Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Season 3, Episode 24 - Hal Bowman
100 Plays1 year ago
Author, keynote speaker, motivational guru, and downright funny guy Hal Bowman enters the podcast. He shares his beliefs about schools and why boys struggle in the system, why relationships and engagement matter so much, and what he would tell all governors and politicians to change in our profession if they asked him. Have some laughs and enjoy the convo!
Recommended
Transcript
00:00:01
Speaker
you
Introduction to Hal Bowman
00:00:15
Speaker
All right, welcome back to another episode of It's All About Perspective. And I have a guest on here today. I just met this dude like two months ago, walked into a presentation he was giving and I showed him a book. And I said, I'm a co-author with Dr. Brad Johnson. And he said, oh, you're the guy.
00:00:32
Speaker
And I said, yeah. And he goes, yeah, I, uh, I've done that too. And, uh, came to find out, uh, some interesting facts about him and the guy's been nothing but, uh, nice to me since then.
Weather Talk: Houston vs Vegas
00:00:44
Speaker
So Hal Bowman, how are you doing? I'm good, man. Doing a thing. And, uh, actually I'm cold, man. This is Houston and it is, get this dude, it's 40. And I'm like, that's a natural disaster in Houston. Like we're, we're waiting for them to declare a state of emergency.
00:01:03
Speaker
Well, I mean, it's 50 here in Vegas. So you can just fly out here. You know, you can just, you can just move here. There's no state income tax here either. Right.
Podcast Setups and Tools
00:01:12
Speaker
And that's a quick question, dude, on the, uh, on your fancy screen here, which is like high level, you know, fancy audio stuff, you got all kinds of audio waves on yours. I don't have any audio waves on mine. So I only see it on my side cause I'm the host. So I see you got all kinds of fancy waves over here. Trust me, you're, you're, uh, you got plenty of up and downs here.
00:01:32
Speaker
Well, I mean, you're all fancy pants, you know, dude. What do you mean? You don't use, you don't use Zencast or anything like that? I used to use this thing called BeLive, which is B-E dot live. And I used to do it through, you can record and stream live to Facebook. It's the same thing. It's the same thing as Zencaster. But, um, yeah, dude, I've never, it's all, uh, it's all upgraded for you. I like it. Well, you know, I mean, I got to have some good things in my life. Yeah. So what have you been up to?
00:02:01
Speaker
You just go around. I got a little bit about you. So I guess let's just start there. Yeah. Like give us the background on you,
Bowman's Journey: School to Teaching
00:02:08
Speaker
man. Like what's it like? How'd you get into this? Oh dude. All right. So I was in, um, you know, doing my thing as a kid and going to school and like most kids, you know, I grew up, I was miserable, man. I was miserable. I didn't like anything about it.
00:02:23
Speaker
And, um, I struggled all through, um, uh, things kind of fell apart for me in junior high. And then high school was a, was a dumpster fire and ended up, uh, grad, I got pulled it together though. I graduated as a valedictorian of the fourth quarter. I was number one in the fourth quarter. And, um, and then there was some sort of, uh, clerical mix up and somehow I made it into a college and after a number of temps and years, I was finally parole graduated and.
00:02:52
Speaker
Dude, I showed up teaching. I started as a band director. And I did that world. And in Texas, dude, that's a really competitive thing because of football. And and it was it was more competition than it was teaching. I want to get into teaching. So I started taking some tests. And, you know, in Texas, if you got one certificate and you can pass a test, anything else, you can teach that thing, too. And I started teaching biology, which is crazy because I had never taken a biology class in my life. And
00:03:22
Speaker
And then I moved to language arts and English. And by all said and done, I taught K through 12 for a really long time. And then at my very last few years, I taught some mentoring programs where we had seniors in high school and we would go to elementary schools and mentor kids. And then I taught a leadership program for teens.
00:03:44
Speaker
And, and what that was, that was really kids coming back from alternative school and trying to get back into their home campus. And, you know, they earned their points over there, and they came back. And it was really me trying to shut down the recidivism rate of going back to alternative school. And, and, man, I had an administrator who loved what we were doing. And she became a principal at a
Teach Like a Rock Star: Origin Story
00:04:05
Speaker
neighbor's school. And she asked me to come over and talk to her teachers.
00:04:08
Speaker
and tell them what I was doing with my really challenging gangsters that I had and how we were having so much success. And I went and told her teachers what I was doing with my kids and needed to wear kids. And then another principal called, another principal called. And the whole thing just kind of blew up over the next couple of years. And then we came up with this Teachika Rockstar brand. And the thing just kind of took off. And this is probably 12, 13 years ago. And it was wild back then, man. It was just constantly on the road.
00:04:37
Speaker
constantly doing shows, I mean from hotel to hotel and things have way slowed down since then. But that was kind of like the heyday of that mini conference thing that I was doing. And so I'm still at it, man. Still doing the teaching at Rockstar shows. I'm working with schools. I go to campuses every once in a while. I'm doing the conferencing. I'm trying to do that a little bit more now.
00:04:58
Speaker
And it's still awesome, dude. I love it. I love working with schools and teachers and just seeing the heroic stuff that is happening in classrooms across the nation. I wish people knew what was really going on out there. It's awesome. Yeah, there's a lot of great things. So one thing I wanted to have you talk about, just because there's people in Vegas that might be able to connect you about this, with your life coach, your blacksmith, mentors thing.
