Listening, Celebrating, and Leading with SWAG with Dominic Armano

What's going on everybody? I hope this finds you strong 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 before we get started today, I just want to share an awesome opportunity to get some summer PD in. It's called The Back to School virtual bash. It's something that I'm lucky enough to be a part of, it's going to be pretty awesome. And here's a little bit more about it. Hey, education heroes. This is Kyle Hill founder the recharged family and host of the exhausted educators recharged podcast, I want to tell you about something amazing that's happening this summer called the recharge family back to school virtual bash, our recharged family team is working to put together over 50 workshops provided by educational leaders from across multiple continents. The idea here is that we're all working together to help you and educators everywhere, get ready for the new school year. And the amazing feature of all this is it's all going to be video recorded workshops. You can watch them all year long. registration opens up on July 1. And as long as you register before August 1, you'll get everything for 10 bucks, you can register every charge family.com That's recharged family.com. Today's guest is Dominic Armano. He's a proud educator, an innovative principal, a speaker and author. And most importantly, he's a loving husband and father. In over the course of his career, Dominic has served as an elementary and middle school teacher and assistant principal. And currently he's serving as an elementary school principal. And in all of his roles, he's made a top priority to promote positive culture for students staff in the community. And in this conversation, listen, is dominant talks about creating a positive school culture where staff and students feel seen, heard and valued. Listen, as Dominic talks about the importance of truly listening to others, listen, as he talks about being there for one another, and the importance of stepping back, and noticing the difference you make, and so much more. And before we get started, I just want to thank everyone in the teaching champions community for sharing this podcast with others. We know it's difficult to grow a podcast in Word of mouth is huge. And last month, I saw the most downloads that we've ever had throughout the history of the podcast. So a huge amount of thanks to all of you. And if you think someone would benefit from this conversation, please share the teaching champions community is all about supporting and encouraging and lifting each other up. And by sharing these episodes, we help amplify the voice of other educators who are out there and making a positive difference in the world of education. Now, let's get to this conversation. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. I am super excited for this episode, we got an absolute amazing individual who is all about school culture and bringing that joy to the class. I want to welcome Dominique Armando to the teaching champions podcast. Dominic, welcome my friend, Brian, thank you so much. It's truly an honor to be here. You know, I'm a fan of yours. And we listen to podcasts for a while. And, you know, I just I love your positivity. And I love what you put out there. So I'm I'm really just honored and happy to be here tonight. Well, I'm super excited to pick your brain on a bunch of stuff, because I've seen what you put out on social media. And it's so good when you talk about that joy and that just building that school culture up, you do such a great job. But for all of our listeners out there who might not be familiar with who you are, would you mind giving a little background? Yeah, sure. So my name is Dominic Armano. And I am a public school principal and an elementary school pre K through five building. Currently, I'm working in New York City, but I am in the process of making a transition to a suburban district on Long Island. So I'm pretty excited about that. I consider myself an innovative principal because I am not the well let's put let's put it like this. When I tell people I'm a principal. They kind of give me that look that look like like whoa, why TA and then when we get into a conversation or start to talk, they realize that I'm not the typical principal that you would think in your mind. You know, I want my students to have fun? You know, I believe that in order for children to get the most out of their education, they need to have a genuine love for school. And I am the type of principal that makes sure day in and day out that my students love coming to school, that my teachers love coming to school. Because if you love what you do, and you love where you're going, it just makes it easier. And the learning happens, and my kids have a smile on their face. And I'm just really very excited about that. So, you know, that's who I am. I'm an Emma, I'm a crazy guy who will do anything for his kids and for his staff and for his school. I absolutely love that when you talk about you know, when you love what you do and love where you're going, that that learning is going to take place. And you're so right, um, I just saw some of the things like whether it was you're being duct taped to the wall, I saw you being slimed. There was a little picture of you with a guitar in hand. Would you mind sharing? What were some of the ways that you built that school culture at Stanley? So it actually started a few years ago, right before the pandemic. So we, in order for me to talk a little bit about how we build the culture, I have to go into a little bit of detail. And Brian, I'm sorry, because sometimes my stories are really long and drawn out. And it somehow we'll get to the answer. But I have to go into a little bit of detail just about like how the school system in New York City works. So New York City is one of one of these school districts where if you live in