Latest / Hart & Hustle Podcast / How Harold Turner's Passion for Education Transformed His Career Journey
Transcript
- Efrain: Welcome back to another episode here on the Heart and Hustle Podcast. We got Mr. Harold Turner in the building. What's up, man? How you doing? Harold Turner: I'm doing all right, how are you? Efrain: Good man. Let everybody know where in the United States you are today. Harold Turner: Currently today in the United States, I'm in East Lap Bush, Brooklyn, home of Ivy Hill Press. Efrain: You said today you're in Brooklyn. Where else would you be? Harold Turner: I don't know, sometimes I'm in New Jersey, sometimes I'm in D C, sometimes I'm here, sometimes I'm there. So But Brooklyn Brooklyn right now is home. Efrain: Okay. Where's your where's your where's your favorite place to visit in the United States? Do you have one? Harold Turner: Oddly enough, and I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you this, you're gonna laugh. Seattle, Washington. I have been to Seattle at least five or six times. Efrain: Yeah. Harold Turner: I am an avid Grays fan, or was an avid an avid Grays fan. So I've been like Meridare from the beginning, Addison coming in, tearing it up at the end, Dr. Bailey telling her you got fibrobles. and so I decided to r randomly one year during spring break. When I was a I think I was like a third or fourth year teacher and I was like, I wanna go someplace for spring break. Seattle feels like the space to go. And so I've go I went and I've probably been anywhere between f like I said, five to six times. But it's just such it's a reprieve from the East Coast. It's slower, it's more chill, the energy is like much more vibey. I don't work there and I don't live there. Folks who have worked and lived there have a different like relationship to Seattle, I'm there for like three to five days at a clip. So yes, Seattle is one of my favorite places in the States. Efrain: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I don't think I've heard that one. I'm gonna have to go check it out myself and see exactly what Harold is talking about and what the vibe looks like. I would say, Harold Turner: Please do. It is by being. Efrain: it's always just cool to leave your own backyard and go somewhere else. And and we'll always say, man, this is nice. you know, it's like people that come to Orlando, they love Orlando and I live here and I'm like, No, it's not. Why are you here? Like, get out of here. but are you born and raised in Brooklyn? Harold Turner: No, I actually was born and raised in Norfolk, New Jersey. Efrain: Okay. Harold Turner: moved to New York about twelve when did I move to New York? Twenty fifteen. So eleven years ago at this point. Moved here for a teaching gig. One of my friends had an opportunity at his school and have always wanted to live in New York. Like being so approximate to New York growing up. I always just had this case of like, I wanna go, I wanna visit, I wanna live there. And then I got twenty five. young wild free like spreading my wings, stepping into myself a little differently. And Harlem was the spot that I landed. After Harlem, East Harlem, after East Harlem, Brooklyn. So yeah, I thought I spent Efrain: yeah. Harold Turner: a predominant a mo most of my New York time in Harlem and East Harlem. Efrain: I just met someone from New York, and everybody from New York thinks that New York is the top of the line, right? Top of the food chain. But she says, E Frank, you know, the education system in Florida really failed you guys. She said, Ain't nothing like the educational system in New York. Do Harold Turner: Okay. Efrain: you do you agree, Harold, that your educational system is top tier Harold Turner: Mm-hmm. Efrain: up there? Or what does that look like over there, man? You're in the space. You might be a little biased, but I'm asking anyway. Harold Turner: I am a little biased. I am a little biased. You know, I like stats, I like numbers, I like research. So we rank in the top five. New York City has some exceptional schools, some exceptional learning institutions, some exceptional educators, and where it's where I spread my fledgling leader years and wings, and my novice teacher years and wings. in New York to become a better teacher and a better educator and a better professional. I'm not gonna disagree. I'm not gonna disagree. Efrain: Yeah, okay. All right. And and and because you talked about the great educational places, you're at at a great individual place as well. Could we talk about the school that you're at today and as well as Harold Turner: Yes. Efrain: your role with the school? Harold Turner: Yes. So I am the head of school at Ivy Hill Prep, located here in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. We are kindergarten through fifth grade, small independent private excuse me, small independent charter school. and one of the things that I think we get right and do best is build community and generate this sense of family, right? Like and generate this sense of we care about your child as a human. Right, not just a scholar, not just a thinker, not just a feeler, but like as a whole entire human being. and so sitting in the seat, this is year two