Let me Be Clear: We Need to do PD Differently with Kim Gameroz

0:05 Welcome to Clear is the new Confident. I'm Casey Watts, speaker, author and the host of this show. If we haven't met yet, there was one important thing you need to do, and that is I am completely obsessed with clarity. I've seen too many brilliant women stay silent or feel stuck because they didn't have the tools and strategy to be courageous. If you are ready to stop second guessing yourself, say the things that need to be said, and stand firm in your integrity, you are in the right place. I am on a mission to spread the message that clarity precedes capacity, helping you lead those around you with great courage and confidence. Now, with all of that said, let's dive into today's episode and gain some clarity.

1:06 So here's how today's episode is going to go. I am with Kim Gamerose and we are going to bring some interesting things to the table. We're starting with the phrase, let me be clear, and then Kim is just going to mic drop and we're going to go into like dive into the conversation. Before we get to that, I want you, Kim, to tell everyone a little bit about who you are and the work that you do. That was the best. Well, I'm Kim Cameras. I owned a couple different companies. One celebrate the times where it's a teacher community. It is educators across the country who are feeling abandoned and isolated, living in a silo kind of going who's here to support me. I don't know what I'm doing anymore. And I link arms with them and support them and guide them and hook them up to a community, a herd of educators where they get the coaching that they that they need. We also do teacher retreat and it is, it's, I mean, celebrate good times.

2:08 It really is a good time over there. However, I also have another company teaching inside Out where I work with schools and school districts. I come in and ask them, what have you been doing to support your teachers? What have you been doing to teach kids social emotional learning, executive functioning strategies, good teaching, solid systems, routines, clarity. And I run alongside them. I coach into what's missing at the foundational level. And yeah, it's just two businesses is a lot, but I couldn't imagine doing anything else. And I I was telling you before we started recording, it's also turned into nonprofit work and conference and just continues to get bigger because the people deserve more. They deserve that.

3:00 Yeah. And so I've seen some of your Instagram reels and things when you when you are working in schools, does that often look like you truly diving into the classroom side by side with a teacher, like tagging in and out and having conversations about what's happening? Yeah, so I have one-on-one clients, so they will hire me to come out and I'm with them the entire school day in their classroom and we are teaching together. I might pull out and write down a couple notes and then look at them and say, OK, this is what I want to do, try it. And we'll just stop the kids be like you guys Miss Gamros is here, but like we're doing this together and they're like, OK, the bison later the bison lady, she's here.

3:45 We got we got you. But yes, it is me, you know, sliding down on the ground with the kids. So I love the one-on-one time, but if I'm with a school or a school district, we kind of what I love to do is pull out Casey like a cohort of teachers. We'll kind of talk about systems, we'll talk about language, we'll talk about I'm putting in air quotes, lessons that are missing. And we'll go in, I'll have a group kind of stand at the back of the classroom and then I will go down lower than the teacher and sit on the ground alongside them. And then we'll do it together. And usually that teacher is like, got it going on. I just kind of like put in a little thing, you know, here, there or, or I'll completely take over and be like, OK, hold on, hold on, hold on.

4:34 Let me be clear here, right? But yeah, it's it's the best. I mean, it was just a couple months ago, I was in a kindergarten classroom and a kid like, peeped in their book, you know, and it's like, oh, there you go. You're back in the classroom. It's not like you're not just standing up there doing, you know, conferences and speaking and podcasts, Like, no, you're with the children I'm with. It's the best. It is even with the barf. So fun, now you have kids of your own. Yep, I have a son, middle schooler. OK. OK, oh, middle schooler. Fun stuff. Fun stuff. OK, I'm really excited about our conversation because we're going to just do right off the bat mic drop.

5:15 If you were to finish the phrase, let me be clear. What would it sound like? Let me be clear, we need to do professional development differently. And say it one more time please. Let me be clear, we need to do professional development differently. OK, unpack it. Well, you know, I think back to being a teacher and being forced to write, go to professional development. And while there is nothing wrong with your, you know, PD from your school, your school district, right? You, you sometimes can get some really good stuff, some Nuggets out of it.

