EPISODE #333

Hey, builders, before we begin, I have a quick question for you. Are we connected on social media? The reason I'm asking is because as much as I love giving you the podcast episode every single week, I'd love to take our relationship deeper. So if we're not connected on social media, let's connect. I'm on LinkedIn @robinmindsteps. I'm on Twitter @robinmindsteps. I'M ON FACEBOOK at Robyn Jackson, please let's connect so we can keep the conversation going. Now. On with the show.

How do builders like us make a dramatic difference in the lives of our students in spite of all the obstacles we face? How do you keep your vision for your school from being held hostage by resistant teachers, uncooperative parents, ridiculous district policies, or a lack of time, money, or resources? If you're facing those challenges right now, here is where you'll find the answers, strategies, and actionable tips you need to overcome any obstacle you face. You don't have to wait to make a difference in the lives of the people you serve. You can turn your school into a success story right now with the people and resources you already have. Let's get started. Hey, builders. 

Welcome to another episode of the School Leadership Reimagined Podcast. 

I'm your host, Robin Jackson. And today, instead of a formal episode, I thought that we could have a conversation, because I've been noticing some things that are happening in our profession right now, and I've been thinking a lot about them, and so just thought I'd talk to you today and kind of maybe ramble a little bit. But we need to have a conversation about what's happening in education, because I'm noticing something and it concerns me. And what I'm noticing is that in a profession that is focused on learning, many of us have stopped learning. I know that sounds dramatic, but hear me out. I spend a lot of time traveling over the last few weeks, different places, talking to educators, you know, just kind of out in the wild. I've spent some time in some classrooms recently, and then, of course, I spend every week with the builders inside of Buildership University and things.

There's been some conversations happening over in the collective. I've also had some conversations with my colleagues, and I have noticed even though all those things are very different, there is a through line through all those experiences that worries me. And so I want to talk about it today because I think that if we don't talk about it and we don't start recognizing it, it could be a real threat to our profession to the work that we're doing with. I don't even know how to begin. But one of the things that concerns me is that I think that in times of. I don't want to call it crisis, but I feel like there is this undercurrent happening in our profession right now that is directly responsive to what's happening politically in the United States. And there is funding that we're not sure about funding. I think that there is a contraction in terms of support for educators. And I think we're all feeling it. I think that a lot of our professionalism is under the microscope right now. People are questioning whether or not schools can be trusted. We're having some very intense conversations about intellectual freedom, freedom of speech in classrooms, what can be said, what can be taught. We're having some philosophical disagreements around what our curriculum should look like and whose reality that curriculum should reflect.

There is intense debate around that. I think that a lot of us are concerned about funding there. There have, you know, sometimes it gets frozen, sometimes it gets released, and people are worried about whether or not they're going to get the funding they need to fund programs that are important to them. There's a. There are some questions around who gets served and what those services look like right now. So we're grappling with some, you know, really important issues. And as a result of that, I think that many of us as have moved, like let's talk Maslow here. You know, like. So I think that for years as educators, we really were hanging around in self actualization, our own and creating environments for our students to reach and achieve self actualization. I think that was our focus. But I think that with a lot of the threats that many of us are feeling right now in education that, that we are no longer thinking about self actualization and we've really kind of moved back to safety. That a lot of the conversations I'm having with educators right now are less about our dreams for our students and what we hope to build and the kinds of schools we hope to build, and more about protecting what we already have or worried about some of the things we already have being taken away from us. And when we do that, and I'm not critiquing feeling that way, I understand why many educators are feeling that way because the threats that they're facing are real. So I'm not critiquing that at all.

What I am saying is that when we feel that way, it stifles our creativity. 

