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Curiosity is something we’re born with—it’s innate to who we are as human beings. And when we look at children, we see that curiosity and wonder show up every day as they interact with and experience the world around them. But, as they move through the school system, that curiosity is often stamped out through rules, standardized testing, and prescribed learning outcomes. Gail Swift, guest on a Time for Teachership podcast episode, shared that her biggest motivator is to reclaim that sense of curiosity in education. Her primary way of doing this is by helping students and educators learn about their aptitudes—innate gifts and skills they have that helps motivate them and inspire action. Embracing Your Theme There are a lot of things that are out of the control of educators. But there’s also a lot that is within our control, primarily what goes on in the classroom. Gail recommends that teachers identify a theme for their class or department that helps focus and guide decision-making. For example, Gail’s main theme is to raise up contributors—students who are active participants in their learning, education, and society. To be an active contributor, they need to be curious, creative, and empowered to make decisions. Once you have a clear theme, you use it as a benchmark for all daily decisions. If you are raising active contributors, ask: does sitting for hours at a time support the theme? Does clothing choice support the theme? Do my curriculum choices fit the theme? Centering decision making on themes can help educators establish what is important and what’s not. This also helps them focus on what’s within their locus of control versus what’s not. Student Aptitudes and Decision-Making Gail’s primary tool for raising up active participators is by teaching students and teachers about their aptitudes. Aptitudes are innate skills, abilities, and gifts—it’s how each person uniquely views the world and takes action. With the Student Aptitude Quiz, participants learn about how they make decisions. There are four main needs people have to make decisions:
This is equally important for educators to know about. Gail pointed out that most teachers are similar in the way they teach. Typically, teachers have a high need for information and organization and a lower need for risk and hands-on experiences. So, if you have a student in your class who learns differently than you teach, there’s going to be frustration. But if both teachers and students learn more about their aptitudes, they can find the way that works best for them. Teachers can learn how to teach diverse students and students can learn their strengths and capitalize on them. Educators strive to empower their students. Two ways to do this is to get clear on your theme—what’s the driving goal of your work?—and to learn about each student’s unique aptitudes and skills to help them learn better. To learn more about Gail’s work, check out Plans to Prosper Coaching. And if you want to hear her full interview, check it out on the Time for Teachership podcast along with other interviews and content. TRANSCRIPT today, I'm talking to Gayle Swift, she's fiercely committed to guiding driven, successful people to take action in their natural abilities as a proven speaker and trainer who can guide you to address how you solve problems, the questions to motivate you and what will stress you out. You've come to the right place. Geils work has impacted lives such as Sonia, a business owner who has always felt on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Once she learned about her strengths and equally powerful strength of her employees, she slowly watch the stress levels go down and Andrew a financial consultant with barely enough time in the day, I learned how to leverage his strength to energy and clarity for what he needs to make his best decisions. Really excited skills left about our work is knowing that every single person is created with a pattern of taking action that does not change over time. That pattern predicts their path which leads to their purpose. Her expertise has been honored by being in the first group of Colby youth advocates in the world, appearances on podcast, television segments, mastermind workshops and business retreats, three unique things out there that might surprise you include. She's a minimalist, loves to drive fast and take hikes with her husband and dog Jax. Most saturday mornings This conversation was recorded November 22, 2021, Let's get into the episode Educational justice coach lindsey Lyons and here on the time for teacher Ship podcast, we learn how to inspire educational innovation for racial and gender justice design curricula grounded in student voice and build capacity for shared leadership. 