Closed Captions
1
00:00:02,780 --> 00:00:05,100
I want to welcome our audience to this
2
00:00:05,100 --> 00:00:07,680
learn podcast it is in these podcasts
3
00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:09,360
that learn wants you to meet experts
4
00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:10,800
that can help you in your work as school
5
00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:12,599
leaders or perhaps Partners in the
6
00:00:12,599 --> 00:00:14,219
education landscape
7
00:00:14,219 --> 00:00:16,199
the topic for this podcast is learning
8
00:00:16,199 --> 00:00:17,520
environments and our guest is Mark
9
00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:20,640
Hubbard CEO of paragon furniture
10
00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:22,680
on the learn website you will find on
11
00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:24,660
the research page under the Coe
12
00:00:24,660 --> 00:00:26,400
sustainability and the element of
13
00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:28,439
learning environments research in the
14
00:00:28,439 --> 00:00:30,180
area being discussed along with
15
00:00:30,180 --> 00:00:32,940
potential resources to access Mark I
16
00:00:32,940 --> 00:00:34,260
want to welcome you to the learn podcast
17
00:00:34,260 --> 00:00:36,480
it's good to have you here to speak with
18
00:00:36,480 --> 00:00:38,700
us about this really important topic
19
00:00:38,700 --> 00:00:40,260
and I know you have an extensive
20
00:00:40,260 --> 00:00:41,700
research and work background in the area
21
00:00:41,700 --> 00:00:43,739
of learning environments even currently
22
00:00:43,739 --> 00:00:45,120
serving as the chairman of the board of
23
00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:47,399
directors for Ed Market Association that
24
00:00:47,399 --> 00:00:49,140
keeps you very deeply involved in this
25
00:00:49,140 --> 00:00:51,059
work but would you please share with the
26
00:00:51,059 --> 00:00:52,260
audience some more of your background
27
00:00:52,260 --> 00:00:53,640
and experience in in learning
28
00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:55,379
environments especially in in the space
29
00:00:55,379 --> 00:00:57,600
of furniture sure sure thanks for having
30
00:00:57,600 --> 00:00:58,860
me David
31
00:00:58,860 --> 00:01:01,140
um our our approach to research has been
32
00:01:01,140 --> 00:01:04,199
very Hands-On it's been very practical
33
00:01:04,199 --> 00:01:07,799
um the the most informative uh aspect of
34
00:01:07,799 --> 00:01:09,600
our product development and design is
35
00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:11,939
when we go out in the field and actually
36
00:01:11,939 --> 00:01:14,640
talk to teachers and and practitioners
37
00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:16,200
about what works and what doesn't work
38
00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:18,180
in the learning environment so all of
39
00:01:18,180 --> 00:01:20,400
our research is really based on Hands-On
40
00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:23,280
application it's all very experiential
41
00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:24,900
um and I think it's done a lot to
42
00:01:24,900 --> 00:01:26,820
advance our company I think our best
43
00:01:26,820 --> 00:01:29,280
product ideas have actually come from
44
00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:31,080
talking to teachers and administrators
45
00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:32,159
directly
46
00:01:32,159 --> 00:01:33,900
wonderful now you've been doing this
47
00:01:33,900 --> 00:01:37,079
quite a bit for quite a many years right
48
00:01:37,079 --> 00:01:39,240
um yeah and in a lot of districts give
49
00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:40,740
us a sense of how many years you've been
50
00:01:40,740 --> 00:01:43,560
doing this work and and the and how many
51
00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:45,240
districts roughly you've been uh
52
00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:47,100
involved with
53
00:01:47,100 --> 00:01:49,500
well this is our uh we're in our 19th
54
00:01:49,500 --> 00:01:51,720
year now since uh since I bought the
55
00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:53,820
company the business is almost 40 years
56
00:01:53,820 --> 00:01:55,020
old
57
00:01:55,020 --> 00:01:57,299
um we're the third ownership team we've
58
00:01:57,299 --> 00:02:00,180
owned it longer than anybody previously
59
00:02:00,180 --> 00:02:01,439
um gosh in terms of the number of
60
00:02:01,439 --> 00:02:03,000
districts we're involved with I would
61
00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:05,399
say it's in the thousands
62
00:02:05,399 --> 00:02:07,140
um most of our district relationships
63
00:02:07,140 --> 00:02:10,500
are are really prosperous we we tend to
64
00:02:10,500 --> 00:02:12,840
work on multiple projects within
65
00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:15,180
districts over multiple years of time so
66
00:02:15,180 --> 00:02:18,300