When you are worried about safety and protection and Addressing a threat. It's very hard to be creative. It's very hard to be even aspirational. We go from dreaming for our students, thinking about the difference that we want to make in their lives, and we go to wondering if we're going to have a job, wondering if we're going to have funding, worried about cutting staffing positions, worried about losing programs. And it's really hard in those conditions to think about the bigger picture, because we are faced with immediate threats to the things that we're doing. And then what follows that often is a sense of cynicism. We start to, especially if the threat feels ongoing. Instead of fighting for what we believe in and advocating for things for our students, we feel hopeless. We feel like that we fought and we've lost, and we fought and we've lost. Therefore, it's hopeless to fight anymore. And we just have to figure out how to exist and survive. And I think that for many of us and for many of our teachers, we are now in a place of survival. People are just trying to get through the day. People are just trying to figure out how to. How to. How to. How to work and function in their current realities. And when we are there, we are not being creative. We are not dreaming. And if we're not being creative and we're not dreaming, then we're not sparking that for our students. And that's the part that I feel is dangerous, because I, like you, came to this profession because I believed in the power of education to change lives.

I don't think that there is much else in the world greater than the power of learning to be able to change the trajectory of people's lives. I believe in education that passionately. I believe that what we do is the most important work there is, you know, other than parenting. Educating the next generation is the most important work. Teaching kids how to think, teaching kids and equipping them with the skills they need to navigate the complex world in which we live. I don't think there's any greater work out there. And done right, we build a future, a brighter future that we may not even get to experience ourselves, but it leaves the world in a better place. And done wrong, it leaves the world in a worse place. I think that educators have the power to change lives and worlds more than anybody else. And because I believe that the things that I do, the way that I show up every day in this work is, Is, Is, is. Is. Has weight to it, because I'm not just getting through the day. The things that I do when I was a teacher. The things I did in that classroom, no matter how I felt, didn't.

 What I felt didn't matter. What mattered was that my students had an experience that equipped them to go out into the world and make a bigger and better difference. That's how heavy this work is. And because this work is so heavy, when we feel like it's under threat, when there are bigger existential questions about this work, that is also heavy. And for so long, many of you have been carrying the weight of that. But because we are, I think, as a profession, kind of slipping into survival mode, we're carrying that weight, but we're not examining that weight. We're not interrogating that weight. And our work is becoming automatic. Now, that's the bigger philosophical thing. Let me show you. Let me talk to you about how I'm seeing it manifest. You know, I talk a lot about 100% visions and why they're so important. And in the past, when I've talked about it, people have seen it because I'm speaking to the part of them that's gotten buried by our leadership training over the years. I'm speaking to the part of them that has always believed that all children can and deserve to be successful in schools. And so that ignites something that's there. And people, once they understand their 100% vision and they find it, they reconnect with that 100% vision. It immediately sparks creativity.

So one of the things I love the most about the work that I do is I feel like I midwife people's hundred percent visions.

I mean, it's in you. Like, I don't put it in you. I just help you. I create a safe space to help you say it aloud. And I love that. And I also help you kind of push away the leadership junk so that you can actually admit your 100% vision that you buried underneath all the things that you've had to say and do in order to get the job you have right now, in order to become a principal, to get into the principalship, the ways that you've had to contort yourself into the district's idea of what a leader is in order to be able to occupy the position in the seat you have right now. And then when you're there, you've forgotten, you've buried. You've stuffed down that hundred percent vision. It's there. And I love the privilege that I get to help so many leaders. And I say that intentionally. Leaders shed that leadership stuff and become the builders they always were. That is the joy of my work. But the challenge that I'm finding now is that people are having a harder and harder time reconnecting with their 100% vision.