00:01:20 I'm a former teacher leader turned instructional coach. I'm striving to live a life full of learning, running, baking, traveling and parenting because we can be rockstar educators and be full human beings if you're a principal assistant superintendent, curriculum director instructional coach or teacher who enjoys nursing out about co creating curriculum students, I made this show for you. Here we go gale swift. Welcome to the time for teacher ship podcast. Thank you so much lindsey. I'm so glad to be here. I'm so excited you're here and I just finished reading your kind of professional bio at the top of the episode and I think one of the things, this is actually a friend of mine asked this question on her podcast and I find it really interesting. She's like if you could strip down all of the, you know, the accolades and the achievements and like all of those things like who are you at your core and I'm totally stealing that question from her. So I would love to hear from you. Like who, who are you or what do you want listeners to know about you As we embark on this conversation, I'm thinking of so many ways to go with that, but I'm going to narrow it down and I would like listeners to know that the listeners are born with a way of taking action, then that's free. 00:02:38 Obviously that's their own way and I am here to implore you and highlight and underscore that trajectory and drown out the noise, so free to solve problems your way at my core. It's my dream to keep the curiosity alive in kids and adults and that's how I do it, wow, that's really good. Okay, I love that. I'm glad I asked that question. So the next question I like to ask is just kind of this big, I think many people who come into educational space have this big dream of like here's what education could be if we could like rework it. If we could have kind of our vision come to life, this is what it would be. And I love dr Bettina love talks about the idea of freedom dreaming in this way. She says their dreams grounded in the critique of injustice and I just love how that kind of takes us to a different place than just kind of wild dreaming. And I'm curious to know with that context in mind that quote in mind, what is the dream that you hold for the field of education? 00:03:43 Alright. That dream that quote by the way, is Meaty, can you explain to me what that means to you, first of all? Yeah. Oh my gosh, absolutely. No one has asked me this question before. So this is really fun to me. I think about all of the ways that our system has historically marginalized and underserved often intentionally, even though we say that it's unintentional and maybe for individuals they don't realize that it's happening, but there's so much serving, um, that is kind of been systematized and built into the fabric of how we've historically done education, um, you know, built in the tenets of like white supremacy and curriculum and policy and dress codes and all the stuff that I think if we don't center our dreams in the critique of injustice, then we're just kind of perpetuating a version of what of that injustice that's been happening for a really long time. And so I see that grounding in a lot of ways I see it in for just one example curriculum often now we're talking about, let's make our curriculum more equitable, more diverse, like what does that mean? 00:04:47 And for many people it's we're just gonna add a text by an author who is black or we're going to to share a story with these first graders about an indigenous character or you know, like, and it's just kind of sprinkling in this layer of new text, but it's not about justice at the core. And so I see this quote really is like how do we center justice in our, in our dreams and our pursuit of like a better education system. Okay, so that's your fuel. This is like a fuel question where you the motivation is huge for you right there, Like that's, that sounds like why you're doing what you're doing. Absolutely. Okay, so my fuel isn't from that space, but it's equally as powerful and we're going for the same result, We're going for the same results. So I had two thoughts when you were saying that and when you were telling me about that and I could hear your passion, which is obviously we both love it when people are passionate about what they obviously what they do. 00:05:50 The first thing is Honestly Lindsay I believe that. I mean the best way to learn is by being there and doing it. And when I was 15 I was, I was in Sao Paulo Brazil. Like seeing people live in boxes for the first time in my life and I was walking around garbage dumps in the smoky mountain garbage dumps in the Philippines and I was dealing with AIDS patients, 98% of AIDS patients that are going to die within a week on an island in Uganda. These experiences are huge. A couple of my friends work on an indian reservation in Minnesota and the stories and being there going there unless you're there. It's hard, it's hard in my opinion to imagine envision be empathic for there are certain experiences you've had in your life very clearly where you've seen this marginalization and you've seen the out casting that happens. 00:06:59 I've seen that too. I've seen that too. But for me, a huge crime for me is to see the curiosity exit Vacate a seven year old eyes because they're being told how to solve a problem, that they are able to solve that for me, that's hard to watch. Yeah, wow. So well said yes, I think that that is huge. And I think one of the things as we think about like, you know, so much of education is historically been taking away and shipping away that curiosity. And so by the time for me as a secondary school teacher, by the time I would get them in secondary school, my students would kind of push back on any sort of open endedness or any sort of curiosity prompt or any sort of student voice. Like what do you want to learn about? And it's often because I think they're just like, and they've even said, I guess in their own words, you know, this is how school goes. 00:08:11 You tell me what to learn. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, so true. Okay. So the programming starts young. You're so right. So right. So okay. So how long, I mean like seven third grade like locked and loaded. So when, what age were they like? You know what? No, I don't know what this freedom is all about. So what age is that like totally foreign to them? Yeah, that's, I think that's such a good question and I don't know that. I don't have a clear answer to that, but I do think like as we think about that. Um, you know, I think there's a mindset shift from like, even even from grade to grade, like I think kindergarten teachers kind of come in and they're like, yeah, we're teaching you how to do school, but we also know you're like five years old, so we're gonna, you know, really explore that creative pursuit with you. And then by the time, yeah, like you're saying, you know, third grade is like were standardized testing now, like we are in this and we are being as teachers also being evaluated as a result of these test results, there's so much to kind of take that curiosity out. 00:09:15 And so I'm wondering like, what are the shifts that you see that people need to make? Like teachers and educators need to make to kind of wrap their heads around, like how do I bring curiosity back? And like, of course, knowing all that other stuff exists, like the pressure of standardized testing and all that. But like what do I need to center in my planning or am I kind of thinking about how I do school with my kids to make that come alive? Does it depend on your hierarchy for your classroom? Does it depend on your overarching theme? And this is what I mean? Like when we before we had kids, my husband and I were like, what kind of kids do we want to raise? And the first thing on our list was a contributor and you cannot raise a passive contributor. That's an oxymoron. A contributor is an active participant in the world. So as a teacher or an educator, what's the theme? And obviously you can't control a lot of things coming at, you like the standardized testing and things like that, You can't control that. But when you have a theme, when you have an agreed upon, that's huge and agreed upon theme, even in math or english, the english department or the science department, and you can agree that you want to raise contributors as a department. 00:10:35 It doesn't matter what department benchmarking your decisions on a daily basis in accordance with the theme will save a lot of headache on the ground. In my opinion, that's just me. That's just does that make sense? Yeah, that definitely makes sense. And I'm thinking I'm imagining, you know, educators thinking like, okay, yeah, what's my theme? And I think so much of that comes with and I love that you said agreed upon too, because I think so much of that comes with day one, you're in front of your students and your typically, you know, in a traditional classroom, you're saying here are my rules and here are the things we will learn. And so how do we get that agreement? You know, um, thinking, I guess my more saying like I think we should find ways to get that agreement with students and with family members to get that kind of co constructed agreement of like this is our theme or are, you know, core value or whatever we call it, like this is what we're doing. Yeah, right. So if you okay, so, and it starts young, I mean, this starts young, I work with the third part of the mind. 00:11:38 Coronation Kathy kolbe developed an algorithm how to measure people's instincts. So this is what I'm talking about, but when I have a theme and an overarching theme, then do matching socks contribute to the theme? Does sitting in your chair for 45, minutes contribute to the theme. If the answer is yes or no, then that's where you put your energy so fast. Like let's do this. I believe it for myself that an active contributors are number one thing, how do I get an active active contributor? Well, I also believe that with freedom, freedom breeds passion, freedom keeps the curiosity alive. Therefore, if you know the pattern of the student and how they take action and you fuel the pattern instead of descending your pattern on another pattern, you naturally keep the curiosity alive. You naturally keep the curiosity alive and when the curiosity is alive, then the student will make a decision. 00:12:47 When the student makes a decision, they deal this is huge and you know this, they'll deal with the consequences. If they deal with the consequences, they're not going to blame because they've had the freedom to choose. So if you had a bunch of lanyards that the kids came into the classroom and took off and it's a talent, talent tag straight up gifts and you see four colored charts for colored things and then the kids start to view and look at the other, oh my goodness. Oh yeah, okay. You're the detailed kid, hey, can you look this up for me because I'm gonna build the project. Oh wait, when does that, do I'm going to ask the blue and so the kids start to look at the gifts of the other kids to solve the problem that the teacher said we're going to solve or to learn the thing That we're going to learn and it's not the teacher, the teacher can kick back, read a book, watch