we have lots of of repeat customers lots
67
00:02:18,300 --> 00:02:20,520
of enduring relationships so I put it
68
00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:22,140
about a thousand unique districts though
69
00:02:22,140 --> 00:02:23,940
around the country that that's quite a
70
00:02:23,940 --> 00:02:25,800
bit of experience and obviously the way
71
00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:27,660
you do your action research brings in a
72
00:02:27,660 --> 00:02:29,879
great deal of expertise
73
00:02:29,879 --> 00:02:31,800
um I'm curious about that research and
74
00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:34,260
and stuff you've leaned into now I know
75
00:02:34,260 --> 00:02:35,580
in the amount of time we have dedicated
76
00:02:35,580 --> 00:02:38,280
this podcast we can't possibly cover all
77
00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:39,300
the research around learning
78
00:02:39,300 --> 00:02:41,220
environments and the effect of furniture
79
00:02:41,220 --> 00:02:43,739
on engagement but if you would would you
80
00:02:43,739 --> 00:02:45,180
share with our audience kind of those
81
00:02:45,180 --> 00:02:46,819
key insights or pieces of information
82
00:02:46,819 --> 00:02:49,019
about the research out there around
83
00:02:49,019 --> 00:02:51,540
learning environments and Furniture sure
84
00:02:51,540 --> 00:02:54,060
so one of the ways that we we conduct
85
00:02:54,060 --> 00:02:56,239
research is that we provide what we call
86
00:02:56,239 --> 00:02:59,940
Pilot classrooms where we will donate a
87
00:02:59,940 --> 00:03:02,220
collection of furniture to a school site
88
00:03:02,220 --> 00:03:05,459
and what we've asked for in return is
89
00:03:05,459 --> 00:03:07,440
just feedback honest feedback we're not
90
00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:09,780
asking for any money to exchange hands
91
00:03:09,780 --> 00:03:11,040
here it's just simply we're going to
92
00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:13,019
give you some tools and resources to use
93
00:03:13,019 --> 00:03:15,180
inside your learning environment and
94
00:03:15,180 --> 00:03:17,580
we'd like to know how it worked how we
95
00:03:17,580 --> 00:03:19,440
performed
96
00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:21,360
um examples of that would be we might go
97
00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:23,580
into a core classroom your sort of basic
98
00:03:23,580 --> 00:03:25,680
classroom remove all the traditional
99
00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:28,739
desks and chairs and replace those items
100
00:03:28,739 --> 00:03:31,800
with a variety of tables chairs desks
101
00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:33,360
some standing Heights some sitting
102
00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:35,940
height well some sometimes we'll put
103
00:03:35,940 --> 00:03:37,739
soft seating in that same traditional
104
00:03:37,739 --> 00:03:39,720
learning environment we'll give the
105
00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:41,159
teacher a couple of different learning
106
00:03:41,159 --> 00:03:42,840
stations or teaching stations to work
107
00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:45,780
from and then we'll ask each student and
108
00:03:45,780 --> 00:03:48,780
the teacher to provide unique input or
109
00:03:48,780 --> 00:03:51,239
feedback rather on how that furniture
110
00:03:51,239 --> 00:03:54,840
affected or shaped their behavior shaped
111
00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:57,780
or affected their sense of agency it's
112
00:03:57,780 --> 00:03:59,760
been a really interesting the feedback
113
00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:01,080
we get is really interesting and it's
114
00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:03,120
it's voluminous you maybe you wouldn't
115
00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:04,319
be surprised that when you ask for
116
00:04:04,319 --> 00:04:06,720
feedback from teachers and students they
117
00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:09,420
are more than happy to accommodate and
118
00:04:09,420 --> 00:04:11,099
again it's from those experiences we've
119
00:04:11,099 --> 00:04:13,080
done those many multiples of times David
120
00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:15,420
over the almost 20 years of doing the
121
00:04:15,420 --> 00:04:18,000
this kind of work we've really gotten
122
00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:20,100
some some of our best ideas and by the
123
00:04:20,100 --> 00:04:22,019
way some of the best ideas are not to
124
00:04:22,019 --> 00:04:23,460
move forward with the product that we
125
00:04:23,460 --> 00:04:25,320
thought was fantastic it's not always
126
00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:27,660
the feedback is yes keep doing that more
127
00:04:27,660 --> 00:04:29,580
of this it's sometimes no this doesn't
128
00:04:29,580 --> 00:04:31,979
work for us so it works both ways and in
129
00:04:31,979 --> 00:04:33,900
both early valuable to our company
130
