Being A Great Listener, Durable Skills, and Investing in Students with Dan Garrity

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 this week, I'm joined by Dan Garrity. He's a professor at the College of Western Idaho. But he also has a broad range of life experiences. That's influenced his teaching. He's an Air Force veteran, having flown reconnaissance missions during the Cold War. As an airborne Russian linguist. He worked in the professional television industry for 15 years. And after leaving the television industry, he accepted the role of director of broadcast studies at Gonzaga University, and wanting to be closer to his family, he moved to Idaho. And all of these life experiences come through in the wisdom he shares in this conversation, pay attention to the lessons that he's learned from the world of television, the importance of listening to other stories, why we should be developing durable skills in our students, letting every voice be heard, making it mean something for a student to be in your class, and so much more. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Dan Garrity as much as I did. I am super excited for this episode, because I am joined by a friend, someone that I look up to someone that has so much knowledge to share with all of us. And today, I want to welcome Professor Dan Garrity to the show. Hello, Brian. And straight up back atcha I've been a fan of yours since you pretty much hit the social media scene. And I've always been so inspired by what you do. And before we even get going, Man, seriously, on behalf of a whole bunch of us teachers, thank you for continuing to exhibit the energy and then make the wonderful inspirational things that you do they really help. Well, I appreciate that so much brother and I feel the same about you the first time we connected over a year ago. And automatically is one of those things where you connect with someone and you know, like you had that same mindset, that same energy, and it's just been awesome. So yeah, and same athletic good looks with the absolute same. The same barber. Can you tell the listeners because you have a very interesting story. You've traveled a phenomenal path. Would you share that with the listeners, please? Yeah, and haven't been arrested once. I was DJ in my college days at Northern Arizona University. I left college after five years, no degree if they had a major in fun, I would have been Dean's List. No degree, no real direction. Thank God for the United States Air Force. And I served there for 10 years and learned so so much. I even got to teach a little bit in the Air Force got out of the Air Force and into television. The Air Force allowed me to finish my degree. And that allowed me to get into the mix of people with great hair on TV. I did that for about 14 years. And then I ended my television career in newsroom leadership. I was managing editor of NBC and a CBS affiliate and literally walked across the street one day as a managing editor of NBC one day, and I'm a teacher at Gonzaga University the next day because they had a little bit of a crisis with their faculty. They needed somebody to step in really, really quick. They didn't have time to check all the background on me, luckily, and they the priests fellow Bob Lyons, who was in charge of the program, at the time, I was an adjunct doing both jobs for a little while, and he asked if I would consider doing it full time. I know TV money really, really well. I had no idea. Brian. I had no idea about money and teaching. And he slides this paper over to me and I look at I'm like, You're kidding. He wasn't kidding. And he said, You'll never be as happy or as poor? Both both are true. Both? Yes. So from there from going from the Air Force, to television, and before all that you did radio, what do you think were some of the skills that you were able to bring over with you to teaching? That's interesting, because at first, I thought they were just, you know, tricks you could do at cocktail parties or that, you know, help people laugh or something like that. And it was the things that helped. I think, number one was a legitimate care, love for sharing somebody else's story. And I guess, then, I didn't really struggle, I didn't need cue cards to hold conversations with people conversation came easily. And then you find out, Oh, my goodness, because you really, really care about people's stories. Because, you know, you can speak glibly and put your thoughts together in a relatively short period of time, logically, actually, they pay your money for that, that was kind of a given for many of people who do that. in that field. I didn't realize how directly they transfer into the school environment, that as a reporter, I would take a complex event that you were not privy to, but I was, in a short period of time, I had to say, well, what are the important things that somebody needs to know about that I need to get their attention? And then I need to get them from here to here? Got it. Hey, something really, really crazy happened. You weren't there? Let me say, well, is that the Protagoras, in theory? Is that, you know, US history. And in some regards, right. I found and I'm not saying that all teachers? I don't know, I don't know all teachers, I know you. I think that many teachers are good