Building Relationships and Being Authentically You with Jamie Brown

What's going on everybody, I hope this finds you striving and thriving and doing absolutely amazing. This week, we're joined by Jamie Brown. He's an assistant principal. He's a champion of social emotional care and character education, a curriculum developer of accept University, and author, speaker coach. And in this interview, we're going to discuss being intentional with relationships, the importance of making authentic connections with our fellow educators, the power of investing in one another, ways that we can build authentic relationships within the community. And as you listen to Jamie, in this interview, you're going to truly hear someone who speaks from his heart. And he comes from a truly authentic place. I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did. I want to welcome Jamie brown to the teaching champions Podcast. I'm super excited for this interview. Jamie, I want to welcome you to the podcast, my friend. Ryan, thank you so much for having me and friend, I'm so excited to meet you. This is one of my favorite podcasts that I've been listening to lately in just a rock star lineup that you've been putting on this show lately. So I'm proud and blessed to be a part of it. Thank you so much. And I can't wait to add you to the lineup. I've heard you speak before. And you have a lot to offer. So super excited for all the listeners to get a chance to hear from you as well. Thank you. Excellent. Well, can you give us your story, please? Sure. So I mean, it's funny, I wasn't planning to be an educator, my entire family except my mom actually, are all educators, my grandpa who raised me is over 60 years in the business. And I always wanted to be the black sheep of the fan. So I was like if they're all educators are going a different direction. And my story, this was graduating in May 2001, little small school Maryland, Mount St. Mary's best best college in the world. buddy of mine who she graduated a year prior, worked for Rolling Stone magazine. And that was my goal always wanted to be writing for Rollingstone traveling the world, I'm a professional musician. And that's was my first initial thought. Music journalism is kind of what I was going to school for with an English major. And she was like, when you graduate, I'm gonna get you an interview. I was like, I don't care, I'll collect garbage. I'll be in the bathroom. Just tell me what I need to do. And she lived up to the word she got me an interview in August 2001. And it was, you know, read around the Jersey Shore was about a half hour outside of Manhattan. So I was excited. Again, I didn't I think it was just like an internship type of position. But there was, you know, 50 people join for it. Long story short, it gets down to about three or four of us. And they're telling us after Labor Day, they're gonna give us call back to like a final set, someone's gonna get the get the job and not 11 happened. And that, you know, for me, in terms of how it affected me was just on a professional level was to change the course of my my world because, obviously, you know, the world stopped there, the city, you know, the hiring process was over, couldn't go in the city, that kind of thing. And fast forward a month or two later, I really was just kind of living on my buddy's couch. Notice he wasn't living at home anymore kind of thing, just rubbing money in such and I just started my uncle was like, you gotta get a job. My grandpa was like, Do you need some money? So I just started subbing at my old high school, my uncle's Middle School, and gosh, when I tell you, I was terrible, I was terrible. But I guess I just found something that I wanted to do. And ultimately, I just kind of morphed into it. I just took literally this is old school, you know, where you mailed a resume out? This was not like that direct email. I literally just did every single public school in New Jersey, resume cover letter sent it out. And I mean, when you talk about somebody looking after you, the district that landed in old bridge Township, I can never speak highly enough about the district, the administration and the people who not only gave me my opportunity, but as I walked away from that and moved to a district to become an administrator later on, I mean, those guys blessed me with so many opportunities, but great, great friendships that I still have Today, and I guess that was it. I mean, I still got the music piece and never got to work for Rolling Stone. But it's funny how you ended up, you know, where you think that it'd be the last place on earth. And the last 20 plus years as an educator has just been an incredible journey. And I feel like I'm in this new wave of my profession, and what I'm trying to do here, and, you know, reach the masses, not just teachers, but students. How I got here was crazy. But, you know, it was, it's been an awesome journey. It's all I can say, but, you know, it just kind of reminds me of the pandemic right now, you know, brings back those memories where, you know, the world was so different, you know, I started teaching post 911. And, you know, that that world, especially being right, there was so different. And, you know, this pandemic is brought back those same types of circumstances, feelings, in essence, you know, being back home, and, you know, that's how we ended up moving, which I'm sure we'll talk about in a little bit. And I'm just glad somehow, someway, I ended up being in education, getting to meet people like yourself, and it's just been awesome, man. No regrets. That is phenomenal. And, and that's amazing, like, the path that we think that we're gonna walk in the path that we end up walking, and how certain certain events and we're about the same age, I think I got a few years on you. But 911, I was in college at the time, I was a senior in college, that how that changed everything. And the people that are younger than us, don't really, it's hard for them to really understand. They've seen the news footage and everything. But it was one of those events that I think people our age, we always remember, like, where we were at, especially for you being right there. Yeah, yeah, for sure. You know, and, you know, like I said, it was seeing everybody band together and the pride that everybody had, you know, in the communities and help it out, you know, it was a great time to start education, because I feel like, it got me to the path I'm on now, which was seeing, you know, just specifically the school district I landed in, you know, everything in the beginning was all about giving back, you know, trying to get into the city help out as best you can to just, you know, provide meals, you know, volunteer your time, whatever you could do, and just seeing, you know, veteran teachers lead that type of example, around the whole area where I was living it was, you know, I think it helped shape, you know, the vision that I