00:04:33,900 --> 00:04:36,780
so be fair to say in the research you've
131
00:04:36,780 --> 00:04:39,720
done that it really is unique to the
132
00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:41,880
space and the place
133
00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:43,560
um in terms of the the nature of the
134
00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:45,060
furniture and its impact on the learning
135
00:04:45,060 --> 00:04:48,180
environment it's not necessarily broadly
136
00:04:48,180 --> 00:04:50,340
brushed across all districts would that
137
00:04:50,340 --> 00:04:52,500
be fair very fair to say and I'd say
138
00:04:52,500 --> 00:04:54,479
also it has to do with the population
139
00:04:54,479 --> 00:04:57,360
age that's what's appropriate for and
140
00:04:57,360 --> 00:04:59,400
what works well for maybe fourth and
141
00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:01,139
fifth graders doesn't necessarily work
142
00:05:01,139 --> 00:05:03,780
very well for 11th and 12th graders so I
143
00:05:03,780 --> 00:05:06,479
think it's also very specific to age uh
144
00:05:06,479 --> 00:05:09,720
not just uh you know geographic area uh
145
00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:11,759
it has a lot to do with the age of the
146
00:05:11,759 --> 00:05:13,979
the users themselves yeah that makes
147
00:05:13,979 --> 00:05:17,160
good sense and and so you know as I'm
148
00:05:17,160 --> 00:05:18,960
kind of hearing you in your experience
149
00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:21,780
probably the the most important learning
150
00:05:21,780 --> 00:05:24,479
has to do around how you engage with
151
00:05:24,479 --> 00:05:26,580
districts around what they're trying to
152
00:05:26,580 --> 00:05:30,120
accomplish and and specifically how that
153
00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:31,560
furniture may impact the learning
154
00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:34,259
environment and and uh and you found on
155
00:05:34,259 --> 00:05:36,840
some success in that process yeah and
156
00:05:36,840 --> 00:05:38,400
what's what may not be surprising to you
157
00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:39,720
David because you've been in the
158
00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:41,699
administration business for a long time
159
00:05:41,699 --> 00:05:43,740
is that districts really have very
160
00:05:43,740 --> 00:05:46,380
different goals for what they want to
161
00:05:46,380 --> 00:05:48,360
accomplish in the their school sites and
162
00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:51,240
and actually even classroom to classroom
163
00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:52,680
teacher to teachers sometimes they're
164
00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:55,139
very different objectives or very
165
00:05:55,139 --> 00:05:56,820
different outcomes and ways that they
166
00:05:56,820 --> 00:05:58,919
want to see the kids interact with each
167
00:05:58,919 --> 00:06:01,320
other or interact with content so it's
168
00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:03,000
really very interesting how kind of
169
00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:05,460
bespoke this can become it's hard to
170
00:06:05,460 --> 00:06:07,620
scale One Vision across the entire
171
00:06:07,620 --> 00:06:11,160
District much less in one campus and so
172
00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:13,320
being sensitive having Furniture a
173
00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:15,120
collection of furniture that is
174
00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:17,039
versatile is really important because
175
00:06:17,039 --> 00:06:19,080
gosh the the outcomes what we're driving
176
00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:20,820
towards sometimes are so different
177
00:06:20,820 --> 00:06:23,880
nuanced based on the district's goals
178
00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:25,680
the school side's goals and again the
179
00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:27,900
teacher specific goals for her his or
180
00:06:27,900 --> 00:06:30,180
her classroom yeah that that is really
181
00:06:30,180 --> 00:06:32,520
fascinating now in your experience if
182
00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:34,860
districts wanted to engage in and and
183
00:06:34,860 --> 00:06:37,380
really deep diving into the impact of
184
00:06:37,380 --> 00:06:38,819
furniture
185
00:06:38,819 --> 00:06:40,440
um and on the student learning
186
00:06:40,440 --> 00:06:42,419
environment engagement the teacher
187
00:06:42,419 --> 00:06:44,759
experience whatever it may be what are
188
00:06:44,759 --> 00:06:47,100
some predictable positive outcomes that
189
00:06:47,100 --> 00:06:48,600
they would want to make certain that
190
00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:50,520
they internally and externally
191
00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:52,560
communicated to their communities right
192
00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:55,080
