Latest / The Thriving School Podcast with Jenni Awesome / Empowering Families in Literacy with Dr. John Frias
Transcript
- Jenni Awesome: All right, welcome back to the Jenni Awesome Podcast. Today's guest is Dr. John Frias, an educational consultant, literacy developer, and longtime educational leader with more than 20 years of experience in literacy, curriculum, and multilingual education. Dr. Frias is a creator, yeah. John: Thank you for having me. Jenni Awesome: Dr. Frias is a creator of Read Together, Rise Together, and I'm excited about this. It's a seven-week family literacy engagement program designed to help schools strengthen early reading by building meaningful partnership with families. Through short practical activities that take just 10 to 15 minutes a day, everybody can be doing these. The program give parents simple ways to support foundational reading skills at home while helping children grow in confidence, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and their love of reading. So Dr. John Frias, welcome to the Jennifer Awesome Podcast. John: This is awesome. Thank you so much. I appreciate this. Jenni Awesome: Yeah, so what inspired you to create this program, the Read Together, Rise Together program? John: You know, Jenni, I have been in education for quite a while. I've been a teacher. I've been an instructional coach. most of my career is actually in New York City. So taught in the Bronx. I was an instructional coach in Brooklyn. And then got into I was an assistant principal. I was a principal, got into district leadership. And my largest district actually, I was had about 30,000 students. Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: Multilingual learners. And one of the things that I found that was consistent from my time in the Bronx to my time as a district leader. Well, one thing that I found that never necessarily changed, whether it was a large urban district or a small suburban school district, the key thing that I noticed was that when we were talking with families, oftentimes we're kind of doing the same thing. We're like, hey, mom and dad, do this with them or help them with this homework, right? And I would see families just kind of like come up along, especially when I was a principal, I would notice it because I was living it. I was closer to the families. And one of the things that I would see is that, you know, I would see these families come year to year and and it was it was great. They were supportive, they were involved. But there came a certain kind of this light bulb moment where I said, I say, wow, like, you know, we're telling families to support their kids, but we weren't necessarily building the capacity of our families. We weren't telling them, well, This is how you do it. It was kind of like, well, just do this, right? So as the as the parents of these kiddos were getting a little bit, kids are getting older, right? Families are getting older too. Jenni Awesome: Mm. John: one of the things that that kind of struck me was you would see families start to pull away a little bit more, especially when got to the middle school level, secondary level, and they weren't as active. And one thing, and I just speaking as a parent myself, helping a child through anything was is pretty daunting. Dependent on the concept. And there was a point in my career where I had an opportunity to help a school in in Queens, actually, Queens, New York. And they we were talking about a family literacy night. So, you know, we family literacy nights, there's nothing new about them. But we had this idea, we kind of just did some brainstorming. I said, well, why don't we come up with a family literacy night where we have an author, they speak to the kids, speak to the families. But why don't we strategically place teachers in each of these rooms where we sort of have a rotation where we have families learn about how to help their kids? And Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: in that moment, that moment really gave me a light bulb because I said, wow, walking watching them walk away, feeling empowered. And they walking away just feeling like, wow, I can't, I know what I can do with my kids at home as it relates to reading and literacy. And just seeing the excitement on their faces for me at that moment, at that point, I think I was I was a principal at the time. And I said, wow, like that was very impactful. So that always stuck with me. So years later, I'm now, you know, but in district leadership, I said, you know what? I think we need to do something about it. Because oftentimes we're we're telling parents to do these things and we're not really equipping them. So that's where this project was birthed. So I wouldn't I want to say maybe two years ago. I connected with an organization in Harlem and we were kind of talking about this project. And I said, Well, you know, this would be great to put something together like this. And little by little I started to just put it together and started pulling concepts for the things I know, right? Science of reading and all Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: these kind of good things. But I wanted something practical, something simple. And I really thought to myself, if we can give our families when they are young parents, young kiddos. With ages that four to seven range, if we can start equipping them at that age and they can walk away knowing what I can do with my kid that it's easy, practical. Now we've built their capacity and their excitement. Now we've empowered them. So now they become partners in the work that we're doing. So that's where this whole thing was sort of birthed. It was just over years of just seeing what we're telling as the school side, right? The official school side, telling parents Jenni Awesome: Yeah. John: to do something, but we're not necessarily equipping them. So I I I figured if we can, if we can hit hit that point in their life, in that in their walk with their kids, when they're nice and young, when they're excited about their kids' education, if we can grab their attention then, how much more exciting Jenni Awesome: Mm. John: won't it be as they move along the continuum of education? So that's that's where it really just all came from. just sort of seeing it all progress. And then that project with that school in Queens really solidified it for me, the the impact of what this could do. Jenni Awesome: So did you afterwards so you brought the families in, you empowered them with little things they could do to support their kids? How did that change like the culture of the school? Like, did you guys see an improvement over the next couple of years? John: You know what's interesting? I wasn't an administrator in that school, but Jenni Awesome: Mm. John: I was brought in as an outsider at that point and we're kind of just doing this project with this school. But every year after that, the principal would contact me and say, hey, we gotta continue doing this because it worked. And the parents were excited. They were asking for it. So for me, that and mind you, I we were just sort of we weren't necessarily tracking that as a as a thing that we were gonna do. It was just sort of a this thing that we thought of in that moment. Jenni Awesome: Right. John: And but for me, the confirmation was the callback. Mind you, we weren't hired to do this. We weren't nobody, no one was getting paid to do this, by the way. but it was just this partnership that we had with the school, with the principal, and actually with the parent coordinator mainly. Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: And to have the principal say, hey, can you can you redo this? Can you bring that the literacy again next year for a new round of parents? And every year we would see more families come and see more excitement around it. It was powerful. It was powerful. So there was more anecdotal than anything else. But that Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: sort of that seed for me was what was really what stuck with me in that moment, if that makes any sense. Jenni Awesome: Yeah, I I love that. So I've been working in Native American tribal schools the past couple of years. And one of the John: Okay. Jenni Awesome: things that I've really seen that we're missing is there is that gap between what the schools are doing and what the families may or may not be doing at home. And so how do we bridge that gap between the school John: For sure. Jenni Awesome: and the families? And the school I was just at, Chief Leshi Schools, which is the Puallop tribal school, they do a family night once a month. So they serve they ser John: that's awesome. Jenni Awesome: yeah, they serve a huge dinner for the families. A lot of times it's when they have their concerts or their sch their school sports award ceremonies, but they also tie in an opportunity to learn. They bring in other family resources and just John: U Jenni Awesome: providing those opportunities for our families to stay engaged with the school and engaged with their kids. That is such a huge, huge area that the most of our school John: For sure. Jenni Awesome: systems need to grow in. John: For sure. And i I love that word that you use, that bridge, right? The and I think that's the heart of where we're trying to get to with the with the with the toolkit and and even being able to get to schools with in partnership with the schools with the toolkit is it Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: reinforces foundational literacy. So that's that's found that's the key, right? But it's helping families really understand and participate in what their children are learning. And I think that's really the goal to say, Hey, we're we're doing this together and I love that word you use, bridging, because that's it, that's really the essence of of all of this work, is creating that bridge between that home and that school. Jenni Awesome: Yeah. And I've I've realized recently that we're missing that community aspect with education. A lot of families have, well, my kid goes to school. That's the school's job. That's the teacher's job. It's not my job as a parent. And we we get to bring some of that back in, re engaging the families and saying, Yes, we are here to support your child's learning and you also get to advocate for your child. And I know a lot of our families John: Yeah. Jenni Awesome: that have like neurodivergent kids, kids with IEPs. I I've had both kids with IEPs, five fours and gifted. So I I I've had the whole spectrum, John: Okay. Jenni Awesome: but I'm blessed because I'm an educator. I speak the lingo. Most of our families don't. John: And you and you know what's interesting now that you say that, you know, it reminded me of something. When we think about family engagement and the work and this this all this that we're talking about, the research is just so clear, right? That family engagement strengthens literacy when schools make reading instruction, right, like understandable. They give families practical ways to support learning at home. Because now now that now that the this child, whoever this child may be, wherever they are, is seeing that this this is valuable. It's not just a school thing or it's not just a mom thing, it's not just a dad thing. It's valuable because my whole community is saying it's more it's important. And my whole community is involved in this. So yeah, so I l I love what you what you what you're doing in in your schools and and that sounds super, super exciting. Jenni Awesome: Yeah, it is. The there's I'm recognizing and and I I think a lot of people are starting to wake up to that with how much we have AI and the technology out there in the world, that we're no longer an information driven school system. And that's what our schools have been about. John: Yeah. Jenni Awesome: We get to shift to being more experiential, bring in the community John: yeah. Jenni Awesome: aspects and and and re engage. ki the family unit for for lack of better terms. Like John: Yes. Jenni Awesome: so how do you see that fitting in with these literacy strategies? John: Well with the move of AI. Jenni Awesome: Yeah, so you that we have AI out there and y you're helping with those ten to fifteen minute little snippets of of John: That's a gr that's a great question. yeah. Jenni Awesome: what we can do. John: You know what's interesting is that the the target market for this is really our younger kiddos. so it doesn't really speak to as much as it relates to the the AI portion of it. However, what it does, one of the things that I will kind of speak to, and I'll sp kind of speak to both. When I think about the I guess I'll I'll I'll I'll separate it from AI and and and the world of tech, right? When I think about the world of tech, our kids are engrossed. From the minute they're born, they're on, they're on some sort of device. And well, actually I'll I'll speak on the AI first and then I'll get back to the tech with our with our younger kiddos. One of the things that, you know, especially being being the district leader, overseeing, you know, students from from the K from K 12, right? One of the biggest Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: things that that we're we're seeing as we sort of seeing this evolution of AI and and it's it's moving fast, right? Is the fact that we are not, you know, it's easy for us as educators to be like, well, just students just can't use it. And we gotta stop it and this and that. The reality is AI it technology isn't going away. AI isn't going away. So we are now in the position to e to equip, right? Equip our students, our kids, our children, right? This next generation. We have to equip them with the with the analytical skills. We have to equip them with the ability to sort, to sift, right? To Jenni Awesome: Mm. John: analyze the the tools that they're using, similar to what we would have done years ago. I remember back in Back when I was in school, you had to go to a library and you had to find material. You had to go Jenni Awesome: yeah. John: to an encyclopedia. I remember I had Jenni Awesome: Eddie. John: portions of the encyclopedias, and you would skip letters. And so you would, you would have to, we would be taught how to navigate those materials, right? And this is no different. So we now are just telling our kids, hey, this is how you navigate these tools. So we have to play a little bit of a catch up, in my opinion, in the in the ed world, in saying, This technology is here. That's it's it's here. And our kids are actively using it. We have Jenni Awesome: Mm. John: to train them as to how to appropriately use this material. But when I think about family engagement, I think one of the challenges we find, especially when I go, I'm gonna go back now to our younger kiddos. One of the challenges we face is that it is easier as a parent to say, here's advice. It is easier. I still remember, you know, my my one of my one of my sons. When he was in algebra. my goodness, I struggled with algebra. And I remember sitting there and I said, I'm