Jan. 20, 2025

Episode 14: From the Classroom to Princfluencer: The Principal Mo Story!

Fan Mail! Can social media actually transform the way school principals connect with their communities? Join us as we uncover the remarkable journey of Principal Mo, a trailblazer in educational leadership, who is redefining what it means to be a school principal in the digital age. With prestigious accolades like the 2020 Heart of Schools Award and the Maryland Association of Elementary Schools Connected School Leader Award under her belt, Principal Mo shares her incredible path from teacher...

Fan Mail!

Can social media actually transform the way school principals connect with their communities? Join us as we uncover the remarkable journey of Principal Mo, a trailblazer in educational leadership, who is redefining what it means to be a school principal in the digital age. With prestigious accolades like the 2020 Heart of Schools Award and the Maryland Association of Elementary Schools Connected School Leader Award under her belt, Principal Mo shares her incredible path from teacher to award-winning leader, and how she uses platforms like TikTok to engage and inspire. Her innovative approach offers a fresh perspective on integrating technology and social media to build vibrant and inclusive school communities.

We explore the exciting intersection of technology and education through Principal Mo's visionary use of AI to enhance decision-making and reduce administrative burdens. Imagine a world where school leaders focus more on people than paperwork! Principal Mo reveals how AI tools like ChatGPT and Canva's AI features can transform everyday educational tasks, freeing up time for creativity and personal interaction. We also discuss how her unique hobbies, including DJing and sneaker collecting, contribute to her dynamic leadership style, bringing a sense of balance and energy to her role.

Principal Mo’s story is one of unconventional thinking and bold leadership. We delve into her philosophy of challenging traditional educational practices and embracing risk to foster a more dynamic learning environment. By leveraging the strengths of her staff and taking cues from students, she creates a culture of innovation and inclusion. Principal Mo's journey is not just about leading schools; it's about revolutionizing them. Tune in to discover how you, too, can break away from conventional methods and join a movement of educational leaders dedicated to making a real difference.

Like Deion Sanders, Principal Mo "Ain't Hard to Find"! Follow her on Tik Tok, Instagram, X, Threads, Linked In, and Blue Sky. Simply Search, @principal_mo or Principal_Mo. Principal Mo's New Website!

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00:00 - Educational Leadership Journey

16:55 - Navigating Social Media as a Principal

25:46 - Hobbies, Leadership, and AI in Education

31:22 - Maximizing AI Tools in Education

42:20 - Embracing Unconventional Educational Leadership

WEBVTT

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Hey there, educational leaders, I am so excited to bring you guys this episode, this episode.

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I got to sit down with an award-winning educator, a nationally certified principal mentor and a bona fide trailblazer in the world of educational leadership.

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She has over 15 years of experience.

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She's done it from you, you know teaching, special education, school administration.

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She's done it at all these different levels and she's had a lot of innovation and heart.

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That's second to none.

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Yes, I'm talking about the famous Principal Mo today on our podcast.

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So excited, she's also racked up some serious hardware.

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She was named the 2020 Heart of Schools Award Honoree and earning the Maryland Association of Elementary Schools Connected School Leader Award for her cutting-edge leadership.

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Let's not forget, principal Mo is the mastermind behind transformative initiatives like accelerated learning, gifted and talented programming, arts integration and STEM education.

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You know, if it's making waves in education, you bet Principal Mo is at the forefront of it all.

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But this is where things get really exciting.

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Throughout our episode, we talked about a lot of her educational leadership kind of how she sees educational leadership, but she also talks about bringing in artificial intelligence into school leadership, how she can use AI to empower educators, to harness cutting edge tech to streamline operations and to make smarter decisions.

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So she gives a lot of great insights about that today in this episode.

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And let's not forget Principal Mo is an outstanding leader and she's committed to equality and inclusion.

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She believes that all students can learn and achieve and she spends her career building supportive, inspiring school communities that reflect that.

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Did I mention that she's a TikTok sensation?

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Yeah, that's right.

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She connects with educators and parents and students in a whole new level, being creative with humor.

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Insights on the social media world that's right.

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We have the one and only Principal Mo here on the Educational Leadership Podcast, so sit back.

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I hope you guys really enjoy the conversation as much as I did.

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All right, everybody, this is Principal JL Today.

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I'm really excited to have Principal Mo in the building today.

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We're actually on a restream here that we're recording, and so welcome Principal Mo to the podcast.

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Thank you for having me.

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All right, principal Mo, we're going to get things rocking here.

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Why education?

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Why step into this wonderful, beautiful, messy world of education and what?

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inspires you to become a teacher.

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Well, it wasn't so messy when I joined and you know, in yesteryear it wasn't such a bad place to be.

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But when I got my start in education I've actually been working with children as long as I've been working so it was a natural progression for me to go from a camp counselor to working at church and Sunday schools and things of that nature, to progress naturally in the teaching.

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I remember going to my college orientation and trying to figure out well actually open house and trying to figure out what well actually open house and trying to figure out what my major would be.

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Initially I wanted to possibly go into psychology, but then I saw how long I was going to have to go to school and I knew I still wanted to work with children.

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So I chose to pursue a teaching degree at Temple University and I came out duly certified with a bachelor's in special education and elementary education.

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Awesome, awesome.