just in terms of here's if we go down
193
00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:56,880
this path here's some obvious positive
194
00:06:56,880 --> 00:06:58,380
things that are going to happen
195
00:06:58,380 --> 00:07:00,900
yeah I think that's a great question I
196
00:07:00,900 --> 00:07:02,759
think that we have to make the district
197
00:07:02,759 --> 00:07:04,380
and the school
198
00:07:04,380 --> 00:07:06,539
um the participants know that we're not
199
00:07:06,539 --> 00:07:08,340
looking just for affirmation here that
200
00:07:08,340 --> 00:07:10,440
the ideas are good when we say here's
201
00:07:10,440 --> 00:07:12,360
the part of the classroom
202
00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:14,340
um a predictable positive outcome is
203
00:07:14,340 --> 00:07:16,319
that there are no wrong answers that
204
00:07:16,319 --> 00:07:19,080
this is a safe experiment here no one's
205
00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:21,479
going to get hurt if whatever we provide
206
00:07:21,479 --> 00:07:23,160
to the school for that pilot classroom
207
00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:25,740
doesn't work it's okay no one's going to
208
00:07:25,740 --> 00:07:27,000
be punished it doesn't mean that there's
209
00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:28,560
any negative outcomes at all so I think
210
00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:30,000
one of the predictive positive outcomes
211
00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:32,160
is that we're we're okay with failure
212
00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:34,319
here we're embracing this experiment
213
00:07:34,319 --> 00:07:36,479
with the idea that it may not go the way
214
00:07:36,479 --> 00:07:39,419
that Paragon had hoped it would go and
215
00:07:39,419 --> 00:07:40,919
that is perfectly okay in fact that's
216
00:07:40,919 --> 00:07:42,660
really what learning isn't it all about
217
00:07:42,660 --> 00:07:44,880
right is taking risks and failing and
218
00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:46,020
learning from those failures and coming
219
00:07:46,020 --> 00:07:48,240
back from those failures that's our
220
00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:49,680
approach and our message to our school
221
00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:51,419
district participants is hey we're
222
00:07:51,419 --> 00:07:53,099
Learners too we want to be a part of
223
00:07:53,099 --> 00:07:55,139
getting better and if we fail with this
224
00:07:55,139 --> 00:07:57,599
don't throw us out don't give up hope
225
00:07:57,599 --> 00:07:59,280
we're going to come back at it again
226
00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:01,199
with your input we're going to try again
227
00:08:01,199 --> 00:08:02,940
I think that's a really positive
228
00:08:02,940 --> 00:08:04,319
predictable outcome is that this is
229
00:08:04,319 --> 00:08:06,660
about getting better it's not just about
230
00:08:06,660 --> 00:08:08,099
patting us on the back and affirming
231
00:08:08,099 --> 00:08:09,300
what we think we already know and I
232
00:08:09,300 --> 00:08:10,740
think that's what learning should be
233
00:08:10,740 --> 00:08:12,900
about anyway right you're kind of
234
00:08:12,900 --> 00:08:14,940
describing a very strategic approach and
235
00:08:14,940 --> 00:08:17,160
the predictable outcome is you will get
236
00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:19,259
based on what you put into it a an
237
00:08:19,259 --> 00:08:20,580
outcome that is positive for your
238
00:08:20,580 --> 00:08:23,400
students that's exactly right now that's
239
00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:24,720
a little bit different approach than
240
00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:26,520
often we get right we often go through
241
00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:28,020
we're going to go through a purchasing
242
00:08:28,020 --> 00:08:29,759
process and we just go buy a bunch of
243
00:08:29,759 --> 00:08:31,440
stuff but if we're going to go through
244
00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:34,440
the Strategic process of actually
245
00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:36,860
looking at the impact of learning
246
00:08:36,860 --> 00:08:39,120
from furniture if you will on the
247
00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:40,919
learning environment then based on your
248
00:08:40,919 --> 00:08:42,000
experience what are some of the
249
00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:44,580
implementation barriers that districts
250
00:08:44,580 --> 00:08:46,500
would want to prepare for
251
00:08:46,500 --> 00:08:48,120
well I think the biggest barrier David
252
00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:51,000
is probably just getting the enough
253
00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:53,399
buy-in enough consensus you know there's
254
00:08:53,399 --> 00:08:55,380
some sometimes competing or conflicting
255
00:08:55,380 --> 00:08:58,080
interests as you know within any within