I can't, well, it was, it was algebra. And I'm like, this is not for me. I'm like, I'm struggling. I can't figure this thing out. And I still remember they had like an app. It was like, all right, let me try the app and let me scan the thing so I could give some advice as to how to solve this. I couldn't figure it out. I s Jenni Awesome: Uh-huh. John: even with the answer, I couldn't figure it out. But I had to sit there and kind of like struggle with this a little bit. And that moment re it was a humbling moment at that time because I couldn't I couldn't figure it out. And I'm even I'm using the AI, right? But it made me realize that it's a lot easier to just tell the kid your child, hey, go online and and and figure this thing out, right? Like watch the video or do this. And now this child is like is left to sort of try to fit navigate this. Jenni Awesome: Mm. John: But when I think about family engagement, one of the lessons I learned from that experience, my own personal experience, is that the moment that I was faced with this struggle, now I had to learn this material with him. So now I am now forced to engage with my child with algebra. And I couldn't leave it up to just watch the video. I had to figure this thing out with him. And that Jenni Awesome: Yep. John: just made that year, the initial part of it was a struggle. But we were able to get through algebra that year successfully. He did really well. And I attribute it to the fact that I now had to devote this time because I now I was forced to be equipped. And I'm in education, but math is, you know, I didn't I didn't go into first school for math, right? But I'm forced to navigate this. So when I think about our families as it relates to tech, it is easier to say, hey, here's an app or here's a, you know, do this. But if we equip our parents and now they have this aha moment, I I now and I if I now learn it, I now want to help because I now I want to impart this information that I have and I want to give you this information. So by equipping our parents, whether it's to whether it is navigating through an app or whether it is navigating through material, really the concept is the same. I I want to build capacity because if I can build Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: capacity, whether it's technology, whether it's this toolkit, whether it's algebra, it doesn't matter the thing. I now feel more empowered to help my child because I am now better equipped to do it. if that makes any sense. So I think it doesn't really necessarily matter the thing. It's matter whether I know or feel confident that I can help my child with it. If I don't feel confident with it, it's not happening. but when I feel a little bit of sense of confidence, a little bit of air under my wings, I feel a little bit better about being able to help my child navigate this, whatever that thing may be. So Jenni Awesome: Yeah. John: Hopefully that answered your question. I I went off a little bit of a tangent there, but hopefully that is that answered your question. because it Jenni Awesome: Yeah. John: is it it's a meaty question, but it really goes it really boils down to, in my opinion, building capacity. and our families need to feel as though they have some ounce of of knowledge as it relates to whatever the thing is that their kid is is working on. Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. And I think that you you're also hitting on just the fact that our parents need to know what resources are out there, that we are there John: Hundred percent. Jenni Awesome: to partner with them as their child is learning. And I I I think and I'm I'm gonna say that families recognize that if their kid is struggling, they can go in and ask for like an IEP evaluation, a five four, and and get supports in those areas. But to the kiddos that They're just not, I I don't know how to say this nicely, there's just not enough of a deficit. Like we still have ways that we can support them because the the parent is right. They know their kid best. And John: Yes. Jenni Awesome: they're saying, Hey, my kiddo's struggling in this area. I recognize I need to help my kid. I just don't know how. And so this this process, your your program is providing them with this is the how. John: 100%. And that's really what it is. And you know, when I when we were kind of dreaming about this a couple years back, what I really wanted, what I envisioned for this, is that it's a toolkit that really becomes a manageable set of routines, right? We're talking about short, structured, K-to-1 literacy activities that families could just realistically complete at home without the parent feeling as though. I gotta, I'm going back to college for this, right? I just feel like I can do this. I know how to navigate it. And not only do I know how to navigate it and there's activities that I that I'm doing with it, but it also gives ideas as to how that now they can take whatever that day daily lesson is and connect Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: it to something in the real world. So we're talking about activities they can do in their community, activities when they're in the store, whatever the, you know, kind of just take them outside. So now they're seeing literacy. Now the parent. Is seeing literacy everywhere. Because there's literacy opportunities everywhere you go. But if if I don't tell you that information, you wouldn't know that. You wouldn't know to look for literacy opportunities. You know, if I look at a stop sign, I just see a stop sign, right? But if I see that if I know that there's a literacy opportunity there, now it changes my perspective and everything I see. I see a stop sign. honey, what what letters do you see? Right. let's sound it out, right? Or if I see the word McDonald's, or there's a literacy opportunity, right? looking at a menu. There's a literacy. So there's literacy opportunities that are built in. But I as a parent, I wouldn't know to look for that Jenni Awesome: Mm. John: unless I tell you that there's opportunities to look for that. So that's really what what what the one of the hearts behind it is not only am I giving you the manageable routines, but I'm giving you things to look for in your real world that you could just do at any point. So now Jenni Awesome: Yeah. John: these are takeaways that now you are now helping your kid. in day to day life and you're helping build that up. Jenni Awesome: I remember very vividly, you talked about the the literacy all around us. I remember vividly, I don't remember what the name of the building was, but driving past this building, my parents picked me up from like daycare or something, and I read that word and I knew what it meant. And that was like the first time that that had happened. So that was a John: Wow. Jenni Awesome: a a big moment for me was, yeah, I know what that sign says. And that was when my parents were like, man. We can't spell things anymore. She's gonna know what it says. But yeah, it's we we have literacy everywhere. And my kids, so they always put the subtitles on the television. They're they're 16 and 14 now and they still put the subtitles on the television John: yes. Jenni Awesome: because they they will read through. They both love reading, but that's what we used to do is they would listen to the TV, but they would also put the words on it and and they still do that. John: I still put the subtitles. Jenni Awesome: Yeah. And then I know when they've been John: I still put Jenni Awesome: on my account 'cause it's