storytellers. And a good storyteller is one who truly understands the audience. There, the language their audience speaks, yes, able to excite them about something, and put it in terms that they can understand and then kind of challenge them to now that you know that that's not good. And I know that, do something with it. I love that understand the language your audience speaks. You know, sometimes we want to communicate, and how we we do it, like how we receive communication, it's understanding, because we're all different. We all receive messages differently. So it's really understanding because every student, whether you're with my second graders, whether you're in a roomful of high school students, or you're at the collegiate level, all of our students communicate a little bit differently. And if I want to connect, I have to understand how do they receive those messages? And have Have you ever heard that term? Oh, let me dumb that down for you. I hate that term. Because here, I'll give you an example. Nobody in the very base. Oh, Brian, should I dumb that down for you? Hey, how you did that was just in a different language mad and we were dumb. What a What a dumb thing to say that that. So I think the smartest thing to do is like how do you speak? How do you learn? I was just at this great conference. In Las Vegas cash. Thanks CWA for sending me to Las Vegas. Find, but great, great, great takeaways about the way we challenge our students with durable skills require that you not just acquire the information, but then you apply it to a challenge that doesn't come with complete instructions. And maybe that's the the other thing that that storytellers can do is like you get somebody excited about the thing. Okay, now you got it. And now I'm going to step back and you keep the story going. Wherever you want to take it. Yes, absolutely. And you were telling me before we started taping this conversation a little bit about this conference and These durable skills will always dealers is number one. What are some of those durable skills? I even used to be among the uninitiated who call them soft skills. And we call them soft skills because it was easy to make a clear delineation between, can you torque it to 38 degrees? Yep. Can you take on, you know, critical thinking like, oh, that's hard. So we'll call that you know, soft skills. personal communication, looking someone in the eye being genuinely curious, showing up on time coming through with solutions instead of excuses. So yeah, there be it's a challenge to, to define. But I'm dealing with that very issue. Right now, Brian, with my students who are getting ready to graduate that a bunch of them getting ready to leave us in December as marketing majors. And that is actually their homework, but they won't be listening. That's their homework for what we're going to be talking about on Wednesday. And that is, how do you Timmy a Nita, whoever, how do you explain to potential employer your acumen with durable skills? And the way I've decided to help them answer that is by giving them it's about a 10 week long challenge throughout the semester. And for the marketing students. They have to you know, create an actual campaign for an actual client who has actual customers and, and it's very frustrating for them at first for me, it's easy music because I they say, Well, what do you want us to do? And I'm like, Well, you know, you've taken x amount of quizzes. So far, you've you've engaged in X amount of discussion boards. So far, we've gone through creative exercises in class, what I want you to do is increase the viewership of your clients product. is completely up to you. In fact, I tell him, You can't mess this up. You cannot possibly mess this up. It's like, you know, in ceramics, you know, make an ashtray, don't make an ashtray. Smokings bad, you know, make a flower pot. And who am I to say, Well, if the thing falls apart, sure. But other than that, you know, you made the best pot you could make. And in this regard, your only job is to make the best campaign, you can now the secret I'm going to tell them Brian on Wednesday, is that they must use the very fact that I withheld many of the instructions from them, it is essential that they weave that into their narrative to do exactly the thing that we're talking about. How do you let somebody know you're quite capable of engagement with durable skills? I hope this isn't answered that. I love that. That sounds like a new so many awesome and fun activities that really push the students because that's how we met we met you contacted me. And we got I got to be on a little show with your your students that were going into Rei t using you Yeah, is going into that TV production. What are some of the activities that you're doing right now outside of the one you just described? And some maybe that you've done in the past to really, you know, we talked about student engagement at the younger level? Well, that's real student engagement, what you're doing right there. So what are some of the activities that you do with the college students? You know, because the concept of team is so important, and I'm not talking about you know, picking for the volleyball team at recess, I'm talking about you know, getting a gig in the profession. My students come in pretty motivated