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Educator

Martina Fasano – Principal at St. Elizabeth Catholic High School

Martina Fasano – Principal at St. Elizabeth Catholic High School
About Martina Fasano 

Martina Fasano began her teaching career in 2003 at YCDSB’s St. Joan of Arc Catholic High School. She also taught grade 8 at Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Elementary School before returning to the secondary panel and eventually serving as the department head of Canadian and World Studies at St.Maximilian Kolbe, where she taught economics, law, and history. As a vice-principal, Martina has had the honour and privilege of serving both the Our Lady Queen of the World Catholic Academy as well as the St. Brother Andre Catholic High School communities prior to being appointed as the principal of St. Elizabeth.

Martina has served on various committees at the Board level, including the YSCPC (York Secondary Catholic President’s Council), Drug and Alcohol Awareness (DAW), and the Covid-19 Logistics and Planning Committee. She was also a member of the committee that developed teacher resources for the history curriculum revisions which focused on the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action to embed Indigenous history into the grade 10 history curriculum in Ontario. As a member of the Ontario History and Social Science Teacher’s Association (OHASSTA), Martina also developed curriculum-based teacher modules on behalf of the Ontario Ministry of Education as part of a targeted project about the role of school trustees.

Throughout her career, Martina’s passion for engaging students has been at the forefront of her efforts toward forward thinking curriculum development in the social sciences, student leadership, school-based digital tool implementation, arts education, school/student safety, and data-informed school improvement. She has also had the opportunity to work with music industry professionals in the capacity of musician, author, social media manager, and public relations strategy. These experiences have allowed Martina to connect student learning to the world beyond the classroom, and bring exciting and dynamic opportunities to the school communities that she has served.

Connect with Martina Fasano: Email | Instagram

Listen Now

Listen to the episode now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your favourite podcast platform.

Resources Mentioned

St. Joan of Arc Catholic High School

Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Elementary School

Our Lady Queen of the World Catholic Academy

St. Brother Andre Catholic High School

St. Elizabeth Catholic High School

Ontario History and Social Science Teacher’s Association

The Transcript

**Please note that all of our transcriptions come from rev.com and are 80% accurate. We’re grateful for the robots that make this possible and realize that it’s not a perfect process.

Sam Demma
Welcome back to another episode of the High Performing Educator Podcast. This is your host, Sam Demma, and today we are joined by my good friend, Martina Fasano. Martina and I met just over a year ago now. She began her teaching career just over 20 years ago, and she is now a phenomenal principal of a school in the York Catholic District School Board. I’m going to allow her to introduce herself.

Sam Demma
Martina, please share a little bit about who you are with the audience.

Martina Fasano
Thank you so much for having me, Sam. Yeah, it’s been almost over a year now, which before you did your first gig here at St. E’s. So yes, I’m the principal here at St. Elizabeth Catholic High School, home of the Regional Arts Program as well, and having a great time.

Sam Demma
So you have one of the most interactive offices I’ve ever walked into in a school building. There are records hanging on the wall, guitars, and interesting objects on the shelves. Tell me a little bit about your own involvement in the arts that makes you so passionate about being at St. Elizabeth.

Martina Fasano
Absolutely, so I’ve been myself a musician probably since I was about maybe in the fifth grade or so. I’m not counting the drum set that I got when I was about four years old. But so that part is something very near and dear to my heart. Arts education in general for me was really something that helped shape who I am and the self-discipline that came from it. It was an even playing field, is what I would call it.

You start out where I was very fortunate. I was in a school board in Toronto, a Toronto Catholic as a student, and we started our music education programs there in grade 6 with a full band program. So that was the first time I had actually played music in a group, and you basically had a chance to start from scratch and learn an instrument, practice, and do all those things.

And I figured out very quickly that if you just practice and you play all the right notes at the right time, then everything sounds nice. So that’s kind of a metaphor too, for life in general, which is kind of where I took it. I started out as a saxophone player—that was my first instrument—together with piano. And then by the time I got to be a teenager, I added guitar in there because I was listening to a lot of rock, metal, and grunge at the time. It was the height of the grunge era, let’s say, with Nirvana and Pearl Jam and all those guys.

But definitely something that I carried into adulthood, into university. You jump from high school into post-secondary or into “What am I going to do with my life?” To quote Dee Snider from Twisted Sister, “What are you going to do with your life?” We want to rock, right? So I looked at going into the music industry from a more—not just the creative aspect—but looked into the business side of things.

That didn’t really resonate with me because I wasn’t doing anything that I enjoyed in my post-secondary program. I started out in business administration, and I thought, “I can’t do this for the rest of my life. I’m bored. There’s no creativity happening anywhere.” People work in cubicles. I can’t do that. And that’s why my office looks the way it does. It needs to have things in it that bring joy, make me happy, and serve as conversation pieces.

Because when a student walks in, for me, this is just my workspace. But for a student, especially if they’ve never been in trouble, they assume the principal is there to get you in trouble. So I don’t see it that way. But I noticed very early on in my career as an administrator, they see the title that’s on the door. And I noticed that having a lot of these little things around helped kind of put them at ease because they were conversation pieces.

So we get to that before we get to why the student was there. And most often, the student actually is not here because they’re in trouble. So it’s kind of a reputation thing—people think you only get sent to the principal’s office when you’re in trouble—but we’re dealing a lot more with supporting students as opposed to discipline.

Sam Demma
Well, you’re also the only principal that has a record on the wall with the plaque and their name on it. What is it all about?

Martina Fasano
So, the one that’s hanging in my office was actually when I left a school I was at, St. Maximilian Colby. The Canadian World Studies Department re-recorded Hotel California and changed all the lyrics as a goodbye gift. So that’s what’s hanging on the wall. And the little plaque actually has all of the changed lyrics, which are actually quite funny if you read them.

And it’s interesting because I do have a real one at home that 17-year-old me probably would have been really, really happy about. And, you know, wouldn’t have believed me if I said, “You’re going to end up getting a platinum record, but it’s not for what you think.” You’re not going to be in the band, you’re not going to be one of the producers, and you’re not going to be one of the managers, but it’s going to happen by way of your involvement in the music industry somehow.

And I would have laughed at you and said, “Sure, okay, whatever.” But I ended up being a ghostwriter for a rock musician, and that was the gift. The gift was the platinum record from the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack because the band that the artist originally recorded with, The Runaways, which is Joan Jett’s first band, had a number-one song, Cherry Bomb, which went to number one when Guardians of the Galaxy came out as a movie.

So, the record went platinum, and that person that I ghostwrote for was in that band. They got the platinum record and decided to also get me one because I was working on her book at the time. It was just about finished when that happened.

So that’s kind of cool. You’re right, I don’t know of any other principals that maybe came to education for the same reason. For me, it was like, “Why do you want to work with young people? Why do you want to specifically be around teenagers all day?” I get that question a lot.

And for me, it’s quite easy. There’s an energy to young people and a hope to young people that they naturally have that unfortunately, for a long time, schools have kind of almost stifled. And I thought in my wisdom as a young person myself when I made the decision, “If I can maybe change the way schools work, maybe it doesn’t have to be boring, maybe it doesn’t have to be something where there’s all these expectations, instead of actually cultivating a lifelong love of learning.”

Because when you look at, “My mom really wants me to do this and go to university to have this job, and I don’t want to do it, and I don’t know how to tell her,” I’ve had quite a few conversations with students and their parents about that. The fact that I switched my major halfway through from business administration to fine arts cultural studies, talk about a complete polar opposite.

But you have to find what brings you joy. You can make lots of money and maybe even be powerful in some cases doing something that you don’t enjoy. But you’re not going to be as good at it, in my view. You’re not going to be as fulfilled as a human being. And in the end, for me, it was like, I would like to be for young people what I would have needed at the age that I was at all along the way.

And that goes for why I became a vice principal or a principal as well. What did I need when I was a first-year teacher? So that’s what you try to be for somebody else.

Sam Demma
What do you think first-year teachers need to hear, specifically ones that are starting in the education space today, with so much change, especially coming out of the pandemic?

Martina Fasano
That they don’t need to be afraid to take a risk. That it is supposed to be difficult, that all great things are, but that they don’t have to do school and classrooms the way maybe they experienced and to not be afraid to be different.

Because right now, in my personal view, we’ve been doing education wrong for a long time. We have all the great people in the buildings, we have all the great programming in the buildings, we have a curriculum that helps us open those doors. But we are also based on a model that came to be in the 1800s as part of the Industrial Revolution.

Public education was meant to get everyone in line and trained to go to work. Sitting in rows, being obedient, and doing repetitive drills—memorization and all these things. Maybe for that world, those were the skills that were needed. But right now, we live in a world that schools haven’t caught up with yet, if that makes sense.

A perfect example: I was at the Billie Eilish concert last night, and you have the stereotype that young people are lazy, not passionate about things. I saw about 20,000 young people who were quite passionate about what they were seeing. They weren’t bored, they weren’t lazy—they were jumping up and down. The place was almost thunderous.

And in my view, I thought to myself, “This is what school should be like with all these young people in a building. Why are we trying to make everybody so quiet?” It doesn’t make sense to me. So part of being here at St. Elizabeth and having the Regional Arts Program here is that you get to showcase that. You get to see people being creative all day long.

Even if someone’s not in the Regional Arts Program, they still get the benefit of being in that space where creativity is free to flow and to happen. It has an impact on the children that surround those kids that are in the program.

So that’s definitely what I say to a first-year teacher: Don’t be afraid to take the risk. Don’t be afraid to be authentic. The students will see right through you if you’re not.

Sam Demma
I perform at many schools, and I intentionally call it a performance for the same reason you think students shouldn’t be quiet. Like, it needs to be an experience where they have a say and a voice in it, and it speaks to them on an emotional level—not just an educational level—and evokes emotion.

So many times, I’ll finish a speech or a performance, and one of the teachers will walk over and go, “Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry that the students were so loud.” And I say, “No, I encourage it! I egg them on throughout the performance. I want that. Yes, this is what we want. We don’t want them to just sit there with their legs crossed and hands on their lap, just looking in silence.”

Martina Fasano
Yep. You don’t learn if you’re being passive; there’s no learning happening. I distinctly remember being in my second year of teaching, and I was teaching English at the time. The play we were doing was Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

I always had a problem with Shakespeare being taught the way it was. I used to say, “Us reading Shakespeare like a book is the same as showing children a movie by reading the screenplay.” It’s a play—you’re not supposed to be reading it; you’re supposed to be acting it out.

So, I had a relatively rowdy class. I remember that distinctly. I said, “I can’t do this to these kids. The things my department gave me to use, this is not what we’re going to do. We can’t do this. These children will not only get nothing out of this and miss the complete point of the story, but you cannot expect a young person to want to read that old English text as a dramatic piece and not ask them to act it out and see what’s going on.”

So, we constructed this day where we said, “First, we have to figure out what this section of the play is about. Where are we? What’s going on? Romeo and Juliet meet at the party.” So, we basically said, “We’re going to make it a masquerade party.”

We made masks and everything else. I had the vice principal, bless her heart, come by. There was all this noise coming out of my classroom. She knocks on the door, and I opened it, horrified. I thought, “Oh my God, someone must have complained, or something happened.”

I explained, “We’re acting it out because it’s a play.” And there was this pause, and I thought, “This is it; I’m in trouble.” But then she said, “I’m so glad that all this noise is coming out of here because it means the kids are learning. Keep it up and have a nice day.”

The kids thought they were in trouble too! What does that say? If we’re learning stuff and having a good time, we must be in trouble? So, as a classroom teacher, I made it a point to do things that are fun. You have to because if you don’t, you don’t learn. Even if some of them are cheesy or purposely cheesy, they’ll remember them because they’re memorable.

Sam Demma
I couldn’t agree more. I absolutely love that you shared that story, and I hope the educator listening to this reshapes how they think about student engagement. There’s a phenomenal book I’ve been reading called The Advantage by a guy named Patrick Lencioni. He talks about the difference between really successful organizations and ones that fall flat on their face.

One thing he mentions is cohesion among the leadership team. It could be cohesion in a classroom or a staff room. He says the whole team needs to weigh in their thoughts and have constructive disagreements. If the whole team doesn’t weigh in, they won’t buy in.

So, if there’s no weigh-in, there’s no buy-in. That stuck out in my head. When you think about a classroom, students weigh in by using their voice. You don’t want silent people silently agreeing. Silent agreement means they’ll leave the classroom and tell their friends, “I disagree with everything we just talked about in the classroom.”

You want thoughtful disagreement to come up with the best ideas. I love that you shared that story. Thank you so much.

Martina Fasano
Absolutely. There’s a lot more where that came from. I eventually got the hint that if you don’t engage them, they won’t learn. Some of those kids in that class had repeated referrals to the office when they were in someone else’s class—repeated.

I knew that coming in because sometimes, unfortunately, I’d get warned and told, “Oh, you have so-and-so; watch out.” I did my best to know my audience. The best thing about teaching is the powerful, real-time feedback.

If you’re teaching a lesson and everyone’s asleep, guess what? You’re not reaching anybody. But you have that feedback in front of you. If you’re willing to step away from what you think you should be, because maybe that’s what you were used to or how you learned, you can adjust.

We’re preparing students for a world that doesn’t even exist yet, using methods and tools from an era long gone. Then we wonder why students aren’t engaged or willing to take creative risks. Starting from when they’re four years old, we teach them compliance. Line up in a straight line, or you get in trouble.

Structure is important because people thrive in it, but there’s a difference between structure for compliance and structure for growth. They’re two very different things.

Sam Demma
Yeah, I love that. It’s like having a fence that keeps people in a space, but within that fence, there’s freedom. Is there any experience you’ve had as an educator or principal where you’ve had a big learning experience—something you tried that didn’t work out the way you thought but became a pivotal learning moment?

Martina Fasano
Absolutely. One of the first things I learned as an administrator was related to communication. Let’s say there’s an initiative or a memo you put out, and a couple of teachers don’t follow through or do something different.

It’s easy to send a staff-wide email saying, “Remember to do this,” when really, you’re talking to just two people. I learned from doing that once that it’s not the best approach.

As a classroom teacher, how would I feel if I got that email and I was already doing everything right? So now, when I communicate, I think about the high-performing teachers doing amazing work. I base my decisions on the best people in the organization, not the outliers who didn’t follow through this week.

That applies to classroom management too. If you punish the whole class for one student’s behavior, it affects everyone’s morale. Make decisions based on your best people—it goes a long way.

Sam Demma
That’s such good feedback. I’ve really enjoyed this conversation, and I know the person listening feels the same. If they want to reach out, is it okay to put your email on the podcast page?

Martina Fasano
Absolutely. They can also follow me on Instagram, where we post about our school’s Regional Arts Program, performances, exhibits, and more. There’s always a lot going on, which is why the hive metaphor works—it’s always buzzing, and that’s a good thing.

Sam Demma
It’s been such a pleasure. Keep up the great work, and I look forward to connecting with you again soon.

Martina Fasano
Absolutely. Thank you so much, Sam. All the best.

Join the Educator Network & Connect with Martina Fasano

The High Performing Educator Podcast was brought to life during the outbreak of COVID-19 to provide you with inspirational stories and practical advice from your colleagues in education.  By tuning in, you will hear the stories and ideas of the world’s brightest and most ambitious educators.  You can expect interviews with Principals, Teachers, Guidance Counsellors, National Student Association, Directors and anybody that works with youth. You can find and listen to all the episodes for free here.

December 3, 2024 by Education Educator Mental Health Principals School Administration Student Leadership Teachers 0

Sylvain Bastien – High school teacher/guidance counsellor at École Secondaire Catholique Renaissance

Sylvain Bastien – High school teacher/guidance counsellor at École Secondaire Catholique Renaissance
About Sylvain Bastien

Sylvain Bastien is a high school teacher/guidance counsellor at École Secondaire Catholique Renaissance in Aurora, Ontario.  He is a proud franco-ontarian, born and raised in northern Ontario who enjoys the little things in life, or “petits bonheurs” as he likes to call them.  Former camp counsellor, gymnastics coach and national-level athlete, Sylvain spent most of his time growing up in a leadership role or working with kids.  He knew from a young age that he would become a teacher and continues to be a leader in his school community.  

For the first part of his career, Sylvain was a physical education teacher and shared his passion for a healthy and active lifestyle with students in courses like Fitness and Kinesiology.  He then moved to a guidance position before the pandemic and, with the help of his colleague, is continuously finding new ways to improve student well-being, student engagement and school spirit, all with the end goal of helping students become the very best version of themselves. 

Sylvain coaches the cross-country and track and field teams, works with the student council and helps with many other clubs and activities at the school.  He leads the SHSM Program at the school and has been a department lead for many years.  He is always seeking personal and professional growth by running, reading and balancing the demands of a chaotic life with three kids in sports! 

Connect with Sylvain Bastien: Email

Listen Now


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Resources Mentioned

École Secondaire Catholique Renaissance

SHSM Program

The Transcript

**Please note that all of our transcriptions come from rev.com and are 80% accurate. We’re grateful for the robots that make this possible and realize that it’s not a perfect process.