like, why are there words? Like I don't do that. John: I still I still put the subtitles. But you know what's funny? When you said when you shared that story, one thing that reminded me, which I forgot to share earlier, your own personal experience, right, with literacy. One of the driving factors also for me was I thought about my own childhood and I was definitely not a kid, I struggled in school. I I think teachers would be surprised that I'm I'm in education, right? I struggled with school. I was very disconnected from the whole school process. I I tell people I grew up in Harlem before Starbucks. It was in the, you know, we're talking about the 70s and 80s, where the height of the crack epidemic, right? And my parents were immigrant Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: parents, didn't know English, and very, you know, dysfunctional community. So my parents were not around to help me with anything. And so I struggled in school, completely struggled in school. Barely grad barely graduated out of high school. And I still remember. When it came to literacy, I was not someone who could necessarily decode words. I just became very good at memorizing words. So when I heard it, I would like put it to memory. So it's not like I necessarily knew what it meant or knew you know, how to sound it out. It was just, okay, I I see the context of it. I'm hearing it. I'm just absorbing it. I'm gonna make sense of this. So I had a I had my own little workaround to figure this thing out, but I still remember when I was working in the Bronx and when I was a brand new teacher, and at that point I wasn't thinking about any of this, but when I was a brand new teacher, I had so many families that I could relate to. You know, I was, I was like, wow, I could see myself and these kids, and I could see my my my parents and those parents. And I didn't know. I was such a new teacher. I didn't, I didn't know how to help, how to necessarily help parents. But fast forward, as I'm thinking about this work. I guess I think about those families, right? I think about the families who, you know, they're struggling to figure this thing out, just life out, right? And it's it's overwhelming in general. And they don't Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: there's families who just don't necessarily know what to do, right? And I still remember even having teachers, you know, when I especially when I was an administrator at the building administrator, you know, you would hear commentary of like, these families don't, they don't care. And at And I I, you know, and it's easy to get sort of sucked into that to that dialogue. But the more you think about it, oftentimes it's not that they don't care, is that they just don't know what to do. Jenni Awesome: Yeah. John: and we're not necessarily e equipped to tell them what to do. It's just, well, try harder, you know, try harder and speak louder, kind of thing. Or speak slower, right? And Jenni Awesome: Yeah. John: it doesn't always work. So thinking back to my own childhood, I think about these kids now. There's a lot of children that. Where let's have family's like, I j I just need a starting point. I just I just need to know what do I what do I what would I do on day one? I have this four year old in front of me, I have five year old in front of me, and they're driving me crazy. I I don't know how to actually work this thing, right? So I thought about those families also as we were developing this this program. So it's It's cu it it serves it it comes from many places, and that's definitely one of them for sure. As I think about that, that my own personal story. Jenni Awesome: Yeah. Yeah. I I I wanna what came to mind. So I ended up being a middle school math and science teacher, mostly math John: okay, got it. Jenni Awesome: teacher. So I I was good at math, but I was also very disconnected from education, the way I I worksheets did not work for me. so my my third year of teaching, I was teaching eighth grade math, and I John: Okay. Jenni Awesome: I had to understand fractions to the point where I could teach it. I did not understand fractions until I went through that process of having to teach them. And John: Yes. Jenni Awesome: it it was such like now that I understand it, it's like, why didn't I connect how to do this way back when? And I think that we also miss a point in our learning process here in the United States of There's that whole other level of learning once you actually communicate it or teach it to somebody else. So you were just reflecting on your learning process of, you know, how did you go through the process of you had your ability to memorize words, but how do you actually decode the words? And so connecting that with, okay, our families are struggling. I've I've found these families that they're they're struggling in a very similar area. I recognize that. How do I now go beyond that and share John: Yeah. Jenni Awesome: my learning with them? So th so that's a huge huge process in our education system. John: Big time. Jenni Awesome: Yeah. So what are so you're talking about seeing the literacy out there in the world? What are some of the strategies that you actually share with families? So you talked about like we we see words on buildings, you recognize it like stop sign, it's lean, okay, what shape is that? What color is that? What letters do you see? There's there's so many opportunities out there. So so what are some of the other tips that you share with families? John: We also find a way to connect play to this. so almost like we each each of the sections, each of the daily sections also provide like those tips, like, hey, when you're with your I'm just giving a a random example by the way. but like, hey, if I'm in I'm in this moment of play, here's something that I can say. Here's something that you can do while you're in this moment of play. Or hey, you're going to when you have a bedtime routine. This is something you can do. This is a routine that you can have. Like incorporate so that way the parent knows, like whether I'm in playtime, whether I'm in bedtime, whether I'm waking up, we're about to go to school, or whether now we're driving or now we're walking, or like how to highlight things. So it's just simple. Each day has a simple tip as to like, hey parent, this is a community connection. This is an outside connection. This is a look for that you can be on the lookout for as you're as you're with your kid in everyday life. So it's all connected to again some sort of play activity, some sort of bedtime connection, some sort of community connection. And it's a way just to kind of bring awareness to parents. so whatever the lesson may be for that day, it's like, well, how do I find that now outside? Right. How do I find that outside of this book? and it's a way to just bring. of not only just awareness, but highlight the fact that it's it's easy to do, right? It's easy to find these things. so that's just kind of some of the some from a from a topical sense, these are some of just the the topics that we sort of cover in order to Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: engage families as it relates to that home and home and home and outside the home connection, right? Jenni Awesome: Yeah, you're you're bringing in the real world. It doesn't just happen in the school, in the classroom, it happens John: Yeah. Hundred percent. Jenni Awesome: everywhere. John: Yeah, for sure. Jenni Awesome: Pulling us out of the school box and and putting us out there into play in