for me. And so sitting Efrain: Okay. Harold Turner: in this seat is but this is my sixth year in a principal role. but this is year two at this site. And sitting in the seat has been quite the learning experience, both technically, adaptively, professionally, personally. I started my school leadership journey at another single site charter school, also located in Brooklyn as the Dean of Humanities and Instruction for middle school. So all of if you meet any educator and they work with middle school, you have to shake their hand and give them a hug. Because that's a special brand of educator, okay? That works with middle schoolers. I work with elementary schoolers now. I love them. They love me. We love each other. There's a lot of curiosities and a lot of wonderings and just a whole bunch of how does this work? What does this mean? Where does this go? Why does this go there? How do we do this? middle schoolers, you say good morning, they're like, and then like 15 minutes later, like, hey, Mr. Turner, you're my favorite human in the world. I'm just like, okay, let's rock and roll, let's let's go with it. you love me now, you don't like me tomorrow, we'll be all right. Efrain: Yeah. Harold Turner: but yes, well, like I was saying, one of the things at IB Hill, and I think a lot of single site organizations get right. this sense of feel of community, right? one of our key pillars or one of our key design elements is it takes a village to raise a child, right? And that is we talked a bit about like why I do this work, right? And part of it is the fortune, right? And the promise of being a part of a young person's village. this work is a love letter to my people, right? This is an opportunity for me to Share some of what was poured into me and also figure out how to pour differently. And one of the things aside from the communal aspect of our of our small community right here, right in Brooklyn, right? that I also believe we get right is really iterating and thinking about how do we get better. Right. There's no institution or organization, particularly any educational institution or organization that I've been a part of that just sits, right? but I think one of the things that this independent single site is there's a difference in responsibility and weight of the work that we carry, right? It's we all we got. That's what I tell my people all the time. We all we got, right? but it also allows us to iterate a bit quicker and a bit faster, right? To be able to diagnose, analyze, and then what's next? How are we moving the needle? How are we trying something different? tightening up instruction, how are our systems becoming that much more kid friendly, but also allow for flexibility and accountability, right? and I think it's just a cool place to work. You just you just you you come in, you get to do the work, you get to laugh, you get to show up, you get to have challenge, right? but it's a it's a it's a cool place to work and people want a cool place to work. People want a good place to work where there's work that's good work that's happening. Efrain: How many students are you guys serving? Harold Turner: Two hundred. Efrain: Love it. So real real nice, intimate you know, curation of what it may look like for the students as well. I think that's that's it's huge. I would say that's kind of where here in Florida, in Orlando, one of the biggest districts is is Harold Turner: Mining. Efrain: They are hurting because so many people are going to private school. So many people are doing homeschooling, right? Because it is that wanting more of an intimate, more small classes, you guys do that well, is what you're saying. Harold Turner: Mm-hmm. Efrain: what does that look like when you do it well? How how does that look like? Is that a ratio of one teacher to five, ten students? Harold Turner: Mm-hmm. Efrain: What's that sweet spot? Harold Turner: Yeah. because I'm a nerd, self proclaimed nerd, I'ma say that what the what what what research globally tells us is that the quality of instruction, a quality of instructor, right, like is one of the guiding forces and one of the things that's gonna have the most impact, or excuse me, generate the bet best outcomes for kids, right? and class size does matter, right? And so one of the things we have classes that are hover between twenty and twenty five kids. some classes have one teacher, some classes have two teachers. And that twenty to twenty-five mark really allows it's some of the smaller things, right? Like in some of the finer things in education around knowing a kid's name, knowing a kid's story, knowing that familial experience, knowing the thing knowing when to call a family, right? Knowing how to approach Efrain: Mm-hmm. Harold Turner: a family. And so because the community is smaller, you get to learn all of these things, which allows for the big thing to happen, the learning to happen, right? The curiosity to explode. And so when these elements are in place, we as educators get to do that much more work that much quicker. and it's and it it's a it it is as rewarding as it is, is also as as challenging as it can be, right? And folks sometimes will have this notion that a smaller classroom is easier to