Becoming the Change with Dan Wolfe

What's going on everybody? I hope this finds you striving and thriving and doing absolutely amazing. My name is Brian Martin. I'm a second grade teacher and host of the teaching champions podcast. And today's episode is an important one, because it's all about how we can maintain a healthy and happy headspace, and ways that we can bring these strategies and tools back into our classroom and implement them with our students. And today, I'm joined by Dan Wolf. He's been an educator for almost 25 years from being a classroom teacher and instructional coach, a district curriculum specialist, and an administrator. He's also a blogger, a podcaster. And this week, he published his first book. So he's an author as well. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. What's going on everybody? I have a fantastic guest for you today. We are joined with Dan Wolf, welcome to the podcast. Dan Wolf. Thank you so much. Glad to be here. We're excited to have you as we get started. Could you share your origin story? Sure. All right. So I grew up in Germantown, Maryland, and first became interested in going into the field of education in high school. I had taken a child development class, my junior year, and actually remember the teachers, Mrs. Vance and Miss St. Bush. So if you're out there, hey, where we have pre K students come three times a week, and myself and my classmates were able to work with them practice doing lesson plans, teaching lessons. And it just it was like that bug that just kind of bid me and said, this is this is my calling. This is my why. And I had also done summer camps and things like that for sports, recreation and things and was a camp counselor doing that. From there, I went to Flagler College in St. Augustine, where I got my degree. And for the past 25 years, I have mostly been in Title One schools in Pasco County, Florida. I have taught kindergarten through fifth grade for eight years, I was an assistant principal, and at one time stepped down to spend more time with my family. So I didn't miss those important moments. Then I soon became a math instructional coach. In 2011 2012, I was selected as district Teacher of the Year for the county. And from there, I became a district curriculum specialist for math where I served 18, Title One schools kindergarten through 12th grade, and then came back into administration actually came back to the school that I had left originally, to take because sometimes in life, you got to take that step back in order to move forward. And now I just recently moved to a new school about a month and a half ago, where I'm at a title one school to help best serve them the best way I can. Excellent. And for all the listeners, this is a really big week for you there. Dan, can you explain what's going on this week? Oh, all right. Well, one of the awesome things that's happening is I'm actually going to be having my first book published by road awesome. And the name of the book is called becoming the change. And really excited about it. It should be being published any any day now, in regards to it, and definitely look forward to telling you and your audience more about it. And just a little bit. Where did the inspiration for your book come from? Well, it came from I was on a district, social emotional learning committee, and that's dealing with you you've got, it's more or less like Maslow before bloom philosophy. We're addressing our needs and everything our students needs before getting to the academic side of it. So we wanted to develop K 12 standards, so that we could go ahead and build that continuum over time, because that's really developing the whole child. From there. What I was sitting in one of one of our meetings and everything, planning things out, I had come across a quote by First Lady Michelle Obama. That said, I have learned that as long as I hold fast to my beliefs and values, and follow my own moral compass, then the only expectations I need to live up to are my own, and for some reason, knowing the five areas of social emotional learning That's self awareness, self management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision making that at all, it reminded me of a compass with that self awareness being in the center. And then each of those four other areas were like those cardinal directions. So when you get lost in the woods, or whatever, you use that compass to guide yourself. And so that's kind of how I thought of, you know, with SEO is that moral compass to help guide us through life. So in December of 2019, what I decided to do was write a daily blog. I originally titled it, our moral compass, and what its focus was on the five areas of SEO, and what I do is I take a famous quote, by somebody analyze it, and write about what it means to me, and then take it and then ask the reader what it means to them. And one of the things with that, what a quote means to us today might mean something completely different, two weeks from now, two years from now, 20 years from now, based on the experiences that we have. So from there, what I did is in February of 2020, I went ahead and created a podcast based on the writings of the blogs, so then I could also so people wanted to go ahead and listen to it, while they're in the car, or whatever else just to try to reach people and as many avenues as possible. And then as everyone knows, the March 2020, the pandemic came, and so then things really also kind of came together as far as what my next step or next move was going to be. And that was I said, Be great to be able to write a book, in regards to it create, like a self assessment in the different areas. Because again, over