got today, for sure. So I'm thankful for that to 100% and that, that was one thing like seeing on September 12, how everybody came together. And that was in a very dark time. That was one light from that situation. Now, you're, you're traveling so you started out in Jersey, and now I know that you have a little bit more to the story. Where are you at now? My friend? Yeah, so we, during the pandemic last years, I left old bridge after 17 years, credible run there and again, my principal Vinny Sasso he's just the best of the best in the education space. And you know, he was like you gotta go there's gonna be no room there's no room for an administrator here but you're ready and supported me ultimately landed High School VP job six months before COVID hits the pandemic hits you know, I thought this is my new journey you know gonna become a principal at some point Jersey just kind of ride out my last leg of my career but I wouldn't pandemic hit everything slowed down my wife is works in labor delivery or was at the time and we kind of all slowed down one of the just see a slower pace we ended up you know, looking back at our roots and my family my wife got some family out in that Charleston Area South Carolina so we were coming here for Thanksgiving and we just on a whim just said let's go for it. wife came down here with my in laws for a little over a week. Out of nowhere, she's like, I'm in the house we're about to buy let's go like drop everything quit everything, sell everything. We just you know, just like an education I'm just I'm a preacher of taking risks stepping outside the comfort zone and that was the only rule to this possible move at the time where I said if we're gonna do it, would you do no thinking and sight on sound? We did it. I've never even been in the town I live in I'm right outside of Hilton Head about five miles from Hilton Head. And it's just been one of those never looked back situations. You know, I don't live in the past or regrets but man if I would have done this 10 years ago, I wouldn't have wouldn't complain for sure. So right outside Hilton Head, South Carolina. Great, great place for education. I just love it because I feel like it's a golden opportunity for the cons. And then I'm trying to bring to the table. I feel like it's almost like an untapped resource for a lot of public school education here. Where I think there's a lot of great opportunities to really make a positive impact, you know, large scale. Absolutely. And we talked a little bit before we started recording, both of us being up in the northeast, moving down south to escape the wintertime is definitely one of those where you don't look back and you just smile about the move that you make. 100 my my brother in law lives in Colorado, so I told my wife I'm like, you want to go ski? I know she loves it. I was like, once a year, we can go out there for Christmas. I'm okay with that. But that's it, man. Absolutely a one week vacation. And then back to the warm. Now I was checking out on your your social media that you just presented at Johnston's Renaissance. And I never knew of this before this summer, but I've heard that this conference is like the cream of the crop of school culture. And for people like myself that haven't been there that haven't experienced that. Would you mind just just sharing what that's all about maybe talking about what you presented there as well? Absolutely, yeah. Jostens Renaissance education, Dustin's the companies that do the class rings, the yearbooks, same company they created a long time ago. I mean, it's been going on for probably over 20 years now. I got introduced to it about 10 1015 years ago. Jostens Renaissance education, all about school culture and climate revitalization. And what differentiates it from other networks, other opportunities in the education space is that everything is it's free. It's not a you know, a curriculum that you buy, so to speak. Basically, it is just an opportunity to network with educators from all over the world. Everybody from classroom teachers, support staff, principals, counselors, to superintendents. And the conference, Justice Renaissance global conference was just held in Orlando, we can half ago out Disney World, literally has every single state represented in the country, multiple countries across the globe, in person and virtual and it is the number one conference and just space. If you are looking to focus on school culture and climate in terms of going from below average to average going from I would say Good to Great. This is where you want to be it is filled with every rock star in the in the game. You know, people like Dr. Darren Peppard, you know, Frank Radetzky, from Jersey, Jersey boy, Steve bowler, Melissa, right. I mean, you just got everybody at PC, Dr. Phil Campbell, who's, you know, pretty much one of the faces of Jostens Renaissance, someone like Barney, black material, just gotta mention all these guys, because they are like my mentors that look up to these guys. They're just great people to there was just an awesome opportunity. And what they do in the conference that I love, and what attracted me to it is that they allow students and student leaders to also be presenters at the conference. And that is the only conglomerate that does that, that I know of, and does it on a large scale. So it was a three day conference, great keynotes. And, you know, the first day starts with a Leadership Academy from Phil Boyd, who is, you know, cultural climate guru. And then followed by a day of first morning sessions, where again, all student leadership groups presenting to adults, and to see their passion for relationship building for inclusion, positive culture and climate. It's incredible. And I was just fortunate enough, I've been trying to get to the conference for years, that lands on my daughter's birthday. So it's always been difficult. But, you know, I was fortunate enough to be selected to present on something that I built called accept University, which is, you know, an SEL and character education, blending presentation series that I created for sixth through 12th graders. And I got the opportunity to present that to, to the group that was there. And again, just making connections, but if you've never heard of it, you're looking to you know, improve your club, improve your school, improve your district, there is no other place, you know, to look at Justice renaissances, the best of the best and I'll also mention a little character strong. It's just my other those guys, John, John Dorland. It's just just the man to but it was an incredible, incredible moment. It really, you know, it's kind of like the Super Bowl of culture and climate conferences and, you know, talking to these guys on social all the time, you know, for years and incorporating the resources again that are available for free into my peer leadership program. What I did for 15 years, getting to go there, again, it's