Control+Shift+Lead - From Survival to Celebration: Energizing Your Staff in December ❄️

Are you a school leader striving for excellence? Do you crave actionable strategies and fresh perspectives to navigate the challenges of education today? Get ready to take charge. This is Control Shift Lead, giving you something to control, something to shift your thinking, and something concrete to help you lead your school. With Jim Witchman of Inspired. Edification and Adam Bush of AWB Education, your journey to empowered leadership starts now. Welcome back to Control Shift Lead podcast, where we give educators like you real, actionable information you can use as early as tomorrow. I'm Jim Witchman from Inspired Edification. I'm joined as always with my co host, the mister Adam Bush from ADWB Education. Hey Adam, how are you doing? Uh? Great? Now? I don't know if my head will get back out of the door after you just gave me that sucker, But that's impressive. You've been playing out and for the price since last month. I actually, you know, as you know, thinking about doing podcasts and everything, and everybody talks about having the time to do it or not, but they believe in it. Well, when I've got a co host like you, Adam Bush, it just makes things, just life a lot easier. Today. I appreciate it. Man. What have you been up to this last month? I'll tell you what. Just you know, we're already just winding the year down. It's crazy. It seems like you blink and another day has passed, and just trying to kind of get to that that hump that we all feel, you know, sometimes it's the low hump of the year, but it's it's coming, And just trying to get our staff through that and get everybody rocking and rolling so we can lead right into the holidays. But how about you, I tell you what. I've been to a lot of places that have been blessed, from Virginia, West Virginia, California, Illinois, Minnesota, and just got back from the Arkansas, which I gotta tell you, no offense to our guest here today, but that's one of the coolest middle schools I've been to. But we're gonna get to We're gonna talk about Lakery's middle School here too, and a little bit here. Yeah, speaking of our guests before you introduce him, though, I got to mention something. I know you'll do the formal introduction here, but as we were planning for this show, it's something just dawned on me. This is the first time that we're gonna have a guest that shares a name with one of us. So this is a problem for me. I'm trying to figure this out, Like do I have to give you a nickname? Are you like you know J Dubbs or like I don't know, or just witch men or what this is? But this is gonna cause some work tonight. I mean to get through this. I can help you out with this. One of the activities I do to force people to get to know each other a little better and nothing like an ice breakaway, but just kind of like who are we? So I say, introduce yourself as a nickname you had in elementary school, high school, college, or whatever the case is, but don't tell the story, so the stories come out after words. I can launch it so forth. So I'll give you three nicknames I've had over the years, all appropriate. Einstein was my elementary one. Witchy isn't easy, it's easy to explain, and then Ditchman is another one. Ditchman, So you've got Einstein, Witchie, or Ditchman. You can come up with either one any of those. Well, I'm just hoping that Einstein wasn't like a shot from friends, you know, like you know, if I'm a bigger guy, if somebody calls me tiny, you know, it's not one of those type of things. But I hope. Actually it goes down to when my hair grows, it grows out. And so a sixth grader when I was in third grade is sixth grader. So my wild hair blowing around, he called me Einstein. Yeah, that's a better reason. That's better than what I was coming up with. So you got you go ahead, you call whatever. We got a guess that's gonna roll with it. Heck, he's laughing already, and I gotta tell you before I introduce him, we got something big because this guy can bring the energy and he definitely brings the laughter. So when you're talking about going into December, he's the guy. He's the guy that we need for this right now. So yeah, so hey, speaking of joining us in this episode is mister Jim Dutrow. Jim is a middle school principal in Prince William County Schools at Lake Ridge Middle School, where nobody, I mean nobody has a building with the most beautiful artwork, the paintings, the murals, everything is flat out amazing. Hey, welcome Jim to control shift lead. All right, welcome down. And we've added to the murals since the last time you've been. So we're gonna have to get to back out. My good I'll be I'll be back out. I'm not sure where there. Yeah, you talk about My favorite one is the one, not the one in the gym, but the one above the threshold. Tell Adam to tell us this details here. This is good. It's just wolf eyes looking at you, making sure that you're going to class on time, ready to learn. Yeah, they're just just hurry at you. They're scary. Yeah, they're meant to be. That's good. That's kids. I've got to I've been working. I started coaching out of Prince William I think it was twenty eighteen nineteen somewhere right. It was before COVID, right before COVID, I know that. And so I got the opportunity to see Jim and his leadership skills and how he's he navigates not only just like through the trickiness of COVID, but really just how he builds his staff. And he's one of those leaders that slow and steady and subtle but yet there's