New York City, you're zoned for pretty much any public school. And parents actually have to apply to go to schools. So right before the pandemic, my building was in a situation where our enrollment was kind of low, we were roughly around 220 students, which is very small. There was no real social media presence about the school, not many people knew about the school. So my principal at the time I was the assistant principal, he put me in charge of this committee to like, rebrand the school. And we you know, here I am kind of tasked with now a public relations type of role, right? So what what I did was, I kind of took a look at everything we were doing in the building, right? So I look at, I looked at all of our programs, I looked at all of our courses, you know, and I put it on like this map. And I then started having conversations with the teachers. And I started to pull them and ask them questions as to, you know, what they felt about the school or what they felt about the culture, what they, you know, how they felt about certain things that were happening, and, and the information I was getting back was very interesting, because my staff at the time was very conflicted, right. So a lot of them felt really great and good about the things that were going on. And then there was half of them that didn't like it, they, they said they were kind of miserable. You know, they felt that we were kind of stale, they felt that we weren't really doing enough to bring innovative approaches into the building. And that was like a wow moment for me. Because I was the student who really didn't like going to school, right. So like, if I was bored in a classroom, I did whatever I could to get kicked out of the classroom. And I don't think I did it because I wanted to leave, I think I did it because I wanted to be the class clown. And I wanted people to laugh. So it wasn't until I was in high school where I had a teacher that kind of made me love school because he was innovative. And he brought the real world into the classroom. And, you know, we were learning about finances, and we were trading stocks on the stock market, you know, I was engaged. So when my teachers kind of came back at me and said that we were stale. I said, you know, it made me realize that I really wasn't doing what I needed to do as an assistant principal. And I really wasn't doing what I needed to do in terms of my philosophy or what my, you know what my goals were. So we created this. So what I did was I took everything we did, and I put it on a map and I looked at it, and I put it into multiple categories. And I put it into a social emotional learning category, because we were doing a lot of work with social emotional learning. I put it into a whole child category because we were doing a lot of work with interdisciplinary units of study, I put I put our academics into one category. And I looked at like how we were departmentalized in our fourth and fifth grade, and I looked at how we were bringing in higher level coursework into it. And then I brought all of our, you know, parents and the community resources and like all of the partnerships, and I put that under the umbrella of guaranteeing student success because when you have partnerships with the community and the parents it kind of helps to contribute to the success of the children. And then I looked at it and I saw the letters SW a G Eat, which is swag. And then I put it to the name of the school which is Steinway swag. And then from there we created this just philosophy of looking at the whole building getting input from the teachers you know what is Steinway swag really mean you know getting ourselves on social media you know and just kind of really took off and then the world ended, right and then the lockdown hit and now we're online and so we're connecting with our students virtually and you know all of that's going on and then you know I'm not going to talk about what happened during those six or seven months but then we came back and we kind of picked up exactly where we left off. And I realized that this Steinway swag philosophy, this whole child approach to social emotional learning is, you know, making sure that every person in the building is part of the building and has a voice and have a say, it just blew off walk, you know, students were happy to come back in, in a world where they were afraid to come back, you know, and I we saw the smiling eyes because we couldn't see it from the masks. And, you know, the enrollment shot up, we you know, went up over 100 kids and just you know, it was just this, this way of looking at it differently. You know, we weren't focusing on I don't want to say we're focusing on standards, because we were but we weren't focusing on the politics of it. We weren't we weren't focusing on Yes, we have to raise our test scores because the state test like we were focusing on all of the fun stuff that you remember in school. And as a result of focusing on all of that the academic stuff stronger people felt valued. And when you feel valued you do you do better at what you do. So the teachers were teaching better, I was leading better, you know, so it was just this, we kind of just changed our trajectory and built the culture and the culture contributed to our success, because people weren't they didn't have that knot in their stomach to come to school anymore. Yeah, so that is so good. So good. And I loved how you talked right from the get go. So you have to kind of sell your school. Yeah, just based off of, you know, how New York City does it. So you mapped it out. And you built all these categories. And I was just listening to Dr. Joe San Filipo the other day, and he really hammered home. Like if you don't tell your story, someone else will. And I think you do such a great job of telling your school story. But I also love how you talked about you know, you're mapping that process out. But