5:56 But the amount of times where I would look around and people like wouldn't say hello or you're just going through 100 page slide deck and the the presenter is looking like behind them a greeting off the words or people have their laptops open and they're working on scheduling or emails or whatever it is like that's not it. That is not it. And going to, you know, outside professional development where you're paying hundreds of dollars, you're expecting it to feel different. But again, when you have like, I don't know, the round tables with the tablecloths and the water, the water glass is sitting in front of you, you know, you're laughing because, you know, like, that doesn't feel good. It's like the lighting is weird.

6:41 It's freezing cold. Like, am I really going to do my best development, my best learning in this space? And so that is truly why I know deep in my soul, like Vibe Edu, our conference, we've been calling it an unconference, like literally flipping PD on its head since its conception because it's a beautiful space. There's glass ceilings, there's beautiful lighting, there's flowers, there's rugs and coffee tables and velvet sofas and chairs. And there's no walls and there's no doors separating. People like to be able to really breathe in the space.

7:25 No slide decks, nobody pretending that they've like, got it all going on and you need to listen to me like, no, it's every voice is part of the conversation so that you can get out what you want when you came into the room. So yeah, we need to do it differently. It gets to be better. It gets to be better. We have that choice. We have that option and we're not taking it. OK, so let's back up because I because I'm familiar with you and your work. I see on Instagram all of these posts from your previous conference and I remember last year when you started post was last year the first year. Last year, the first year, OK.

8:07 You posted that in immediately. I remember sending it to a friend and saying this is being done differently and I I have to be a part of this one day. So amazing. Like if you look at the pictures, you see all of the things that you just described. But one of the things that I think stood out to me so much was like the flexible seating. And I told someone, it's almost like you're like, I envision you're going to a cocktail party or a bar and you just get to be like there were there are the casual moments, there are more, the more formal moments where I feel like I've dressed up for this occasion. This is an occasion, this is a memory I'm going to hold on to. And then you also see, especially lately, I've been noticing the picture you're posting because you're getting ready for the one coming up this summer. I've noticed the mic being shared with everyone and it gives me chills.

9:11 So can you paint a deeper picture of that? Just bring some color and life to what I just said. I mean, I love that you said that that's the bison within me. Like I was intentional and you noticed, right? Like that is what I wanted to showcase, especially if people weren't in the room last year, is that it isn't just the speakers holding the mic, right? And so when you walk into that space that there are tray past orders, there's a wine and beer being served and you get a chance to just talk to the speakers. You get signed copies of their books if you want to just it's just easy and mellow and lovely.

9:52 People came in a limo last year. I mean, it was like the best an entire school came in a limo. Like when does that ever happen? But then after that we have, we had like our our keynote to Doctor Richard Warren. He was phenomenal. Just to kind of set the stage. I spoke and then we had our breakout sessions and I told the speakers like, do not plan anything. And of course, their first like time around, they're like, Kim, what do you even mean don't plan anything? I was like, well, wrap your brain around, you know, at your core, your values, what you like to speak about, right? Anchor yourself in your work.

10:32 But I'm really going to pass the mic to everybody there and they're going to ask you anything that's on their heart. And they did. They did the whole entire time. And guess what? Our speakers loved it. And when you listen back, so I've been dropping off on the on my podcast, unleashing the bison just we unlocked the vault. And so you can hear them answering questions directly from the audience. And it's just like, yeah, if you want to leave with action steps, if you want actual solutions, you got to ask the questions. You can't just like, hold it in and then go, oh, well, that was a waste of time. No, no, no, no, no, no. This is not a waste of anybody's time. This is a breath of fresh air.

11:15 And you're going to walk away knowing exactly what to do, to support you, to support your students, to make change, whatever your goal is. That's the session. And you get to walk through sessions like again, because there's no doors, there's no walls, you can kind of hear like people laughing, like downstairs or upstairs. It's just the greatest thing. And then we have our panels also where it's people from the community, it's teachers from New Jersey, South Dakota, Texas, California, Washington, who teachers who are retiring this year, it's their last year. And then teachers who are new teachers who have been only here for a handful of years. And you get to ask them questions too and hear their journey.

11:57 It's just, it's beautiful. It is. It is different. It is different. As it should be. As it should be. How does the conference? What's the title of the conference again? By BDU. By BDU. Yep. How does that connect to the book becoming the bison? So you've mentioned being a bison multiple times, and so for people who aren't familiar with you, they might be like, what? What does she mean by that? Well, becoming the Bison, my book that was just published, we were talking about this just published 2 months ago. It really is all about being intentional so others notice. It's being in control of creating that safe space, that calm space that you wish you had in your home, that you wish that your classroom was, that you wish that your school was like, it's intentional things that you can do to create that, but it's also you can't do that alone.