clear lines all the way through for student behavior and the adult behavior as well. Awesome, it's not utopia, but that school has really got it going on. And I got to say he's got one of the best assistant principles ever, multiple assistant principles. But Michelle knows who I'm talking about. That's good. I got a great staff. Not gonna lie. I uh yeah, we have a We have an amazing staff which makes me live good sometimes. Turn right, turn right. That's good. Well, welcome to the control shift, Lead Jimmy, and we're gonna get going and talking about your things that we can control. That you got to offer us things that maybe can shift our thinking a little bit, and then how we can with some leadership tips we could have. So right, if we take a break, we're gonna jump right into what you can help us with what we can control. All right, welcome back. So, whichmand that opening segment really just hit home? I mean December right here, we feel like we're just sometimes running a Maria. I kind of felt like I was following you through that marathon right there as we're getting into the break. But it's also a great time for us to have some opportunities to connect with people, and Jim, that's the part that brings us right into our first segment, and that is control. So this month we want to talk about being like mentally present, and you're talking about like celebrating the arts programming in the school and all of that wonderful stuff. So, Jim, at Lakeridge Middle School, you've clearly made visibility at these events a priority, as we've talked about getting ready for the show today. So how do you do that? How do you ensure that you're truly present? Your leadership team isn't just there checking a box during these moments. Sure, I think I think you said it perfectly, be present, And I think we always have administrators at our performances, holiday programs, holiday music and even at times where if I can't be there, And this is one of the things I love about my admin team. We are getting videos from the performances, but we partner with our local high school, Woodbridge High School, home of the Vikings went to Woodbridge. Nice shout out there all the schools I work at, and so like partnering with them for some of those performances where. You know, it's a great way for our kids to see kind of that next level of work that they'll see in high school. And for us as administrators, I get to see our former students performing like awesome. I mean, it is such a joy to be able to see how far our kids have gone from sixth grade through eighth grade and then to get to see them again perform ninth, tenth, eleventh, and even twelfth grade. And so I think that is a great way for you to build community within your school, build community within the arts programs for your school. And so that is something that I've definitely we've tried to control. We set those schedules up pretty much like a year in advance to make sure that we can get space in the high school on certain days, and so I think being present for those performances is definitely something that we can control as leaders and making sure our admin team is there that sixth grade AP is in that sixth grade performance, seventh grade AP is up grade performance, and just building those relationships with our kids, with our families, they see us there, and so I think that's very important. Yeah, you hear you talking about really taking the emotions of I'm running out of energy, but then building it back up because we know that if you would have any of your elementary feeder system teachers come into this school, they walk down the hallways and the kids at the middle school are going to swamp them. Same concept when the high school kids come in. And so now you're taking this energy that's draining and now we're like getting it back up to we have a community that's bigger than Lake Ridge Middle School. We're bringing in the vikings, the Woodbridge High School vikings, and then just kind of partnering within that. And I love that how you said that. And then along with that is it's not just about being physically present, it's about being mentally present with the kids and the families. And now we really do have a community. Yeah. No, that's a great point there, whichmand I mean, if you think about that, that gives you that opportunity to really see the whole child. We talk about that all the time. But it's not just all because I was your third grade teacher or I was your you know, elementary principle that I only care about you during that time, no, no, no, no, I care about you from start to finish to life to everything else really gives you that opportunity to do that, and you know, Jim, is your bringing that up, it just brings back a memory. I remember a few years back when I was at a concert and happened to just run into the kid in the hallway, which for me now is a little bit more difficult from the district office administrator role. You know, I just don't see kids as often as further detached, but happen to see a kid, I recognize them, like, hey, a nice job at the concert last night, and they stopped real quickly. You were there, well, yeah, yeah, you know, and it was it was just a little moment, a little moment, but that that's a good moment. And just by taking that opportunity, I would never be able to have that conversation had I not been there in the first place. Hey, Jim, go ahead, Hey Jim, do you talk about an experience maybe that you had in the one of the concerts or one of the kids, or the moment of just seeing them