manage or easier to teach or easier and logistically and operationally, yeah. Twenty papers versus thirty-two papers is significant difference in Efrain: Yeah. Harold Turner: grading time, right? following up with ten families is different than following up with four families, right? and because you know all of the stories, because you know the lineage, with because you know the families, because you have these connections the way that you have them, right? all that place in the background as you're making decisions, right? And it's because the environment and the community is so tight knit, all of these things factor into how you make decisions and how you approach and what you the kinds of questions that you're asking yourself. the one question that matters the most and it's always gonna matter the most is what's best for kids, right? And we've tended to we've taken the liberty and bastardized some of that, right? in this landscape and education, to try to like squeeze the most out of adults. And I and it is for me important to make sure that adults and ma adult potential is maximized, adult capacity is maximized, right? and adults are people in this work too. And so there's this balance that we have, right? Of making sure that our adults are taking care of intellectually, professionally, personally, like they're cared for because happy adults produce results for children, right? and work still gotta get done, right? Right? Like I need my grade book updated, I need my papers graded, I need my family phone calls returned. And so I l I love, I love the small community. It just presents a different set of workflows and challenges and also opportunities and wins. Efrain: Where does the passion of being an educator, man? Like the way you speak to it is like, I love this. Like there's nothing else that I'll be doing. Where does that Harold Turner: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Efrain: love come from? Harold Turner: I'ma I'ma I'ma I'ma always shout out black women. Every single time I get a chance. my mother's an educator and she's been doing this longer than I've been allowed. but she is someone who me got in a car. The how was school today? Good was not good enough. What did you learn? Tell me what you thought through. Tell me what questions you had. I think about my godmother who too is a former educator and she Treated me like I was smart. She always, she listened, she asked questions, she thought through the types of questions she was gonna ask me. We had, she didn't simplify language, right? She spoke to me like she believed I was smart. And because she believed I was smart, this adult who Efrain: Yeah. Harold Turner: I had admired, I believe I'm smart. my grandmother, my aunts, you know, I'm I'm I'm arguably the save, right? I'm the oldest oldest nephew, oldest grandchild, and oldest cousin on my mother's side, right? And so that's a lot of main character energy, right? but again, consistently poured into me, asked me questions, thought curious about my life and so curious about my experiences. And so this and that that made me feel smart, made me feel strong, made me feel like I was somebody, right? Like that deserved to take up space in the world. And I think that there's no greater than there are two awesome things that two two of the greatest gifts, right, that we can offer children, particularly children from the communities that I serve, on purpose and by design, right? but two things that we offer is time and pro and time and possibility, right? we invest that time in a young person's curiosity, we're telling them, Hey, you smart, you matter. You think the things that you think about are relevant. Like keep going down that path, right? And we invest possibility and promise. part of how that gets done is to speak aspirationally. So one of my kiddos, I'm like, you know, we always ask, What kind of where do you want to be when you grow up? And it's just like and the kid's like, A doctor, a lawyer. I'm just like, Okay, well what kind of lawyer? The kid's like, What do you mean what kind of lawyer? I'm like, What kind of lawyer? Like, they're different kinds of lawyers. It's an entertainment and like patent, there's like all kinds of avenues you can travel. What do you want to do? And so he came back to me and he was just like, I wanna do family law. I was like, you want the drama, you want the divorce, you want the cussing. He Efrain: Ha ha ha. Harold Turner: was like, Yeah. They also got a lot of money. And I was like, touche, like I get you, right? but it's the curiosity, it's the follow Efrain: Yeah. Harold Turner: up on the curiosity, it's the exploring the wonderings. and so when I think I mean the question you asked me around where does this passion come from? It comes from the people who poured into me, right? I think about my grandmothers who were I was I was Apple AI, right? I got my one grandmama, she made me sweet potato pie every Thanksgiving and she made me feel like I was special and she would tell me how smart I was. And my other grandmother was say, she I remember I was going to school to get my first masters, and her like little car group was over her house and I was coming over her house after her