Why Are We Struggling? The Truth About Education Today

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Hello, and welcome to this episode of your ultimate life Life.

The podcast is dedicated to one thing, and that's to help you create a life that you love.

A life of purpose, prosperity, and joy by serving with the gifts and life experience that you have today.

I'm grateful to have Trish Wilkinson as a guest.

Welcome to the show, Trish.

Hi.

I'm excited to be here.

I love this podcast.

I mean, I've listened to a whole bunch of episodes and I thought, I get to be a guest on this podcast.

I feel very grateful and privileged.

Well, I'm grateful and privileged to have you here.

One of the things that I think is, you know, we were just talking beforehand about the, the journey each, each person has.

And some people are overcome by their journeys and they're destroyed and others, you know, things happen to them and instead of ruining them that they let those things refine them.

And how we got where we are to having a passion and a story and I know your passion will explore as we go along is really the, the blessing that we have to offer others how we got there, because people see us at the top of something and they think, ooh, that's cool, but I could never do that.

And they don't know how you got there.

And that, that sharing of that is so powerful.

It's literally the power that we have.

Anyway, so the first question I want to ask you as we start is I don't want you to be bashful at all.

I want you to be open and effusive, as it were.

And I want you to tell us how Trish is adding good to the world.

Well, so I'm on a mission, actually, Kellen.

I want to hear all about it.

So I'm on a mission to restore joy in education and improve kids learning because we just got another, we being the United States just got another set of scores out.

You know, the, the scores that they take the standardized tests and they're the lowest in math and reading ever.

And it's been, we've been really struggling.

And some schools, you know, it depends on the school and the area and all of those things, but some schools are.

So some are doing better than others.

But right now, overall as a country, we're really struggling.

It was, we were struggling before COVID then Covid hit.

And now it's worse than ever.

Even though we're working on things like social and emotional learning and trying to understand where kids are and helping them develop the social skills and manage their emotions and develop empathy and all those kinds of things.

But teachers don't have time for a whole new curriculum.

They already didn't have time in their schedules to do all the other things that they're asked to do by administrators.

So I want to ask you something.

I want you.

Keep going.

Just put a comma right there.

Okay.

How.

How do we compare?

You said it's the lowest it's been in forever.

How do we compare with other countries, European countries or Scandinavian countries?

How do we compare with those?

In those same.

Are the scores such that they're comparable?

How do you.

How do we tell.

So we're not taking the same tests all over the world so we can kind of, you know, look at their scores and what's on their test versus our scores and what's on our tests?

It's not exactly comparing apples and oranges.

I mean, it's kind of comparing apples and oranges, but at least it's all fruit, if that makes sense.

Yeah, it does.

And that's a good way to say it.

So.

So.

And.

And we are not, in our country, not doing as well as, you know, places in Europe and various other places.

So I thought that.

And I want you.

I'm going on a thread here, and I want you to come with me.

And that is.

I thought I.

I made that up.

I didn't know that.

I thought that might be true.

And you said, you know, they're trying to have all these curriculums of emotional wellness and these skills and that skills.

Do those schools in Europe that we're comparing to, do they teach all that stuff?

So they teach a certain amount of it.

They call it social hygiene or social and emotional hygiene, something like that.

And my daughter taught English in Cali, Columbia, for six months.

And when she was in the schools there, they actually have a curriculum that they work on social and emotional hygiene.

So they're doing that in other countries.

But I feel like in our country, we've gotten so into, you know, off on tangents as to, you know, who's what gender and how people identify and all kinds of all kinds of other things.

And the bottom line is we just want people to be empathetic and care about other people.

So.

So that was my question.

That was my thread.

The thread was, we're not doing so well in the world.

I realize there's some apples and oranges, they do some of what we do, but not enough.

We've got a bunch of tangents that it seems like we're going on.

And so my fundamental question that made me wander down that thread is if we suck, why do we suck?

I mean, we have technology, we have wealth, we have all this, why are we, why are we struggling?

And I realize that teachers are overwhelmed and you're going to talk more about that later in terms of implementing what you want to help them understand.

But why are we struggling so much?

You know, to me.

So here's a little anecdotal experience, okay?

So I approached a school district and said, look, I have these five brain friendly practices that we could do in the classroom.

That we could do exactly what I'm talking about.

Create the environment for social and emotional learning kids, you know, restore joy and education for both kids and teachers because they know the kids are stressed out, the teachers are stressed out.

