Teach Better, TEDx, and the Power of Connections with Rae Hughart

What's going on everybody? I hope this finds you striving and thriving and doing absolutely amazing. Thank you so much for being here and for being someone who's out there making their impact, supporting, encouraging and lifting each other up. Now we have a pretty amazing guest on the podcast today. Miss array Heuer is our guest, and she's a CX O for the teach better team, a former executive director of the Association of Illinois, middle grade schools. She's a TEDx speaker, and educator. She's the author of two books, teachers deserve it and teach better. And she brings a ton of knowledge to this conversation and a lot of great energy. And as Ray speaks, pay attention to her story as a student, and how that's impacted her today. Listen to the strategies and tips that she gives about getting a little bit better each and every day. And feel those good vibes that she puts out. I hope you enjoyed this conversation. Welcome, everybody, to the teaching champions podcast, I want to welcome ray here to the show, Ray. Welcome to the show, my friend. I'm so honored to be here. Thank you for the invitation. So it's gonna be so fun. Yes. And I'm pumped. Because I found you from afar, I follow the the teach better team and you are doing so much so much is going on in your space. So for the listeners who don't know who you are, would you mind giving us your background and everything that's led you to this point? Yeah. Hey, everyone, I'm thrilled to meet you maybe for the first time. I'm currently the CFO and co owner of the teach better team, which essentially means I get to hang out with teachers all the time. Our team does a lot of stuff, like we do professional development for school districts, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Honestly, I feel like my main job would teach better is supporting our virtual community. And I love that we have educators all around the globe, dedicating themselves to what we call the teach better mindset, which is, you know, a goal of being a little bit better today than we were yesterday and a little better tomorrow than we were today. And I don't know, I just think that's like super cool to get good people together that are all excited for growth and feedback. It's just kind of fun. Yeah, 100%. And I love that that quote in your philosophy, like I think it's so big. And whether it's in teaching or just in life, like if I can be a little bit better today than I was yesterday. I'm a little bit better tomorrow than I am today. So I love that. That's what you guys roll with? Well, and sometimes, I mean, gosh, we know this sometimes being a little bit better. Looks like point 5%. Like it's an inci weensy bit, it's been a hard day. And you know, like it's not it's not going to be a huge number. But other days, we wake up, we feel good, our coffee tastes good. And we're ready to conquer the world. And that's a great day for growth. So I love that we have this flexibility to really own the fact that we can be better and sometimes we're better than other times and that's okay. Yeah, 100% One of my favorite podcasters his name's Justin Sula. And he always says a little by little little becomes a lot 7.5 every day for the stack it up. Now, you have an interesting story. Could you share your background as a student because I think it's really important that people hear you know, your experience in the education system. Yeah, gosh, I was like the student that every teacher didn't want in their classroom. Like I know that I wasn't a troublemaker. I wasn't like out there feeding the walls. But um, I just was like the worst student of all time. I even grew up with every support we wish all of our students had right like I had two supportive hard working middle class parents go up on the north side of Chicago, like super wonderful schools, like truly dedicated teachers, a fluid area I mean, there's like nothing wrong with this as what we hope all students have just like insane support and resources right. But with all that aside, I just really was a struggling learner growing up and you know, I think that for a period of time, I really dedicated my my time to fixing that and then Like many students, there was just so many hurdles, I feel like I just gave up and just accepted the fact that school wasn't for me. And I think everybody has their story navigating through school. And mine really started in second grade when I was diagnosed SLD and reading, writing and math, which in my mind meant that, like, you can't do anything, because reading, writing and math is like the basis of everything. And, you know, again, like every resource, every support, but being labeled the special education student is no fun, especially when you're already struggling to fit in for 100 Other reasons as you're growing up as a child, so I really was not like a great student to have in class because I wasn't probably doing my homework. I wasn't speaking up. I wasn't learning anything. And I just tried to be invisible the whole time. Yeah, no, I think that's it's important for us to hear now, were there little things that like little cubes that you were able to pick up when you're in second grade, you know, that label of SLD was placed on you. You know, honestly, it's like the a double edged sword. Miss Davidson was my second grade teacher and I vividly remember hurt paying special attention to me that I later was like, identify as an educator, like, Oh, she was trying to get me an IEP, like I was constantly being kept in for recess. And I was constantly being pulled out for testing. And I like, vividly remember having strangers come to the door and pull me out. And do you know, like testing in like small rooms, right of the classroom that we never, or the school building that we never went in before. And I just think it's so wonderful that she dedicated the time to identify that I was a struggling learner. But I think that the stress of being labeled as different also came with a lot of headaches as well. And so I don't ever say that I wish it didn't happen. Because Holy cow, the support I got from teachers, from that point forward, was coming from nothing