the party, watch the kids. 00:13:52 Is this gonna be instant Lindsay know if you have 15 year olds that are not used to freedom, you know, I mean, it's gonna take a little bit of time, but when they know they're going to go into a class and get to be themselves and learn their way how that's excited. I would, I'd be in that class. Like let me be me and brainstorm and do things last minute and grab a team of people, let's get together and do this be a leader, be a follower. You need everybody, I believe we're all born hole, there are no deficits, there is community were meant to be in this together. So we're not naturally made to solve every problem That's intentional because we're meant to be with people and solve problems in a group, with people not to be a silo. Getting a little carried away. I'm gonna tone it down a little bit because I'm getting a little passionate, Oh, I love this. 00:14:54 No, I think it's so great and I think you're leading kind of into my next question to which was about like, what does this actually look like in terms of a class? And then you're you're sharing a concrete example there, right? The lanyards with identifying and having students be able to self identify, you know, what is my strength and then seeing that everywhere. So whether that's on a lanyard, whether that's color coding, whether that's, you know, whatever, I think that's such a powerful example and I love the framing that you shared of, you know, thinking about um solving a problem. Like we are not meant to do that by ourselves and if we do, and we've kind of like solved enough problems on our own. I feel like we only get trapped in that one way of viewing problems and so then we're going to come to a problem that we we can't solve. And so I think that doesn't, you know, equip students for the world that, you know, is constantly changing and constantly evolving and we no longer can help students train for specific jobs because we don't even know what jobs will exist when they graduate, right? Like there's so much that is required in what you're saying just to be a full person, a contributor as you're saying that I just really love the framing you gave. 00:16:00 And and if you have any other like, examples of, you know what that looks like or what teachers can do as they're thinking about building up this kind of culture in their class. I'd love to hear any of your thoughts. Yes. And I will share that. But I wanted to ask you obviously as an educator and you know this about kids, you see this, that's why you're doing this in the first place. A lot of teachers I've noticed believe that this takes more time and effort and similar to parents, Like parents that I work with, they want to see the hard stuff happen out like when they're 18 so they don't want to deal with it. Do you believe that it's similar in the classroom that it is? What is, is the prevent, is it fear? Is it the prevention of chaos? But why would a teacher not naturally go with the grain like you have done that, you do that. Do you notice the rewards of the rewards worth the headache? Do you understand? Kind of what I'm asking? Oh, completely. 00:17:02 And I'm so glad you asked that because I want to give voice to Yeah, all the teachers that I've coached and have kind of said, I am resistant to this idea and not because I don't believe it's worthy. Most teachers will say, oh yeah, that would be great in theory. And then thinking about practice is where that comes in and the hesitation starts, right? So I think there's a lot of things underlying that one is definitely, I think you spoke with the fear of chaos just I was, you know what, I'm getting ahead of myself. So that's one if I give students permission or freedom to act in all these ways and to choose these paths for themselves, I we won't learn anything right. That's kind of like one fear, which, to your other question, I could say like to an extent early on it may feel that way, but very quickly you're going too far surpass whatever like former model of teaching enabled you to do and enable students to learn. So kind of that piece is one, I think the other thing is that teachers school like the teacher prep programs that we have tell you and administrators tell you an evaluation criteria tells you this is what a good teacher looks like. 00:18:09 And far too often, I think it is expanding a little bit, but far too often those rubrics that teachers are evaluated on or the metrics they're evaluated on are not about um, culturally responsive teaching or having students be engaged and connected to the material or giving that voice and and letting students lead the discussion and leave their learning and problem solve together again more so than it used to be. I think that is becoming the case, but I do think so much at the end of the day is like we're students paying attention to you. Um, you know, we're students listening to every word you said when as a teacher, I know that there are sometimes some moments that the most learning for a student happened when they ignored me for five seconds turned to their partner made this really cool connection in their brain and we're like, oh that's like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah and then their partner was like, oh my gosh, I now understand that in such a different way. Like that was what needed to happen in that moment and those kids are gonna remember that lesson for way longer than if they were constantly listening to me without speaking ever the whole class. 