you took the time to listen? Yes. And really hear what what everybody was saying? Well, that's the thing, right? So people, especially in education, actually not even just it's not even just the education space. I think it's just the business space now. Right? You know, when social media first came out, it was like this, you know, I was in high school, middle school when it came out. And yeah, I'm scrolling through. And I see my friend from high school that I haven't spoken to in 20 years. And he's posting a picture with a Maserati in front of a mansion, like is it real? Or is it just social media real, right? So I think when it comes to telling your story, I think you, you have to be authentic. And that's, that's one of the things that I think is important. And that's why we listened. And that's why we mapped it out. Because in order for us to be successful, and in order for us to build our story on social media platforms, it could not be fake. So we know when you talked about, you know, me getting slimed, or me being duct taped to a wall, you know, that that's real, you know, those were events that were happening. And if you watch the video, I'm cracking up laughing, while while I'm being slimed, because, you know, people see that it's authentic, it's real. And there's, I don't even want to use the word buy in, because the term buying means that like, you know, it's kind of fake, but it's, it's taking, it's a snapshot of what's actually happening and putting it out there. And in order for people to accept it, and really understand that it has to be authentic, it cannot be fake. And that's why you have to listen. And you have to, you know, get the input from the entire community in order to do things like this. Yes, that authenticity is so important. And when I'm thinking about that school culture piece, because I'm big on school culture, and I, you know, I love the big events, I love seeing, you know, you get slimed, or the picture would do duct tape to a wall. But through school culture isn't found in those big, you know, big events. Those are awesome. They're nice, but that school culture is what happens on that, that day to day interactions and everything. What are some of the things like weather that you do some of the things that maybe you see your staff do that really make your school just such a great place to be at? So I think it comes back to like that swag. began, right. And I think, you know, when it comes to it, I think it's like, first of all, first and foremost, when I became the principal of the building, which was about two years ago, it was, it was a time for us to really dig deeper, right. And when I met with my staff, and when I stood up in front of them during opening faculty conference, and they had known me, I was there as a teacher, they had known me as a teacher, they had known me as an assistant principal. But, you know, when you become when you're an assistant principal, and then make the transition to principal, it's, it's, it's not an easy transition to make, right? I've often compared it to jumping over the Grand Canyon and barely landing on the other side, right? So the first thing I did was, and I told my staff straight from the get go, was that we're going to do things a little differently, we're going to do things different from the previous, you know, principle, you know, we're going to focus on who we are, we're going to focus on what we're about. And I want your input in that. So at the very beginning, I set the tone, right. And I think that's what contributes to the everyday culture. That was the first piece of it, where I told them what the expectations were. And then I asked them, what their expectations were of me. So you know, this is what we're going to do, we're going to double down. What do you need from me? How can I assist you in this process? How can I support you? I think the other piece of it, and again, if you know, I want you to listen, so setting the tone, I want you to listen to the to the letters, right. So the next one is, is W working together as a team, right. And so that was a big push is that I wanted my staff to understand that we are one. And I tell this story about how when I was in high school, I was an all star baseball athlete. Well, at least I thought I was right. But we were I was a pitcher. And we were in a county championship game. And it was one of those like varsity blues type moments where it's like, the bottom of the seventh floor down by one basis are loaded, I threw the ball. And in the perfect story. It's a strikeout, and we when the reality is the ball was hit, and we lost. And I came to my knees and I was crying. But my teammates were patting me on the back, supporting me. And I realized in the moment like my coach at the time, you know, he did that he it wasn't my loss, it was our loss. Right? So I do that with my staff is I let them know that I'm there for them, I let them know that, you know, if it's a tough parent teacher conference, I'll be there to support them. If it's a phone call that they need to make, and they just don't know how to do it. I'm there for them. So that's the working together as a team piece. The other one is a acknowledging everyone. Right. So that's a huge piece of the puzzle, you know, when I was doing these needs assessment and talking to the staff, I was finding out that like, the custodian crew felt like they weren't acknowledged, right? The school aides felt like, you know, we thought that they weren't as important as the teachers, which is not the case. So really like celebrating the community, you know, going around giving shout out some, acknowledging everyone making sure that everyone knows that whoever works in that building is contributing to the success of a child. And then finally, the G right so Swa G is just going above and beyond through your community and, and, you know, for me, that's going the extra mile for