little car group or like Bible said, I don't know, something was happening. And her friends were like, or her church mates or her Car group mates were like, you the one with you the doctor, right? And I'm like, no, no. She was Well, your grandmother said you're going to school for a doctorate. And I was No, no, no, no, not not yet, not now, but so right, like it was always right, like I always had folks Efrain: Yeah. Harold Turner: just speak aspirationally and speak highly of me, right? and that's w and I believe each child deserves that. I believe children deserve people to love them, believe in them, acknowledge their possibility, and understand what support looks like, right? Efrain: Yeah. Harold Turner: and so when I think about who the folks are and why I do what I do, it's been all my life, right, that I've had to all my right like but it's been all my life that I've had all of these little Casey. Efrain: I I'll about to sing the song. I mean the song Harold Turner: but I've genuinely from then to now people have consistently poured into me and it's allowed me to believe and I believe that's what kids deserve. Efrain: Words carry weight, man. So it's very important of the words that we Harold Turner: Yeah. Efrain: speak as you mentioned to a child's life. just I think I was telling you a little earlier about the event that we had. I literally pulled out this yearbook, man, and it's been probably twenty years, I haven't looked at this yearbook. But one of the first pages was a teacher and it wasn't even my teacher. I didn't even take this class, but she sees me in the hallways probably because I was skipping her class or something along those lines, who knows? But sh the Harold Turner: Right. Efrain: just the kind words that she said to me and believed in me. You know, it Harold Turner: Mm. Efrain: is so important that we see people and that we believe in them because if Harold Turner: Yeah. Yeah. Efrain: we don't believe in them, they can't believe in themselves sometimes. And I always say, the reason I got here is cause someone believed in me before I believed in myself. There's so much happening at home. Not everyone Harold Turner: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Efrain: has the herald home, right, where a any woman is speaking to them, where someone is kind to them, caring for them, loving them. It doesn't happen all the time. So when they go to school Harold Turner: Mm-hmm. Efrain: and they receive that, they take that. you know, and they run with it. They remember that educator that, Harold Turner: Yeah. Yeah. Efrain: you know, and that it's that's what's so cool about being a educator, I can imagine, is that you sit here and you're you pour out back to these kids and these kids will grow to be something and then they come back and say, Because of you, Harold. Because of you, Mr. Turner. You know what I mean? You you changed my Harold Turner: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Efrain: life. and that's the reward in it, you know, as an educator is to know that man, I was fertilized in the future before I ever knew what the future even looked like. Harold Turner: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Efrain: You know what I mean? And that's just kind of the the space that you're you've been in and because of the right people in your in your space. do you have a story? You know, you being in the educational system for some time, do you have a story of Harold Turner: Yeah. Efrain: that student that you know without you, without the school system, they don't become who they are today? Harold Turner: Mm. Efrain: You're still a little young, so maybe it hasn't happened yet, you know. You're still in the early years. Harold Turner: I know, I know. I'm thinking, I'm thinking, I'm thinking. My oldest my oldest group of kids right now is are almost thirty, like twenty seven, twenty-eight. but I see my kids on Facebook, I see on social media. They look like they're being productive and doing good things in the world and so it does make me happy to write like to see that, particularly when I work with my middle schoolers. I think about one kid who I met him the sixth grade and whew he made me work every day. He made me work for my money. When I say he made me work for my money, it was I got, you know, I I may have gotten cussed out. I may have gotten called out my name. I may have gotten, you know, there was a little bit zip some crisis management moments, right? but then I still stay connected to some folks at my old school and they're like X kid comes back and he is asking about you. He's a volunteer now, or he does support with after school, or he does part of his internship in high school is to do some community service hours and he comes back. And so like I get pictures and I get like Efrain: I've got Harold Turner: update, like brief life updates, right? but I think the I I I think the beauty, part of the beauty of the work that we do is that there is time between right now and the fruit the labor, right? and so there's always something to I think one of the things that keeps me going is that it's always something to look forward to, right? this work is really hard day to day. This work