like talking about it being about it, it blew my mind, I'm still kind of taking it all in. But, you know, walking away with even more knowledge, just, it's got me motivated for this year in a way that I haven't been in a really, really long time. So absolutely something to look into for anybody who's listening. And you're looking to just get started to try to build that culture, whether it's with students, staff, or both. Nope, no better place to start. That's phenomenal. And I've heard and I know some of the individuals that you mentioned, and they're absolute rock stars, like, like you said, and what I love is you talked about how it's free, then. So it's not a paid program, and that student piece where they're going, and they're presenting, because sometimes I think we're starting to get a little bit older, we may see things we will look at through it as a different lens. So it would be extremely interesting to hear from the youth and the way that they're perceiving and how they're seeing it all. And it's amazing too, because again, I left the classroom after like four or five years, and I became what was called a peer leadership teacher, and then a peer leadership coordinator for my district and Oh, bridge. So I was working with seniors in high school. service, leadership, programming is just incredible. But having not done that for almost five years. And now hearing the same type of student leaders speak to me and young people in the room after those five years, it was my first time seeing how different you know, the mindset, like you said, is based on you know, what they're experiencing, you know, socially. And I always, I was talking about, you know, there's two versions of students these days, and adults, for that matter that the offline version in person, but more moreso, the online version. So they live these two different worlds, and to hear them talk in those terms, and how difficult it is to navigate both of those settings is just, it's impressive, you know, 16 1718 year old kid, you know, talking talking that way and, and motivated to make a difference positively. Again, that's why Jostens Renaissance is just incredible. That's phenomenal. And it is, like you said, it's two different worlds now, and we didn't grow up with the social media like it is today. So these kids have different challenges that they're definitely facing right now. I mean, I didn't I graduated college without a cell phone or a computer in my room. So I mean, I was on Napster, you know, ripping files for free before there was iTunes. 100%, I was right there with your brother. Yep. Now you also talk about you have a vision for re mixing the soundtrack to education. Would you mind talking about that? A little bit? Absolutely. Yeah. So when I talked about that, you know, I'm always using these analogies, music because I'm a musician. I think the pandemic has put a spotlight has magnified, you know, mental health concerns. And you some people say creative mental health, and they may have for some for some, but it's always been there, you know, so I don't like to say there's a silver if there's a silver lining in the pandemic for education space, but if there is, maybe it's that, that now we're finally having, you know, what I feel is the real conversation that has needed to take place for a long time, which is, you know, the importance of self care, you know, relationship building, to me is paramount. I always talk about compassion, underneath curriculum, relationships underneath rigor, you know, John Norland from character strong, he always talks about, you know, what's on the plate, filling up the plate. And for me, that's where it begins, man, it's it's not that academics aren't important. But to move that needle. You have to build those relationships first. So for me, trying to take this opportunity of where we finally are in the conversation, of flipping the script of you can't just start teaching and developing the whole child first. It's not feasible based on at least what I see, you know, large scale in terms of the teacher themselves, not having that experience. It's never been, you know, and that's why I feel like there's so many teachers leaving the spaces because, you know, you hear the tagline and I get it. Of, this isn't what I signed up for. And I understand that and I feel like that's where the remix has to happen. And for me, I'm trying to build up the whole teacher first model how, you know, social emotional care should look how building relationships should look by as an administrator and that's why I want to be one right now. Reaching all the teachers in a building in a district and showing them how to do that is how to be intentional and being kind, really just being human. And just asking simple questions that have nothing to do with education, you know, how are you? What can I do for you? What do you need right now, those kinds of things, just simple conversation starters, and develop building that whole teacher up first. So they can say, wow, my team leadership really cares about me, it's authentic. And they feel that way, when you get to that point, and you have that buy in showing them this is now what you can do. It's not about just going out and buying a quick fix textbook on Teachers Pay Teachers and then saying, oh, now I'm doing SEL, because I do an icebreaker once a week, or we have Monday morning meetings, or I got a nice bulletin board hanging up, you know, what do some craft calls confetti kindness, you know, it's in. And that's a mock that because that's important, too. But it's got to be more than that. I feel like, if you start with the whole teacher and build that model of an educator up today, you're going to see truly how to develop next, the whole child, but you can't do it in reverse order. And I feel like that's why it has been so barren in education prior to the pandemic, where SEL SEL was like, oh, yeah, we'll throw it on a district strategic plan and say we do it because again, we do Red Ribbon Week, or whatever, that kind of stuff. And those things, again, are great. But I think now everyone's in, like, they've hit the panic button. Because now we realize, Oh, crap, we have to do this. But we don't know how, and that's okay. But that's where, you know, I feel like, I want to be able to help any educator, any leadership team, any school, any school district, and model and show them how I've done it myself, you know, I was doing those things without even knowing that was SEL, you know, I feel like, again, my former district oakbridge, we were really, really ahead of the curve, because we had to be, because we were a tough district right outside the city. Again, post 911. You know, we had over 3500 kids come from so many different backgrounds and cultures, which I love about the school. I mean, it's, you know, it's the only way to learn. But, you know, figuring out ways to get these kids from different neighborhoods, different