perform. And I think, like Adam says, is if we see him in the whole child versus that kid who maybe is struggling a little bit through the day or pushing the buttons of teachers, just talk about some of those experiences you had. I think one of my favorite experiences is I will usually go out or whichever administrators there will go out and do a little introduction and then being behind the curtain. It's kind of that stage. We don't normally get backstage passes. I'm not I'm not at a concert getting backstage passes, but I'll tell you what. At Woodbridgs High School for the orchestra concert, I get a backstage pass. And so getting to see our kids perform, getting to see our teachers on that stage and how they command that entire audience at a in a high school venue is just it's an amazing experience and it's something that I think only as an administrator you really feel how great that is. And I think sometimes when we're performing with the high school students, it's even better because you get to see that growth and our kids love it, our teachers love it, and so it's been it's been for me. So I want to go back to something you just said there, Jim. So you you mentioned about saying something like are you starting the concert or giving an introduction or anything else? Introduction? Yeah, see that isn't done enough. I mean, I can I can think of the many years I've been doing this. A couple times I've been asked to do a quick introduction, and yeah, I've always says reading, I do podcasting. I've got a voice for it, probably have a face for radio two. But you know, I knew you guys say that. Yeah, because that's true. I mean, it is what it is. I can own that. But what it makes me think of is why not? Because that's a great opportunity for visibility. So it's a quick win for your community's like, oh, there's that guy up there, there's that gual up there. She cares about my kid that's on this stage, putting all of that time and effort and energy to perform and show their talents. What an easy way. I don't know why we don't do that more often, Like Jim, serious, this is like why haven't we done that? Yeah? I think we got to also be mindful. Sometimes when ministries don't know how to do that, they start talking about things that aren't really valid and important. So if you keep it tight and then you can do some amazing things Like you're standing up there, you're looking at the parents, You're like connecting with them. That ways, well, And here's one thing I know that and Jim kind of alluded to a little bit, is when you are backstage, you see the nerves and you see the excitement. This is a big the pride of all those kids and they're coming off backstage, Adam, I saw it in show choir, and I saw it when I was a principal at Prairidge Middle School. It is so powerful and it's like, gosh, there's purpose right there. No, you can take that a step further too. You get to you know, you're going to watch a baseball game. If the coach was okay with it, I suppose by going to watch a baseball game, go sit on the end of the bench. Let's go sit down there for a little bit. If you can. Why not see kids in action? See this? I love that idea. That's a great administrator. But not as a parent. Well yeah that too. Yeah, probably shouldn't do that. One might be a little different, but yeah, darn right. If you're a principal of that build, it doesn't. Why not? Why not? It shows that you care about them, not just because they're in the classroom at that one moment in time. They're the whole child. Now Jim, I know you guys do announcements and you're you're out and about in the hallways with kids, and so tell us a little bit about the connection of the day after a performance in December. Sure, I think it's it's talking to the kids and saying, hey, great job last night, making sure that they know that you appreciate what they do. Another thing that we do in our hallways again, another thing that we can control as we get closer to the end of December and getting closer to winter break. Our kids perform in the building, whether it is in our mixing bowl which is kind of our open area, our cafeteria. We will have different groups perform nice for the student body in the morning as they're getting ready to go to first period. And we've even had faculty come in and perform with them, and not just the music teachers. And so what a great way to find out that, hey, that that English teacher that you have that's down the hallway. Yeah, they also play guitar, the wow Dure and that's played that played trumpet all their life and now they get an opportunity to perform with kids. They make connection with the kids that they may not even have or ever have, and you're now again building some worknnections within your building between students and adults. Well at the same time having a great time. And yeah, for that end of December timeframe, what instrument do you play with him? Jim? I play the stand there and clip. An instrument that works. Yeah, Adam, Adam, what do you play? Adam? I hate to say this because I have not touched in a long time, but you know I was. I was blessed enough to be an all state trombonist back in the day. I thought you had something to be your sleeve. Yeah, yeah, I do. I do. It's been a long time, but tell you what, Jim, this was a great start for control. I mean, I'm getting all excited, and usually that's Witchman's job during this podcast is to get all that energy coming out. So you've got me going already. This is awesome. I can I just can't wait and see what we still got coming. So