Sam Demma
Welcome back to another episode of the High Performing Educator Podcast. This is your host, Sam Demma. And today we are joined by Sylvain Bastien. He’s a high school teacher, guidance counselor, and one of my good friends. He is someone who I met just over a year ago now, and he’s running a lot, so you should follow him on Strava. But he’s doing a lot of good work. Sylvain, please take a moment to introduce yourself.

Sylvain Bastien
Hey, Sam. Thank you very much for having me on the show. This is a pretty cool experience, and I’m happy to be here. Like Sam said, my name is Sylvain. I’m a high school teacher. I’ve been in the education world for over 15 years now. I started out with phys ed courses, fitness classes, teaching kinesiology. And then, I’d say about seven or eight years ago, I moved over into guidance, which was a big change for me. So I have since been a full-time guidance counselor with the odd course here and there, kind of keeping my foot in the classroom, which is really what lights me up the most. So yeah, that’s pretty much where I’m at in my professional world.

Sam Demma
When you were a national-level athlete, did you think you were one day going to work in education? Like, what was your own path like as a student?

Sylvain Bastien
I feel like education was always calling my name. I’ve always been involved with different activities that involved kids or teenagers and communities. It started out, even myself when I was in high school. Every opportunity I had to do something fun and be around my peers, that would just light me up. Then I kind of took the initiative of leading different activities and kind of took over some activities, and that just lit up the fire even more.

This led me to work at summer camps for seven summers, where kids would come spend their Monday to Friday with us. It was a residential camp, so they’d stay overnight. My involvement in gymnastics obviously always had me around young athletes and kids of all ages aspiring to be the next best gymnast. So, I was always around kids, and that always kind of fueled me. I knew that once I would have to move on to my career, the education world was where I was heading.

Sam Demma
How did your own involvement in sports growing up shape your future?

Sylvain Bastien
Yeah, that’s a really good question. And I talk about that all the time. Whether it be sport or any extracurricular, I feel like that really is what shapes you as a person. And I credit many people for that in my situation. It definitely did shape me because I had the pleasure of being surrounded by individuals with the same mentality and vision as myself.

It pushes you to learn things that you don’t always learn in a school setting or at home. It makes you develop certain habits and discover new things about yourself. I feel like all those years were definitely the good years. I owe a lot of who I am today to what I did back then.

Sam Demma
Sports still continue to be a massive part of your life because you’re in the parking lot of swimming pools a few times a week, and you’re also spending lots of time running. How important do you feel exercise is in ensuring you show up to the best of your ability at school?

Sylvain Bastien
It’s always been a big part of my life. Every day I had something active or an activity going on. Because of everything that gave me as a person, I feel like I want to give it back to as many people as possible.

In the early years of my career, when I was in the fitness classes teaching kids, we’d start with a group of 15 kids who had never run before, and they didn’t want to run. All they wanted to do was lift weights. I put them on a mission and said, “Guys, we can do something pretty cool if we set our minds to it.”

My tradition with my fitness class was always to plan to run a 10k with the students. We would have the semester to do it. At the beginning of the semester, the kids were always unsure if they could do it. But then they got into the swing of things, discovered a lot about themselves, and realized they were capable of pretty big things.

Sam Demma
One of the consistent things about your career has been working with young people, whether as a coach, guidance counselor, or teacher. How do you think you build effective rapport and relationships with young people?

Sylvain Bastien
I feel like it’s a lot in what we do and what we display as a person. We have to be the leader and set the example we expect our students or kids to follow. I strive to show students that it’s okay to have fun and be yourself.

We live in a world now where everything could be made easy, but I really try to build on the satisfaction and reward factor of putting in the work and seeing progression. That feeling of pride and accomplishment is what I want them to chase.

Sam Demma
Would you be willing to share one of those moments that reminded you why you started doing this work in the first place?

Sylvain Bastien
One of my favorite moments is at the beginning of the school year, when we host a traditional camp to welcome new students. Senior students lead activities for younger students, and it’s always a highlight. It’s amazing to see students from different social circles come together, be themselves, and shine. It reminds me why I love doing this work.

Sam Demma
In a world where students are constantly comparing themselves to others on social media, what challenges do you see students carrying on their shoulders?

Sylvain Bastien
A big challenge is students being afraid to be their authentic selves. In guidance, we focus on creating an environment where students feel it’s okay to have fun and be themselves. It’s a constant effort to help them build the skills they need to succeed and thrive.

Sam Demma
You also spearhead the SHSM programs at your school. Can you explain what SHSM is?

Sylvain Bastien
SHSM stands for Specialist High Skills Major. It allows students in grades 11 and 12 to earn certifications and participate in reach-ahead experiences with college and university partners, all while earning a specialized diploma in sectors like health and wellness or business. It’s a great way for students to build skills and network in their field of interest.

Sam Demma
How do you balance your professional responsibilities with your personal life?

Sylvain Bastien
It’s definitely challenging, but my wife and I make a good team. Living an active lifestyle helps us manage everything. We’ve been fortunate to find supportive communities in our kids’ sports, and that’s been a blessing. It takes a village, and we’re lucky to have one.

Sam Demma
It’s inspiring to see how you manage everything and still make time for what’s important. If an educator wants to connect with you, what’s the best way for them to reach out?

Sylvain Bastien
The best way would be via email. I’m happy to connect with anyone looking for information.

Sam Demma
Thank you, Sylvain. Keep up the amazing work, and I look forward to running with you soon.

Sylvain Bastien
Thank you very much, Sam.

Join the Educator Network & Connect with Sylvain Bastien

The High Performing Educator Podcast was brought to life during the outbreak of COVID-19 to provide you with inspirational stories and practical advice from your colleagues in education.  By tuning in, you will hear the stories and ideas of the world’s brightest and most ambitious educators.  You can expect interviews with Principals, Teachers, Guidance Counsellors, National Student Association, Directors and anybody that works with youth. You can find and listen to all the episodes for free here.

November 28, 2024 by Education Educator Mental Health Student Leadership Teachers 0

Brian Robson – Executive Director of the Ontario Tech Student Union (OTSU) at Ontario Tech University 

Brian Robson – Executive Director of the Ontario Tech Student Union (OTSU) at Ontario Tech University
About Brian Robson

Brian Robson is the Executive Director of the Ontario Tech Student Union (OTSU) at Ontario Tech University in Oshawa, Ontario, where he leads a team of full-time, part-time and student staff who strive to enhance the campus experience for nearly 11,000 students. At the OTSU, Brian steward policies, mentors student executives, oversees elections, oversees numerous services, programs and events as well as over 100 Clubs & Societies, liaises with University Senior Leaders, and charts long-term strategic planning.

Prior to joining OTSU in late 2023, Brian was a Director of Training Programs and Business Development at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) for several years. There, he directed the action-research teams leading entrepreneurship and skills-training programs at local, provincial and national levels. He has presented papers on this work at international and national conferences. Prior to TMU, Brian served in previous roles in Financial Services, education and non-profit organizations. He earned a PhD in Systematic Theology from the University of Toronto, and an MBA (Globalization) from the Ted Rogers School of Management at TMU. His passion is shaping emerging leaders and diverse teams for the future of work in a changing economy.

Connect with Brian Robson: Linkedin

Listen Now

Listen to the episode now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your favourite podcast platform.

Resources Mentioned

Ontario Tech Student Union (OTSU)

Ontario Tech University

Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU)

Ted Rogers School of Management

The Transcript

**Please note that all of our transcriptions come from rev.com and are 80% accurate. We’re grateful for the robots that make this possible and realize that it’s not a perfect process.

Sam Demma
Welcome back to another episode on the High Performing Educator Podcast. This is your host, Sam Demma, and today we are joined by Brian Robson. Brian is the Executive Director of the Ontario Tech Student Union for the Ontario Tech University in Oshawa. It is the university of the Durham region, and that’s where I’m from. Brian, it’s so awesome to have someone on the show today that’s basically from the backyard. How are you?

Brian Robson
Good, thank you. You’re my homie here today.

Sam Demma
It’s good. Yeah, man. Did you grow up in the Durham region or where is home for you?

Brian Robson
I did not. I actually grew up out west. I’ve lived in three different provinces in Canada, four different city centers, but I have been in Durham region for a number of years now. I bought my first house out here and still here, and I’ve lived in Pickering, Whitby, Ajax. So, it has been home now for a long time.

Sam Demma
Did you know when you were growing up, living in different provinces or different cities that one day you would work in education? Or what brought you here in your own career pathway?

Brian Robson
Yeah, that’s a great question. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I did get a sense of that, I guess, sort of mid to late teens. Mid to late teens, just with some stuff that I was involved in, kind of like you, I discovered that I was good at public speaking. And so I had a chance to use that and to be involved in different things where I had a chance to do that. People would say to me, they say, “You’re a teacher. That’s kind of your thing. You’re a teacher kind of guy.” And I sort of stuck and I realized, yeah, I guess that’s kind of what I am. So then when I started my post-secondary education journey, which has been long, I kind of realized that that is where I would like to be, is in the post-secondary space. I don’t want to be a high school teacher, elementary school teacher. I want post-secondary. So I went on then to earn several degrees, including a PhD from the University of Toronto with the intention of being a professor. So that was my goal, that was my career objective. But the reason I wanted to become a professor is because I didn’t want to just be a subject matter expert and I didn’t want to just teach a subject. I wanted to shape students. So my tagline for a long, long time has been empowering or emerging leaders. So I wanted to build leaders. I wanted to educate and empower emerging leaders. And I thought I would do that in the classroom. Now, long story short, that’s actually not how it turned out, but I am doing that. I’m just doing it now outside the classroom in a university context rather than inside the classroom. So things took a turn from where I thought they would go, but I did end up meeting the same objective that I had set out to do.

Sam Demma
That’s awesome. It’s interesting that you’ve kind of discerned the age group you wanted to work with while you were still going through school on who you wanted to serve. Why leadership? Why developing leaders? Was there something about your upbringing or childhood that made that a central theme for you?

Brian Robson
Oh man, that’s a really good question. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of anything explicit, but I was aware, I am aware, I’ve always been aware, all of us are shaped by who our leaders are, right? So whether it’s our parents, or whether it’s our bosses at work, or whether it’s in the school context, whatever, we’re all shaped by our leaders for better or for worse. Even though there’s a trillion books on leadership and all kinds of literature and courses and workshops and resources, we still have, I think, a dearth of really good leaders in our society. And so it’s up to the emerging generations to kind of take up that mantle and to learn how to do it right. And so to learn what true, you know, effective, empowering leadership is really all about. I just sort of knew from, I guess, in my own educational journey that the power of education is where you can do that. It’s a great context for shaping people, not just academically with their courses and with their knowledge, with their academic programs, but way beyond that into sort of more people-building, cultivating values and principles, and finding your place in the world, right?

Sam Demma
When you think of good leaders or great leaders, what are some of the things you think they do differently? Or they do that other not-so-effective leaders might not be doing? I ask it from a personal perspective because, for the first time in my life, I find myself leading others in my own work, and I want to improve myself. I want to become a better leader myself.

Brian Robson
That’s another fantastic question. I think that it’s sort of a mindset and a perspective. What differentiates great leaders from mediocre leaders or poor leaders is really having the right mindset regarding what leadership is. Leadership is not about power or wielding power or having authority over other people. It is about empowerment. There’s a very common term that’s very prevalent in leadership literature, and it’s been around for a long time—even since ancient times. It’s called servant leadership, right? So true, really good leaders are servants. They’re not masters. They are humble, not arrogant. Somebody once asked me—it was actually in a job interview process for a post-secondary school position—they asked me a great question: “What’s the best leadership advice you’ve ever received?” And something came to me quickly. The best leadership advice I ever got was: Don’t own it. What he meant by that was, it’s not actually yours. You have to separate yourself from the thing that you are leading. Great leaders don’t own it because leadership is temporary. You’re going to be replaced someday. You’re not going to be leading that group of people, organization, or company forever. It’s temporary. So don’t own it; instead, see it as something you are stewarding for a while. When you adopt that mindset, it puts you in a better state to treat people well, make the right decisions, avoid selfishness, think big picture, and build things the right way.

Sam Demma
As a leader, you have conversations with so many people every day, and you want to equip them to succeed, move things forward, and feel supported. Sometimes, naturally, you have difficult conversations. How do you approach those as a leader with the people you serve?

Brian Robson
Yeah, that’s another very good question. For me, it’s a lifelong journey. Leadership is a journey, for sure. I’ll be honest—by nature, I hate conflict. As a fifth-generation Canadian, I avoid conflict by instinct. So difficult conversations, the ones you just described, go against the grain of my personality. But you approach them with wisdom. Again, you do it from the perspective that you’re not defending your turf or trying to win a battle for the sake of winning. It’s about doing what’s best for the organization and the person you’re in conflict with. You approach these conversations with humility. It’s not about winning but about reaching a better place in the situation. Listening is crucial. My academic background has trained me to reason and connect the dots with facts. That’s my approach—stick to the facts. Avoid getting personal or emotional, and focus on reasoning through the situation. When you have a conflict, let the facts win. If I’m wrong, the facts will prove it. If the other person is wrong, the facts will show it. And ideally, both of us can come to a shared understanding based on the truth.

Sam Demma
That’s such a great perspective. I ask because I’ve noticed in myself, when I’m having challenging conversations, I sometimes feel the need to win or defend my turf. But I’m recognizing that and trying to improve. So, I really appreciate your insights. You’re clearly passionate about serving students. Although Ontario Tech has a smaller student population, I imagine that creates a lot of beautiful, intimate opportunities. Tell me a little about the school and why you love it so much.

Brian Robson
Yeah, so we talked a little bit off-air about this, but you’re familiar with Durham Region and how multicultural it is. The university reflects that diversity. We’re located in Oshawa, with two campuses: North Oshawa and downtown. It’s largely a commuter school, so most students live off-campus and commute to class. We do have some out-of-province and international students, but the majority are local—people from Durham, East GTA, or York Region. Our student body is incredibly diverse—culturally, academically, and religiously. We’re branded as a STEM university, but we also emphasize “Tech with a Conscience,” which reflects our focus on ethical and social responsibility in technology. As the student union, we serve everyone, meeting them where they are and supporting their unique needs and interests. That’s what makes this role so fulfilling.

Sam Demma
Before your time at Ontario Tech, you were at TMU. What was the difference in your roles of service at each of these universities?

Brian Robson
Very different. TMU is a larger school, also a commuter school, and similarly diverse with many first-generation students. I loved working with both TMU and Ontario Tech students because they’re trailblazers—grateful, hardworking, and not entitled. At TMU, I had various roles, but my focus was on programs for specific populations. These included skills-building and entrepreneurship programs for groups like newcomers, women, Black youth, and students aged 15 to 29. Some programs were federally funded, so we partnered with universities across Canada to deliver them nationally. Here at Ontario Tech, my role is more centralized, focused on serving the entire student body through the union. Both experiences are rewarding but very different in scope and focus.

Sam Demma
Have you always been passionate about entrepreneurship, business, and STEM, or is that just how your career unfolded?

Brian Robson
That’s just how the career unfolded. It wasn’t intentional, but it all fits under my personal mission of empowering emerging leaders. Entrepreneurs are leaders, so it aligned perfectly with my goal of shaping future leaders, even though it happened outside the classroom.

Sam Demma
What are you most excited about this academic year?

Brian Robson
We’ve had the largest first-year class in Ontario Tech’s history, which is exciting. Their energy and enthusiasm are infectious, and we want to build on that momentum. This is my first year seeing a class come in, and I’m looking forward to watching them grow and develop over the next four or five years. They’re the next leaders of the student union, and it’s exciting to be part of their journey.

Sam Demma
Education shapes humans and the future. The work you’re doing is so important. If someone listening wants to connect or ask a question, what’s the best way to reach you?

Brian Robson
LinkedIn is probably the best place to start. I included my LinkedIn profile in the bio I sent you. From there, I’m happy to share my email and connect further.

Sam Demma
Brian, my Oshawa homie, thank you so much for taking the time to share your experiences, insights on leadership, and passion for education. I hope this academic year is one of the best yet. Keep up the great work, and I’ll talk to you soon.

Brian Robson
Thank you so much for having me, Sam. This has been great—I’ve really enjoyed it. Keep it going!

Join the Educator Network & Connect with Brian Robson

The High Performing Educator Podcast was brought to life during the outbreak of COVID-19 to provide you with inspirational stories and practical advice from your colleagues in education.  By tuning in, you will hear the stories and ideas of the world’s brightest and most ambitious educators.  You can expect interviews with Principals, Teachers, Guidance Counsellors, National Student Association, Directors and anybody that works with youth. You can find and listen to all the episodes for free here.

November 19, 2024 by Education School Administration Student Leadership Student Success 0

Chrystal Colquhoun – E-learning and Classroom Teacher at Listowel District Secondary School

Chrystal Colquhoun – E-learning and Classroom Teacher at Listowel District Secondary School
About Chrystal Colquhoun

Chrystal Colquhoun is an educator and mental health advocate. Student overall wellbeing is at the core of her teaching practices and work within her schools. She has been teaching in AMDSB for 18 years now, and has worked a number of years in alternate education and student success style roles, helping students learn and practice different strategies to help them be successful in life beyond school, even when facing adversity. Chrystal has been involved in running mental health and wellness activities within her present and past schools, as well as sits on school teams for organizing literacy support and creating new equity initiatives within her school.