backgrounds to accept one another, you know, promote that tolerance, peace through empathy. You know, we had to do that to survive, you know, 20 years ago at this at my school I was at, and little by little, we did it, and it wasn't about academics, we couldn't even get there. First, we had to get these kids to respect one another. We had to get our staffs to, you know, learn to be cohesive and break down the silos, so to speak. And, you know, when we did that, we ultimately ended up being a state and national high school and school district of character through character.org in Washington, DC, and seeing it and truly living it. And you know, through my peer program, being a big piece of that trans transformation, prove to me that if you're gonna move the needle for performance and get that report card, the way the state wants it to look at it honestly has nothing to do with how well a teacher knows the content, how well your dress, actually wear a shirt and tie everyday to school as an administrator. If the kids don't buy into what I'm selling, I'm not going to have anything to sell. 100% and I love how you talk about like, modeling for the teachers how to show that empathy and taking an interest in them, and really showing them that they're just not a teacher that you care about who they are. Yeah, and I think it was, I was compared to real estate, right? Like, it's like an open house field. It starts with just something like that. This is something that Jostens Renaissance teaches you to you know, the look of the school it sounds so simple, but that's like a big thing. And you know, if, if this gets out before someone's first week of school, and you're an administrator, like just the look like if I walk in as a teacher does it say to me, my team really cares and wants me to feel special walking into the building day one, you know, we started in a week from Monday, our teachers come back and I'm on a brand new school district as a high school VP, and nothing but great things I've heard about the staff and I'm seeing it already and I live in the community so I'm so so hyped up right just to meet these guys. But there's, I'm on the first floor, there's three floors. So I'm in charge of the first four teams, all the other departments so we have two little like faculty rooms. And just something so simple where I'm walking in and right now it's just you know, clutter everything's, you know, in the hallways, we're getting ready for the classrooms, the waxing the floors, etc. And, you know, my thought right now is this week, I got five days. We're not going to make this look like you know they're home So when they get to walk in and take that break, which is what the one of the biggest complaints educators is right now is like, I need time to myself anytime to breathe. Just something that's simple if that room doesn't feel like it's a release from the stress that they're feeling in those, you know, three blog periods that that our team our staff is teaching, then shame on me, man, I'm not doing my job. And I know that some people say, Well, that means nothing that's stupid. You're wasting time you got bigger fish to fry and yes, we do. There's there's a lot of things to do. We got registration, everything else. But that's, that's on the same just so you know, who's listening, that's on the same plateau is registration this week. Um, you know, we got 13 Kids, we got to get in the building, get them their, their laptops, you know, we're one to one school, that kind of stuff. But in the back of my head is I got till Friday to fix those two rooms for my team, because I want them to walk in and have it feel fresh. I want it to have some refreshments. I want to have flowers and let put some inspiration on the wall. Because I want them to feel like you know, what, if I'm not having a good day, wow, Jimmy, Jimmy built his room for us. He took the time, so it feels good. And even if they hate the decorations, it's not about that piece of it, it's that they know that I took some time out of my day that I don't have for them, putting them first that's my biggest piece of advice to any administrator, especially if you're brand new. And you're looking for a way to you know, see it on some of the Facebook groups, principals desk is one where you just get these questions every single day. And they're like, What should I do? How do I, you know, get to know the team and little little things, the details that you'll get ignored and are like, we'll do the bulletin boards later, like now like, again, you talk about students showing them the love, those bulletin boards need to be up and they need to have you set fire to the building in terms of like, we're proud, you know, because if a parent walks in and says, I'm here to get my schedule for my my daughter, and they see, bulletin boards have ripped down just ethnically speaks volumes to you know, the pride you have in your brand. So 100 on a tangent. No, that's 100% that Environment Matters. Like what we see how we feel about, you know, our rooms, our hallways, it matters. And like you said, you fit, fix up those teacher lounges and make them look nice and make them so that if someone's having a tough day, whether it's a teacher, paraprofessional, that they can go in there, and maybe it's a soothing effect. But more importantly, you talked about, they know that you were very intentional with that time that you took that time out there for them. And I think that that's just not for the administration. I think that goes, you know, for myself as a teacher, and how do I want my my second grade team to feel how do I want my other teachers within the building. And maybe it's not setting up that teachers lounge. But if I know, one of my colleagues daughter, she's a phenomenal hockey player. And she goes to all these tournaments all over, if I'm taking that time, you know, on Monday morning, if I see her in the hallway, or just pop my head into a room real quick, have that hockey tournament go, it's that piece where we're seeing each other for more than just the teacher next door and investigate a little bit. And what I would suggest for teachers, you know, in this exact moment of what you're talking about is, you know, you think about the Facebook groups and like just group texting, right? Like, it is so important if you can just invest 15 extra minutes before the day, right? Like if you normally get there at eight, and the day starts 805 When I gotta get there at 745. And just make it intentional, say every day, I'm just gonna pop into one more of my colleagues rooms and just say what's up, you know, it matters. It builds momentum, you know, we can with those faculty rooms, it's not about what it looks like and what's on the walls. It's just them knowing that I'm trying to be intentional to look out for their best interests, because I know that's going to lead to, you know, Brian coming to me and saying, Hey, James, thanks, man. I really appreciate you doing that looks pretty good. It's been a while since I've been clean. Now I know I got Brian on my team. And now he's on the bus with me driving it right. And next time I need someone to help me do something for the kids. Not only is Brian going to do it, but now I'm going to help make Brian a rockstar to the students. And again, it's just that modeling of just how easy it is doesn't cost money to build relationships that matter. 