yeah, stay with us for a little bit. We're gonna take a quick break so we can pay some bills, and when we get back, we will shift our focus to shift as we talk about some things. I can really shift your thinking about some staff and students recharge things that we can do in the month of December. So hang on, everybody will be right back here. In just a second. Welcome back to control Shift lead everyone. Before the break, Jim talked about what we can control right now in our celebrations and actually the emotional ties that come with it for not just the students but also the adults. The shift we're going to discuss this month is moving from simply surviving until break to actively ensuring our staff have energy going into break so that when they are at break, they have the energy to really enjoy their families. The concept concept, but we love it. Screw that up somehow, and I don't understand it. It's it's like, this is our time to celebrate, right Well, here's the good news is Adam, our main man, Jimmy here is going to take us through. Jim help us shift our thinking a little bit here. Sure, I think that's a huge thing. I think too many times end of the year, coming up on breaks, it's always how many how many Dayst'll break? How what do I gotta get through? It's like, yeah, thirteen to fifteen, Yeah, we're. Going to count him down right absolutely, And so really we try to as much as we can build the momentum to break, give our staff our students things to look forward to leading into break, so that one truancy is an issue across our chronic apps and teeism is a nationwide issue post COVID, and so we are always trying to find ways to make sure our kids want to be in school. Same thing with our staff. Yeah, we found our staff sometimes struggle with chronic absenteeism. And so one of the things that we have done the last couple of years is and I'm wearing my sweatshirt today. We have some swag giveaways every week, usually on days where we've got a lot of teachers out and the one caveat to that is must be present to win, to win, And so this sweatshirt and Jim has one, which man has one? I should have wore it today? Yes, yeah, to get one out to you. So we'll make sure we get one out to you. It is the most shirt you've ever worn in your entire life. I don't know what you need. It's great and our staff loves it. Like we call it the Wheel of Names. So every usually it's on Fridays, but not always on Fridays, we spend the wheel set number of names come up, but you have to be present to win, and our absenteeism for staff has gone down since we've since we've started this, and so you know, perfect example, I was in Indianapolis a little bit ago for a conference, presenting at a conference and I couldn't do the Wheel of Names on that Friday, and the amount of text that I got on age, I was like, We're going to do it on Monday, which everything's going to be fine. Sweatshirts are going out. But you know, our staff has really gotten into it and it's it's something that they look forward to, and so you know, that's something My goal was to have all of them out by winter break, and we started this at the beginning of the year. So that's something that we love to do. Just fun activities, giveaways for stuff. What a great way because I know that, you know, Gene Day used to be that kind of like a cupon for Gen Day or things like that, and we kind of had to evolve a little bit and I did something similar. I didn't have the coolest white shirts or anything like that, but I remember giving away like a dinner for two and that got a lot of cheers, so did everything else, like a pencil. I mean, I was giving away all these things and they all get equal cheers. I think it's just shaking it up a little bit throughout the mundane part of it. Well, and I think to which when you're talking about, yeah, it's giving away, that's good. You know, people like swag, they like all that stuff. That's great, But it's also just think about the camaraderie that happens during the moment. That's really what people are getting to, right, It's that. Yeah, it's kind of like when we you know, I was always talking about with coaching, where you'd hide conditioning, right, I need people to condition. They don't like to condition by hide it in other things and people they just get into it, they have fun. Well, it's the same thing. Really. The goal you're trying to do is get that ownership piece with the school and wanting to be there and that desire to be there. You just got to hide it within some giveaways or which I think that's an awesome idea by the way, but again it's you know, it's kind of might have a different purpose and if we just say it, does that really you know the we need you here at school. E. I don't know I was gonna do a whole lot, but having something we do as a team like that is gonna that's just gonna have a bigger impact on I think that's a great idea. What's the feedback you've been getting from that, Jimmy? I love it. And I think you see more and more sweatshirts throughout the year as more and more people win them. And so again there's that you talk about, that camaraderie of yep, we've got them, and they all know they're eventually gonna get them. That's the other piece I think is important. They know that they're going to get it at some point, and it's just kind of the bracking rates before if you get it early versus later on in the year. So I know some of the staff members, now are they when they win, are they like strutting around a little bit, or are they just yeah. Oh yeah, that would be