Creating Thriving Classrooms, Band of Believers, and Yet with Gina Giordano Byrne

What's going on everybody? I hope this finds you striving and thriving and doing absolutely amazing. This is a great conversation for you today. And it's all about mindsets. And if you think someone would benefit from this conversation, please share. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast. So New episodes come directly to you. Now, my guest today is Gina Gilardino Berg. She's an educator with 24 years of experience at the elementary level. And she's also the author of the book yet and the soon to be published. Oldest, the trash talking octopus. And in this conversation, listen, as Gina talks about creating a classroom environment that is safe and comfortable did allow students to willingly take risks. Listen, as Gina talks about taking content, and making it relatable to students listen, as Gina talks about the power of yet, and how we can foster a growth mindset inside the classroom. Listen, as she talks about creating a family type atmosphere inside our schools. There's so many gems in this one. I hope you enjoy as much as I did. I am super excited. For this episode, we're going to dive into one of my favorite topics and we have an expert on it. We're gonna be diving into all about mindsets today. I want to welcome Gina G or Donald burn to the teaching champions podcast Gina, welcome my friend. Welcome, Brian. Thanks. Yeah, we're excited to have you. And I know my listeners are gonna get so much out of this conversation. And for those people who don't know who you are, could you give us a little bit about your journey? Yeah, sure, no problem. I live in Virginia Beach, Virginia. I've been teaching for 24 years elementary education, all of it. I did six years in the classroom. But the last 18 years, I have been gifted resource specialist working with kindergarten through fifth grade. And I have done everything from coaching teachers to professional development, to working with the students. I have also done curriculum development, and a lot of textbook adoption, just you know, the full gamut. Now you're also an author of a wonderful book called yet, and I know it dies all in two mindsets. Could you give us a little rundown on what that's all about? Yeah, so yet is about a superhero. And she tries to save the world from the evil not twins, the evil not twins, live in Mega propolis, the negativity center of the world. And yet in her band of believers formed together to take on the not twins, and they teach the citizens of the world in air Ville and pessimists Berg and neutrality and things like that, that mistakes are learning tools. And just because you made a mistake, it doesn't mean that you're not it just means that you haven't mastered it yet. And that, you know, everything is possible with the right mindset. Absolutely. Now, what was your biggest inspiration in writing the book. So dealing with gifted kids, they come with their own set of challenges. And a lot of times, they are super hard on themselves, because they think that because they're gifted, they should be able to get it right away. And a lot of times they did, because they they're used to being a big fish in a small pond. And when they don't get it right away. They feel like they feel like they're so dumb. I don't get this or I can't get it. It's too hard or that the challenging pieces of curriculum that you give them that are supposed to be stretching their brains and helping them with their critical thinking skills and their problem solving skills and their analytical thinking and things like that. Sometimes get them almost to frustration. goal. And I saw it happening over and over again. And I felt like something needed to happen to where they felt safe and comfortable with that dissonance that was going on. So I was, this was pre pandemic. But, you know, you could see that they were just struggling. And their brains work differently now, from when I first started teaching, and you've probably seen the same thing going on the onset of video games has made kids brains work differently. They pick something up, and they just work through it without even stopping to redirections or anything like that. Whereas, you know, when we first started teaching, they would, they wouldn't do that. Right? So I felt like there needed to be something out there that would help them to understand that it's okay to feel that way. And it's okay, if you are struggling, but we need to help you to get to that point where you feel okay with that. And so that's where yet came from. Really? No, I think that's fantastic. Because I do agree sometimes it's the students who find that success right away, that are very academically inclined, that might be in these gifted and talented programs that do struggle in the most maybe with a fixed mindset. And what I love is how you talk about creating a system that makes them feel safe and comfortable. Were understanding, like, struggles, learning, it's all part of the process, that success doesn't have to be right there, that it's all about getting that, that that going out there and making those mistakes, learning from those mistakes, and then doing it all over again. I think the biggest metaphor to show them is the iceberg. You know, because all you see on the top is, is oh, this is and people think that when someone's successful, that's all you that's all the they see is all of that success. But they what they don't