Relationships, Mentorship, and the power of PURPLE with Adam Stolzer

Hey what's going on everybody, I hope this finds you striving and thriving and doing absolutely amazing. My name is Brian Martin. I'm a second grade teacher and host of the teaching champions podcast. And today I'm joined by Adam Stosur. He's a junior and senior high school principal in Burwell, Nebraska. He's also a former math teacher and former basketball coach. And in this conversation, we're going to dive into being intentional with building relationships and building trust. We're going to talk about how the things that we focus on matter, the importance of having a mentor, the power of purple, and so much more. And after listening to this, if you think someone would benefit from this episode, please share, and be sure to subscribe to the podcast. So New episodes come right to you. But for now, let's get into this conversation. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I am super excited for this episode, we have someone that is an absolute Rockstar. He's doing amazing things in his district. I want to welcome Adam Stosur to the teaching champions podcast. Adam, welcome my friend, Brian, how you doing? It's a pleasure to be on. Thanks for having me. Yeah, we're doing great buddy. It's just a couple of days before the countdown to Halloween is here. So the kids, they're ramping it up. And I'm sure that you will have a few stories to share first, too. So for those people that don't know who you are, would you mind sharing a little bit about your journey? Yeah, Adam schools or I started out in Burwell, Nebraska, small town 13 1500 people, right in the beautiful sand hills, smack dab, middle of the USA, smack dab middle of Nebraska and taught math here for six years. Seven through 12 was the head boys basketball coach did some track coaching as well. They're just involved in our school. And then these past two years, I've served our district as the seventh through 12th principal and has been just an amazing journey of growth and learning so much about the school and myself. And it was a unique going from teacher to principal in the same district. Now in year two, I really feel like we're moving with a really good pace. And we're making a true impact. So lived here for eight years. This is all I've been after graduating college and been in Nebraska my whole life and really just love being around kids and staff every day and the impact that we get to have. Yeah, it's you know, it's such a special impact, and you're just starting your journey. But I already you've had done a ton in your journey. What would you say? So you're in year two of your principalship. What is different year to the new year one. So year one, I think you're just looking and learning and listening, especially being in that new role from going from peer to now boss leader. And so you take all this time of gaining trust and a new way, and getting staff used to you in your new role and learning about your staff in a new way. As opposed to Hey, I was up here. But I got to look for different things. And kids in a different way, building different relationships. I mean, being in a classroom and coaching students. Now, maybe they had a different relationship. But now you're the principal like, we can't talk like we can't do that all that. But now that we have that all behind us. And we can just keep going with growth in with having conversations and moving our school forward. So you're not getting everybody used to your one principal, the transition now it is you are our principal, we had a great first year now let's have a better second year and continue to move this ship and you just get more comfortable. And just like a teacher, you want to plan your day. Sometimes the plan doesn't always go that way as a principal, your day, don't plan your day because it's just that's gonna come across that you need to take care of, and just knowing that there's not a set routine every day, but I think the biggest thing is it's not. You have the pace and everything for you to go and you're not learning and you're not getting everybody comfortable to you guys, what was it like going from you know, your, your teacher there? And then in that same building going in becoming the administrator? Yeah, I mean, it was definitely a challenge and it was one that as a district we saw right away, like that's gonna have to be something that like you have to have a plan for. And it was something where you have a baseline of relationships and trust, but it has to start all over. You're not starting at Ground Zero. because you're not brand new, but you have to work that I mean, the person that you taught across the hall from you probably had a really good relationship with as a teacher. But now as a principal, it completely changes, or the person that you were really close with, and you can find it as a teacher. Now that relationship is different, as a principle, so I think just working and being intentional, with building relationships in new way, building trust and new way, and not relying on those old practices that we had, but building new ones. And I think the best way to do that was just listen to our staff, we have a very experienced staff. And, you know, my grandpa was in administration in Omaha for many years. And his his biggest piece of advice was just listen, just listen, and you will learn