there higher staff got it? Yeah, yeah, yep. I like that. So, Adam, I think I might have picked up on one of your each each week or each month, I try to grab an atomism along the way. I've never heard of hide conditioning or hide pride or you're kind of like you're being savvy with it, but it but it just kind of makes it more of a natural. So often we do things like an icebreaker. Nobody likes icebreakers, but we do them. However, you could do the same thing, and if there's intention into it, no longer it is to become an icebreaker. It becomes like something with purpose. And what I what I think about it is when we do things to check it off and think it's going to change the world, we really miss everything. So if if the email you talked about, if Jim would have sent out an email to Lake Ride staff, that not only would it drowned out the we're not going to really okay whatever, but all emails from him Yep, outside of this time of the year, it would drown it out too and have that. So now we're like making it a like purposeful. So it's not just about winning a sweatshirt, or's just about being present. It's like we're a wolf pack. I mean, man, I gotta tell you what's your what's your? What's the phrase at the end you guys have with the wolf pack hashtag pack mentality, pac mentality, that's it. That's it is. I love that you're getting people out of the classrooms. You're getting everybody out there together to celebrate the fact that we're together. I mean, that's really what it boils down to. That's that's awesome pack mentality. I love that. I love that. And speaking of getting staff out, another thing that we do usually that last week before break, we call it snowflake in your pocket, and so we high not eight snowflakes throughout to us to eight staff members each morning, and so they put it in their pocket. Every staff member can then say, do you have a snowflake in your pocket? If you do, you have to give it to whoever asked. This goes on all day until two fifty, and at two point fifty, which is the end of our day, whoever has those eight snowflakes in their pocket again get some type of price. And so our staff like fun. You know, oftentimes your teachers, you know, they hang out with their math people, they hang out with their language artspeoper, they're science there. They don't necessarily com mingle throughout the building. You're giving them a reason to com mingle super into it. They want to be there those days again, it's getting your staff present for present in the building and a great story I have for this because and Jim will tell you, I'm probably one of the most competitive people you'll ever meet. Like I'm gonna win. I already have everything that we're gonna win. I don't even care about getting anything new. I want to win. And so I had a meeting one day during the snowflake in your pocket. I had gotten a snowflake right before the meeting. So I'm like, this is perfect. I'm going in my office. I'm putting the show. Everybody's getting my snowflake. Staff member comes to my office slides a piece of paper under the door. I love it. Lay snowflake in your pocket. I have to give up my snip flake underneath the. Door or I opened the door handed. And I was very angry for the rest. Of the meeting. That is hilarious, even though what the meeting is about or were you just mad? I was just mad. I was angry. Who is it? I gotta tell you next time. That's a I don't need to know the name, but that's brilliant. Yeah, and I gotta tell you that story that you just said right there, probably got song. I mean, people were probably talking about that for a while. And so when they're talking about something like that, they're not talking about that kid, that parent, that principle, that's you, that board member, that legislator, that governor, that that that that that they're talking about a time when we laughed. We're talking about the time when I got the principal. They're talking about that time when we came together. And that's the memories we want going into break. Hey, I got to tell you this is a perfect, perfect shift in our mindset. Give them the energy, shake it up a little bit. We're going to take a break here, and when we come back, our guest Jim is going to talk to us a little bit about a lead segment of our control shift. Lead. Stick with us everyone. Hi, I'm doctor Lisa Hill, a longtime educator of nearly forty years as a teacher, counselor, professor, and vice principal. And I've seen just about everything public schools can throw at you, and now I'm sharing my tales on my comedy podcast, Vice Principle Unofficed. It's where school leadership meets laugh out loud stories from underwear required parent teacher conferences. Yes really, two staff launch confessions and more. You won't believe. I'm telling it all with humor and a whole lot of heart. I also tackle the serious stuff too, like what schools really need to change and those behind the scenes moments no one talks about. So if you're ready to laugh, learn, and maybe even prior little but mostly laugh, join me and my ninety year old mom my unofficial co host on Vice Principal unofficed. New episodes drop bi weekly on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast picks. Trust me, this is one detention you'll actually look forward to. All right, welcome back everybody. The final segment, of course, is Lead and Jim. Just to let you know, this is where we typically we discuss like the system, structures, cultural moves, any of that other stuff that we can do that's going to help lead your classroom or lead