1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:06,120 Hi everyone, welcome back to another amazing episode of Ed Up 2 00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:09,880 Learning and Development. I'm your host, Holly Owens, and 3 00:00:09,880 --> 00:00:14,240 today's conversation is packed with inspiration, insight and 4 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:18,160 actionable advice. I'm thrilled to be joined by 5 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:21,760 Cedric Scott Junior, an educator, Ed tech influencer and 6 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:24,160 all around powerhouse in the learning space. 7 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:27,800 Cedric has one of those incredible journeys, from a 8 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:31,000 background in chemistry to becoming an instructional coach 9 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:33,200 and now making ways in the Ed tech world. 10 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:36,720 In this episode, we talk about his mission to improve STEM 11 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:40,280 education for underserved communities, the importance of 12 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:43,800 representation in the classroom, and how financial literacy can 13 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:48,800 be a game changer in education. We also get into the role of AI 14 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:53,120 in the classroom and why no matter what, how advanced a tech 15 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:57,360 gets, human connection still matters the most. 16 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:00,920 Plus, if you're a teacher thinking about making a shift 17 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:04,760 into a new role, Cedric shares some real talk and practical 18 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:07,880 tips on how to leverage your strengths and build meaningful 19 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:11,720 network. This is one of those episodes 20 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:14,720 that will leave you fired up and full of ideas. 21 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:20,400 Let's dive in. Hi, we're ispring, an 22 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:24,120 international team of e-learning enthusiasts who help more than 23 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:28,560 60,000 clients across the globe succeed with better online 24 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:31,520 learning. Our two flagship solutions are 25 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:34,840 ispring Suite and ispring Learn LMS. 26 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:39,080 Ispring Suite is an intuitive, all in one authoring tool for 27 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:43,640 creating engaging e-learning content, and ispringlearn is an 28 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:46,440 innovative online training platform for onboarding, 29 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:49,320 upskilling, and certifying your teams. 30 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:53,040 We also provide tons of free resources for aspiring and 31 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:56,000 experienced e-learning professionals, conduct weekly 32 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:59,920 webinars with top industry experts, and organize annual 33 00:01:59,920 --> 00:02:03,520 e-learning conferences, challenges, and championships. 34 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:07,520 We'd be happy to get to know you and pick a solution that fits 35 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:12,400 your needs best. Go to www.ispringsolutions.com 36 00:02:12,640 --> 00:02:16,680 to learn more about us, download our resources, and connect. 37 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:22,600 Hello everyone, and welcome to another amazing episode of Ed Up 38 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:26,120 Learning and Development. My name is Holly Owens and I'm 39 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:29,640 your host, and I'm super excited about this episode because this 40 00:02:29,640 --> 00:02:31,800 guest and I should have talked way sooner than what we're 41 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:34,000 talking now, but we're finally doing it. 42 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:37,760 We're finally doing it. So please welcome Cedric Scott 43 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:40,320 Junior to the episode. Cedric, welcome in. 44 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:41,920 Thank you, Hollywood. Yeah. 45 00:02:41,920 --> 00:02:44,880 And I know we, we've, we've had this conversation. 46 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:45,880 We're like, yeah, well, let's we even. 47 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:48,880 Even lived in the same area. Exactly. 48 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:51,880 But you know it, it happened when it was supposed to. 49 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:55,080 So I'm just grateful to be here. Thank you so much for inviting 50 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:57,200 me on and happy to have this conversation with you. 51 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:00,320 Me too. I'm really excited and I know 52 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:02,640 you're pretty. I want to say you're you're 53 00:03:02,640 --> 00:03:04,920 definitely an influencer out there on LinkedIn world and I 54 00:03:04,920 --> 00:03:07,320 follow you and all your the different work that you're doing 55 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:10,440 that's so inspirational. But for the people that are 56 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:12,920 listening right now who haven't met you before, tell us about 57 00:03:12,920 --> 00:03:15,840 your journey. How did you get into all these 58 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:18,520 different endeavors that you're you're you're doing of? 59 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:21,880 Course, Yeah. So originally I started out 60 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:25,640 actually in science. My background, bachelor's 61 00:03:25,640 --> 00:03:30,520 degree, earliest career pathway and trajectory actually was in 62 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:34,360 chemistry. So I got my degree at Virginia 63 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:38,560 State University, shouts to the HBC US, and I got my degree in 64 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:40,320 chemistry. And then from there, I actually 65 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:43,800 returned back home to my hometown of Pittsburgh, PA, 66 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:49,200 worked briefly in chemical industry, and then I decided to 67 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:53,760 pivot into education. I always knew that I would do 68 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:56,280 something in that, that space teaching. 69 00:03:56,360 --> 00:03:58,440 I'd always been, you know, supporting a lot of different 70 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:01,720 people with learning, you know, growing up as one of six 71 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:03,720 children, have 4 younger siblings. 72 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:06,760 So helping with homework and that type of thing was, was 73 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:09,800 always there. And then just being helpful and 74 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:12,680 being mindful about other people, their progression and, 75 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:14,720 and just how I could be of support and service. 76 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:19,760 So pivoted into teaching, which landed me in Washington DC, 77 00:04:20,399 --> 00:04:23,920 which was awesome and in a lot of different capacities. 1 is 78 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:27,200 because I got that experience, of course, going into schools 79 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:29,480 and engaging with youth directly. 80 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:33,800 Started out originally teaching in 3rd grade, primarily in math 81 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:36,280 and science, which was really fun. 82 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:40,400 I had a really good time. And at the same time, you know, 83 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:43,920 I was fortunate to actually meet my wife, who is also a teacher. 84 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:47,400 So yeah, that that all just really panned out really well, 85 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:52,560 which then led to kind of Fast forward to now actually, I guess 86 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:55,600 thinking more so about 2020 when the pandemic hit. 87 00:04:56,280 --> 00:04:58,600 And that was the same time that my son was born. 88 00:04:59,080 --> 00:05:02,880 And that was when I had basically made the decision to 89 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:06,360 pivot once again. Up until that point I had been a 90 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:11,200 teacher in different capacities, mostly in elementary and work my 91 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:12,880 way into being an instructional coach. 92 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:15,600 And then my last school based role, I was actually an 93 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:17,880 assistant principal at an elementary school. 