And we've had this, these studies because all the five practices are science based.

And the reason I just discovered them is because I was teaching at the same school where my children were going to school in elementary school.

And my kids, my own children, I felt like they were failing.

I had one kid who was super anxious all the time.

She wet her pants a lot.

We had to have, you know, into second and third grade, we had to just bring extra clothes to school for her because she just was having such a hard time functioning.

And then my, my other daughter had attention issues and auditory processing issues.

And, you know, so here I'm supposed to be an expert with kids and my own are just not doing so well.

So I thought, I, I have to figure this out.

So I talked to, you know, I talked to their pediatrician first.

I read all these books and articles and studies and you know, I talked to a neurologist and psychologists and you get the idea.

I just went on this quest.

I was like, I gotta help these kids.

These are my own kids.

And my husband was like, okay, you're doing all this stuff for everybody else's kids, but ours are really struggling and you're the expert, I don't really know what to do.

And I was just like, I'm having a hard time figuring that out myself.

So, so basically I did a lot of these things with my own children and it worked really well.

Our younger daughter stopped wetting her pants.

She developed confidence.

She actually graduated valedictorian in her high school in an international baccalaureate program.

Wow.

And the, the other daughter ended up doing way better.

And, and she's a very successful software engineer now, which if you'd have told me my kids would be so successful, I would have laughed.

I would have said, well, I hope you're right because, because that's not how things were going at the time.

So when we were talking earlier and you were saying, you know, your own story, there's a reason that we get to where we are.

But the, but the thing that happened after that is I was like, you know, if this stuff works so well for my own children, maybe it'll work in my classroom.

And so I just plugged in these five brain friendly practices into my classroom and just amazing, amazing things happen.

So we started, I started with the question, how are you adding good to the world?

And you started telling me about these practices.

And then I took us off on a tangent about how come our school system's in so much trouble.

I think we're asking teachers to do so many things and, and there's been so much technology that's been taking the place of, of human communication and we're figuring, and a lot of this technology in the last, you know, couple of generations, it's still fairly new, even though it's so much a part of our lives.

Like, you know, look how we're talking now, right?

And even having a meeting and looking at each other, I mean, on the podcast they don't see that.

But the point is, is we have this technology now where we can do all kinds of things that we weren't able to do before.

But now society is adjusting.

How are we, how do we engage kids?

Like people are always saying things about gen Zers, you know, Generation Z, how they don't have an attention span and they, you know, just all these disparaging things, they, they don't.

Anyway, the point is gen zers just don't have the patience to do things that in their opinion don't have a purpose if they don't have a why, if they don't have a reason for doing so.

One of the practices is to help kids tell them what they're going to learn, put it into an AI because you know, ChatGPT or you know, whatever you're using and say, how can an 8 year old child use elapsed time in their life if that's a math concept or how can a 15 year old use this geometric concept in their life and it'll spit out all of this stuff and the kids look at it and go, oh my gosh, I can use this in all these ways, and then we say, yeah, pick a couple of them.

And, you know, that resonate with you.

Start asking questions in your mind like, you know, what would this look like if I was doing this in my life?

And be thinking about that as you're learning this material, it, it just turns it all upside down.

I mean, the, the teachers who are doing this, and for me, myself, I used to feel like Sisyphus, you know, rolling the rock up the hill, trying to get the kids engaged.

And then the next thing I knew is rolling back on top of my head, right?

You know, they're all staring out the window and so.

Yeah, but again, helping them define a purpose for what they're learning and how they're going to use it.

I, I just don't even have to think about engagement anymore.

They're engaged because they have a reason.

They know the why we're not teaching things out of context anymore because they have a purpose for learning it.

And then there's a couple of really good things I want to, I'm sticking in here.

There's a couple of really good things.

One is the shift to the context.

Meaning you're saying at least that group must have a reason or it's.

They don't have, they don't have patience for it.

And that probably comes to some degree from the immediacy of technology and everything else.

And that's a very interesting thing.

And then the outcome of that is as soon as they have it, then the engagement happens of itself.

So I want you to tell me, I want you to tell us the five brain friendly practices.

Tell me what they are that changes the world, changes the game, changes in the classroom.

What are they?

So the first one is we give kids five.

Well, if they're elementary school, we can give them 10 minutes of exercise and last them all day.

You know, we used to walk to school or ride our bikes or whatever.

Now we drop the kids off, they take the bus, right?