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So you started as a teacher.

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How long were you a teacher?

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I was a teacher for four years in Philadelphia and then I moved to Maryland and I was a teacher for two years there.

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Awesome, your next step was going from teacher to becoming an assistant principal.

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What kind of led up to that?

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What kind of go?

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Hmm, I want to go from the classroom into what people like to call the dark side of administration and get into becoming an assistant principal.

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What kind of led into that for you?

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I think it was like an unintended step, because what initially occurred was that I pursued my master's degree when I was teaching in Philadelphia and initially I was only getting the master's degree for a pay bump right, you know to go on the scale a bit.

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And when I pursued my master's degree for a pay bump right you know to go on the scale a bit.

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And when I pursued my master's degree, initially I was only going for curriculum and instruction and special education supervisor, because at the time I was a special education teacher.

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The advisor advised me to pursue educational leadership because it was only, I think, like six more credits to get the degree and to get an additional endorsement in administration, although I had no desire to move in that direction.

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When I moved to Maryland, I actually got a pink slip in the state of Pennsylvania and from Philadelphia because they were downsizing the teaching force because it was a tumultuous time in terms of having more educators than needed to land.

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There are a lot of colleges, especially in the Philadelphia area, so it was an oversaturation of teachers, so that resulted in layoffs.

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So I ended up in Maryland my special education department chair.

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She actually encouraged me to have the district looking to my endorsements and see if I was eligible to actually become an administrator, because she felt that I would be good for the position.

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She felt that, given my knowledge with special education and elementary education, that I would be a good administrator.

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Initially I told her I thought that that wasn't a good idea and that I didn't think that that's what I really wanted to do.

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I really always wanted to be a teacher.

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I always wanted to be in the classroom.

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That was where my heart was.

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That little nudge led me to being a special ed department chair for about a good three months and then being thrown into an assistant principal position.

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It's been a unique journey, but it's the one that I would be on and it was definitely one that has been rewarding.

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Awesome, Awesome.

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So it's kind of one of those things you weren't looking for, but it found.

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You is kind of how that worked out.

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How long were you an assistant principal from that time?

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Oh yeah, were you an assistant principal from that time?

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Oh yeah, I was an assistant principal for four years at a middle high school, so I went from elementary and middle to middle, then to middle high school, which was fun.

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It was an interesting experience.

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So you got to see everything K-12, basically, from teaching the assistant principal.

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So you got a really good grasp of the different levels and kind of what you see and kind of how you lead in those different capacities.

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So that's really interesting.

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So you're an assistant principal.

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You've done it for about four years.

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What kind of go.

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I want to take that next step to becoming a building lead.

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You know what was the story behind taking that next step in your educational journey.

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Well, jl, one thing that you will notice is an ongoing trend and theme in my story and my journey to the principalship is that I didn't want to be a principal either.

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So once again, it was another nudge.

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I was an assistant principal.

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I was in my second year as an AP my original assistant superintendent.

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He approached me.

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He said I think, you know, there's going to be some principal ships coming up and I think you're really ready for it.

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At the time I was pregnant with twins oh boy and yeah.

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And so I was like no, I don't think this is a great idea.

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I'm one that's all about balance.

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And so I was like you know, I'm due in June and you want me to start a new principal shit.

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I'm going to be coming fresh off maternity leave and going into a personal position.

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I just don't think that that's a wise move for myself and my family, you know.

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So I said you know I'll continue to learn, I'll continue to grow and then, if the opportunity presents itself, then you know I'll pursue it.

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But I did go through the principal pool, like you know the performance at Tassin Center and all of that and I passed.

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But then I got into a program called Promising Principals here in Maryland.

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It was a program, a principal preparation program for assistant principals and expiring school leaders.

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My mentor at the time and my coach during the program, she said hey, I know a little school that I think you might be interested in leading.

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Do you want?

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Are you interested?

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And so, leading, do you want, are you interested?

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And so I said you know, it doesn't hurt to explore and take a look.

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It was in a different district than the one I was currently in.

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So you know, I visited the school.

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I talked to some of the people because I wanted to just really see what it's like.

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Once I did that, I took one step in the building that I am in today and I said this feels like home and it feels like where I should be.

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Then I started to see how things could look in the building, how things could improve, how we could expand, and once I started having that vision for a building that I didn't even leave yet, I knew I needed to be there and that's how I ended up as a principal.

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I've been a principal at my school now for eight years and this school is pre-K through eight, so I have been a building leader in pre-K through 12.

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So that type of insight that's really helpful in terms of knowing what's next for students.

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So knowing what's next for my middle schoolers who are going to high school and even beyond, in making sure they have, you know, the necessary preparation and understanding of what's required for them to go into high school, and then also talking to them about what college could potentially look like, I think sometimes people don't really realize that in, you know, in middle school is the real preparation for life, although it's a really squirrely time for kids.

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But you know when you go to high school and what you do in high school dictates what you do after high school.

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So you know those decisions kind of have to be made early and I don't think a lot of people realize that.

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And I always try to, like you know, drill it into my parents and my families and my students that you know this is an important time in your life and you really need to learn and take advantage of that.

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Yeah, you bet I remember I was a 7-12 principal one time and I really focused on that middle age, that 7th, 8th grade age, because I knew if I got where I needed them to go, I knew they would be successful in high school.