94 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:20,000 And when I. You've done it. 95 00:05:20,280 --> 00:05:21,040 All. I've done a lot. 96 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:22,760 I've done a lot. Do you? 97 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:24,920 Feel, I feel old. Do you feel old when you start 98 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:27,240 talking about your journey? I'm like, I can't believe that 99 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:29,200 I've done all this, but that's this is amazing. 100 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:31,240 Keep going. I've I've felt old since I was 101 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:34,920 10. We'll dig into that. 102 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:39,320 But yeah, yeah. So, yeah, with my wife and I 103 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:41,720 and, you know, knowing that our son is coming into the world, I 104 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:46,640 really just wanted to be present and really be there and then and 105 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:49,280 everything kind of shut down. And that's when he was born late 106 00:05:49,280 --> 00:05:52,280 March 2020. And then from there, I was able 107 00:05:52,280 --> 00:05:56,880 to make the shift again, more so into the Ed tech or kind of 108 00:05:56,880 --> 00:06:01,400 education industry space, began working in curriculum and 109 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:04,640 product and things like that, which allowed me also to work 110 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:07,800 fully remote. And happy to say that I've been 111 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:10,920 fortunate enough to be fully remote ever since my son came 112 00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:14,240 into the world. You know he just turned 5 this 113 00:06:14,280 --> 00:06:15,720 year. Oh, what a fun age. 114 00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:18,400 Yeah, so it's it's been great being able to be here. 115 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:21,120 I can do is commute in the morning, grab him to, you know, 116 00:06:21,280 --> 00:06:23,080 pre-K he's going to be starting kindergarten. 117 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:27,320 And then also just being able to support and be here, be present 118 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:30,720 for my wife as well, who also is still teaching, but she's doing 119 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:34,040 so remotely, which is great. And yeah, with creating all of 120 00:06:34,040 --> 00:06:39,440 this other stuff, I guess the, I think the creative aspect of 121 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:44,560 being an educator overall is, is somewhat overshadowed often, I 122 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:47,280 think in a lot of folks who might be hearing this or, you 123 00:06:47,280 --> 00:06:50,160 know, watching this episode probably attest to that. 124 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:56,040 And what I found was that having more time and just kind of like 125 00:06:56,040 --> 00:07:00,480 space and opportunity to tinker, I began creating and thinking 126 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:04,560 about what are the disparities in what I saw as a student, but 127 00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:07,800 also as an educator in the school system myself, right? 128 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:12,960 Lack of representation, history, you know, even things like 129 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:14,880 financial literacy. So I started creating and 130 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:19,640 producing based off of that. And then also gauging support 131 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:24,400 from, you know, others outside of even the school system 132 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:27,120 itself. Thinking about what's happening 133 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:29,720 in the home school world, you know, what types of things that 134 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:34,760 can I put in place that could really be of benefit long term? 135 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:37,800 And thinking really just outside of myself and even my own 136 00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:41,360 family, but really looking at community and and consideration 137 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:45,560 for our future and our youth. Yeah, gosh, I you're so 138 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:47,840 inspirational. I, I, you know, I love your 139 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:49,440 stuff. You just and you like 140 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:53,320 constantly, you know, like reinvent things or you just take 141 00:07:53,320 --> 00:07:55,080 it and you just make it something better. 142 00:07:56,080 --> 00:07:57,480 All the different things that you're doing. 143 00:07:57,480 --> 00:07:59,800 But I want to talk about all your different initiatives. 144 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:03,600 So tell us a little bit about you were mentioning before we 145 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:05,720 started the episode the SEM 1000. 146 00:08:06,280 --> 00:08:09,760 You've rented 2 books. You said a black AI media. 147 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:13,960 Tell us about the things that you're doing and how like you're 148 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:16,680 helping education systems, especially like, you know, 149 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:19,000 underserved communities, people that aren't organized, like 150 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:21,480 you're saying about the representation, which is so 151 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:27,040 important nowadays, especially with DEI programs being cut by 152 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:29,440 the current administration. So talk to us about that. 153 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:31,920 Yeah. Well, I'll preface it by saying 154 00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:37,200 that, you know, I had to anchor everything away and, and the way 155 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:41,799 that I did what that was primarily thinking about my own 156 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:46,840 reflection, upbringing, experiences and what kind of 157 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:49,960 shaped and molded me. And one of those major 158 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:52,760 influences, like many other people, you know, where was my 159 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:55,920 family and more specifically, thinking about my mom, right? 160 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:58,440 If I'd be remiss if I didn't, you know, shout her out. 161 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:02,720 And with that, one of the things that, you know, one of the 162 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:07,120 things I had to create was a scholarship and like a 163 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:10,520 scholarship fund in memory of her because unfortunately, I 164 00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:12,360 mentioned that, you know, I mentioned that I agree. 165 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:17,240 No, no, no, it's fine. It's so ridiculous now. 166 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:20,760 But no, it's, I mentioned that like, you know, I, I haven't, 167 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:22,560 I've, I've felt old ever since I was 10. 168 00:09:22,760 --> 00:09:25,200 And part of that is due to I lost my mom when I was 10 years 169 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:27,000 old. Well, you know, my family, 170 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:28,680 right? I mentioned myself, five 171 00:09:28,680 --> 00:09:33,080 siblings and that upbringing in my father being, you know, an 172 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:36,080 amazing person, amazing man and doing all the work, every 173 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:39,880 everything that he had to do to keep us moving, which I can 174 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:44,520 never give him enough praise and love for that. 175 00:09:45,240 --> 00:09:47,720 But when I think about it, my mom was one who really instilled 176 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:53,720 a lot of the passion and just like in terms of education, she 177 00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:58,480 was the one who was like, yes, school do well do that, you know 178 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:02,120 that she was all about learning. Yeah, that was a great in in you 179 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:04,320 from the beginning, huh? Oh, yeah, it was, it was always 180 00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:07,040 there, right. So with that though, you know, I 181 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:09,040 think I was like, well, how can I anchor everything that I'm 182 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:11,320 doing? Because I am, you know, someone 183 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:13,880 who is, you know, whether they what's what's I'm trying to 184 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:17,200 think of what's the term? It's it'll come back to me in a 185 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:17,520 second. Yeah. 186 