is really challenging year to year, right? We work we have different forces externally impacting the work that we do internally, right? we have particularly in communities that I work in and that I serve the systems at play that are intentionally and subversively etching against the productivity of specific communities, right? so I work with black people for a specific reason. I work with folks who have who maybe who have or are j or are adjacent to economic being economically disadvantaged. I work with scholars who have disabilities, right? And these are these are demographics that exist across schools, right? but the concentration shifts. the way that we approach the work and also shifts the thinking that I have to do about the work. A system is a system is a system until, right, it meets an institution or community that that larger system does not necessarily serve, right? Or does that is not served by that larger system, right? it's all part of what we really do in this work and thinking through what it looks like long term is okay. Here's the thing. This is my community. How does the thing work for my community? And how does my community community benefit from the thing? Efrain: Yeah. Harold Turner: and that's and that's that's part of the challenge of the work, right? but again, we sold DCs now and then 10 years we hear my mother goes to weddings, right? She here she gets birth announcements from kids that she taught decades ago, literally decades ago, right? she'll get a Facebook message, you're the reason that I'm a teacher. You I remember this one moment that I had with you, right? so those are things that I also look forward to in this work. Now again she's been doing this for square too. I I don't have as much sauce as she got, right? Right, Efrain: I mean, y you're gonna get there too, Harold. You better get there too. Harold Turner: right, right. Efrain: you said you're at a charter school and I could imagine Harold Turner: Yes. Efrain: that you had your your stints with probably d public and and and maybe private, but what's the difference you say between for those that don't even realize it, the charter, the private and the public? Harold Turner: Yeah. Yeah. so I will admit I am a charter kid. I've been from beginning to now, right? In my career. I've had experiences different, multiple experiences in my own personal education. I've been in independent school, I've been a parochial, I've been a public. but professionally, most of my work has been in charter schools. All of my work has been in charter schools. it's a it's a funny it's a funny conversation that we're having, right? but in short, charter schools the intention of charter schools to that the intention of charter schools' existence is to provide a more favorable option of choice for families. charter schools are technically public schools, however, accountability metrics look different because the whole proposition of a charter school is that We can do something different or better than what the current state of public tr public education is offering, right? there are charter schools that hit the mark and exceed it, right? Like they do amazing work. There are charter schools that don't do amazing work and there are charter schools who are consistently like figuring it out and growing and grown and growing, right? Like I would put Ivy Hill Prep in one of those places where we are growing and iterating on what excellence and success. success looks like. Our mot our model is excellence is not an accident, right? And because we believe that excellence is not an accident, we are always seeking excellence and excellence shifts, right? and so yeah, that's just the down and dirty version of what Efrain: Yeah. Harold Turner: a charter school is and what its purpose is. Efrain: I wanna go back to when you mentioned grandma make some great sweet potato pie. I'm a pumpkin pie type of guy. So you're telling me sweet potato Harold Turner: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Efrain: pie is better than pumpkin pie? Where do you kind of stand on that line, man? Which one is better for you? Yeah. Is it because it's grandma's Harold Turner: Ten toes down, I'ma save sweet potato. Ten toes down I'ma save sweet potato. Efrain: sweet potato pie or just in general? Harold Turner: In general. In general. and if you get fancy like me, you're gonna put a little pumpkin in your sweet potato five. Efrain: Okay. I see. Best of both worlds. Best of both worlds and what? Harold Turner: So you're gonna do like a a f you gonna do like a fall pie. Right? A s a a Efrain: Okay. I love it. Harold Turner: sweet pumpkin pie, right? pumpkin potato pie. I like that one, a pumpkin potato Efrain: Okay. Harold Turner: pie. But yeah, I fall I fall in the sea but hit the camp, hands down, ten times out of ten I'ma choose it if I have an option. Efrain: And you said the fall, you know, that fall pie, fall is coming around. What is your favorite Harold Turner: Mm-hmm. Efrain: Thanksgiving dish, you think? Harold Turner: I'm a man of many sides. So I want the greens, I want the mac and cheese, I want the sweet potatoes, candy yams, there's a debate about what to call I want the stuffing or the