but a place of support. But it was not, it's not fun to be different in any way. Right? So and then I almost felt like being labeled that way, like gave me permission to not be successful. I don't quite know how to phrase that. My parents are incredibly successful people. And it really felt like a failure to have this learning disability that, you know that that wasn't supposed to happen in my family type concepts. So it's a struggle, you know, 100%, and thank you for being open about that. Now, is there any way because you taught for many years? Yeah, like you have a student that has something similar to what you are going through? Yeah. Was there anything that you did how you approach that situation? Because I think like mindset, how we view ourselves is so important, that you can change that mindset within them that yeah, maybe learning is hard. But you are still capable of so many great things that we see that inside you. Yeah, you know, it's so funny. I taught at the middle school level for a decade. And there, I think some of my favorite moments of hanging out with middle schoolers was being able to relate to students who saw themselves as incapable of being successful because of a learning disability. I mean, I can't tell you the proud moments and IEP meetings, Emily celebrating students, but being able to lean over to parents and say, hey, just so you know, I did these meetings, too, I had that support, too. I know how it is to be pulled out for testing, or I know how it is to feel different, or have your test read to you. But like, they can do anything. And it's almost like being able to highlight, I don't know, that we talk about as adults, some of those, like school aged struggles. And it was nice to be able to bond with parents to say had, I've gone through this, and like we, you know, look over look where we are now. So there's a lot of moments that I love about being a teacher. But I'm definitely relating, or like seeing similarities. In in when working with students is super fun, I was also able to be a part of a number of different IEP diagnosis for students to be able to say, Hey, I saw this as a struggle as a student, here's the type of supports that I think we should be putting in and let's hand you off to the experts to make sure you're successful. So it's really a blessing. I really am so thankful that teachers took the time to get me the support I needed. Awesome. And I love how you talked about like the conversations that you have with the parents, because that's important. And I think like so I'm at the primary level, second grade, and you get the parents in a room for a meeting like that, and they're, you know, there's one or both parents there, and you might have 678 adults out in the education field. So number one, that has to be fairly intimidating. And then you start throwing out all these jargons, you know, the educational words that they're not familiar with. And it's just got to be, you know, fairly overwhelming for them. And I feel badly, because, you know, my parents obviously went through it, they labeled me as not college bound, I was going to leave high school, and that was going to be the highest degree that I was going to be able to pursue. And so as you kind of like, grow, you're not only developing this understanding of what having an IEP means as a student, but God the stress of from a parent perspective of saying, we know, not that they did anything wrong, but you know, what did they do wrong? Or what could they do differently to support me and I just, I think it's so challenging for parents in this situation, as well, I cannot tell you that the majority of my fuel going to college, getting into the university that I went to becoming a teacher, a lot of that came from, almost like this desire to prove my parents wrong, and in a way that would make them so proud of me, like I truly only got my master's degree, so that I found and be like, Look, I have a higher degree than you like I did. Like, it's just so funny. That is great. And, you know, just fueling and planting those seeds in the parents is gonna be alright. And I'm successful, I went through the struggles, your child is going to be successful, too. Yes, absolutely, really good to reinforce. And I think every educator wants our students to be successful, so the more we can relate to them and their parents, the better. Yes, absolutely. And look where you've come from. Since then, like you said, phenomenal teacher, then your big role and the teach better team, you have two books that you've authored. And, and I'm sorry, no, I was just gonna say like, isn't that a comical element? I think that's why I wrote books to write, I was never able to read books. So I decided to write to write it's really just all to prove a point. Let me tell you all the proof of that now, just jumping on that real quick. How was the writing process? So reading was very difficult for you? How about that the writing process? Yeah, so shout out to every teacher out there listening who has ever given a suggestion to a student to use a tool to better support them, be conscious of that, because the tools I use now as an adult, are the same tools like and same concepts that I was given by teachers in school using audio to read texts, and everything else, I'm really good at getting my thoughts down, like writing is not a struggle. typer I can, you know, like, document my thoughts, but I can't read it back to myself, like I can't, I'm not a good like reread, or I have to do that via audio. I consume 80 to 90% of text via audio in my day to day life, emails, text messages, anything in between. But there's so many supports out there. It's almost like at this point, I don't skip a beat. So writing, writing the book had so many challenges, but thanks to the teachers I had teaching me about these resources, I don't know that reading was necessarily a hurdle in that writing process, if that makes sense. Yeah, no, absolutely. And there are so many resources that, you know, exposing them, and I love how you said, what you were exposed to back then helped you out as an adult? Yeah, I will say anybody who's has a struggling reader in their life, obviously, keep