00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:22,160 But multi hyphen, right? Multi hyphenated where you got 187 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:24,240 multiple things going around and you try to figure out how to put 188 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:26,760 it together. So I created the the Julia 189 00:10:26,760 --> 00:10:31,600 Elizabeth Legacy Scholarship Fund four years ago, and I've 190 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:35,800 been each year awarding a scholarship in memory of my mom 191 00:10:36,560 --> 00:10:39,760 for an African American high school student that's pursuing a 192 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:43,280 STEM degree pathway. So anchoring everything there, 193 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:45,280 I'm like, all right, well, everything I create and produce 194 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:47,720 is going to have to kind of funnel and filter into this, 195 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:52,520 this overarching big major, ultimate goal of providing a 196 00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:58,080 full scholarship, right. So with that, what I, what I 197 00:10:58,080 --> 00:11:01,960 started doing initially with just creating was, you know, I, 198 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:04,960 I was in education, so start producing material, content 199 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:08,200 resources. And that led me to where I am 200 00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:12,400 now with STEM 1000, which is kind of like my driving thing 201 00:11:12,400 --> 00:11:15,000 now, because if I try to focus on too many things, as most 202 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:18,760 people would know you, you, you look kind of lose sight and, and 203 00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:21,480 veer off track. So I'm like using STEM 1000. 204 00:11:21,480 --> 00:11:26,120 So stem1000.com as my my grounding in a lot of this and 205 00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:31,480 what STEM 1000 is essentially it has the moniker of 1000 books, 206 00:11:31,480 --> 00:11:34,200 1000 futures. What does that mean? 207 00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:37,440 So two books, I have one right here. 208 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:41,200 Actually, this is the first one initially that I started with 209 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:45,720 the kind of initiative or campaign, it's called algorithms 210 00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:47,840 of success, STEM Stories to Inspire. 211 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:52,360 So within this book, there are 50 different STEM careers and 212 00:11:52,360 --> 00:11:55,040 pathways it up just to kind of show it. 213 00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:58,040 And with each one of those there's also, you know, of 214 00:11:58,040 --> 00:12:01,040 course, imagery. And this is for this. 215 00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:03,240 Is for younger children. This is not for adults. 216 00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:05,520 This is, and you know, this is not necessarily for like anybody 217 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:08,320 carrying younger K to 12, but this is for younger children. 218 00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:10,480 Exactly. Yeah, Yeah. 219 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:16,560 So fifty career pathways within this book, but then building on 220 00:12:16,560 --> 00:12:20,320 it, it's, it's really about exposure representation, because 221 00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:22,920 I like to say that, you know, exposure plus experience equals 222 00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:25,080 education. In order to become something, 223 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:27,560 you have to know that it exists. And then you can step into that 224 00:12:27,560 --> 00:12:30,640 space, engage with it, and then you become educated on that 225 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:32,360 thing. And then, oh, now I can now I 226 00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:34,440 can step into this world. That's how I became a chemist, 227 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:36,240 right? I had to know that it existed 228 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:38,600 first and then I had to get experience. 229 00:12:38,640 --> 00:12:39,880 Oh, I like mixing things together. 230 00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:41,640 I go in the lab. This is wonderful. 231 00:12:41,920 --> 00:12:44,400 And then on the back end of it you you learn right. 232 00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:48,240 So that's where I started with algorithms of success and I 233 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:51,680 created another book that is even for younger children than 234 00:12:51,680 --> 00:12:54,320 than this book or ages 4 through 7. 235 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:56,160 And that book is called a is for algorithm. 236 00:12:56,520 --> 00:13:01,000 And it's essentially, you know, rhyming, very child friendly 237 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:05,440 language that introduces children, you know, A through Z 238 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:11,920 to technology based concepts. So this a is for algorithm, you 239 00:13:11,920 --> 00:13:15,520 know, all the way down to like zeros and ones and everything in 240 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:18,080 between. Where there's also some some 241 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:22,880 really kind of I think been able to tie in some of the more 242 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:27,880 innovative aspects of of creations and creativity and in 243 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:32,880 production like using AI for example, for even in both of 244 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:35,640 these books, if you go to the last page, if you get your copy 245 00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:38,680 we'll. Definitely have everything in 246 00:13:38,680 --> 00:13:41,160 the show notes about the two books so you can get those. 247 00:13:41,560 --> 00:13:45,160 I appreciate that. But yeah, last page of them, you 248 00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:47,680 can actually scan AQR code. This is just an example of one 249 00:13:47,680 --> 00:13:51,160 thing, but you can scan AQR code which will actually take you to 250 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:55,040 a STEM music playlist that I was able to generate using AI, 251 00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:59,320 right? So it's 7 songs that are all 252 00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:04,200 related to stem concepts and different types of like music 253 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:06,320 genres. So you get, you get like an 254 00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:08,600 Afrobeat style. There's one that's like all in 255 00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:10,480 Spanish. So it's a different variation. 256 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:15,080 But also how we can leverage the technology for good essentially. 257 00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:17,760 And being able to present something to our youth and say, 258 00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:20,800 hey, check this out, meet you where you are right? 259 00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:24,000 Engage, intrigue, and then really the, at the core of it, 260 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:26,320 it's, it's all basically, you know, pretty much interest 261 00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:28,320 driven, which is what I'm really all about when it comes to 262 00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:30,920 learning. Yeah, and you so writing two 263 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:33,720 books, I know it doesn't matter what type it takes a while. 264 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:35,520 So that was that was time for you. 265 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:38,760 And it's, I love the perspective that you're bringing in so that 266 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:42,040 people, I think so often, like, I think one of the reasons we 267 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:45,560 connected as we were talking about like the Ed Hustle, when 268 00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:48,040 you were supporting teachers that were there, you're 269 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:49,760 supporting teachers that do career transitions. 270 00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:52,880 But now you're, you're giving younger children the opportunity 271 00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:55,200 to kind of think about what their path is going to be. 272 00:14:55,440 --> 00:14:59,560 And I love it now. Well, love, hate that education 273 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:02,240 can be very personalized for people. 