them. That's, you know, hey, Mr. Romano, you know, my kid is sick, go home, don't worry about it, we'll cover your class, you know, um, you know, just the small things like, you know, knowing about their personal life, knowing what's going on. Again, you know, I need five minutes, you know, I'm in New York City, I have to move my car, I don't want to get a ticket, it's alternate side parking go, I'll cover your class, you don't worry about it. And then me actually physically covering the class. So I think all of that those together, you know, that setting the tone, that working together as a team, the acknowledgement, and then truly kind of just like throwing the clock away, and doing whatever it takes to support the entire building contributes to the everyday culture, which then makes the big events even more special, because, you know, it's not just this like one and done thing like oh, look at this, we're going to tape them to the wall and it's so fake, you know, it's, it's authentic, and the kids love it. Because, you know, it's just fun. You know, I you know, you reference the tape to the wall. I had several teachers very concerned about my safety. Like, they were like, literally, like when they went to stand on the chair when they went to pull the chair and a whole bunch of them up, making sure I didn't fall down, you know, if we weren't if we weren't working on culture, we didn't have a culture I probably would have fell right in my face. No, that's fantastic. And I think you know, right away and when you talk about setting that tone, like knowing the expectations that you have for them, but also that they have for you and I think you know, these, the same within the classroom. You know, when that when I look at the w the whole team, I always, you know, I never referred to my students is like, you know, Mr. Martin's class or whatever, I always call them, we call ourselves the superstar scholars, it works for the seven year olds. So, but that hear that every single day. And then you know, if a student's not, not there, and then they come back the following day, we always take that moment right away, to recognize that student, we always say, we're not as good when we don't have everybody there. And I think that, you know, you talk about that, that, together, we're so much better. And that acknowledgement piece. That's, that's huge. I was just reading, listening to John Maxwell, about his book about connection, and communication. And I love when you talked about letting every single member of your staff know that they matter. Because he say he gave one example in the book about a college professor went and they they asked the students, well, who's the custodian of this building? And it was just the he said, it was such a powerful lesson, because we should know every single person in the building. Exactly. And yeah, so and going above the community, I think you set that tone, right there with the community, letting them know, you know, your teachers, don't, I'm here for you, and then saw those small things. And I think, you know, when we think about school culture, I just don't put it on administration, I think it's us as educators being there for one another, helping each other out, cavern, you know, for a minute or two, and it just creates a great place. And you're right, you know, and it has to be like that. Because, you know, this job is not easy. And that's what people you know, the perception is all they have summers off, they have all the holidays off, right? But the job is not easy, like the day to day, you know, the stress the you know, it's it's a people business, right. And, and little people, right, little people that don't maybe even I mean for me, and you were elementary school, so we're dealing with kids or little people that don't even know social norms. Right. So like, you know, so it's a tough job. So, you know, you're right, in that it's, you know, it is the entire community coming together working on that culture piece, making it a nice place and a safe place and a fun place for our students and our families. Yes, absolutely. Now, looking back at this school year, what were some of the biggest things that you took away as we wrap up, and I want to say like, we were talking, before we started taping the show my buddy DOM here, he just finished, you know, I finished last week and I was one of the last people in the in the US to finish up. But I think you take the cake, my friend, so this is day one, a summer vacation for you. Yes. So I think with I think what I'm going to, I think one of the biggest takeaways is, you know, I had mentioned before in the intro that, you know, I'm transitioning to a new a new district. So the school that I was in the Steinway School, I was there for 15 years, I was a teacher there. I was an assistant principal there and was very fortunate, very lucky to be the principal. And you know, I'm leaving for no other reasons like to be closer to my family, you know, because I have quite a commute to go, you know, to work every day. Sometimes it was taking me close to three hours to get home. So I think one of the biggest takeaways is, you know, we do this job because we want to make a difference. And you don't necessarily see the difference that you make on the day in and day out. Because for me, it's just very routine, right? So I have my routine like anyone else, I wake up in the morning, I get in the car, I drive to work, I get to work, I do a building walk, I write out my morning announcements I do my coverage is uh, you know, that's my routine. But my community, my staff, you know, when they found out I was leaving, they gave me probably one of the most memorable send offs I've ever seen and felt right, like, I felt the love, you know, I felt I saw the difference. And I think that's the takeaway for me, because, you know, I'm a human being right, I'm like everyone else right? I get I