see is all of the struggle, all of the hard work, all of the mistakes, all of the failures, that when which I don't really like the word failure anyways, because I just think failure is a mistake, and you've just learned from it. But they don't see everything that goes into that top, what five 10%, that showing. So it's important that kids understand that. And they see all of these role models that they have basketball stars, football stars, actors, actresses, rock stars, whatever whoever their role model is. And they think that it's easy, but it's not. And so they get frustrated, because oh, well, I just I'll never get there. Right? No, absolutely. And that's one thing that I like to try and do in my classroom is really point out, like, take a Tom Brady, LeBron James, you know, athletes like that, and try and break down, you know, Josh down for the Buffalo Bills. And the Buffalo Bills provided some great examples for this, because we would talk about how, you know, Josh at home would go out, and you would make a couple of turnovers during the game, and how he didn't let those turnovers stop him in the fourth quarter from making that game winning drive. Exactly. So like you said, it's showing them that they're, there's people that they look up to the superstars. They handle the mistakes, and how do they do that? Because they're making mistakes as well. Sure, I mean, and everybody makes a mistake. That's why we're human beings. You know, that's what I tell the kids all the time, like, I make mistakes every day. And that is why we are human beings. Nobody is perfect. And if somebody tells you they're perfect than they just made a mistake. 100% 100% So how do you inside the classroom? So you had this beautiful book, and which is a great illustration, and gives great terminology and an example for the students. Now in the day to day and I know that you talked about your school is really adopted around your book, what are some of the things that you guys have implemented, to really focus on that growth mindset? So we've tried to implement growth mindset for a long time. The school counselor you know, his has done a great job with it, but if you don't have the buy in, it's kind of hard. And I think by having the you know, oh, Now look, we have an author in the school. And here's her book, you know, sort of thing. The kids were just super stoked, first of all. And then all of a sudden, when we started sharing the book with the, you know, either through their teacher reading it, or me teaching it, or the counselor reading it, or the librarian reading it, because there's a copy in the library, the kids would started embracing the message that it was there. Yet being a super yet being a superhero, to me was relatable to kids. It's a different, it's a hard concept for them to grasp. They don't understand growth mindset. You can talk about it all day long, but to a kindergartener, they don't get it, they understand what a superhero is, right. So when when you can put that in, when you can put it into terms that they get, and then make it relatable. And so the way that I explain it to the kids, and I read it to a pre pre K class, and told them that even though you have to superhero, her superpower doesn't isn't really a superpower, because she doesn't have X ray vision, she doesn't she can't read minds, she can't, she doesn't have super strength or anything like that. But what she does have is the power to make you believe in yourself, and the power to make you feel in your heart and in your head that you can do something and believe that you can do it. And that's how I started reading the story to these kids that mind you, they're four and five years old, as I was reading through the story, you could see that the kids were starting to, you know, like, you'd see the little light bulbs going on. And I get I got to the part of the book where the people in error Ville saw the error of their ways, and actually changed the name of the city from error Ville to correction city, and adopted the motto of yet. And the little, one of the little boys goes, Oh, they are listening to their hearts, they get oh, they're believing in themselves. And then all the other kids are like, yes, they have their own superpower now. So they, they got the message in their own little four year old brains, they got the message, which to me was huge. Yeah, that's fantastic. And so you know, by just bringing it down to their level, I think is important. But having a child just read the book isn't going to make them understand it. No, no, but I love what you were saying there. As far as you know, we bring it down into their terms, that we make it relatable to them, so that they, they can identify it, like you said, the young kids identify with the superheroes. So making this a superhero, that that they can identify just helps ingrain that into him. And what a great model to you talked about, some of the best things that we can do for our students is be the model of what we want to see in showing that growth mindset through everything that you've done such a great role model, the music teacher loved it so much that he created a whole program around it. And the third graders performed it to the whole school this year and their parents, and I can't tell you still have the song. It's like a worm heartbeat. You know, like those ear worms that you just can't get out of here. It's still stuck in my head, the kids still seeing it to this day. They