274 00:15:02,240 --> 00:15:05,280 I wish when we were in school that it was like that. 275 00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:08,120 I feel like I had to pick something that really wasn't 276 00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:10,160 interested me. Like I was in a four year 277 00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:14,360 cluster situation, like cluster going to a college and things 278 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:18,000 and I didn't really get to find an interest for me. 279 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:20,520 Like it's just like this is what you're in, this is the courses 280 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:22,560 you have to take. And then college was kind of 281 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:24,280 like that too. But it seems to there's more 282 00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:28,000 becoming more flexibility now in the space that you can actually 283 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:30,720 focus in on like STEM and stuff like that. 284 00:15:30,720 --> 00:15:32,600 Is that how you see? Is that how you see it or is 285 00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:34,320 that you do have a different perspective? 286 00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:36,800 Yeah. No, it's I, I see it that way. 287 00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:42,200 And I think I can, I guess I can say I'm lucky in that because 288 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:46,760 that was kind of always my, my shaping and framing of it. 289 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:48,800 Right. I love that I did not have that. 290 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:51,840 I'm jealous. Even as a even as a math 291 00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:54,080 teacher, and I think this this might be there might be 292 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:59,720 something to be said about people who kind of move into 293 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:03,200 education from a different industry, especially if your 294 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:07,040 teaching or your focus of education or instruction is 295 00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:12,560 aligned to that thing. So me being a science person, 296 00:16:12,560 --> 00:16:16,920 scientist, and then also just really enjoying like creativity, 297 00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:19,520 artistry, like you can see, like even just you know, the stuff I 298 00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:20,160 didn't. I. 299 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:22,920 Love it right? Like, I mean, I created this 300 00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:25,520 T-shirt that had like, so it's, there's more to it. 301 00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:28,960 But whenever you have that and you step into a space where 302 00:16:29,640 --> 00:16:32,200 traditionally things are a little bit more, for lack of a 303 00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:35,360 better phrase, confined and, you know, in terms of a classroom 304 00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:38,320 and then you go in and kind of just shake it up. 305 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:39,600 It's, it's a little bit different, right? 306 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:41,200 There's a there, the outcomes are going to be a little 307 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:43,360 different. And I, I say, I can say that by 308 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:47,040 a couple of different just, I guess experiences based on my 309 00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:50,360 teaching, you know, my background there when I began 310 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:54,600 actually in math in 3rd grade, the approach to it was all 311 00:16:54,600 --> 00:16:57,720 inquiry based. Like my favorite phrase to my 312 00:16:57,720 --> 00:17:00,560 students in, in my third grade math class was I don't know. 313 00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:02,320 And I would just walk away right. 314 00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:04,560 Like, Hey, what do you think about this? 315 00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:06,680 I don't know. And then it would, it got, it's 316 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:08,960 funny, I tell people all the time, it got to a point where, 317 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:12,000 you know, even, you know, within that school we would have, you 318 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:14,000 know, transfers come in mid year. 319 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:16,680 That's a whole nother conversation. 320 00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:20,520 But we'd have, you know, students come in to the 321 00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:23,440 classroom, you know, from whatever other school moving or 322 00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:26,680 whatever, and they would ask me the questions, hey, can you tell 323 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:28,920 me if this is right? And the students who had been 324 00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:30,640 there with me that the, you know, since the beginning of the 325 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:33,080 year, they'd be like, I don't know why you're asking him. 326 00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:34,360 He's going to tell you. He has to know. 327 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:36,120 Yeah. Talk to them, right? 328 00:17:36,120 --> 00:17:38,920 Just avoid that. Yeah, situation as well. 329 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:41,800 I love that though, because then you're, you're requiring them, 330 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:44,680 you know, you've heard things like 3 before me. 331 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:47,960 And even in like a, a professional setting, I use that 332 00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:49,800 because everybody just wants the answer right away. 333 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:51,640 I'm like, well, why don't you explore it a little bit for 334 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:53,600 yourself first? Yeah. 335 00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:58,080 So one of the things that, you know, AI, like you have all all 336 00:17:58,080 --> 00:18:01,680 these different things. It won't replace teachers 337 00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:07,000 necessarily, but like, what does it like to you? 338 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:10,440 What does the classroom that's powered by like AI and human 339 00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:13,280 connection look like, like in in real life? 340 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:17,000 Like what is, what is that? How does do all those synergies 341 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:20,280 come together? That's probably a loaded 342 00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:21,920 question. It is. 343 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:26,080 Well, you know, it's interesting because the answers to some of 344 00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:30,560 these same questions now we're probably a little bit different 345 00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:34,120 a month, two months, three months, like is it all move so 346 00:18:34,120 --> 00:18:35,720 fast? Because you do have 347 00:18:35,960 --> 00:18:40,160 implementation and some of the expansion of leveraging and 348 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:44,160 using AI in schools, different changes in policies and things 349 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:46,680 like that. And actually just did a, a, a 350 00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:50,200 presentation last week. Well, we're currently in what 351 00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:52,800 June, the month, the week of June 16th. 352 00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:55,440 I don't know when this is going to be, but last week early, 353 00:18:55,880 --> 00:18:59,080 early in June for national Black AI literacy week. 354 00:18:59,120 --> 00:19:04,080 And my presentation was talking about AI education and the 355 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:07,240 future of work. And part of that was really 356 00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:09,320 considering, well, what's happening right now, right? 357 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:12,080 Where are we? We do see, you know, Khan 358 00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:17,520 Academy's con migo and you know that being used as a a teaching 359 00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:20,720 assistant slash tutor. We do see a lot of Ed tech 360 00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:24,120 companies or folks creating. I always use the airport 361 00:19:24,120 --> 00:19:30,880 solutions that, you know, apply an employee using AI where I see 362 00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:37,400 this potentially ultimately being I think what we'll begin 363 00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:43,440 to kind of see more of is definitely more, you know, I 364 00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:47,240 think what I would hope more opportunity for educators, 365 00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:53,360 teachers in the space to be more directly connected with students 366 00:19:53,960 --> 00:19:56,320 right and meaning. Where they're at like. 367 00:19:56,640 --> 00:19:58,880 Yeah. You know, like the the 368 00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:02,080 resistors, I just have to mention those people that have 369 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:04,480 just like New York, I'm starting to interrupt. 370 00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:07,120 But this is like something that like really stuck with me when 371 00:20:07,120 --> 00:20:10,840 AI first came out. Is New York City completely 372 00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:13,680 banned ChatGPT within days of it being released? 