everything that you need to learn. And I think using that, and being out in our building, in classrooms on a daily basis was a way that I could do that, and gain that trust with staff. Yeah, so that was gonna be, the next question would be all about trust. And because I've just having a conversation with one of my buddies about that, like school culture, how important that trust is, yeah, and they're not going to trust you, if you're in your office all day, and they don't see you. And like, if you want to know what's going on in your building, with your staff, with your kids is gonna be involved. And inherently, as humans, we all want feedback. And if you can be in classrooms spot on, man, that was great. When you were breaking up into centers, and you had these kids work in here, you can give that genuine, specific feedback in the moment, and that you're building that trust, because teachers do so many amazing things on a daily basis, kids do so many amazing things on a daily basis. But how do you reinforce those amazing things if you don't see it? Right? Like, if you can see those amazing things, if you see the positive behavior, and you can reinforce it, that's where you gonna go rather than just trying to always curtail the negatives. But reinforcing the positives that you see on a daily basis. That genuine specific feedback is how you get trust. Yes, if feedback is so crucial, is there anything like it, but sometimes it's hard to take? Did you ever meet any resistance or at the beginning, come across any of that? I think the biggest thing was that they wanted to know that you were being honest, and that it was coming from a place of growth. And, again, are you trying to find the negatives or you trying to find the positives. And another thing that was big in the transition from going from teacher to principal was consistency. So the principal before me, who is now our superintendent, a mentor of mine, Mr. Maynard, he had classroom walkthroughs gone, where teachers and students knew that you were going to be in classrooms, and you were going to be out and about. And so part of having that trust of with teachers is, are you going to be with consistent with things that we've done and that have proven to be effective? Or are you going to change things and having that consistency through that, of, hey, this is just like, what happened before we had success with it. And it just continues to grow. And, again, praising the good and showing all the awesome things that are going on, like, let's focus on the good things. Yes. You know, what's funny is I just, I just interviewed one of my best friends from the 200th episode. And he was talking about this, like, focusing on the good things, and how come in school, sometimes we get sucked in to just focusing on the negatives, or, you know, we go and we vent to other teachers, and we're having a hard day need to get it off your chest. But at the same time, we don't always do that with the good moments. And how do we make that a common practice? Yeah, and it's like, in sports, you know, hitting is contagious, or when you start knocking down threes like that guy, and this was like, positivity is contagious to like, when you spread that passion. When you spread the positivity to school pride. It just takes off in that your culture and climate. Like if everything that comes out of your mouth is positive about school, about teachers, about the students about the community you live in, then that's what's going to spread. That's when everybody everybody's going to embrace that. But if you start to all the negativity is the same way like what snowball Do you want to create? What contagious energy do you want to create? Do you want the snowball of negativity? Or do you want the snowball of positivity, where it's infectious you I love that, you know, what snowball do we want to create, because we're going to create a snowball either way. Yeah, I mean, it's gonna happen. I mean, that's when you're around the same people for roughly 200 days a year, when it comes to that you are who you surround yourself with. And, you know, I've always said, You're the sum of the five people that you hang out with. But if who you're around every day, like you, hopefully are all speaking the same common language, the same common practice. And that's how we build kids up. That's how we build teachers up that positive energy, the passion that goes with it day in and day out. Yeah, no, I agree. Like, every, the people that we surround ourselves with, whether we realize it or not, subconsciously, they're affecting us. They're affecting the way that we see things, the way we approach our classroom, they affect the way that we speak and falls on our shoulders to what we do to others is going to affect how they see how they approach their day, the words that they speak. So it's so pivotal. Oh, totally. And that goes almost into like, what's your legacy? Is? How are you impacting others? And when when you leave, or when you aren't, there are the things that you do still going on? And so what legacy Are you going to be leaving? Are? Did you put a system or a process in place? Did you start high five Fridays, and that's going to stay in place? You know, or were you the one that you were always in your room every passing period? And that's the legacy? Or is the legacy that man because we all I mean, when kids