reading with them. You guys know all the best practices of supporting our our learners. But I have a Google add on that reads texts out loud on my computer. iPhones actually have an accessibility feature where there's this like translucent little button you put on the screen. And at any point, it will read everything on your screen that it needs to out loud. So really, anything over three sentences I consume via audio, and it doesn't. It doesn't impact my day anymore, which is really cool. Yeah, that's fantastic. Now let's slide into your TEDx talk. Because that's pretty awesome. I think if you're listening to this podcast, you know what the TEDx is all about. So could you walk us through like, what was the process being selected the lead up to it and then not tell us the content? What did you present a TEDx? Yeah, it's so funny. Brian, full transparency. All these things are so linked, because when I was in high school, I made a bucket list. And the bucket list when I looked at it a few years later, I really became like a list of things I never thought I was going to be able to do. Which in some ways, like really terrible to think about like how I mean having a student that is struggling as a learner to make a list of like, well never go to college, like going to college graduate from college is on there with a bachelor's degree. Writing a book was on the Right, because I didn't read books. So how was I going to write one? The TED talk was the last thing on that list. And I made a, I made the goal back in about 2017, that I was gonna do everything on that bucket list I hadn't done yet. And so the books came out of that, in some regard in terms of my ambition to do them. The TED Talk, for sure came from that my master's degree came from that. But the TED talk was surreal. I applied on a whim. It was, by far the best professional development I have ever done in my entire life. I encourage anyone listening, if you've done one, then you know, you should do it another. If you haven't done one, you need to set a goal to just put yourself out there. It was the hardest, like professional development that I have ever participated in, and I grew so much. It was an incredible process. So I would share anything and everything that you're that you're interested in. But if nothing else, you take away. You have to go do one just for the sake of doing it. Yeah, no, I think that's awesome. And I was listening to another podcast that you were on you were talking about this, like you were only given from, like two weeks, right from the time selected until you had to present? Well, yeah. So here's how it went down. Like I applied in like the winter. It was like November, December, I applied or must have been November, because I found out December 26. I got the email saying I got it. And I was like with my family. And I was like holy cow. Like, what an incredible I was so thrilled, but the email was vague. It just was like, congratulations, more information coming like there wasn't, there wasn't a ton, and it was during COVID. It was 2021 in December. So 2021 was when it was going to happen. But I think they were still struggling with timeline. They were trying to figure out the logistics out. I was just thrilled to get the email. I didn't even care if I did it. At that point. I got accepted. It was cool. I didn't even know what I was getting into. A few weeks later, they email and they say you have a 10 coach that's going to work through your speech, they'll be reaching out to you no big deal, waited for that a few weeks, got my coach, who is the most rigorous woman I've ever met holy cow, I love her to death. And she emails me and says, Hey, can we meet this week? And when we do, can you give me your full speech? written out word for word. And I emailed her back and I was like, Whoa, first of all, I don't have a speech yet. I just pitched an idea. It has to be an original thought. So it wasn't like I did 100 times before. And I can't read so writing it out word for word was of no value to me. I really wasn't going to be able to like, consume it that way. I'm more somebody who would be successful bullet pointing key concepts out. And then ad libbing a little bit. But I like that's more comfortable for me. Because I can't get a word by word line it successfully anyway. You know, I can't like read off of the cue card anyway. She emails back she goes, nope. I need it word for word. Okay, so I wrote up this 12 minute TED talk right on this big concept. And I gave it to her. I was meeting with her that night. And she hops on the Zoom call. First time meeting her. She introduces herself, which is wonderful. And she says Ray, I really liked what your your initial draft and I'm like, oh my goodness, I didn't prep. I can't wait. We have two weeks to get this done. And she already thinks I'm there. Right? And then shares her screen. And every single line. Every single word was crossed out in red and red. Like ink on the Google Doc. I think there was two words literally in all five pages that didn't have like some sort of red asterisk by it. Like, oh, I don't think we're getting married soon. So yes, we had two weeks, I met with her twice a day for two weeks to prepare for the TED Talk. It was so intense. So that's some unbelievable, crazy. Yeah, but I like it. It was an invaluable experience. I've never gotten such critical feedback. Yeah. So how was that? Because sometimes I think like as teachers, we don't necessarily like feedback. Like we like to feedback when it's all rosy and here hearing the great stuff, but was it and you know, I don't necessarily think that's the way the path that should be chosen. But how was it getting that critical feedback opening up that screen and seeing all red? Yeah, I you know, I think feedback is so tricky because we grow from feedback, but also sometimes feedback feels like it beats us down right? I'm sure all of your listeners I'm sure you all can think of a time when someone gives you feedback that was probably necessary feedback, but emotionally it hurt your feelings and that is that was probably one of the hardest parts Arts is her continual feedback was exhausting. It seems like I could never do something