your school, lead your building. There's a lot of people that are involved, obviously in educating our youth every single day. So I think we're planning on talking a little bit about here. Talked about the energy into the break, We've talked about being visible and all that wonderful stuff that's going on. But we also know that this is also a time of year where people struggle a little bit and there's there's just a lot of that that goes on. It's our parents, our families, staff, students. Holidays can make things kind of tough. And Jim, I know your school has prioritized some tangible support systems that can really help people during this time. So can you can you walk us through how your leadership team organizes that stuff and what this is and some of those ideas that we also can take back to our schools to help lead our communities. Through this time. Absolutely, and we are we're close to Washington, DC, so the government shut down like that's real for us. And so there's several things that we have done this year, several things we've done every year to really help our families are struggling. One of the of things we started this year is a food pantry for our community. There are ten schools in our division that are piloting these food pantries. Are apparent liaison and school social worker. I have done a tremendous job with making sure that our food pantry is stocked, getting the information out to our families that are in need. And so that is something that I'm really proud of of being able to help our families in need, not just during the holidays. This is something that's going to be open year round. Our National Junior Honor Society, they just had their induction a month or so ago, and so their first thing was a food drive. The students were able to They have to do community service hours, and so for ten cans of food, ten items, they get an hour of service. And so our students buy into it, our families have bought into it, and so that has been something that's been really great for us. It's going to be something throughout the year. So I sit here and I think about this as just as you're kind of going through it today. We talked about like the students first, you know, with the with the what we could control the celebration. Then we started talking about the staff and the celebrations you're doing to kind of shift our thinking about how we want our staff going in to break. But now you're bringing a full circle. We're talking about how you guys are pouring into the community. And I got to tell you, you know, Christmas was a very hard time for me growing up because we didn't have any money. We didn't do We just didn't. And when we got that knock on the door and you open up the door and there was a box of food, it was like we had We were able to have a feast for Thanksgiving, we were able to have a feast for Christmas. And without that, I don't know if we would have been able to do so. At least it wouldn't have been to that level. And when I know that people really can see everybody and we're not judging it, we're not saying anything about it's the poor people. We're taken care of at all. Now, it's like humans were taken care of. And it's so powerful that you I really do believe, And I'm a middle school person at heart. I believe the hearts of middle school kids. When they get behind something and they can really see the purpose of it, they get crazy, They get right after it, and they pour right into it, very intentional. The other part about that, Jim, I really like is that you know a lot of times communities like the town might take up that exact thing you're talking about. But what you're saying is maybe it's great, maybe it's not. I don't know. You're not gonna you're not going to take that risk. The district to the school building is saying no, no, no, no, no. We see this as something very important, so we want to make sure that it's done the right way. We want to make sure that our families are taken care of. You know, I've heard some other schools that will do and we've done this actually in some of the offices that I've worked in in the past. You know where you trade gifts back and forth. I mean, I love the people I work with. I don't need a Christmas gift from them. I don't write they don't need one from me. But there's a lot of kids out there that could certainly under stand a clause this year, and so instead of doing the little trade things, go in on a package that you can do that that delivery to the door like you talk about there. But really the point is what I'm hearing you say is that you want to get it done. So you make sure it gets done and take care of that thing that's going to be able to serve your community. And I think that's really admirable because it'd be really easy just to say, well that's the town will do that, or here's where you can go go down here. No, We're going to make sure you've got it. That's important to us. That's that's really cool. And speaking of your you know, there are some families that would really need Santa or need gifts around this time. We also do an Angel Tree that our school worker works with local churches with our staff. And I will say I never owned a pair of Jordans. I never bought a pair of Jordans until a couple of years ago. There was an Angel Tree gifts and it was a student that I knew, and his his request was Jordan's and so I have purchased one pair of Jordans in my life. Uh. And it was for that student, and I know I know how much that meant to him, know how much all of the gifts that and our are our staff