dressing. There's a debate about what to call that. give me, yes, give me those four things on the same plate and I want the I want the juices marinating on the plate together. I'm Efrain: Okay. Harold Turner: not that and then if you really want to get fancy, give me some teta salad on the side. I'm never not gonna get rid of tata salad. We're gonna always have a little bit of that. Right? But Efrain: You know one thing I I haven't really been eating recently, because normally for I feel like I don't know if you're doing Friendsgiving a lot, but we're doing a lot of Friendsgiving, right? So I don't really Harold Turner: Hm. Okay. Efrain: do a lot of Thanksgiving with the family. So because there's so much culture, is that I'm eating Jamaican food, I mean Filipino food. So we don't even have Harold Turner: Mm-hmm. Mm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Efrain: turkey no more. It's like the jerk chicken or it's the goat. Are you guys still having turkey at at dinner or are you guys changing it up as well? Harold Turner: This is I am a stalwart. This is what my Thanksgiving plate looks like. I am not but we can we can add some things. But I don't want no craziness in my green beans. I draw line at some things. I like to consider mys consider myself a man of the world. I like to communicate that I'm a cultured individual, but I'm a traditionalist when it comes to my Thanksgiving plate. Now, if you wanna add something to the menu, that is fine. We're not taking nothing off though. Efrain: So the same thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Harold Turner: And I'm also not a turkey person to begin with. So that's the Yeah yeah. Give me give me give me like a little roast chicken or something like that. Efrain: hand I'll take the ham. The ham be good too. I ain't gonna lie to you. The ham is good. Harold Turner: The ham is good. The ham is good. Now wait, question for you. Is the ham more Christmas or more Thanksgiving? Because that's a real question in the world. See Efrain: That is a good question. I would say probably to me it was always Thanksgiving. It was always turkey and the ham. Yeah. Harold Turner: Okay. Okay. Efrain: Yeah, yeah. I mean, we also used to even have turkey on Christmas as well because you know, we probably got the free turkey and there was two turkeys. So we had one for Thanksgiving, one for Christmas. But nowadays, man, y'all keep Harold Turner: Mm-hmm. Efrain: turkey. I don't even really eat turkey. I'll take the ham. I I I'm trying to think for Harold Turner: That's fair. That's fair. Efrain: Christmas, do we even have ham? Nah, bro. Y'all having ham during Christmas time? Yeah. Harold Turner: Yeah. Christmas ham. Cent a piece. Yeah. And Efrain: Christmas ham. What is you cooking though? What what is Harold cooking? Or are you just eating? Which one and what were you doing? Harold Turner: Now, this is why I pop my collar and adjust my glasses, Efrain: Ha ha Harold Turner: right? Because I am a dessert man. I am a cake baker. I am a pie maker. Efrain: Okay. Harold Turner: but I can make a good side. Don't I'm not frying a turkey, I'm not doing turkey, that takes too long. I need to be I like the I like the labor, right? Like you talked about the labor of love, right? Like cooking for me is the same thing as it's a labor of love. Like I want people to have multiple plates. My mac and cheese is excellent. It is about seventy five dollars for a long Efrain: Excellent. Okay. Harold Turner: pen 'cause I'm using about five, six different cheeses. I'm using now, if you got heart issues, blood pressure, don't eat it. Efrain: Ha ha ha. Harold Turner: Don't touch it. It's about two or three sticks of butter in there. It is based off of one of my favorite people's one of my favorite artists, Patty, Patty Mabel. She done put this recipe together. I done figured out Efrain: Okay. Harold Turner: how to put a little something else in there. I'm not gonna tell all of it because it is I want people to love me for my food. but yes, I am yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Put me down for the mac and I even Efrain: I love the joke. Harold Turner: make greens. But I'm I make good greens. I make I do make good greens. Efrain: You can have the greens. I don't really be eating vegetables, so you keep the greens. Yeah, yeah. I'll take the mac and cheese, though. I'll take the mac cheese for sure, for sure. I'm good mac and cheese. Harold Turner: Okay, okay, okay, okay. That's fair, that's fair, that's fair. Efrain: Nah, man, it was a definitely a pleasure just seeing your Harold Turner: Yes. Efrain: your excitement for being in the educational system. As a man, I think that Harold Turner: Yeah. Yeah. Efrain: it's we need more of them, right? I think that a lot of times when we talk about representation, of course we talk about the color of our skins, the stories that we tell, but even another man that can see us for that. I remember going through school and a lot of my educators were women. So it was Harold Turner: Mm-hmm. Efrain: kind of hard for them to tell me something about being a man when it's like, one, I didn't have it at home and two, you're not a man, so how can I sit here and listen to you? But