and not get an adjustment. Right. And, and that can be really taxing. I think we need to be reflective on that with our students. I think teachers work really hard at find finding the balance of how do I give two positives with one area of growth, right, trying to stand between, because we want people to feel successful, but we also need them to persevere through the feedback. And that was really, really tricky. I don't think I think there's a lot of things that as an educator, I would have done differently if I had been in her shoes as a coach, but I will never forget that she gave me tough feedback. I think I I hated her throughout the day. But the day of the recording the morning of this recording, she emailed me and it was like two lines, it was like DeRay, you're gonna rock it today, I think you have the best TED talk I've ever heard. And then it was like sincerely, and then her name. And I cannot tell you that felt so good. It was like winning the biggest award of all time that she had a nice thing to say to me after I'd been working to impress her for two weeks, right? I mean, literally, it's like, it's incredible. As educators the power, we have to make things feel good, right? The same concept with grading, you can make a C feel like an A, you can make an A feel like an F. I mean, we have so much power of influence. So she was amazing. Absolutely. And I love how you know, how you refer to her is amazing, after all that critical feedback. And that just shows the power and like you get into the power that we can have. But you can be firm, you can be hard. And people are going to appreciate that. If you throw in, you know, show them that you care about them and love them. Yes. And I really it was like comical afterwards. I'm like, she knew what she was doing. She was pushing me because she knew that this needed to be great. But on the flip side, she also like understood that she believed in me the whole time, which I actually wasn't sure of. And so it was really nice to get that affirmation. And I literally I am so sorry for anybody that has to work with that type of a coach in the future. But it was so worth it. I would do it again. Sign me up. Awesome. Now, could you give us just a little snippet, I will put the link in the show notes for your TED Talk. But for the listeners, give us a little preview. What was that TED talk all about? Yeah, gosh, there's so many things I would change. So if you guys watch the TED talk, I would love for you to send me like DM me? Your reflection, what what adjustments do you think I should make I really hope to do another in the future. The TED Talk concept was all on the concept of mastery learning, which is a big part of what I get to work with educators on now. And it was the concept that students all students can learn. Some students need more time, some students need less time, but we all can reach the same end result. So I actually share a lot about my family, I give you guys a little activity to do that you can actually do at home, or you can do at family parties, which is when I learned it. And we talked about the fact that you know, even though we all need time to learn this kind of puzzle, that we're capable of doing it and you know, kind of emphasizing the value that mastery learning has in our education system. So I hope you guys enjoy. It's 12 minutes long. And I'd love to hear your reflection afterwards. Yeah, it is a it's a great TED Talk. I've watched it and I second it, definitely go out and watch it today. Well, I think I think my coach was lying a little bit because I don't know at all that is the best type talk out there. I've seen a lot of amazing honor to even be featured at you know, ten.com It's definitely not the best, but hopefully it gets your mind thinking that's the goal. Yeah, so I crossed that off the list now. I know and now the bucket list is done. And I had a bunch of friends saying okay, so so you're gonna make another list and I'm like, if I make another list of goals, it that's all it will be. It'll be a list of goals. No, no bucket list of things I think I'll never accomplish if, if I'm gonna go chase something. I'm gonna go make it happen. Awesome. I love that. Do you have something on your bucket list that you want to share? Do you have like something that that you wouldn't put on your bucket list? Oh, you know what, I really don't have a bucket list. There were things that things that I want to accomplish, I guess, just to become, it sounds silly, like a little bit better each day and to expand and to be able to I guess I'm in the second half of my life. So I guess you're looking at the second half of my life and how can I serve the most amount of people? I don't know that's a bucket. That's a very vague bucket list. Good mission to live by. I think that's more of what we should be doing. It's less about the checking the box like I did it, you know, like, I want to go hang gliding check, I went hang gliding, and more about what mission? What mindset do I want to carry? Because I'm gonna then go do great things because I'm carrying that mindset. I like it. I love it. Yeah, like, what's your passion, your purpose? What drives you? So Well, thank you for asking that. That's so good. Now, let's talk about your book, because you have two of them. One I was diving into last night was teachers dessert that you wrote with Adam, welcome. And one piece that I really love that you had in there, because I think it's big. So we're starting off the school year, everybody, I had open house last night. So you know, there's a little high coming off of that, and teaching second grade, the little ones come in. And then you also get to see the students that you had last year that that's just equally is amazing seeing them. But, you know, we start the school year off, we're fired up, but three weeks a month into it, that motivation when that daily grind starts chipping away. And I think like having a strong circle, strong network is huge. And you talk about that in your book and refer to it is being a dot connector. Could you expand upon that a little bit? You know, I think every moment is an opportunity to make a connection. That's something that my