and they're, they they they listen to this, I'm like, You need to get good at this in order to you know, join the professional ranks like okay, what do I need to do my projects with teams like they're all of a sudden they look like Bela Lugosi. And so it is completely incumbent upon me and a lot of us I think, to help them with that. And not just by giving them a bunch of projects work, we don't stop you know, the, you know, the silly the, the whipping boys will continue until morale improves, like I'm gonna give you more project work until you like project work. So I started with this hypothesis that that No, I didn't Aristotle did the purest form of justice is that between friends and I really, really vibe with that. So I'm like, I how can I make sure that If they're really willing to invest, not just in the project, but in each other, you were in the army, I was in the Air Force. And many, many times. It wasn't about, you know, the glory of the country, it was about Brian is next to me. And why am I going to exert extraordinary effort, because Dan's next to me, that's why. So I wanted somehow some way to bring that into, you know, my milieu. And so we invest, I, I take it on myself, I have invested a good 10% of contact hours in community building, so that it's easy for me in marketing and media, Arts and Communications, I literally have outcomes called durable skills. Could you do that in math, I don't know. But I'm not smart enough to teach a math. So you know, lucky for all of us. But so for the first part of class, we played this game called What's wonderful. And every student has to go in a small enough class 1215, I'll hear from every single student in the class, and then they have to tell me, us, Sony, something cool that's going on. Now, I know that I started this around the COVID. Like just before. And I was thinking, Boy, if I said, you know what's awful, nobody would have any problem coming up with a half an hour material for that. So sometimes, we go around, hey, you know, what's wonderful, and somebody would have to stop and think for a minute. And I'm like, that's cool. Take your time. So it was, you know, developing those durable skills, even though, you know, I wasn't cool enough to call it that yet, I didn't really understand. But the students totally dug it and really invested in it. And there are some classes, even at my school, where they, they finish at the end of the semester, and they don't know everybody's names. And these classes, you know, everybody's names, you know, 16, things that they think are wonderful, because we have 16 weeks in the semester, and we do this once, once a week. Awesome, I then had to figure out a way and thanks, I'm glad you did it. And I've you know, been, you know, so honored to get to talk about it at a couple of other conferences, and people kind of dig it. But one of the things, this one case said was, you know, cool, but what you do with the room of 30. And, you know, my biggest class is about 25. And so I did try to well, so the way I have tried to accomplish that is split them up into however many groups of four. And every voice is heard, every single we meet once a week, every single person gets to say, you know, even if it's what somebody else might consider not so wonderful. Everybody gets to pipe up. And then it is up to each group to share one of their waterfalls with the group. And you know, the silly little joke is Do I have one here? I give ridiculous prizes away. And sometimes it's we have CWA, chapstick, Brian, sometimes I give that away. Sometimes it's a, you know, ridiculous pen, but really just meant to honor everybody and make sure that every single person knows that we're interested in him. And we're glad something wonderful happened to him. I hope that translates into, you know, increased outcomes. I don't know. I absolutely love that. I think it's teaching that every like you said, Every voice matters. My students had to at the end of the day, we finish our day up with a circle. And we have different topics on different days and stuff. But we talked about what was a good thing for you today, often, and is good. And then we talk about because you know, at the end of the day, and it probably doesn't matter whether you're seven years old or your 20 year old, in a college course, like your mind's a little shot. And it takes some some reminders, you know, good friends are interested that we want to and we talked about, you know, those durable skills like watching with our eyes, my friend, Livia chan Chi Chi talks about you know, heart to heart, that you're having your body face that other person that speak and yeah, she talks a lot about atomic interactions, which is pretty awesome. I think it's just setting and planting those seeds at every single level, and then we just keep working it, because there's people in the workplace. You know, we talk a lot about kids, but there's adults that just don't feel seen at all. I think everywhere we go, and it's important that we just let everybody know that there is real value in this, I told you this before we started, man, that is one of your gifts, Brian, that you really do see people and listen and hear. So for somebody who is listening, like what I asked if my granddaughter's could come in and meet this celebrity before Brian