is so generous, uh. And so we're able to support multiple families and just being like you said, being able to know that we're providing some things that that may not have been provided otherwise. It is it's what community is about, it's what a school is about. And so I think that that Angel Tree and then also providing food support for whether it's Thanksgiving where there it's a holiday meal over Christmas. Just being able to support our families that are in that are in need is awesome. Yeah. I remember getting those gifts and it was very homely because I hated people doing those things for me. But as I gotten older, I see how valuable and important it was for me, and it just there's something about a nice pair of jeans, or a nice shirt or the Jordan's which I can't believe that with your kids, that that's the first pair you bought, but I could be I could also see you being stubborn enough that that could be true. Ali probably bought them. But seeing that, what I love about that is you knew that kid, that student, that middle school soul who entered your building, and you saw them as a human first and thought, this is my target. I got to help this kid out. You went through each of the segments today, and each one of them talked about the human. It wasn't necessarily about the test scores or anything else. That was about the human seeing them first. And I think that really says a testament to your leadership. And I think it also says a testament to the folks at lake Bridge Middle School. For sure, that's true pac mentality right there. Absolutely. So we're gonna head into our final break here and we come back, we're gonna kind of summarize everything along the way. Hopefully we're walking away with a little bit more energy coming into the winter break here and kind of wrapping things up. So thanks a lot and stick with us everyone. All right, here we go back for our last segment here in Jim, this has been awesome. I really think thank you for joining us today and giving us some great advice for everybody to take take from this show and help lead their buildings every single day. It's just awesome, great, great stuff. All right. So before we get to our final little talk here with Jim and wrap this show up today, Jim Witchman, how about you give us a quick recap of what we've talked about today. Yeah. I thought this is really great though when I hear the think of the control shift lead and how Jim I kind of let us through each of the segments and that is again he talked about the students and so it's about be present mentally and physically. I love how he brings in the alumni and how they can reconnect so we can see the family, right, It's greater than one place, Lake Ridge Middle School. It's like a system all the way through, and then we're seeing the whole child because we're not going to just celebrate him at the night of the concerts. We're going to have them perform again throughout the day. And I love the fact that we're getting staff involved with that. So I really think that that control is that we could schedule it out, we can really get involved with that, which led right into the shift part about you know, we're looking at the staff and we're no longer I think you mentioned on break there about we're no longer ripping off the hoops and talking about countdown. We're talking about how do we shake things up and really keep people engaged all the way through. It's like finishing strong and sure, we're going to have fun doing it. Why are we doing that throughout the year? Well, he was, he has been. I go, he's still here with us. They are connecting all the way through through the year, and it's like a really neat engagement. And I love how the staff can really get it after him just as much because, like he said, very competitive, So think outside the box, keep people engaged all the way through, and then the last part about how we're coming together and we're doing the food pantry and kind of leaning into to the people the Angel Tree really shoot man. The people of lake Ridge Middle School, they know their people, they know their community, and I think that sometimes can get lost because it's not a small town, but it kind of does have a small town feel when you're thinking about how they know each other in their community. I mean there's a lot of people in that community. Yet lake Ridge is seeing it and they're working with their partners in the community and really kind of leaning into what's needed. So it's know your people. Yeah, that is every kid deserves to be a kid, and you guys are making sure that that happens. I think that is beyond just admirable. All right, So before we close off today, I did catch Jim the other gym told me that you got some news or some things with your own kiddos at home. That's certainly worth Sharon, and what dad doesn't need a chance to brag about their kids. So here it is, right, this is your chance, go for it. But what is this news. I don't know what this is about. Absolutely. I have twin daughters who are amazing. They're just turned seventeen, and so one Samantha just committed not too long ago to play soccer at Seaton Hall. Cool. No, no, yeah, we're very excited to see her journey into college. And then my other daughter is the second in command of her JROTC. That's cool too. At Woodbridge and so they're right across the street, which I love so close. She's on the Raiders team and so get to see her compete as well. Is just they keep me busy, but they definitely keep me blessed to be able to watch them do their thing and excel