and they love it. Just today, as a matter of fact, we have one school in the city that strictly gifted and talented school. And you have to you have to apply to get in. And there's a selection process. And a few of my students were not selected, they were put in the applicant pool or on the waitlist. And they were really bummed. And that these were my fifth graders going into sixth grade and I I went in and talk to them. And I was like, Look, guys, I've seen it happen to where a lot of these kids that do get in, they just don't want to go. Their parents may have said no, you're gonna apply and you know, and then we'll see what happens. And then they're like, No, I don't want to go, I want to go to my home school. And so now you're on that waitlist and you get bumped up and now you have the opportunity to go. And I looked at him and I said you just haven't gotten in and they all said yet. Exactly. So you know that but they do that all the time. They'll say it to each other. If somebody you know somebody in the classroom will say, Man this is I just don't get it and then somebody else will look at it. No, you just don't get it yet. And so they're they're using positive peer pressure with each other by I guess emulating what the superhero has done in the book? Yeah, no, I love that, you know, we can influence the students, but the peers are going to have a huge influence on on each other. So if we can get them to be using number one you're talking about like the power of yet. So you're getting that terminology in there. You're also getting, I like to call it a hype teams, you know, you haven't, you know, the hype teams where we're there to cheer each other on. And it's important to, they're called the band of believers in the book, right? Like that, you know, it's like, they're, it's like their posse, the same thing, right? They have their, their band of believers. And I tell the kids, I'm like, who's your band of believers is it's your parents, it's your teachers, it's your friends. It's your grandparents, just everybody who is in your corner that wants you to be successful. That's your band of believers. Hmm. 100%. I love that. So really pointing that out to him, too. This is your crew, the people that are lifting you up that are cheering your you on? Those are your band of believers? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's, there's so much to take away from, from the book. And in not just as a whole thing, but just little snippets of things, and to help the kids to really understand and I guess, become better at telling themselves doing that positive self talk instead of the negative self talk. And we all fall victim to it, you know, negative self talk, and I have bad days, everybody has bad days. My boyfriend, God bless him who he looks at me on my bad days. And he's like, can you come back to positivity city? I love that. So how, you know, because self talk is such a huge thing. And I think that's something that we should be talking to the kids from a young age, all the way up to high school, because we all even as adults, it is tough. How would you address that a lot working with the students at the fourth fifth grade level. So you know, that's a tough one, because they've got especially springtime, you know, the hormones are starting to kick in too. And so there's a lot of bigger issues that are coming up. I guess just continuing to encourage them with making sure that they they feel heard, not just that they are part of the group, but you know, if they're, like, I have some kids who are super emotional, and which is another challenge with gifted kids, they can be hypersensitive to things. And, you know, I'll pull them aside and I'm like, Hey, what's going on today? They'll tell me what's going on? Because I've been working with them for, you know, five years. And I'm like, okay, man, I get it, I hear you, you know, but what do we need to do to make this make this happen, you know, make make you change, get out the negative propolis and move over to positivity city? And or at least, you know, not be not, you know, we've, we've identified the problem, let's, let's see what we can do to fix it. And or at least make it better. It may not be fixed today, but let's, let's try to problem solve this and, and figure it out. There's, and put kind of put it back on them a little bit. Because I'm not, you know, they have to understand that. Yes, there's, there's certain things that we, as adults can do, but it's also I don't want to enable them because they're gonna move on to the big bad world of middle school. We don't they don't baby them in middle school. And so they've, you know, they have to learn how to do for themselves more than what they've done in elementary school. Yeah, no, that is so good. And I love what you said right there. I'm reading a book right now. It's called Emotional agility. And inside of it, the author was talking about working with some students, and she was saying, to make sure that they feel heard. Yeah, it was saying, you know, and that's what you're talking about when you said you pull them aside, even if they're hypersensitive and, and such, but you're giving them that outlet where you're just not discounting how that child is feeling because we never know how someone else is feeling on the inside, where you're listening to how they're feeling, but also loved how you didn't give them the answer. You walk them through it. You Yeah. Ownership and how to