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If I got where I needed them to go, I knew they would be successful in the high school.

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You know, that's really awesome that you are taking the time to make sure that those kids are ready to take those next steps.

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So, because when you get in the high school, everything starts to count even more.

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So you got to get them ready, get them rocking for that.

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You know, going from teacher, going from assistant principal, Now you're a building leader.

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You've been now, you've been doing it for eight years.

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But within that time you went from leading a building, which you still do, to becoming a TikTok sensation, a Prince fluencer.

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What kind of like led you to that?

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Like, what, what?

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What was the encouragement to be like?

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You know what I'm going to hit record, I'm going to do these videos and you know what.

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What led you up to that?

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Honestly, what led up to that was when I started my TikTok account.

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I started my TikTok account with the intention of reaching my students.

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I knew that they were on TikTok, I knew it was a new application, that they were on TikTok.

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I knew it was a new application and I'm the type of person I'll try.

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I will try a new.

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I will try a new you know app or a new social media site, just to see what it's like and to see if I like it.

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So I, you know, I just hopped on the bandwagon and initially I made public service announcements or PSAs, for my students about, like, doing their work, logging on to virtual learning, you know, just all these things and infusing my level of humor into it.

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I eventually grew this like huge following that I didn't even expect to get, but it turned out that I had a community of people who were in the same boat as me.

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I was very vulnerable about what it was like being a building leader during the pandemic and the significant changes that we experienced, how it impacted education.

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You know how I dealt with humor and you know and how you know, even like you know, the mental health side of things.

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And then, after amassing somewhat of a following and just making you know content that I thought that people would want to see.

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Then there will be, like brands and different people reaching out to me and then I was like wait a minute.

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I said I thought only teachers could be, like you know, influencers.

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And so now I'm like a print influencer.

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You know I try to influence.

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You know, as a leader, you're always trying to influence people.

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But now it's a little more intentional in terms of, like you know, getting people to learn about different things, whether it's, you know, learning about hiring.

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Like you know, I did a series about how you need to Interview, tips on how to get into the assistant principal position.

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You know any aspiring leaders.

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So doing those videos and just helping other people in my TikTok community and in my social media community has been truly a rewarding experience, knowing that I'm helping someone else.

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So I have to know what has been the funniest or the most surprising reaction you got from students, other teachers, parents when you kind of got into this TikTok adventure uh, so for students, it was one day I'm in the cafeteria as I do, I'm, you know, in the cafeteria just doing one studio, and then one kid yells out principal worth, you're tiktok famous.

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You know that.

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Right, and I was like what?

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Because one thing that I sometimes don't pay attention to is that, even though I'm making these videos and like people viewing them, people have to realize people are viewing them, so people are seeing what I'm doing.

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And then even some of my parents, my parents, were telling other parents about my TikTok account and they follow me.

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If I would go live, sometimes the parents would ask me questions.

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It was just a really unique and authentic way to really connect with my community, my school community, my parents.

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They love my account apparently.

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So you know, I get a lot of positive feedback.

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They like it when I incorporate the students.

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I just started a social, a solid social media team where we make regular content for the school and they, they really embrace it.

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So it's really nice to be in that type of community where it's embraced, because I know that's not the case everywhere.

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So, but that's been, it's been a really unique experience and it's a lane that a lot of people aren't in and it's also rewarding to be kind of at the forefront of something and to be able to help other people and kind of lift as I climb.

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So what would you tell somebody like maybe a principal that's in our position, you know the utilization of social media Because you know we hear from, like our district office, like well, you got to be careful with that.

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Yeah, you know you don't want to go too far, you know what I mean.

00:16:24.447 --> 00:16:27.918
So what kind of advice would you give somebody that's a principal in our position that's thinking about you know what I think?

00:16:27.918 --> 00:16:34.735
Maybe getting into social media and utilizing that to leverage to connect with my families, with my students?

00:16:34.735 --> 00:16:36.446
What advice would you give them?

00:16:37.788 --> 00:16:41.918
So the first thing is that you have to figure out what your personal brand is going to be.

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My personal brand is I say I'm nicheless most of the time, but there are certain rules that I follow.

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The first thing is that I don't post anything that's negative.

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There is no profanity and even in the songs that I use there's no profanity.

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I don't use profanity.

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Make certain that everything that I do online is palatable for the youngest child in my building.

00:17:08.529 --> 00:17:10.473
That makes sense, oh yeah.

00:17:10.473 --> 00:17:20.566
The second rule that I have is that if I do make a video, I don't want to press post immediately and it gives me any type of pause for concern.

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I don't post it.

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So just making sure that, like you know, if every time you make a video, you always think about your audience, how is your audience going to receive this?

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How are they going to interact with it?

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How are they going to react with it?

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And even from the youngest child in your building to you know your parents and things like that, because once again, they see social media.

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You know that content does get pushed out to them and somebody will see it.

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You just have to be mindful of what it is that you're posting.

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Oh no, it's also a good thing to have a little fun, but you always just want to make sure that you're adhering to your district guidelines and things like that.

00:17:59.612 --> 00:18:01.958
But that's how I've built my personal brand.

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The internet is that you know most of my content.

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Even if it's humorous, it's not offensive, because a lot of times jokes can be offensive to specific groups of people.