Chrystal’s interests include mental health and wellness, reading, music and dancing. She has two children, a 10 year old and 8 year old, who keep her very busy!

Connect with Chrystal Colquhoun: Email

Listen Now

Listen to the episode now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your favourite podcast platform.

Resources Mentioned

AMDSB

LivingWorks SafeTALK

LivingWorks ASIST

The Transcript

**Please note that all of our transcriptions come from rev.com and are 80% accurate. We’re grateful for the robots that make this possible and realize that it’s not a perfect process.

Sam Demma
Welcome back to another episode of the High Performing Educator Podcast. This is your host, Sam. And today we have a very special guest, Chrystal Colquhoun. Chrystal is someone I met recently. She has a massive heart. She’s doing work in the mental health space in her school.

Sam Demma
She loves English. She just traveled out east this summer, but now we’re back in the classroom, and today she’s on the show. Chrystal, please take a moment just to introduce yourself and tell the audience a little bit about who you are.

Chrystal Colquhoun
Okay, well, yeah, I’ve been teaching in secondary school for 18 years now, I guess, and I’ve bounced around a little bit. I’ve been at two schools, luckily just two for most of my career, and I’ve sort of bounced around between teaching English and teaching jobs of like student success and alternate ed in that sort of style. Nothing like a lot of variety, right? But yeah, I’m back at the high school that I went to as a student actually, and I’m loving being there, back in the community that I grew up in.

Sam Demma
Do you see yourself on the wall?

Chrystal Colquhoun
To be honest, I’m too old, and I think they’ve taken those pictures down now.

Sam Demma
Oh my gosh.

Chrystal Colquhoun
But I was at one time.

Sam Demma
Yeah, that’s cool. Did you know when you were a student walking the same high school that you teach in now, or you taught in, that one day you would be in education, working in education?

Chrystal Colquhoun
Yes, I did think that at the time. Both my parents were teachers, and so I just kind of grew up from elementary school expecting to be a teacher. And I remember helping my mom do her marking and setting up her classrooms and thinking that that was great. When I graduated high school, I figured I would go on to be a teacher. And then I got to first year university and I was like, no, I want to do my own thing. So I scrapped that idea and decided I wanted to be like a counselor, go through psychology. And then I spent some time in some of my mom’s classrooms volunteering in elementary school, and I was like, no, like, I don’t want to do that.

Chrystal Colquhoun
It hadn’t even occurred to me that secondary school teaching was an option because I had just left secondary school, right? And then when it occurred to me that that was an option, and within secondary school, there were also opportunities for counseling and mental health work, that was where I was like, oh, okay. Maybe I want to do that where I can get both of those things that I enjoy together.

Sam Demma
What was it about counseling or mental health work that drew you in?

Chrystal Colquhoun
It’s a good question. I feel like just growing up, I did have a lot of support around that I was really grateful for, but also sort of recognized the times when maybe I didn’t feel as supported where I would have benefited from some more. And just like the figuring out, you know, motivation behind actions and ways to cope with things. I just found that really interesting and wanted to be able to sort of be someone that people felt comfortable coming to for help, then offering advice and just, you know, modeling how to exercise good self-care and that sort of thing, which I do sometimes.

Sam Demma
We all are doing our best, right?

Chrystal Colquhoun
Yeah.

Sam Demma
You have organized mental health and wellness initiatives in this school and previous schools. Have you always been involved in the mental health advocacy when you’ve been working in schools? And if so, tell us a little bit about some of the initiatives or things that get you really excited?

Chrystal Colquhoun
Yeah, I think it took me maybe a couple of years to get confident in my teaching roles before I started to step into the mental health spaces. But I’ve done a few different things. In my previous school, I had some students apply for a Speak Up grant for a mental health campaign. And so we had done a video campaign for the school and for the board that the purpose was to share student voice and experience.

Chrystal Colquhoun
I’d say that’s one of the bigger ones. And then coming back to the school that I’m at now, which I’m so happy to be there and doing these things at that school, last year we did sort of a bigger mental health week than we have in the past. We had you come in as a speaker, which was fantastic because we hadn’t had a good community-building speaker experience since before COVID. We had some community partners coming in to do self-care activities and some yoga.

Chrystal Colquhoun
Another activity that we did that my wellness student, who I work closely with, who’s super passionate about mental health, and I created was wellness bingo that we put out to all the classes. It was to be completed over the week, with an activity a day. The kids loved it, were getting into it, and the teachers were really enjoying it. A number of teachers actually told me afterward that because it was getting near the end of the year, they were going to keep it and do an activity a week to get them through to the end of June and to just keep encouraging this self-care throughout the rest of the year.

Sam Demma
So if there’s a school listening thinking, wellness bingo, that sounds amazing. How does that work?

Chrystal Colquhoun
Yeah, absolutely. We just looked up some different activities that we thought wouldn’t take a lot of time. At that time of year, teachers are stressed to get the curriculum done, students are stressed not to miss any material. So we brainstormed some ideas like a coloring activity, going for a walk as a class, having a class tea party (usually hot chocolate), or bringing your own snack. Just things that don’t take too much planning. It was also kind of giving teachers and students permission to take a five- or ten-minute break from what they were doing and everyone just took a breath that week, it seemed.

Sam Demma
I’m assuming there were some activities that students had maybe never done before?

Chrystal Colquhoun
I didn’t get specific feedback like that, but I did have a couple of my classes pick having a dance party. We put on some Just Dance, and I know for some people that was probably out of their comfort zone to be doing that in a classroom. But everyone was standing up, moving their bodies a little bit, and it was just a fun activity.

Sam Demma
And I think when you see someone else do something outside of their comfort zone, like dancing in front of everybody, it gives others permission to do the same. Sometimes the barrier is our own belief or being the first person to do it.

Sam Demma
I was in Kenya this summer, and while we were in Tanzania, there was this beautiful live music with a big spotlight in front of the band and no one dancing. I thought, let’s go start a dance party. I got so nervous because I had to be the first in the spotlight. But once I did it, 15 people joined within 30 seconds, and we had the best night of the trip. It’s so important to create these opportunities where young people can do things outside their comfort zone.

Chrystal Colquhoun
Yes, I was absolutely dancing at the dance party.

Sam Demma
You’ve worked with students in schools for a while now. How do you think you build a deep relationship with a young person?

Chrystal Colquhoun
To me, that’s the most important part of teaching. I enjoy the student success and alternate ed roles because they really allow for deeper relationships. Teaching a class of 30 kids can make it hard to get to know each one. One of my amazing colleagues shared the idea of an attendance question, not related to the class, like a “would you rather” question. Everyone gets a chance to answer, and by the end of the semester, it builds confidence and you get to know more about each kid.

Sam Demma
I think that’s a beautiful way to engage in the classroom. If educators listening aren’t currently doing that, they should try it out.

Chrystal Colquhoun
And I can’t take the credit for it!

Sam Demma
Are there any teachers you had growing up that had a big impact on you?

Chrystal Colquhoun
Honestly, the teachers that pop into my mind are the ones I had one-on-one conversations with about things unrelated to the work in front of me. I guess it just comes down to giving time.

Sam Demma
When you think of the students in your school today, what are some of the challenges they’re facing during this time?

Chrystal Colquhoun
There’s a lot, and I don’t even think I know what they all are. Cell phones are an obvious issue, but I think so many other challenges stem from that. There’s also been a shift in my 18 years of teaching, maybe related to technology, and another shift post-COVID. I think students are trying to figure out where their priorities lie.

Sam Demma
Sometimes teachers don’t know how to best support a student who might be struggling. When someone tells you they’re struggling, how do you best support them?

Chrystal Colquhoun
Teachers are specialized in subject areas, and not everyone has mental health training. We’re being asked to address students who are struggling because we have access to them, but we really need more social workers in schools or more mental health training for teachers. If a student comes to me, I feel comfortable helping them figure out where to go, like a guidance counselor or mental health counselor.

Sam Demma
I see educators burn out trying to put out every fire, and half the fires are for a different department. How do you ensure you don’t over-serve to take care of yourself?

Chrystal Colquhoun
I dance! Music and dancing are definitely helpful. Currently, I’ve chosen to work two-thirds time because I recognized that exactly what you described was happening. This allows me to give more because I know I have time to recoup and self-care.

Sam Demma
Dancing every day, a little bit of dancing with some good music just heals the heart and the soul.

Chrystal Colquhoun
Absolutely.

Sam Demma
We’re starting another academic year. There are lots of people stepping into school buildings for the first time. What do you think Chrystal needed to hear on day one of teaching that someone else could benefit from hearing?

Chrystal Colquhoun
It’s amazing to have a plan and feel organized, and then you need to be absolutely flexible to throw it all out the window.

Sam Demma
That’s wise.

Chrystal Colquhoun
And you’ve just got to see where the students are at in front of you. You can have the best lesson, but if they’re not in the space to take it in, it’s going to flop.

Sam Demma
In those moments, how do you pivot?

Chrystal Colquhoun
Some days you can pick one chunk and go down that path. There were days last year with a very academic group where they were stressed out, so we had a “do what you need to do” day. Some students went to practice dance, others studied for chemistry, and others caught up on reading. By the end of the period, everyone was more relaxed, and the next day we were back on track.

Sam Demma
This has been such a lovely conversation. I appreciate you taking the time to chat and share some of your experiences in education. If there’s an educator who wants to reach out to you, what’s the best way?

Chrystal Colquhoun
I’m not great with social media, so my email is probably best.

Sam Demma
Okay, awesome. We’ll make sure it’s linked on the podcast page in case someone wants to reach out.

Chrystal Colquhoun
Perfect, because it is long to spell out.

Sam Demma
No worries. Chrystal, thank you so much. This was lovely.

Chrystal Colquhoun
Thank you, Sam, so much for asking me to be here. This is great.

Join the Educator Network & Connect with Chrystal Colquhoun

The High Performing Educator Podcast was brought to life during the outbreak of COVID-19 to provide you with inspirational stories and practical advice from your colleagues in education.  By tuning in, you will hear the stories and ideas of the world’s brightest and most ambitious educators.  You can expect interviews with Principals, Teachers, Guidance Counsellors, National Student Association, Directors and anybody that works with youth. You can find and listen to all the episodes for free here.

November 14, 2024 by Education Educator Mental Health Teachers 0

Norman Gaudet – Head of School/Chef d’établissement at TFS – Canada’s International School

Norman Gaudet – Head of School/Chef d’établissement at TFS - Canada's International School
About Norman Gaudet

Norman Gaudet is a bilingual educator and an accomplished leader with an invaluable international perspective. 

As Head of School, M. Gaudet leads a team of 300+ teachers and staff members to offer the best educational experience to the 1,500 students of TFS. M. Gaudet brings his determination toward bilingual education to the school that suits its identity and vision for its future. His passion for academic ambition is felt school-wide through his innovative and informed ideas and programs.

As a proud “Fransaskois,” he began his career in education 30 years ago in the Saskatoon public school system as a Gifted Education Specialist. For the past 20 years, he worked in various leadership positions, starting in Yemen as Athletic Director in 2001. He has also held positions of Director of Curriculum in Nigeria, Head of School in the Republic of Georgia and Principal with Le Conseil Scolaire Viamonde here in Toronto. He joined TFS in 2015 as Principal of the Senior School before stepping into the role of Executive Director of the Learning Forum in August 2020, and becoming TFS’ Head of School in July 2021. 

M. Gaudet holds a master’s degree in educational administration. He speaks French and English. 

Connect with Norman Gaudet: Email | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook

Listen Now

Listen to the episode now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your favourite podcast platform.

Resources Mentioned

Toronto French School (TFS)

Le Conseil Scolaire Viamonde

Canadian Association of School System Administrators (CASSA)

Ontario Ministry of Education

The Transcript

**Please note that all of our transcriptions come from rev.com and are 80% accurate. We’re grateful for the robots that make this possible and realize that it’s not a perfect process.

Sam Demma
Welcome back to another episode of the High Performing Educator Podcast. This is your host, Sam. Today, I’m joined by Norman Gaudet. Norman, it is such a pleasure to have you on the show. Please take just a moment to introduce yourself.

Norman Gaudet
Sure. So, pleasure to be here. My name is Norman Gaudet. I am currently the head of school at Toronto French School here in Toronto. And I’ve been at this school for going on my 10th year. I’ve been an educational leader for about 20 years and in education for about 30.

Sam Demma
I haven’t interviewed many people who have worked in Yemen, in Nigeria, in Georgia, and now in Canada. Why has your educational journey taken you to so many different places? Tell me more about that.

Norman Gaudet
Basically, curiosity. So, I grew up in small-town Saskatchewan here in Canada, and it became clear to me very quickly that the world is a lot bigger than the little farm that I was growing up on. I just started to get curious to know what was out there. But I didn’t really understand even that that was going to be possible until I became a teacher. I was working in Saskatchewan, and a VP showed up at my school—vice principal—and he had just come back from working in Saudi Arabia, and my mind was blown. I was like, “How can a Saskatchewan boy end up in Saudi Arabia?”

Norman Gaudet
He told me about the pathways to take to go into education abroad. I jumped in my car, drove 23 straight hours to a job fair in the States, and found myself in Yemen one year later. From Yemen, the world just opened up. I had this amazing experience in Yemen. I was there as athletic director. The principal that I was working under, the head of school, ran schools all over the world and asked me right away, “I think you’d make a really good head of school.” So he talked to me about the Republic of Georgia and said, “You know, it’s a small school, great place to start.” And I immediately said yes. That was the beginning of my career in administration and leadership.

Norman Gaudet
Then, just after that, I really wanted to explore different places—places that weren’t Saskatchewan—which is why I went to Nigeria. And from there, I have children, and they were being introduced as the “little Canadians” everywhere we went and didn’t really understand what it meant to be Canadian. So I said, “Okay, let’s go back and explore Canada.” But I said, “Let’s explore exciting Canada. Let’s go to Toronto.” So that’s what we did. Ended up in Toronto.

Norman Gaudet
That was probably about 20 years ago, and I’m still here.

Sam Demma
23 hours straight driving. You have to be pretty driven to make that kind of a drive. What was it about that situation, that time in your life, that drove you to do that, and what drives you now? What is the “why” behind the work that you’re doing?

Norman Gaudet
That’s a great question. So I was teaching history and felt like I was not really understanding what I was teaching if I wasn’t in the places that I was teaching about. I was following the same path that he told me. He said, “You have to go to this job fair.” I discovered later there are job fairs all over the world, including Canada. I followed exactly what he said because I wanted to make sure it worked. That has been my mantra probably my whole life: figure out what works, what path you need to get to what you want to do. And don’t give up; just keep doing it. It might be hard—let me tell you, 23 hours, I was tired, stopped for a bit to just close my eyes, but I just did it because I knew that if I didn’t, I wouldn’t go where I wanted to go. And so I had to do it. When I came back home and told my wife at the time, “We’re going to Yemen,” she just looked at me, and she said, “No, we’re going to Yemen because it is a place steeped in history where I can learn so much about and become a better teacher.” And let me tell you, there are no regrets. We went there; my children were one and three at the time, and absolutely no regrets. It was the beginning of a very long and fruitful career in education that taught me about the power of community, what education can be, and how kids all over the world are just kids. They’re amazing. They all want the same kind of thing out of a school: they want to be taken care of, they want to be loved, and they want to learn. And that’s what I was able to bring to all the different schools that I’ve been at.

Sam Demma
You gave me a flashback when you said you went home and you told your wife at the time, “We’re going to Yemen,” because I don’t have a wife yet, but I six months ago walked upstairs into my family room and said, “Mom, Dad, I’m going to Kenya.” And they were like, “What?”

Norman Gaudet
Why Kenya?

Sam Demma
I had this curiosity in my heart that was pulling me to go. We spent six weeks over there in the summertime visiting schools. And like you mentioned, it blew my mind to see the same challenges that a lot of students are facing here were similarly experienced by students over there. And I think when we lead with genuine curiosity, we realize that we have way more in common with other communities and people than we do different, and we start to get a glimpse of the humanity in other groups of people. It’s really cool to hear about your international journeys. Figuring out what works, following the path, I think is such important advice, especially for educators. I’m curious: when it comes to educational leadership in your building, you’re leading 300 staff and lots of students. How do you effectively manage other people and lead a school?

Norman Gaudet
Well, that’s a question so many leaders ask themselves. I believe in a few things. I believe that if you love where you are, people will sense that. People will begin to believe in what you’re saying. But then you have to roll up your sleeves and show them that you’re ready to put in the work if you’re asking them to do the same thing.

Norman Gaudet
And then I really believe that if you dig down deep, everybody has a purpose. Everybody has a reason why they’re there. Sometimes they need to be reminded; sometimes you need to tweak and find the perfect spot. But if they’re in a school, it’s because they love kids. Somewhere along the line, they realized that they could make a difference and wanted to work in an environment where that can happen.

Norman Gaudet
If you can find that common purpose, it allows you to lead and have people want to follow. You know, there’s an old saying that as a leader, you don’t necessarily want people to follow you. What you want to be able to do is create other leaders. If you can find their purpose and help them see that they can be as impactful as you are, your job is so much easier because you’ve got a whole bunch of great leaders. In my own life, whether it’s athletic coaches, teachers who’ve made a significant impact, or administrators in my high school that I really looked up to and had close relationships with, what are some of the things you think leaders who have made a big impact in your life when you were growing up or who’ve mentored you have done that made a really big difference for you?