time, we, you know, we evolve. And that's where eventually the title got changed from our moral compass to becoming the change. And on the cover of it is the image of a butterfly. Because just like a butterfly, you know, starts as a caterpillar and evolves into a beautiful butterfly. That's how we are as human beings, we are continuing evolving to become our best self. So that's, that's, that's where it all kind of came together. And then I also tied within the book, just different areas of like, called encompass checks, which are actually my some of my blog entries, again, put for each of those chapters, that focus on the different areas to becoming our best self axon, I've had a chance to read it, and it's a great read. And I love when you talk about like it different times, the quotes, or thoughts or different things are gonna have different meanings to us. And we're always evolving. And with these five elements, at one point, we might be really strong in a certain area, and things can happen. And you know, another day we might be struggling. And what I love is inside that book, you have a self assessment, where we can look at, look at it and see and ask ourselves, what are we strong at right now? And what do we need to work on? And where can I go into the book to really strengthen these elements? Now? Can we break down real quick these five competencies? Sure, absolutely. So your first one at the center is the self awareness. And one of the things I just want to point out with all five is, when you find out what your strengths are, or those areas that may be like your limitations at that current moment in time, they all rely on each other. So sometimes you might rely more heavily on self management, or relationship skills as opposed to some of the others. But to kind of break them down since self awareness is that ability to recognize one's own emotions and thoughts, and values. And what that really means to me is knowing our inner selves, what makes us tick, what are our triggers, it's like a mechanic that knows the inner workings of a car, we know the inner workings of us and what's going to best set us on the right path. For us, the next one is self management. And that is where you regulate your own behavior. You're able to worry have impulses, different things, he effectively managing stress, knowing when the situation might be getting the best of you and you say, okay, that's where I need to go take a walk, or I need to take a couple of deep breaths, anything within there. It's we're we're in the driver's seat of our minds and actions. We control our destiny. And those first two parts I look at as kind of like our inner selves. Now, the next two are more of like our outer selves. First, that one is the third one is social awareness. And that's where you're able to go ahead and look at it through the lens of someone else. Look at it through their perspective. The situation, again, as an administrator and everything is something that I try to do looking at it through the lens of whoever I'm speaking with, whether it's our custodial staff, or fruit, food nutrition, an instructional assistant or a teacher and looking at it through their person active, it allows us to kind of open open the doorway to more acceptance and things and just accept people for who they are false and all, because we all have, we're human beings. And then the next is relationship skills and without relationship skills not and it's not just relationship skills with others, you have to have a good relationship with yourself as well. You have to communicate clearly. Listen, well lit, listen with empathy, not necessarily sympathy, it's a, it's definitely an element we can't live without. Because you're always going to need somebody you can't, you can think you can be do things on your own alone, but you're gonna have to lean on somebody at one time or another. And then the last one that kind of ties them all in together is responsible decision making, it's be able to it being able to make those constructive choices, being able to take a look at the wellbeing not only for others, but also yourself to what's going to be the best decision, because decisions, as Seth Godin once said, their choices. And with those choices, you got to make sure you have an open you're doing leading it with open heart and an open mind to make the best decisions possible. So those are those are the different areas in a nutshell. In regards to and there are always areas in elements that are within us, they've always been within us, we might not just have recognize that, you know, we all have. Absolutely. And when I was reading your book, it made me really step back and really think about these different areas where I'm at, you know, where I'm at, on the inside, because knowing ourselves is probably the most important person that we can know, and understanding why we're feeling a certain way, how we're showing up for the world. And then I like it, how you take it into the outer too. So you said the inner self and the outer self, and you have so many quotes in the book, and one of them that I wrote down because I love quotes as well. It was from Donald Miller. And you said, when you stop expecting people to be perfect, and you can like them for who they are. And that was just something that truly resonated with me. And I think like in the workplace, looking around, whether it's the students, whether it's your colleagues, if we can lead with a little bit of empathy, stop wanting people to be who we want them to be seeing them for who they are, and accepting that. And just some great thoughts that were hitting me this weekend while I was reading it. Thank you very much. And