256
00:08:58,080 --> 00:08:59,940
any organization and in schools or
257
00:08:59,940 --> 00:09:02,339
certainly not immune from that so that's
258
00:09:02,339 --> 00:09:04,380
the biggest barrier is just having
259
00:09:04,380 --> 00:09:06,120
enough Clarity around why we're doing
260
00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:07,980
this why this research makes sense for
261
00:09:07,980 --> 00:09:10,800
our district and you know getting buy-in
262
00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:13,980
and getting adoption of these pilot
263
00:09:13,980 --> 00:09:15,959
programs is sometimes a barrier If the
264
00:09:15,959 --> 00:09:18,480
message isn't very clearly laid out by
265
00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:19,740
the administrator whether that's the
266
00:09:19,740 --> 00:09:22,560
principal or the superintendent I think
267
00:09:22,560 --> 00:09:24,300
as long as you can craft a reason why
268
00:09:24,300 --> 00:09:25,980
we're doing this and that this is what
269
00:09:25,980 --> 00:09:27,300
we're hoping to get out of it and set
270
00:09:27,300 --> 00:09:29,459
expectations properly then these things
271
00:09:29,459 --> 00:09:31,800
go well but when they don't go well it's
272
00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:33,420
usually because the message isn't very
273
00:09:33,420 --> 00:09:34,980
clear it hasn't been very well
274
00:09:34,980 --> 00:09:36,720
articulated to those that we're asking
275
00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:38,160
to participate so that's the biggest
276
00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:40,800
barrier I think is just resolving sort
277
00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:42,480
of the conflicts of interest or why
278
00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:43,920
we're doing this and how does this
279
00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:46,560
improve my life that sounds pretty
280
00:09:46,560 --> 00:09:48,019
obvious and
281
00:09:48,019 --> 00:09:50,760
easy but it's not as you know of having
282
00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:52,800
sat in that District leadership position
283
00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:55,320
for many many years it's hard to
284
00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:57,480
articulate why this is important and why
285
00:09:57,480 --> 00:09:59,279
you should be a participant a willing
286
00:09:59,279 --> 00:10:01,620
participant in this process yeah and I I
287
00:10:01,620 --> 00:10:03,360
remember serving as a superintendent and
288
00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:05,459
going through some of this one of the
289
00:10:05,459 --> 00:10:08,519
barriers I always experienced was but
290
00:10:08,519 --> 00:10:10,740
this furniture is what we can easily
291
00:10:10,740 --> 00:10:11,899
rotate
292
00:10:11,899 --> 00:10:14,580
instead of looking at the furniture as a
293
00:10:14,580 --> 00:10:15,899
piece of the learning environment it's
294
00:10:15,899 --> 00:10:17,580
what we can rotate easily in other words
295
00:10:17,580 --> 00:10:19,140
we can have backups with this very easy
296
00:10:19,140 --> 00:10:20,940
and rotate it in I don't know if you
297
00:10:20,940 --> 00:10:22,500
have experienced that as well just
298
00:10:22,500 --> 00:10:24,500
overcoming that kind of mindset
299
00:10:24,500 --> 00:10:27,360
absolutely you know um I mean you and I
300
00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:28,680
talked a little bit about this before in
301
00:10:28,680 --> 00:10:31,200
the past that you know a chief academic
302
00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:32,700
officer may have different sort of
303
00:10:32,700 --> 00:10:34,620
priorities for what a learning
304
00:10:34,620 --> 00:10:36,000
experience and environment should look
305
00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:37,800
like the the person that runs
306
00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:39,480
maintenance and operations might have a
307
00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:41,100
different set of priorities the
308
00:10:41,100 --> 00:10:43,019
purchasing the person making purchasing
309
00:10:43,019 --> 00:10:45,839
decisions has different priorities you
310
00:10:45,839 --> 00:10:47,399
know those are sometimes hard to resolve
311
00:10:47,399 --> 00:10:49,380
you know getting everybody to agree that
312
00:10:49,380 --> 00:10:51,300
these are the one or two or three
313
00:10:51,300 --> 00:10:53,220
critical businesses or critical
314
00:10:53,220 --> 00:10:55,860
objectives that we have to go accomplish
315
00:10:55,860 --> 00:10:57,600
and that I think is the biggest
316
00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:00,060
challenge once we get consensus and once
317
00:11:00,060 --> 00:11:02,820
we get alignment these model classroom
318
00:11:02,820 --> 00:11:04,860
research projects tend to go really
319
00:11:04,860 --> 00:11:06,899
really well but that's the hardest part
320
00:11:06,899 --> 00:11:09,540
is making that Vision clear agreeing
321