graduate? There's, what's that class known for? And I, you know, so what legacy? Is it that you're going to leave an impact on others? And how can you grow that next person? How can you grow that person beside you, you know, kind of like a coaching tree? You know, that's why I've been so grateful to Mr. Maynard, you know, my mentor, who was in this office before I was, and, you know, that's his legacy is helping helping grow me, you know, and now I'm like, you know, who can I help grow to continue to do that? I love how you referenced the coaching tree. And you know, if someone's not a sports fan, so a coaching tree is just basically like the person who mentored us, and all the people that they mentor, that we go out, we do our own thing, and mentor other people. And it's just that tree that branches out. And yeah, I heard you talking. I was listening to you on the leaning in the leadership podcast, and you talked about your mentor. And I think a mentor, no matter what stage of life we're at, and whether you look at your professional life, or your personal life, we always need mentors. And what would you say? Like you taught, I believe, Mr. Maynard track? Yes, yes. What were like, what makes him such a great mentor for you? Sure. And I think even like, before getting into that, like, in education, and like, in life, like, we're always looking for ways to teach, and even as a principal, I still want to be able to teach. And as a father, I still want to be able to teach, you know, like, we always want to make people better. I think what makes Mr. Maynard a great mentor was there's never any judgment, there never was any judgment. There never is any judgment. It's all about just getting better. And no judgment in the part of hey, I got a question. And I need some help. And it's not, I can't believe you're asking me that. Like, you should know that. Like, there's never that judgment. And I think the other part that makes a good mentor is pushing you outside of your comfort zone. Okay, you're doing really good with this. And now I want to just give you one more thing to try to do, or have you thought about this, and pushing outside that comfort zone. And just one that's easy to have that communication with I mean, he moved in from a different district and I had been here. And oddly enough, we interviewed for the same job when he got hired the first time. And then, you know, everything has a funny way of working out and turned out to be one of the best things for my life. And one of the best things for my career having him there, but it was just right away. We just hit it off. And you know, I think just the communication, the no judgement, the ability to, we think the same we have the same morals, we have the same life values where everything just, it made it really easy. Yes, you know, I think that that piece that I loved, number one, like judgment to challenge you. I was talking with one of my colleagues and we We were talking about, you know, just judgment in general. And how that sometimes inside the schools, we don't we don't share stuff, or we're afraid to go to ask some others for suggestions. Because of that judgment piece. We're worried about how we're going to be perceived. Yeah, we're afraid, almost of what happens if I say, I don't know how to handle this kid, or I'm really struggling with this kid, can you help me offer solutions? What works for you? And I think sometimes we just get where we want to just be in our classroom, we want to be in our environment, we want to be in our school, even like, Hey, this is how our school operates. We don't, we don't want to know what that school does, or we don't want to get feedback, and reflect. But I think we're afraid of and I think also, sometimes we put a little bit of judgment on kids sometimes right away, of, you know, are we giving a kid a new slate? are we given them a new chance? Or are we going man, and in seventh grade, you know, this happened, and now it's eighth grade. And I think you know, that. So it's easy to judge, it's easy to look through only your lens, and not look through someone else's lens. Because how you see a situation is going to be different than how I see mine is going to be different than how somebody else sees it. And trying to get that feedback of different lenses, I think helps eliminate that judgment. But judgment is still it's hard. And it's a thing that you were working through every single day. Yes, 100%. I love what you talk about, like the lens, and how you took it to the students. And we both have a friend by the name of Dr. Darren pepper. And awesome guy. And one of the biggest lessons that I've taken away from him is, you know, he shares this story, where he was, he was in this staff meeting. And everybody, you know, they were complaining about stuff and pointing out some of the bad. And he talks about somebody raises their hand. And he calls on her and she goes, you know, why do we always focus on what's wrong with a student? Why can't we focus on what's right. And I know, you know, I've used that after he after he said that it's one of those things that stuck with me, and I've used it because in the people business, when you're working with children, and it doesn't matter if you're rolling with the primary grades like mine are, you're up there with the high school students, there's gonna be moments where they leave you scratching your head, or the blood pressure shoots up, and you got to check yourself, I found myself having to check myself and say, you know, I'm not gonna label that kid. I'm gonna focus. I got to bring it back. I got to catch myself, I gotta focus on what's right with this young man. And that that helps me you know, how I interact with him as well? Oh, totally. And I think it goes back to that positive and negative snowball. Are you? Are you going to, man, this is wrong, this is wrong. This is wrong, this is wrong. Where are you going to work on fostering that relationship? And trying to figure out is there one way that I can somehow open up that door and get there? And we all I mean, everybody listening to this right now is like, there's that one kid that I can't like the door is shut and locked. 