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You know no discriminatory jokes, you know, just just those things are just making sure that things are done in good taste is really important.

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Also, being careful about, like you know, having students in your you know, in your content and in your videos.

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You know, making sure that you have parental consent.

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Like you know, I have a social media team and like they're in the videos.

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But the parents know they're well informed, they consent to it.

00:18:31.790 --> 00:18:34.964
The school consent forms are not your consent forms.

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Like, you need to make sure that you're talking to your families about that.

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Those are all very important things, just making sure your T's are crossed and your I's are dotted in that specific realm.

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But, you know, also showcasing that you're having fun, your day-to-day life as a principal, as a leader, your thoughts and ideas, just making sure that they align with, once again, your district guidelines and things like that, making sure that they align with, once again, your district guidelines and things like that.

00:19:01.005 --> 00:19:12.247
So, I think, just making sure that your personal brand, if you are going to go into this realm where you are posting as a principal, there's still a level of, there's still that morality clause.

00:19:12.247 --> 00:19:17.627
Whether it's spoken or unspoken, that's there and you need to abide by it, and I think that that's really important.

00:19:17.627 --> 00:19:34.597
And if you're showcasing yourself in your personal life, just making sure that that's copacetic and okay and, once again, palatable for your wide audience that you either have or will amass after you know, creating enough content.

00:19:34.659 --> 00:19:35.682
Really good advice.

00:19:35.682 --> 00:19:42.955
I really appreciate your insight on that, someone that has actually kind of been through the ropes and done all those things.

00:19:42.955 --> 00:19:50.395
You know, sometimes with social media there's some negative aspects and sometimes you may have some negative comments.

00:19:50.395 --> 00:19:54.979
Kind of tell us about how you handle when you have those negative things.

00:19:54.979 --> 00:19:59.375
I know you have a lot of positive things, but there are those negative things that do happen on social media.

00:19:59.375 --> 00:20:03.536
How do you, how do you handle those those type of situations?

00:20:04.965 --> 00:20:09.857
One thing that I have done is, you know, sometimes you just have to ignore those comments.

00:20:09.857 --> 00:20:19.817
A lot of times I just respond Thanks for the engagement Because at the end of the day, whether you receive a positive comment or a negative one, it counts for engagement on your posts.

00:20:19.817 --> 00:20:24.067
Yeah, so I just say thanks for the engagement because either way, you supported me.

00:20:24.067 --> 00:20:27.134
That's one of my go-to responses.

00:20:27.134 --> 00:20:46.614
If it's something that's disrespectful in nature, I will address it, because I think that when people talk to each other on the internet, there's no way that you would say that to someone's face, and I think that it's really important to let somebody know that you have boundaries about how people speak to you and how people interact with you.

00:20:46.614 --> 00:20:49.329
So I'll kind of let them know that I didn't like what they said.

00:20:49.932 --> 00:20:53.048
And you know, at the end of the day, you don't have to interact with my content.

00:20:53.048 --> 00:20:54.913
You don't have to say anything to me, you know.

00:20:54.913 --> 00:21:03.411
Like you know, just feel free to block me if that is, you know, if I'm bothering you that much.

00:21:03.411 --> 00:21:07.445
So you know, I've let people know that I don't think there's anything wrong with establishing boundaries and then sticking to those boundaries and enforcing them.

00:21:07.445 --> 00:21:13.258
I think it's a fine line when you start to jab back, and that's not what you should do.

00:21:13.258 --> 00:21:15.428
You should just let people know that these are your boundaries.

00:21:15.428 --> 00:21:21.358
Like you know, I tell people all the time I'm all for discourse, but not disrespect, you bet.

00:21:21.358 --> 00:21:24.391
And so we can have differing opinions.

00:21:24.391 --> 00:21:27.877
We can engage in discourse without being disrespectful to one another.

00:21:27.877 --> 00:21:37.967
You know, and I always say I'm happy to talk with you, I'm happy to you know, converse, but you know, if it gets to a point where it's disrespectful, then we have to discontinue the conversation.

00:21:37.987 --> 00:21:41.669
But you know, if it gets to a point where it's disrespectful, then we have to discontinue the conversation.

00:21:41.669 --> 00:21:43.209
All right, well, we're going to go ahead and pivot a little bit.

00:21:43.209 --> 00:21:45.390
Being a principal, being on TikTok is fun and everything.

00:21:45.390 --> 00:21:48.711
But let's talk about managing the stress of the job.

00:21:48.711 --> 00:21:50.232
You have a hard day.

00:21:50.232 --> 00:21:52.534
You're triage, we triage all the time.

00:21:52.534 --> 00:21:55.474
Right, we have the copiers breaking down.

00:21:55.474 --> 00:22:00.156
We have, you know, if you have an assistant principal, we have an assistant principal going.

00:22:00.156 --> 00:22:01.337
Hey, we have this situation.

00:22:01.337 --> 00:22:03.878
We need to kind of come together on this.

00:22:03.878 --> 00:22:05.199
You have a teacher reaching out.

00:22:05.199 --> 00:22:07.660
You have all these things coming at you.

00:22:07.660 --> 00:22:13.242
At the end of the day, what do you do to kind of manage the stress of the job?