00:11:09,540 --> 00:11:11,040
that we're going to go test for these
322
00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:13,500
certain objectives or priorities and
323
00:11:13,500 --> 00:11:15,480
then um and then moving forward that's
324
00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:16,920
the hardest part is just getting to that
325
00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:18,300
point where we can say all right let's
326
00:11:18,300 --> 00:11:20,220
go Implement right and I know you've
327
00:11:20,220 --> 00:11:22,079
seen that because you've worked with
328
00:11:22,079 --> 00:11:23,700
thousands of districts so you've seen it
329
00:11:23,700 --> 00:11:26,220
where districts do a really good job if
330
00:11:26,220 --> 00:11:28,260
you were to to share a story what would
331
00:11:28,260 --> 00:11:30,480
be a story you would share with the
332
00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:32,760
audience about how going through this
333
00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:34,800
process has impacted a school or a
334
00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:36,240
school district
335
00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:39,180
so I would say that the one story comes
336
00:11:39,180 --> 00:11:40,740
to mind and before I tell you the story
337
00:11:40,740 --> 00:11:42,660
what impressed me about the leader of
338
00:11:42,660 --> 00:11:44,820
this particular school campus is is her
339
00:11:44,820 --> 00:11:46,079
vulnerability
340
00:11:46,079 --> 00:11:47,940
she was willing as a leader to be wrong
341
00:11:47,940 --> 00:11:50,100
she was willing as a leader to say we're
342
00:11:50,100 --> 00:11:52,140
trying this and it could be not
343
00:11:52,140 --> 00:11:53,640
successful at all
344
00:11:53,640 --> 00:11:56,000
that to me was was the real uh
345
00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:57,899
characteristic or feature of her
346
00:11:57,899 --> 00:11:59,399
leadership is her willingness to be
347
00:11:59,399 --> 00:12:01,320
vulnerable and be wrong
348
00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:03,000
what she wanted to do was Implement a
349
00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:04,800
maker space for the first time in her
350
00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:07,079
school campus no one even knew what a
351
00:12:07,079 --> 00:12:08,700
maker space was this was about seven or
352
00:12:08,700 --> 00:12:10,740
eight years ago before makerspaces
353
00:12:10,740 --> 00:12:13,640
became some some common parlance
354
00:12:13,640 --> 00:12:16,500
we delivered one of our first Makerspace
355
00:12:16,500 --> 00:12:19,800
classrooms to this district and about
356
00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:21,720
six months after the fact I called the
357
00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:23,820
principal and said I'd love to come see
358
00:12:23,820 --> 00:12:25,860
the space we're new to the space I'd
359
00:12:25,860 --> 00:12:27,120
like to see how it works how do you
360
00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:28,760
operate in these spaces how do the kids
361
00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:31,019
engage with the with the furniture that
362
00:12:31,019 --> 00:12:32,279
we've provided
363
00:12:32,279 --> 00:12:33,959
and she said great come meet me at the
364
00:12:33,959 --> 00:12:35,640
school but don't come inside meet me in
365
00:12:35,640 --> 00:12:36,779
the parking lot and I thought that
366
00:12:36,779 --> 00:12:39,180
didn't seem like a very good start uh to
367
00:12:39,180 --> 00:12:41,399
this uh this adventure that I was about
368
00:12:41,399 --> 00:12:43,860
to be on and she said when I got there
369
00:12:43,860 --> 00:12:45,060
the reason I asked you to meet me
370
00:12:45,060 --> 00:12:46,980
outside is I don't want you to refer to
371
00:12:46,980 --> 00:12:49,139
the area that you're calling a
372
00:12:49,139 --> 00:12:51,779
Makerspace as our Makerspace and I
373
00:12:51,779 --> 00:12:53,519
thought again this is not a good sign if
374
00:12:53,519 --> 00:12:54,420
she doesn't even want to call her
375
00:12:54,420 --> 00:12:56,519
Makerspace and that's what we sold her
376
00:12:56,519 --> 00:12:59,040
she said that the reason for that is
377
00:12:59,040 --> 00:13:01,260
because that that space had sort of
378
00:13:01,260 --> 00:13:03,360
saturated the what was going on in that
379
00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:05,339
maker space had had
380
00:13:05,339 --> 00:13:07,680
um over poured out into the entire
381
00:13:07,680 --> 00:13:09,959
School community and that they called
382
00:13:09,959 --> 00:13:11,880
the entire school now a Makerspace that
383
00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:13,680
it wasn't being a Makerspace wasn't
384
00:13:13,680 --> 00:13:15,540
relegated to a 20 by 20 classroom
385
00:13:15,540 --> 00:13:17,820
anymore the entire campus now was a
386
00:13:17,820 --> 00:13:19,980
maker space and that's why she wanted me
387
00:13:19,980 --> 00:13:22,200
to not refer to that 20 by 20 classroom
388