373 00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:19,560 Like nobody's allowed to use it. Well, here's here's why I say 374 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:24,800 for for folks in education especially, I think part of our 375 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:31,480 positioning, right and emphasis should be right, not tell 376 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:35,880 anybody what they what, what what to do, but should be as 377 00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:38,880 objective as possible. That's my aim, right? 378 00:20:39,120 --> 00:20:41,640 Because we do have, and I'm not saying that anybody's wrong 379 00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:45,960 because I get the understanding of it from from all the sides, 380 00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:48,520 right. If we're looking at we got over 381 00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:51,600 on here, we got the doom and gloom Terminator. 382 00:20:52,120 --> 00:20:54,600 The robots are coming to take over fit. 383 00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:56,440 Like like Will Smith and I Robot. 384 00:20:56,760 --> 00:20:59,960 I'm not stalking at those people because I've I've seen some 385 00:20:59,960 --> 00:21:02,200 interest. I've I've personally ridden in a 386 00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:06,360 way MO driverless taxi. So this is a real and I also 387 00:21:06,360 --> 00:21:09,320 know people who are look who would look at me and say I would 388 00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:11,040 never do that. That's crazy, right? 389 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:15,040 So there's that fair other side. Oh, let's just leverage and get 390 00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:18,320 rich and become billionaires. Fair, right. 391 00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:21,480 Like, because this is all like we're talking about potential 392 00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:25,440 impossibility in the middle is essentially where I try to 393 00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:29,520 ground myself, which for me just means that I need to be as well 394 00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:32,880 informed as possible to tell people on either side of the 395 00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:35,360 fence. This is what really is right. 396 00:21:35,360 --> 00:21:37,680 Like you, you see it that way, That's fine. 397 00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:40,440 But here's the truth, right? Here's what we know. 398 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:45,240 And then building on that, being in a classroom where we can see 399 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:47,960 this, of course, teachers engaging with students more so 400 00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:50,160 on a personal relationship based level. 401 00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:53,240 Also being able to leverage and use, you know, some of the AI 402 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:57,320 tools for more personalization, more customization, meeting the 403 00:21:57,320 --> 00:21:59,240 needs of the student, which is great because I've even done 404 00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:03,520 this with homeschool families, you know, create a create us a 405 00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:08,280 plan for my child whose interest is in dinosaurs so that they 406 00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:11,760 don't have summer slide, right? We can, we can create that type 407 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:13,520 of stuff and then put it in place. 408 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:19,520 But it's it's going to be really interesting to see, I think just 409 00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:23,840 how, just how really, because the implementation of everything 410 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:26,120 always falls on teachers, right it. 411 00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:27,920 Absolutely. Does in education like to? 412 00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:30,120 Test it out. I mean, so it's like we can we 413 00:22:30,120 --> 00:22:33,920 can push all this stuff and and put these initiatives in place 414 00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:36,800 and the district can have this whole trickle down effect, but 415 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:39,040 it's really going to fall on the shoulders of teachers to say, 416 00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:41,520 OK, well, this is how we're going to put it in place, right? 417 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:43,440 So what does that mean for younger learners? 418 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:48,120 Maybe that's, you know, AI driven centers, like where we're 419 00:22:48,120 --> 00:22:50,800 already kind of seeing that where there's usually a 420 00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:52,760 technology center. If you're looking at especially 421 00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:56,520 like K through 2K through three, I mean, they're engaging with 422 00:22:56,520 --> 00:23:00,400 some type of technology, a tablet, a laptop or whatever 423 00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:03,720 they log into whatever program, math, etcetera. 424 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:06,200 Maybe there's something that's AI driven there. 425 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:09,360 But we're also seeing in just some of the research that I've 426 00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:14,240 recently done is that a lot of teachers are more so making use 427 00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:16,720 of it for some of the personalization, but also in 428 00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:18,640 support was like some of the planning, right? 429 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:22,080 And taking, yeah, saving time, right? 430 00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:26,000 Those are still like the key kind of pillars that people are 431 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:28,120 leaning on. But ultimately it's it's going 432 00:23:28,120 --> 00:23:32,000 to be more of like, well, what's what's pushed, what's encouraged 433 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:35,600 and what's enforced so that the teachers are going to have to 434 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:38,520 basically get to a point where the, you know, realization is 435 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:40,880 the district wants me to do this. 436 00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:45,280 I have to do it in this way. So it's it's still very, very 437 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:48,560 loose to the point where that nobody can really say exactly 438 00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:50,160 what it looks like, but. Right. 439 00:23:50,360 --> 00:23:53,200 We can't predict the future. We didn't, certainly didn't 440 00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:56,120 think AI was going to be this sophisticated at this point, did 441 00:23:56,120 --> 00:23:56,960 we? I don't know. 442 00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:03,600 But I mean, the main thing is how do we step in to inform 443 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:05,360 people, to educate people, right? 444 00:24:05,360 --> 00:24:08,240 Because again, going back to my equation, exposure plus 445 00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:12,680 experience equals education, exposing to this right, to the 446 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:15,640 resource, to the tool, to this whole world, right? 447 00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:17,680 Showcasing it. Because there's a lot of people 448 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:21,480 who are talking about things and they'll tell you, you know, what 449 00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:24,920 to do, why you should do it and when you should do it. 450 00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:27,560 But a lot, there's not a lot of the how, which is what I found 451 00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:30,000 just with education in general, when you talk about professional 452 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:32,920 development, professional learning, whenever you're able 453 00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:35,360 to have more of a hand holding experience, right? 454 00:24:35,360 --> 00:24:40,560 Where my, for example, my goal leading any PLC, any 455 00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:43,440 professional development session, anything like that ever 456 00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:47,320 is always for everybody in the space to be able to take at 457 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:50,280 least one thing away and play the next day. 458 00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:53,560 Like, I don't need you to be able to use this next week or 459 00:24:53,560 --> 00:24:55,520 next year. I need you to use it tomorrow, 460 00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:59,080 right? So what, how are we doing that 461 00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:02,120 implementation, right? If we're, if we're saying, oh, 462 00:25:02,120 --> 00:25:04,160 we need to use AI, let's implement it, Let's put it in 463 00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:10,760 place, OK, but make it so that it's applicable now, because 464 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:15,360 again, if you put this on a teacher's desk and say you have 465 00:25:15,360 --> 00:25:20,200 to do this and it's only out of compliance, are we really going 466 00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:23,960 to get the full benefit of it? And ultimately will the students 467 00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:25,880 get the full benefit of it? If, if that's where we're 468 00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:27,600 focused, right? Or is it just like, oh, it's 469 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:29,840 another box to check, Don't do that, right? 