100% And it doesn't take like you said five minutes pop into somebody's room real quick. Doesn't have to be a long conversation to say, Hey, what's up, have a great day. You know, the small things there's so now you also talk about a lot about you know, we take care of the whole teacher and that trickles down to the whole child the whole student and then It goes into the community and partnering with the community. Now, what are some ways that in your prior school district and maybe things, the vision that you had this year for your new district? What What are ways that we can partner with the community? Sure, it's the hardest piece of the three, I think, you know, but uh, you know, for me, it's that that triangle, that three prong approach, you know, that's the last piece of the puzzle. And when you get there, you know, you've got a district that's thriving, you know, this takes it from your school, whether you're an elementary, middle or high to the district level, in my opinion. And again, you go back to the pandemic, you saw a little bit of that, that you talked about 911, you see September 12, communities coming together, right. But then the fire fizzles out. So it's important to stay consistent. I think social media is definitely the best way that we've done it, you know, in my districts, you know, any port that I played in, I just tried to let the parents into the, into the room with me, whether I'm a classroom teacher, I'm an administrator, again, showing that pride in the brand pride in your staff pride in your students and what they're accomplishing. And I understand when you say social media, everyone gets nervous, but it's a reality, it's what we're doing right now otherwise wouldn't have these opportunities. So it's that piece, you got to educate everybody in the room on how to use it properly. Because it's, it's a way to, again, positively put out the brand in a way where everyone wants to be a part of it. So using social, if I'm a teacher, to the left, the community is starting with the parents on good things that the kids are doing, and they see you celebrating their child. There's no bigger home loan you could hit. When you take it a step further, you know, when I'm talking about partnering with the community after the parents, I'm really talking about, you know, the people that aren't a part of the school district who don't have kids in the district, you know, who are just supporting the school, especially if it's a public school, right. So for me, it was finding out the local businesses, again, running a peer leadership program, I had the opportunity to do a million of one you know, service leadership projects, fundraisers events, such you always start organically you start homegrown. So we have just, you know, this is what I'm doing right now, in my own town, you know, week one, I'm just every week I'm going to the local coffee shop. For lunch, I'm going to the pizza parlors, I'm talking to the people who do you know, T shirts, any type of you know, branding stuff, and just introducing myself. Hey, I'm JB brown Louis's principal buff in high school to your man, just want to say, Love your store. Great job. That's it. That's step one, introducing myself letting them know I'm part of the school. Just so the community's like, oh, wow, that's weird. I've never had a administrator from the High School introduce themselves, right. But I do it every single time. I am in a store that is in my town that I'm that I'm in right. And then the step two is next. Once I get to know my kids in this building, I'm gonna take some of my student leaders like our ROTC kids or student council kids, and find our first fundraiser, whether it's a food drive, or whatever, we need an event. Someone says to me, man, we need to make shirts, boom, okay, here's what we're doing. We're going to take five of our student leaders, we're gonna go to that graphics design shop, we're gonna bring them you know, five of our old shirts, make them a swag bag, put it in a drawstring bag with our logos all over it, and just say, Hey, we love your work, you know, we're looking to rebrand our stuff. We got some stuff coming up to share, but we wanted to give you guys this, so you can support us, you know, be bought people were bobcats. So it's like, be part of Bobcat nation. No, come to a game. Love to see you there. You know, thanks for everything you do in the community. Don't ask for anything. Don't put anything out there. You walk away, right? It's kind of like you're dating someone, you know, trying to live your life. And then the third step is typically if you do it that way, you may have to reach out and say, Hey, to that same company, Hey, Jamie can you know Bob Paulson now they know me. And they know what I'm about. It was intentional. I came to them. I'm not asking them for anything. Hey, we're looking to make sure it's love your product. You know, we need 500 What can you do not ask Him for anything for free? They give me 500 shirts. Normally they're 10 out well, you know, it's the school will do six bucks, whatever. Next event, now, I'm going to have another company in the same town, say, hey, we want a piece of the action right? And you start friendly competition, but you know, competitive marketing, so to speak, no. 100% And then ultimately, you know, again, it takes time, but then they see that you're promoting them. They're promoting you you know, when every time I make a shirt, O'Brien your company made it Yeah, put your logo on the back, man, for sure absolutely will advertise you. And little by little then you start to get those little events where you can go into the pizza parlor and they'll say, hey, we'll get to you or you're having a faculty meeting. Yeah, here's free five free pies, man, you know, no worries. And it's just a trickle. effect of just supporting one another but through relationship building. And then the bigger piece for the partnering with the with the community for me is showing and modeling to the students who may take leadership roles leader later on how to continue to grow that relationship and intentionally being authentic, not just looking to get something out of it. So after we work with somebody every single time, I would always have the kids go back. Thank You card handwritten, and do a little shout out profile video. 