the real world. I love that. So what are so you talked about that this is also good for multilingual families. Can you can you talk about that a little bit? Before we continue today's episode, I want to take a moment to talk about a mission that has become incredibly important to me. Every child deserves to grow up feeling safe, protected, valued, and free. Unfortunately, children around the world are being exploited and trafficked every day. And I don't believe we can simply hear about it, feel terrible, and move on. We have a collective responsibility to do something, to act. That's why I'm raising funds to support the fight against child trafficking and child exploitation and the organizations working to identify vulnerable children, rescue victims, and help survivors rebuild their lives. And you can do something. You Can be a valuable part of this mission and this work as well. You don't have to have thousands of dollars and you don't have to be an expert. You simply have the opportunity to decide that protecting children matters. Donate, share the mission, start a conversation, pay attention, use your voice. Because when enough ordinary people Decide that protecting children is our responsibility, extraordinary change becomes possible. If you'd like to stand with me, visit community.org backslash fundraiser seven three seven one zero two six. Together we can turn awareness into action, hope into impact. And create a world where children are protected. Protecting children is everyone's responsibility and it starts with us. John: Yeah, one of the things that we find, especially in the multilingual world, is because multilingualism, it's it's a it's an asset, right? Jenni Awesome: Mm. John: But one of the things that we find, especially being in the multilingual world, is that I a lot of our families don't necessarily realize that it that it is, right? So especially our families who may struggle with English, right? What we find is that either they shy away and they completely just give this responsibility over to the schools, right? Because like I I don't know enough English or I don't know how to necessarily help my child, right? And when it comes to our multilingual families, what what what we're pointing well, we're really kind of just highlighting to the fullest extent possible is that hey, you know what? You have you also, even if even if you're learning English as well, even if you're sort of navigating the language as well, guess what? You have something that you can bring. There's some literacy you have, whether it doesn't matter the the How how much of it or how little of it you you may think you have, but it's realistic, it's accessible. So the idea when I think about because I specifically work with multilingual families, the idea is how can I give this parent the confidence that, yeah, I can also do this, I can also work with this material. And that's why Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: when we think about the I started to develop the material, we give the overarching concept from a technical standpoint. But the material is presented a way that, you know, families just feel like, hey, yeah, I this is accessible for me. So that way when they're thinking about helping their child in in English, they also now start to realize like, you know what? I can also do this with my native language with my native tongue. So Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: if I'm working with them in sp in listen, if I'm in Spanish in my Spanish dialogue or my speaking them in Somali, or you know, pick a pick a dari, pick a language, right? Pasto. If I'm speaking to them in this language, in my language, I can also do these literacy routines in my language. And the reason that's so powerful is because that's another thing that research 100% shows is that when a child has that that that ability, that biliteracy, right? And they're they're strong in their native language, right? From a literacy standpoint, that translates completely over. Into the into learning and learning English. Our kids that actually are are proficient in their native language and are actually practicing. And so we don't want to Jenni Awesome: Mm. John: take that away. We like, listen, if you're learning some tips and tricks in English, you can also use that in your native language. And guess what? Now this child is becoming literacy proficient in both worlds. And that's gonna strengthen them as a as a student, as a reader, as a as a as a what's that called, as someone who's actually processing information. So that's something that we really want to advocate, we really wanna wanna communicate to families that, hey, this is something you can do in both languages, right? So obviously there's some Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: concepts for as they practice is exclusive to English, but the ideas, the tips and the tricks are something you can apply in both languages. Jenni Awesome: That's amazing. Like I I love that. So when you're talking to those families, like what are some of the things that you how do you encourage the families and help build up their confidence as they're going through this process? John: You know, when we when I think about our multilingual families, here's what I find. And I remember we did we did a project, and this is in my in my in my role as a as a district administrator. We did this this thing where we brought in our families. We we brought in our our multilingual families, and we just sort of posed questions to them, right? Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: And we had dialogue with them. Yeah, we had conversations with them. And we did this whole series just on family engagement. And what we found in in just this organic research, right, in a sense, it wasn't a formal research. In talking with parents, what we found was that they felt as though they necessarily couldn't connect with the schools, right? Because of a language barrier or just feeling intimidated by getting walking into a school, right? Not feeling that's necessarily they can feel fully engaged. And what I found in just in that, and because we did it for a few months of just like bringing families in, talking with them, doing some professional developments with schools. And what I found was that when schools were intentional about family engagement, and that's one of the things that I'm I'm hoping that this toolkit would really stir up is the need for family engagement. When families felt as though schools were welcoming. were welcoming and affirming, right, to to to their culture, to their, to, to who they are as people. And they were inviting them into the space, right? Where they were part of school based, you know, whatever decision making teams that, you know, every district has the cause a little bit different. When they were involved in those processes, what was interesting was that they were also the same families who were very engaged in the learning process. But when schools Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: were not as engaging With these families, you saw that now these children will also have higher rates of being recommended for special services, right? Higher rates of absenteeism, Jenni Awesome: Yeah. Yeah. John: higher rates of suspensions, right? Why? Because now Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: the family's not engaged. So one of the most powerful things that I'm I'm hoping really stirs from this project is not only am I am I, I'm not just giving you this