So basically they're coming to school and their, their brains are asleep.

But you can't do that in middle school or high school.

You only have the kids for like 50 minutes, unless you're doing block scheduling.

So.

So I have them do it for like 90 seconds if they want to spend a little longer than they can, but even 90 seconds of exercise.

And I have all kinds of fun little things that they can do with kids, all kinds of movement that they can do with kids to just raise their heartbeat enough so that the oxygen gets to their brain, all the chemicals start, you know, Start moving the way they're supposed to.

In their brain, their electrons start.

Or their electrons.

They're.

Neurons start firing.

Neurons.

There we go.

Yeah, the neurons.

So that their neural pathways are all firing.

So it gets their brains in gear and think about it even.

And usually the movement is a little bit silly.

So in the beginning they're like, I'm not going to do this.

And then everyone else is doing it, and so they start doing it.

And there's this mirror neuron thing that happens.

So the teacher is doing it, so they're doing it.

And.

And a lot of it has to do with the, you know, with the teachers.

Well, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that.

A teacher told me, and I said, so, do you want your kids engaged?

I mean, I get that it's uncomfortable, but, you know, doing something that might make you a little uncomfortable or think of things that you'll feel more comfortable doing.

If you don't like that idea for doing that particular physical exercise, let's think of some things that'll work for you that you'll feel comfortable doing.

Wake up.

Wake up.

The body, whether it's 10 minutes or 90 seconds depends on context and who you're doing and everything.

But wake up and get stuff moving.

All right, what's number two?

Number two is water.

So our brains are 73% water.

And most kids come to school of all ages dehydrated.

So one of the reasons we eat breakfast and the things kids eat for breakfast, sometimes they come, you know, without any food in their bellies.

Sometimes they've just had an energy drink.

They need water.

There is no substitute for water.

So I have them all bring their own personalized water bottle with their name on it to school.

And they get a couple of swigs of water before they start.

Because a lot of times when kids complain about headaches or they're tired or they have a stomachache or any of those things, a lot of them are just signs of dehydration.

And if we can just give kids not so much that they're running to the bathroom every five minutes.

Because I made that mistake when I first started doing it.

I imagine you did.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I started it with fourth grade, and they were so excited about being able to have a water bottle and drinking it all the time.

They.

They were just running the.

But we worked that out within the first week.

I said, okay, we gotta modify this.

And I had the kids help me.

So what does that look like?

So, but so now it's just okay, everybody take a couple of swigs of water.

You know, not too much.

We, you know, you know what we're talking about here.

So they just take a couple of swigs of water and I can't even tell you the difference.

Just a little bit of water makes.

It's crazy.

Wow.

But it, so, but it's how our brains work.

Yeah, 73%.

Yeah, I didn't know that.

So.

All right, one, two, at move, wake up, have a little water.

Keep your brain, you know, hydrated.

And what's number three?

Number three is we play a little brain game because we never know where, how kids come into the classroom.

And the cool thing about the brain games is that like, for example, one of the things I love to do is play with them.

Add a move, and we also do like, add a sound.

I make a move, then we make the same move and a kid makes another move.

Then we make another move and we keep adding moves.

Because one of the things that does is it improves working memory, which is executive brain function.

Right.

But the other thing it does is if the kid just had somebody say something mean to them in the hallway, or they got in trouble that morning, or they had a fight with their big sister or whatever the case may be, they come in from all kinds of different situations.

And what happens is, is when they're focused on a little game like that, and all these little games are funny, so it just allows them to relax.

It takes at least 90 seconds to work through the cortisol, the stress hormone in your brain and replace it with dopamine and other happy hormones.

And so we just play a 90 second brain game and then we take three deep breaths, because those deep breaths are a trigger.

Because after you've been doing this for a while, then they know, oh, we're getting into learning.

So what we've done, and I call these first three practices, we prepare kids brains for learning.

So elementary school, they'll do it.

If they do 10 minutes of exercise, it's 14 minutes.

If they do it in middle or high school, it's four minutes because they're only doing 90 seconds of exercise and they're.

And then they're taking a swig of water and they're doing 90 seconds of a brain game and then the deep breaths.

So it's super practical.

And that four minutes saves so much time because their brains are ready to go.

I believe you.

You know, I.

People talk about that.

And I, you know, you and I have talked before, or at least I've talked about it in places where you've been about morning rituals and how we prepare ourselves for the day.

And mine's long, two and a half hours.

And people say I don't have that kind of time.