10 times it's locked. But can you try to can you unlock one lock? Here, one, unlock one lock here, and try to get something to connect with that. And it's easier said than done. But having that trusted support system, that when you go in? Hey, keep up the good work, keep trying something. We're we're right here with you. Come in here and vent and then go back. And you got this? No, I love that how you said like one lock at a time. Because it just doesn't happen. Like one day, you know, that's doing that you're not connecting with, you know, all of a sudden, you're not going to be best friends. But if you can do it one block at a time. Slowly build that connection. Yeah, just slowly go. And again, like you said, We're it's a people business. We're serving. We're serving these kids. We're serving the communities we live in. And what can we do to serve even when you I mean, when you're at a restaurant, servers got to put a smile on even when they don't want to sometimes. What can we do to make that moment in that day special for that kid? Yes. 100%. Well, let's dive into a little bit Burwell here because I know that you have a nice little like, I love school culture, and what you're doing there. Would you mind sharing all about the purple? Yeah, yeah. So the power of purple at Burwell is something that is really ingrained in me. And two years ago, when I moved into the principal, I really wanted something of my educational philosophy at the time, a motto something that I could cling to, and something that I could really use to move our school forward and you are You talk about in narrowing it down. And as I reflect more on it, I think it has become more just how I attack life. And a school from I think this I think this acronym, the power purple can be applied as a student, a teacher, and administrator, anything but the first one for me is passion, man. And I just, I don't think passion can be taught. I think it can be faked for a little bit. But it's so important to have passion in what you do. And how can we bring out the passions in our kids? How can we bring out the passions in our teachers? And are we holding them back? Are we letting them explore those passions and bring them in? And I think that's how we can connect with connect with students. I mean, you know, for us, if in our community hunting is a passion of kids and for teachers, and is that a way they can connect, or is a passion of reading, and don't be afraid to share your passions and show your passions, but I mean, gosh, dang it, I bleed purple. I think with where it's at. I think passion is just so important. When it comes to education and living life and doing what you need to do. The second, go ahead. Oh, I was just gonna say, interesting fact. We were talking about pre show about this with the rodeo. Yeah. Do you have because I know your city is huge. On Nebraska with the rodeo. Do you incorporate like, that type of lifestyle with the passions? You find a lot of kids passionate about that? Yes. I mean, like we host Nebraska's big rodeo tons of people's come. We have a rodeo club here, where kids compete and wrote high school rodeo. I mean, when that comes into town, everybody's involved in this. We're very ag centric ranch lifestyle, the rodeo style. Again, not It's not everybody, we're the only school in our county down in the bottom corner. And everything else is ranch. But yeah, the rodeo is a big part of it here. And there's people I mean, it's a passion here and the whole town. I mean, the town shuts down for it. It's it's, it's an awesome experience. That's pretty sweet. Yes. So I mean, go ahead. No, I was just gonna say how about the EU? So yeah, the EU, the EU is unique if we all have what makes us us. And to me, this goes like to the art and science of teaching. You know, we're at Marzano school. And yes, there's a science, but what are we doing to bring out the art in teachers of? Is it flexible seating? Where? Yes, explore it, do it, try it, like be unique. You know, this year, I stepped out of my comfort zone. Last year, its first year as principal I really struggled with like, I was either out in the building involved, or I had to be locked in my office doing the managing type of stuff. So I have like, I'm getting a mobile office, and I'm just gonna be out in the halls as much as I can. I'm gonna try to work from my computer there. If I got to come to the office, I will. But I just, I want to be around kids. I want to be around it. But you know, it's a challenge. But it's unique to me. And maybe it's not for everybody. But how can we bring I wanted to hopefully