00:22:13.242 --> 00:22:14.644
You know what are some.

00:22:14.644 --> 00:22:17.946
Do you have, like, some fun things?

00:22:17.946 --> 00:22:23.075
You like to do some ways to kind of decompress and kind of uh, you know, get yourself back.

00:22:23.075 --> 00:22:24.637
You know to yourself.

00:22:24.637 --> 00:22:27.488
So you're, you know, not letting the stress go home with you.

00:22:27.488 --> 00:22:28.911
How do you manage those things?

00:22:30.934 --> 00:22:54.338
uh well, there's some things that I do, but like in terms of just like managing the stress from day to day, if I reflect, like on my car ride home and stuff like that, sometimes, if it's a bad day like there's like my car ride is pretty quiet, thinking about what happened in me, thinking about what happened I acknowledge what happened, but I try not to like wallow in it.

00:22:54.338 --> 00:23:01.807
Also, what I ask myself is what do I need to do to make sure that I never have this type of day again?

00:23:01.807 --> 00:23:07.028
Like you know what was preventable, what was in my locus of control, what was I able to do to?

00:23:07.028 --> 00:23:11.337
What am I able to do to move forward and not have this type of day again?

00:23:11.337 --> 00:23:13.067
Like, do I need to re-examine systems?

00:23:13.067 --> 00:23:17.415
Do I need to re-examine, you know, responses to certain situations?

00:23:17.415 --> 00:23:21.630
That's one of the things that I do do, a few outlets that I have.

00:23:21.630 --> 00:23:22.994
I do know how to DJ.

00:23:22.994 --> 00:23:28.875
I learned how to DJ in the pandemic, so that is a creative outlet for me.

00:23:28.875 --> 00:23:30.873
I like to do a lot of creative things.

00:23:31.424 --> 00:23:35.352
So you have like a turntable yes, like a turntable, and everything.

00:23:36.065 --> 00:23:37.992
Yes, I have all my equipment.

00:23:37.992 --> 00:23:42.869
I used to DJ on TikTok every now and again too.

00:23:42.869 --> 00:23:47.117
Oh, wow, um, yeah, and like the parents as soon as um, yeah, so I like.

00:23:47.117 --> 00:23:48.846
So that's one thing that I really enjoy.

00:23:48.846 --> 00:23:52.515
It's a good outlet for me because I really do love and enjoy music.

00:23:52.515 --> 00:23:55.165
So that's one thing that I do.

00:23:55.165 --> 00:24:10.642
Um, another thing I do I I think most educators do this they talk to their spouses and then, like you know, god bless my husband, god bless the spouse of educators, because I know they get an earful almost every day about different things that happen in our daily lives.

00:24:29.810 --> 00:24:55.339
And so and he's learned not to always offer up a solution, like sometimes he knows that I've already got the solution I just that it's really easy to allow the negative things in your daily work to kind of cloud your brain and to consume most of your thoughts, when you should really be thinking about, like, the small positives and the small ones that you had, you know, and just always trying to push through with that positivity.

00:24:55.339 --> 00:25:05.563
Because, at the end of the day, if you allow those negative thoughts and you allow that negativity to really cloud your mind and you know your thoughts, they feed off your energy.

00:25:05.563 --> 00:25:09.479
You know you set the tone as the school leader in your building.

00:25:09.479 --> 00:25:14.438
It's the type of energy that's in your building and the type of energy that people receive.

00:25:14.438 --> 00:25:24.075
So it's really important to always try to really rise above and combat that negativity, because at the end of the day, you don't want to become the source of toxicity.

00:25:24.797 --> 00:25:25.499
Yeah, awesome.

00:25:25.499 --> 00:25:36.970
That's a great insight there on how to manage some stress and kind of get yourself not to think of you know we're gonna have negative things, but to kind of get yourself to where you know what this happened.

00:25:36.970 --> 00:25:37.932
We're gonna move on.

00:25:37.932 --> 00:25:40.017
We're make a negative into a positive.

00:25:40.017 --> 00:25:43.996
Learn from it, move, learn and grow, um, as you go through this.

00:25:43.996 --> 00:25:46.123
So that's some great insight there.

00:25:46.123 --> 00:25:50.713
And so, principal though, what do you like to do, fuck?

00:25:52.135 --> 00:25:53.337
Oh well, I think I told you one.

00:25:53.337 --> 00:25:53.858
Yeah, yeah, djing.

00:25:53.858 --> 00:26:03.018
I am a collector of many different things, thanks to being neurodivergent.

00:26:03.018 --> 00:26:21.801
I collect sneakers and I have a huge collection of sneakers that I have collected over the years and now it's getting to the point where it's like, okay, I need to stop, because what's happening is the shoes that I have now they're being re-released, so that's how I know like I need to like and getting on getting shoes.

00:26:21.801 --> 00:26:26.310
I've been collecting shoes for a good bit um, for over, I want to say like around 15 years.

00:26:26.310 --> 00:26:27.174
I've been collecting shoes.

00:26:27.174 --> 00:26:31.059
That's been a long-term hobby of mine.

00:26:31.059 --> 00:26:36.873
I recently got into perfumes and fragrances.

00:26:36.893 --> 00:26:41.403
Uh, I, like you know, spending time with my friends and we talk about like all kinds of things.