And the answer is, creates five hours.

Exactly.

So, exactly, you know, whatever.

So I can't, I love this.

Keep going.

What's number four?

So you've prepared my brain for learning, then what?

So it's prepare, purpose, process.

So the next thing we do is we get the beginning of the week, we give kids a purpose for what they're going to be learning.

So at middle school or high school, they know basically what they're going to be covering in that subject.

So if they're teaching a concept in math or they're, they're teaching about a period in social studies or if they're reading something, you get the idea in elementary school.

Elementary school they learn to do it, you know, much quicker because they're teaching a lot of subjects.

So they do this several times, maybe on a Monday, but then they don't do it again until Friday.

And what happens when we give kids a pregnancy purpose for their learning?

Eliminate.

So when I was doing it, when I first started doing this, we didn't have any AI, so we had to come up, I had to look things up ahead of time.

I would ask the kids what they thought, we'd brainstorm.

It took way longer, but now it takes like five minutes because now we just use like Chat GBT or one of the other AIs and we say how can an 8 year old third grader or 8 or 9 year old third grader use this particular math concept in their life?

Or we're, we're reading this story because Chat GBT has everything, right?

So we're reading this story and it has these themes and a lot of times you know, Chat GPT will know, you know, they'll even be familiar with the story.

How can an 8 year old student, a 6 year old student, 12 year old student, however old the kid is, use this, the concepts in this story in their lives and it'll just spit out 10, 10 ways it does that.

And I love that.

I'll, I use that too.

I'm not going to describe it because it'll just take too long, but I do.

So number five, so you gave them a purpose, you prepared the brain, you gave him a purpose.

I want to say one more thing about purpose because this is really important.

All right.

They have to look at the list and they have to choose what resonates with them.

We can't say, see all these great things it does for you.

We need to take the extra two minutes to say, let's go over the list and.

And you write down in your journal what resonates with you, what is important to you.

How do you think you might use this in your life and know that throughout the week you may spark something else and think, oh, now this is my purpose.

Your purpose might change, but what's really important for you to do is know what we're going to be learning and then have a reason to learn it.

You have your why.

That's your purpose.

Because think about how much better our lives are when we have purpose, no matter what we're doing.

So I wanted to say that before we moved on, because this is a really important step.

Yeah, it is.

Thank you.

So number five.

Number five is process.

So at the end of the week, we talk about, you know, it's thinking about thinking.

Right.

At the.

At the end of the week, we allow their brains an opportunity to process what they learned.

And I just would set the timer, and they would write in their journal.

Okay, we, you know, for this story that we've learned, what have you learned?

And how do you think you can use those concepts in your life?

Here's the timer.

I'm setting it for five minutes.

Ready, go.

And they write for five minutes.

And then.

And you have to modify it for different age groups.

And, you know, I get all that, but for the sake of the podcast, so.

So they write in a journal, and then the timer goes off, and then they get a partner.

And I would encourage them to get different partners each time.

And so they're sharing what they learned and how they're going to use it.

And I would hear in the classroom at first, in the beginning, I would hear, oh, my gosh, I didn't even think of that.

I'm going to put that in my journal.

And then another kid would say, hey, you can't use that.

That was my idea.

And I'd say, wait, so you don't want to be a leader?

And they'd say, what do you mean?

And I'd say, that's literally what being a leader is.

Somebody sees what you're doing, they see something, and they go, wow, that's awesome.

I want to do that, too.

And that's exactly what being a leader is.

And they're like, oh, yeah, okay, you can put that in your journal.

And I say, I would encourage all of you that if you hear something that you didn't think of to Put in your journal, definitely add it.

Because our world.

Would you agree that our world needs some good leaders?

And they're like, oh, yeah.

And I'd say, okay, well, so let's have everyone in this classroom be a good leader, come up with good ideas that people want to follow that.

That people can hang on to, that you can contribute to other people.

So then they start doing this.

So those are the five practices, and here's the magic.

You ready?

Yes.

Give me the magic.

So when they've been doing this for a few weeks, like the third or fourth week, I have the teachers and what I did is start handing it off to the kids.

So in the beginning, does it take a little longer because you're planning it, it's something new.

Yeah.

But then you start handing it off to the kids.

So it's a student who leads the physical exercise, and it's a student who leads, you know, reminding everybody to get a drink of water.

They lead the brain game.

They lead coming up with a purpose.

They put the information into.