show teachers of and students try something new. Be unique bring let your light shine of what you have. And let's celebrate those uniquenesses and all of that, so that we're not okay with the status quo. And we accept who we are we celebrate who we are. And we build off of that year in and year out. Yes. Oh, I absolutely love that. I love the fact that you made it a mobile office to what was the you know, the biggest takeaway from that whole experience? Well, so far it is. Are you really going to be out here all day? Why are you out here? And you know, for a staff side, it is the oh, you know, hey, I needed to talk to you, here's what it is. And like those quick little interactions, and all that, but I think the kids are more like, really, you're going to be out here and watch this. Like, you know, you find out that a lot of kids gotta go the bathroom a lot during the day. Oh, man, we're on time number seven here. Like, maybe we got to have a conversation here. So no, it's been good. And I can hear a lot more like maybe not in the classrooms physically. But in the hallway, you can hear what's going on in four or five different classrooms. You know, we're a big hallway. So you can hear a lot you see a lot you interact with students and it's to me it's helped me lead the school more than just manage it or be I'm leading it now and I'm managing it here. I can do both of them at the same time and work more towards the leadership and not just the management. I love that that's super cool. Yeah, it's been great and and that was something that again, my mentor pushing me outside my comfort zone. You know, we have talked to buy it, we had shared some social media about it. And then finally, it was like, Just do it. Like, let's go, like, get one order. You know, he sent me screenshots of, Hey, I found this one on Amazon, Hey, I found this one on Amazon. And then, you know, some social media, there was a guy, principal lamb who's down in Louisiana, or New Orleans. He's on social media, and he had fully switched to it. And I kind of got deep into his stuff. And the stars just kind of aligned with that. And Mr. Maynard pushing me and, you know, show me this. And I'm like, Yep, I'm just going for it. So yeah, it's been awesome. It's been awesome. Yeah. And I think that's great that you model, you know, you talk about, like, the uniqueness and stepping outside of the comfort zone. We can talk about it all day long. But if we're not modeling it, then it falls short. A little bit. Yeah. And that's where our kids, our staff, everybody, if they can see people doing it and living it, they feel comfortable with it. 100%? How about that I or my friend? Yeah, reflect? You know, I think for us is, that's how we grow is we reflect and reflecting is maybe looking at there was a problem? And are we taking the problem and shoving it under the rug? Or are we running to the problem and addressing it? Are we, hey, that's on me, I made a mistake, I'm running right to it, and we're going to fix it, or this is an uncomfortable situation, but we got to look at it, reflect on it. And we got to make changes where we need to make changes. So that reflecting piece is huge for me of growth opportunities. As I talk about, like the walkthroughs. And observations like in my current role is how can we reflect on those current lessons when we're getting feedback? You know, my goal is to give specific feedback once a week. I'm in your classrooms more than that. But once a week, I want to specifically give you a note, I want to give you something where I've been there and we can have that reflection of hey, you were working in centers, this is something that I saw that went really well. Here's something I have a question about in reinforcing those things, but having those opportunities to reflect. And I just think, again, human nature is we live on feedback, we want to know, are we doing a good job are like, do you like what I'm doing? Does this fit your style? Is this okay? And I think going back to your first question is gaining that trust. And that transition from peer to administrator was letting them know like, Oh, you do see that you do like that before, you had never been in my English class or my history class. But now you are and you're seeing those things that I'm doing. So and for our kids, you know, showing them the reflecting aspect of it that it's okay, if you do make a mistake, how are you going to grow? Or that you aren't doing good? How can you grow? So just having that reflection piece that you don't always have to be the same? You can continue to make changes and adapt? Yes, no, that's huge. And I think that's huge message that for the students and the staff that we don't have to be the same that we can make changes and adapt now and do it. Oh, go ahead. No, you go ahead. I was just gonna say like, do you have, like a formal reflection process? I think for me, the reflection right now is just the conversations with Mr. Maynard, my mentor, we have a relationship where I can be really honest, where we had a situation this week where I'm like, this is bothering me. And here is here's why. And having that talk through. I write, I write a lot of things down. I'm a legal pad guy, where I just, it's probably the coaching me from when I did scouting reports. But also, I mean, as an administrator, you get so many things I you know, writing things