00:26:41.403 --> 00:26:44.115
One of my hobbies is actually social media.

00:26:44.115 --> 00:26:45.500
I really do enjoy it.

00:26:45.500 --> 00:26:51.603
I enjoy talking to people, I enjoy building community in different capacities and I just enjoy.

00:26:51.603 --> 00:26:54.811
I just enjoy different communities.

00:26:54.811 --> 00:26:58.530
Like I have a lot of different communities, especially around the hobbies that I engage in.

00:26:58.530 --> 00:27:02.618
I enjoy event planning, oddly enough.

00:27:02.618 --> 00:27:12.683
So, like the logistical pieces of my job lend me really well for an event planner yeah, you bet yeah and hosting like different events about different things.

00:27:12.683 --> 00:27:21.597
So those are the things that I'm like into, and I do some crafting here and there too, you know, and I like to watch movies and TV shows.

00:27:21.597 --> 00:27:27.715
I'm a I'm a really big action person, like action films and suspense.

00:27:29.240 --> 00:27:30.001
What's your favorite?

00:27:30.001 --> 00:27:31.594
What's your favorite action movie?

00:27:34.662 --> 00:27:40.506
Right now I would say the Equalizer series or even the Taken series.

00:27:40.506 --> 00:27:43.618
Those are really really good, like a one-man show.

00:27:43.618 --> 00:27:46.695
Take it what, take it later, you bet.

00:27:48.871 --> 00:27:49.954
I really enjoy those.

00:27:49.954 --> 00:27:51.078
I will find you.

00:27:51.078 --> 00:27:55.499
Yes, we'll see you, those are good ones.

00:27:55.499 --> 00:27:56.862
Those are good ones for sure.

00:27:56.862 --> 00:28:04.223
Let's kind of turn the page to the future of leadership, the future of educational leadership.

00:28:04.223 --> 00:28:11.881
Where do you find technology, especially with the AI, really kind of exploding now?

00:28:11.881 --> 00:28:18.621
Where do you see that for educational leaders and how do you think that's going to impact what we do?

00:28:20.111 --> 00:28:28.182
I hope it alleviates what the kind of the busy work that we do is leaders, because that's what I've been using it for mostly.

00:28:28.182 --> 00:28:43.901
You know, composing letters, helping provide teachers with feedback or developing coaching questions, being a thought partner around a problem, analyzing data Like these are all great ways to use AI to kind of save time.

00:28:43.901 --> 00:28:51.515
So then, that way and I always say, you know, focus on the people and not the paperwork, because at the end of the day, you know, our main priority should be the people in our building.

00:28:51.515 --> 00:28:54.200
But that's what, that's what I hope it does.

00:28:54.200 --> 00:29:11.420
I know, like you know, I think it was like in the UK there was like a like an AI quote principle unquote which I know that scared a lot of people, but I thought it was pretty cool and I thought that was like you know, maybe we could have this type of technology that could actually help us.

00:29:11.420 --> 00:29:15.589
But I think people don't understand about AI is that AI is artificial.

00:29:15.589 --> 00:29:18.259
Intelligence needs a human to function.

00:29:18.259 --> 00:29:22.981
It needs somebody to ask it what to do and to prompt it and to provide queries.

00:29:22.981 --> 00:29:25.999
It can't function, essentially, without a prompt.

00:29:25.999 --> 00:29:29.496
Whenever you ask it, it'll do, but it won't do anything without you.

00:29:29.496 --> 00:29:35.723
But I think that the people who embrace it now will be far better off than those who are scared of it.

00:29:35.723 --> 00:29:37.688
Now, what I liken it to?

00:29:37.868 --> 00:30:15.859
And I think you and I have both lived through this era in the initial new information age, when we transitioned from having commercial like, having like to do research in books and libraries, and then internet, yeah, I remember, yeah, so you know, librarians were freaking out because, as jesus and altavista was around, and so I think that's what's happening with type, like technology it was, it was this big boom and it was a huge change in a shift, whereas now, like you know, the internet has not replaced a librarian and that's what librarians thought was going to happen to them and their jobs is that it was going to replace them.

00:30:15.880 --> 00:30:27.330
It's like no, actually the librarian teaches people how to use the internet, yeah, and, and they teach you how to reset research using the internet, and you know they teach all these other classes using the internet.

00:30:27.330 --> 00:30:37.345
I think that if we use it as a, you know, if we see it as using a tool and not something that's going to eliminate positions or eliminate jobs, I know that's like the biggest thing that they see.

00:30:37.345 --> 00:30:43.020
There is no way like artificial intelligence is intelligent as it could be, couldn't even do this job.

00:30:43.643 --> 00:30:49.517
Yeah, no, they're not being replaced, they're not being replaced at all.

00:30:50.510 --> 00:30:53.299
I think that that's what that's what a future really is.

00:30:53.299 --> 00:31:08.085
It's like if you could just have like an AI assistant just even just to go through your emails and like automatically reply, like you know, to accept certain calendar invites, to see if somebody can reschedule, to just schedule out some things that you know you need to happen.

00:31:08.085 --> 00:31:13.122
You know, like those are very minor things that we spend a lot of time on you need to happen.

00:31:13.122 --> 00:31:20.114
You know, like those are very minor things that we spend a lot of time on, we're prioritizing which emails to read first.