12:58 You need your herd, You need your people. And bison, they run into storms, cattle, they run away. Bison run into storms. And it's not that we're searching for storms, Casey, because the storms are coming no matter what. They never know what could happen. But you're not meant to do life alone. You're not meant to do work alone. You're not meant to teach or lead alone. And so Vibe Edu was really created to have this in person connection where you can feel your herd. And I think so often there's people who, again, they feel like they're teaching in a silo.

13:39 They close their classroom door and they're lonely. Or they are that leader and they close their office door and they're lonely. And this is a chance for you to actually connect with your people and into the storm together. Yeah, that's a great analogy, great picture. So this conference really is for the teacher, it is for the leader it right? And and so Edu is educators defining unity. And when I think of uniting all voices under one glass ceiling, right, it does include the voices of families, of parents, and especially our neurodivergent community.

14:27 And so I always have, I don't know if you've seen it, but I always have. One of my former students diagnosed with autism. She's going into 11th grade next school year. She speaks at every single one of my events. They started off small and now they're grand. And I have to convince her every year. I'm like, game on, girl, let's do this again. But the reason why is because she does such an incredible job of explaining what it truly is like to live with a brain that makes the social world very tricky to navigate. It's the stuff that when I was her teacher, back when she was in first grade, I didn't understand. I was just like, why are these kids misbehaving? Right?

15:13 Because nobody walks you through what it's really like inside of their brains. And so the psychology brain in me for sure, when there's got to be something more to this, how do I really unlock this? How do I teach into this? And that's the work that I now do. We specialize in kids with autism and ADD and ADHD to support them and support their teachers to understand their brains, to teach into what's lagging. It's not from a slide deck. It's not from a lesson book, it's not from a curriculum. It's real life. And so Lucy, our speaker, my former student, she speaks every single year just about what's been going on in her life.

15:55 And from elementary school through middle school, now through high school. I mean, there's never a dry eye, never. Because teachers and they ask her questions too, Like, what could I do for my students when they feel a certain way, act a certain way? Like, what would I do in that situation? And she will sit there alongside her mother and who will help guide her to be very clear with her responses. And every single time there are teachers, I mean, you'll, you'll see in videos just wiping away. Are you crying right now? I know. Yes, I know. Yes. I know, I know. It's needed. It's needed differently, differently. I can't I I have way too many directions that I would love to go with this.

16:41 What when you were writing the book, Just talk, talk us through the process of that. Like what? What is it? Because you had your first by BDU conference before the book came out, Had you already started writing it or were there? Tell us about that. Yeah. So six years ago, I was living in Southern California and I was working at my former school district and I thought I had my dream job. I mean, I was supporting our entire district, 18 elementary schools, 7 middle schools, 4 high schools, all the teachers. I was like getting on the ground with them. I was loving it. And with COVID, that changed everything.

17:22 And so we moved out to Texas where I decided, OK, I'm going to start these companies. I'm going to do this on my own. I know that I can over and over and over and I can do it better and more intentional. And so I was also, though, I mean, I was heading into the storm, but I was also mourning the loss of everything that had already happened, right? And so I poured my heart and my soul out onto the keyboard. I mean, I, it was like a diary and I kind of walked through as far back as even started college where I was like, help me, what am I doing here? Like what am I doing on this earth? What am I doing for my career?

18:02 I have no idea. And so that's really where it started. And then I want to say 3 1/2 years later, I had about 40,000 words and I went to Dave Burgess and I was like, we got to talk because I have a book for you. And I'd already seen transformation and we had like bison classrooms. Kids were like, I'm a bison, right? the IT was already like happening. I was like, oh, I mean, it's more than just my story. This is all across the country. So you got to publish this. And he well, the team went through the very first version and came back to me, Casey, and said, you got about 10,000 words that we're going to keep the 30,000 have got to go. So figure this out.