started recording this very podcast, I had told them about him and there is seven and nine. And they were, you know, enthralled and got to ask him some questions. But I was watching Brian, interact with them. And he was 100% all about it, like, like, all his attention was on them. And Brian have not been able to witness you in class, but kinda right, is that you're in class. And I guess that's kind of you at the grocery store. And that's kind of you on the basketball court. That's just you. I appreciate you so much, my friend. And you know, people are pretty interesting. I was getting I always go by one of my favorite quotes is by Dale Carnegie's, he says, If you want to be interested, or if you want to be interesting, be interested. And if we stop, and we step back, and we just listen, we can learn so much from every single person preach. I believe that I also quote Dale Carnegie, isn't that interesting? Yeah, I said, we're very like minded, my friend. Now being up at the collegiate level, what are some things that you could let the people that, you know, we're K through 12, kindergarten through 12th grade? What are some skills that you're seeing that, that need to be worked on? A little bit? Maybe some of those durable skills? Or do you see kids that come up to you? And they're, they struggle with that perfectionism or failure? Yeah. And I got you, but But you know, kind of, it's like, if if I met you, at a bar, and you're a Vietnam era Marine, it's almost like you're saying, You know what, your shoes are kind of muddy. And I wish you did stand up a little bit stay like, Oh, my God, the K through 12. Teachers, Brian are the Marines of the whole academia. And I had a friend one time, we were both in television, I got into, you know, teaching at Gonzaga. He was teaching he was teaching Teach for America and Philadelphia. And we were talking one time and he goes, Man, Dan, I can't wait till I can really challenge myself and do the hard thing. Like you're doing. And I snorted. Dude, the hard thing. So K through 12. Colleagues, my bow down. I wasn't trying to set you up with a no, no. No, and but but I will. And it's not like we you know, we sit around at faculty, cocktail parties and glass freakin fourth grade teacher. But man writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing. I don't think our students can write enough and I'm pointing the fingers right back at myself and us. But I think you know what, I'm gonna come claim my brother, I did just call out K through 12. I said this to my students. A little while back. I'm like, American academia has kind of failed you. And because a student said, Well, what do you want us to do? It was it was, you know, regarding the very thing, the critical thinking skill that we're talking about, right. And I taught at a private institution for 18 years, and I've been teaching out at state institution for a little bit of time. And, you know, this was a revelation to me, that state institutions need you to take standardized tests and to file this form and that form and stuff like okay, I dig it, I dig it. So I kind of understand how without ever having been five days a week from eight o'clock in the morning until three o'clock in the afternoon with you know, young, hungry, needy, you know, I don't claim to know that but I would love it. If you made me King of the universe for about five minutes, I would do away with grading the way it stands right now. Break and do away with I think there's so much so many teachers that would absolutely agree with. Yeah, yeah. And and you know, kind of push a little bit more toward you can figure it out you can do it and and just like in Mr. Martin's class, you should screw up big I can't wait for us to talk about how you screwed up after the project is over use. Can I turn that around? Brother? Because you and I have spoken a lot about the similarities of students, the students a student in some are taller than others. Yeah. But what what would you like, you know, me and my colleagues here and other places to do? You know, it's interesting, because, like, you get them after I I do. So the question I did was I'm trying to load it up. It's just to really know what skills they're lacking when they because they're the final step. And I always view it as you know, we're one big team. So it's not like, I'm gonna look down at a first grade teacher and say, you know, you didn't do your job, it's, every kid's gonna come where they're at. And then what's our job to meet them where they're at, and take them to, as far as we can get them and then that the next year, you know, we just keep passing it on. So yeah, it's just the older I get, the more I believe, and obviously, we need those foundational skills with the reading the writing the math, but I'm getting more into like the the creativity, I want the grit, the perseverance, that how do we handle battling perfectionism, where it's not a hindrance? I think there's a place for it. I think probably someone like Steve Jobs was very much a perfectionist. So you need certain things. But I and maybe I love to hear your opinion. But But I also the more I listened to these great thought leaders talk, it's not making one great project. It's those people that make 1000 projects. And they learned after every single project, and that