00:31:20.114 --> 00:31:23.564
You know, like that, just those things you know based on the immediate need, or you know things that are due sooner than others.

00:31:23.564 --> 00:31:26.814
I think that AI could be a really great tool for that.

00:31:26.814 --> 00:31:27.997
It is a great tool.

00:31:27.997 --> 00:31:34.057
I think that it, like I said, the sooner that people embrace it, the better off the thing will be.

00:31:35.320 --> 00:31:36.083
Awesome, Awesome.

00:31:36.083 --> 00:31:36.570
What's your?

00:31:36.570 --> 00:31:41.583
Do you have some favorite AI platforms that you like to use the most?

00:31:42.690 --> 00:31:45.512
So, yes, I do so, I actually use.

00:31:45.512 --> 00:31:48.121
I've been using ChatGPT since it was in beta testing.

00:31:48.121 --> 00:31:51.137
That's been since 20, what 2022?

00:31:51.137 --> 00:31:59.261
Yeah, so I've been using it for a good bit and had been working with it, and then, when it transitioned to paid, I paid for it.

00:31:59.261 --> 00:32:01.673
So I was like this is a really helpful tool.

00:32:01.673 --> 00:32:06.569
I've used the AI features, and the AI features in Canva have been really helpful.

00:32:06.569 --> 00:32:13.574
Some other cool tools that are out there are Notebook LM, and I think that's really great for principals.

00:32:14.394 --> 00:32:22.958
That platform helps you consume large amounts of information in a palatable way.

00:32:22.958 --> 00:32:29.320
Like some ways is that you could just ask it a question and it'll find the text that'll answer your question.

00:32:29.320 --> 00:32:31.842
Find the text that'll answer your question.

00:32:31.842 --> 00:32:36.463
So say, for example, like you know, I don't know if your teachers are unionized, but we have a contract.

00:32:36.463 --> 00:32:45.548
It's hundreds and hundreds of pages and then before you had to do control F planning time, and then find all the different excerpts about planning time.

00:32:45.548 --> 00:32:56.318
Whereas with notebook LN, I can go in how much planning time is required for this type of teacher and it'll extract all the information, and it took a second, whereas before it took about 10 to 15 minutes.

00:32:56.318 --> 00:32:58.397
So it's cutting your time down significantly.

00:32:59.171 --> 00:33:10.296
It can also take lengthy documents and turn it into a podcast and it'll have like two people like you and I telling us about, like, the content of the document, which is also really cool.

00:33:10.296 --> 00:33:16.355
So if, like you have a long commute, you could listen to that Like instead of, like you know, taking the extra time to read it.

00:33:16.355 --> 00:33:18.255
That's another one.

00:33:18.255 --> 00:33:19.997
I could talk about AI all day.

00:33:19.997 --> 00:33:28.954
You can be here for two hours, yeah, and every day I learn about a different tool and how to use it.

00:33:28.954 --> 00:33:32.278
But, like chat, chat GPT is a big one.

00:33:32.278 --> 00:33:36.500
Notebook LM has been really helpful in just like helping my daily work.

00:33:36.500 --> 00:33:56.609
Something that I like to do for fun is I like to use Dolly, and that is a I using a Africa to generate pictures and words, and Sora S O R A, which is a application where you could generate videos from words okay oh, wow, two, two really cool apps.

00:33:56.630 --> 00:33:56.911
Yeah.

00:33:56.911 --> 00:34:00.196
So, and what I like to do is I like I call it ai stacking.

00:34:00.196 --> 00:34:12.739
Sometimes I will do a prompt and chat gpt and then take that answer from that prompt and like put it in, maybe tesora, to like kind of beef up my vocabulary and imagery around something that I want to see.

00:34:12.739 --> 00:34:16.797
So then that way the video is better depicted in the way that I envision it.

00:34:16.797 --> 00:34:29.237
So it's like there's a lot of fun things that you could do, like even in Sora you can make videos, like you can make clips, for example, that you can even use like on your school social media.

00:34:30.250 --> 00:34:46.362
It's, the possibilities are absolutely endless in terms of using ai to help alleviate the more time-consuming pieces of your job, and not just with the principal shit in school leadership, but also with, I mean, teachers.

00:34:46.362 --> 00:34:53.773
They're the ones that really got it good first, because they were able to get all of these tools specifically geared towards them.

00:34:53.773 --> 00:34:57.681
You know, I'm a little jealous because magic school ai is another good one.

00:34:57.681 --> 00:35:02.018
No, especially for differentiating materials.

00:35:02.018 --> 00:35:03.922
Oh, my god, I'm so jealous.

00:35:03.961 --> 00:35:14.443
As a special educator, I went yeah, this was available when I was, you know, when I was teaching special education, like leveling texts and differentiating different pieces of content.

00:35:14.443 --> 00:35:20.963
It's just the possibilities have really been writing IEP goals and progress monitoring for those goals.

00:35:20.963 --> 00:35:31.376
I can't even tell you how many times like I was like at home sitting in the evening watching like Scandal on a Thursday and like writing IEPs and IEP goals.

00:35:31.376 --> 00:35:44.623
Yeah, so you know there are a lot of great tools out there for educators to use, to kind of just, you know, help them get around the like, the administrative pieces of our job so that we can reach kids and our stakeholders.