Challenges Boys Face in School
00:05:21
Speaker
Oh, yeah, dude. Well, kind of going back to what you're saying, why do kids
00:05:27
Speaker
why do kids in your past experience, why are kids having so much trouble in school? Like what leads them down this path to where they needed Hal Bowman at that time or they need blacksmith mentors? Yeah. So, and when we're talking about kids who are struggling in school, the vast majority just based on data, who we're talking about are boys. Like that's really who we're talking about. And so that, that became my focus and primarily because
00:05:53
Speaker
When we look at all, you know, anytime there is a crisis with a population, you know, we start looking at it from a, from a systemic perspective. Like what can we do? Like in 1972 girls were struggling and boys were way ahead of girls and everything.
00:06:09
Speaker
And so we brought in Title IX, and that was like the most amazing social initiative ever. And it worked, dude. And within years, just a few years, girls were even, Stephen. And since then, they far surpassed boys. And then, you know, if, you know, whether it's kids in poverty, we come up with things, but when it's a boy that's struggling, there's nothing. Like, you're the problem. Go fix yourself.
00:06:31
Speaker
You know, and so I started noticing that. And then as I make my way across the nation, visiting schools, I mean, that's who's lined up to see the AP. That's who's at the bottom of the class. That's who's dropping out of school. That's who's getting expelled. 75% of kids and special edder boys. There's two girls for every one boy going to college now. And so I came up with this idea is, you know, with like what seems to work, the only thing I've ever seen is a close personal one-on-one connection.
00:06:59
Speaker
that a boy has with a strong, virtuous, character-driven man. That works. And so I put this Blacksmith Mentors Program together to focus on these kids that are struggling because they're not bad kids and they are
Technology's Role in Boys' Education Struggles
00:07:13
Speaker
smart and there has an incredible potential
00:07:16
Speaker
I know I'm getting to the answer, trust me. And the thing is, man, this is just a different time. First of all, school isn't built for a boy. First of all, I mean, just logistically, sitting in rows and columns, staring at the back of some kid's head for 48 minutes or in a modified block for 90 minutes. It's just not a natural thing for a kid. Even in elementary school, man, no pushing and shoving. That's the only reason I'm alive is to push and shove, man.
00:07:43
Speaker
And so, you know, and then when you take it from that all the way through school to now, like it really begs the question, like, what are we doing in here? Like this boy's thinking, I've got all this information right here on my phone. Like, what, like, why, what, what is the point of all this? Like, what do you want to know? I got it. I got stuff you don't even know. And so it really is a struggle for all kids, but for the boy brain, which is,
00:08:08
Speaker
you know, a few years behind the girl brain, man, like it is, it's such a monumental struggle to overcome. And then when you, when you, when you line that up and attach that to their absolute addiction to YouTube and tick tock and the dopamine that comes out of the phone and then looking at porn and prank videos and gambling websites, dude, it is a hard time to be a boy. Yeah. I don't, um,
00:08:35
Speaker
I don't think I would have been where I'm at if I'd have grown up in this time. There's no way. No, no way. Because I would have been in more trouble, just like most of the boys you probably mentor. But a lot of the kids we see in elementary school, like you said, they're boys. And oftentimes, you just said something like, they're two years behind.
00:08:54
Speaker
And that's true. I always, like a boy that's struggling in, you know, okay, one or two, I just think, oh, we just got to get them to the end of third. And then they mature out of it a little bit. And we narrow it down, but there's still some in fourth or fifth. It just, just drives you crazy. And you're right, though, like you have to have a relationship with them. Otherwise, you have no chance of getting through to them. Plus, I agree with you also.
00:09:19
Speaker
Shocker, I know. School's not made for boys. They have to be able to get up and get moving and get rolling and go outside and do things. But then what do we do? We try to just stifle them and they can't do it. They're just a cage creature for a day. So I think you're right that school is not set up to help boys in a lot of ways. Dude, it starts even before school. And I was just telling somebody the story the other day. I remember back when I had my son and we go to the park.
00:09:47
Speaker
And, and, um, I had a daughter first and that's what that sets you up for misery when you get the boy. Cause you think parenting is easy when you get the daughter and then you realize you weren't, you weren't parenting. You just had a daughter. Now you're, now you can better be done. Now you're about to do some parenting with this boy.
00:10:01
Speaker
And we go to the park and there's this kid crawling around the sand and my son's crawling around and my son goes over and grabs this kid's ball, right? Has a big red ball. And the other little boy starts screaming to hold on his ball and crying and my son's trying to take it. And the lady is yelling at her boy, you need to share. You need to learn how to share.
00:10:22
Speaker
And I thought about that like, no, no, he doesn't know. My son's trying to steal his stuff, man. Like she I remember she was like drinking a latte. Like, what if I ever grabbed your latte and started drinking it and start screaming at you? You need to share. You know, it's just not a natural thing, you know. And so from the get go, we, you know, we start teaching like, like don't have boundaries. Like you can't have your own boundaries. And so and then we get to to elementary school and staying in line and don't and keep your hands to yourself.
00:10:52
Speaker
I mean, I just saw on a thing, that's a tier one handsiness they have on a tier one, like handsiness. What? You know? Not too handsy, not in the wrong areas. Yeah. This is the kinesthetic boy, man. And it just breaks my heart because when we get to the kid to the junior high in high school, oftentimes as we have a young man with a broken spirit, he thinks something's wrong with him. He's been yelled out constantly.
00:11:20
Speaker
And the more he tried to express himself naturally as a natural boy, the more he got yelled at. And now he's isolated in his room. He's not playing football. He's not in the band. He's not in theater. He's not in chess club. He's not in student council. He's not doing anything. He's by himself broken, staring at his phone.
00:11:35
Speaker
But when you look at school in the 1960s, let's just say, they sat in rows, they sat all day long. There wasn't the problems that we see now. Is it technology or is it the fact, I mean, I guess the fact that they're on technology from the moment they're born with screens and everything, in your opinion, what's contributing to even getting to this point?