30 seconds. Hey, I'm here with Brian Martin, you know from Crispy Pizza Man, this guy is the best pizza in town. These guys were awesome. They hooked us up at our last fundraiser for the tailgate game. Come check these guys out every Friday, they got a special for lunch students bring your ID, you know, thanks for everything you do love you guys, boom, we put that on Twitter, we put that on Instagram, we put that on Facebook tag, everybody tagged them. And it's a home run, it's a home, it's a home run. Because then then it gets to the point where you don't have to make any more calls everybody's calling you and that you have the decision of which pizza parlor do I use and then ultimately, what you do is like on a 10 pies, there's three in the town. Everybody gets three pies each and everyone's got to see the table. So much there that I absolutely love VODs great things. First, you talked about connecting with the families. And I think COVID At least in my district, it shut it down a lot as far as like the ability of the families that come into the classroom. So using that social media piece to push information out, especially, you know, I'm at second grade, um, with the younger kids, they love photos. But from what I've seen with at the high school, middle school, low level, parents love pictures. So being able to send out pictures to him, I know, we have an app on our phone, it's called parents square. So I don't put as much out on Twitter, with the school. But through this parents square, I can send pictures and videos directly just to the families in my classroom. So I'm constantly trying to send out pictures or we're doing like a Mother's Day, we did a little video for the moms and send it out to them. So I love how you said people, parents, grandparents, they want to see us celebrating the child. And that's where the pandemic again, that silver lining was exactly what they're talking about. They are they're not in the classroom anymore. It forced everybody to, I don't say think outside the box, because that's all we've ever said. So now you're just like everyone else always say like fake underneath it on top of it jumped back in whatever. It made us be innovative for how we reached our kids, because we couldn't physically reach out to them. Right. So those kinds of things I remember, you know, my daughter was in kindergarten when this started. And one of the things that the school did was just they had a sidewalk chalk thing, they said, listen to this, put a message on your driveway. And we're going to create a video montage. And you know, we'll hop when we're out there, and the principal drove around with the administrators. And we just run the window. And it's you know, it's just a beautiful video and picture moment that we had. And it doesn't matter what you said, if it's on a direct app, where you just cannot be the way you're still conducting. Right. I just think that's so important. And, again, the parents will always appreciate it because you're celebrating, you know, their most prized possession, which is their child. Absolutely. And then I love that when you talk about that community piece, number one, you're going out, and you're establishing those relationships with them, which is huge. I think the schools, you know, being in a smaller community, like the schools should be such a big piece of that community and something that everybody can rally around and going out there, establishing those relationships. But then, you know, you talk about making those swag bags and dropping them off, and then going. And I love how you talked about your modeling for the students how to have not just a win lose relationship with those businesses, but a win win, where yeah, they're helping us out. They're making us t shirts, maybe they're giving us some pies, but we're also helping them out. And we're modeling after you're given something maybe that you give that handwritten note, then you show that appreciation. But you also, you know, we're gonna give you a shout out on our Twitter and our Instagram and our Facebook and to give you a little publicity to absolutely love that. Now I want to talk about you have a book coming out. Can you talk about the book that you're creating and what the whole premises of it? Absolutely pretty much what we're talking about? The manuscript right now is Untitled. And I'm still working on that. That's going to be the last piece of the puzzle. But the purpose of of my manuscript, my book is to create something that is not just for educators to read and learn from and use, I'm trying to be very cognizant of student leaders, you know, I want it to be something where a teacher could read it, you know, again, if I was a pure teacher, you know, I always made my students pick up a book, and we talk about, you know, something, you know, where we can learn from it together. And, and I really want to motivate, always, you know, not just the adults, but but the, the young adolescents and teens, you know, to just show them real life skills. So it's, it's a book on my philosophy, accept University, and accept as an acronym for ACT confidently, you know, be confident who you are, in your own two feet, your shoes, to show others how to do the same, communicate through empathy, and promote tolerance. That's what accepting accepting university stands for. So the premise of the book focuses on those three concepts and just introducing real life application skills through leadership skills, like empathy, acceptance, tolerance, respect, and just sharing a lot of the tricks and the trades and things that we're talking about here, just like, you know, how do you partner with the community, you know, want it to be a playbook for real life applications in the room and also want it to be self reflection, self discovery, for, you know, the educators that hopefully, you know, pick it up and give it a give it a chance to either start their career, again, where they're at least open to the discussion of working it look like, if I'm an educator, again, that puts compassion before curriculum that puts relationships before rigor, and want to create an environment that's inclusive, that's accepting and you know, is built on that premise, again, of empathy is just by word, I think if we teach kids and adults, those terms, and how to apply them, again, I just did, it's, I was always come back to just being human, you know, being behind and making that the cool. That's kind of, I guess, if there's a thesis for it, you know, for the student section, and the adults, you know, making kind of tool, it's just that easy, you know, like one time word, can change someone's entire day, in an instant. And that's, that's the basis of the book I don't really go into, here's how to collect data. And here's how to, you know, manage the curriculum map stuff again, not that it's not important, but if that's what you're looking for, that's not what this is, this is, you know, what I call the culture I call the lifestyle of the school and the climate and considered the mood of the building, if you're looking to focus on those, and and, again, elevate