Norman Gaudet
So, a lot of these are going to sound like clichés, but they’re so real. It’s about that feeling you get when somebody believes in you, especially if it’s in something you never thought about before. I remember a principal I worked with when I was a teacher in Saskatchewan. I was doing the best job I could, but I never thought of being a leader. I never thought of going further than the classroom. She brought me into her office one day and said, “You know, what you do, you can have an impact on all the kids in the school, not just the 27 kids you’re working with. Have you ever thought about that?” I replied, “Well, I don’t understand. How would I have that impact?” She said, “Watch me.” She was new, but she saw so much potential in me. I had never seen that in myself before. So, I started watching what she was doing, and I thought, wow, she does have an impact. If I can do that, that would be a dream. From that day forward, I started doing everything I could to gain more experience and leadership opportunities because she believed in me when I didn’t even think that was something that could happen.

Norman Gaudet
And I see this all the time with kids. They may feel like they’re bad at math for five years in a row, and then they have one math teacher who tells them, “You know what? You can do this. I actually see something in you; there’s a spark there.” Their whole world changes because somebody believes in them. That’s so powerful. I remind everyone I work with that we have so much impact on kids and the people around us. We need to be really mindful and intentional when we say anything at all, because as much as we can be powerful for the good, we can unfortunately be powerful for the bad. So being intentional when we’re speaking and passing messages should be top of mind for anyone working with kids.

Sam Demma
I talk about it all the time: every human being has a giant invisible backpack strapped to their shoulders filled with stories, beliefs, challenges, and struggles—all of which we have no insight into because we can’t see each other’s backpacks. Every action we take or every word we use either adds weight to someone’s backpack, or if it comes from a place of love, compassion, kindness, and genuine curiosity, it hopefully removes something and helps them live a bit of a lighter life. In French schools, we say, Vide le sac à dos. I have one regret in my backpack, and it’s that growing up, I didn’t embrace the French language as much as I wish I had. As a proud Canadian, I wish I had taken that more seriously. Can you speak a little bit to the importance of the French community and the French language and how valuable a skill that is?

Norman Gaudet
Oh my gosh, I tell people all the time that it’s a superpower. You’re not just learning a language. Many teens find that a language that isn’t their primary language of emotion, which is typically English, isn’t as cool, so they begin to lose interest. I have a short motivational speech I share with them about the superpower they’ve gained without even having to work for it because they were placed in an environment where they absorbed a language. They didn’t even have to work at it; their parents made this decision for them. Now they’re bilingual. I encourage them to go home and thank their parents because they’re the reason they have this superpower. They may not realize its power at 15, but they will when they leave school. In a school like ours, they’re surrounded by bilingual kids and may not realize that the rest of Toronto isn’t as bilingual. When they go into the workplace—now the world is their workplace—they can end up anywhere and find themselves at a huge advantage because they’re fluent in multiple languages. Thankfully, our students are fluent in English, they speak French fluently, and we have a third language as a mandatory course, so they might be taking Mandarin, Spanish, or German. Many of our students even speak a fourth language, so they’re polyglots. That is rare, powerful, and special. It positions them with advantages in every aspect of their lives.

Sam Demma
You’re absolutely right. Language opens doors, career opportunities, and even pure enjoyment—being able to speak to someone in their language unlocks parts of the world you wouldn’t otherwise have access to. When I was in Kenya, I didn’t speak Kikuyu, one of the 42 tribal languages there. But I was so interested that I kept asking our local connection, Kamata, to teach me some words. In these very rural villages, where the road is dirt and uneven, and you drive no faster than five kilometers an hour, kids would be walking beside the car. They don’t often see Caucasian people, so I would roll the window down, and they would open their mouths wide in amazement. As I started learning some of the language, I would wave and say, “Kwite nĩna,” which means, “How is everyone doing?” Within five minutes, they would run away and come back with their entire family, so excited that someone took the time to figure out how to communicate in their mother tongue.

Sam Demma
There are so many words in Kikuyu that don’t have an English translation—phrases, sentiments. You actually unlock a whole other world. What if your soulmate doesn’t speak your current language? You could be opening up opportunities for so many things. As I grew up, I realized how much of an opportunity I missed, but I won’t let that stop me from reconnecting with languages as I move forward. I know it’s important to your school community, and I wanted to mention it. I also know one of the things unfolding in the world right now is the challenge around mental health and well-being. I know that at TFS, it’s a priority. What are some things you’re excited about that are shifting the conversation around mental wellness in your school?

Norman Gaudet
Mental health is absolutely a priority for us. In the past, schools—including ours—looked at mental health as a “band-aid” solution. We waited for crises to happen and then put strategies in place. But now we’re focusing on prevention, breaking down what causes a healthy mind. We all know the causes of unhealthy minds, but we want to ensure we’re putting everything in place that fosters a healthy mind. We’ve broken it down into three areas: intrapersonal health, interpersonal health, and academic health. We focus on how students feel about themselves, providing opportunities for self-acceptance, embracing their individuality, and celebrating their roles. Interpersonal health addresses social skills, building friendships, and the critical skills for happiness. For academic health, in a competitive world, kids face pressure and perfectionism. We need to ensure they feel they’re in the right place, learning at the right level, and not falling behind, which is often a source of stress. So much of it comes from how we talk to the kids. It’s the words that we’re saying to them. So we have to make sure that, again, that intentional talk, that every time we’re passing messages, we know what we’re saying. We want the kids to hear that these are the priorities we want them to build on. It’s all about healthy minds. To support that, we’ve introduced mindfulness, integrated yoga in our phys-ed programs, and even set up zen corners in every classroom so kids can take a moment, reflect, think, and process why they’re feeling the way they’re feeling. How do they manage those feelings? Do they have the strategies they need? And if they don’t, where can they find them?

Norman Gaudet
At TFS, we have a strong academic focus. We’re known to be one of the top academic schools in Canada. But I also want to make sure that while the kids are reaching their academic potential, they are mentally and emotionally healthy through it all. We start young and ensure they have the skills, strategies, and tools to manage everything that comes their way. The zen corner is one small part of that environment. Not every student will use it every day, but some students might need it right after recess or following a disagreement with friends. It gives them a moment to think, understand why they’re feeling a certain way, and decide what they want to do about it, so they can refocus and keep learning. Often, these feelings can become barriers to learning, and having these strategies helps them get back on track.

Norman Gaudet
Mental health today is top of mind for everyone, and kids are not immune to the pressures around them. Unfortunately, we’re seeing these pressures affect kids at younger ages. We have to start teaching mindfulness and self-regulation early. We’re working with our youngest students on mindfulness, yoga, and self-reflection. If they can master these skills and build them into their routines from a young age, they’ll be much better equipped to handle the emotional ups and downs that come with adolescence and beyond.

Sam Demma
I love how intentionally you’re using the phrase “causes of a healthy mind” because whenever I’m feeling challenged, burnt out, or a bit off, I always pause and ask myself, “When was a time in my life when I felt really good, on top of the world, and everything was working well?” I then think about the habits I had in place at that time that might be missing now. Sometimes, just reconnecting with those positive habits helps push me back toward that place of healthy mindfulness. It sounds like TFS has a really proactive approach, and I hope this next year continues to be a phenomenal one for both students and staff.

Sam Demma
For an educator who might be listening to this and feeling a little burnt out, or maybe it’s their first year working in a school and they just graduated, what do you think you would have needed to hear on day one that might benefit someone listening?

Norman Gaudet
I genuinely believe that every teacher needs to remember that if they’re struggling, they will never be able to be what they want to be for their students. Teachers need to look at all the different aspects of their well-being and take care of themselves. I actually shared this with our teachers on the first day of school, reassuring them that we care about them as much as we care about our students. I completely understand the connection between how teachers feel and the impact on our kids. If teachers are healthy and thriving, it’s going to positively affect our students. But if they’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed, unfortunately, that’s going to be felt by the kids as well.

Norman Gaudet
We’ve put systems in place at TFS to support our teachers, and if a school doesn’t have that, they should ask for it. Find the resources, whether it’s someone to talk to or simply taking the time they need to manage whatever they’re going through. It’s okay to ask for help. Schools need to recognize that teachers are our biggest asset. Our kids won’t flourish to their fullest potential unless our teachers are as strong as they can be. Taking care of our teachers isn’t just a priority; it’s essential.

Sam Demma
100%. People often say, “You can’t pour from an empty cup.” Thank you, Norm, for all the work you’ve done over the past few decades in education and for the work you’re continuing to do. I wish you a phenomenal year ahead. Thank you so much again for coming on the podcast. I look forward to meeting you in person at some point soon.

Norman Gaudet
Thanks, Sam. Have a great day.

Sam Demma
You as well.

Join the Educator Network & Connect with Norman Gaudet

The High Performing Educator Podcast was brought to life during the outbreak of COVID-19 to provide you with inspirational stories and practical advice from your colleagues in education.  By tuning in, you will hear the stories and ideas of the world’s brightest and most ambitious educators.  You can expect interviews with Principals, Teachers, Guidance Counsellors, National Student Association, Directors and anybody that works with youth. You can find and listen to all the episodes for free here.

November 12, 2024 by Bilingual Education Cross-Cultural Education Education Educator School Administration Student-Centered Leadership Uncategorized 0

Laura Beltran – Principal at St. Joseph’s Catholic High School

Laura Beltran – Principal at St. Joseph's Catholic High School
About Laura Beltran

Laura Beltran is the Principal of St. Joseph’s Catholic High School in Windsor, Ontario. She has worked for the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School board for the past 31 years. She started her career at Holy Names High School and then moved to a permanent position at St. Joseph’s for the next 12 years. She moved into administration as a vice principal in 2010 and was appointed principal of St. Thomas of Villanova High School in 2021.

She strives to meet the board’s vision of “empowering, inspiring, and knowing her students”. Being kind to one another is a regular part of her daily announcements and reminders to students and staff. She believes that the school can be an example for the larger community of what peace and kindness can do to show young people a world where they are valued and cared for. She coaches a Hockey4Youth program for young women who face the financial challenge of not being able to play hockey or learn to skate. She also loves every opportunity to hold her benevolence cafe where she treats the students to hot chocolate or lemonade while getting to know them. She has a passion for creating a school environment that focuses on equity and inclusion where all students can meet success.

Connect with Laura Beltran: Email | Facebook | Instagram

Listen Now

Listen to the episode now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your favourite podcast platform.

Resources Mentioned

St. Joseph’s Catholic High School

Windsor-Essex Catholic District School

Hockey4Youth

The Transcript

**Please note that all of our transcriptions come from rev.com and are 80% accurate. We’re grateful for the robots that make this possible and realize that it’s not a perfect process.

Sam Demma
Welcome back to another episode of the High Performing Educator Podcast. This is your host, Sam, and today we are joined by a very special guest, Laura Beltran. Laura and I met after doing an engagement at her high school, and I have to tell you, the moment you walk in the doors of St. Joseph’s High School, the energy is palpable. It is something that staff, students, and herself have cultivated. Laura, it’s such a pleasure to have you on the show here today. Thank you so much for taking the time.

Laura Beltran
Thanks, Sam, I appreciate it. Looking forward to it.

Sam Demma
So where does your energy come from? Because out of all the principals I’ve crossed paths with or people in education, you got this magnetic energy that doesn’t seem to expire. Where does it come from?

Laura Beltran
I don’t know, I guess it’s my sense of purpose and knowing that this is what I was meant to do. And I have joy every single day I come to work because it’s not like I have a job. I have a vocation that I am absolutely privileged to be able to do and to work with young people. I feed off of their energy and enthusiasm every single day.

Sam Demma
Did you know when you were a student yourself that one day you would be in education, or what brought you down this pathway?

Laura Beltran
No, I absolutely did not. My path was very zigzag in the way that it looked. I always wanted to be a pediatrician. And so I graduated high school, I was a Canadian biology scholar, and that was my pathway, the only pathway I ever thought of. Then I didn’t like the competitive nature of the program. I moved on to sociology, found it interesting but a little too easy. I moved into criminology. From there, I wanted to be a police officer. I applied to Teachers College thinking, well, maybe there is something in there for me. I got into Teachers College, which was highly competitive at the time. I came out as a primary junior teacher teaching little kids and got called to the director’s office within six months of coming out of Teachers College. They said, “We need someone to teach OAC Law and you’re the only one, so are you a good teacher?” I looked at him and said, “I’m a great teacher.” I know that because when I get up in the morning, I want to come to work.

Sam Demma
When you think about great teachers you’ve had in your life or the amazing educators in your own building, what do you think makes a great teacher?

Laura Beltran
Great human beings make great teachers. Those that really care for the students entrusted to them. They get to know them, want to know who these individuals are, and want to help them succeed. They want them to choose pathways of success and go above and beyond every single day, whether in the classroom, outside the classroom, or through extracurricular activities. Those opportunities allow students to really fulfill their purpose in life, be happy in their own lives, feel joy, and achieve success.

Sam Demma
I think going above and beyond and also taking care of your own well-being is important. Because it’s such a challenge when you have this heart of service and want to give, give, give. Sometimes we give so much that we have no health left for ourselves. How do you balance that?

Laura Beltran
That is really true, and I see that with my staff. One thing we do with our staff is always look out for the well-being of others, especially our students, but also ask, what are we doing for ourselves? How do we take those breaks and really take care of ourselves? Sometimes during professional development days, we will take opportunities for mindfulness activities or allow staff to be in one another’s company to revitalize and remember why we do this work every day. Taking those opportunities is really, really important.

Sam Demma
When I was at your school, a lot of the initiatives were student-led. Even the organizing of the entire event, the creation of graphic images, the introductions, the thank-yous, it was all student-led. Where did that perspective or philosophy of making sure students are as involved as possible come from in your educational ideas?

Laura Beltran
I always tell my students that this is their home away from home. Many of our students feel this is the only place that is safe, comfortable, and free from stress or some of the challenges they deal with in their lives. If they can take ownership of this school, it becomes a home, not just a building or a facility. When they know their voice matters and have opportunities to lead activities within the school, you’ll see them rise, shine, and bring out the best part of themselves. That is what we want to see in our kids; then we know we’re successful.

Sam Demma
Do you have an example in your mind of a student who was shy or introverted and, through a leadership opportunity, really saw themselves shine or embrace their skills?

Laura Beltran
I do. I have a story that I will never forget. This was back when I was teaching in a classroom. I found out the day before that I was moving into administration, so I had to tell my students I was leaving and wouldn’t be their classroom teacher anymore. After everyone said their goodbyes, one student stayed behind. This student rarely spoke in class. She said, “I want to thank you because my mom talks about how negative her job is at dinner every night, and it stresses me out. I want to be happy. I see you come into work every day, so joyful, and that’s what I want for me.” This student helped me with a project we did called the Veterans Memory Project. We interviewed local veterans, wrote a book, and presented it to the Windsor Historical Society, the War Museum in Ottawa, and our local legions. She said, “I know my purpose. I won’t waste time finding a job that doesn’t make me happy because every moment counts. You taught me that.” This was a student who didn’t really participate in class, and then you realize the profound effect we have on kids.

Sam Demma
It’s so true. There was one occasion where I delivered a presentation, and a student faced the wall instead of the stage. I thought he wasn’t paying attention. But that night, he emailed me, sharing how much he needed to hear those stories. I created this entire story in my head, feeling annoyed and frustrated, but he was actually connecting deeply. So many teachers pour their hearts and energy into students, wondering if it’s making a difference, but it is. Your story is a beautiful reminder to educators that words, actions, and even our energy matter. In your case, it was the joy you brought to work. Speaking of that, how do you think we best support young people today?

Laura Beltran
There are a few things we do that we’re proud of. First, we provide mental health supports at our school with child and youth workers, psychotherapists, and mental health and addiction nurses. We do Lunch and Learns where our child and youth worker and psychotherapist collaborate on topics that help students, serving them lunch and discussing subjects like productivity and stress management. Additionally, every Friday, we host “Hot Chocolate with Ms. Beltran,” or in warmer weather, “Lemonade with Ms. Beltran.” The kids love it. They line up, and yes, it’s free. We chat, I get to know their names, and I absolutely love it. I wear an apron that says “Hot Chocolate with Ms. Beltran,” and every Friday becomes the Beltran Cafe.

Sam Demma
I’m sure you get some of the best ideas or feedback from students in those spaces.

Laura Beltran
I do. It’s casual, one-on-one, and informal. They bring their friends, we chat, and I get to know them better. I think they understand through that experience that I’m available to them, that there’s no barrier to talking with the principal. Often, they offer to pour their own drink, and I say, “I know you can, but I want to do this for you.”

Sam Demma
In leadership, it’s often said that being visible and accessible—spending time in the school rather than staying in the office—is key. Who has inspired or supported you on your own journey as a leader?

Laura Beltran
I’ve been very fortunate to have colleagues who mentored me and educators who excel in their work. Reflecting on the most effective teachers I had, they were individuals who showed that they loved what they did. There was humor, laughter, and fun activities. I’ve always carried that with me.