Because in addition to all the leadership stuff that's being stacked on top of their 100% visions, there's also fear and cynicism and this contraction that I'm seeing happening in the way we think through education, that it's making it harder and harder and harder for people to connect, reconnect with the thing that made them become educators in the first place and to believe that it's possible. And so what I'm finding now is that not only am I having to kind of dig through the leadership stuff to get at the builder inside of you, but I'm also having to dig through the cynicism. I have a theory though. You know, if you think about Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Have I said that already? I don't know, I'm kind of rambling. But you know, the, for so long as a profession, we've been in self actualization. So you think about over the past 20 years, or 30. I mean, I've been educated 30 years now, right? Like you think about over the past 30 years, all the innovations that have happened in education, the thinking that's happened. I still remember people like Carolyn Tomlinson who introduced us to this idea of differentiation that is now something we do in all Schools, or Rick DeFore who introduced this idea of professional learning communities, or Bob Marzano and his really just incredible meta analyses about how we learn and what rigor looks like and how people think. And you know, I think about like the work Grant Wiggins and J. McTighe talking about, you know, backwards design and starting from the end, things that we now consider to be just this is the way we do things. People weren't doing that 30, 40 years ago. People were teaching differently. And so as a profession, because we were kind of in self actualization, it unleashed all this creativity, all this thinking, all this really good research that, that changed our profession. If you look in the last few years, where, where are those ideas? Where, where, where is that pushing in the profession? We're not even thinking or talking about that anymore.

We're still trying to figure out how to, you know, do PLCs and differentiation, right? And we're not pushing the envelope. We're not building on those, those, those groundbreaking ideas and coming up with new ideas where we are, we're focused on maintenance rather than pushing even more. And we're also focused on Survival rather than thriving and helping kids thrive. And so as a result, it's getting harder and harder for me to help people to think about 100% because we're no, we're so worried about survival that we can't see beyond what's right in front of us. So if you are a 54% school, 100% feels like impossible because you've been only looking at 54%, you've been struggling with 54%, things are getting harder and harder and now you're, now you're worried you're going to not even be able to hold on to that 54% success. So you can't even think about 100%. And if as a profession we're all focus on survival and we're no longer dreaming about 100% and thinking about 100% and pushing and trying to figure out how we get there, then as a profession we're going to get so stuck that we're not producing new ideas anymore. We're not pushing, we're not. I don't know, we're not.

We've lost our sense of creativity and our sense of possibility and we've replaced it with this low grade cynicism that has us stuck where we are and unable to see beyond where we are. 

And that worries me because a fundamental part of the work that we do and the role that we play is, is keeping possibility alive. A fundamental part of this work is about creating possibilities where other people can't even see them. If we lose that, what are we doing? Hey builders, real quick, before we get on with the rest of the episode, I want to talk to you about the 100% collective. If you are interested in becoming a builder and developing that 100% mindset, then the 100% collective is for you. Not only do we have monthly masterclasses, live masterclasses, where I show you how to take some work that you are already doing, but do it like a builder. Do it in a way that it's more effective, more efficient, in a way that takes the work that you and stops it from being drudgery and makes it actually something that feels meaningful, that moves you forward. We also have done for you toolboxes with all the tools you need to be able to implement. And we have step by step playbooks that lay out the entire process for you. So you don't even think about it. You just take the playbook and you can implement it right away in your schools. And we have a supportive community. So this is a safe place where you can bring your challenges. And there are other people, other builders just like you, who are encouraging you, who are applauding you when you win, and who are giving you their experiences as well so that you can learn from each other. If you are tired of just kind of going through and doing the work the way you've always been doing it, and you're ready to stop being a leader and to start building something amazing, the 100% collective is where you need to be.

Join us@brewershipuniversity.com community now. Back with the program. I've been thinking about this so much lately, because when I go out and I talk to people about 100% as old as I am, people look at me like, you're so cute. That is so cute. I love your naivete. And they don't take it seriously because they. They fund them. I've become convinced that they fundamentally do not believe that it's possible. And if it's not possible, what are we doing? What is education? If we don't believe that we can't help every child learn and achieve, what are we doing? If you are not focused on helping every single child be successful, you're not educating kids. You're just sorting them. And there's a powerlessness that comes from that stance. Because what makes this work so rewarding is the idea that we can take any child who comes to us and we can unlock possibility for that child. If we no longer believe that, if we believe that our success is dependent upon factors other than what happens in our classroom, why would we even try? And I think that for a lot of people in this profession, they have tacitly made that come to that conclusion, and so they don't even try anymore. You know, it's funny. I have.