00:35:45.289 --> 00:35:47.715
But I think you're hitting on something there.

00:35:47.715 --> 00:35:48.938
This is a tool.

00:35:48.938 --> 00:36:02.197
This is something that we should embrace and use so we can get those remedial things, those nuanced things that we have to do, but so we could spend more time with our staff leading our building, having those human connections.

00:36:02.197 --> 00:36:06.396
One of the things that I try to do is try not to be in my office too much.

00:36:06.396 --> 00:36:20.503
Now there's time I need to be in there and do what I need to do, but I have actually this year I've kind of embraced AI even more and I've used it to cut down on some of that remedial, repetitive stuff that you know what.

00:36:20.503 --> 00:36:38.632
It takes me time, but if I can use AI to free up time so I can actually solve these others have solutions to the other issues that I'm dealing with I will be able to spend more time on things that matter than on little minute remedial things that you have to do on the day in and day out.

00:36:39.012 --> 00:36:51.418
I have found the impact, and so it's really awesome just to see all the different things you can do and the things that you kind of talked about there, because you've listed some things I don't even know about yet, and so I'm hoping people.

00:36:51.480 --> 00:37:10.637
When they hear this, you know they can have some other options out there, because even when I was at my state principals conference just about a month ago, we were talking about how do you use AI as principals and what do people do it for, what are they using it for?

00:37:10.637 --> 00:37:13.061
And so I got a lot more insight on that.

00:37:13.061 --> 00:37:36.213
And then I know, following you and watching you on TikTok, you're kind of starting to get into that AI realm and talking about how you can use it to make your job easier so you can focus on the things that are most important, which are the people you're leading, and I agree with you on that right there, a hundred percent is use it as a tool so you can help lead your people, you know, to help your building be successful.

00:37:36.213 --> 00:37:41.954
So I really love that insight that you and do some just kind of some rapid fire questions.

00:37:42.155 --> 00:37:52.960
My first question is going to be best leadership advice you've ever received but then somebody quoted it is that I think it's a Steve Jobs quote.

00:37:52.960 --> 00:37:53.820
Is that as a leader?

00:38:18.713 --> 00:38:19.757
you're not.

00:38:19.757 --> 00:38:22.349
You're not selling ice cream and you can't make everybody happy.

00:38:22.349 --> 00:38:23.909
Do the right thing.

00:38:23.909 --> 00:38:27.570
You know, no matter what somebody is not, there's going to be somebody that's not going to be happy with it, but you have to be happy with the fact that you did the right thing.

00:38:27.570 --> 00:38:28.913
Yeah, you did right.

00:38:28.913 --> 00:38:29.393
My kids.

00:38:29.813 --> 00:38:30.916
Yeah, I totally agree with that.

00:38:30.916 --> 00:38:44.717
You got to keep the kids and your staff and your teachers in the forefront of those decisions and making sure you know, hey, it may not be popular but it's the right decision, and you took the time to really think through that um decisions before making it.

00:38:44.717 --> 00:38:46.362
And I think people forget that.

00:38:46.362 --> 00:38:49.860
You know we're not up here just making all these rash decisions.

00:38:49.860 --> 00:39:03.775
We're actually putting some thought into it because we have all these different variables we have to think through before we make these decisions and, like you said, no one's ever going to be happy, a hundred percent of the time, for sure, when you make those decisions, especially the tough ones.

00:39:03.775 --> 00:39:07.331
Do you have a favorite book that you that you've read?

00:39:08.311 --> 00:39:10.351
Well, recently, believe it or not.

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The alchemistist is one that I've read that I've enjoyed recently.

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Revolutionary Principle by Principal Ra is another one that I've read recently that I've enjoyed.

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And yeah, I think those are two that I've read recently that I enjoy.

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So in one word describe your leadership style unconventional, unconventional.

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okay, let's dig into that a little bit I, just I, I think I, I do a lot of things differently and I don't want to say it's a way that's misunderstood, but I, I've learned that from my, my new ap, he, he, just he's always, like you know, like I would have never thought of something that way, I would have never thought to do that this way.

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I think that, you know, I try to really leverage the strengths of my staff and my people.

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I rarely make any type of like top heavy decisions.

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I always try to get that input.

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You know, I'm always talking to students and getting input from them about what they want to see and what they want to do.

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Always talking to students and getting input from them about what they want to see and what they want to do.

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But, I think, just thinking outside the box and color, or, like I always have to say, coloring outside the lines, just, you know, breaking rules and knowing that, ok, I broke a rule, but I'll just ask for forgiveness later, but we had to see how this works first, like you know, like we've always been doing it this way, what if we do it that way?

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Oh, we can't do it that way, okay, well, let's just try it and see what happens.

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So, just being just just taking those risks, I think, and not being concerned with so much backlash, I feel like sometimes people, especially in our roles, like we're concerned with backlash from different groups of people and stuff like that and how things can turn out, but I'm like, well, you know, if we never try, we never know.

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Yeah exactly.

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And then also getting my staff comfortable enough with doing that, like usually I'll be like, hey, guys, I have an idea and they're like, oh lord, but they usually are like this is a good idea, or or they, they add on to it.

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They're like, yeah, and we can do this and we could do that.

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