00:19:10 So yes. To all the things you're saying yes, is that an evolution or a switch for you? Oh, in terms of my practice? Oh, that's such a good question. I think so little backstory on how I got into teaching that I think answers this to a degree. So I never wanted to be a teacher. My parents were teachers and I just only heard the things that were hard, like I'm bringing home a lot of grading and I don't do that. But then I realized that my undergrad degrees were actually in gender woman studies and sociology and I realized I wanted to do this justice work and I was working with adults a lot, but there was this lack of curiosity in adults, right? Because we we get that out through our systems. Um and I was like, you know what, it would be way more productive I think and also fun for me to work with Children. And so that got me into education and so I think I've had this kind of orientation to like I want to hear from students for a while. However, in terms of how I practiced that I was very much a product of a teacher prep program that was like, you know, 100% of attention on you and here's the rules are at the you know day one don't smile till christmas, like all the things that are just anti relationship and fun. 00:20:19 And so that was me for probably a couple of years and then I started experimenting and I do think it was probably like a three or four year process of like by the end of the four years we were doing make your own unit units which is like the students, 90 students did 90 different units and 90 different topics and it was chaos. But it was also amazing and beautiful and they learned so much more than me teaching them one thing. So it was a kind of evolution over time. Oh my goodness, that sounds awesome. Oh my gosh, I'm so proud, I'm so proud of you. Like isn't that great? I mean you fostered it, you field it. That's so cool. Way to go. Thank you. Yeah, way to go. And I kind of forgot the original, I kind of forgot the original question. Oh, I was thinking about moving to action, like what were some examples of, how do you do this in the class? Right, okay. So exactly. So there are, we're talking about Coronation, we're talking about the third part of the mind that deals with instincts, how people take action and instincts on their own. 00:21:19 Our subconscious force, they cannot, they just sit there until they're ignited. So until the student is trying or mentally like putting forth effort, you won't see their pattern if they don't care, you're not gonna see their pattern. So you have to, you need motivation. That's a key ingredient motivation and then you can see their pattern. So when I go in and I work with a group of kids, I'll go in and the teachers will administer the cognitive assessment so we can get the four digit number to see what their pattern is. The other thing that's interesting is if that student is in transition, which means they're listening to voices outside of their own that are louder than theirs. So the algorithm will incomplete, it won't finish because that student is not free to be themselves. That's that's a result that happens and entitled one schools. That happens more like 20 ish percent when normally it's about 10% of the students are in transition. So I need to address that. That's the elephant in the room that I talk about. So what happens is after they take the assessment, then they take a career assessment and they find out it's the only career assessment in the world that takes into consideration how someone's naturally wired. 00:22:32 So when they see and this is all available to them for the rest of their lives. So when they see their career Colby partnered with indeed, so they can click on the link and they don't need to pick up poop and walk dogs anymore or whatever. You can like do your thing in your lane and see what's available to you in your zip code. And so they get all excited about that. And then after that they retake what's called an efficacy test. So there's a built in efficacy test and what that tells me is if that student believes that their way of working is valuable or if they believe that their way of working sucks and that's huge. That's huge. That is huge. And I'll tell you why 70% of teachers work one way, Generally speaking 70% of teachers have an MO if you have a student, that is the opposite of the way a teacher takes action. It has nothing to do with cognition or smarts and it has nothing to do with your personality. 00:23:38 This simply is the way that that student takes action and solves the problem. The pattern is different for the teacher and the student. So the way that they're going to get there looks different, but the result when motivated will be the same, that's all measured. And then I go in and I take kids out based on their results and then I speak to them in small groups, they have like name tags and cards and they start asking questions because I'm speaking their language and then I bring them all back into the room and I bring them all back into the room and I have a synergy conversation and I explain the gifts and talents that each color is and has and that if you want to know the details, go to the red, if you want to know when something is due or the timeline go to the blue. Oh and if you want brainstorm on crazy ideas that no one's ever thought of, go to the green and if you want to see the thing built so where it's not going to fall apart, go to the yellow and then they start looking around, they're like, it doesn't matter about money, sex, race, gym shoes, jeans, nothing matters. 