get caught up in the nonsense just like everyone else. Right? And we're not perfect, we get frustrated, right? This is this is the job we do. But to take a step back for a minute, and just see the difference. That to me that I was blown away. And, and I I don't know how I would say this, but I think moving forward. I think everyone should take a step back and look at the difference because I think it's right there under our noses. But I don't think we see it because I don't think we have the time to see it or I don't think we're trained to look for it. Oh, I think that's huge. When you say I, you know, we're not trained to look for it. I think so many beautiful moments. pass us by, like you said, we're super busy. And we're always trying to do so much. So sometimes we need to slow down, and really take a look at what we do. And I think that speaks, you know, when you talk about all the swag, and everything that you're doing, what greater testament than what your staff did the show how much you were loved? Yeah. And again, it's like, I don't know, I just, I'm getting emotional just thinking about it. Because, you know, I didn't, I didn't do it for that. Right. I didn't, I didn't do it to be loved. You know, I didn't do it to be liked. You know, I didn't do it for the 500 likes on social media, right? I didn't do I didn't do it for any of that. I did it because I wanted to do it. You know, I did it. Because I wanted to create a place that that I wanted to go to, you know, a place that little Dominic when he was a kid wanted to go to school. I'm not trying to get kicked out of a class. You know, that's why I did it. And yeah, it's just, it's just amazing. And so that's, you know, in a nutshell, that's my takeaway. I think that's amazing. And just a little takeaway for you, my friend, like I was talking to Martin Silverman, I'm not sure if you know who Martin is. But awesome guy was just on the podcast he had taught for, or he was a principal educator for over 40 years. And he said he left one school after someone late length of time, like, yeah, and he said, he just, he loved that staff so much, that he never thought you know, that I can love another group, just as much. But then he got in there. He got with that other group. And he loved them just as much to Ron, that's just good to know. So that Yeah, I think that's going to be good stuff for you. So here's a question for you as you go to your next school. And looking at your path, your experiences? How do you approach the next coming school year to build that school culture year one for you? So I think it's, I mean, that's a great question. Right. So like, I don't think so I think every building, and every district is different, right? So I don't think there's a cookie cutter approach, right? So I don't think I could take the Steinway swag philosophy, and then replicated in the new district, right? I just don't, I just don't know. I mean, I'm sure there's elements there. You know, there's good quality culture pieces there. But I think the first thing is to listen, right to listen into, to talk to people, but like, really talk to them for the purpose of really listening and understanding where they're coming from, you know, trying to isolate what the school does well, what they would want to improve upon. And I think the bigger piece there is what they expect of me, because, as a principal, I really am there to serve the community, right? I'm not. Yes. I mean, I guess by definition, you know, some would say, Yeah, well, you're the boss. Right? You're the boss. But I think it's more than that. I think it's, you know, I think it's what I what do you need from me in order to be successful. So, I don't know, maybe they'll do like a listening tour, and kind of just really, you know, really, like meet with the staff and, and really talk to them to listen and see exactly what they need and what they want to be successful. And just help them in that capacity. Awesome. Now, you know, I want to steal a few things from you. And there's a there's gonna be multiple things I'm going to take away. But looking back at your time at Steinway, what were some of the, the highlights as far as like the big picture, you know, we talked about we wanted to focus on the small things. What about a couple of the big ticket items that you did to really make that a fun place? So I think like, you know, I, I mean, we had, it was coming back from COVID. One of my students came up to me and he said to me, he's like, you know, Mr. Romano. He's like, one of my favorite days, or one of my favorite times to come to school is, you know, we have like, the spirit weeks, and I was like, okay, he's like, we don't have enough of them. You know, I know this is silly. He's, I feel like, you know, we have like 12 to a year. He's like, why not one a month? I'm like, Yeah, that's a great idea. So you know, we have this we we created this, we call a fun week, right? So once a month, we have a spirit week. That's that that to me that was a huge takeaway, because like, the kids would love like we did like an 80s day and I wore like this retro 80s sweat suit with like the sweat band, and I was like running down the hallways to the rocky soundtrack. And the kids were like cheering and chanting, you know, that's something I'll never forget. That's, to me, that was huge. Because we, you know, that really stuck with them. We've been doing that for like three years where we had like, just like these, like, really, and I mean, they got like crazy, like the student government started to come up with the themes. And like, I was literally spending hundreds of dollars on amazon like once a month because of these, like crazy themes. But but the the other big piece for me, like the biggest takeaway was the fact that I really listened to my stakeholders, and I'm gonna give you an example. So my parents came to me, you know, we had all these, and I'm