00:12:01
Speaker
Yeah. It's a, I think technology is a huge problem. And like, if you look at parents and like in my neighborhood, you know, when I watch moms pushing the stroller, what, you know, pushing the kid around and dad's too, they're on their phone. No one's reading to the baby. No one's talking to the kid. Sometimes a baby has an iPad, you know, I think, and you know, you know, for me, it's such a,
00:12:23
Speaker
You know, they don't have the neurological pathways that we had. I can remember sitting for hours and I had this thing. You're too young. You're not going to know what it was, but it's called an erector set. And it was his beams and girders. You can put them together with little nuts and bolts. He built this thing is metal, man. And he had little wrenches and it was awesome. Man, that takes the dexterity of your fingers and be able to focus and be able to envision something and build it. You know, Legos and Lincoln logs, they just don't have it anymore.
00:12:50
Speaker
And it has changed the brain of the kid for sure. Yes. So then one thing you talk about, you know, when we listened to your session in San Antonio with the way kids are now, I believe you have to show them love. You have to our relationship. But one of the hard things for teachers these days is engagement.
00:13:09
Speaker
When you speak, you give everybody the warning, you're like, hey, it's going to look like I'm going to have a heart attack, but I'm just being me. And it's ultra engaging, especially when you talk about, I think it's your third grade teacher. Yeah. But teachers today, I think, just struggle engaging
Social Media's Impact on Student Engagement
00:13:29
Speaker
kids. And it's because we're up against TikTok and social media. It is, man. It is for sure.
00:13:36
Speaker
And I think we under really, I always tell people, man, if you don't believe, there's a book called dopamine nation and it really outlines the level of addiction, you know, in the brain, I'm talking adults, you know, you, me, like everybody and kids for sure. And, um, and, and by the way, I am, uh, you know, I, I listen, I love YouTube. I do. That's my thing. I haven't, I haven't scrolled on the YouTube's since January 2nd, just so you know, proud of myself.
00:14:03
Speaker
Anyway, so, but anyway, first, come on now, let's start. Well, I had to hangover. I had to. I just was going all day. And so, man, you know, for the work to be to to create that engaging thing, it takes effort. And when I speak, I mean, that that's what I look like teaching, you know, that is me doing my thing. And I'm not saying every the last thing I want people to think is, oh, my God, I have to teach at that level. No, like you would just have to be you. That's me. That's how I do my thing. That's how I do my craft.
00:14:34
Speaker
And we, we all, we have all had teachers that they can produce the same results that I can with all my shenanigans with, with a, with a point and a left eyebrow raise and a snap at the kid, because that's who they really are. Like I couldn't do that. Dude. If I tried that with my kids, they would give me the finger and walk out because they know that's not me. And what kids are desperate for is a real authentic, emotional, engaged teacher.
00:15:03
Speaker
that loves them relentlessly, doesn't give up on them, they're convinced of it, do they wanna be a part of that family? When you do these trainings at schools though, I mean, if you're like me, you can look out in your crowd and I mean, I'll just admit it, I look out and I think, okay, I wonder, I start to wonder, can that person engage a kid? You know, how's that teacher? What's that person like? Right. But when you're in those schools,
00:15:27
Speaker
do you find that there's some teachers that just are just shutting you down because you're just so animated or they I mean you have like you have some that are going to eat it up of course but then how do we ever get through to people to make them understand that Ben Stein isn't going to work these days right that's in my long show man Ben Stines in the long show by the way it man yeah here's the thing dude like I want
00:15:53
Speaker
I, I, I, when, when, when you show up in San Antonio, holy shit, dude, it's called the innovative schools conference. You're going to get some wild people there. They, that's what they want. They're down for it. When I show up like in San Antonio and I'm going to Vegas, I'll be in New York. I'm preaching to the choir brother. But when I go to school, you know, at the conference, those people want it at the school. Those people need it. Those are two different crowds at the school though. It's, you know, I gotta be really careful because I do a half day or full day.
00:16:22
Speaker
And it's this roller coaster of emotion. And there's really three groups. One group are guys like me and you, women like us, and they're leaning forward, and they're getting affirmed. And this is who I am, and it feels good. Because it feels good to step into the hot shower of affirmation. And yeah, I'm right, man. I knew I was on the right track. There's other people that it's like they're going to the tent revival, and they haven't been to church in a few years. And it's like, oh, I forgot. Oh, OK. Now we're back on track.
00:16:51
Speaker
and they're getting it going. But there's that other group and they have their arms crossed and are leaning back in the chair. And I used to think those people hate, and I'm sure some do, those people aren't down with it. They hate me. They think I'm full of it. They're thinking, well, he doesn't have my kids. If he had my kids, he would know that you can't do it. But what I have come to realize after doing this for like a decade and a half is they're, they're contending oftentimes with thoughts of
00:17:22
Speaker
Oh my gosh, I have hurt children. I have yelled at kids. I have been mean. And for them to jump on my bandwagon and step into our hot shower with us, they have to get through that emotion.
Teachers' Emotional Challenges and Change
00:17:37
Speaker
Like I, I, I gave up. I started yelling at kids to tell them to shut up and sit down instead of building the relationship. He's right. And, and, and then I get to the part where we talk about how kids will remember this stuff for the rest of their life, good or bad.
00:17:52
Speaker
If it's intense, they're gonna remember it forever. Whether it could be you yelling at them or you hugging them, that's a memorable thing forever. And now they have to contend with that. So for some of those folks, it's a painful experience. But I've also found too,
00:18:08
Speaker
Like you said, in San Antonio, they know what they signed up for. But I actually met two guys from Albuquerque. They thought I was Hamish Brewer. And I was like, sorry, guys, it's not me. I'm not Hamish. But anyway, these dudes need the basics, man. They need the basics. So they want to be innovative. But what's innovative to you isn't innovative to them. Just the thought of having kids turn and talk is innovative to some people. Yeah.