made them grow and blossom, rather than just getting caught up on a single individual one. Are you one of those who gets trapped with perfectionism? I'll speak for my my wife would tell you absolutely not that. I think that's, I think that's helped any stretch of the imagination. I think that's very healthy. I do fall victim to that a lot. And I thought I had it licked and some imperfections do. And I to me, I gotta come up with, you know, a bumper sticker that, like, okay, you don't have to be perfect every time. Just next time. And like, for years, I was thinking, Dan, you are the most reviewed knocked it out of the park again, that's the bummer. And my sister's just like, you still don't get it. She's right. As usual. I'll tell you the thing that I one of the things I picked up on from K through 12 that you embody and that so attracted me to your your message or your brand, as we call it in marketing was inclusion, and making sure that, you know, your student has a smile on their face when they walk in the frickin door. And I've saw some of those inspirational videos, do you want a handshake a hug or a dab? Or, you know, you do some things with your your champions and there's a there's a chance that it means something to be in Mr. Martin's class, it means something that, you know, this is this is where I sit. And this is where I fit in, literally, to my culture. And so I think that maybe not K through 12 But maybe K through, you know, five, six, when you are in the same room like that. You cats have known that for a really really long time and you just kind of like breathe it like that's gonna fish How's the water? What water like is gonna cave through? Teacher? What about the movie? That's just what you do? Well, you know, at least one of your brethren in another part of academia has taken great inspiration, great inspiration from that. And as I mentioned, the kids they get the kids, my students seem to appreciate it. So it's it works well. That's awesome. And I know you do a phenomenal job, my friend. You're a nice to say that. Thank you. Now let me ask you this here real quick last like teaching related question and we'll get into some other fun ones, marketing wise, or the other instruction based content area that you're focused on, what are some one or two best practices that you found at your level, have a good tech attack as a Technical Advisory Committee. These are made up of, you know, people who are friendly to the College of Western Idaho friendly to me, my alumni have a lot because, you know, once you're in love, I don't say, Well, this is the Gonzaga pot of alums and they're all just like in the same pot. So draw somehow some way on making sure that you can give your students not what's happening in the last published edition of The Marketing textbook. But what's happening next week, with the Super Bowl or whatever it is, and blessedly we have, you know, several people who do and I think, frankly, if you ask anybody, they would be willing to do it. So you know, keep the thing fresh. In marketing, there's a thing known as social listening. In First of all, most of my, if not all, of my curricular effort is designed for social media marketing, our program is moving completely online. Pretty soon, it'll be nothing but OER. No, no textbook fees or anything like that. But I think what will remain is to be able to allow the students through social listening, get their own lay of the land. And then through the articulation, they learned through, you know, the way I would say textbooks where the OER is, whatever the the resources are, be able to formulate their own plan. I did this the same way in video production classes that I don't want to give you. The analogy would be a paint by numbers, kind of, look at this cool clown, I won't even tell you and make a clown, I'll say, make something funny, make something that you think is funny and make it look the way you think it needs to look. So basically, those kind of open ended challenges. And then to kind of make them real, this was another great breakout session I had at this conference was a couple of people in, I think it was Minnesota, who taught algebra and geometry through house building. So if you get the answer, if you get number four, wrong, a wall just filled out. So there, there are more, the implications are a little bit more concrete. When they're attached to a real, real project. I absolutely love those ideas. And one thing that I loved when we first connected, so you reached out, you contacted me and to participate in something that you were having your students do. So when you're saying making it real, they made their own talk show. But then you showed me a list of all these other people that were extreme, they were professionals that are just crushing it in their own fields that you are having your students connect with. I absolutely love how you reached out side of the classroom, outside of the university, and we're bringing in real life professionals to talk with your students. I mean, it's it's I hope our President isn't listening, but it's because I'm so dumb, Brian, I mean, I can't keep up with everything. There's, there's okay, there's tick tock now, and in a week and a half, there's going to be Shmueli boop. And I'm not going to know how it works or, and I'll