18:53 So when you say heading into a storm, I will. Oh, so you don't you don't want all of that. OK, great. So it was a moment for me to go. What do I really want people to know? How can they really become the bison? What is this book? And one night shortly after, a few days after, I woke up at like 3:00 AM and I had it all. And I was like, Oh my God. So from 3:00 AM until three PMI did not stop typing. I laid everything out and I met with my editor and I was like, Sal, His name is Sal in in New York. I was like, I've got this, I've got this. Here it is.

19:34 And he goes, Kim, this is it. And so Fast forward, yeah, March 2nd of 2026, it was International SEL Day is when it was published, is out there in the world. And it's been a wild past two months. It's been absolutely incredible to unite the people together around this. I mean it when you say social emotional learning, it's such a buzzword and it kills me. But I'm hoping that with this book, people realize it starts with you, all of this. It starts with you. Yeah, tell the story that you told before we started recording about the new teacher getting the book.

20:14 So with my community, I told them I was like, you guys, your stories are in this book like our stories are in this book. It's it's your book as much as in mine. And also if you go on Amazon, like they're going to read your words before they ever open up that book and read my words. So it just became such a moment of let's really unite our people together. Let's build our herd very intentionally. And so they were gifting this book to their people, right? The ones that needed it, the the lonely teacher, the teachers who's crying after school, the teacher who they feel like just needs to know you're not alone, right? I mean, at the back of the book, it says for the teachers who stay late and care too much, like that's what this book is for.

21:00 And so I had a teacher who she had a student teacher and she was like, I'm going to gift to her, but I'm going to keep it and I'm going to present it to her at a staff meeting in front of everybody. And so she tells the story about how she stood up there and told her entire staff how her student teacher is such a bison and whatever else she ended up saying. And the student teacher was sat there and was crying. And that is so special to be able to gift this book to somebody and have them cry because they feel like they're worthy. To have it like you're, you're part of this.

21:41 You're worthy. I see you. I hear you. Come here. Let me support you. That's what this book is. It's amazing. And we talked before the show Star. We we had some good conversation before the show. We should have started recording earlier, but we talked a little bit. One of the things that you mentioned, and it didn't really have too much to do with the book itself, but we talked a little bit about I'm paraphrasing collaboration versus competition. And I want to know your thoughts on where you see that competition playing out, how it's impacting our our herd and what what we do to prevent ourselves from moving into competition over collaboration.

22:32 I mean, my community stands for connection plus collaboration without competition. Like that is like our mantra. Everybody knows that. And I think the reason why actually, I'm going to rephrase that. I know the reason why I said without competition is because I have felt that my whole journey, ever since I was a little girl growing up in the dance world, getting to college, also trying to be a professional dancer, then going into education, working your way up to a district, now working in business. I feel like that is a storm Casey that I have run into over and over and over again.

23:19 And instead of dimming your light, you realize that it truly is a let them and let me, right? I mean, Mel Robbins, thank you for that. Because I'm going to continue on this journey. I'm going to stay in my lane because the herd needs me. I met with a woman who actually, I was talking about you when I met with her. We need to bringing the herd together. FYI, she is a politician out here in Texas. And we got together because we were talking about how can we do this? How can we create this herd out here in McKinney where I am. And I looked at her and I was like, you know what? I'm just so sick of the ego that gets in the way of women in leadership.

24:12 And she looks at me. She's about, I want to say mid 70s. She looks at me and we had like we're at Starbucks, right. So we have got like our iced tea or coffee. She goes, if I had a cocktail, I would cheers you. I would like girl cheers me anyway. But it was it was a moment where I was like, I'm not alone in that. That isn't, that isn't a storm that I've had to go through and I'm the only one. She has been through this also. And I think it is the ego that gets in the way. It is the, oh, we haven't done things this way. This feels rocky. I feel like I have to let go of something or control right? And it's really, really difficult. That is something I've walked through over and over again and I hate it.

24:58 But it's it's a storm I will continue to walk through because there's more work to be done. Yeah, yeah, I just wrote down Ego. So there's a there's a section in my book that I will be writing about. And I didn't write it about it. I don't know that I wrote about it at all in the first book. But just thinking about that, climbing the ladder and taking that ladder and let's lay it down and let's think about how are we growing in different ways at each rung of the ladder and understanding that you could move in any direction because guess what? The ladder, What happens when you get to the top? Does my life drastically change? Does the lives of others drastically change? Does my retirement and the way that I look back on the impact that I had, does that change with every single position? No.