00:18:37
Speaker
Right. It's fascinating. Like the amount of different levels, like some schools out here in Vegas, like at my school, we try to do innovative shit all the time because that's what makes us us. But other schools, it's just cookie cutter program boredom. Yeah. And you're right. I think that is, and this is the part that a lot of school leaders hate. And, and those like you love is when we have this convert, you know, well,
00:19:04
Speaker
I told it to be innovative. Well, that's great. But if you have never seen it, what does that even mean? So you just like our kids, dude, I say this every day to everybody, like they have to see if they're going to be it. You have to show it if you're going to grow it in those kids. Those teachers have to see what innovation looks like. They have whatever you want. You have to model that. If they're not greeting kids at the door, you have to be greeting your teachers at the door as they're coming in from the parking lot.
00:19:32
Speaker
Like if that's your expectation, you have to model that. If you want teachers in the hallway, high fiving kids and being excited and playing music, that has to be, you have to model what that looks like. Whatever you expect to see in the classroom, that damn well better be your after school meeting, teacher meeting on Wednesday in a library. Like there'll be some turn and talk. If you want it like every week, you should be modeling something that you want to see in the classroom that week because they don't know because especially if a lot of teachers are coming to this business after,
00:20:02
Speaker
five other careers and now they're going to try this. You know, they just finished their enterprise rent a car. I'm going to take school. They're teaching language arts, sixth grade. Okay, brother. Well, dude, they sat in rows and columns and shut their mouth back in 1978. You know, well, they don't do that. They're shocked. They don't even know what's going on, man. And so they have to see it. If they're going to be it, we have to show it. If we're going to grow it in our teachers and we have to model what that looks like. We can't even tell them.
00:20:30
Speaker
We can't even tell them. Don't bother explaining to them what it is. You have to go do that. Yeah, and that's something you got me reflecting on. I can do better already. You said something. I think it was on Instagram. I could be wrong. You said a controversial statement. The principal is not the only one that is in charge of the culture of a school. Dude, if you know what I love?
00:20:56
Speaker
All right. Let me, let me, let me pull that back a little bit. Well, I agree with your statement. Not much, but I'll pull it back a little bit. This is what I'm saying. And is the principal the initiator? Absolutely. Are they the fuel for it? For sure. Do they keep the party rolling? Yeah, absolutely. But what I am saying is this, I think some, along the way we have, and I know what happened, happened during COVID.
00:21:21
Speaker
Because teachers were so out of control. I mean, we no longer have control of what's going on, because now we're online, and no one's showing up for our classes, and now they're going by the schoolhouse to pick up packets, and they're putting Wi-Fi towers around us. It was insanity. And then we come back to campus, and we shut down again, and they go back up. And superintendents, by daily, were getting new instructions of what to do, and they would tell the principals, hey, sorry, guys, remember that stuff we told yesterday? This is all brand new. Now we have to do this.
00:21:49
Speaker
And they would tell the teachers and then the next day is something different. And so we, I think we became so dependent on the principle, overly dependent, the way we've lost agency and autonomy of teachers in the classroom to do their
Teachers Taking Control of Classroom Culture
00:22:03
Speaker
thing. And I think, and then because of principal, principal's leadership group and memes and things like that, and celebrities and principals, it's like they're waiting for some magical principal wizard with a wizard wand is going to show up.
00:22:18
Speaker
And poof, amazing campus culture. But really what it comes down to is what's happening in the classrooms. And campus culture can be the sum total of what's happening in classroom culture. And what I desperately want are for teachers to take their school back. Man, I want them to take their hallway back. I want them to take their classroom back. These are your kids. This is your family. It drives me so nuts when I hear teachers come in and tell the principal,
00:22:47
Speaker
Hey, just so you know, the whole algebra team is pissed and we have horrible culture. Well, go do something about it. What are you telling me for? You know, it's insane. I agree. Like when they, they get mad and I will say, well,
00:23:03
Speaker
it's gonna be more powerful coming from you than from me. I'm supposed to be the bad guy. But you know what, like if AP, like Shawna, you met Shawna and Shawna was like, hey Robert, like you really messed up. Like that's way more powerful than my supervisor walking in because it's the relationship piece. And that's why I agree with you. Like it's not just the principle that is in charge. Many years ago, a friend of mine, actually the guy that was on last week, he loves Duke basketball.
00:23:32
Speaker
And when he used to live in Vegas and we'd hang out, he was telling me about a time when Duke lost and the guys on the bus were like laughing. And the leader stood up and he said, like, we don't lose a Duke. Knock it off. Yeah. And that took care of me. Like, the coach didn't have to say anything. That dude did. And I think sometimes, but teaching is just a weird profession. They don't want to be that person.
00:23:57
Speaker
I don't know, man. If they are, then they're the mean lady in the hall. We're going to avoid that person. Right. I think it's all about how we put this thing in context. So what I've been doing lately is I'm crisscrossing the nation, going to education service centers. I'm not sure what you guys call it in Vegas, but someone called Education Service Agencies in Louisiana, the parish kind of host. I mean, they support schools.
00:24:21
Speaker
And, and what, you know, what I'm asking principals when I show up is send me your, send, send, send me the leader, send me the best. Don't send me the teachers that need this training. Send me the ones who, some who deserve it, the best of the best. Cause what, if you invest in the best, they're going to take it back and give it to the rest. And I don't think we have given the third chair.
00:24:42
Speaker
or third grade team leader, any skills to be a third grade team leader. We just said, you've been teaching the longest. Now you're the team leader. Go make the copies or whatever. But I want to, because I want teachers to go to them. I want, I want, I want second grade team to think, man, look at third grade team. They're awesome, man. We want to be like them. You know what I mean? I love that stuff.