this book comes at a very important time. And it's something that we can use by ourselves that definitely to help ourselves. But also, how can we take this book and bring it this knowledge to our students? And with tragic events that have happened recently? What are some ways that we can bring this awareness in these thoughts to our students? Well, and I think, first and foremost, before getting into the students, I think it's where we have to take a moment and step back and take a look at us as adults, you know, in the various fields and everything, because these same areas apply to us. And if we don't look at these and try to improve our lives, how are we how are we going to expect to improve the lives of our students, of our children, we can only control we can control. So with those tragic events, and everything that you've mentioned last week, and what's happened the last few weeks that actually last almost 20 years. So going all the way back to Columbine and things like that, hopefully, that our elected officials can put politics aside and put the children and the people in this country ahead of ahead of everything else. First and foremost, because I just sometimes wonder, you know, for everyday we we don't have we have inaction, we are getting ourselves further into a into a deeper hole than we need to be in. You know, and one of the areas out of the five that there's one that I feel that we as a society really need to work on is that social awareness, looking at it through the lens of others. I just think as a dad and everything, I think of all the children that were lost all the parents that will never get to hug their kids again, all the different things and I would like that, you know, for our lawmakers and things like that to put themselves in their shoes. What if they couldn't see their kids ever again what it was last time they could see them smile last time they could hold them. I think they'd be a lot faster to go ahead and make things happen to honor those and make sure that you know those children and the families and make sure something like this never happens again. It's just you know and the relationships that They may have with others is it really worth saving if they're not taking a stand against, like potential financial loss for them, because, you know, there's all again, that's the politics of it. And it's an education, we try to stay out of the politics. But unfortunately, the politics, more and more seems to be coming into it. So I just wanted to kind of put that out there as far as we have to be better role models as as the adults for kids. Now, when we when we talked to transition to the to the kids. One of the things is intentional planning leads to intentional student outcomes. So with social emotional learning, this isn't a separate curriculum. And as it said before, sometimes this is the plate, this is everything this this is tying into everything. Because I could tell you, if I had a choice between whether I wanted my daughter to have straight A's and, you know, have a free ride in college and all these things, or be a productive citizen and a good human being, I would choose the good human being every single time, because that's what matters most to me, you know, is that she treats people with the way that they should be treated. Our what our county does is we embed the curriculum resources within the different areas, whether it's reading, math, and how to best incorporate self awareness, self management, we have different activities, we have morning meetings or afternoon meetings that focus on the five areas, problem solving scenarios where the kids can go ahead and they're presented a problem. And then they work together within the group of how they can best solve it. And what that does without them even knowing it is bringing out these five areas where they're being responsible decision making, you know, students that they're identifying when people are being mistreated, and how to best help them. And that violence doesn't solve things, you got to talk it out, you've got to be that change you wish to see in the world. And I had mentioned things about with like the morning meetings, it can be as simple as having a greeting at the door, as educators, Hey, how's it going, because you don't know how their morning went, they might have had a rough morning, they might be in, like I said, I mentioned I was in a title one school and everything. And in my experience, over the years, we have kids that are homeless, that they're living out of their car, or out of a hotel. And they might have been lucky just to have breakfast. And just the fact that they didn't have their homework, but they're there, that's what you need to celebrate is look for those positives, and let them know, Hey, I'm happy to hear the morning meetings. They also you get to share things about your emotions, your feelings, how your night was problem solved things really get to know your kids and how the kids know each other. Just any of those kinds of things. Because I think we talk, in my opinion, our greatest wealth is our mental health. And that's also the mental health of our kids as well. I think sometimes when we talk about funding, we put so much funding towards testing, and not enough funding towards mental health where we can have 24/7, mental health care for our kids, for our families. I'd love for the for money to be focused on that. And I'd love to see what the results are in the long term, because really, the ultimate test is going to be life. That's their ultimate test. That's that is the pass or fail. It's not, it's not where you are on some kind of made up testing scale of where everybody they think