them, base past whatever level you're already on. Again, bad to good, good to great. That's what this book is, it's hopefully going to rejuvenate some educators to stay in this space, motivate some possible people like me back in the day, who never wanted to do it, but it was in the back of my head to jump in. Because I think this is an incredible time to be an educator. Because if we do remix this soundtrack to education and start thinking differently, what matters first, man, I mean, sky's the limit, I would love to be 20 years old jumping in education right now with like a blank canvas on hand, you know how to create relationships first. But if my boss was telling me that 25 years ago, I would have been all in so it's gonna be a great book, I again, you know, Darren peppered rode the awesome publishing, I gotta shout both of them out. Darren is an incredible, incredible guy, if you're not following Darren pepper, you know, jump on it wrote the awesome. That's the publishing company. And Dr. Brandon Beck, he's my other coach and mentor, a great friend of mine, those two have been, you know, nothing short of amazing in this journey of supporting me. So, book is going to hopefully be out before the end of the school year, I'm almost done, but to get through the publishing and such. So figure sometime next spring that it'll be out and rolling. So keep that out. And we're going to get it rolling before next Johnston conference next summer. So that's fantastic. And that sounds like such a phenomenal book, a book that can really make a difference for so many people. And like you said, I wish we could go back 20 years ago, and because the possibilities what we can do, especially the way the world is changing, and understanding how important the relationship pieces is, if we could take that knowledge, and it would be pretty special. Oh, yeah, hopefully I hope but I just like I said, if it inspires one student or one teacher, you know, I'm gonna throw in. Like I said, at the end of each chapter, I'm throwing in tricks of the trades, like something they can actually use in the classroom using their building. So if it inspires one, then then my job is done for that book. And we'll be on to the next one. Absolutely. And the one thing I absolutely love this, you talked about, you never know what someone needs to hear in that day, you know, that kindness is cool. And one kind word that can truly change the course of someone's day. And if we can inspire people, just to share a little bit of kindness to share one kind word to one person, the fact that it can have Yeah, and I hope that's the message that you know, administrative teams put out there to their staff, especially the schools that are saying we're starting from scratch a baseline, we've never done SEL, we've never done character it and that's okay. Kind of makes me nervous. It's like what were you doing, you know, but you know, if that's where you're starting that's, that's really the message is that it is that simple. It's not like time consuming. It's not money. It's just effort. It's literally just donating the time you don't have to someone else, that's all it is. And if you do that someone sees that. They see the authenticity, they see the intentionality of what you're bringing to the table. And it's just at the very least going to lead to a second conversation. 100% Now, I know summer's coming to an end for you. I got a couple more weeks New York, we started late, but we end it at the end of June. But is there any books or podcasts that someone might want to squeeze in for the end of the summer just to get us thinking a little bit any books or podcasts that you would recommend? Sure. I mean, I'm gonna shout out my people for sure. I mean, we got Melissa right just came out with inspired. I got you know, Darren peppers got his road to awesome. Brandon back unlocking unlimited potential. Darren, leading in the leadership podcast is a great one, if you're looking to again beat some amazing people in the space and just even, you know, Darren acknowledged what he shares. Same thing with brand and unlocking unlimited potential. He just has absolute rock stars on his podcast, what he brings to the table, he's in New York guy too. You see the two different perspectives, you know, from the same lens. So it's those are two great podcasts. If you're looking to get into the Justin space, for sure, the green room podcast is with Phil Campbell. He's, you know, the face of Jostens. He is amazing, you know, FORMER PRINCIPAL, the whole nine he's mostly began it but he does the student piece of it too, a lot of the time. So it's a great podcast, book wise, the book that I'm rereading right now, again, those guys all have their books, too. Hamish Brewer is one of my absolute absolute inspirations. I'm all tatted up. I'm a musician. So, I've had been censored. I've been stereotyped throughout my career, and when I read his book 2018 19 Right before COVID It made sense to me. I'm rereading it now after you know, going through some, you know, like I said, people who told me kid show your Tad's can't do this. This isn't what education is all about kind of thing and rereading it a second time and following him I mean, he is just I mean, he's on a different level pedestal of just absolute fire so he's a game changer that that would definitely be the book right now that that I'm on besides you know, my road to awesome crew. That's anyone on that list with us and that publishing? Definitely those guys are all Jostens Renaissance people Hall of Famers there and you can't go wrong with any of them. 100% I'm a big fan of the road to awesome family in you know, Hamish, I read his book, probably about two years right around the same time that you did and you definitely got that vibe going we need to get you a skateboard. I'm not sure to do any skateboarding but but he he has some great ideas and great message that he does. Now how can educators connect with you there Jamie? Sure. I'm all over social love social. So my website Jamie brown leadership.com. J Am I am on every every platform. Twitter is at leadership underscore JB than Instagram and Facebook is Jamie brown leadership LinkedIn. Jamie brown leadership YouTube Jamie brown leadership Tiktok Jamie proud leader Yeah, you know, I want to work with your schools. I want to have conversations let's shadow whether you're a teacher, you're an educator or you're saying you know my staff needs some team and relationship building. We need to work on our climate and culture revitalize it's toxic. We're Get in silos just need help getting started with SEL, you're looking for programs, like I said accepting University was an absolute game changer for our district, we went from, you know, below average, to average to good to great. And I want to believe that that was a massive part of it, it is hands on student lead, I would work with your student leaders, they will be a part of the