00:25:07
Speaker
But yeah, but they just, it's such a struggle to find, I mean, I'm pretty blessed, we've whittled it down now, it's a pretty decent group. It's a struggle to find teachers that aren't competitors in that nature. They're not collaborators, they're more competitors.
00:25:22
Speaker
they look at like third grade dominating and they're like, whoa, look at third grade. Like my wife has won a few awards. And they would like when we walked down the hallway, because I would get to be there, everybody here pause like clicking, Oh, look, she won again. You know, like, rather than saying, Holy cow, this is great. How can I be like you is Oh, look at her. And it's just if I actually used to, when I did interviews, I used to ask people, what was the last? Well, who was the last person that won the award at your school? And what did you do when they won?
00:25:53
Speaker
Right. Because you want those people to be a part of the group and like celebrate successes, but then collaborate. Ultimately, the only person the teacher has to be in competition with is themselves, because if they do better, the school does better. But a team oriented school I feel is a rare, rare thing these days.
00:26:13
Speaker
It's not man it takes, but it takes effort, you know, and, and again, it has a lot of a lot to do with leadership challenges, simply because this is education. And if you think, I mean, I mean, okay, just take a high school for example.
00:26:29
Speaker
think about what it would take to rise up a corporate ladder and to get to the job of CEO. Because like, as like, if you're running a high school, dude, we got daycare now in high school campuses. We've got team sports where we got food and nutrition. We got healthcare with transportation. You know, Oh, by the way, teach a kid something like, you know, varsity band boosters, like it has everything. And the budget, think of it, the thousand,
00:26:56
Speaker
thousands of kids, hundreds and hundreds of employees. It would take decades of grooming and management training and leadership exposure and mentoring to get to that role in school. Dude, if you've been teaching three years, go tell you got it. You're next. Go get after it, man. I can't tell you how many schools I've been in where the principal was teaching last year.
00:27:19
Speaker
See, that doesn't happen in Vegas, so I haven't experienced that. But that's crazy to me. Well, that's not necessarily true. Well, not the principals, because everybody has an AP. The AP could be pulled out of the classroom right now and hop in there and go through training. But earlier, you were talking about COVID, and you said how there's not really any autonomy in classrooms anymore.
District Control vs Teacher Autonomy
00:27:45
Speaker
And I don't know if that's necessarily from the COVID days when we had all these rules and the rules changed and you couldn't do this, but do you agree with the fact that I think so many school districts want to have programs and have people follow the programs is because they want control of things or is there a different thing in your opinion? I think both are true.
00:28:11
Speaker
You know, I think, you know, I think, um, well first, first tell me, um, uh, just be specific who wants control in what way of what.
00:28:21
Speaker
So I think like in Vegas right now, the school district wants control of the curriculum. Yep, I'll get it. And therefore, we have a new we haven't we have so many new programs, the teachers are drowning. So they want everybody to follow the same program at the same time. And I don't believe in that at all. So it's been a struggle. Because again, I think they want to control the environment as much as possible rather than, which is what I believe is let's teach the teachers how to teach using whatever they need to to teach the standards.
00:28:50
Speaker
Yes. Yes. That, that, so that is true too. And when, because back in the day, like 20 years ago, dude, I've been at this a long time, there was some, you know, here's the curriculum, make sure you follow it. And I was really good at providing the perception of I was following it and we're getting things done. But like those days are over, man. There's too much data being collected and too many people walking in my classroom and you know, all that. So, but so, yeah, so in, and we've taken away the,
00:29:19
Speaker
the art and the beauty of teaching. And, and also that like, that isn't what anybody signed up for. Cause you have to remember like the very bait, what they signed up for it was to change a kid's life. I want to be the most important, influential adult in the lives of these kids. That's what they signed up for. And when they get to the classroom and now because it changed, it gets worse every year.
00:29:40
Speaker
So even the kids now that are graduating high school, they go to college for four or five years, come out, it's going to be dramatically different by the time they get in a classroom. And so many teachers are like, this is not what I signed up for it. Like I cannot make the difference in the lives of my kids that teachers did for me. And there's, and then oftentimes when they go find their administrator to ask for help cause they're drowning, there's not much they can do cause they've been mandated. This is what it is.
00:30:07
Speaker
And going back to what you said, boys are not the same as girls, but yet a program believes that they are. Right, yeah. It just fascinates me that we are going down this road. Rather than teaching people how to engage kids, you can give them all the resources that you want, but if they cannot engage a kid, it's just not going to matter. Yeah. Years ago, here in Houston, they have a lot of oil companies.
00:30:34
Speaker
And one of them wanted to, this is a natural gas company here in Houston, they wanted, and what they do, once they decimate a town with all the drilling and trucks and personnel and these places called man camps where they build these little mini things for people to live, and they wanted to provide services for a school to make nice. And they show me these curriculum, well, we're gonna invest a ton of money in curriculum. They asked me, it was one of the consultants to come out and look at the curriculum
00:31:05
Speaker
And between me and you, I don't know anything about curriculum, but I said, uh, you don't need to just need to engage kids and teach them standards. I said, well, who's the teacher? And I go, what? I go, well, that the curriculum doesn't matter. They just show me the teacher. And I'll tell you, you know, if they got a great teacher, that's great curriculum. If it's got a horrible teacher, that's bad curriculum. You can pick any of this stuff. Doesn't matter, man. You know, if you got great teachers are going to figure out a way to make that happen. And like the, one of the best examples was years and years ago,
00:31:34
Speaker
I went out to Eastern Kentucky to Betsy Lane High School and, and you talk about unbelievable teaching, unbelievable. And, and they, they are sending kids all over the nation to colleges and, and military schools and trade schools. I mean, best of the best. And, and they have no reason to be successful. None. Because if you look at the population, like everything you're looking for,
00:32:00
Speaker
They have unbelievable poverty. No one's married. The, all the minds are closed. Everyone's addicted to opioids. Like it's like the list is a mile long if everything is wrong and they crush it year after year after year after year because they have great teachers. Yes, they do. It has. Yes. Good Lord. Why won't people just, why won't people listen to that? I don't understand. I just don't understand. Yeah. And I think when we take that trust away,
00:32:29
Speaker
And, you know, when a teacher feels it, dude, it's just like a kid. I can't, like every time I just remind myself, are we like, I have to ask myself, are we talking about kids or teachers here? Cause it's the same thing. When you pull the trust away from the teacher and have it, they don't feel like they're believed in. They don't feel like they're loved. If no one has faith in them, just like a kid, of course, of course they're not. So, so a human being is going to underperform. I mean, it's guaranteed.