should be. So sorry, I got on my soapbox there for a moment, but very passionate about that, you know, for sure. No, absolutely. And I love that a couple of things that I really loved. I loved how you talked about, you know, taking your students and putting them into groups and then giving them a situation or a problem that they have to solve in the skills that that brings out the morning meetings and discussions that you can have one of my things then we have a little monitor. So I teach second grade. And we are in the morning, I have a couple of key values up on the wall. And one of them is like make mistake show grit work hard. Ask questions, be grateful accept feedback. And I put make mistakes. Number one because and we talked about it's made mistakes on on your work. But also we're there to make mistakes as people and grow. And sometimes our biggest learning experiences in the classroom is when something happens there's a little disagreement or, or life happens within the classroom. And as the class just circle it up. And you talk about it and find ways identify the problem identify ways that we could have handled it differently. And sometimes I think that's where we can get the biggest amount of growth. Absolutely and and that's it just reminds me of something I used to always say to my kids and I even when I had my own classroom, and I even tell them now, if it's to be it's up to me. Anything you want in life, life, isn't it then I hand it to you on a silver platter and say, Here you go, here's everything, your hopes and dreams, you gotta go out and get it. And just, you know, just really kind of make your opportunities bloom, you know, you know, sometimes they have the mind your own business, which is also the other acronym of it, because I would use that acronym in the class, if I had the mind your own business or make your opportunities bloom. And they always knew which one I was referring to, when when, you know, I really want him to reach for that next upper tier, and then other times when they need to stay in their lane and worry about themselves. So, but it's just those kinds of things. And that's what, again, we we have to remember their kids, even when they go middle and high school, they're still kids, many times we like to think that they should know these rules, and they should know these commitments or expectations, but they don't. And that's our job to teach them the you know, they're not adults yet. You know, they're not, they're not 18. That is absolute truth is, and sometimes as adults, we, we need some reinforcement on the on those skills and everything. But yeah, the kids are going to make mistakes, and it's up for us, to help them and guide them. And when you talked about that mental health piece, I was talking with a colleague at the photocopier, and you know, we still got a couple of weeks ago, and the kids are getting a little, a little more energy, they turned it up. Towards the end of the year, she was saying that we push, and we want the kids academically to grow and succeed and do great, but just like you were talking about that mental health piece, she was going through some of the struggles outside of school that her kid faces and choose like, and we expect them to come and have to excel at work. And we were talking you know, sometimes it's about them being able to show up know that they're loved, know that they're seen that they're heard, that they're valued, and, and teach them the skills on how to handle those different things. That's not because you can't get that out of a book. And that's the one thing you can't get that out of a book to be able to those experiences and things. And I think in in some instances, you know, technology has been great. But I think it's also been a detriment for our kids too, because they don't know how to talk to one another. They don't know how to have those conversations. And that's why I think, with social emotional learning, or being able to intentionally plan around those will give them those opportunities to be able to talk with one another problems, because there there are leaders of tomorrow. And we've got to show them the pathway to being the best that they can be. Yeah, and how to deal with those emotions. And I think I saw on your Twitter feed, I believe it was on your Twitter feed that you put out about the four collegiate athletes that committed suicide this year. And I think Good Morning America was running a spot about that. And sometimes we think a lot about the younger ones, I guess, because that's my world. But we don't realize like the middle school kids, the high school kids and up into the collegiate levels, and how do we reinforce the skills to help them with their mental health? And everything? Because it's so important? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. So it's just and just yeah, just that was just devastating. All that to see what the end that we've seen so much in the news, what they like you said, the athletes and everything. And I mean, it's just even checking in with them. But no, really, how are you doing? Not just a quick, how are you doing that's even for each other as co workers checking in. And really, when we ask somebody, we really should be making sure that we're really wanting to know how they're doing. It's not just high and keep going in the hallway. It's really just stopping and just saying, there's anything you need, because I think we need each other more than and it's not just because of the pandemic or anything. It's always been there. I just think it's been, I think the light has definitely been shone on it a lot more since the pandemic, but it's always been at the forefront. I think