presentations, you want to learn more about that. You know, if you're just looking at, again, just change the game of your district and the field on the landscape. I'm looking to just have a conversation and you just want to collab and meet. So please reach out. I love meeting new people and then connected and making myself better. So that's fantastic. Now, as we wrap up this interview, what's one thing that if you could have a listener walk away with today, what would that be? Just be you. Again, when I end, any presentation, anytime I'm talking with a group of students, a group of teachers, when I do my accept you presentations, it always ends with being you and what I mean by that is just be real. Everybody sees right through when you're not. And if you're in the education game, like that song is so played out, when you try to make yourself something to impress the kids or they'll think it's cool or you know, my boss wants me to, they'll love me to do this. They'll see right through it. You know, when I think about the interview process I just went through, like I said, shout out to Bluffton High School, South Carolina, we're Bobcat nation, we're gonna crush it this year. I was spending a week of time trying to think about what the directors of curriculum instruction, what the super what the principal wanted the answers to be because you know, you know, the, you know, the questions that are common. And I was wrapping my brain and finally just said, be you and I normally don't even prepare. Once I hear that I'm like, That's it, I'm just going to give them me, I'm going to show you my tats, I'm going to have you know, the bald head and look like a cop or something. But I don't talk about certain aspects of education, because they're not my strong suits, or they're not on the forefront, I lead with relationships, I lead with this stuff. Because then I'll know, if you take me, you want me for the right reasons, and I'm in the right place. So if you're a new teacher, if you're a teacher that was struggling, and you're know you're looking at it, like we're finally back into building baby back to some normalcy, just be you and the rest will follow because, again, not so much the adults, but the kids. Now, I don't care if Brian, you're a second grade teacher, if you're like me, who has been in high school, all 21 years that kids see through it. And I think that's where it leads to the unhappiness when you're trying to be something or not in the space especially, you start to get resentful, you start to get judgmental, you start to listen to the noise that you don't need to be here and you know, put it on mute, you know, just stay positive, you know, and help others do the same. And we'll get through this. And like I said, you know that soundtracked education will be remixed in a way where everybody's gonna want to keep that on repeat and just listen to it over and over again. I love that. And I think you know, you embody that, my friends, when you when you talk about being you. I know this is first time that we've had a conversation, but but just sitting here with you listening to you talk, you're you're so real, you're so authentic, you're so passionate. And I love that keep keeping you and there's no doubt in my mind that you're going to do that. And I love how it shows the type of person you are because throughout this whole interview throughout this conversation, you've talked about the people that have impacted you. And I know I could bring those people on and they would say about how you impacted them. Keep bringing that fire brother, when that book comes out, we're gonna have another conversation and dive into that my friend but best a lot. I know you're gonna do great things down there. It's your high school. Thank you so much. I appreciate those kind words that does I mean, that means more to me than than any type of accolade you could ever receive. So thank you and coming for someone like yourself like I said, blessed and honored to be a part of you know, this podcast and more importantly just getting to know you now and now you're now we're in the circle and man I hope we stay in touch and keep doing what you're doing. I wish you the best I wish your school the best and you know you ever need anything was talk reach out, you know help each other but looking forward to you know what the future brings for us. Both men appreciate great things appreciate you too. My friend. Jamie is such a fantastic person, definitely someone who embraces who he is, and lets his light shine. Now this is a teaching champion state, where I'm going to share three of my favorite gems from this interview. And the first gem was when Jamie talked about how we need to build those relationships, that if we want to success in the classroom, it's compassion before curriculum. It's relationships before rigor. And if we build those authentic relationships, if we see students and our colleagues for who they are, if we accept and value them for who they are, if we celebrate our students, if we celebrate our colleagues, for who they are, then we're creating amazing work environment. The second gem that I took away was when Jamie talked about investing in each other, taking just a few moments to pop in someone else's classroom, and wish them a good day, to ask them about their weekend, or an event that was taking place in the life that was important to them. That's how we strengthen relationships. A third tip that I really enjoyed was when Jamie discussed ways in which we can strengthen relationships within the community. And those relationships are important. And Jamie discussed, going out to the local restaurants and businesses in introducing himself looking to make those connections. And then he talked about reaching out with sweat from the school to local community members, and how that strengthens relationships. And I really loved how we talked about modeling, and having the students create those Win Win relationships with the business leaders, from handwritten thank you notes, to the 32nd Thank yous that they put out on social media. Think about the valuable lessons that he is teaching. And think about the connections that are being formed within the community. I would love to hear about some of your favorite takeaways from this conversation. Hit me up and let me know on social media. And a big thank you to Jamie Brown for sharing so many great takeaways today. And thank you to you. I appreciate you for being here and for supporting the teaching champions community. We support we encourage we lift each other up. And if you think someone will benefit from this message, please share it. And don't forget to subscribe, so new episodes will come right to you. And always remember, it doesn't matter 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 you go out into the week, May you step into your strength, may you step into your shine, and let's build our champions up. Have a great weekend.