Harold Turner: Yeah. Efrain: when you're looking at a man and you can see success in him, a lot of the times it's like, man, I could r I I'm going to take that advice. So shout out to you, Mr. Turner, being in this space that is probably not a lot of you in the space. Harold Turner: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Efrain: and still having so much grace doing it. Just so much happiness, the smiles on your face when we talk about being able to be an educator, right? I think it's a very Harold Turner: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Efrain: hard time right now where school systems across our country are struggling. Harold Turner: Mm-hmm. Efrain: teachers are being let go because they're, you know, for whatever reason that may look like, budget cuts on all these different things. It is very hard times. But what do you tell to Harold Turner: Mm-hmm. Efrain: those individuals, Mr. Turner, where They might be, you know, I think there's so many different ways of really educating somebody nowadays. Harold Turner: Mm-hmm. Efrain: what do you say to your colleagues throughout that may be in the space of sh am I still doing the right thing? Why am I doing it? What do you say to them? Harold Turner: This is hard. And I think I don't know what else to say. I don't know what else to say. This is really hard work. and you have to, for me, I think that the my anchoring force is that I know why I'm doing it. I know what I want out of it. I know who I want to be in it, I know how I want to be when as I do the work, right? and so there's a level of this is really hard, this is really challenging, it is thankless work, we don't make enough money, we don't we are overworked and underpaid, right? consistently and and continuously across the board. So but and those are the facts. So we have to get grounded in the facts that surround the circumstances of the work that we do and and and then contextualize some of the work that we do. And one of the greatest things that you'll ever experience is a first grader walking up to you in the morning and saying, Good morning. Good morning, Mr. Turner. I like your shoes today. Or you want to know what I learned in class yesterday? Or look what I did, right? When I was in middle school and kids had exit tickets, they would come to me and it's like I got a nine out of ten on my exit ticket, I an eight out of ten on my exit ticket. And yesterday I got a six out of ten on my exit ticket, right? so when you see a kid recognize their own growth and recognize their own excellence, right? That's part of the that's the thing that keeps you grounded in the work. and I think what I also communicate to folks is remain curious. You're in a learning environment. You have a professional and personal responsibility to be curious about how to get better at the work you're doing and why you're and consistently revisiting the question of why you're doing the work. This ain't for light, this ain't for play play. So if you're gonna do it, do it. If you're not gonna do it, don't do it. But it's two very clear paths that you can take. Get it done or don't. And either w either on either side, on either outcome, kids are impacted by it. So who do you wanna be to young people? Who do you wanna be to the person who in 20 years could be your doctor, could be your local business owner, could be your air traffic controller. could be sitting in the tower that's telling when you're playing the l right, like who do you want to be to that person so that they are somebody productive and positive and engaging to consist to that many more people. it ain't easy. And it ain't supposed to be easy because it's a it's thinking work. And so I am tough on educators because it is it ain't easy work. but I also have the greatest respect, admiration and love for folks who decide to do this. Who again, decide, right? to do this every single day because some days it's a hard choice. But it's one that Efrain: Yes, it is. Harold Turner: we make. But it's one that we make. Efrain: Well, Mr. Turner, I thank you so much for your time man, for your insight today, for Harold Turner: Thank you. Thank you. Efrain: just just s being able to share authentically who you are and where you're going and where you've been. so Harold Turner: Yes. Efrain: we thank you. Is there a website people can check out more information about the school? Harold Turner: Ivy Hillprep.org. Efrain: social medias or not? Are we seeing you doing any dancing, any handshake with the kids? I mean, that's what's kinda going around with TikTok. I just I didn't know. Harold Turner: Yes, Ivy Hill Prep Charter School on Instagram. We're working on getting our TikTok up and running. But yeah, follow our pages. You'll see some of the most you'll see some of the best little humans I've ever done. Efrain: Alright, Mr. Turner. Well, we thank you. For those that are watching, make sure that you guys do like, subscribe, and comment. More leaders doing the passion purpose. It's not about a paycheck. It's about showing up authentically us, fertilizing the future. And Mr. Turner just told us all about what they're doing. I'll catch you guys the next one. Let us Harold Turner: Thank you.