it's I think it's definitely something that needs to be continuously focused on for sure. Oh, absolutely. And that, you know, when you talk about that, that piece of checking in on each other, one of my favorite quotes, too, from Dr. Jody character and talks a lot about it is from rom Das. And I believe it is like, we're just here to walk each other home. And just being here to support one another. Uplift, encourage praise. I had another saying that I used to and I try to remember this as administrator. It's a poor frog, who doesn't praise his own pond. And just letting people know whether it's a quick note. It takes two seconds to write a note and everything saying hey, I think you did a great job on this or that and just because you never know that could be the moment that they really were feeling down in the dumps and you just pick them up without even realizing it. It's it's paying it forward. Yeah, absolutely. And it doesn't have me an administrator do that either. No, you're right. Your book is a Meant for adults to for us outside of work, too. So what are certain things that you do in your own life to really walk what you wrote about in your book? Well, it definitely can be, you know, definitely a balancing act. And I'm definitely by far, not perfect. You know, I definitely just ask my family, you know, just go ahead, you know, but, uh, but yeah, but I mean, when those areas, it's just things that again, just like how we intentionally plan for our kids, we got to intentionally plan for ourselves, and make time for our own self care, whether it's whatever, you know, exercising, listening to podcasts, meditating, really trying to recognize when you're in those moments of you being aware of your surroundings, that self awareness, managing yourself when situations like driving on the road, and you get cut off by somebody else. And your first initial reaction is to go ahead and lean in on the horn or whatever else, taking a step back and realizing, okay, well, I've got my kids in the back or whatever else, what's going to be the best way to handle this and recognizing you know, what the social awareness piece is even just recognizing when you're in the grocery store and opening the door for somebody, or just helping them with packages, or whatever else, it's really just kind of practicing what you're preaching, reaching out to others, neighbors or whatever, letting them know that you care, friends, relatives, and just, you know, just making those decisions each and every day. And, really, like I said, looking at it through the lens of others. One thing I'll never forget is, and this is just relating to the school part, when I left my one school to start, this most recent school I'm at now, she gave me one of the teachers gave me a magnifying glass. And she she said, Dan, I just wanted you to have this because you never forgot to look at it through our perspective. And I actually have that hanging in my office right now on my cork board, to serve as that daily reminder, to just make sure no matter what environment we're in, whether we're at school, home, just life in general, look at it to the other, look at it through someone else's eyes, you understand things that much better. You you understand things that much better. And also, there's been moments when when something's happened, and inside, like I've been fired up pretty angry. But then I, you know, I, I walk away from the situation, I take a minute, and I try it and take it from their perspective. And almost, you know, you can feel that anger, come down a little bit in that understanding, see why they did what they did, or why they said what they said. And I think we could solve a lot of problems, if we step back, and we really looked at it from others perspectives and a situation might not be as bad as what we thought it was, or those comments might not have been meant to sing as much as we made them for ourselves. If we look at it from others perspective, you know, we can only control we can control and that's ourselves. And I said sometimes when I tried to and I, you know, not every situation, but I tried to even look at things with humor. You know, always go ahead and have a quick witty joke or whatever, just to try to break the ice, so to speak, you know, because not everything to be so serious in life all the time. Just you know, you'll burn yourself out that way. So you got to try to find the humor and the joy in some things as well. And maybe it's just a learning opportunity. I think it's all about perspective 100% that we got to go out there and we got to grab that joy. Now, life is short, we don't want to be too serious and miss out on all those great moments. Now, you, my friend just read in the book, and seeing the references that you that you put in there, the amount of quotes, I've listened to your podcast and heard you on other podcasts, you are very well informed. Obviously, you know, I strongly recommend having read your book and knowing that it's going to come to press probably by the time this episode is published, your book becoming the change is one that we want to read. But is there any other books that have or podcasts that are your go to? Because what we listen to what we feed our mind is so important. Is there ones that you would suggest to the listeners? Sure, yeah. And I mean, and I think always, you know, again, as an educator, we're always learners, and we're always trying to grow and everything. And so some books that that I would definitely recommend are books written by Ryan Holiday. He is a with a philosophy of stoicism and such as like obstacles away Ego is the Enemy. I also listened to his podcast he even has a daily dad as well