solve it. I don't have all the answers either. That's good. Yes. Oh, you know, it sometimes there's, there's, there's things that they come come to me with. And I'm like, yeah. Okay, so that's interesting. For a while I honestly don't know, I honestly don't know. They've got you know, they've, and I don't necessarily like to blame the pandemic for everything, but there's just been such a paradigm shift in the way that things are handled since then. And it's just been an interesting experience the past, I guess, year and a half, since we've really been back full time. So you know, dealing with the behaviors, and dealing with social issues, has been a lot as well. And so trying to instill the growth mindset in kids that were socially isolated for, like some time has has been a challenge as well. So it's almost like going back to square one. Yes, 100%. That's, you know, the kids have to relearn there's a lot of growth socially, that the students and and get, so they're still in that process of learning how to, to work things out how to communicate how to be part of a classroom community. So yeah, what are some other things that I can tell just by talking to you like you're big on positivity, creating that safe space for the students, were some things whether it's inside your classroom, some things that you do at school, that really foster like, building that community, that safe space, that positive place for the students. I'm a big, I'm a big believer in building those relationships with kids. And I feel that the best way to build a build relationships with your kids is to get to know who they are, first and foremost, and let them get to know who you are, and really get to know who you are. Not just your, um, your teacher, my kids know, I mean, they knew when my daughter was getting married in December, they, they wanted to see pictures, they want it, you know, let me see what your dress looks like, you know, they know, things like what my son does for a living. They know, they know, just, I'm not I share things with them. But I don't overshare right. And I'm also a big believer in we do morning meetings in the school. And it's a safe space, the kids can share. Do you know whatever they want, we do the zones of regulation. What zone? Are you? Are you in the green zone? Are you in the blue zone? Are you in the yellow zone? Are you in the red zone? When in? Oh, I'm so sorry that you're in the yellow zone today? What can we do to help you get into the green zone? As a class as a family? Because they don't we don't you know, as a family, what can we do to help you get into the green zone today? And that's what the teachers to say, that's what they do. Because they are family. And it starts it starts at our building administration level, and it works its way down, because that's what our principal calls the entire community is our family. That's great. So I think that that's one thing that's hugely important, and the mood and the tone of the building. It makes the kids feel safe. Yes. Even the ones, even the ones that are, you know, behavior problems and who get in trouble all the time. They don't feel like they're being what's, how do I put this mean, they know that they're getting in trouble. And they know that there's consequences to those actions that they've done. But at the same time, they feel bad that they did it. Right, because they disappointed their family. No, I think that's so huge, like that atmosphere. And that's just by like using a word and how you refer to the people around you. Because there's a difference. Like if I just say, This is my class, versus we're a family. Yeah, that has a different that feels different when you just say, you know, we're a family. Yep. And I have a couple of kids that the parents while the grandparents are very, very involved in in the students lives and they will come up to me all the time and tell me it because I don't, you know, I don't work with the student but maybe once or twice a week, and they'll catch me, you know, like at events and stuff like that and, and tell me how much they truly appreciate what I do for their, for their grandkids, because that's, that's made all the difference, just that you know, five or 10 minute talk in the morning with their grandson helps set the tone for his day, or if he's having a bad day, and he can come talk to me, it helps it helps him get back on track. Now, that's phenomenal. And I think that makes all the difference to it in the way that the school functions. Because the kids have safe people that they can go talk to. No, I think that's absolutely huge. And, you know, I was having this conversation and other episodes where we were talking about, like your students, like if I'm teaching with you, and we're in the same school, I might have a student that is having a tough time. And I know that they really connect with you, they have a strong bond with them that they can go and talk to you. Like, it's not just my student, that they're all of our students. They're all part of our family. So having that that atmosphere is just huge. Now, here's one quick question for you to get in on, you know, part of the family part of the growth mindset. Say I have a student, and great student, but they definitely show that fixed mindset. They're scared to take chances. They're scared to put themselves out there. And you want to talk to the parents about it. We just had I, I just had parent teacher conferences last week. So