Sam Demma
The joy piece is so important. But I imagine there are days where, like anyone, you have to choose joy despite challenging circumstances. How do you center yourself to ensure you show up for people?

Laura Beltran
When I’m having one of those days, I’ll go for a walk around the building or spend time in the hallways, seeking out students. I’ll visit students on spare, kids involved in activities, or go to my life skills area to chat with kids. That grounds me. It reminds me why I’m doing this, gives me a breather, some laughs, and allows me to refocus.

Sam Demma
Do conversations with students help shift your emotional state in those moments?

Laura Beltran
Absolutely. That’s why we got into this—to interact and build relationships with kids. Through those everyday conversations, I learn so much about who they are, what they carry, what they love, and even how they feel about their school and what we could improve. I’ll ask, “How was the game last night? I know you didn’t win, but you played great.” I also try to attend all team games, at least once or twice each season.

Sam Demma
Nice. How’s the team looking out there?

Laura Beltran
They work really hard. And I always tell them, “It’s not about the score but how you carry yourself on the field.”

Sam Demma
A friend of mine told me once, “We’re not just teaching curriculum; we’re teaching character.” And that has stuck with me.

Laura Beltran
Absolutely.

Sam Demma
When dealing with challenging situations, how do you approach difficult conversations with students?

Laura Beltran
It’s important to show them that you’re human, that you don’t expect perfection, and that mistakes are part of growth. We make mistakes, I make mistakes, and young people will make mistakes too. It’s about acknowledging the mistake, discussing how to make it right, and considering what we’ll do differently next time. Discipline is only one part of the process; the educational component is where growth truly happens.

Sam Demma
I made a mistake in grade seven or eight, and a friend got blamed for it instead of me. At home, I started crying. My dad took me back to the school, I confessed, and the principal handled it with restorative questions, giving me an in-school suspension. If my dad had gone straight to punishment, I wouldn’t have learned from it as I did. So it’s wonderful that you focus on humanity and solutions in those moments.

Laura Beltran
Absolutely. I appreciate that you mentioned restorative practices. Sometimes, we bring students together in peer mediation, and they realize the impact of their actions on each other. It’s amazing to witness those “aha” moments, where they truly understand how they’ve affected someone else.

Sam Demma
Empathy is a challenging thing to teach, especially when the brain is still developing. But when a student understands, it makes the work even more fulfilling.

Laura Beltran
It does, and it brings a sense of hope. I tell our students every day, “Be kind to one another, take care of one another.” We can be an example to the larger community of how to treat one another and create peace and hope.

Sam Demma
For an educator listening who might feel burnt out, nervous, or new to the profession, what advice would you give?

Laura Beltran
Don’t give up. Reach out. There are so many educators with experience to share. This is my 31st year, and time flies. The first years are the hardest, but that’s okay. Nobody needs to reinvent the wheel—ask for help, and don’t be afraid to lean on others.

Sam Demma
If someone wanted to connect with you or ask a question, what’s the best way to reach you?

Laura Beltran
You can reach me by email (laura_beltran@wecdsb.on.ca) or on Instagram (@fastballcoachlaura) and Facebook (@lauratillie).

Sam Demma
Laura, this has been such a lovely conversation. Thank you for sharing your beliefs about education, and how giving students time and energy helps them grow. I appreciate it. Wishing you all the best with the school year and coaching. Talk to you soon.

Laura Beltran
Thanks so much, Sam. Take care.

Join the Educator Network & Connect with Laura Beltran

The High Performing Educator Podcast was brought to life during the outbreak of COVID-19 to provide you with inspirational stories and practical advice from your colleagues in education.  By tuning in, you will hear the stories and ideas of the world’s brightest and most ambitious educators.  You can expect interviews with Principals, Teachers, Guidance Counsellors, National Student Association, Directors and anybody that works with youth. You can find and listen to all the episodes for free here.

November 5, 2024 by Education Educator Principals Student Leadership Student Success Teachers Uncategorized 0

Stacy Hovey – Vice-Principal at Holy Trinity Catholic High School

Stacy Hovey – Vice-Principal at Holy Trinity Catholic High School
About Stacy Hovey

Stacy Hovey is a Vice-Principal at Holy Trinity Catholic High School. She is a proud receipt of the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers awarded by the Governor General of Canada. Stacy lives out the life she believes in by prioritizing servitude. She began her teaching career in 2005 with the Ottawa Catholic School Board. In addition to her role as Teacher, Department Head and Vice-Principal, Stacy has written Curriculum for the Ministry of Education and has taught at the University of Ottawa in the Faculty of Education.

Stacy believes that all schools must support students to grow into the best versions of themselves. She stresses the importance of demonstrating authentic care and respect for everyone. As a leader in her school, Stacy emphasizes the importance of ensuring all staff members feel welcome, heard, valued and truly appreciated. In order for our educators to take excellent care of our students, Stacy believes we need to take excellent care of our educators.

Connect with Stacy: Email | Twitter

Listen Now

Listen to the episode now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your favourite podcast platform.

Resources Mentioned

Holy Trinity Catholic High School

Ottawa Catholic School Board

Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers

University of Ottawa Faculty of Education

The Transcript

**Please note that all of our transcriptions come from rev.com and are 80% accurate. We’re grateful for the robots that make this possible and realize that it’s not a perfect process.

Sam Demma
Welcome back to another episode of the High Performing Educator Podcast. This is your host, Sam, and today I’m joined by a very special guest tuning in from Ottawa. Stacy Hovey is a vice principal with the Ottawa Catholic School Board. We met, I want to say, about a year ago now in the spring, and I’m so excited to have her on the show. She is a vice principal at Holy Trinity Catholic High School.

Sam Demma
Stacy, thank you so much for being here.

Stacy Hovey
Thanks for having me, Sam.

Sam Demma
Did you know when you were growing up that you wanted to work in education? I absolutely did not.

Stacy Hovey
When I was growing up, I wanted to have a job that made me as much money as I could possibly get my hands on. And then I realized when I got into that job that it wasn’t for me. And I quickly decided that money wasn’t going to be the end all be all. And I knew in my heart that I’d always loved the idea of working with kids and teaching young minds and molding young minds. So I took that path instead. And it has made me the most blessed and the most rich in ways that money could never buy.

Sam Demma
I had a mentor once tell me, money solves money problems, but those are the only problems it solves. And oftentimes in our search for meaning in life, we think that material possessions or status or money is going to fulfill us. And it couldn’t be further from the truth. Did you have someone in your life redirect you or was it a realization you had yourself when you started down that pathway?

Stacy Hovey
To be completely honest, I was redirected by God. I know that might sound a bit strange, but it was July the 4th, my birthday. I was in the United States celebrating because I’m clearly Miss America, and they already have a party there, so why not go? My mom brought me down, and we went to the Basilica, and while we were there, one of the statues, yeah, statues, winked at me. And I know statues don’t wink. And I thought I’d lost my mind. My mom thought I had heat stroke. I didn’t think much of it other than I’m clearly going crazy. My mom took down the name of the saint, which I didn’t. And when we came back home to Ottawa, my mother came running down the stairs one day with a piece of paper in her hand, and I thought she’d gone mad. But she said, Stacy, Stacy, you’re never gonna believe this. I said, what? She said, it’s the patron saint of teaching. I said, who’s the patron saint of teaching? What are you talking about? She said, the saint that winked at you when we were at the Basilica in New York. It’s the patron saint of teaching, Stacy. And I thought, oh my God, that is exactly what I, that’s what I gotta do. So I had a God moment.

Sam Demma
I just got goosebumps. Thank you for sharing that with me and with everyone who’s tuning in. I think when we’re open to guidance is when we receive it. So you must have been at a time period in your life where you were looking for a change or thinking about it or discerning it. And what a beautiful way to shift pathways and pivot.

Sam Demma
Did you always work in the Ottawa Catholic School Board? Tell me a little bit about your educational journey from that realization forward.

Stacy Hovey
So when I had that realization, I was in my undergrad and I was thinking how it’s going to be going into law. And it was when I worked at the law firm that I realized that law was not going to make me happy every day. And I knew that I needed a job that when I woke up in the morning and I came in, it was like Christmas for me. Christmas is my favorite time of year and I needed every day to feel good. I didn’t want to be one of those people who, you know, needed to call in sick or made a calendar that said I got to be off this day or that day or whatever. I just wanted to wake up every day and be happy and do something where I felt like I was really making a difference. And so, educationally, I made a shift and I went and pursued a bachelor in education. And I did all of that here in Ottawa, at the University of Ottawa. I’m a Gigi, go Gigi’s. And I started working with the OCSB about 20 years ago. I started as a teacher for 10 years. I was a department head of religious studies. And now I’ve been a vice principal for a decade.

Sam Demma
At what point in your educational journey did you also write curriculum for the Ministry of Education?

Stacy Hovey
Oh, I love that. That was a lot of fun. In the summertime, the Ministry of Education had contacted me because I was piloting some projects and courses here with the OCSB, with our First Nations and Uintah-Metis community, and they needed a huge revamp on all of our Aboriginal resources. And so I had the opportunity to go down to Toronto, and for a month I got to work there and write with an incredible team of people, elders, amazing, amazing people from really all around the nation and we were able to revive and revamp the curriculum so that students had real authentic experiences here in the classroom. And now, I mean, there has been such a shift. That started for me about 15 years ago and see the growth of that, to see land acknowledgements when I’m at a 67s game, for people to actually know what residential schools are. When I was teaching them, parents, kids were looking at me like, what are you talking about, Miss? That didn’t happen. You know, now it’s not just Orange Shirt Day, it’s we’re living a world where people are appreciating our culture, appreciating creation, and frankly, are going to take better care of it because it is on loan to us. This beautiful earth is on loan to us. We need to make sure that we do everything we can to treat it with the respect that it deserves so that it can be here and flourish for future generations.

Stacy Hovey
You know, little Sam’s in the future. We got to make sure that they’ve got everything that they need.

Sam Demma
Hey, I don’t know if you’re trying to encourage me to create some little Sam’s, but I’m not ready for that yet Stacy.

Sam Demma
But you’re right, you’re right. You’re no no Sam, then there’s me Sam.

Stacy Hovey
So I’m feeling like there’s got to be a little Sam coming along someday. I know you’re young but… When I was at the school it was so clear that everything you do is about supporting and serving the staff and students in the building and helping them reach their full potential and do their best job. What are some of the things you think have helped you create that culture in Holy Trinity School of Excellence and encouraging students and staff to do their best?

Stacy Hovey
Firstly, thank you. Thank you for saying that. That is an incredible compliment. And I have to tell you, servant leadership is the most important thing to me. I can’t, words don’t define how much it matters for me to be in a position of service to others. And you get that. I know you get that because looking at Be Someone’s Taco, chapter 11, action, serve others. And one of my favorite lines or phrases in your book on page 146, for all you readers who haven’t read this. You write. Some of the most meaningful experiences in life come from being of service to others. And we, Sam, could not be more like-minded in that capacity. I believe in a school community, you need to make sure that kids have everything they need. In order to do that, where do you need to start? You need to start with your educators, your front line. In order for my staff to be well, I need to make sure they’re well. I tell them all the time, and they would laugh if they were listening to this because they know exactly what I say. I say, you can’t pour from an empty cup, and if you don’t take care of your wellness, you are going to be forced to take care of your illness. So our job is to make sure that our teachers are in a position to help our students in every way. And their cups need to be full in order for them to do the best job that they can. So it’s a wraparound support.

Stacy Hovey
It’s a support like something as simple as, I walk by, someone’s not having the greatest day, so I do a U-turn, I go get them a coffee. I walk by, someone’s not having the greatest day, I take them the coffee and I kick them out of their classroom for 15 minutes so they can go for a walk. Like it’s simple things that you can do on a daily basis in a school to make sure your teachers feel heard, feel valued, feel appreciated. If you do that in a building, you’re creating a culture where everyone is going to do well.

Sam Demma
How do you ensure in your own life that your cup remains full so you can encourage others to do the same?

Stacy Hovey
My husband. That’s the first thing I think of. I could not do any of the things I do without my husband, Trevor Hudson. He is my rock. He is one of the greatest gifts God has ever given me. And I have absolutely no idea on this earth where I would be without him. He has given me two beautiful children and he is the one who makes sure I am able to do this work. And frankly, I wouldn’t even be here in the first place if it weren’t for my parents. My parents, Ron and Lena Villeneuve, let me tell you, they have taught me everything about how to simply be the best version of yourself, how to be a good person, how to treat others the way you want to be a servant leader. One quick story, my father, bless him. He said, you know, Stacy, how are things going at school? I said, well, we’re gonna be doing a food drive at the school I was working at the time.

Stacy Hovey
It was really low income, families were really in need. We wanted to create these beautiful Christmas baskets to help the family out. My family doesn’t come from a lot. We don’t have a lot in the financial department, so to speak. We’ve worked for everything that we’ve got and happy to say that and happy to do that. And one day I’m at work and the vice principal, he comes to get me and he says, there’s a food truck here and they’re here for you. I said, I’m sorry, what?

Stacy Hovey
And he says, it’s a food truck. I said, a food truck? He said, yeah, they’re unloading in the chapel. You need to come and see this. Food truck unloading in the chapel, what? So I make my way down and sure enough, there is a food truck unloading box upon box of fruits, apples, oranges, vegetables. And holy moly, it’s my dad. My dad went and talked to some local people, and his own money was able to arrange for a food truck to drop off all of these gifts for over 250 families.

Stacy Hovey
Who does that? It’s amazing that we live in a world where people like that make such a difference, but people like that are, oh my gosh, I forgot to turn off my walkie-talkie. I turned off everything, do not disturb.

Sam Demma
That’s okay, don’t worry.

Stacy Hovey
But I didn’t turn off this darn thing that tells me where to go and when there’s an emergency.

Sam Demma
They’re paging you to the front because there’s a food truck outside.

Stacy Hovey
Ha! Yeah, no, I wouldn’t put it past them, seriously. My dad’s just that kind of guy. So my parents have really been there for me all along and they fill my cup too. I would be, who takes my kids so that I can have a break, my mother. And then my husband takes me to the spa. So like they work together. That’s how I got space for both.

Sam Demma
Where did you get the passion for volunteerism? I know you were recently, you were awarded a medal for volunteerism from the government of Canada. Was that something that your parents instilled in you at a young age as well or something you discovered later in life?

Stacy Hovey
No, my daddy and my mommy, they would take me around, make sure whatever we needed to do was done. So, you know, food kitchens, making sure that people at Shepherds’ would hope here in Ottawa had what they need. My dad made sandwiches, like there was nobody’s business. He’s also like the best meatball maker in all of the world, so meatball sandwiches, but always helping out whoever didn’t have, you were to give. You just had to make sure that whoever was in need was taken care of. We never ever, my parents taught me, you never walk by a homeless person and don’t stop. You just don’t do it. Even you stop, you acknowledge them, you say hello. If you don’t have something in your pocket, that’s fine. You have kindness, you have a smile, you have time. You do what you can. You stop and do whatever you can do. So many times it would be bringing someone into McDonald’s or just talking to them or whatever. It was simple things. That’s how I was raised. And I continue that because for me, again, it’s that service. It’s living your life in a way that is wholesome.

Stacy Hovey
And so I started when I was very tiny, volunteering with a whole bunch of groups. I volunteered with Save the Children Canada, the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of the Child, Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada, you name it, I was in it. Nursing homes, oh, I have some of my best memories from nursing homes. We have lots of people in the community who just don’t get visitors. And Luigi is one of my greatest friends. I used to go and dance with him, the tarantella. There was no music, but we still danced. And I’ll never forget him. I’ve got lots of people in my life who I have been blessed to learn from. Elizabeth Seward, 104 years old, didn’t have any family members. So I used to go and bring her to church on Sundays and read to her. Rest her heart, you know. These are people who are just people who just need other people.

Stacy Hovey
I tell people all the time, we’re all brothers and sisters, you know?

Sam Demma
I spent the six weeks in Kenya and there was a massive protest happening in downtown Nairobi and we were fortunate to have a local connection who said, hey, early morning, we’re gonna come pick you up and drive you two hours out of downtown into a rural village where I grew up. And I’m gonna introduce you to family members of mine and friends, aunts and uncles. And first thing he said, we’d never go to the village empty-handed. So he stopped at the grocery store, we picked up a bunch of groceries to bring to his family, and a few hours later we arrive and we’re going through all these different homes. Stacy, goosebumps in every single home we stopped in. Every elder, every parent, every uncle and aunt prayed for us, prayed with us in their homes. And it was Kamata, Kamata was our driver, it was his uncle who sat us down. He used to be a history teacher, but he’s now retired. And he said, Where do we come from? And we were all sitting there and he goes, Adam, right? Adam and who and he started like questioning us about the story of Adam and Eve. And he said, if that’s if that’s the truth, and as Catholics, we believe it to be so, then every single one of us is related. We’re all brothers and sisters. And so when you do walk past that person on the street, they’re not just the homeless person. They’re a member of your family. How do you treat a member of your family with respect and kindness and dignity? And so I think it’s such a beautiful story you’ve shared about your father and how your parents have instilled that value of volunteering and of service in you as a child. It reminded me of my grandfather while you were speaking and I was getting a little emotional myself just listening. It’s such a beautiful story and it’s beautiful that you’ve carried that energy into the work you’re doing in education.