along with the daily stoic, and again, it's just it's just a way of the perspective is Like I said before the situations the situation just you can only control yourself in regards to it. From the educator side of it, some of the things like relentless by how much Brewer lead from where you are by Joe's sinful Lupo. Also, one of the books the last lecture by Randy posh is definitely a book that I'll go back to within they're uncomfortable conversations with a black man by a manual auto. Again, that's a big social awareness one right there Atlas of the heart by brain Brene Brown, and there's just so many more. Again, if you ask my family, I have my own mini Barnes and Nobles, it seems like in their household, you know, I always like I need my own wing of the house for all the books that I'm constantly reading autobiographies, anything just I'm just trying to be my best self. And then as far as podcasts, definitely, um, you had mentioned about the athletes and everything about the mental health. There's one out there called Morgan's message. And it's called the mental mashup. And it's fine Morgan's message and everything and they they have athletes on each week. You know, whether it's college athletes or anything that talks about their mental health struggles and what they've gone through. And I just think that would be good for anybody to like, definitely for our teenagers to listen to were in high school, things like that, because they might be going through some of these same similar things and not knowing how to best ask for help or whatever. Also 10% happier with Dan Harris serendipity with Inky Johnson is another one on bothered with Jamel Hill unlocking us and dare to lead from Brene Brown and I've got so many more I have more podcasts I think download including yours as well, that I just gonna take me three lifetimes to listen to everything but I can never say I you know, I'll always have enough information. Definitely just to continue to be my best self. And you know, and just go along that path. So absolutely. And I love those suggestions. Big fan of Ryan Holiday myself. I read multiple books that he's published and and I listened to his podcast, how much Brewer I've read that and Randy posh with the the last lecture. And I also say I agree with you when you talk about athletes in that that mental conditioning. That's one thing I think you call the mental matchup? Yep. Because organs message. Yeah, yeah, because I do a ton of that. That's one thing that as a younger person that I really struggle with is like the belief in oneself, and in different strategies that we could use to help build ourselves out. And I've read it read a ton of books, and you know, one person if you're not a sports fan, these podcasts are so big. I was reading a book, I think it was like how to train like an Olympian. And this person was a sports psychologist. And he had worked with a member of the Kansas City Chiefs who was alignment. And he was given a story. And he says, imagine being a lineman, you're in a stadium, in front of 70,000 people. And you know, you're getting your games broadcast to millions of people, and you get an offsides call. And everybody in the stadium is upset at you, your your, your fellow players are upset at you. But within five seconds, you got to regroup, get back on that line and do the right thing. And that and we look at them as they're millionaires. But there are people and there's a lot that we can learn on how to handle like that pressure, that negative self talk when things come down on us, whether it's visualization and stuff so I would recommend I know that you listen obviously that to some mental podcast about sports psychology, and I would just recommend that for for anybody I listened to Justin Sue will increase your impact a lot. Yeah, so yeah, I got that. Yes, that's another one too. Yeah, so definitely, but even just your example that you just gave with the linemen and everything. I mean, I think of it as a sports fan. Now. I mean, when I was younger, I would sit there criticizing and everything else and then now that I'm older and understand the social awareness piece that much more, I say to myself, but I want to go ahead and say something Well, what WHY DID YOU JUST why'd you strike out or whatever else? I'm like, Alright, they're in the majors. And here I am on the couches and I'm aware I think that I I fit into this equation that I have any right to go ahead and hey, you know, more power to them just to you know, be able to do that and reach their goal and dream. Yeah. 100% 100% Now, how can the listeners get in contact with you there? All right, well, my my biggest social media spot is Twitter. And that's at serve lead, inspire and with the serve Aren't it's without the E. And it's not that I can't spell. It's just that I can't fit all the letters in there to get the complete part. So that's for serve, lead and inspire. And again, I'm in Pasco County, Florida sunray. Elementary is the school that I'm at. So you'd be able to find me there too. Have you ever needed to email me there. But definitely, and then I have, like, I have a becoming the change blog and podcast as well. You know, within there, and I usually promote that stuff out through Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, any of those kinds of things. And, but definitely, you know, like I said before, I think if there's one thing that I'd like, you know, for everybody to walk away with, or whatever is, is that our greatest wealth is our mental health. We, we are ones who always want to help others. But we also have to remember we have to help ourselves too. And when we need somebody else, we need to, it's like