00:32:55
Speaker
I agree, I agree. We have a teacher at my school. She was just beat down from her previous admin. And you could just tell she was just traumatized. And I said, quit worrying about everything. Just do the best you can, however you do it. And it just frustrates me. I think, again, it goes back to trust. I trust you to do your job until I can't. And then we'll work on it. But so many admin just can't let go of control. Yeah, that is hard.
00:33:25
Speaker
And you know, I think because they did right, but it's hard because I get it though. Like I get, I don't, I don't get it. Like that's on my thing, but I get the psychology of it because there's so much on the line. There's so much. That's the other thing. I wish teachers, I was at a principles conference a while back and I was, you know, it was more of a data conference and you know, smart stuff.
00:33:47
Speaker
And that ain't what I do. But I was like kicking the door. I was kicking it off. They wanted me to get the party started. And and I hung out the rest of the day. And the whole time I kept thinking, I really wish that we could bring busloads of teachers. There's like a one way window we could see in and and they could see the stress. And like when they would drop the latest state news, this is well, this is what's coming down for the legislature and watch these principals like, oh, my God.
00:34:16
Speaker
How am I going to tell my teachers? Like, like what? And I think we forget like when teachers complain, not complain, that's not good, but when they're concerned, rightfully so, and they're distraught, rightfully so, over, I can't believe they expect me to have to, they're expecting me to do this with my kids. I cannot believe it. I wish everybody know that it goes upstream from there. There's a principal thinking, I cannot believe I'm about to tell my teachers they have to do this now.
00:34:44
Speaker
And he goes up to there's, there's an associate superintendent of curriculum thing. And I cannot believe I have to tell my principals to tell their teachers that there's a superintendent as he's just, I cannot believe how, like how in the world am I going to tell my associate superintendent, tell my assistant superintendent to tell the principal to tell it. And like everybody it's we're all in this together and everyone is struggling. And that's the crazy part. No one's talking about the dumpster. Everyone's talking about the pieces that are on fire in the dumpster. The whole thing's on fire.
00:35:11
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good point. When you go into schools, what Brad Johnson says, you know, when he walks in, he can tell, he can tell the culture and the climate of the school when he walks in the door. Yeah, yeah, for sure. You can feel it. Yeah. So I was gonna say, do you, have you found the same thing? Yeah, for sure. It is no different, only because I've been in a ton of schools. It's just like every teacher, if you've been in a ton of, you can step in a classroom and you know what goes on in there. You know it.
00:35:38
Speaker
You know, and I walk, you know, it's like the first time I went to the, um, I'm not going to name any, uh, schools where they have challenges, but you just walk it. Well, first of all, no one even knows you're in there, you know, and you come into the office and no one pays attention, you know, the whole thing. But like, you know, I have been in schools like when I went into Springer's school, Dr. Jeff spring, when he was at the Magnolia high school, I mean, you walk in and three or four kids walk up, Hey, I'm, you know, I'm Janice, you know,
00:36:07
Speaker
Welcome to Magnolia High School. What brings you today? Some kid walking by. I'm Hal Bowman, came to see Springer. Oh, let me show you where Dr. Springer is. Dr. Springer, Hal Bowman's here. But everyone is like that. Yeah, so I think it just depends. Ultimately, the leader and the people in the building set the tone.
00:36:32
Speaker
But I don't know if it's the same thing. You've been in way more schools than I have. My school now has 900 kids. It's the second biggest one in Vegas now. It's hard. It's hard to get that many kids to be what you just said. Like, hey, welcome to Thompson. It's a challenge every day. So again, I don't know what kind of school. But I think you were telling me about a school in Texas that has a ton of kids like K2 or something.
00:37:01
Speaker
Oh, dude, there's some, listen, you know, we build giant schools, even in little districts. Well, everything's bigger in Texas. Well, you got to feel a really good football team. There's only one way to do that is build one big giant school. We have more kids, you know, to pick from. And but, you know, that's the thing, man. It's in in what is cool about Texas is we have such dramatically different schools because you can have schools in Houston, San Antonio, downtown Dallas.
00:37:30
Speaker
And those are typical, we have inner city schools and we have crazy, you know, suburb schools, but we also have old fashioned. Yes, ma'am, no, ma'am country schools where they say prayers every day and they, they salute the flag and they take their cowboy hat off when they walk into the building. And when a lady comes in, they all stand up and hold the door, you know, that, that it's awesome, man.
00:37:55
Speaker
That would be awesome. And what's sad is there's probably a ton of people that would be like, that's not okay. They shouldn't be doing that. Why are they praying? And it's just, education's just a fascinating profession all around. There's so many different variables and different things going on, many of which are successful. So there's a ton of ways to the top of the mountain, but the view's the same. But yeah, so many people think, no, you have to take the same trail.