that's on top of my mind. How would you express to the to the parents where their child is doing great academically, but you can see it, where they're afraid to take chances have a little bit of that fixed mindset, what? What advice could you give to the parents to help them help their child a little bit? Well, I have had those conversations with parents before because you know that you have those kids, those kids, especially the gifted kids who always want to fly under the radar. And they don't want to push themselves. It's good enough. Right. Right. Right. And so I, you know, the parents be like, Well, I don't I don't understand, you know, why they're not doing better at X, Y, or Z. And I'm totally honest with the parent, I'm like, well, they this is their, this is their sweet spot. You know, this, they're good with, right here. Mm, you know, they're good with, it's good enough. And they don't feel comfortable. They don't like being outside of their comfort zone. And so I like to push them a little bit out of the comfort zone. And because it's a safe place to do it in my room, or in the classroom with the teacher, where if we're doing a whole group lesson or something like that, it's usually with something that they're highly interested in. So that they're okay with making that jump, because they're gonna want to do it. Right now. Something that Oh, hate math. I don't want to do it, right. Yeah, so but I will tell the parent to find something that they're super interested in first, and then and then try to challenge them with it. Usually those kids will jump on the challenge if it if it piques their interest. So that's huge. Find them some that piques their interest, once they find success with that. And then you can say, Oh, well, look, you did it with this. Right. Right. Look, look at where look at what you did when you did this. And that was way outside of your comfort zone. Now you can do it with something that yeah, maybe you're not so interested in. I think technology makes it helps a lot because those kids who are really uncomfortable with like talking in front of their peers. It we have what we video Flipgrid, podcasting, all kinds of all kinds of other. We use the LMS canvas, they can make Canvas in studio videos, if they wanted to. If they for that like a presentation type of thing to showcase what they know. And then you know so so there's a There are options as well, that they could choose from that would help them to challenge themselves, but in a safer environment. Yes, I love that challenge in themselves, but in the safe space, that's important. And even if it were just a smaller group, not just the whole class too, because sometimes kids, you know, what I find is the the one kid that doesn't talk when you're doing a whole group lesson, but you get them in a small group, and they never stop talking. You're like, where did that come from? You know, right? They just feel intimidated in front of they just feel intimidated with the whole group. But then you get them with like five or six kids. And they're the they're the one that shines the most. It's just I guess it's just environment, it. It's the environment they feel most comfortable in. Absolutely, finding different spaces, different ways that they can display their knowledge. And that's what differentiation is all about to write. 100% 100% So here's a question for you. Would you mind because I know you have the book yet. How about another one? coming down the pipeline? I think is oldest the trash talking octopus. Did I get that correct? You did. So oh, just oh, this is all about environmental stewardship. And, you know, the floating trash island that's that's lurking out there. Otis and his seafaring creatures teach three children about how the trash and the floating trash Island affects them through their perspectives. And the three humans learn about how it affects the creatures with the swimmers and the bottom feeders and the kids. The you know, the kids are appalled, actually, at all of the human waste, that and pollution. And they are inspired to perform some community service. And there, there is a call to action in the book to take the oldest challenge. So good. Yeah, to help your community you may not live along a waterway. But you can always do something within your community to help clean it up in some way, shape or form with some sort of community service. Oh, sounds good. When's that coming out? Um, it will be out. It's still printing right now. That should be done the end of this month. I hope to have books in hand for pre order the beginning of May, I will have books for my LA and San Diego. Book Signing storytelling and it would April. it's Earth Day weekend. The 22nd 23rd I think is what it is 21st 22nd, something like that. But then it'll be available on Amazon as well once once for preorder once they get into the warehouse. That's exciting. My first Yeah, I'm so I'm super stoked about that one. The illustrations are just amazing. And this one, it's er, huzzah. Who's the illustrator? She did an amazing job. I mean, just looking at the front cover, you can tell that the illustration Yeah, to be on point. It's, it pops. It definitely pops. Absolutely. Now, two of my favorite questions to ask is, what is a book or books that you would recommend and any podcasts out there that you would recommend? Well, for growth mindset, there's a ton of children's books and I've used most of these in the past in lessons. I always