sure in your school, and most schools had like these crazy COVID restrictions, you know, health screener, temperature, you know, visitors weren't allowed, blah, blah, blah. So the city had, you know, crazy, you know, restrictions for parents to come into the building. And then they finally lifted those restrictions. And my parents came to me and they said, you know, we feel like, we're still not allowed to come to the school. And they said, you know, what, we're not talking about communication, because you communicate well, we're not talking about the communication with the teachers, because we talk to them all the time. But like, what can you do to make us come into the school. So we created something called Family Fridays, where once a month, we invited our parents to come into the building, they would come to my auditorium, they would sit for a small, little performance. And then they would go to their individual classrooms and spend an hour with their children learning a lesson alongside with their children, you know, in the classrooms with the teacher, the first event, we had 180 families, the second event we had over 200. And by the last one, we it was almost a one to one ratio, where there was 380 parents in the building, there was every kid had a parent with them. And to me, that was one of the hugest takeaways, because when you talk about a homeschool connection, and when you talk about a partnership, and now you're able to put these parents in the classroom with their children, and their teachers learning a lesson side by side, there's nothing better than that. I mean, it became the best day the kids used to say it was the best day for them. And my parents said, it was the best day for them as well. And it became the best day for us. You know, it was really, it was awesome. It was just awesome. That's unbelievable. And I truly think I think that's nationwide where parents feel. And I can't say for every school, I mean, I don't want to speak for every school, but I know we just had a board of education, a lot of elected to the board. And one of the big pieces for many of the board members were that, that connection with the school, and and stuff. So I'll just go with my own experience. And so I think what you created there is absolutely amazing. And I'm not sure if we said this on while we were taping, but not only are you in New York City, but your kids in New York City come from all over? Yes. Although it's not like in my hometown, where it's a five minute drive to school. Yeah, and they're talking about, some of them are on a bus for over an hour to get to school, you know, just because of where they're coming from in the boroughs. Right. So I don't you know, for those that are listening, I don't know if you're familiar, but like I am, I'm in Queens, that's the borough that I'm in. I have students that come from Manhattan from the Bronx from Brooklyn, you know, or, and Queens is not, it's not small, right? It's huge. So like, there's it's broken up into north and south. So I even have some people that are on some children that are on a bus for an hour coming from Queen south all the way up to Queens north. So but yeah, it's that that was huge. I mean, what we did, there was fantastic, you know, yeah, it was amazing. Yeah, to have that family engagement. And the kids just had to light up to see all their parents there. So Oh, yeah. I mean, it was one of the events we had the the Harlem magic masters, which is like the Harlem Globetrotters. And then like the kids are seeing, like their parents getting basketballs like, you know, circled on their head or like, like, it was just so awesome. Like, I just can't even begin to explain to you how amazing it was, you know, and again, it was authentic, and it was fun. And it was the entire community. So that that's why to me, that's a huge takeaways. Awesome, awesome. So many good takeaways, my friend now you're taking this this swag. And you're coming out with a mirror in the writing process of this book, correct? Yes. So I am a I am a very proud author of road to awesome publishing with Darren peppers. And I am in the writing process I currently have probably about maybe a little more than half of it done. I'm a little slow in the writing process and more and more like a turtle as opposed to some of the other authors that already have their books out there. But yeah, so the name of the book is leading and learning with lack of fundamental guide for a positive school culture. And so basically I just talk about a little more depth, even though I know this was not short, because most of my answers were five minute long conversations and stories, but a little more depth just about how you can use that swag philosophy to create, you know, a really overall positive culture in the school building. So I'm excited for that. And, and I think Darren, you know, for giving me the opportunity to sign with him and write with him. So, yeah, well, I can't wait to read it when it comes to completion, and you had a few roadblocks in your way that made it a little bit longer. So yeah, but it's gonna, it's gonna be great, my friend. Now, two questions that I always asked two of my favorite questions, do you have podcasts that you would recommend or any books that you would recommend? Yeah, so there are obviously there are two books, I would recommend that that really shaped who I am as as a school leader. So the first one is real to awesome by Darren and pepper. I mean, you know, reading his book, The first one and the second one, I mean, just it opened my eyes to a world that I didn't even know existed. Really just changed me for the better. And the other one is staying grounded by Mike Heinz. He's a superintendent on Long Island. And his book, I think it's a 12 principles of effective leadership is the title of staying grounded 12 principles of effective leadership. And he just goes into, like, each