have to do is call, you know, Joe Beretta or Mandy price or any of the, you know, dear ones, who will still pick up the phone or respond to something. And and I tell my current students this as well, that, I'd say, Man, one of the most impactful times of the semester, this I shouldn't be admitted this to you. Like the best time of the semester is when I'm not talking to the students. And I bring in one of these alums, right. Like you mentioned, there's some there's some students who have done some pretty splashy things. There are so impactful, and I need to remember to do that more, by the way, but but then when the guest has gone away, I'll tell the current student they're like, oh, Professor, Dan, that was so cool. And I'm like, you know, I'm glad you dug it. And I say, you know, Tim In five years, when I'd say would you, what would you? Oh, of course. And I say, and then in five years, when I say, hey, Gladys, there's somebody who has the same kind of a dream that you did. Would you talk to her? They'll jump out of their chairs and say, yes. So understand that you're part of something way bigger, and I can't do it. I'm, I'm done. It's winter over here. You know what I mean? Like I'm growing closer to winning the lottery and retiring. But the how do you stay fresh? I guess I don't I just maintain relationships with people to stay fresh. Not and I think that makes you unbelievable. I think it's somewhere I got painted that educators should know everything. But we can't it's impossible. And the way the world is moving, it's moving so fast that we don't need to be the sage on the stage. It's about being that guide on the side. And there's a bumper sticker. Yeah, that's not my I stole that line. But connecting. And it would be it would be a fun game show to see already got the wheels spinning like Like, there is not one question. We can't answer. Give me a little bit of time. And a little bit of connection. There is no question we couldn't resolve. Absolutely. Credit on that one. I appreciate that, my friend. So I loved all of that keeping it fresh, open ended. Challenges, keeping it real. Just sparks that engagement, that curiosity that wonder that buy in factor, so you're doing phenomenal things, my friend, thank you. Now, two of my favorite questions that I ask everyone bring is what podcast recommendations would you have? And what book recommendations would you have for the listeners? Casts so I have a commute. So I get to listen to podcasts, I get to listen to you. And I straight up the so people who are listening right now, I dig it. They're already listening. People who are listening right now tell your other friends in education to listen to this as well. Now, the other one has, I mean, I need to turn my brain off once in a while. And so I am binging on Jack Benny. Haha, Old Time Radio. I so appreciate I mean, as a storyteller, I think my job and Jack Benny's job are the same. And we're the same that is use all the technology that you possibly can to make people as much or in my case to help people understand, whatever, that's what's very killer. So he did so with radio specifically. To me, it's fascinating to pick up on the really minut details that Jack Benny noticed that helped make him you know, he was he was it. He was the it Connick for decades. But crazy to me is he trans transformed from vaudeville, you know, like, like doing little acts in a stage in front of people to radio where people just had to kind of close their eyes and imagine what he helped them to imagine, to TV, where something actually is. And in all of those areas. He excelled. So yeah, once in a while, take a break. And just you know, and it's it's so refreshingly good, you know, they don't make horrible fun of people. And it's just nice, nice. No, that sounds great. And the art of storytelling, you know, that's something that really hasn't changed. Different components are the stories that we tell maybe a little bit, but there's, there's a rhythm, a flow to a story. So listening to those master storytellers, and really focusing on those minut details. Especially because what do we do as teachers? We're story. I think the best teachers are. Let's put it that way. I think the best teachers are great storytellers. Absolutely. And is there any book right now that you would like to share? What am I reading right now? I'm reading. I was geeking out on some espionage stuff, because the super spy in the Air Force, this was the the traitor and the patriot. And but there's another one that I'm reading and I keep coming back to it. And it's called The Art of happiness. And it's an interview by a Western psychiatrist with the Dalai Lama. So the Dalai Lama has all kinds of fantastic insight, arguably, right? But and he understands the world from his perspective, which is very different than mine. So a smart man from a Western culture has that conversation and kind of interprets it, you know, puts it into a language that I can understand better, the art of happiness, and I will bet you a nickel, you will be happier after you read the art of happiness. I love that. I haven't checked that out. It's almost almost as happy as after listening to an episode of The Brian Martin podcast. You're awesome. How it listeners wanted to connect with you? What is the best way to do that? I