dad always really emphasized growing up, he's an incredibly successful businessman. But the biggest thing that I saw that he did on a consistent basis was connect people. And I really loved bringing in that concept and putting it at the forefront of my mindset when I was working as I continue to work in education, because whether we're making a connection of introducing to people that would benefit from from interacting more frequently, or learning from one another, or we're connecting content to our community, and and our you know, and our outside world. I think if we all aim to make those connections more frequently more intentionally, we're going to really see kind of everything blossom. I love the concept of being a dock connector. Yeah, I love that. And I think like you said, going out into the community, there's so many good people out there, and I was having a conversation was just getting back to school, you see the colleagues that you haven't seen for a couple months. And she was saying that, you know, she really looks for the good in people, it was just a off the cuff conversation we're having like, and she's awesome lady into saying, you know, so often we can get caught up in what's wrong, or what's different. But if we looked at what was right, and the connections that we do have with one another, how awesome, you know, we can view people and how awesome our connections can be. So you know, being that dot connector going out there seeing the good and everybody notice that like, there's a lot of great things, great people out there. I couldn't agree more. You know, and in the classroom when I was a sixth grade math teacher, my students actually participated in themed internships that were all sponsored by local businesses through a mastery learning framework we used so their entire year, we they were constantly ending and starting internships in 25 internships in their sixth grade math class. And what I loved about structuring my lesson planning that way was that when they were spot, when the unit we were working on was sponsored by a local business, we invited the people that were a part of that organization, in our community into our classrooms. And then students were also able at the end to share their knowledge out into the community now that that they had become experts on that concept. And I think that was a way as you talk about seeing the good in people and getting out in our community and seeing the power they have, you know, our community is so eager to get into our schools, but they don't know how to get into our schools without writing a check, right? Like the everyday money or obviously coming over to the building back to school night like how exciting but sometimes that only happens at the beginning of the year and they're never invited back and trying to find those ways to connect with people by inviting them into our schools to just be themselves right we we had jewel which is a grocery store sponsor was a unit one time so that was a national organization and we invited like their cashiers to come in and talk shop right these are people that you know, stack the shelves and get to load the bags and you know, deal with money and and some of them are high school so Students, some of them were college graduates, and they were all able to just come in and be themselves and share their lives. And then our students were able to take all that knowledge, learn the standards that we were working on, and then go better their community by sharing their voice in their community. So the more we can, can make these connections, I think we kind of create a circular effect of people understanding better understanding one another. Oh, I love that. I'm in a small community. And I think like that school community relationship is so huge. Now, I couldn't agree more. I love it. Now, you also are big with the teach better team, Ken. And I've referred so many people to you guys. And I've watched you from afar, and you're doing some amazing things. For the people who aren't familiar with what teach better is could you give us who are teach better team? What's your mission? What are you doing out there to bring, you know, connect those dots to bring people together? Well, first and foremost, I know you say you've been watching from afar, but Brian, now that we've hung out here, like your family, you don't need to be from afar, we want you to come in and join the party. So I'm the teacher, our team is super, super fun, I'm thrilled to be a part one small part of this entire network of educators. Honestly, if you're going to teach Peridot comm you're gonna find a lot of support. And what I really value about that is it's completely based on what you're interested in what you need, and also how you like to learn how you like to consume that was really important to me really important to a lot of people in our team that, yeah, we have blogs, we publish blogs daily, we've incredible network of guest bloggers all around the world sharing their voice. And I love that you can go to one place and gain so many different perspectives on so many different topics. But we also if you're not a reader, you don't want to listen on, you know, via the audio that's going to read off your computer, like we talked about earlier, we have a podcast network of over 40 podcast shows that that share different voices, different perspectives, different host different structures. And again, it's just a way for people to share information consume. So obviously free blogs, free podcasts, we have a free mastermind we facilitate every single week for anyone out there that has a leadership role. We really want to support leaders having a space to safely share their thoughts and resources with one another Ask questions. It's not recorded, it's a completely safe space to kind of bring your problems of practice and just have people share their insight. And then so much more. We do live streams and live shows and all the fun stuff. But we also do PD, which like yes, that is I guess, like how we actually make our money, right? We work with school districts all around the US and Canada. But um, if nothing else, for me, especially from a teacher's perspective, we