00:38:23
Speaker
And, you know, the trail might take you through, like, you know, like, I don't know, there might be some cougars or something waiting there, like to attack you, but no, we're going this way. This is the way drives me out of my mind. Do you feel like you, you know, I'm younger than you. I'm just starting out in this stuff, but I'm sorry to throw you under the bus there, but do you feel like you and the message you are sending, are you a dying breed in this profession? Yeah, I don't, man, I don't think so.
00:38:52
Speaker
Good. I'm delusional, man. I might be delusional because I think I think most people would say yes, because don't forget most people, you know, I'm talking 100% of the population, not just teachers. Most people are absolute experts when it comes to school because they all went to school. So they think they're an expert, right? They spent 12, at least 12 or 13 years. So clearly they know what goes on in school.
00:39:13
Speaker
And, uh, but what we all see on, on social media is such, it's just like politics, man. It's such a small percent of what's really happening. You know, we just see the extremes of both sides and in education, we just see the extreme of, you know, what's going on in classrooms and craziness you see on whatever tick tock. And that's not what's really happening, man. That's just a fraction of a percent. What's really happening.
00:39:43
Speaker
Everywhere is heroic teachers are walking into the classroom every day, relentlessly loving their kids, not giving up.
Daily Heroism of Teachers
00:39:51
Speaker
And they come in and they teach with passion and they try really hard. And yeah, they get burned out and they go to choir practice after school at four 30 and they come back the next day and struggle. And yeah, but we keep going, man. And that, like, that's what I really see. I mean, that that's what's really happening in most places. Now our teachers leaving the business, for sure they are. It's harder than it's ever been.
00:40:13
Speaker
with oftentimes less support than they've ever had. But still, the vast majority of what I see are just unbelievable human beings doing the very best they can to be the one to make a difference in the lives of their kids. Yeah, one of the things that frustrates me is we are eating our own. And what I mean by that is
00:40:35
Speaker
We tend to post, I don't know what the ratio is, but the posts on social media tend to be very negative about the profession. I've been picking on this lately. Oh, I got 39 days till winter break. I got 62 days left with these kids. Oh, I got the Sunday scaries. What are you scared of? You've been doing this forever. What's so scary about Monday? You got to go to work? I don't understand that. I think we're eating our own. I try to post positives on Twitter all the time.
00:41:04
Speaker
And it's a different mindset. It's easy to post negatives. You post negatives all day long. But to post a positive takes thought. And I just wish we weren't decimating the profession with our own opinions of the negative stuff. Yeah, it is. And I'm so far the other way that... I wish people really understood what goes on. And here's what makes me mad.
00:41:33
Speaker
Like here's my level of negativity is I will see a, um, and this, this really does make me angry is I will see a, uh, someone will post a picture of a kid. I remember one was recently with, uh, kids on a stage laying down in the cafeteria. I'm on elementary school and it's an autistic student who's really struggling with over sensory stuff that day. And there's an AP that lays down next to the kid and they pulled a heavy blanket over them and just talking to the kid.
00:42:02
Speaker
And he has, you know, head on the kids, hand on the head, really want like kinesthetically, this kid now feels safe and secure and can calm down, right in the chaos of what's going on in the cafeteria.
Recognizing Positive Teaching Moments
00:42:13
Speaker
And it gets, it's what it takes a picture and it's beautiful. And it gets like a million views and all this awesome stuff. And that makes me so mad because I'm thinking that happens thousands of times a day at schools across the nation.
00:42:28
Speaker
What do you think we're doing in there? That's teaching, man. That's part of the AP job. That's what they do. Like I love, I love that the kid, the guy gets celebrated and the kids celebrated and that's like a great, but I wish people knew that's yes, it's a special moment that, but that's not a unique moment. It happens all the time. Yeah. Excellent point. Yeah. I have things like that, you know, at school all the time where if the public knew
00:42:54
Speaker
all of the great things that people and educators did daily, it would change the perception of the profession really quickly. Right. Yeah, that's the, you know, that's a jury duty theory. Like we should have like visit school.
00:43:09
Speaker
Just like jury, you got to go visit a classroom and see what's really going on because it would change things. And also the posting thing, like we don't do a good job of that either because when we have it, even school districts don't and schools don't because when that, you know, and I counsel schools and consult with schools on this all the time. It's like, listen, I'm glad your your top kid is is going to go to Carnegie Mellon. That's fantastic.
00:43:34
Speaker
But you know who gives a shit about that? The kid's mom. That's it. No one else cares. What we want to see is a kid that was finger-painting, and a teacher's hugging him, and they both have paint on their face, and they're both smiling. That's the picture we want. Yeah, see, I've been saying, nobody listens to me. In high school, they shouldn't, because I don't know anything about high school. Yeah, I'll listen to the valedictorian. That's great.
00:43:59
Speaker
But get the kid up there that's worked the jobs and had to help raise his siblings, but still managed to graduate. Let's listen to that kid, because that kid is the one that's going to do great in life. Right. Yeah, dude, one of the best things I've seen was in one of my favorite educators, Dr. Tony Hall, we were talking about this. She's in Hatch, New Mexico, Hatch Valley, where hatch chili peppers come from. And during the pandemic, there's a girl at the high school on Zoom class going to Zoom school.
00:44:30
Speaker
And she has her, and she's set up, and she's sorting chili peppers. She's in the fields, sorting chili peppers, and she doesn't want to miss class. Like, that is what we need to talk about. Like, what about that kid, man? Yeah, I agree. Like, what about that kid? It's almost like you got another book to write. Like, what about that kid? Yeah. That's probably a pretty good idea. Don't steal that. It's too late. It's already done. Or we'll work on it together, one way or the other. I just registered, whataboutthatkid.com. It's over. Damn it.