like to start teaching kids about their brain and how the brain works. And I started as young as second grade. So they even they understand all the different parts of the brain, the hippocampus, the amygdala, the cerebrum, cerebellum, prefrontal cortex, all that stuff. With your fantastic elastic brain. I think it's a great, it's a great book, and then for littles everyone can learn to ride a bike it's super simple, the illustrations the illustrations are really goofy but it it teaches about you know learning from your mistakes and not giving up keeping on trying in a very simple but it it hones in on for the littles they Get it because they're learning how to ride their bikes and they understand the most magnificent thing is a great book is I love how the the dog helps and she just you know and then all of a sudden everybody finds something out of her scraps to you know so that even though she made mistakes and didn't wasn't satisfied with what she found what she was building, somebody else found found a treasure from her oopss right. Beautiful oops is another one. You like you? crumpled piece of paper can become something somebody else's artwork. And then I like the the what do you do with a problem? What do you do with an idea? The double text and then the girl who never made a mistake? is another good one. Yeah. So those are those are some of my faves. And of course mine but absolutely, absolutely. Yep, book, please get. Awesome. Now is there are you a podcast listener at all are? You know, I don't because my boyfriend listens to all the podcasts. But he listens to the Gettysburg ones because we're big into history. And he listens. He listens to Joe Rogan. Podcast it out when we take trips and stuff, so I don't listen to any other podcasts other than what he listened to. You know, we can play on Joe Rogan's podcast I don't think that's your boyfriend's we won't put your name on that one. Yeah. Ah, awesome. Awesome. As so many. You know, I love the book recommendations. I got a couple new ones I'm gonna have to check out there. So thank you. Now if someone wants to connect with you, if they want you to bring you into their school to talk to the students, what would be the best way they can reach me at my author website. All my contact info is there. www dot Jena Geor. Donald author, that's all one word.com That's my author website. There's that at the bottom. It's my email, Twitter, Instagram, all of that stuff is down there. Excellent. And I'll put that in the show notes to make it easy for everyone. Now, if you could have the listeners walk away with one thing from this. All right, would that one thing be? I got it? My my little nugget is the superpower lies within all of us because we are our own superhero. I love that we truly are. Sometimes we forget to see it. So it's important. We remember that. Yep. Ah, we are our own yet. We truly are. We truly are never a finished product. We're always, you know, learning and growing. And achieving. So. Yes, yes. So Gina, thank you so much. amazing person and you have such a beautiful message. Thanks again, it's gonna reach out there. And not just the fact the students in your school. It's gonna have such an effect on kids across the country across the world. So yeah, that's so amazing. That's so amazing. Well, thank you so much for being here, Gina. Thanks, Brian. This conversation was so good. Gina is on that special mission to help promote such healthy mindsets, and increase people's awareness of the power of yet. Now this is a teaching champions tape, where I share three of my favorite gems from the conversation. And the first gem that I loved is how Gina talked about teaching our champions about the band of believers, letting them know that there's people in our lives, who believe in us who see our strengths, who see our gifts, reminding our students that their families, their teachers, their coaches, their friends, believe in them. And when we know people believe in us, it can push us forward, especially when we're having those rough moments. So let students know that they have a band of believers out there. The second gem that I loved is when Gina talked about creating the school culture, a classroom culture where students feel safe and comfortable. Because we want our students to take chances and step out of their comfort zone to not fear mistakes to push themselves. If we want that, then we need to create a safe environment. And I loved how Gina talked about how her principal referred to the staff is his family, and how that has trickled down to the students. Just a simple word can have such a powerful effect. The third gem that I loved was how Gina talked about walking students through a problem, not giving them an answer, but helping to guide them so that they can come up with the solution on their own, giving them that power. And like Gina said, we don't have all the answers. These are just a few of my favorite takeaways. Let me know at BU Martin real on Twitter or teaching champions podcast on Instagram, what were some of your favorites? A big thank you to Gina for dropping so many amazing gems on this episode. And a big thank you to all of you for being here. For being part of the teaching kit champions community. We support we encourage we lift each other up. And always remember, it doesn't matter if 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 step into your shot, and let's build our champions. Have a great week, everybody