want teachers to save their money, we want teachers to be their best self while they are serving their students. And if there's any way that we can connect you with an idea or resource or person to help you do that. That's kind of that's kind of what we do. So there's a lot that the Teach fare team gets to do because of, you know, the connections we have, but it really just comes down to wanting to reach all learners and helping teachers do that better. That's phenomenal. And you know, I listened to several podcasts on the network. And those guys, I think, the big ad idea. Yeah, ad essentials, yeah, first gen teacher lens, on the say, powered up edu. Is that, yeah, so and then. So those are just a few. And I know there's a ton of them out there that the hosts are crushing it. And we were saying earlier, too, that it gives people a chance, I think to connect, and that two ladies that we know that are involved with the company, one lives in Florida, one lives in Canada. And they that friendship that they've traded is so special. And like we were saying, new school year, it's hard. It's difficult having those people that you can lean on and with the teacher better 10 They just don't have to be at your school, that they're there virtually to support to encourage lift up. I think it's so important to build your Virtual Learning Network. I mean, obviously I love seeing people in person. We have an in person conference for the first time since 2019 here in a few months, and I can't even argue that that is of course so thrilling to be able to see somebody in real life and see how tall they are now that you've been seeing them on Zoom for the last few years, right like the in person connection is invaluable, but I love that our community has such a wide reach again to serve to connect, you know, an educator in Canada and educator in Florida who have become, you know, almost best friends. It's I'm sure they would say best friends. And yeah, it's just the from the virtual connections. I feel like that happens all the time. My experience is exactly the same with how I got connected with the teach better team. At the time in 2017. I met Jeff and Chad on Twitter, like completely, like because of a Twitter chat we connected and I think it's so comical now because I'm not advocating for meeting strange men online and having them because of your best friends. But um, but it's amazing how a relationship can foster virtually and and what we can do to now take advantage of the fact that we can connect with anyone. I mean, Brian, the perfect example is like you and I having this conversation right now. I've been following you for years, you messaged me on Twitter, and I was like, holy cow. I can't believe he just messaged me. This is so stinking cool. And now we're having a conversation. This is all thanks to this opportunity of technology has provided us. Yeah, well, I think it's definitely the other way around as far as messaging and everything. So but I, I just show you the receipts on my phone because I sent a screenshot be like you will not believe who just asked me to be on their podcast. I was so excited. You're awesome, my friend. I love it. Now you guys also have the conference coming up. So your second conference? Could you tell everybody a little bit about that? Yeah, so we have a agreement internally with the teach better team that we won't do something we've learned not to do something unless it someone in our audience asked for it. We've done a number of projects over the years that like don't take off and we're like, Hmm, I wonder, wonder why we just committed so much time and energy into into creating something that our community is not resonating with them. So the conference really is because people in our network have been asking for a space that we can come together, learn and meet in person. And so that's why we did 2019 The way we did. That's why we're so excited to do our 2022 conference October 14 and 15th. In Ohio. It's just it's such a wonderful opportunity, our first conference that we had pulled from over like 32 states and we brought them together in a random town Ohio, I don't live in Ohio, so I can it's like I tell people it's an Akron and they're like you why I'm like Akron is great, but yeah, it's like not it's not a vacation destination, right? So I have an A major airport. But um, but we're we are We were founded in Akron, Ohio. And so we decided to host a conference there and people flew from all over to to come in and 2019 and connect in person. And we're excited to do the same in 2022. It's, it's going to be a two day, completely intense, immersive experience, we are keeping it extremely small, because our goal is to have a one on one conversation with every single person, we want to make sure everybody is seen and connected has the opportunity to connect. There's three networking events in the two days that we're having the event so we're we're like kicking off Thursday night with the Hangout. And then the conference is Friday, Saturday. And obviously we'll have a networking event Friday night and Saturday night. But I just can't believe that the lineup is insane. The 12 speakers that we started with this big announcement. It's just thrilling. I'm so excited to hear their voices and they're from all over the US and Canada. So it's going to be an insane opportunity to learn from a lot of different perspectives and a lot of different topics. And we have over 100 presenters that are now a part of this. So if any of you are interested in coming you're more than welcome until we sell out man I don't know that I can help you but you know, come over. Absolutely. Now do Do you know off the top of your head because I know there's a ton of logistics with this. But some of the topics or maybe a speaker to I saw I believe CJ Reynolds of speaking oh my god CJ Reynolds. Yes. And I had to I called him personally and was like dude, and the date is not released yet but I'm telling you to already put it on your calendar. I love CJ Reynolds. I can not wait for him to share his voice. In addition to him we have Mickey Smith Jr. is one of our keynotes if you guys aren't following him on social media talk about an