putting that proverbial oxygen mask on that they always talk about that scenario, you're an aeroplane oxygen mask, your first instinct is to go ahead and help others. But you've got to put it on your first in order to be able to really help others. So and that's where those five areas will come from. And everything is being able to do that. And that's really the essence of our own moral compass. And that's one of the things I didn't highlight before within the book. But one of the things that I want to let your listeners know is, with this book, when after you take the assessment everything, you're able to choose your own pathway. If there if you remember those choose your own adventure books, they were in the 70s 80s and 90s, where you had to get to different pathways, and one we lead to a dragon, and another could lead to the princess or freedom or whatever it is, well, there is no dragon in my book, but I mean, it but but if you can go ahead and choose whichever area you want to either enhance or improve upon, you choose your pathway, it's your life. So you could read social awareness first, and then jump back to self self awareness, then their relationship skills there, whatever works for you, there's no rhyme or reason. And again, it's your path. And that's what I love that part about your book. And we talked about that earlier in the podcast where, you know, we might be doing something really good today where tomorrow we're struggling at so you can use this, this is a book that you can revisit and go to different sections as depending on what your day, what type of day you're having. The listeners didn't get to hear all that's gone on in the past couple months between switching schools with your administration and being called to serve at a different school. Your book coming out this week, I know it's been a whirlwind. But once again, I just want to say congratulations. And I hope like it's some point this week, you can take a step back, and even for a moment and just look back on this journey, and how everything, all the obstacles that you had to overcome. And just really appreciate that. And I think this journey is been a great role model for your children, you know that your children can look at that and says, you know, and see everything that you did. And in your Twitter handle, serve, lead and inspire. I know this is the first time that we that we met face to face. But I hope that we stay in touch. And I just look at everything from whether it's from your book, your blog, your podcast, everything that you came out here and talked about today, you exemplify all of these different attributes. So I just want to say congratulations on your book, and you make a difference. All right, even. And there's a lot more than just one we talked about just one earlier between me and you. But there's a lot more than just one person that you inspire, make a difference for. So thank you for blessing us with Your wisdom today, Dan, and best of luck in the future, my friend. Well, thank you so much, Brian, thank you again for having me. And thank you. I love this conversation with Dan, such an awesome guy. And when he shared that story of how one of his teachers gave him that magnifying glass that he keeps in his office because she said he never forgot what it was like to be a teacher. It just truly shows how great of a leader he truly is. And he is definitely someone that just doesn't talk the talk. But he walked walks the walk. Now this part of the episode is the teaching champions take where I share three of my favorite jams from my conversation with Dan The first gem is how he dropped the reminder to look for the positives. Look for what's good in the situation, what are the opportunities within this situation, but also choosing to see the good in our students and our colleagues. Because how we speak to others, and how we treat others, is going to be greatly influenced by how we view them. So look for the good in them. A second gen that I really liked, is when he was talking about focusing on controlling the things we can control. Because we give our way our power, when we put all our focus on things that are outside of our control. But if we take that time, and we focus on the controllables, then we start to realize how much power over our days we truly have. And I also appreciated how Dan reminded us not to take ourselves so seriously, to find the humor in situations to laugh, because life is too short. So find that joy, laugh and do it off. And the third gem that I loved was when he talked about how he reinforced different skills and strategies within the classroom, by breaking his students up into groups, presenting them with a problem and asking for them to work together and find the solution. There's so many different skills that are used in this activity. And it can be a powerful reinforcement strategy for previously learned SEL skills. And as Dan was says, Our greatest wealth is our mental health. Make sure you check out his new book, becoming the change. And thank you for being here for being part of the teaching champions community. We support we encourage we lift each other up. And this is an important top. And there were a lot of great tips that Dan offers. So if you think someone would benefit from this interview, please share it with them. And always remember, whether you're from rural America, to urban America, to Canada, to Spain to Bahrain, we're all on that same team. We're all on that same mission. And we're always better together. Keep being amazing, my friends, and as we go out into the week, May you step into your strength may step into shine. And let's build our champions up. Have a great week, everybody