00:44:59
Speaker
All right, so yeah, I mean we're we're 45 in already time goes but fast with you if you like if governor Abbott called you down to the mansion and he said hey What's the one thing we should or we should do and one thing we should stop doing right now. What would you say? Oh My gosh, you know, I want I I really want
00:45:24
Speaker
just like everyone does at every level, not everyone, but most people want in government, I want more local control. I want schools to do what's appropriate for their kids. Like I can tell you right now, I have a feeling that the kids in your school have very different needs and kids out in rural Nevada, man. You know, and it's same where even in our own district, I live in Houston, Houston ISD is our school district.
00:45:48
Speaker
I can tell you, man, we have, you couldn't have more different schools all in the same dish with different needs. And when we try to do, you know, that's the other, you know, differentiation. Are you kidding me? We're giving them standardized tests. Why are we differentiating things? Like, you know what I mean? It's crazy. The whole thing, like, that's what I really want is allow principals to be principals. I want teachers to be allowed to teach. So that way we can allow kids to be kids.
00:46:15
Speaker
I agree, man, I agree. I guess why you and I just, I mean, just hit it off. And that's why we're here. Hey, so tell people again, I have, you know, there's a few people in Vegas to listen and a few everywhere else too. But if someone wants to get ahold of you for, you know, for mentoring teenage boys or to have you come out and supercharge their staff development day, how do they get ahold of you? And then, you know, what do you offer? What do you, you know, what do you,
00:46:44
Speaker
What do you hope to get out of that? Yeah, man. Let me talk about the professional development first. And so what we do there is, um, you know, it starts with, with, it would just contact me at, at, uh, Hal Bowman.com or on Facebook or any of the social media. It's always at Hal Bowman H A L B O W M A N. And then, um, you know, all the emails come in and I said, let's set up a time to talk. And, and that's where the conversation is. It's just really important. Cause that way I can assess needs and where they are. Cause oftentimes.
00:47:12
Speaker
Um, some people, um, know what they want, which many times is different than what they need. And so then we'll talk about, you know, wants versus needs and what the same might look like. And then, you know, we, it might be a professional development day. It might be an after-school thing. It might be, I've worked with, you know, sometimes I come in and I work with.
00:47:31
Speaker
um, what we call our most influential players in the school, where I spend the early morning, uh, with, with, with some teachers and leadership positions and administrators. I spend half the day with kids. Then we meet with team leaders. We set up mentoring programs. They come back to school and do some things to go with parents. That's the whole thing. And, and it, it all, and listen, it always comes down to the, to helping people in the most important place, which is in front of the kids, really focus on what they want for their kids.
00:47:59
Speaker
As a result of these kids spend their lives with you. If you're going to have anything for those kids, what would it be? And why are we there? Like, why this school? Why these kids? Why this profession? Why this grade level? Why this subject level? And then, and then, and then getting to the most important thing. And a lot of people think it stops there with the why. And in fact, there's this, you know, famous argument I got into with Simon Sinek that people still tease me about.
00:48:26
Speaker
I kind of thought I was going to argue with that dude, but he has that accent and he sounds so smart and has the glasses and the whole thing. And it felt like an idiot, but I think I could take him now. And for educators, that might be true of business where, you know, that whole starts with why thing, but for it is a deeper level. And that is who, like, who do we need to be for our kids?
Professional Development and Mentoring Programs
00:48:46
Speaker
Who do I need to be? Because if you didn't sign up to be somebody's mom right now, you probably shouldn't be teaching. If you sound to be somebody's dad,
00:48:53
Speaker
Like who do we need to be as a school family for our kids? And when we get to that level, that's, you know, people want an inspirational motivational thing, which is cool, but dude, that's going to wear off by Wednesday when they can't give you the finger talks about your mom. But if we can access like what we want and who we want, who we need to be and why we're here, everybody has that at their core. And we all share the same mission, the same mission, everybody.
00:49:24
Speaker
man, that's powerful dude. And that is what lasts not just for days, but for years for a campus family on the mentoring side with our blacksmith mentors, you know, man, it's, it really started out with this, you know, focusing on teenage boys. And then, uh, but we also have clients who, you know, they, you know, 30% of young men, 25 years and under are still living at home doing nothing. They're not going to school. They're not working. They're,
00:49:51
Speaker
They're on their phone, vape and THC doing, they're doing nothing, 30%. And so they're still teenagers. I mean, not chronologically, but you know, emotionally, intellectually, they oftentimes are. So we work with those young men as well. And, um, and again, same thing, you know, parents will call and we set up a time to talk, we assess what's going on in the kid and see if it's a good fit. And, you know, probably more than half the time is not because the kid has more serious dramatic issues that we just weren't on a good fit for.
00:50:19
Speaker
And, um, but often, but when it's just a regular, typical kid struggling, trying to figure out how to launch and, um, and just be a, you know, a positive young man that, uh, like that's, that's where we really thrive with those kids. Awesome, man. Hey, it's a way, what do you got going on this week? Where are you going this week?
00:50:39
Speaker
Dude, I'm in town all week. We got a ton of mentoring stuff happening for the young man. And then I go back out. I'm going to the University of Southern Indiana and Dr. Rob Carroll put that together. And he was used to be, he was an amazing principal at the 1199 in Henderson, Kentucky. And now he's a professor at, at USI. And he put together a big teacher thing for new teachers coming into the business. So we're going to go keynote that thing and crush it and have an amazing time.
00:51:08
Speaker
Awesome, man. Well, I'd like to publicly say thank you. You've been great just to bounce stuff off over the past few months, and I appreciate all your advice and everything. And your perspective is definitely valued by at least one person out in Vegas. Nice. I'll take it. Appreciate the time, man, and have a great Sunday. Thank you, brother. Appreciate you.