down, but I'll write myself a lot of notes like, hey, this, this happened today or this conversation. And those probably like things I write down are more personal just for my own self reflection for that, but I think those things with those conversations that I can have with Mr. Maynard, that's the reflection piece. And then the there's are some notes where you know, a Google doc where this is something that I needed, always just kind of go back to and reflect on some things I've learned or situations that I've been in where learn from them and go on, but no formal thing, but just those quick little notes to myself to review that night or later that week. But I think like you said right there with Mr. maner. Having that that person that is a little above us. Yes. That we respect that it's going to offer some wisdom or maybe not even maybe just to listen, and maybe walk us through our The problems, yeah, walk us through. And I think like, just like in a classroom. And I've always, like I said earlier, like, we're always a teacher, he's really good at asking those leading questions. Yes. Why? Well, have you thought about this angle? What about if this would have happened? Hmm? Have you thought about this different things like that, where helps process that? And, you know, goes back to that mentor of if you can have that high level of communication back and forth, then you're constantly reflecting, and you're constantly going. And so that has just been huge. Yes, no, that's awesome. So we have passion, unique reflect, what's the P, the next P we have is pride. And this one was big for me, because you know, not not being born and raised in Burwell. A large part of our staff are Burwell graduates have moved back. Been here a long time? Or if they haven't, they've just taught in our system for a long time, because Brazil is such a great place to live. And so you have you have to have be prideful from where you're from. And do you take pride in what you do? And do we show kids do we show it to me that we're proud of where we're from? Like, I don't call where I grew up home anymore, like, I graduated from platteview. I grew up in Springfield, Nebraska. And I love that but like my home is Burwell. Like, I am proud to be here. I'm proud to be a Burwell Longhorn. And I think modeling that for our students. And again, just that pride of do you take pride in your work? Everything? Do you put out everything that you say do you have pride in? And are you just walking the walk? Are you talking the talk with it? And so for me, it's just that infectious like when you graduate from rural high school, and you leave here are you proud to say I'm a Burwell Longhorn. I graduated from here I did that. And I think that's just how we talk about ourselves that positive self talk again, the snowball. The Snowball is are you talking positively about where you're from? Or is it negative? What pride do you have about where you're at? And I think that's huge. Yeah. Are you watering the grass where your feet are at? Are you thinking about the grass on the other side of the fence? Oh, that's good, my friend. That's good. You gotta water where you're at be prideful. Yes. Because, you know, I was listening. Dr. Joe, Sam Filipo. Familiar with me, he always says like, if you don't tell your story, other people will. So and that affects everybody, you know, the outside community but affects the people within the walls of the school. So what stories are we telling what grass? Are we watering? For sure. And we, you know, when we took over as a new administrative team with Mr. Mainers who pretend to be here, because we talked about building our brand, which same thing of the story that he's telling, but what brand are we building? What are we promoting? Are we showing all the things that our kids are doing academically? Is it just athletically? Are we not building a brand? Are we not telling the story? Are we showing all the amazing things we're doing? So yeah, and that's, you know, I read a lot of Sanfilippo books, you know, that's one I'll talk about later, you know, the most recent one, he has a ton of great stuff. And so yes, telling your story watering your own grass, where you're at like that, to me, that's wrapping up pride. Awesome. And how about that owl? Yeah, legacy? You know, again, this goes back to what are you doing to make an impact when you're not there? Or you, you you move to a new position? And as students when you graduate? What are that what's that classically known for teachers? What are you doing to make that lasting impact of gosh, you know, I remember this teacher for this like, man, we could never do that in that class or whatever it was, or it man you always learned this in that class or different things or, you know, even if you're ever having a bad day, you know, that teacher was was there for you like, no matter what, no judgment, no, nothing. So I just think that legacy of what are we doing to impact others? Are we teaching somebody else? Are we helping somebody else? Just the legacy is what are we doing for somebody else? That's what's going to help and keep schools going keep growth going, and helping your school culture be the best that it can be? Yes, that's huge. That's huge. And the last one that II Yeah, II to finish out the power of purple is just evolve. You know, modeling, continuous learning, the growth mindset, and, you