Sam Demma
What do you think are some of the things that students need now more than ever? There’s a lot of challenges in the world and there’s so much noise. Students are struggling. What do you think they need these days?

Stacy Hovey
Simple acceptance, non-judgment, and unconditional love. It’s our bad. We’re not born bad. Sometimes you got a kid, I’m the vice principal and up in my office. They’re not a bad kid. They’ve made a bad choice, it doesn’t define them as bad. The decision they made, not so great. But them, great. They need to know that there are such things as second chances, third chances. They need to know that it’s okay to not be okay. They need to know why whatever they did wasn’t right. You need to explain that to them. Walk them through it. Teach them. In a school, we don’t just teach curriculum. We teach character. We teach kids how to be and how to live and how to participate in this world. And so, for me, I say to even parents, they’re so upset, they’re so angry, they can’t believe that their child has done A, B, C, or D. And then the child leaves. And my advice to them is, go home and hug them. Love them. Yes, they might have done something that you’re not proud of. I get it. However, they will always be your son. They will always be your daughter. You are going to need to give them that love.

Stacy Hovey
And I feel like, oh my gosh, Thomas Groom said once upon a time, parents have become so open-minded, their brains have fallen out. I don’t necessarily believe that to be true all the time, but sometimes I get it. And so the reminder to me and my reminder to parents is they’re always going to be your baby. How are you gonna treat your baby? Right? So for me, loving them no matter what, no matter what they’ve done, the good, the bad, the ugly, and making sure they know it. So they don’t go to bed feeling shame and guilt every day. It’s huge, huge.

Sam Demma
I couldn’t agree more. I think even reminding ourselves to give that love to ourselves, because so often we’re our own toughest critic. And I beat myself up sometimes and I had a mentor, he said, Sam, hold your hand over your heart, like feel the heartbeat a few times, give that person love. I was like, it sounded silly, but in moments where things are falling apart or I can’t control certain circumstances and I’m allowing myself to feel certain emotions because of that, I think about those words and his suggestion and it brings me a lot of peace. And I get so many messages from students, and not only students, also staff members that are feeling challenged or burnt out, and they just don’t know the first step to take to, I guess, bring themselves back to a place of self-love and compassion. And I’m curious, have you had any periods in your own career where you felt challenged or a little bit burnt out? And in those moments, how do you, like, how did you get out of them?

Stacy Hovey
Oh gosh, absolutely, 100%. Like I said, it’s okay to not be okay. And to be honest with you, this last few weeks have been probably the most challenging of my career. One of our students was taken from us in a violent act that’s being investigated by the police. And one of our former students, and I am wearing blue today in his honour, his funeral and services are happening tomorrow. And when you lose a student, especially through tragedy in a capacity that no student should ever be lost, person should ever be lost, senselessness, it’s very, very difficult. And so, as a community of grievers, you know, we have so much support. Our school board made sure the troops were here to support the students, support the staff. And for me, part of that is just leading by example. We created a document to make sure every kid who needed to speak to a counselor had the opportunity to do so. And then I said to the counselors, I said, once all the kids have been seen, I’m gonna write in this document, staff, and I’m putting my name. And I did. There’s the school bell.

Stacy Hovey
And I did that not only because I actually needed the support, because I do, and I did, but I also did that because I wanted people to know, if they saw the document and they saw my name, it’s okay for Stacy to get help, it’s okay for me to put my name down and for me to get help too. The kids first, of course, but then us. Because really, truly, we at that front line need that help. So I would say taking care of your wellness is huge. You have to find what works for you. For me, reading works, walking works. Sometimes walking turns into jogging, not too far though. 5k is like my maximum capacity. Cooking for me is a thing. I find therapeutic. My husband knows when I am like in a mood or a situation when all of a sudden there’s a whole bunch of things coming out of the oven or on the stove at the same time. I think you just have to find your thing. But I also think you need to know that if you need support that is beyond somebody you love and care for, that is professional support, you should not feel shame or guilt in getting that. We need to have people that we can talk to and that’s what those people are for. And I cannot imagine how anyone could go through this life without needing some sort of support. And believe me, that is me included.

Stacy Hovey
Amen.

Sam Demma
I say it all the time, courage is not carrying the challenges alone. Courage is reaching out for the support when you need it most. And there’s been so many moments in my life where if I didn’t reach out for the support, I wouldn’t have been in a good space. I wouldn’t have, I wouldn’t have known how much other people love and care about me at times, you know? And I think it was a realization I had partway through the start of my own career because I had a coach for three years and COVID hit and things fell apart and I called him bawling my eyes out. And something he did that was so beautiful too is he didn’t try and solve my problem, he just stayed on the phone for like 40 minutes and I was talking the whole time. And only until the end of the call was I like, hey, can you help me with this? Or what are your thoughts? And I thought what a beautiful lesson he taught me that day, most of the time people would just need a shoulder to lean on or an ear to listen. They’re not, you know, sometimes even looking for a solution. And I think that’s so beautiful.

Sam Demma
And I’m so sorry to hear about the loss in the community. That’s absolute tragedy. And I hope everyone finds peace in the situation however they can. I’ll be keeping the community in my prayers. And I’m so inspired by you and this conversation. If there’s another educator who’s listening to this and wants to reach out to you or get the meatball sandwich recipe, what would be the best way for them to get in touch?

Stacy Hovey
The only social media I have literally is Twitter. So I have an email account, of course, but Twitter would be the best way. So it’s @sthovey. And I would be more than happy to pass out my dad’s meatball recipe or talk or do whatever anybody needs. I’m all about filling the cup as much as possible. And honestly, Sam, it’s been my pleasure. You really are absolutely incredible. From the second you walked into this school with that backpack that was unbelievably ginormous, and taking the time to empty it and remind me. You know, there are so many places in your book that, you know, I found myself stopping and very literally tagging pages because there were things that I thought, wow, does that ever connect with me? So I feel like you’re going to be one of those people, A, anybody who meets you, they’re never going to forget you, ever. And B, it’s people like you who are going to make our world what we really want it to be, a world filled with service.

Sam Demma
I receive that. Thank you so much. I can’t express my gratitude enough for you taking the time for this conversation, for the work you’re doing. I look forward to crossing paths again soon. And until then, keep up the amazing work, keep filling people’s cups and bringing them coffees when they need it. Keep leading with your heart and I’ll see you soon, my friend.

Stacy Hovey
Absolutely will.

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The High Performing Educator Podcast was brought to life during the outbreak of COVID-19 to provide you with inspirational stories and practical advice from your colleagues in education.  By tuning in, you will hear the stories and ideas of the world’s brightest and most ambitious educators.  You can expect interviews with Principals, Teachers, Guidance Counsellors, National Student Association, Directors and anybody that works with youth. You can find and listen to all the episodes for free here.

October 31, 2024 by Education Educator Mental Health 0

David Kelly, Ed.D — Principal at Nixa High School

David Kelly, Ed.D — Principal at Nixa High School
About David Kelly

David Kelly has spent the past 20 years in secondary education serving students across multiple districts in Southwest Missouri. He received his Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Social Studies Education in 2005 and began a teaching career in the Dallas County R-1 school district. Following a three-year stint there, he began teaching social studies at Nixa High School in Nixa, Missouri.

In 2012, Dr. Kelly earned a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership from Evangel University. That fall, he accepted his first administration position as an assistant principal at Hollister High School in Hollister, Missouri. In the fall of 2013, he returned to Nixa Public Schools, where he served as assistant principal.

Dr. Kelly earned his Doctoral Degree in Educational Leadership in Curriculum, Instruction, and Technology at Evangel University in August of 2018. Since 2019, he has served as the Principal of Nixa High School. During his tenure, Nixa High School was named a Missouri Gold Star school and was awarded a National Blue Ribbon by the US Department of Education.

Dr. Kelly has been named the Missouri Administrator of the Year by both the Missouri Interscholastic Press Association in 2021 and the Speech and Theatre Association of Missouri in 2022. He was just named the Southwest Missouri Principal of the Year by the Southwest Missouri chapter of the Missouri Association of Secondary School Principals (MoASSP) and will move forward as a nominee for Missouri Principal of the Year.

In addition to his role as principal, Dr. Kelly works with new administrators as a mentor and facilitator with the Missouri Leadership Development System. He is passionate about developing teachers and creating a climate where students maximize their potential. He currently resides in Nixa, Missouri, with his wife, and two-time Evangel graduate, Dr. Morgan Kelly, and their three children, Addison, Ansley, and Grayson.

Connect with David Kelly: Email | Facebook | Linkedin | Twitter

Listen Now

Listen to the episode now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your favourite podcast platform.

Resources Mentioned

Nixa High School
Evangel University
Missouri Leadership Development System

The Transcript

**Please note that all of our transcriptions come from rev.com and are 80% accurate. We’re grateful for the robots that make this possible and realize that it’s not a perfect process.

Sam Demma
Welcome back to another episode of the High Performing Educator Podcast. This is your host, Sam. And today we are joined by David Kelly. I met David maybe a year ago at Nixa High School and just heard that their football team has kicked off the season this year with two wins. They have a 2-0 record.

Sam Demma
David, how is that making the school culture shift? And please take a moment to introduce yourself.

David Kelly
Yeah, so I am David Kelly. I’m a principal of Nixa High School in Nixa, Missouri. We’re located in the southwest part of the state. There are approximately 2,000 kids in our school and we serve a community of about 30,000 people. But yeah, we thought we were going to have a pretty good football team.

David Kelly
We had our first test last Friday and ended up beating a team that has won, I believe, it’s 16 state championships since 2000, so they’re always good, always competitive. And we beat them 55-21, and so a pretty good gauge on where our year is going to go, barring any major injuries or anything. But in the United States, anytime your football team is off to a good start, it just helps the whole culture of your building. It helps your community. It’s something everybody can rally around and get excited about.

Sam Demma
So it’s a lot of fun. Sports and actually not even just sports, but extracurricular activities students can get involved in, have such a tremendous impact on your character building, on your leadership development. Why do you think extracurricular activities in sports are pivotal for young people, especially students to get involved in?

David Kelly
So I think for most kids, the teenage years for a lot of kids are years where they’re very self-centered and I don’t blame teenagers for that. I just think it’s where they’re at developmentally, and sports clubs, extracurricular activities, band, choir, whatever it may be, it becomes about more than just yourself and I think it helps you learn that there is more out there than just you, and the world is a bigger place than just you. It makes you accountable to other people, so your decisions now aren’t only impacting you, they’re also impacting your team or your organization. Those students also understand, like, when they go somewhere, their team is represented on their chest. And so, it’s not just about the team, it’s also about their community, and the way that they act, the way that they behave says something about their community when they have it, you know, written across the front of their chest. So yeah, I think honestly here it’s probably one of the best at-risk programs we have and just as a way to keep kids engaged, keep them excited about school. And you know, those kids we have found here, over 70% of our students are involved in some sort of club or extracurricular activity. Their GPA on a 4.0 scale is usually around 3.4.

David Kelly
Their attendance rates are better, higher ACT scores. So there’s a direct correlation that we can provide the evidence of that kids that are involved just do better. But I think it’s about realizing that there’s more to this world, there’s more to this community than just me. And it helps them to be more empathetic, more responsible. And those are character traits that we want all of our kids to graduate from and carry

Sam Demma
with them into the world. You don’t know this, but I did a presentation for a conference in Idaho. No, this one was in Arkansas. And at the event, I wore the red Nixa shirt on stage. And people were asking, did you see these photos? I wore the merch proudly. And everyone was asking me afterwards if I went to this school and where it came from. And I said, I got this shirt from where Jason Bourne is from.

David Kelly
That’s right, that’s right. So the birthplace of Jason Bourne. So yeah, no, I actually saw a post that you had put on Facebook, I believe. And I was like, oh man, he’s wearing our shirt. So anyway, yeah, that’s awesome. Very proud, very proud.

Sam Demma
Tell me about your journey into education. Did you know you always wanted to work in education?

David Kelly
So here’s the deal. I actually love telling this story because I think it’s a lot of young people, it’s kind of their path. My mom is an educator. She was an elementary teacher. She did it for over 40 years, which is a long time. I went to college and majored in accounting. And between my sophomore and junior year, I was sitting in a baseball game and I ran into my high school principal. And it just happened. I had a younger brother playing. And so I went and watched my younger brother play. My high school principal was there. He had a son playing. And we talked for two hours from before the game all through the game. But the gist of our conversation was he asked me, he goes, what are you majoring in?

David Kelly
And I said accounting. And he goes, oh, my goodness, that is the boring thing that I’ve ever heard of. And he goes, you’re going to be so bored in that profession. He goes, what are you doing? And he just, he kind of was just giving me a hard time. And I go, what, you have a better idea? And he goes, yeah. He goes, you need to be a teacher and a coach. And I go, man, I’ve thought about it. And I said, but he goes, let me guess. He goes, you don’t want to be poor. And I said, well, honestly, that’s probably the number one reason. Like, teachers don’t make much money. I’ve heard accountants make decent money. Um, and, uh, he goes, he told me at that time, he goes, money doesn’t buy happiness. And, uh, anyway, long story short, we had a two-hour conversation about it. Um, this was between my sophomore, junior year.

David Kelly
I went back that fall, changed my major, um, to education. And so that’s how I, that is really how I got into education. I had always thought about it. Um, had always been a direction I wanted to go, but it was just, I could never commit to it, um, until I had that conversation with him. So, uh, it’s kind of neat that my high school principal is the one that, uh, set me on this path. Um, and then now here I am as a high school principal. So it’s kind of a neat, neat transition for me. Um, but really I got into, I really wanted to coach. I was an athlete. I played college baseball. I like any kid in America, or anywhere in the world, you know, you want to play professional sports. And I thought I had, that was the dream. And I had two injuries in college that made it very obvious that wasn’t going to be the path for me. And so I decided coaching would be where it was at, but I quickly fell in love with the classroom and with teaching because on the coaching side, you really get to know one type of kid, but on the teaching side, you get to know all kids. And every kid has a story, and every kid deserves a chance. And that’s what really built the passion for education in this career and me was working with kids across all spectrums. So I need to take a drink of water real quick.

Sam Demma
Yeah, you know, it was so obvious that you had this passion for education when I came and visited the school because every hallway we walked down, every student knew your name, you knew every student’s name. It was such a cool thing to witness. How do you build strong relationships with young people?

David Kelly
So I think that’s the whole key to this whole thing. And it really speaks to our why though. And I just, I mean, I think we just have to, if you built relationships with kids, they will walk through a wall for you. They’ll do about anything for you. And, but part of it is just showing that you care. And, you know, I know that there’s kind of an old mindset of kids should just respect us because we’re older than them. And that’s just not the way the world works, to be honest. And a lot of kids, if you just treat them with respect, they’re going to show respect back to you. So I think a big component of it is modeling. You model the behaviors that you want to see, and you model the expectation that you want to see. And when you set a really high bar for kids, they will live up to that expectation. And I’ve seen that over and over again, but I think it’s just showing compassion to kids, being real with kids. They need to see us as people and not just educators. And I think the more that you can do that, the more moments that you can have with kids. Where they’re just seeing you be a person, being a human, and the way that you carry yourself is something then that they see and they’re like, you know, this guy does, he does care about me. He doesn’t just say it. But when I see him in the halls, he says hi.

David Kelly
Um when I when i’ve had issues I and i’ve i’ve been able to talk to him and he listens and um, I think those are things that you know, I think over time i’ve been I mean I am fortunate i’ve been here for Uh, this is my 15th year in this district. So i’ve had a lot of time here. So i’ve had siblings i’ve had um I actually this is crazy, but one of the girls that I, when I first started teaching here, she actually has a daughter that’s a freshman this year. So anyway, so I, it’s, it’s a little early, but I am in that point in my career where that’s starting to happen. I also have a daughter now here that’s a freshman. So, so I know some of her friends, but it’s just, I think it’s just about how we carry ourselves and how we approach each situation and recognizing that each kid’s unique, each kid has a story to tell and we can’t treat them all the same because they are all different and carrying.

Sam Demma
Different things in their backpacks. I appreciate the pulling of the metaphor and analogy. What are some of the resources that have been pivotal in your own development or things that have inspired you to continue to grow and evolve as a leader yourself?

David Kelly
So I think for me, I do like to, so I wish I was an avid reader, but I’m like a cliff notes guy. So like I like to find the synopsis of the book and then that leads me to the main point. And so I do read a lot. I love leadership stuff, anything about leadership. And I think you can take leadership concepts and you can apply them to the classroom. And every teacher is a leader, whether that’s in their classroom, whether that’s in amongst their colleagues. But a lot of those principles that we have that you can learn through those books are things that you can carry with you no matter where you’re at in your life. So I will tell you one of my favorite stories, and really it’s my why, and that’s something that I try to. Convey to teachers all the time, is what is your why? Why do you do what you do? Because, you know, you may love math, but at the end of the day, to be a great math teacher, you also have to have a passion for kids and for them being successful.