Into an AI and they come up, you know, they have it come up on the screen because they have these big screens in the classrooms now.

And they come up on the big screen, it all, you know, spits it out, and they can read it all.

And they're the ones that are running it.

And then it's a student that runs the process.

Okay, everybody, we're gonna do.

We're gonna process what we learned about this and this subject, whatever they're doing this week.

So everybody get out your journals.

They lead it, and we let them know, guys, we really need your support.

And you start with your gregarious, really outgoing kids.

And you say, make sure you're really kind to the people who are up here leading it.

Because everyone in here gets a turn to do every one of these practices.

And then I would have kids design a chart for who gets to do it, what date, and when they're going to do it.

And if somebody's anxious about it, they can work with each other on.

On being anxious.

How can you feel about it?

And we work on.

Like, that's one of the things about the breathing, the brain games, that kind of stuff.

So it's.

So it's all it.

The social and emotional learning is embedded with the academic learning.

Well, certainly, because they're leading it.

So that's fabulous.

So I'm really excited.

That's when the magic happens.

Because just consider.

Because at first, you know, they can, you know, they can tease each other a little.

And I'll say, okay, you gotta know what comes around goes around.

You're gonna have a turn to do this.

Do you want people to get.

And they're like, oh, never mind.

Good job.

Right, right, right, right.

And, well, and the other thing is then the gregarious kids have been up.

A real shy kid comes up.

They're nervous as heck.

They come up and the.

And the kids go, I know, I was nervous too.

You can totally do this.

So it becomes this very supportive, amazing environment.

And.

And the first year I did this, I did it with a really rough class that I was like, oh, my gosh, I don't know how I'm going to get through this school year.

I don't know how I'm going to get through this week, much less the school year.

And it ended up, you know, we ended up getting the highest scores and in the school for our grade level.

And the following year when I did this in sixth grade, we got the highest scores in the district.

And it wasn't me that I'm so amazing.

That's why I'm teaching other people to do it.

So thank you.

I think.

I know it took some minutes to do all that.

I'm really grateful because what occurs to me is, yeah, you're putting that in as a practice for school, but it's also a practice for anyone and everyone because our brain's still.

The brain.

Processing.

Still processing.

Having a purpose is still having a purpose.

So I want you.

Exactly.

So I want to know how you told me a little bit like, you had your own kids and they were having trouble and you figured this stuff out so that it would work for them and then for your own class, and that worked.

What is it?

I mean, now your kids are grown up and they're all successful and you win.

So what is it that's in Trisha's heart that makes her now an evangelist that is committed to helping other people learn this.

Like, why is that so important in your heart?

Because I see so many people suffering.

We are losing so many teachers who are just exhausted and overwhelmed and feeling like I can't get these kids engaged.

And.

And kids are so anxious and, and.

And the thing is, is these are such simple processes.

Like, we look at this pro.

These problems that we're having in education, not just here in the United States.

It's happening all over the place because I do a lot of international stuff.

So it's not just the United States.

It's happening everywhere.

And we look at this as, like, almost like it's an Insurmountable problem.

And it's not.

And it's actually, you know.

And are these only these five practices the only things that we need to do?

Well, maybe not the only things, but if everybody's doing these five practices, oh my gosh, what a difference it would make.

And then there are other things to add to it.

So.

So my passion is we don't need to be in the state we're in, in this, in this country, in this world, as far as education, people can learn to be problem solvers again.

People can learn to, to instead of living out of fear, you know, we talk, we hear about the, the polls between love and fear.

Right?

Yeah.

And we can operate a lot more out of love if we take a lot of the fear away.

And, and these practices, that's what it helps them do.

It helps the kids build self confidence.

They start working together and becoming a community.

It's what, what's burning in my heart is.

I feel like this is a program, a problem that we can solve.

We can improve communication and we can improve education all over the planet, and we can use the technology in a positive way that instead of separating us, it can bring us together, you know, just like using it for purpose.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And so I know that you have been on a mission to get it in school districts, and you've told me before that, that, you know, teachers are overwhelmed and they have too many things and they can't.

Can't do it.

So tell me a little bit about your journey, where you are now in terms of initial places, in terms of some beta testing, you know, to get some kind of rollout, like what kind of things are happening and does the recent, any of the recent political changes matter to you or is that indifferent?

What's been your journey to get this in?

And I know there's been a lot of frustration, but talk a little bit about that, because here's why I want that.

I don't want the story of woe.