I've never considered myself a keynote speaker. I am a teacher. I think that my gift is around coaching and teaching. But I do some keynotes, and lately I've been asked to do more keynotes than usual. And I have some friends who are keynoters and who are incredible. I mean, I have some. Some of my friends are some of the best keynoters in the world. So the pressure is, is. Is great. And, you know, these are people who can get up in front of a group of people and, you know, say something so profound that people are crying and laughing and on their feet and applauding, and they're. They're constantly getting standing ovations. That's not me. Right. And that's a. I'm going to be honest, that's Kind of a bruise to my ego, right? So I get up and do keynotes, and a lot of times it's just quiet when I'm done. And I had to learn to accept that because like I said, my ego was like, oh, my goodness, did I say something awful? But I realized what's happening. You see, when I do keynotes, I'm talking about why there is no excuse for us not to have 100% visions. And it's quiet because people, once you see it, you can't unsee it. You realize, listen, Anything less than 100% vision is a vision for some kids to fail. It's just irrefutable. It's there. And once I put it out there, people have to now confront their own cynicism. And so now I judge the success of my keynotes almost by how quiet the room is. I want people to confront that duality that on one hand we say all means all, and on the other hand, we write visions and smart goals every single year that don't include all kids.

On the one hand, we say every kid every day, regardless of what it takes and then we create SIP plans and quarterly plans and 90 day plans that focus on a percentage of kids, not every kid. 

And we're unwilling to do whatever it takes because we don't fundamentally believe that it is possible. And that's dangerous. You see, if we as a profession stay focused on our own survival, then we cannot serve kids. We can't be creative. We cannot continue to grow and learn. In fact, what bothers me about where we're heading as a profession is that we're not thinking anymore. We're just reacting. Think about how much of your day you spend reacting versus how much of your day you spend thinking about how we're going to get every kid to be successful. Think about how much of your day you spend just trying to survive and get through the day versus how much of the day you spend actually trying to figure out how to make your school better, make your school serve more kids. Y', all, we have got to get back to who we are as educators. I know what's happening in the world. 

And quite frankly, I've had to really limit how much news I consume because if you stay stuck in this 247 news cycle, it, without even your realizing, it, can make you cynical and hopeless. And I've stopped consuming so much of it because I recognize that it's done it to me. Like I find myself consuming, not pushing hard as I should not. I find some of the passion that I have for this work starting to kind of drift. One of the reasons that we just did the October reset was because I was drifting, because I needed a reset, because, because, because I found myself losing sight of the work. That that is the most important thing that we do, which is possibility. And so I think that if we are not careful, the stuff that we're consuming is having a subtle impact on our own optimism, our own belief in our vision. So I've had to kind of shift things. I have stopped. You know, I mean, I still keep up with the news, but I'm not doom scrolling anymore. I am trying to go back and I'm trying to read things that are sparking my own thinking. I'm looking and going back to in these conditions, how do we still get to 100%? I am trying to get back to creativity. I'm trying to get back to optimism. I'm trying to get back to a unrelenting focus on 100% because we need it now more than ever. I can't fix everything that's going on in the world, but I can bloom where I'm planted. I can look at the responsibilities that I have in front of me. I can fix that. I can build a school where in spite of everything, my kids are thriving. All of them. My teachers are becoming world class teachers who ensure that every single child is successful.

My school is a place that's safe for kids to grow and thrive and for adults to grow and thrive and learn and get better. And if we just did that, if we just occupied the square on which we stood, fully occupied it so that, so that, that we built schools where 100% of kids could be successful, where we built places and cultures, 100% cultures, where every adult in that culture was focused on helping every kid thrive. See, in my opinion, that's the only thing that's going to change the world. That's the only thing that's going to make things better. We have a responsibility all not just to our kids, not just to the world. We have a responsibility to ourselves. You chose this profession for a reason. You believed in something. And so rather than doing something that made a lot more money, where it's a lot more glamorous, you chose to this and we cannot lose sight of that. Over the years we've been trained to be leaders. And so we've buried the builder inside of us.