mean, for another week and a half on Twitter at 10 G know at Prof. Dan G and Instagram, Prof. Dan Garrity. And I just brag about my students and my grandkids. But I do love to amplify your voices like yours, Brian, and anybody else who has great things to say. Because you, you don't need to have, you know, 10s of 1000s of followers to have, you know this, that so many people have really, really, really good ideas, and they just don't get the, you know, the amplification that they need. So, it is my honor to do that for you. And for any of you know, your listeners who who have something like that, it would be my honor to amplify that as well. Very, very much appreciated my friend. Now, if you could have the listeners walk away with one thing. What would that thing be? You were generous enough to give me a little bit of time to consider that before we started. And thank you. And I would speak directly to the teacher. Listen, that redefine what we call gifted. And I many, many times have gone up to students. And it's one of those things where they do something amazing. And you kind of sit them down in the hallway like Dude, do you have any idea how gifted you are? And the in faculty conferences, you're like, ah, Sally is so gifted. And here's what I wish we were one of the ways I wish we could re articulate that. I'll say, I see Sally's gift so clearly. Because that I Guaran Damn, Tee you. Everyone has one, as you probably know better than I some of them are gifted at hiding their gifts. Making it a challenge, right. But if we look for it, we'll find it, I promise you. And that I'm embarrassed to say that has been a relatively recent epiphany. But it's true, man. Look for that gift, you'll find it. I absolutely love it. And we can't say it enough. If you look for that gift, where you put your energy where you put your focus. If you look for that gift, you're going to find that in every single person, I think. Absolutely. I love it, my friend. And thank you so much for your time. Thank you for connecting. You are such a bright light. I loved seeing your two grandchildren right there. That's the highlight of my night. So neat, man, it just really really got me a little bit Misty, you I know tell everybody like you embody the things that I would see in my dad who would just connect so directly and completely with everybody, regardless of station. And I know you bring that to your classroom. And so we were all kind of trying to do that. Absolutely. And it was easy to see the love that you have for those two beautiful young ladies right there. So but I appreciate you my friend and thank you for sharing so much wisdom and I hope someday that we get to throw one back and continue this conversation. It'll be at a Final Four with St. Bonaventure and Gonzaga and we will if that happens, we will definitely be there. Thanks a lot, my friend. This conversation was so good. Dan dropped so many gems Now this is the teaching champions take where I share three of my favorite takeaways. The first gem, was when Dan said that we should really take the time to hear someone else's story. Because we can stand to learn so much from every single person, whether that's the students that we teach, or any adult that's in our building, each and every single one of them have a story. And if we take the time to truly listen, we can learn, we can connect, and we can gain a deeper understanding of who the people are, that are around us. The second gen that I loved was when Dan talked about how we should pay attention to how our students communicate and receive information and communication. There's the message that's given, and the message that's received. And we may think that we're conveying a message in a certain way. But if those who are receiving that message, don't receive it as such, then it's up to us to recognize that and tweak the way that we communicate. And that can vary from person to person that can vary from situation to situation. So it's important that we're cognizant of how others communicate, and how they receive information. The third gem that I loved was how Dan talked about developing the durable skills and our students skills such as problem solving, leadership, critical thinking, teamwork, skills, flexibility, adaptability, creativity, being a good listener, excetera. These are skills that are so important for our champions, so they can interact with others, and so that they can be successful in the workplace. Now, these are just a few of the amazing gems from this conversation. Let me know on social media, what are some of your favorite takeaways, and a big thank you to Dan for being so amazing, and for sharing so much wisdom, definitely appreciated my friend. And a big thank you to all of you for being here. For being part of the teaching champions community. We support, we encourage we lift each other up. And if you think someone would benefit from this message, please share. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast. We have new episodes coming out every Wednesday and Sunday. And always remember, it doesn't matter if you're from rural America, from 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 you go out into the week, May you step into strength, may you step into your shine, and let's build our champions. Have a great weekend.