David Kelly
So, one of my favorite stories on my why and why I think it impacted me to the point that I carry it with me every day. I had a student my first year, I was teaching in a very rural school, honestly it was a high poverty district, and they had great kids, they worked hard, most of their families were hard workers, but it was just in one of those depressed areas of the country. And there was a kid and this kid would come to school every day. He worked really hard, he played football. He wanted to play basketball, that wasn’t really his sport, but he played baseball. And so I knew him from coaching, but I also knew him as a student in my class. And one day I noticed that he was sleeping through my class and he was a high energy kid and that just wasn’t normal. It was a Monday morning. And so after class, I just pulled him out in the hallway. I’m like, man, I said, everything okay? You know, are you doing all right? And he goes, you know, he said, Coach Kelly, he said, I’ve been, he said, this weekend was kind of rough. And I was like, well, tell me about it. I said, you know, cause you’re not gonna sleep through the whole day here at school. Like you got stuff you gotta do. You got practice after school. And he said, well, he said, we ran out of food over the weekend and he said when we ran out of food, he said all we had was a bowl of sugar in the house. And he goes, so for starting for lunch on Saturday, I got a spoonful of sugar for lunch. And he said he had three siblings. He said my mom, my dad and the siblings, we all got a spoon and we got one spoonful of sugar for each of the meals and I’m like oh my goodness I’m like Dustin I can’t even imagine man and I said are you I said what what do you need obviously you need food I said let’s go get you some food I’m gonna find you some right now so he’d gotten breakfast that morning at school but we got him with the counselors we got him some food he honestly was a kid that he he always kind of you know he wasn’t all he was never dressed the nicest, but his clothes never looked awful. We were able to get him on a backpack program where we were able to supply food through the weekends. A couple of weeks later, one of our football coaches, because I let all the coaches know at that point, like, hey, we need to keep our eye on this kid. His circumstance is not good. And so one of the football coaches is driving home from practice and sees him walking. And he was about five miles from the school. And so he pulls over. He’s like, man, Dustin, what are you doing? He’s like, well, I’m walking home. My parents said, if I want to play, I have to find my own ride home. And nobody would give me a ride home. And we were like, man, you’re not going to walk home ever again. Like we’re going to rally around you. So we came up with a schedule. So there was a different player that drove him home. Unfortunately, his house was a ways out of the way for everybody. But we got him a ride home every day after school. We made sure he was fed on the weekends. If the team did anything that cost money, we made sure he didn’t have to pay for any of it. And that kid, he was a freshman that year and I left after my his junior year I came to Knicks.

David Kelly
After his junior year but like that kid I still stay in contact with that kid and that kid is a he is a like a middle manager for a company here in Springfield which is the the big town close to us and he he made something out of himself and he broke that cycle of poverty for him and his family and like that is my why. You know I love finding those kids and just finding a way and really doing everything we can to make sure that those kids are successful because you know that kid had he not I don’t know I don’t know how his story ends but had he not been falling asleep in my class on that that Monday morning and I don’t take the time to take him outside the classroom and talk to him, like we have no idea. And eventually you hope somebody would have caught it, but you also never know. And so him and I are still in contact. He has a, he actually has a couple of little girls now.

David Kelly
And it’s awesome because he’s not living a life, he’s not living the life that he grew up in. And to me, that’s what a public educator is all about, is taking kids and breaking that cycle for them. And in the United States, we’re so lucky. We’re so lucky that we have public education, because without it, that kid, just that cycle just continues to repeat for that kid. And he’s living a life that he probably never imagined that he would have lived. And it’s not me. It was the school that rallied around him. But it was an educator that took just two seconds out of the day to take him outside and be like, man, you don’t normally sleep through class, what’s going on? And from that point forward, really take some steps to rally around him and change a kid’s life. And to me, that’s what it’s all about. And that happened, where I’m fortunate as an educator, I feel like, is that happened to me my first year of teaching. Some educators, it takes their whole life before they have a story like that. And I’m just, I feel like it’s such a blessing. Like that kid, I know, and he’s told me before that I’ve been a blessing to him, but I’m like, no man, you’ve been a blessing to me. Because I, like telling that story right now, I get goose bumps thinking about it. And it gets me fired up.

Sam Demma
The thing I think about often is the students who, we have no idea how much they’re going through and the way an educator is showing up is making a difference and the educator has no idea. So sometimes you don’t get that story, but the way you show up every single day has an impact. Regardless of if you find out what’s going on in the life of that student. And of course, the goal is to always get to know your students, but even the students in other classrooms that you don’t teach, that you walk past in the hallway and you smile and give them a compliment or ask them a genuine question for you. It may seem insignificant, but for that person, it could be this little moment in their day that they remember for the week or that they talk about later that evening and you go home not even thinking about it, but it was a meaningful moment for them and yeah, I think that’s what education is.

Sam Demma
All about. It’s like creating these meaningful moments in the lives of young people that help them see their potential and move forward and building better humans. Like that’s really what school is. And I just, I wanna say thank you. For the way that you show up and all of the staff at NXA. There may be an educator listening to this right now so inspired and just covered in goosebumps and they wanna connect with you. What would be the best way for them to get in touch or reach out or ask a question?

David Kelly
So, I found out like I think this year’s been the year I’m kind of getting old. So, unfortunately, I’m going to say this answer, you’re going to be like, you’re old. But anyways, honestly, email is probably the best way. And that’s davidkelly@nixaschools.net. And Kelly is just K-E-L-L-Y. There’s no E and it’s not E-Y. That’s a mistake a lot of people make. But that’s probably the best way. I do have a Facebook, I have a Twitter. DavidKelly10 is the Twitter handle. But I actually love talking to educators. I love sharing stories. Because one thing that I’ve found is a lot of educators have a story also. And so, so here and there a while. So that energy just feeds off one another and really builds.

Sam Demma
Capacity for what we do. Thank you so much, David, for taking the time to share some of your philosophies around building better relationships with young people, supporting students, making a difference in their lives. I hope that things continue to progress well with the football team this season.

David Kelly
Yeah, absolutely. Keep up the amazing work. It’s inspiring. Yeah, well, thank you, and I appreciate you having me on and giving me a chance to share some wisdom but also share that story because it is a story worth telling, and there’s hundreds of those across our country and educators everywhere, but I think anybody can make an impact on kids, and I just always tell myself, too, a lot of times we pick on the next generation, but this generation. Is truly going to change the world. They are going to change the world. They’re a great group of kids. Their vision, their mindset, I really believe they’re going to change the world for the better, but they need good adults in their life that are going to be positive role models and help drive that change and build in them the desire and the power to make the changes happen.

Sam Demma
You and I share that belief, and I think you’re at the forefront of leading the change.

David Kelly
So keep up the great work, and we’ll talk again soon. So keep up the great work, and we’ll talk again soon. All right, sounds good, thank you.

Join the Educator Network & Connect with David Kelly

The High Performing Educator Podcast was brought to life during the outbreak of COVID-19 to provide you with inspirational stories and practical advice from your colleagues in education.  By tuning in, you will hear the stories and ideas of the world’s brightest and most ambitious educators.  You can expect interviews with Principals, Teachers, Guidance Counsellors, National Student Association, Directors and anybody that works with youth. You can find and listen to all the episodes for free here.

October 24, 2024 by Education Principals Student Leadership Student Success Uncategorized 0

Carman Murray — Educator, Speaker and Author of Teachers First: A Guide to Avoiding and Overcoming Burnout

Carman Murray — Educator, Speaker and Author of Teachers First: A Guide to Avoiding and Overcoming Burnout
About Carman Murray

Carman Murray is on a mission to empower teachers and educators to prioritize their well-being, both inside and outside the classroom. With over 20 years of experience, Carman transitioned from classroom teaching to mentoring and supporting others on their healing journeys. Her passion lies in helping educators cultivate healthy habits that transform feelings of overwhelm into renewed energy and fulfillment.

Carman’s workshops blend both the professional aspects of teaching and personal development, offering a holistic approach to educator growth. As a dynamic and authentic speaker, she delivers engaging workshops and talks that inspire educators to rekindle their life balance. Beyond her work with teachers, she volunteers at Rockyview Leadership Academy and contributes to the Canadian Student Leadership Association’s events. Carman is also the author of Teachers First: A Guide to Avoiding and Overcoming Burnout, a resource dedicated to supporting educators in their journey toward wellness.

Connect with Carman: Email | Instagram | Linkedin | Facebook

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Resources Mentioned

Canadian Student Leadership Association (CSLA)

Rockyview Leadership Academy

Teachers First: A Guide to Avoiding and Overcoming Burnout

Healthy Teachers

The Transcript

**Please note that all of our transcriptions come from rev.com and are 80% accurate. We’re grateful for the robots that make this possible and realize that it’s not a perfect process.

Sam Demma
Welcome back to another episode of the High Performing Educator Podcast. This is your host, Sam, and today we are joined by a very special guest. We have crossed paths multiple times and I’m so honored to have her on the show here today. Carman Murray. Carman, thank you so much for joining me. Thank you.

Carman Murray
Sam. I’m so excited that our paths have crossed in the past more than once and that I could be here with you today. You are…

Sam Demma
…doing so much amazing work across Canada, supporting educators and teachers and all human beings with their wellbeing. And you have a passion for education because you’ve spent over 20 years of experience in the education industry. You’re speaking at events in Kelowna upcoming, you have a book. Just tell everyone tuning in a little bit more about who you are and why you’re passionate about supporting the wellbeing of others.

Carman Murray
Thanks so much, Sam. So I love supporting other people with their health and wellness. I recovered myself from burnout. I taught for 15 years and hit a wall and decided I didn’t want to do it anymore and my body actually wouldn’t let me do it. And I actually was inspired at an Alberta Student Leadership Conference by Orlando Bowen when he talked about, and you might have been at that one, I can’t remember, he talked about letting people know there was a different way. So I really want to let teachers know that they do not need to stay in that rut of being burned out and doing everything for their students and doing everything for their classrooms and just putting themselves on the back burner until it’s too late. Because there’s so many amazing things we can do in our classrooms with our students and do them ourselves, and we don’t have to wait until we’re finished teaching, we can live a life alongside our teaching career.

Sam Demma
You mentioned you hit a wall of burnout, and I would imagine there are some educators listening to this right now who may be feeling the same way. How did you navigate that time in your life, and what were some of the things you did to improve or get out of that situation?

Carman Murray
Well, I maybe shouldn’t say this out loud. I left the teaching profession.

Sam Demma
Okay. This is not an advertisement.

Carman Murray
No, this is not an advertisement because I know like there’s so many teachers out there that are so passionate about what they do and they’re so good at it and they have such an impact on students’ lives. And what I would say to teachers that are feeling that they might be on the road to burnout, or just in general exhaustion, because that seems to hit before the burnout happens, is start doing things just for yourself. Hang out with people who are starting to have a different mindset than just students, school, all of the things you have to do. There is this balance which looks not balanced. It’s not this equal balanced scale. It’s like, how do we find the time to do some great things for ourselves and really set school aside?

Carman Murray
And then I feel like the other part of the equation, Sam, is how do we bring some of those things into our classroom? How do we take 10 breaths with our students each time they walk in our classrooms and sit in our desks so that it calms their nervous systems as well as ours? How do we take our students outside for five minutes a couple of times a day that aren’t recess, where they can just have some downtime because we live in such a fast-paced world? And you, I’m sure, have experienced this with all your speaking and everything that you’ve got on the go. How do we actually give the kids permission to slow down rather than trying to speed them up all the time? Because I really feel like we’re pumping out into our world anxious, overwhelmed students who might not have all the tools they need to function. And that comes from our classrooms and their own environment. I don’t want to just say it’s just the classrooms, but how can we combat that as teachers to give them those tools to calm their nervous systems down in the classroom so they can access their prefrontal cortex?

Sam Demma
Why did you take this knowledge and put it into the book? At what point did you say, like I feel this urge to write and to publish? Tell me more about that book and what an accomplishment.

Carman Murray
Well, I was not the kid that dreamed I was gonna write a book since I was 10. I had a thought, I’m like, oh, maybe I should write a book. And then I started hanging out with a few people who had written books. And then I actually, I joined a publisher with a coaching program and just started to write. To be honest, the writing part was the easiest part of it, the marketing part is way harder. You probably know that, may or may not have been your experience. But I really wanted teachers to know that they’re not alone. Because sometimes in our classrooms, we feel like we’re all by ourselves and we’re the only one that has experienced the exhaustion and the overwhelm that’s going on. Then there are things that you can do that don’t require a bunch of extra time. You’re already doing lots of them, you just need to slightly tweak them and tweak your mindset because I always used to feel that I was never doing enough. And that was something that was going on in my mind. Now I’m like this is what I’m doing and it’s great and it is enough. And so as soon as I switched my mindset and it’s really easy to say it’s so much harder to do, I don’t want you to think this is a magic pill, but to start to shift that mind of, I am doing enough, my students are doing well, and this is how I’m helping them rather than feeling like we’re always behind.

Sam Demma
You mentioned the thing you did that helped when you were really burnt out was take a step away. For the educator listening who’s feeling a little bit burnt out and maybe is not having the most positive mindset right now, but knows that like, I’m not, like, I’m not leaving. I don’t want to, I don’t want to leave. What would you advise them to think about or start shifting and changing to rebuild a positive relationship with their workplace?

Carman Murray
That’s such a great question. And there’s a few avenues you can go. So I feel like, so I mentioned this to you when we were talking before we started recording, is I do run a group for teachers and I do coaching on health and wellness as well as classroom dynamics. And so finding yourself a group like that, reaching out to me, is one place to start. Sometimes, though, we need to take time off. Like there needs to be a time away so we can actually fully recover from whatever it is we’re recovering because I feel like there’s so much more than just what goes on in the classroom. We as humans have a life outside. We have all of our own experiences that we’ve collected, and we might be dealing with some of our own trauma and unresolved issues that are being triggered in the classroom. So I feel like if teachers can kind of start to become aware of what’s going on with them, and doing some things like, like where’s your sleep at, would be another question I would ask is, where’s your sleep at and what’s going on in your nervous system? Are you able to respond to things like pause and kind of assess the situation or are you like reacting right out of the gate?

Sam Demma
The group you mentioned, is it for educators or is it open to any stressed and overwhelmed human beings? I know a few people that might not be teachers.

Carman Murray
That is a great question. So it’s open to everybody, actually. I kind of have half and half. I have half educators, and then I’ve got some people who are retired educators, and some people who are not educators at all. Because, like you mentioned, our world causes us a little bit of stress and a little bit of overwhelm. So it’s a place for anybody to land. I do have a particular component of it that is just for teachers, where we meet two or three times a month and we land and we troubleshoot teacher issues and then there’s other components to it where we work on our health and wellness and our mindset and other life challenges that show up.

Sam Demma
Let’s say a teacher is burnt out, they are returning to work after taking a little bit of time off to rebuild that relationship with themselves, improve their sleep. What boundaries do they need to put in place when they start at work again to ensure it doesn’t snowball the way it did the last time?

Carman Murray
Yeah, great. So I would say, so boundaries that teachers can set are, what do they have to offer? Like, what is your time at school? What’s your capacity and who’s your team? That’s another big one. I’m really advocating right now for teachers to use your classroom as a team. You don’t have to do everything. Have your students do their stuff. There are so many things that students can do that teachers just automatically do. And I believe we’re actually taking away life skills from students by doing everything for them.

Sam Demma
And, oh, I had another one.

Sam Demma
That’s a great one, though. I’m thinking about it right now, and I think it’s very similar in parenting. It’s like, let the student, let the young person fall in their hands a few times, let them get involved, let them get their hands dirty because it’s gonna help them build their character as well.

Carman Murray
Absolutely, and it also, like when we talk about boundaries, we also need to look at where are we over giving? Because if we only have, like if we only have 10 units of energy a day and we give away 14 or we use up 14 every day, we leave ourselves at a deficit. So who are the people in your own home that can help you keep things on track, right? It’s like, I had a discussion yesterday with annoyance about my son who left his stuff everywhere and he’s almost 19. And so do I pick it up, like, right? Do I pick it up and just do it myself because that’s easier or do I give him a little bit of flack and go, okay, buddy, deal with your stuff because he’s old enough to, and all of those things. So boundaries, boundaries are huge. And I think even those of us who aren’t teachers or those of you that are listening that aren’t teachers can also struggle with boundaries. What are you saying yes to? What are you saying no to? And I think more importantly, what are you saying yes to that you don’t really want to?

Sam Demma
It’s almost thinking like an entrepreneur and delegating the things in your life that are not bringing you joy happiness and fulfillment but still need to get done. What are some of the things that you think are top of the list hanging fruits that an educator or a teacher may think about letting go control over and delegating to a student or a colleague or another team member that might lighten the load a little bit?