00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:23,639
or my furniture was sitting as the
389
00:13:23,639 --> 00:13:26,579
Makerspace she said that that space had
390
00:13:26,579 --> 00:13:28,740
really changed the culture of the entire
391
00:13:28,740 --> 00:13:31,380
campus in every place now on that campus
392
00:13:31,380 --> 00:13:34,040
was a maker space
393
00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:36,240
yeah I thought it was truly inspiring
394
00:13:36,240 --> 00:13:37,800
and I think it started from her
395
00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:39,540
willingness to to say let's try
396
00:13:39,540 --> 00:13:40,860
something that we've never tried before
397
00:13:40,860 --> 00:13:43,740
and she said and it may not work guys to
398
00:13:43,740 --> 00:13:45,899
her staff and to her students and to her
399
00:13:45,899 --> 00:13:47,940
parents this Makerspace is not something
400
00:13:47,940 --> 00:13:50,339
we've done before we may not know how to
401
00:13:50,339 --> 00:13:52,500
make it successful but I'm asking you to
402
00:13:52,500 --> 00:13:54,180
take a risk with me and it turned not
403
00:13:54,180 --> 00:13:56,100
only into success for that 120 by 20
404
00:13:56,100 --> 00:13:58,800
space but the entire campus culturally
405
00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:02,339
made a shift wow that that is an amazing
406
00:14:02,339 --> 00:14:04,320
story and and
407
00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:05,700
um we'd love to see that become more
408
00:14:05,700 --> 00:14:08,279
common right absolutely that that to me
409
00:14:08,279 --> 00:14:10,980
is probably one of the most successful
410
00:14:10,980 --> 00:14:13,200
um uh installments that we've ever had
411
00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:15,839
in 19 years now doing this that's one of
412
00:14:15,839 --> 00:14:17,459
my favorite stores because it shows the
413
00:14:17,459 --> 00:14:19,860
power uh that space can have I always
414
00:14:19,860 --> 00:14:21,899
say space is never neutral it's either
415
00:14:21,899 --> 00:14:24,060
working for you or against you you have
416
00:14:24,060 --> 00:14:26,760
to choose you have a choice and when we
417
00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:28,800
see spaces where the environment is
418
00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:31,200
actually priming the learner and helping
419
00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:32,700
students and teachers engage in a more
420
00:14:32,700 --> 00:14:34,560
meaningful way being more excited about
421
00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:36,240
learning gosh there's just probably no
422
00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:38,940
bigger payoff wow that that is really
423
00:14:38,940 --> 00:14:42,120
really well said now obviously that's a
424
00:14:42,120 --> 00:14:43,740
campus you would like to highlight but
425
00:14:43,740 --> 00:14:45,480
is if there was a district that was
426
00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:47,100
really interested in this work and going
427
00:14:47,100 --> 00:14:50,519
down this pathway is there a district
428
00:14:50,519 --> 00:14:53,399
you would highlight as a place they
429
00:14:53,399 --> 00:14:55,740
might want to uh visit and why would you
430
00:14:55,740 --> 00:14:56,760
do that
431
00:14:56,760 --> 00:14:58,740
yeah well there's a couple here in Texas
432
00:14:58,740 --> 00:15:00,720
and North Texas where we're based that
433
00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:01,920
I'd recommend
434
00:15:01,920 --> 00:15:03,540
um well there's one in north Texas and
435
00:15:03,540 --> 00:15:05,399
there's one in West Texas the the one in
436
00:15:05,399 --> 00:15:06,600
West Texas that I'm thinking about is
437
00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:10,199
called Isleta ISD it's um near El Paso
438
00:15:10,199 --> 00:15:12,060
uh they're a district that has really
439
00:15:12,060 --> 00:15:14,339
engaged or has rather embraced this idea
440
00:15:14,339 --> 00:15:16,560
of risk taking they have a very large
441
00:15:16,560 --> 00:15:18,779
campus a big student population lots of
442
00:15:18,779 --> 00:15:20,100
old buildings that they've been
443
00:15:20,100 --> 00:15:22,620
reinvested in not only just the building
444
00:15:22,620 --> 00:15:25,320
uh restructuring remodeling all the
445
00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:26,639
buildings but they refurnished most of
446
00:15:26,639 --> 00:15:29,100
their buildings the reason I I point
447
00:15:29,100 --> 00:15:30,540
them out is that they are very
448
00:15:30,540 --> 00:15:33,120
aggressive in terms of taking risks not
449
00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:35,220
crazy risks not risks that haven't been
450
00:15:35,220 --> 00:15:37,320
thought through carefully but they're
451
00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:39,420
not afraid they don't let fear dictate
452
00:15:39,420 --> 00:15:41,160
that's not their economy they didn't
453
00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:42,779