know, back to the mentor. Are you good with the status quo? Are you going to push the limits a little bit Are you gonna step outside your comfort zone and try something new in the classroom? Try something new as a student as a administrator. And I think the biggest thing for me there is as evolving and learning from principal year one to now principal years to is school years, yes, have a start and an end. But what you're doing evolves over time. And it's not just, we were here for 200 days, boom, now we're done now completely new stuff. We know you're continuing that like, hey, we started this, we're going to keep it going, we're going to evolve it, we're going to take it to the next step. We've reached the top now we got to plateau for a little bit, but we're going to keep going, you know, as you evolve and grow. So I think feeling that it's a cycle and a school, not just independent by yours is a it's a cycle of everything going and don't just change for change sake, but evolve for a purpose. Don't just make a change, because you want to what can you evolve for a purpose? What's the reason that you're doing it? I love that evolved for a purpose. 100%. Now, this purple, we were talking about, like the community, the Burwell community has embraced that. So how did you sell it to the community? What was what do you think? Are some of the ways that you get buy in from outside of the school? Yeah, I mean, I just overwhelmed them with it. Every every social, every social media post is the power of purple. Everything that I put out, form wise, I have, I have two sayings, I have the power of purple, and we are better together. And I tried to just blast that out as much as I can. But you know, when the board president right, so welcome back to school message to everybody district wide, and he puts the power of purple in it. You know that that's powerful. And it wasn't forced. It wasn't asked. I mean, it was just organic. It can over and when you have that stuff, it just slowly happens. You know, when people in the community are commenting on your stuff, the power of purple, you know that it's not forced, it's genuine it is they see a buy in. I mean, God bless my wife that are the last thing we did right before school started my first year as principal as I said, we're so we're gonna go paint the school. And what do you mean, I said, we're gonna put a purple stripe down the hallways. And we're gonna paint the door jambs. Purple, I want kids to know, we're purple. And this is Burwell and like, This is who we are. And so I don't think we did anything special except we told our story. We watered our grass, we built our brand. And it just slowly gains more traction, the snowball gets a little bit bigger. And I think that's how you do it. I mean, if you want to impact change, talk about it and be about it daily. Yes. Oh, you know, I love this conversation. Because, you know, I feel like, we both come from the coaching world that we got a little bit of coaching. So it's just that I'm sitting like, talking education, but through like, with another coach, I get that vibe. So I absolutely love that. Yes, no, I mean, and coaching, teaching, I mean, I feel now as a, as a principle, I'm still coaching. But I'm coaching teaching, I'm coaching, the whole school coaching with my administrative team of making improvements. I mean, as a basketball coach, I was always, you know, one one brick at a time, you know, like, we're only doing one thing at a time right now, is was not going to get built right now. But we can do one thing. And doing that same thing, that we're not going to fix all of our problems in one year. But we can attack this one today. And we can attack this one tomorrow. And we'll take the next one after that, you know, one lock at a time with the kid and just continuing that little by little improvement. And that's where it's gonna go. I mean, when you're working with an athlete, you're not going to fix a jump shot in one hour. You know, it takes 1000s and 1000s of reps. And the same thing happens with teaching is we've got to continue to work on it and see it and just continue to live it day in and day out. Yes, so good, brother. So good. So two of my favorite questions. I love to ask, Do you have any book recommendations or any podcast recommendations? Yeah, so I mean, first off, I'm sure a lot of people have read it, but I'm gonna be honest, I'm not a huge reader, but I challenged him. I challenged myself this past summer to read three books. And I accomplished that goal. So I was proud of myself for that. But lead from where you are by Joe Sanfilippo. That was a good one for me. That and then the other one to share would be the power of moments by Chip and Dan Heath. That one was just really good of every step. single moment that we have makes an impact. And for better or for worse, probably 90% of the interactions that we have in schools are served from our Superbowl commercials. There are 32nd interactions with kids. But how are those going to make impacts? on kids? If you only get 30 seconds? What are they going to remember? Is it going to be a Superbowl ad that they remember? Or is it going to be when they remember for the wrong reasons? So that was a big that was a big one for me this summer of just every interaction you have has a purpose and mean something? Yes, those are huge. Chip and Dan Heath fan and can't go