00:24:54 But they start to look at the gifts that they're born with that's not going to change over time and paying attention to the innate strengths of their fellow students after that. We redo the efficacy report and then I see some results. If there is a student that is very insecure on the front end and after I work with them, they're still very insecure. That's what I call a red light student. Then I give a list of questions to the guidance counselors and I'll say this student, you need to come in, you need to ask these questions to the student every three weeks for the next three months and they're like, okay, I said the students in trouble, the students in trouble and some of the teachers like, and then I'll tell the teachers and they love this part. I'm like, give me your two top two troubled kids. You're crazy kids that you can't handle because they're in every classroom and I'll give you tips and tricks on how to help that child be in their lane and they more often than not, they'll end up being your favorite student. 00:26:04 I don't believe that. No way. I'm like, bring it on. So that, that's a fun little thing that I do and I sometimes I even meet with the student and the teacher and they're all like, oh my gosh, yeah, it's just eye opening and so fun. So is that, that, that's a long, that was like a monologue lindsey. I told you I was gonna do that. No, that was perfect. And I love the example of what that looks like. And I think it also speaks to that mindset shift from a teacher lens of like right. I don't have to just do things my way and ask everyone to comply with it right? Like I have to understand my students to be able to effectively help them do the things that they do best and I love the level of detail that you were talking about is really helpful because you explain to me like the four digit number pattern thing a little bit more. Yeah, absolutely. So I'll just use colors. So the first one is red and that is your need for information or not. Some people need a lot of information to make the best decision and others need bullet points. Generally speaking teachers need and are highly valued and promoted right? 00:27:09 Like you said, the historical aspect when they can provide and need detail. The second, the blue is your need for systems or organization. It's your need to skip steps, it's your need to shortcut or it's your need to follow structure and a system. Again, none of it is right or wrong or good or bad. It just is so again, many teachers, our scene is, it's a positive when they can provide and need structure. So that's a good thing that's in the teacher world and the academic world. That's a valuable, that's a valuable trait to have innately the third need is green and this is your need for risk or your need to stabilize. And as you're already going there by the smile on your face, most teachers need to stabilize and minimize risk, which they minimize risk by developing a plan and having the details. This is simply a need. And then the 4th one is your need to get your hands on the world or your need to envision how the world works if you need to get your hands on the world to make it a better place Lindsay you might be a pilot or a race car driver or a chef or build houses. 00:28:29 Generally speaking, teachers don't need to get their hands on the world to make it a better place. They envision how something will look. So what if you have a student who doesn't need the details, Doesn't need the plan, who needs a lot of risk and needs to get their hands on the world the exact opposite of a teacher has nothing to do with brains, nothing to do with cognition and nothing to do with personality. The path is simply different. So what do you do with johnny whose cousin just got shot on friday, he's in eighth grade throwing up in the garbage can because he's drunk and he needs risk and he needs to get his hands on things that is a whole another podcast that we can do. But so you see that there are different ways of taking action and when the teacher at least is aware that this even exists, which is why I'm on this with you right now to even know, there's another way that people can be top math or it opens things up and when a student is born this way, just like a teacher is, it does not change. 00:29:51 You can't make it change. So making a child that doesn't need details, Making him explain the details is completely taking him out of the flow and no one is doing it intentionally. That's the killer Lindsay No one is trying to make life difficult on the student, not at all. Everyone wants to see the students succeed. They're simply doing what they know and what they've been taught. That's it. It's, it's an amazing transformation when this awareness is brought to light and it's all good. There's nothing bad about it, wow, that was incredibly helpful. And I think like you said, just knowing that those categorizations is going to be really profound for a lot of folks who are listening right now, I wanted to ask, what's the fourth colors? Red, blue, green, yellow, yellow, Gotcha. Okay, perfect. Yeah, so that is really helpful. Alright. And there's, there's a survey you were saying or an assessment that will tell people this right? 