chapter is a principle on how you can be an effective leader. And he talks about one of the things that he talks about that I just love is, you know, the first one is taking care of yourself, right. And he talks about how not many people, you know, people, when you take care of yourself, we're conditioned to think that we're selfish. And he said, That's not necessarily the case. Because if you don't take care of yourself, you can't support your community or lead your community. So fantastic book. So staying grounded by my tines and roads, awesome by Darren pepper. Yeah, so I read road. Awesome. And you're right. It's just amazing book. And the other book sounds great as well. Now, are you a podcast listener? I know you have a long commute. So yes, and no. So obviously, I'm a fan of the teaching champions podcast. I mean, that was, you know, and I do listen to, you know, I know it's gonna sound ridiculous. But Darren's podcasts, the leaning into leadership. So you know, but But yeah, so those are pretty much some of the my definite go to use. Other than that, I'm kind of more of a 80s 80s music kind of listener on the that's great. Now, if someone wants to connect with you, what would be the best way? So I'm really active on social media. So my, my Twitter handle is at Dominic Armano. So it's D O M, I N IC, a RNANO. And Instagram is the exact same username. So it's at Dominic Armando. And those would be the best ways to make contact. Awesome. And if there's one thing that you could have listeners walk away with, what would that be? Don't take yourself so seriously. I think, you know, especially in this in this game, right? We are in the people business. And sometimes when, you know, policies are changed, or, you know, bureaucracy sets in, you lose sight of why you do what you do. So my one takeaway is, don't take yourself so seriously, because the policies always change. The bureaucracy always changes. But the kids sitting in front of you, looking at you for a smile and a laugh and fun, that doesn't really seem to change. So that's, that's one thing. That's so good. So good. My friend, Dominique, this has been so much fun. I appreciate it. You have so much wisdom to share. And you're doing you're doing so many great things, and excited for you with the new job a little bit closer to home. So that'll be great. And keep doing great things. My friend, Brian, I like I said, I'm a huge fan of yours. And you know, I've been listening to your podcast probably since a couple years now. I think you know, when I saw you're on the roads, awesome page and in that network. So again, this this has just been great. I'm so glad we really had the opportunity to connect. I know we follow each other on social and we connect in that capacity. But this has been really awesome. And I really do appreciate you having me come on. Yeah, it's so it's so awesome when you get to sit down and just, you know, Kinect was was an awesome guy. You know, big Yankees fan. So, go yanks go Yankees But this conversation was amazing, Dominic is the real deal, and he just dropped so many gems. Now this is the teaching champions take where I share three of my favorite takeaways from this conversation. And the first gem that I loved is how dominant really hammered home how important listening truly is. And it was so powerful when he talked about really talking to people with the purpose of really listening to them. Because we know when we're having conversations with others, and they're truly listening and taking in what we're saying. And the flip is true as well. People know, when we're really listening to them, and hearing what they have to say. And whether it's students or adults that we work with, or parents, listening to what they're saying. being intentional and hearing, what they have to say is going to strengthen relationships is going to build connection is going to help offer perspective, and so much more. The second gem that I love is how Dominic really talked about mapping out the areas of school that were really important to him, and taking a deep dive through his own perspective on how his school was performing in those areas. But he didn't just stop there he went. And he talked to all the members of the school to find out their perspectives. And he used all this to help identify what the school was excelling at, what their weak points were, and strategize what would be the next steps that they could use to build upon it. Now, this can easily be brought down to the classroom level. And it's important, especially now that we have a little time to step back to breathe knowledge at summer vacation, we need to take a look at the areas that are important to us. We need to identify what are our strengths? What are our weaknesses? What do you want to add to your classroom next year? And what are some next steps that you can take. And the third gem that I loved was when Dominic talked about the importance of not taking ourselves too seriously. To not be dragged down by policies and bureaucracies because they're always going to be changing. But those students who show up every single day, those students who want to see you who want to connect with you who learn and grow from being around you, they're gonna stay pretty constant. Hit me up on Twitter at be Martin real or Instagram on teaching champions podcast and let me know what were a few of your favorite gems. This podcast is a proud member of the teach better Podcast Network. Better today. Better tomorrow and the podcast to get you there. Explore more podcasts at WWW dot teach better podcast network.com We will see you on the next episode. A big thank you to dominate for sharing so many jams. 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 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 edge Welcome to the week may step into your strength may step into shine, and that both are champions. Have a great weekend.