wrong with little Dr. Joe Sanfilippo. Yes, yes. Awesome. Now, do you listen to podcasts at all? I do. I mean, I like Justin Bader, principle, center radio, but he has it's not just administrative stuff. I mean, he's got tons of stuff on there. That's good. Obviously, Darren pepper. Big shout out to him on that. And those are probably like my two big ones. I'm starting to get into you. A little bit more on that. Appreciate that. Yeah, my friend. Well, I mean, I had listened to a couple of years here and there. And then, you know, just I'm getting more into them and all of that. So I mean, those would be my two that outside of you that I would give some plugs for. Awesome. I appreciate that. And, yeah, to great podcast. Now. If someone wanted to connect with you, what would you say? Yeah, I mean, I'm big on Twitter. I'm not big on Twitter, that's probably the easiest way to get me there. And that's just add them under store underscore Stolze or 28. There, and then my email, you can reach out to me at the school, just Adam dot stoles are at Burwell public schools.com. And we'd love to reach out to anybody and you know, gain that connection and network across the country. And and all of that. Yeah. Awesome. And if you could have the listeners walk away with one thing, what would that be? That's a tough one. But I think the biggest thing is, is what snowball are you creating? Are you creating a positive snowball for others around you? And for yourself and for your students? Or is it that negative one? And I think people listening to this podcast are ones that want to improve, want to get better at it. So how can you make your snowball bigger of positivity? What's one more thing you can add to it? To keep it going? Yes. Oh, so good brother. And Adam, I just want to say thank you so much for being here, man, you are such a bright spot. And when when you talk about that, that snowball, the snowball that you're creating in your community, and I know you're just getting started by, but you're going to expand to affect a lot of people outside of your community as well with your message. So keep doing great thing for for Burwell, and I look forward to what the future holds for your brother. Hey, thanks, Brian. And I just your passion is contagious. And just thank you for making a difference. And I mean, it's been awesome to talk to you and your kids are lucky to have you in the classroom and what you're bringing to the education field of helping grow everybody around us. Just thank you for giving back and leaving your legacy of helping others. Well, I appreciate it, man. This podcast is a proud member of the teach better Podcast Network better today, better tomorrow and the podcast to get you there. You can find out more at Teach better.com/podcast. Now let's get back to the episode. This conversation was so good. Adam has so much wisdom and he just brought such an infectious energy to the conversation. Now this is a teaching champion state where I share three of my favorite gems from the conversation. And the first gem that I love is how Adam talked about. We're always creating snowballs, with our words and our actions. Now we get to choose those snowballs, they can be positive ones, or we can choose to create a negative one. And ultimately, that's up to us. But our words, our actions, they impact our classrooms. They impact our students. They impact all of the colleagues around us and they impact our school. So it's something that we have to step back and ask ourselves, do we want to create a positive Snowball or a negative one? The second gem that I love is how Adam talked about the power of a mentor. And the truth is, every single one of us should have one. No matter where we're at in our lives. We need that mentor. We need that person who's a little ahead of us in certain areas in life and that person who's willing to Listen to us, to guide us who's willing to challenge us, we need that person who's going to push us outside of our comfort zone. And not only do we need someone in our lives to be our mentor, we should welcome the opportunity to be someone else's mentor, because that's gonna help that individual. But it's gonna help us as well. The third gem that I loved is just the passion that Adam Brock, he talked about passion, being part of the purple school culture, and just listening to him, it's easy to tell that he embodies passion for his school and his community. And for us, others pick up on whether we have passion for our schools, or whether we don't. And they can tell that through our words and our actions. And it's important that we do a little reflection, and that we ask ourselves, what are the words that I'm speaking, say about how I feel about my school community? What are my actions, saying to others, how I feel about the school community, it's just something that all of us should take a little time and think about. Now, these were just a few of my favorite gems. Hit me up on x at B. Martin real or on Instagram at teaching champions podcast and let me know what were a few of your favorite gems. A big thank you to Adam such a bright side, and he's doing great things. 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 to get keep being amazing, my friends, and as you go out into the week may step into your strength, may you step into your shine, and let's build our champions up. Have a great week, everybody