humble enough to change my mind when I'm wrong. And I'm inviting you to do that with me. Maybe there's something inside of you that's getting louder too, something that you want to build. Something you get to change, and something that you know gets to be said. Maybe you've been waiting for permission. I know I was for the longest time. And I'm beginning to understand that nobody is coming to give me permission to become the woman I know I'm capable of becoming. I get to live it. And stepping into my power doesn't require believing I'm more important than anyone else. It means accepting responsibility for what I get to contribute. So I'm leaving you with one question. What do you believe strongly enough that you're willing to help build it? So with that. And then I want you to do something. Think of one person you have those conversations with. You know the person. The person you call and say, okay, but seriously, why are we still doing it this way? Send them this episode. Then ask them, what kind of world do you want to help build? Have the conversation. And if something comes from it, tell me. You can find me @msjenniferawesome. And if you want to stay connected beyond social media, you can join us here at awesomeconsulting.org/subscribe. I don't want to build an audience. I am reaching out to find the people who are ready to think together, connect with one another, and build. I'm Jenni Awesome, and this is Reigniting Belonging. And from here forward, we're gonna talk about what needs to be said because our children are watching what we build next, and I believe a better tomorrow is possible. Let's build it together.