toolkit, right? But as a school leader, I wanna now build the capacity of my of my staff and create a culture where we're inviting families in. We're we're creating family engagement opportunities, right? It's not just we're gonna host an event and we're gonna bring them in. No, we're we're gonna that's gonna be who we are, right? We're gonna create family parent orientations, we're gonna create student orientations, we're gonna bring the families in, we're gonna ask them questions, we're gonna involve them, right? Even if whether they're whether they're strong in English or not strong in English, whether they're involved. they can be evolved only a little bit or a lot. It doesn't matter. Like we're gonna engage all demographics of our families so that they know that they're part of this process and they're also engaged in anything that happens. And it is it goes beyond literacy, you know. Jenni Awesome: Mm. John: and those were the schools that I found had more success with students. Why? Because parents felt that they were a part of the process. when you had, and I still remember this from my from my days teaching at LeBron. So actually, even when I when I was in in Queens. I saw this contrast when when I was in the Bronx, we had we had a struggle with family engagement. And the school, we didn't, the school didn't necessarily do much about that. So we Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: struggled with suspensions, absenteeism, gang violence, and it was just, it was a struggle. And students just didn't do well. When I worked in the school in Queens, and this is when I was a I was a teacher, it was interesting because, and not, not the same school that I've talked to you about before. But when I was in that school, the principal, the administration there was very involved with getting families in and having them involved. And there was such a difference in success rate between both schools. And the key difference, in my opinion, now that I fast forward these all these years, is the fact that families were engaged. And that was such a huge component of it. So this is I I think our when I think about this toolkit, it's just a small piece of that. It really becomes a Jenni Awesome: Mm. John: vehicle. It's an opportunity to invite parents in and engage with them in a meaningful way. Jenni Awesome: So for our our listeners out there, if there's a district administrator or a principal or even a teacher who's like, We need that, we need to increase our family engagement, like what words of advice would you give to them? How would you suggest that they, you know, get started with with this process? John: Well, they could call me. No, just I would say honestly, Jenni Awesome: Yeah. John: you know, I'll be honest with you. I think I think organic is best. You know, I I I still remember when I was a principal, I I walked into a a turnaround situation. And what I did was what I found that was was was meaningful and was successful was I had the parents I had the parents involved in everything. You know, I I created a shared decision-making team and I had all walks of life in those meetings. And Just by doing that created just it created a catalyst in my opinion. Just a just a small opening, right? And what that does, what that did was by creating that that initial opening, it just created that avenue and that sense of trust and respect, right? And then Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: one of the things that I'm seeing, especially fast forwarding seeing now, especially as as a as a district administrator, is that not only do I want to create opportunities for parents to be involved, but I also want my staff And my team to learn what does true family engagement look like? I want my, I want my staff, my, and my, and my, whether it be my clerk, whether it be my psychologist, whether it be my social worker, it doesn't matter who it is, that we are communicating with families, not just with negative reports, right? Like I my my parents should not, I remember I was I was big on this with my teachers. I said, your first communication with a parent should not be a negative one. They should have heard from you way beforehand. You should have shared out all the good stuff that's been happening with, you know, find something. I don't care what it is, find something. Find something, communicate that. And that was such an important thing for me to say we need to create opportunities, just dropping seeds of building culture. And that's real, and that takes time because Jenni Awesome: Yeah. John: when I talk about trust and respect, that takes a lot of time. And But it's it's seeds that are well worth it in the long run. Because then when I do put an event together, when I do host a ex with a pick the activity, right? Now parents Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: want to be involved. Why? Because I've I've in I've created what I call I love this phrase and I've always used it, social capital. If I build a social capital now the next year when it starts to, when I'm now I'm cashing in on that social capital that I've I've poured into, I've invested. When I build Jenni Awesome: Yeah. John: those relationships, come year two and come year three when I'm hosting things. Now families want to be a part of this because they trust Jenni Awesome: Yeah. John: me. Because why? Because I've invested in that relationship. So it is, it's it's what I call the long game. You know, there's no shortcuts to this. Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: but I I definitely, from a starting standpoint, in my opinion, is culture from how our our staff, our people respond to parents and how to communicate with parents. That's number one. And so even when they walk in a building, even if even if a parent's upset, we should not reciprocate that. We should we should still create a welcoming and affirming environment, right? that's that's huge, that's a huge component to it. And then the second is I want to build those seeds, create those seeds of opportunity where I'm just kind of dropping those communications with family so that they know that we we can we can trust each other, you can trust me, and and I can trust you. And it's it's really part of Ultimately is relationship building and I know that's sort of cliche to say, but it is a hundred percent fact. Jenni Awesome: It's true. yeah. It it's it's all about the relationships. And that's what was coming to mind for me was, you know, stepping into admin. So I've been in admin for the past five years. Having those conversations with the difficult, the difficult parents, they just want to be heard. And John: Hundred percent. Jenni Awesome: being in high school, middle school, they have what? 10 years of feeling like they're not heard, that their kids aren't cared for. And if they have sip, you know, l multiple children, or they may be their grand grandparents who they're kids and now they're raising their grandkids, they have a lot that they need to say. And so being able to recognize that, hey, they just want to get that out. They want to feel seen, heard, valued, and give them the opportunity to say these things. And I've had lots of parents, you know. at our tables or on the phone saying by the end, man, I'm so sorry that, you know, I'm not taking this out on you, whatever. And it's like, don't don't apologize. John: yeah. Jenni Awesome: You are advocating for your child. Like John: Yeah, for sure. Jenni Awesome: never apologize for advocating for your child to be taken care