00:31:00 It's called the student aptitude quiz. Student aptitude quiz. There's a built in self efficacy report in that and there is a pattern of students who potentially has low efficacy in, in their belief of what they bring to the table. There's a pattern, bless you, thank you. So okay, great. That's really helpful to know and we'll link to, we'll be able to link to that into the show notes as well. Perfect. So as folks are kind of listening to all of this, I think this is just a lot of new information for people like you said, like people don't even know, I didn't, I was not aware of these four color codings and these pathways and just thinking about this, It's really, really cool to just kind of brain. So I'm like, all right now, what does this mean for steps? And so as we're kind of closing out the episode, I'm wondering what is one thing that people can do once the episode is over and they're like, okay, yeah, like I want to, you know, keep with this momentum, I want to do something that's going to move the needle forward for my kids to, to kind of live in alignment with all that we've been talking about today. 00:32:07 What's that? One thing you would suggest they do next? If they're curious, I have teachers, I have principles, you can talk to, you can talk to me, you can keep exploring and no one is rushing anything, explore all you want. Ask as many clarifying questions as you need to. There's no rush. There's no hurry. I have tons of documents that I can send you proof of high schools or middle schools that I've worked with. Um, it talks about a lot of things. So as much detail as you want or need, I can provide you. Amazing. Thank you for those details oriented folks. Yes, absolutely. Great. Absolutely. All right. And so, okay. So this is kind of just a fun question that I've been asking at the end of the podcast. I think constantly we're talking about learning and growing and, and talking about how educators can do that and how we help students do that. And we often do that ourselves right as folks who are kind of in this space. And so I'm just curious to know what is something that you have been learning about lately and this could be related to education or it could be like, I just learned how to play piano or something like anything that you're learning. 00:33:13 So I don't have a need to finish what I start. I don't have a need for a ton of consistent activity. And so I'm learning to know my timeframe for daily consistent activity and if I'm working out or making food or doing work, like it's all from the same pot. So I'm very aware of what I'm committing to and the less I commit to the better job I do. So I'm practicing and learning my lane every day Lindsay it's like when you know this about yourself, it's just, it's not like a switch. It's an evolution it takes a bit. So I'm, that is what I'm learning right now, How much consistent activity I can do. That is super interesting and I think probably relevant for everyone listening to, to be thinking about that for themselves. Amazing. Um, the last question I have for you is just if people want to learn more and and connect with you as you said, you're able to share things, which is amazing. Where can they do that? What's the best place to find you? Gail at? 00:34:15 Plans to prosper coaching dot com gale at plans to prosper coaching dot com com. G A I L. Perfect. Oh my gosh, thank you. This isn't a wonderful conversation. Thank you for teaching me so much. No, I agree. It's been mutual. Yes, awesome. I really appreciate you being on the podcast. Thank you so so much. Thank you lindsey. Thank you. If you're leaving this episode wanting more, you're going to love my live coaching intensive curriculum bootcamp. I help one department or grade team create feminist anti racist curricula that challenges affirms and inspires all students. We leave current events into course content and amplify student voices which skyrockets engagement and academic achievement. It energizes educators feeling burns out and it's just two days plus you can reuse the same process any time you create a new unit, which saves time and money. If you can't wait to bring this to your staff. I'm inviting you to sign up for a 20 minute call with me, grab a spot on my calendar at www dot lindsey beth Lyons dot com slash contact. Until next time leaders continue to think big act brave and be your best self. 00:35:24 This podcast is a proud member of the Teach Better podcast network, Better Today, Better tomorrow and the podcast to get you there, explore more podcasts at teach Better dot com slash podcasts and we'll see you at the next episode.
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AuthorLindsay Lyons (she/her) is an educational justice coach who works with teachers and school leaders to inspire educational innovation for racial and gender justice, design curricula grounded in student voice, and build capacity for shared leadership. Lindsay taught in NYC public schools, holds a PhD in Leadership and Change, and is the founder of the educational blog and podcast, Time for Teachership. Archives
March 2025
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