470 00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:33,240 Be mindful about it. Otherwise we, we might need to 471 00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:35,360 think about how we're approaching right. 472 00:25:35,360 --> 00:25:36,360 What's the, what's the reasoning? 473 00:25:36,360 --> 00:25:38,400 What's the point behind this? Because if it's not for the 474 00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:42,000 benefit of we'll say the teachers, but also definitely 475 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:44,560 the students and looking into the future, which is where I'm 476 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:48,400 kind of positioned more so then we got to start asking ourselves 477 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:50,440 questions like, well, why is this happening? 478 00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:52,280 What's the point? That's great advice and great 479 00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:54,680 perspective on how to how to deal with that. 480 00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:57,400 You know, I think a lot about the diffusion of innovation 481 00:25:57,520 --> 00:25:59,600 theory where there's like the Luddites at the end and the 482 00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:01,760 people like us who just automatically latch on. 483 00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:05,120 And then in the middle, that's kind of where we try to find, we 484 00:26:05,120 --> 00:26:07,320 find that happy medium for people are kind of like 485 00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:10,240 apprehensive, but people that they really do want to explore 486 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:14,040 it and figuring out where we can support them and implementation. 487 00:26:14,040 --> 00:26:16,240 Not just like you're saying, not just telling them what to do, 488 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:19,000 give them the space for trial and error 'cause that's what 489 00:26:19,360 --> 00:26:24,800 this is, that sort of situation. So we're coming up on the end of 490 00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:26,640 the episode here, but I definitely wanna. 491 00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:31,080 You're a transition teacher. You have quite the following now 492 00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:33,320 on LinkedIn. You're an influencer by all 493 00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:38,120 those standards. Yes, I know, Cedric, people say 494 00:26:38,120 --> 00:26:40,680 the same thing to me. And I'm like, no, that's not me. 495 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:43,000 I'm just out here trying to help save the world. 496 00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:47,560 So what is some advice if you know as a transition teacher 497 00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:51,200 that you can maybe maybe 3 actionable items that if you're 498 00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:53,080 they're thinking about transitioning out, what could 499 00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:56,040 they do? You know, as we continue to 500 00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:59,360 expand like in the world of AI and having all these different 501 00:26:59,360 --> 00:27:01,960 things available, the support that you offer and making sure 502 00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:06,280 everybody's representative, what can teachers do to transition 503 00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:07,960 out? You know what is the advice you 504 00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:09,560 would give all? Right here we go. 505 00:27:10,120 --> 00:27:13,760 OK, because I I do I do have this so. 506 00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:17,240 I know I asked you a lot of interesting questions. 507 00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:18,840 You did great. No, no, no, you're ready. 508 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:23,240 So the first thing I've recommended and and walk people 509 00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:25,520 through and actually have videos on and stuff like that is 510 00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:29,800 basically taking really practical hands on. 511 00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:33,680 Take a sheet of paper, fold it in half on one side of the paper 512 00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:37,480 at the top right, we're making AT chart right strengths. 513 00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:40,720 On the other side of the paper, write interest. 514 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:44,880 We're going to take a survey because what happens, especially 515 00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:48,080 with a lot of recommendation and advice on, on LinkedIn I've 516 00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:51,200 seen, you know, primarily is if people say, oh, you got to 517 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:52,720 narrow it down. You got to find your niche. 518 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:54,600 You got to like target your focus. 519 00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:57,360 Here's how you do it on the strength side. 520 00:27:57,360 --> 00:28:00,280 You list all the things that you are amazing at that you can 521 00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:03,680 prove. It's very important that you can 522 00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:07,600 prove based on your actual experience, right? 523 00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:10,120 So list those things. For me, it's things like, I 524 00:28:10,120 --> 00:28:14,320 don't know, math, I'm good with leading professional 525 00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:16,480 development, so on so forth, right. 526 00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:19,200 You can list those things out STEM on the other side is your 527 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:21,000 interests. And some of these are going to 528 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:22,880 have overlap, which is the point, right? 529 00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:24,240 On the other side, you list your interests. 530 00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:26,240 What are what are the things that you actually can see 531 00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:28,480 yourself really doing? What are you, what do you, what 532 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:29,680 do you enjoy? Right? 533 00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:32,760 List those things out. If that's writing, if that's 534 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:38,600 presentations, whatever, then cross reference those columns. 535 00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:41,680 And then from there you can actually start to, if you want 536 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:44,360 matter of fact, since we have AI now this, I wasn't using it at 537 00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:47,680 the time when I did this, but you can go into a ChatGPT or a 538 00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:51,760 cloud or whatever it is that you're using and say what job 539 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:55,760 titles align to these cross points, right? 540 00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:58,440 Math and curriculum, math and presentations. 541 00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:01,160 And then you can from there, you can begin to generate 542 00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:06,040 essentially job titles and areas of focus that are also grounded 543 00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:09,840 in your success. And when I say success, things 544 00:29:09,840 --> 00:29:15,480 that you can point to on like we'll say your resume that you 545 00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:19,520 have been amazing at, right? Don't necessarily think so much 546 00:29:19,520 --> 00:29:26,800 about ultimately, like I get that people have like large 547 00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:29,720 dreams and goals and they think that they want to go in One 548 00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:32,280 Direction and and try this thing out. 549 00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:36,120 But the first thing would be narrow down to like where you're 550 00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:37,880 amazing at, right? I read this book. 551 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:39,640 Where are you going? Exactly. 552 00:29:40,120 --> 00:29:41,760 I'm sure you've talked to transitioning teachers. 553 00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:43,320 And I'm like, I want to be an instructional designer. 554 00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:46,360 And I'm like yes, and what part? Yeah. 555 00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:50,040 And also like, what about your background and experience speaks 556 00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:53,200 directly to you being successful as an instructional designer? 