Although it might sound like that sometimes.

I want to highlight your own personal determination and commitment to make this happen.

Because the idea of creating your ultimate life of purpose, prosperity and joy is founded on a willingness to persevere and to do hard stuff and to keep going because nobody ever fell up the mountain.

So tell me a little bit about.

That journey because no one ever fell up the mountain.

Yeah, that gravity thing just really gets in the way.

Yeah.

So.

Well, I'm in the process of that right now, truthfully.

I'm doing the second cohort with a Handful of teachers.

And I'm actually working with co homeschooling parents as well, because homeschooling parents are having trouble with education, keeping their kids engaged just like everyone else.

So I really am looking at.

Look, however kids are getting educated, I.

I don't have any.

You know, some people are against charter schools, some people are.

Again, you know, there are all these opinions about all these things.

For me, I just want teachers, educators, whether they're parents or, you know, teachers at a charter, at a.

I've worked with teachers at charter schools, private schools, public schools, wherever, all age groups now, elementary, middle school and high school.

And we've had to modify the practices somewhat for age groups, but it's pretty universal that, wow, this, you're right.

This, this really works.

What's really been difficult for me is teachers are so overwhelmed.

They're just like, I can't do one more thing.

And I just say to them, oh my gosh, this will save you so much time and you'll feel so much better.

But, but they are, they feel like they're just maxed out, that they don't have any more to give, and they feel like learning something new would be one more thing.

So I'm.

And I will tell you, I've almost quit this lots of times.

I mean, and every time something else will happen, I'll go.

And it's like the universe is laughing at me going, you're not getting out of this.

So.

Because it is really hard, and I feel like I've done all this work.

I have made very little money doing it, but it's a labor of love for me.

So, you know, I really want to see education improved.

I.

I mean, I want teachers to go back to where I started.

When I first started teaching, I was like, oh my gosh, they're paying me for this.

This is so much fun.

And I felt like that in the beginning because I bring in my guitar and my rhythm instruments.

I taught a bunch of stuff with, you know, music and, you know, I'd make up songs, they'd make up songs.

So my little kids, when I taught first grade, it was a great way for them to learn to read.

It was a great way for my second language students who were learning English to learn English.

And, and I love music, so.

So I was just like, I can't believe they're paying me for this.

But then I too was just like, you know, they pile more and more and more on that teachers have to do it.

It's exhausting.

And I thought, I don't know.

And then it came to a head when I had this really difficult fourth grade class and I thought, I don't know what I'm going to do.

And then I started plugging these things and went, holy mackerel, this is ridiculous.

So, I mean, my passion in doing all this is that I know it's surmountable.

I know that it can work, but it is hard.

I'm in my second cohort and I only have a handful of teachers that I'm working with right now.

And I really am looking for a school.

I feel like once I get a school, I talk to the administrator, I talk to the teachers, tell them what's expected in the fall and really get them going and excited about it and show them that it's a lot easier than they think it would be and that it's going to take them less time, not more.

And then they get to enjoy their jobs again and they're.

And they increase their scores and, you know, just all of that, because I feel like the community of a whole school doing this stuff together would also create just amazing miracles rather than just having teachers here and there.

But I haven't been able to find that yet.

I'm looking.

Yeah.

I want to know people that are listening.

I want to.

I want two things from you now.

And that is where.

Where can someone go right now to whether they're a homeschooling parent listening to this or a person that's affiliated with education in some way.

Where can they go to read more about this, your website, or some explanation of this?

Do you have a place where they can go and take a look and learn a little bit?

Yes.

So they can go to the brainstages.com and go to the Empowered School tab.

It's called the Empowered School Project.

Okay.

That is thebrainstages.com and the empowered School Project.

And, you know, I've had the.

The privilege of having, you know, conversations with you about this and hearing some of this, although I'd never heard you describe the five things like you did this time.

And I'm excited for it, too.

And I.

I have this, this sort of foreboding sense about, you know, this thing we call education that isn't very functional now, and I'm not even involved in it, but I just have this feeling and I love the idea of returning some joy and some fun.

And my sister taught second grade for 20 years before she went back and got her PhD and then ended up teaching at university.

But, you know, she did a lot of Things in music and stuff.

But that was years ago, and it doesn't feel like that kind of stuff.

You know, that spontaneity or anything gets to happen anymore.

Am I nuts or is that real?

I think it depends on the teacher.

I know teachers, like, even this is a story.

So at one point I had to.