25:48 And what's interesting, Kim. So I've been interviewing all of these different women in preparation for crafting this book. And one of my questions at the end is when you look back on your life, what do you hope that people say about you? Like, what do you want your legacy to be? And every single person usually pauses and they sit back and it is almost like a weight is lifted off off of them because they start to say, I want people to say I cared. I want people to say that I loved them. I want people to say that I supported them every single time.

26:30 Their response has to do with the impact they made on other people and and they real they they say. And that that that doesn't require a specific position, that doesn't require a title. It just requires me to live in my values, to stand firm in my integrity, and really and truly to stop second guessing myself. I. Was thinking like it also isn't about like the the next milestone that you hit. It isn't about that either. Like I even had a former colleague of mine, she messaged me when the book came out and was like, it must feel so incredible. This has been a dream of yours, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, no, this wasn't the dream. Like it's incredible.

27:16 And I'm so grateful and so excited for what's going to happen with other people because it'll be in their hands. But like it isn't about me. Like I'm, I'm already on to the 20th other thing that I like need to do because there's something in my soul that tells me, Kim, you have to the people need this, right? And I think when you said, what do you want your legacy to be? What do you want people to remember about you? I was thinking that I see you and I will connect you to your people and I value you and look, I'm going to pull you forward where you need to be. That's what it is, right? I think, yeah, it's it's about the impact, isn't about the stuff.

27:58 It isn't about the like I am the CEO and founder. Pretty soon I'm going to have my own nonprofit. Like that stuff seems weird to say. It seems really odd. It does. I'm like, I'm just Kim Gameros and I'm trying to support educators. I'm trying to empower them and equip them with the strategies, tools, common language that they need to survive, thrive and live in this world without feeling drained at the end. That's what I want. Yeah, Mic Drop, we started with, let me be clear. And you said we need to do professional development differently based on everything that we've talked about.

28:44 Is there anything else that you would say, like just kind of considering our conversation and your book and the stories that are in it? Is there are are there any other phrases that come to mind when we say, let me be clear, how do you want to end this episode? I think when I think of professional development, when I think of good coaching, right when you were just talking, I was just thinking of good coaching or talking about that in the classroom. It needs to feel like a deep exhale, not like something more added to my plate. And I think in order to do that, you really need to run alongside people, right? It that ego, you got to leave it at the door.

29:26 You got to come down on the carpet with the barf. Like you have to be able to truly see somebody experience their world and give them their next best steps very clearly, right? It isn't this whole PowerPoint. It isn't this fluff and stuff. It doesn't need to be like anything extra. It just needs to be real and it needs to feel good. And I think may be clear, right? That's what it needs to be. I love it so much. OK, for next steps, how can somebody find you? Yeah, so on Instagram at Kim Gameros or Teaching Inside Out, that's like the conference and the coaching and schools and districts and stuff like that. But if you are just needing inspiration, motivation, teacher, community, all of that Kim Gameros and then teachingandsetout.com has everything. It has the conference, it has coaching, it has community, it has podcasts.

30:24 So yeah, go pick your pick your pathway, right? Yeah. I think we have everybody listening. They have to just know you're not meant to do this alone. You aren't. And you need to find your herd. Yeah, and you guys can find the book on Amazon, correct? Yes, probably on the website too. Yep. Yeah, and all of that will be included in the show notes. So guys, so if you're like I'm driving, I can't get to that right now. Just know it's going to be there. So when you get to a point, just make yourself a little reminder when you get to a point where you can look into it, dive into the show notes and and dive into everything that Kim just shared. OK, I love this so much. Kim, thank you so much for being on the show clear as the new confident. I feel more confident after having this conversation. I don't know about you.

31:10 I love. It. Yeah. OK guys, we will catch you in the next episode. Thanks, Kim, for coming on. Hey listener, I am so honored that you listen to today's episode and I hope you gained something valuable from it. I'd also be honored if you did ME3 solid favors. First, subscribe to this show. I've got a lot of great content coming up, and I don't want you to miss any of it. Second, be sure you're following me on social media platforms. You can find me at. Catch up with Casey on LinkedIn or Instagram. And finally, if you were looking to book a dynamic and relatable speaker for your next event, conference, or retreat, I would love to bring a message about how the crash of clarity makes a significant impact on both leadership and life. Until next time, always remember dirty receives capacity.