557 00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:58,840 And like where and what you've done says I have already done 558 00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:02,240 this thing successfully because at that point, you're then 559 00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:04,600 stepping out and, and saying, well, just give, just give me a 560 00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:06,600 chance. And you're competing against 561 00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:10,400 people who have already been successful in that world. 562 00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:13,440 And in our, you know, let's say I have three years of 563 00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:16,360 instructional design design experience and a transitioning 564 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:20,360 teacher who albeit might have 20 years experience teaching. 565 00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:24,840 If you don't have instructional design experience specifically, 566 00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:27,120 then that might not look great in comparison. 567 00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:29,880 So real quick, there's a book that I read. 568 00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:32,240 It's more so about marketing business, but it helps with 569 00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:34,040 this. It's called Brands Don't Win. 570 00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:38,080 And essentially what the the idea of brands don't win is, is 571 00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:40,520 that you want to be able to position this. 572 00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:43,600 Yeah, it's awesome. You want to be able to position 573 00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:48,400 yourself in a way that you're playing the game that only you 574 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:52,760 can win or the game that you have the best chance at winning, 575 00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:56,360 right? The the, the subheading of of 576 00:30:56,360 --> 00:31:00,040 that book or the subtitle of that book is how transcenders 577 00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:02,080 change the game, change the game. 578 00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:03,400 Don't play the game at everybody else's. 579 00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:07,560 I'm not going to jump into the pool of professionals that are 580 00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:11,520 looking for a role in English language arts and my background 581 00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:15,160 is in is in math and science. I lose every time, right? 582 00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:19,160 I'm jumping into the pond where I'm the big fish because I was a 583 00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:23,040 chemist, instructional coach, blah blah blah blah blah, right? 584 00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:26,400 Did curriculum. I look great over here, not over 585 00:31:26,400 --> 00:31:29,160 here. So positioning is number one. 586 00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:34,560 Second thing, highly recommend. Even in the midst of you working 587 00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:37,800 full time. This is not, I'm not saying this 588 00:31:37,800 --> 00:31:41,360 is easy, but I highly recommend getting into contract work if 589 00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:43,760 feasible. If you can land a contract, 590 00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:46,840 especially doing something that you think you want to do and 591 00:31:46,840 --> 00:31:48,760 getting a little bit of experience there. 592 00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:50,640 Oh I want to go into curriculum writing. 593 00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:55,280 My backgrounds in math teaching. See where you can fit and find a 594 00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:57,320 role short term. Something like that. 595 00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:00,200 Contract based. Doing some math curriculum 596 00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:03,680 development. You might find that you actually 597 00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:07,400 hate doing that. Yeah, that does happen. 598 00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:10,800 But there's also it's also aligned right in terms of the 599 00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:13,760 experience overall outside but. On your resume. 600 00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:17,000 Exactly, Yeah, right. And I mean, you make money, 601 00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:18,360 right. Great. 602 00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:20,680 But at the same time, you can still be doing what you're doing 603 00:32:20,680 --> 00:32:23,200 full time, keep your health benefits, all that cool stuff, 604 00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:25,360 but but get that experience, right. 605 00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:27,920 So that's the next phase. Next phase of it is kind of 606 00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:32,560 building those things out. The third one, I mean, if I can 607 00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:38,080 throw out 1/3, yeah, in terms of alignment would then really be, 608 00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:41,320 I mean networking is a contact sport. 609 00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:44,680 I'll be just be completely. I love it that you said that 610 00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:47,720 because it's so true. Even even on even virtually on 611 00:32:47,720 --> 00:32:52,240 LinkedIn, like, yeah, what I'll say is, is, is kind of thinking 612 00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:56,880 about things from the there's well, stark difference between 613 00:32:57,360 --> 00:32:59,480 education system and education industry. 614 00:32:59,880 --> 00:33:01,160 Sorry, that was a kind of another tip. 615 00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:03,280 But know the difference between there right where you're 616 00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:07,000 pivoting now into an industry world where things are a little 617 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:12,000 bit more focused on aspects like revenue and money and, and 618 00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:17,200 growth and, and. Pipelines and sales and APIs and 619 00:33:17,280 --> 00:33:18,200 all the things. Yeah. 620 00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:20,240 So I mean, the verbiage is going to shift and things like that. 621 00:33:20,240 --> 00:33:24,400 But what really helps more than anything when people say, hey, 622 00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:27,280 you know what the secret is to, to getting a job in Ed tech or 623 00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:28,720 to get a job in education industry. 624 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:31,840 I'm going to be honest with you. The the secret is that there is 625 00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:37,680 no secret unless, unless you have somebody that is already in 626 00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:40,680 that space who can lift up the curtain and say, hey, come on, 627 00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:42,160 come underneath. That's the secret. 628 00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:44,120 And how do you get to that point? 629 00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:46,680 By connecting directly with folks, having conversations, 630 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:50,200 rubbing elbows with people, joining in conversations, you 631 00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:53,240 know, on other, you know, platforms, whether that's group 632 00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:57,440 forums, engaging in different events, stuff like that. 633 00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:01,600 To the point where whenever a role comes out, because a lot of 634 00:34:01,600 --> 00:34:05,560 times, you know, with companies, for example, a lot of the roles, 635 00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:08,920 the aim is to backfill them internally, right? 636 00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:12,199 So who do we have here already? Because we trust everybody here, 637 00:34:12,840 --> 00:34:13,400 right? They weren't. 638 00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:14,880 The. System exactly. 639 00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:16,280 How it? Works. 640 00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:19,520 And if we can't feel from within, then OK, the next phase 641 00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:24,520 of that is who do we know here that knows somebody that can be 642 00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:27,080 brought in? And at that point, oh, I talked 643 00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:30,199 to Holly at this event or I saw her this presentation or I 644 00:34:30,199 --> 00:34:32,280 checked out her podcast. I think she'd be amazing for 645 00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:34,120 this. Hey, Holly, this role just came 646 00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:35,440 out. What do you think about this 647 00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:36,760 right now? What happens? 