incredible educator. He's a music educator, so I told him to bring his saxophone because I will die listening to him play saxophone. Janine Liskeard is our other keynote. She's an incredible person. She'll be speaking Friday afternoon. Time shimmer is coming. Dr. Anil Gupta, Michael Jennings, Dr. Sharon portant. Porters coming. It's just me Alison epsi Mandy Fraley. It's going to be a ball. So it's a mix of like, people that I think are are very well known to be connected to the teach better team, we have a speaker's network of a lot of educators that that's that do professional development with us quite frequently, and they'll be there. But there's a lot of new faces. And that's what we want. We want to be bringing in like, educators, we've never gotten to here share their voice before and give them a platform to do so. So there are a bunch on the list of people that I've been stalking on social media that I'm so excited to, to hear and see in person. That's fantastic. And like, like we talked about growing that network out. And I know that the teach better team is just growing and growing and growing. If you're looking for a great group of people to be inspired by definitely check out the teach better team. I appreciate it. And it's not public yet. And when it's happening, I can kind of give you a little hint here, but there's a lot of ways to get involved in the team. One of them is to become an ambassador. It's like a exclusive group you have to apply but they do a ton of stuff. I know that's where live and Jillian met, that we're referring to earlier. So depending on what you're interested in, and like how how you know how you want to get involved? Let me know we can brainstorm something applications for that. We'll be opening in a few months, we'll say right before, right before Thanksgiving. Oh, God, give me that hands. And so that will be a fun opportunity, if that's interesting to any of you. That's awesome. Right. Now, as we wrap up, I have two questions that I always ask. The first is, what is a book or a podcast that you would love to throw out there that you think people would really benefit from? All right, obviously, I recommending this podcast but you're already listening to it. So obviously, you need to make sure to subscribe rate and review this one you're listening to. But another podcast I love is one that I like very secretively listened to for a long time. Then I got to meet the host and now he's a great friend But Joshua stampers podcast aspire to lead. I have been nerding out too for years and I really always push people to listen, I feel like I'm constantly trying to be a better leader. Even though I've never held the role of a principal or director superintendent. I don't need to hold that title to be considered a leader and I love learning from his guests. He's in such a dynamic interview host so aspire to lead podcast is like one of my favorites. Awesome. Now do you have one that's the you listen to non educational you? Oh, I listen to a lot of podcasts. We can talk about this. Okay, I know this is weird. But have you ever listened to Ted Art Podcast? I haven't listened to that. That one I also love that's all like, like artists across the world like sharing their beliefs on different arts. And it's like a super, you can nerd out like crazy to that one. That's pretty cool. And then I really frequently refer people to his podcasts even though they are no longer recording. But my hope is like, by me continuing talking about it. They'll just like create new episodes just for me. But influential. She is a podcast with two different women. And they interview women leaders in a number of different fields. One of the hosts was I want to say she was lumbered a butcher that their roles one at one was in the healthcare field. And then one like the Secretary of Education for South Dakota, and they are like phenomenal, strong women that do incredible interviews. So I'm hoping that if I talked about it enough, they'll just make more episodes. They just stopped I just hate it. Well, hopefully they're listening to this and then finally, Debbie Mel, we need more episodes. Absolutely. Now, so I'll throw one out there for you that so I listened to a whole bunch on a wide variety. I'm Heather Monahan now, this is a business one but she's a like a top 50 speaker and I think it's confidence creator. So there's one if you're looking for another strong woman voice out there. Check that one out. I will absolutely I will add it to my list. I listen to podcasts like all day so always looking for that the next one. Fantastic. As far as books really quick, can I give a quick shout out one of one of our friends who's also speaking at the teach better conference if you don't follow Kevin J. Butler, he's an amazing guy. He just put out a book that I have in front of me. Lights cameras teach it's a screenplay for engagement culture and relationships. Love him he's a part of the speaker's network as well for teach better and love that his book is out so if you're looking for like a new read maybe one that you hadn't heard of yet before this one literally just came out so go pick it up. Yeah, I saw you put that post out the other day you put put one hour you're holding that up so that definitely looks like a fun antastic read, well, they just got it in the mail. So if anyone wants to do a book study with me, let me know. But okay, already, what I love is there are so many like pictures and illustrations in here, it kind of looks like a picture book for like, in a good way. I really know those visuals, you can learn so much from the visuals, which is awesome. Love it. Excellent. So, before we get into the last question, right, if people want to get a hold here, what is the best way to connect with you? Yeah, friends, I would love to connect. I'm on all social medias just at Ray Hayward. It'd be wonderful to connect with anybody listening. But to be completely transparent, I also would really encourage you probably even more than connected with me is go connect with the team, you know, we all have the power to grow our networks. And so when you choose to connect with lots of people versus just one person, I think we've become