work in a fear-based economy they work
454
00:15:42,779 --> 00:15:44,760
in a hope based economy where they're
455
00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:46,160
willing to give kids
456
00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:49,139
some latitude to try things and teachers
457
00:15:49,139 --> 00:15:51,120
the room to to navigate and try things
458
00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:52,980
so that's a district that I admire
459
00:15:52,980 --> 00:15:55,019
greatly for their risk taking one here
460
00:15:55,019 --> 00:15:57,360
in North Texas is which are called
461
00:15:57,360 --> 00:16:00,120
Northwest ISD it's a very fast-growing
462
00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:02,399
District Northwest part of the Dallas
463
00:16:02,399 --> 00:16:04,620
Fort Worth Metroplex what I admire about
464
00:16:04,620 --> 00:16:06,240
them is that they're growing so rapidly
465
00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:08,399
they can't build fast enough to keep up
466
00:16:08,399 --> 00:16:10,139
with their community and yet they're
467
00:16:10,139 --> 00:16:11,579
still taking risks they're not being
468
00:16:11,579 --> 00:16:14,100
conservative and and drawing in they're
469
00:16:14,100 --> 00:16:16,519
actually trying more experiential
470
00:16:16,519 --> 00:16:18,600
environments and it seems to really be
471
00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:20,699
engaging in helping grow that community
472
00:16:20,699 --> 00:16:22,680
so if a district wanted to come and see
473
00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:24,720
this testing ground concept that you're
474
00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:27,060
talking about those both those districts
475
00:16:27,060 --> 00:16:28,440
will be places where they could see that
476
00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:30,420
at play and understand how it might be
477
00:16:30,420 --> 00:16:32,639
adapted in their districts very much so
478
00:16:32,639 --> 00:16:35,040
okay so if a district or partner we're
479
00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:36,540
interested in exploring more deeply into
480
00:16:36,540 --> 00:16:37,740
this work how would they go about
481
00:16:37,740 --> 00:16:39,720
contacting you and arranging for deeper
482
00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:41,040
conversations
483
00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:43,019
the easiest way to contact me is to go
484
00:16:43,019 --> 00:16:45,540
through our website and uh there's uh
485
00:16:45,540 --> 00:16:47,100
several different places there that you
486
00:16:47,100 --> 00:16:49,019
can contact to reach out including
487
00:16:49,019 --> 00:16:51,899
directly to me I love this business I
488
00:16:51,899 --> 00:16:54,180
love being a part of this industry I'm
489
00:16:54,180 --> 00:16:57,000
very excited about our impact that we
490
00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,699
have on on lives and so I'm deeply
491
00:16:59,699 --> 00:17:01,800
involved personally in this business and
492
00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:03,779
in what we're doing so I'd encourage
493
00:17:03,779 --> 00:17:05,339
people to reach out to me directly if
494
00:17:05,339 --> 00:17:07,020
they have an interest in piloting a
495
00:17:07,020 --> 00:17:08,819
classroom and conducting a research
496
00:17:08,819 --> 00:17:12,120
project on their campus a local research
497
00:17:12,120 --> 00:17:14,160
project we would be very happy to
498
00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:15,480
consider that so reach out to me
499
00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:17,220
directly you can do that right from our
500
00:17:17,220 --> 00:17:20,280
website okay and is that and is your
501
00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:22,380
direct reach it's could you tell the
502
00:17:22,380 --> 00:17:24,720
audience what that is sure it's it's my
503
00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:29,540
first name Mark m-a-r-k at Paragon
504
00:17:29,540 --> 00:17:31,520
p-a-r-a-g-o-n-i-n-c.com
505
00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:33,600
marketparagoninc.com there's also
506
00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:34,860
several other links if you can't
507
00:17:34,860 --> 00:17:36,799
remember that on our website General
508
00:17:36,799 --> 00:17:39,000
requests for information links that you
509
00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:40,919
can you can send a message to it it will
510
00:17:40,919 --> 00:17:42,960
give it to me all right well thank you
511
00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:44,760
Mark for being a part of this important
512
00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:46,080
work of supporting our students in
513
00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:48,000
schools and thank you for your
514
00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:50,460
participation in a learned podcast it's
515
00:17:50,460 --> 00:17:53,419
my pleasure thank you David