648 00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:39,480 You talk, you talk to me inside track. 649 00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:41,239 I can talk to the manager, right? 650 00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:45,480 Or, or you can put me list me as a reference, you know what I 651 00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:47,320 mean? Or whatever you on that, that 652 00:34:47,320 --> 00:34:50,120 application, you get filtered to the top. 653 00:34:50,679 --> 00:34:53,000 Now you just increase the chance there. 654 00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:56,400 So that would be the last thing, which is just target 655 00:34:56,840 --> 00:35:00,240 specifically after you've already outlined direction that 656 00:35:00,240 --> 00:35:02,640 you should go based on your experience, right? 657 00:35:02,640 --> 00:35:04,600 You started to look at all right, Well, this makes sense. 658 00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:05,880 I'm going to go in this direction. 659 00:35:06,720 --> 00:35:10,640 What organizations, what companies, what people align 660 00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:13,360 with the solutions, the things that you care about that you're 661 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:17,120 amazing at, connect with them. LinkedIn, if you go to the the 662 00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:19,440 company's page, they have a little people tab. 663 00:35:19,880 --> 00:35:21,400 Right. Go to those people. 664 00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:24,320 Oh, I saw that this is, you know, that you work here. 665 00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:26,560 I saw that this is, you know, open or available. 666 00:35:26,760 --> 00:35:29,800 I want to connect, have some conversations that might lead to 667 00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:33,240 something that's a little more inside track, in which case you 668 00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:36,440 again, how transcenders change the game. 669 00:35:36,960 --> 00:35:39,760 And you know, we're, we're talking about kind of separating 670 00:35:39,760 --> 00:35:41,000 yourself a little bit from the pack. 671 00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:46,400 Absolute great pieces of advice and very structured like how to 672 00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:50,040 actually how to do it. So re listen to that last few 673 00:35:50,040 --> 00:35:52,200 minutes people and take that advice. 674 00:35:53,280 --> 00:35:55,600 Cedric, I can't thank you enough for coming on the show and 675 00:35:55,600 --> 00:35:57,720 sharing all the different things that you're doing. 676 00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:00,880 You're you're so inspirational. And I'm not just saying that I'm 677 00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:02,680 a follower. I see all the things that you're 678 00:36:02,680 --> 00:36:07,000 doing and I really appreciate, you know, all the resources and 679 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:09,200 the information and the things that you put out there to make 680 00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:12,760 all everybody successful and feel like they're, you know, 681 00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:13,760 they're a part of your community. 682 00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:18,520 You have a vast community. So where can everybody find you? 683 00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:20,400 We're going to have this on the show notes and you're going to 684 00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:22,440 have you're going to fill out your little guest form. 685 00:36:22,680 --> 00:36:25,080 But where can people find you? What do you want want them to 686 00:36:25,080 --> 00:36:27,560 know about you? You know, final thoughts as we 687 00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:29,840 wrap up the I wrap up this episode. 688 00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:33,520 Well, first, thank you for inviting me on again. 689 00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:37,040 Yeah, really appreciate it and enjoyed having this, you know, 690 00:36:37,040 --> 00:36:39,880 this sit down with you. But yeah, you can find me 691 00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:43,760 primarily I would say go to LinkedIn, Cedric Scott, Cedric 692 00:36:43,760 --> 00:36:47,480 Scott Junior with my little, you know, Masters of Education 693 00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:49,760 credential at the end. Yeah, I love it too. 694 00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:50,680 I should be writing. That too. 695 00:36:50,760 --> 00:36:53,200 I got it there, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. 696 00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:56,360 Check me out there. Connect with me, send me a 697 00:36:56,360 --> 00:37:00,040 message. I do respond just just so people 698 00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:03,040 know. And then where my my primary 699 00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:07,800 push again is STEM 1000. I am the the founder of Black AI 700 00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:11,080 Media as well at blackaimedia.com, which focuses 701 00:37:11,080 --> 00:37:14,880 on really uplifting and empowering the Black global 702 00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:17,440 community when it comes to AI and technology. 703 00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:20,360 So learning more about folks across the globe. 704 00:37:20,360 --> 00:37:21,720 You have to do another whole episode. 705 00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:24,640 Of that and stuff, but you're. Coming back on. 706 00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:29,600 But yeah, really just, you know, STEM 1000 because I think the 707 00:37:29,600 --> 00:37:34,240 urgency of thinking about the future of work, career 708 00:37:34,240 --> 00:37:38,560 development for our youth and really equipping them right now 709 00:37:39,080 --> 00:37:43,520 is of the utmost importance. That's kind of just where I'm 710 00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:46,640 really targeted. So you can go to stem1000.com. 711 00:37:47,120 --> 00:37:50,920 You can check out the the kind of the the main books, which are 712 00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:54,400 again, algorithms of success. A is for algorithm and there's 713 00:37:54,400 --> 00:37:56,720 some also some other resources and cool stuff there too. 714 00:37:56,720 --> 00:37:59,280 But those are the main things. Just trying to get the 715 00:37:59,280 --> 00:38:02,720 information into the hands of our youth and be able to support 716 00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:06,920 schools, families, everybody right when it comes. 717 00:38:06,960 --> 00:38:09,720 To that, I love it so much. I love it so much. 718 00:38:09,720 --> 00:38:12,880 Thank you so much, Cedric again, we're definitely I'm definitely 719 00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:14,760 we're going to have to have a follow up so for some of the 720 00:38:14,760 --> 00:38:18,360 other initiatives as well and talking about, you know, the 721 00:38:18,360 --> 00:38:20,320 black AI media, all those different things. 722 00:38:20,320 --> 00:38:23,800 So but thank you for what you do and thank you for being a great 723 00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:26,440 part of this community and a contributor and an influencer. 724 00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:29,800 I have absolute the utmost respect for you and thanks for 725 00:38:29,800 --> 00:38:31,720 coming on the show. Thank you so much. 726 00:38:31,720 --> 00:38:33,640 I appreciate it. And I got the utmost respect for 727 00:38:33,640 --> 00:38:35,160 you too. So thanks for what you're doing. 728 00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:37,680 Keep it up. Hi, we're ispring, an 729 00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:40,600 international team of e-learning enthusiasts who help more than 730 00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:44,120 60,000 clients across the globe succeed with better online 731 00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:46,600 learning. Our two flagship solutions are 732 00:38:46,600 --> 00:38:49,280 ispring Suite and ispring Learn LMS. 733 00:38:49,680 --> 00:39:02,040 Ispring Suite is an intuitive, all in We'd be happy to get to 734 00:39:02,040 --> 00:39:04,360 know you and pick a solution that fits your needs best. 735 00:39:04,760 --> 00:39:08,840 Go to www.icepringsolutions.com to learn more about us and 736 00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:11,520 connect. Thanks for spending a few 737 00:39:11,520 --> 00:39:13,840 minutes with Holly. She knows your podcast queue is 738 00:39:13,840 --> 00:39:16,520 packed. If today's episode sparked an 739 00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:20,720 idea or gave you that extra nudge of confidence, tap, follow 740 00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:24,400 or subscribe in your favorite app so you never miss an episode 741 00:39:24,400 --> 00:39:27,640 of Ed Up L&D. Dropping a quick rating or 742 00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:31,160 review helps more educators and learning pros discover the show, 743 00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:33,120 too. Want to keep the conversation 744 00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:35,400 going? Connect with Holly on LinkedIn 745 00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:37,000 and share your biggest take away. 746 00:39:37,240 --> 00:39:40,560 She reads every message. Until next time, keep learning, 747 00:39:40,640 --> 00:39:43,200 keep leading, and keep believing in your own story. 748 00:39:43,680 --> 00:39:44,200 Talk soon.