of. And John: yeah, it it's so true. Jenni Awesome: I mean, to think that if if we do a better job as administrators, as teachers, having those phone calls from the earlier ages, building that rapport with the families from the younger ages, like if it's their first kid or their first grandkid, we can really impact the rest of their education career because they've had those positive experiences John: For sure. Jenni Awesome: early on. John: for sure. You know, it's interesting because we would I remember when I when I was the principal, we, you know, one of the things that we put in at, you know, I I was like, let's let's come let's create our own PBIS, right? And we Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: started to kind of develop that. But then the more I thought about it was, yeah, we want to do this with we we want to do this with our with it was a systematic format, right? To do this with our kids. But I realized then very quickly, I'm like, we need to also do this with families. Like we Jenni Awesome: Yeah. John: need to create those positive. Positive engagements with our families. And I still remember that my first year, I said, you know what? I I I said I'm going to No, I I was like I take no phone calls first thing in the morning. I was like, I'm not taking I don't care what it is, unless it's somebody who's some grand emergency. It better be a grand emergency, right? I take no appointments, no phone calls. And it didn't matter rain, snow, sun, it didn't matter the weather, I would. Every single morning I was outside greeting all the kids and it was strategic. One, I wanted to get ahead of a couple things. Like if I saw a kid looking Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: a little bit out upset, I was like, I'm gonna get ahead of this. I don't know what's wrong with you today, but I'm gonna get ahead of it. But Jenni Awesome: Yep. John: it gave me a lot of opportunity to speak to families outside. And and I found that it was neutral ground. And when a parent was upset. What I found was that be especially for those parents who they would see me outside all the time. And I'm just talking, they they knew that I was gonna be outside. So that I I would hold court outside in a sense. And what I Jenni Awesome: Yeah. John: realized was by doing that, and it was a simple thing, but by doing that now, fast forward when a parent was irate about something, I never had a parent. And and I and I am so grateful for this, but I I attribute it to the time that I spent with them. I never had a parent scream at me. I never had a parent call me out, or because they would call, they would be upset, but they would say, Dr. Friz, I I like I gotta talk to you about this. Like I'm upset about something, but they wouldn't yell at me. And what I found was that. Because I've invested so much time and and listening to them for all these other things, what you know, Johnny's in the park or whatever the thing, just listening about life, they knew that I had their best their kids' best interest in mind. And I wanted my staff Jenni Awesome: Yeah. John: to do the same thing. So that way when when some cause all something would always occur in school, you you can't avoid it. Jenni Awesome: yeah. John: but that when the thing was very serious, they wouldn't come looking to take my head off. It was I'm going to the school. I'm upset, but I'm not looking to take this guy out. Jenni Awesome: Yeah. John: I know that this guy has my kids' interest in mind, has my family's best interest in mind. And Jenni Awesome: Mm. John: I'm gonna I'm gonna voice it, but it's not, it's it's not directed at him. and I know he'll help me. So he but I realized that it's really time. You know, obviously there's just some systematic things we could do as a school system, right? So there's some systems things, there's some culture things that we could do from a professional development standpoint, 100%. So those things that are are applicable. But I really find that the they'll that organic process is far more powerful in the long term. You know, you could you could kind of put it in your schedule and stuff like that, but really those engagements become very powerful long term. Jenni Awesome: yeah. Y you have to become very intentional with it. And I remember John: yeah. Jenni Awesome: I was teaching, I took some time off, I came back, and that was one of the areas that I wanted to improve. So coming up with a tracking system of okay, how do I John: yeah. Jenni Awesome: how do I make sure I contact every single kid? So middle school, John: yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Jenni Awesome: thirty something kids in five different classes, so like a hundred John: Yeah. Jenni Awesome: and fifty kids. Okay, how Yeah, so but it it was important and it made a huge difference in John: yeah. Jenni Awesome: that year by making sure that I spoke to all those families at least once in those first couple of weeks. John: yeah, for sure. For sure. Jenni Awesome: A huge difference. But we're getting closer to time. So I I wanna ask you. So the read together, rise together, where do you how do people get a hold of you? Like is this in schools? What where are you at with this process? John: Awesome. I love the question. I appreciate it. So super exciting news on this one. It was because interesting. We had we had the product just as an organic tool, PDF file, right? And a few months back, I had a vendor who said, listen, educational company who said, Listen, I would love to help put this together as one of our one of our as a product that we can manufacture for you. I'm like, this would be awesome. So Jenni Awesome: That's amazing. John: It's super, super exciting, you know, to kind of see it evolve, right? And so this actually this summer, literally today, you know, they contacted me, said, Hey, listen, we're we're finishing up with the production of it. I'm like, this is awesome. So I I'd love, I'd Jenni Awesome: Yeah, yeah. John: love to it's a it's a proud moment because it it went from just organically doing this with people, right? And Jenni Awesome: Mm. John: just kind of like working with different people here and there. To seeing this become an actual product that, you know, cause I I've provided so much professional development over the years, you know, around a whole bunch of different topics and engagement and and things of that sort, and, you know, doing this sort of work with schools. But to see it evolve into this product, it's been, it's such a good feeling. but honestly, listen, it's it's gonna be hitting the market very soon. And to be quite honestly, they can just call me. I'm gonna I'll give my cell phone, give my email, and you know, they the any anyone can just contact me directly. I love to work with schools, I love to work with teachers, I love to work with communities. this this is a this is a passion project for me. and it's great to even be able to have an opportunity like this to be able to share it. And so I I appreciate it. Jenni Awesome: I am super excited for you. I can't wait to see this out there and John: Yeah, listen, me too. Me too. Jenni Awesome: I my niece she's six and my mom is kinda home schooling her. But I'm I'm definitely John: cool. Jenni Awesome: gonna go look look at trying some of these with her as well. So I I love this. John: That's awesome. Yeah, it's funny. We thought about the homeschooling community too. Cause I know, you know, my wife and I, when our kids were younger, we did homeschool. We homeschooled for a long time. Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: and then when they got older, you know, my wife and I made the decision. But we thought about the homeschool families, also homeschool communities. I'm like, yeah, this is something you're brand new to homeschooling. There's a lot you don't know. You're like, wait, how do I do how do Jenni Awesome: yeah. John: I do this? Jenni Awesome: I I could see this growing actually as something that it's not I mean, it's not right now, it's not limited to our younger kids, but it it John: No, yeah. Jenni Awesome: it's a process that even adults can use. Like this this is a huge process and taking the time to intentionally build in those routines to connect with your kids or connect with other people, that is huge. And and that's something that they don't teach us in education, at least not intentionally. John: Yeah, for sure. Jenni Awesome: And they don't teach us that in our teacher prep classes either. Like how how do we engage with families? How do we have those difficult conversations? How do we how do we make those opportunities? John: Yep, you better believe it. You're so right. Jenni Awesome: Yeah. So I'm I'm so glad that you're able to come on here and and talk about this and and intentionally build that into your process. John: I I I I appreciate this. This is this is we this is exciting for you know for us and this sort of like this two point version of this. super, Jenni Awesome: Yeah. John: super excited about this. Jenni Awesome: All right, so last question that I have for you. So this is the last question I like to ask everyone. It gets to the heart of what we do. If you had the opportunity to change one thing in education that would have the greatest impact, the greatest positive impact on the next generation, what would it be? John: That's a great question. Man, one thing. Wow. You know, I think if I can change one thing, and I don't know if it's a change or if it's an addition, I guess it is a change, is to just and this is gonna sound this is gonna sound a little silly, but but bear with me. To bring the fun back into education, I think. We have we're in a time, you know, and I'm and I'm and I'm in New York. So I I can't speak for every state, but I know I know New York sometimes we we get so bogged down, right, with with the systems and and the the metrics and the things we have to do, right? And we gotta get our kids to to X level and do this and do that. We we're we're constantly and we want that. That like that that should still we should always have those things 'cause I tell people all the time, we need data, we need metrics, right? Jenni Awesome: Mm. John: But I think we can get to a point where we have so much of that that we're teaching for that purpose versus just for the love of learning, right? So being able to create environments where our kids actually enjoy being there. They enjoy learning something new. They enjoy like it's not just a metrics thing. It's not like, well, did you grow and you know on this level? We want that. Again, we want kids because we as adults, we need it, right? We need we always need metrics, you know. You're trying to lose weight. You need metrics, right? You're trying to, you know, improve whatever system, whatever thing. You need metrics. We know that. Jenni Awesome: Mm. John: But we I want our kids to be excited about learning. Our kids to be excited about risk taking and and being okay with you know with taking chance in school and and trying new things. And and I think sometimes the the the fun of the fun of learning is lost sometimes with all the processes that that we have in place and And I and I think as educators, we get sucked into it because why we want our we want our our schools to be the best in the state and make make the best growth. And you know, we want that, but I think we get get sucked into it so much that we we lose the love of of learning and having our kids be excited about learning. Jenni Awesome: Yeah, I I agree with you completely. I in second grade I got the Boy in my Sure Glad School Is Fun award from my teacher. And I still keep that in my portfolio to this day because it it it is. I love school, I love learning, and it's because of my parents, the opportunities I've had, the teachers John: Yeah. Jenni Awesome: I've had, and the fact that I got to be raised with art, music, play, all of those activities. John: Yes, Jenni Awesome: And John: yes. Jenni Awesome: our kids don't have as much of that as they should. John: No, and you know, it's I still remember when I was an assistant principal and I didn't invent this, it was when I got there, it was already there, but we had a genius hour and it was awesome because Jenni Awesome: Mm. John: that genius hour was the was time dedicated in the schedule where kids can just pick a topic and learn. And at first I was like, This is crazy. Like, what is this? I'm like, these kids are gonna come up with all types of weird things, like they're not gonna learn anything. That was the most impactful time of the week because they cared about the topic. They wanted to learn the topic. And so much came out of it. So much creativity. Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. John: Science came in, math came in, you know, reading came in, all these things all played together. And they without even realizing they're they're real they're without even them realizing it, or even as us teachers realizing it, or educators realizing it, these kids are applying all of these things all at the same time, you know? Jenni Awesome: Yeah. John: They're measuring, they're doing this, they're calculating, and no one's no one's telling them to do this. And they're coming back and asking questions, and we're helping them refine ideas and clean up ideas. And, you know, so it was such a wonderful thing. I wish everybody would do it. But, you know, it really speaks to the fact that these kids were excited about it and they they enjoyed it. They best part of the week, to be honest with you. Jenni Awesome: man. And you know, thinking about our our businesses, like our local businesses, if they offered a genius hour at work, like even if we gave our teachers a genius hour, like here's your hour of professional development, go learn something. It's not for John: Go for it, yes. Jenni Awesome: grading, it's not for planning, go learn something. Like how much better John: Yep. Jenni Awesome: we would be. John: yeah, for sure. For sure. Jenni Awesome: Well, we are at our time. Is there anything else you'd like to add? Like do you have a website? A best way to get a hold of you? What what would you like to put out there? John: Yeah, listen, I I'm I'm gonna give you my cell phone. I'm gonna give you my cell phone seven one eight eight two five nine zero two nine. Again seven one eight eight two five nine zero two nine. And soon we will have this live on the on the on the actually on the vendors page. So super excited about this. Any, you know, for me, any opportunity to not only get the product out, but also any trainings that schools need, any professional developments, any system building, anything. that schools need. Listen, I I I'm available and I'm excited to do this work and partner with schools. So definitely feel free to reach out and I I thank you for this opportunity as well. Jenni Awesome: Yeah, it's it it was a great conversation today. So Dr. John Freas, thank you again for coming on to the Jenni Awesome podcast. John: Awesome. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.