And I want to challenge you to go excavate the builder in you. 

I want to challenge you to tune out all of the noise and pay attention to the person you were when you started this profession and the beliefs that you had when you chose to be an educator. I'm going to challenge you to push aside the cynicism and the hopelessness that is outside of you and get back to that 100% vision that's in inside of you and get to work, y'. All. We have work to do. I used to, you know, when I first started thinking about 100% as a teacher, my own classroom, you know, I don't know, I. People thought I was naive, but I never questioned it. I just said, it's possible. I just don't know how yet. And I kept pushing until I got it in my classroom. And then I started thinking about how do we make it something that's possible for every student? We built a buildership model for that. We've refined it over the years. We're continuing to learn, we're continuing to push until we figure out how to make it happen for every school. That's the vision and mission of what we do in Buildership University. I get it. That level of creativity, that drive to push, that level of curiosity about what it's going to take is. Is what makes this work so fun. And a lot of us are not having fun anymore. We're just getting through the day. It's time to have fun again. It's time to get back to the stuff we love. It's time to get creative. It's time to believe again. Not just for your kids or your teachers or the world, but for you. You deserve to have that kind of love and excitement when you go to work every day. You deserve to. To be curious and creative and excited about the work. You deserve to see the results. So, look, like I said, I was going to ramble a little bit, but I think we need to be having that conversation as a profession. We need to get back to what made this profession so meaningful and valuable in the first place. And you deserve to get back to the things you love. So one of the reasons why we're doing another hundred percent vision sprint is because if you are ready to unearth that 100% vision inside of you and inspire other people to commit to that vision, too, and then build a plan that lays it out so you can see it. You know, when people create, we call it a one plan. When people build their one plan and they. They see their vision and how they're going to get there, they're like, oh, I mean, that's all we have to do. It's.

We call it one Plan. It's one page. It's not a complicated SIT plan. 24 pages and no, it's one plan. It's just. It's just a page. It lays it out clearly and plainly. And when you see it, you can unsee it. And when you see it, you start to believe it even more. And then you get to work, and then you do the stuff that you came here to do. So we're doing another sprint, so I need to make sure you know about that. You need to go to buildershipuniversity.com sprint if you want to join us and get some support around that. But I guess my message to you today is this. We've got to fight with all of our might. The cynicism that I feel is encroached into this profession. We got to get back to the stuff that made us want to become educators to begin with, because the work is important. Because if we don't do it, our kids are doomed. And I'm not being dramatic here. They are because we're the only place if they don't get it from us, where are they getting it? If we don't equip them for the world they're going to step into, if we don't help them thrive now, how will they ever do it? And then we got to do it because you deserve to make the difference that you came here to make. In other words, y', all, we just. We need to get back to what's important to that belief in 100% and then pursue it with all our might, like the builders we are. Talk more about it in some future episodes. Talk to you later.

Hey, if you're ready to get started being a builder right away, then I want to invite you to join us at Buildership University. It's our exclusive online community for builders just like you, where you'll be able to get the exact training that you need to turn your school into a success story. Right now, with the people and resources you already have inside, you'll find our best online courses, live trainings with me, tons of resources, templates and exemplars, and monthly live office hours with me where you can ask me anything and get my help on whatever challenge you're facing right now. If you're tired of hitting obstacle after obstacle and you're sick of tiny little incremental gains each year, if you're ready to make a dramatic difference in your school right now, then you need to join Buildership University. Just go to buildershipuniversity.com and get started writing your school success story today. Hey, real quick, before you go, if you enjoyed today's episode and you know someone who would really benefit from what you heard here today, maybe they're struggling with a thing that we talked about in today's episode. Would you take a moment and share this episode with them? You see, not only will it help us get the word about building.