at it. So, yeah, you know, one of the things that I just want to put out there as well. I know, Adam, you and I both are blessed to have spouses that are in education and and actually kind of support us along the way. I gotta we gotta throw a shout out on a second, Hold on a second. They do more than just support us. I mean there's there's heavy lifting that's done a lot, Yes there is, and they deserve they Yeah, absolutely, there's more than just support. So Adam, as we go back into the show, what do you got? What do you got planned? Adam coming up with in you know, the rest of the month of December and your break, what's it break? Your break look like? Well, you know, so I we've talked about this before. I like to stay busy. So I'm here a week from well, you know, here real soon. We're in a basketball season and I'm roughing and so that's a couple of nights a week, which is good because I need the exercise. And it's a different group of people being mad at me for decisions I make right versus other things. But now that and that's that's you know, that's really not even true because honestly, the people that I work with and work for every day, they're they're awesome. So that might be the thing we talk about from an administrative lands, but that's like this big of the job. So yeah, the job is amazing, but yeah, I get to do that. And I'm still wrapping up first semester of grad school for me as I'm going for that old doctorate. So and I'll be glad to get this class done. This one's testing me, this one's making me question whether or not this was a good decision. And so far, so good. But having to work, that's all right, it's good to good to really have to learn and really get yourself diving into that. So that's that's me right there. I get the kids back home, they'll be fun, get to see some people. But how about you. I'm definitely looking forward to having some time with my college son. He's been I mean he's he's been back for a total of maybe eight hours since August, which is great because he's been busy. I mean busy as in social, busy as in some other endeavors. I mean he's in the the business called the Tippy Business School here at the University of Iowa, and he's involved with the business fraternities. He's definitely staying busy and having a good time in college, which is what you should. But I'm looking forward to having him back. And it actually just there's one tradition. There's two durations we do here that I really like, and one of them is the Christmas Eve with every kid gets a present which is a book, but they have to find the book and I set up a little scavenger hunt for him. So a former teacher, librarian Joel Hake, taught me this one shared it with me. So they go on a scavenger hunt every Christmas Eve for their book. But then they all spend the night in the basement. And one of the things we talked about is doing something different, and they all three looked at me, like, why why go on a trip versus gifts. They're like, that's fine, but we still get to spend the night in the basement on Christmas Eve, right, you know, like, all right, I get yes, I guess we'll do that. Yeah. So just having those little things, and of course are family tradition of watching a Christmas vacation. Yeah, you know, elf, it's for us. That's the Christmas Eve after we go on our own scavenger hunt, but it's Christmas light. We have a list, try to check them all off. We've done that for you. It's fun. I love it, and there's a reason that they want to continue to do it, because that's that's why it's called a tradition. Yeah, you're right, you're right, absolutely right, you're right. Well, I'll tell you what, guys, this has been an awesome show. This has been fun. Jim. I hope this was worth your time coming on here as well. And maybe you got enough of a warning about when you come on with the two of us that it has a little bit of a risk that's involved with that too, But you've been awesome. You've been a great guest. Really appreciate you coming on the show today and just a wealth of knowledge. Before we go, though, I want to make sure people have an opportunity to if they want to connect with you, learn more about your work. How do they do So, what's the best way to get to you? Sure at Jim detro on Twitter, it's probably your best way. Also on Instagram Jim Dutrow, So that's your best way to get a hold of me. And I really thank you guys for being a part of this. I love what you guys are doing. I love your shows. It's a great format and I was just excited to be asked to be on here. So thank you. Hey, we're probably gonna have to bring you back on and see how you close out the school year too. We might have to do something. You keep them engaged all the way through. I think I like that. I used to also like to hear the stories of how the staff get you and went up you. Those those are things I like. So, Hey, Jim, thanks for being a friend over the years, and I appreciate you being here and I look forward to continue partnership through you. Just the friendship as well as the educational collegiality absolutely awesome. Thank you guys, appreciate you all being here tonight. Thank you listeners. We'll talk with you again next time. You've been listening to Control Shift Lead, brought to you by Inspired Edification and AWB Education. We're glad you joined us for today's discussion on empowering school leadership to dive deeper and explore more of Jim and adams work. Find us at www dot AWB education dot org. Thanks for listening. We look forward to connecting with you again soon