Our school district said that teachers had to write the standards on the board for what they were teaching that day.

And, you know, I always had pretty good scores, and a lot of it was because I taught with other modalities like art and music and whatever.

But.

So the principal would do a walkthrough and he'd say, I don't see your standards on the board.

And I'd say, so what do you want me to cut out?

Like, I help with the running club, you know, I listed all the things I do in the school.

Yeah.

And.

And I said, so what would you like me to do to cut out so that I can take the time to make sure that I get the standards up there for, you know, for what I'm teaching?

Because I already do this purpose thing that has meaning for the kids much more than the standard, you know, the jargon basically, that the standards use.

Right.

So what was the answer?

And he said, actually, I would like you to keep doing what you're doing.

And, and let's.

I said, and you know what?

Just look at my scores at the end of the year, and if you're not happy, then we can have another discussion.

I don't want to be insubordinate or, you know, difficult in any way, but I can't take any more time from my family.

I just.

There has to be a boundary there.

So.

So he said, well, okay, we'll see what happens.

And by.

By mid year, he was having all these people marching through my classroom to see what I was doing because I was doing the practices right.

And so they would watch what I was doing.

Different people from different, you know, newer teachers from different schools, administrators, you know, I love it.

So I want to ask you one.

One final, final thing.

Two final things, actually.

One is, I want.

I understand the brain stages and empowered schools.

Great.

If someone wants to find out more about.

See, I've.

I've heard your journey now, and we talked in the beginning about the.

How you got where you are is the most important thing.

And I'm fascinated.

And so you said, well, gee, I don't have much of a story.

And I.

I would just flat out disagree.

So if somebody wants to know a little bit more about You.

Is there any place that that's available, or do you.

Are you only the school lady?

Like, how can we find out more about how you got where?

I'm not sure.

I mean, I haven't written a book on that.

I mean, I wrote Brain Stages, how to Raise Smart, Confident Kids and have Fun Doing It.

And in there, there are quote unquote, real deal stories that talk about several experiences.

We have the name of that book.

Again, slower, because I want everybody to be able to hear that.

Okay.

It's called Brain Stages, how to Raise Smart, Confident Kids and have Fun Doing It.

I believe raising kids and educating kids should be fun.

So it's basically, this is kind of where your child's brain development is at this age, although all kids are different, obviously, but.

And this is kind of where they are socially at this age.

And this is what they're supposed to learn in this grade.

Kindergarten through five.

It's.

It's kindergarten through fifth grade.

And here are a whole bunch of fun games to play to make sure they get the need, their needs met, no matter what's going on at school.

And a lot of teachers actually use that book because it has, you know, if they have kids who are having trouble learning something or they just want to change it up a little bit or whatever, and they're teaching a certain concept, then they'll play the games that are in the book because they don't require a lot of equipment or any of that kind of stuff.

And it's just fun.

There's nutrition stuff.

So if they want to find out about me, there are several quote, unquote, real deal stories in there.

And then there's more information, like, about me stuff on.

On my website.

All right, good.

Thank you.

So the last question is, what didn't I ask you that you want people to know?

I'm not exactly sure how to answer that.

What didn't you ask?

I don't know, because I feel like the most important message that I want people to get from this is if you are feeling upset about what's going on in our world right now, I want you to know that we have the tools, the technology, the research, all that stuff.

We have everything we need to recreate what's going on in our world.

And like you said, like the five practices, I've had dads come up to me after parent presentations because I don't just do this for schools.

I also do it for parents.

And he said, you know, I have my own business, and I did this stuff with my staff.

Oh, my gosh, I can't believe the difference, he said.

I can sure see how this works for kids.

I can totally get on board with that.

So I want to thank you, Trish, for being here with us today, for being open and fun and making this a joyful and educating experience for me and for everybody.

Thank you.

Well, thanks for having me.

I this is my passion, so I love to talk about it.

I want to encourage all of you to listen again, whether you're a kid, whether you're an adult, and to think about these Preparation is so important.

Understanding your purpose and processing what you have learned, no matter what it's from, from a difficult experience or from anything, is so powerful and is right in line with everything that we talk about here.

To create your ultimate life.

Never hold back and you'll never ask why.

Open your heart in this time around, right here, right now, your opportunity for mass and growth is right in front of you.

Every episode gives you practical tips and practices that will change everything.

If you want to know more, go to kellenfluekegermedia.com if you want more free tools, go here.

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