Carman Murray
So back to having the kids involved. Yeah. Students, right? If you’re in a room full of 30 bodies, one of them is going to think that writing on the whiteboard is the best thing ever. And the other one doesn’t want to touch anything to do with it. Right? One of them is going to be super excited about organizing the bookshelves, the other one’s not going to touch it with a 10-foot pole. So I would say really talk to your people, like talk to your students. What is it that they want to do? How do they want to help? And I even believe that with like project planning. When I taught, I loved planning projects with my kids. In fact, one of the times we planned a project with my parents, one was a pilot for a private jet company, and we got to go to the hangar and sit in. Oh my. Right? There’s so many resources out there that are available. So how can we tap into that team and delegate to our students based on their interests as well as teaching them that there’s some things that you don’t really want to do that you still have to do in life, right? Somebody needs to empty the garbage. And then the piece of delegation, I also think that often schools are wanting teachers to do more, especially I live in rural Alberta and so there’s not a lot of teachers in my kids’ school, so there’s only enough teachers to go so far. So where are you accessing community involvement? And when teachers say no to things so they’re not over capacity enough times, then they have to start looking somewhere else. And if teachers are always saying yes and they don’t have the space or capacity to do it, then they’re like, oh, we’ve got the expertise in their building, right? Sam said he would do that. Sam said he would do this. Sam said he would run the lunch club and the library club and the game club when Sam really doesn’t have time to do all that. So where can they find other resources? And most places have resources in their cages.

Sam Demma
That’s such a great idea. I’m even thinking, what if at the start of a fresh semester or a new group of students, you wrote down on the whiteboard all of the things that have to be done in the classroom that are repeatable tasks that are typically done by the teacher themselves, which could be given as a responsibility and a growth opportunity to one student each in the classroom. And it’s like an auction, you go down the list and it’s like an honor to do the tasks. And people bid on it with their excitement. And maybe a few of them are assigned because no one may want certain tasks, but I think, I think there’s something there, like auctioning off, auctioning off classroom tasks to your students.

Carman Murray
Well, and I love that, because I love the auction part of it and I’m going to take it one step back, is brainstorm that list with your students. Yeah. Those things that they’re going to think of that you don’t think of.

Sam Demma
I love that, that’s such a powerful idea. What do you think are some of the, I’m going to shift gears for a moment, in regard to building relationships with students, we talked a little bit about classroom management, but what do you think are some of the best practices to build stronger relationships with young people as a teacher?

Carman Murray
That’s a really great question, because when you look at classes that have 46 kids in them, that’s a lot of kids, and you probably have four classes like that. For me, and this is my disclaimer, I’ve always taught in rural schools and I went to a rural school, is like when I taught, I knew all 325 kids in the building because we were a K-12 school. But there’s components of what are those kids good at? What conversations can you have with them that aren’t just about their assignments and what’s late or what’s not late? And what good questions do you ask them? It’s just like, how’s your day? What’s their response? And then is there more to read into that response? And I also feel like there’s opportunities within your classroom to find that information out. I volunteer with the Rocky View Leadership Academy and work with leadership kids and they’re phenomenal. And I love the experience. And we’ll often, we usually start in a circle with 30 to 60 kids and do a one word check-in. And so each kid goes around, they’re like exhausted, excited, tired, overwhelmed, you know, all the things that they come up with take less than three minutes. And it gives me as a volunteer, as well as the lady who runs, the idea of where the kids are all at, and it gives the people around them an idea of where they’re at. I also feel like you can give assignments that give students the opportunity to express where they’re really at. And real conversations. I loved doing assessment with students. I know it takes a little bit longer, but it really allows me, per se, in their head as to, you know, if I was going to give you a, this is a bit of an old scale, but if I was to give you a mark out of 10, what would you choose that mark to be? And they might choose like a six out of 10. And you’re looking at it going, I think maybe that’s more like an eight out of 10. It’s like, okay, why would you give it a six? And then they kind of unpack what goes on in their brain about their own learning and why they did certain things. So it gives you an idea. So those are some of the things that I’ve done and I would do in a class to support kids in getting them to know each other. Getting to know them as a teacher, but also getting them to know each other. Because I think that in a class of 46, you want your students to have more touch points than just you.

Sam Demma
On that idea of getting to know each other, phenomenal ideas around building relationships with the students. How do you think that you build relationships with your colleagues as an educator and a teacher as well? I find that sometimes classrooms can become these little silos in a bigger school building, where people aren’t collaborating as much as they could benefit from doing so. How did you build those relationships and leverage other educators when you were also a teacher?

Carman Murray
So we used to have a meeting once a week with, there was, I taught grade six and there was a grade five teacher and a grade four teacher. And we would meet the three of us once a week at lunchtime. And lots of times it was on the fly, and sometimes somebody couldn’t make it, or somebody showed up 10 minutes later or whatever. And we sat in a different room and just kind of like we had a bit of an agenda, different conversations we were having about what was maybe working, what wasn’t working, what projects are we working, how can we support each other, so that we know we’re not alone in that building, and we can rely on each other for two-minute conversations or 20-minute lunches so that you can get to know each other is one of the ways. And the other thing that I also did, and sometimes I got funny looks for it, is we know that sometimes a staff room is a place that can be challenging to be in, because sometimes it’s a negative zone or whatever it is. And I would sit at a table where people were having a conversation about other students or not staff members, but often students, and it would be like, I’d sit down and be like, oh, what was something you did that was cool today? And bringing the focus back to that actual person rather than them talking about students, because we know what happens. We know there is a need for a place to vent about them, but it’s just like, how do we use that staff room to build relationships with other staff. And I got odd looks all the time, and I’m okay with that. But I also am not okay to sit in a staff room where there’s a table that’s loud that’s talking about students, and not necessarily in a great way.

Sam Demma
Yeah, I also feel that it’s so important that you put a little bit of a protection around your energy, not only as an educator, but in any field, and recognizing that if those types of conversations make you feel less than and make you feel burnt out, then there’s no need to participate in them, right?

Carman Murray
I think there’s, yes, the part of don’t participate in them, but then I feel like for me, anyways, there’s a responsibility. Shut it down. Yeah, so it’s like, let’s talk about something else. Or what’s something cool that kid has going on? Or like just to start to redirect the conversation, which is so powerful because kids struggle enough. We don’t, right? We all, and I don’t say we all struggle enough. It’s helpful not to be talking about other people. And I think if you’re listening to this and you are like, oh, I’m that person, just start different conversations.

Sam Demma
I’m sure there’s multiple people listening to this right now thinking, this Carman Murray lady is speaking my language and I want to read her book and I want to hear more about her group. So can you tell us how people can connect with you, get in touch about the group, and check out the book as well?

Carman Murray
Yeah, absolutely. So my book is called Teachers First, a guide to avoiding and overcoming burnout in the classroom. It’s available on Amazon and it’s also available in Chapters. And my website is www.healthyteachers.ca. And my group, if you’re interested in my group or even having a conversation with me, there’s a chat with me button on my website. Just click on that and book a time and we can chat and see where you’re at and see if I can help you or support you or if we’re a fit. Because sometimes we’re not and sometimes we are. Absolutely no pressure in having a conversation and just getting connected. I also am on Instagram.

Sam Demma
Nice.

Carman Murray
And Facebook and LinkedIn.

Sam Demma
Thank you so much for investing the time to share some of your insights on the show. I hope you continue to spread this message as far and wide as you possibly can. Keep up the great work and we’ll talk again soon.

Carman Murray
Absolutely. Thanks so much, Sam, and you as well. You’re doing amazing things in this world and creating a great ripple effect.

Join the Educator Network & Connect with Carman Murray

The High Performing Educator Podcast was brought to life during the outbreak of COVID-19 to provide you with inspirational stories and practical advice from your colleagues in education.  By tuning in, you will hear the stories and ideas of the world’s brightest and most ambitious educators.  You can expect interviews with Principals, Teachers, Guidance Counsellors, National Student Association, Directors and anybody that works with youth. You can find and listen to all the episodes for free here.

October 17, 2024 by Educator Mental Health Professor Teachers Uncategorized 0

Lisa Dunnigan — Veteran Educator and Co-Founder of Teach Your Heart Out

Lisa Dunnigan — Veteran Educator and Co-Founder of Teach Your Heart Out
About Lisa Dunnigan

Elisa began her educational career over thirty years ago. She started out teaching seventh grade and quickly realized that she wanted to work with younger children. After three years of middle school, her family moved to Gainesville, GA, and she started teaching fourth grade. This was heaven for her. She also worked part-time at Laurelwood Mental Health with middle school-aged children as a Mental Health Technician.

After four years of living in Gainesville, her family moved back to Douglasville, GA, where she became an elementary school counselor. She worked as a school counselor for three years and then became the assistant principal at Eastside Elementary School. After three years, she was named the principal of Eastside Elementary School where she was labeled as a turnaround school principal. The school won several academic awards under her leadership. The school was a Title I School but outscored many Non-Title I Schools in the school district.

In 2012, Elisa was named the Executive Director of Federal Programs. Elisa also taught education preservice and master level classes at Mercer University, West GA University, and Kennesaw State University from 2012-2018. In 2020, she retired from the Douglas County School System.

In 2017, she and her twin daughters started The Wright Stuff Chics, an e-commerce company that created graphic t-shirts and gifts for educators. In 2018, they also started hosting professional development conferences all over the United States. The company is called Teach Your Heart Out.

In 2019, they started hosting an annual teacher cruise where they also visit a local school in one of the ports. The companies have made well over eleven million dollars since starting.

In 2015, one of the twins, Elise, was diagnosed with stage IV metastatic breast cancer. She passed away in 2018. Tosha, Elisa’s other daughter, is now an elementary principal in the Douglas County School System.

In 2017, the family started a non-profit, The Pink Santa Hat Movement, where they send out care packages to educators, nurses, firefighters, police officers, and EMTs who are battling breast cancer.

Connect with Lisa Dunnigan: Email | Instagram | Linkedin

Listen Now

Listen to the episode now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your favourite podcast platform.

Resources Mentioned

Teach Your Heart Out Conferences

Pink Santa Hat Movement

The Wright Stuff Chics

The Transcript

**Please note that all of our transcriptions come from rev.com and are 80% accurate. We’re grateful for the robots that make this possible and realize that it’s not a perfect process.

Sam Demma:
Welcome back to another episode of the High Performing Educator Podcast. This is your host, Sam Demma, and today, we are joined by Lisa Dunnigan. Lisa and I connected recently because of a friend named Tom who is a phenomenal speaker and magician and MC who made this beautiful connection. We had a lovely conversation about all the work they’re doing with the Teach Your Heart Out Conference, the cruise in Orlando. I mean, can you introduce yourself and talk about how you’re bringing educators on a cruise ship for their PD? Absolutely.

Lisa Dunnigan:
My name is Lisa Dunnigan, and I’m actually a 30-year veteran educator. I started out teaching middle school. It was not for me. Seventh grade was not my friend. Then I taught fourth grade. Then I was a school counselor, an assistant principal, a principal. And then I ended my career. I was an executive director over federal programs for my local school district. I absolutely love helping educators, helping administrators just to be better with the work that they’re doing in the world.

I know that last year, 537,000 educators left the field of education. And so we’re trying to help to be able to provide a community where like-minded educators can come together, work together, and, you know, celebrate the profession, remind each other why they went into the profession. With Teach Your Heart Out, that is one of our main goals – just to be able to help teachers, to be a resource for them and to let them know that we appreciate what they’re doing.

We want to provide practical teaching strategies that they can easily implement into their classroom. In my 30-year tenure, of course, I went to thousands of professional developments, some good, many bad. That was always on my bucket list – to have a teacher conference where educators come together. And of course, we also don’t want to leave out the fun component of it because self-care is so important. We want teachers to have a good work-life balance, and we want to remind them to also let their hair down and have a great time. That is so important to us as well.

Sam Demma:
You spent time in a few or at least one Title I funded school.

Lisa Dunnigan:
Actually, my whole career I worked in Title I schools. Even when I taught, I worked in Title I schools, and then I ended up actually, one of my jobs was to be over Title I as well for my school system. So I feel very strongly about closing that gap, leveraging the playing field. But at the same time, keeping expectations very high. When I was a principal, I was a turnaround principal. And I attribute that to expectations. We always had high expectations.

We gave our kids so many life experiences that we knew they would not have gotten otherwise, but we also did not accept that they couldn’t do it because they were poor. We never accepted that at all. We still held them to high expectations, and every single time they rose to those expectations. So I think that’s one thing that’s so important.

Sam Demma:
For the Canadian folks north of the border, can you explain very briefly what Title I is?

Lisa Dunnigan:
Absolutely. Title I is where your school has more than 75% of students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals. Once you get to that threshold, it’s mandated that your school becomes a Title I school. You receive extra funding from the federal government, and that can go towards resources, tutoring, extra staff, professional development, and parent engagement, which is a mandated part of Title I.

Sam Demma:
I worked with a few Title I schools in New Jersey, and I had such a beautiful time in all of the schools I visited. What you’re sharing about your Title I school even outperforming other non-Title I schools is exceptional. How do you, as an educator, share expectations with a student in a way that pushes them to live up to them?

Lisa Dunnigan:
I think it’s important to expose them to things they’ve never been exposed to, which opens up a whole new world for them. Also, it’s about making sure they understand the expectations at school versus at home. At school, there’s a certain way we do things, and helping them understand that is key. Letting them know that just because they haven’t had certain life experiences yet doesn’t mean they’ll never have them.

Sam Demma:
I’ve never had someone in my life hold me to high standards and expectations without trying my best to fulfill them. I think it’s one of the biggest gifts we can give to young people.

Lisa Dunnigan:
Yeah, I think every single time students will rise to the expectation. Rita Pierson, when she was alive, talked about telling kids they were the smartest in the school, and guess what? They rose to that expectation. There’s so much research that shows the importance of keeping expectations high.

Sam Demma:
When you think about your time in classrooms across the country over the past 30 years in administration, do you remember any stories of students who were really struggling and then grew and flourished over time? Is there a particular story that sticks out in your mind?

Lisa Dunnigan:
Yeah, when I taught fourth grade, classroom management was my jam. Any difficult student would end up in my class because they knew I could handle it. I had a student named Ronald. I remember going home and telling my ex-husband that Ronald needed to come live with us. Ronald’s mom wasn’t present in his life, and the highlight of his year was when she got her income tax refund, and they could stay in a hotel for the weekend.

I developed a relationship with Ronald, and he would do anything I asked him to do. He had a lot of built-up anger, but we talked about it. I was also getting my counseling degree at the time, so I’d practice with Ronald, letting him vent his frustrations. Ronald ended up in the gifted and talented program. I feel like I have to take some credit for that because I poured into him when others couldn’t. I still think about him to this day.

Sam Demma:
What do you think most people misunderstand about challenging students in their classrooms?

Lisa Dunnigan:
I think they forget that sometimes students act out because of academic deficits. Kids would rather be seen as bad than dumb. They don’t care if other kids think they’re bad, but being thought of as dumb is a big deal. Teachers need to understand the root cause of the behavior.

Sam Demma:
Your passion is just exuding through the screen. When you finished your time in classrooms and administration, how long did you wait before starting the Teach Your Heart Out conference company?

Lisa Dunnigan:
We did our first conference in 2018. In 2017, we started The Wright Stuff Chics, which sold t-shirts. I’ve always been an entrepreneur, and I’ve always had more than one thing going on. But in 2015, my daughter Elise was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer. That changed everything. We also started a nonprofit called the Pink Santa Hat Movement, where we send care packages to people battling breast cancer.

Sam Demma:
When do you sleep?

Lisa Dunnigan:
I don’t sleep very much. I had to wake up this morning at 2:50 am, and I had a lot to do today.

Sam Demma:
The work you’re doing and the team you’ve built is incredible. What do you think?

Lisa Dunnigan:
Being an entrepreneur isn’t for the faint of heart. I know what my purpose is and what God has called me to do. People always say, “It’s none of your business what others think of you.” That’s my mantra. I know who I am and whose I am.

Sam Demma:
I can feel your heart in this podcast. The same walls that keep in our emotions also keep out happiness. You’re doing phenomenal work, and if others try to bring you down, you have to empty your backpack and let it go.

Lisa Dunnigan:
We feel a responsibility to help educators, which in turn helps students. Mental health is a huge issue, and the answer is not arming teachers with guns. We need to do something about mental health, and I feel a responsibility toward that.

Sam Demma:
How can educators get involved with the Teach Your Heart Out events?

Lisa Dunnigan:
They can visit our website, teachyourheartout.com. We host events like our summer summit in Ontario, Oregon, and we do Teach Your Heart Out minis, where we come to your school or district.

Sam Demma:
Do you have any last words of wisdom for an educator who might be tuning in, especially those feeling burnt out or losing their sense of purpose?

Lisa Dunnigan:
Focus on things you can control. Don’t spend energy on what you can’t. You can decide if you’ll have a good day or a bad day. Don’t feed into negativity, and think about things that fill your cup, not deplete it.

Sam Demma:
I love it. And that advice is hitting me. I feel like I need to hear that. This has been such a phenomenal conversation. I can’t wait to share it with the world. Lisa, thank you so much for taking the time to come on the show here today.

Sam Demma:
I appreciate it.

Lisa Dunnigan:
Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you for having me, Sam.

Join the Educator Network & Connect with Lisa Dunnigan

The High Performing Educator Podcast was brought to life during the outbreak of COVID-19 to provide you with inspirational stories and practical advice from your colleagues in education.  By tuning in, you will hear the stories and ideas of the world’s brightest and most ambitious educators.  You can expect interviews with Principals, Teachers, Guidance Counsellors, National Student Association, Directors and anybody that works with youth. You can find and listen to all the episodes for free here.

October 15, 2024 by Educator Entrepreneur Executive Director Founder and CEO Student Leadership 0

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