stronger educators. So I hope we connect. But obviously, if you go also to follow at teach better team, you're able to connect with a lot of cool a lot of weight people that are way smarter than me over there as well. So lots of connections with the teach better team if you're looking for a network of positive solutions seeking people. Now, what is one thing? If you could have all the educators walk away with from this episode? What would that one thing be? Hmm. You know, um, I feel like I have a lot of stories. I could like, tell but one of my favorite least when I get asked this question, goes back to I had shoulder surgery twice. And the first time I had shoulder surgery was in 2019. And I'm I'm sitting and ready to go into surgery got the gown down and with my mom because I'm like, total baby when it comes to data. And the doctor walks in with like, the biggest needle of all time, like I kid you not the needle barely fit in the room. It was enormous. It should. It should have been for an elephant, it was so big. And I'm like, What were what do you do with that? He goes, I just need to put this in your neck. And I was like, oh, no, absolutely not like, and then I looked and I was like, Dude, if you knock me out first you can do whatever you want. But like don't like why are you putting me through being awake for the shot. And he like kind of scoffs at me and looks at me with this face, pulls his maps down and goes red. I've had a lot of people in worse situations than you with worse injuries and they were way more scared. Just you'll be fine. Move your head. And like that was literally like is like, you know, whatever. So did the surgery. And I was reflecting on that. I feel like that's my message to educators these days. Like, guys, we are in the the thick of it. Like this is something that we've never done. Education is so hard, there's so many hurdles. But if we come together, and we're going to be fine, like we really will be So find your people and choose to persevere through these challenges. Because sometimes we forget about the impact that education has. And that is really something that I want to make sure every educator has somebody, a buddy system, somebody around them, that is reminding them of the incredible work that you're doing the impact you're having. And we're better together. So get a buddy and let's figure this out. Those are beautiful words. And I think that's a beautiful, so it's great place to end on. And right, I just want to thank you so much for being there. Like you, you can just feel it. And I know the listeners can feel that like the positive vibe, that energy that you give off your job, so much knowledge. I know. Like your story is a beautiful one, like what you're doing right now to help to connect others. I know that you go out on YouTube, and you put those videos out. And there's people that watch those, they just need that that little positive vibe. And that's inspiring. So keep doing great things, my friends. So appreciate you. Thanks very much. Yeah. Such a wonderful conversation. Ray in the teach better team are creating something special, something that if you're looking to connect with some like minded educators who are bringing it, you might consider looking to join their team. Now, this is a teaching champions take where I share three of my favorite gems from this conversation. And the first gem is to strive to be a little bit better every day. And we might not always accomplish it. And that's all right. Some days, we might grow by leaps and bounds and other days. It's just tiny little steps forward. But if you stack little bits of growth day in and day out, the amount of growth that we can see in a year is tremendous. And each and every single one of us are never finished product is always about better today than we were yesterday and better tomorrow than we are today. And the second gem that I loved is how she connected her past to her students and the parents of her students, how she would go out of her way to let those students who are having difficulties know that she struggled to, and that it was going to be all right. And I also thought that it was equally powerful, how she was open to the parents of those students about her academic struggles. And she let those parents know that even though she struggled, she got through it. And she was thriving. And think about those parents who are sitting in those meetings about their children, who are surrounded by a bunch of adults, and they're hearing about their child's struggles. It can't be easy. It has to be overwhelming for so many of them and to have someone who they know is invested in their child leaned over and share with them how they struggle. And give them that hope and encouragement that everything's going to turn out good in the future. It has to be a light that those parents need to have. And the third gem that I love, is how she talked about find your people, the people who are going to push you who may challenge you at times, those people who are going to encourage you who are going to support you who are going to be there for you. We can get through hard things. But having good people around us as we walk through those hard things is crucial. Having those people around us who are there to celebrate with us when those good things happen, is crucial to now, these are just a few of my favorite gems. Hit me up on social media at B Martin real on Twitter, and let me know what were a few of your favorite takeaways from this episode. And be sure to check out the teach better team. I'm going to leave their information in the show notes. A big thank you to Ray for sharing her wisdom and joy with all of us. And thank you to all of you for being here. For being part of the teaching champions community. We support, we encourage we lift each other up. And if you think someone will benefit from this message, please share. And always remember, it doesn't matter if you're from rural America, or urban America, Canada, Spain or 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 wound to the week, May you step into your strength. May you step into your shine, and let's build our champions up. Have a great week, everybody