March 18, 2025 • 43 mins
Tired of the hype about living the dream? We're diving into some real talk about education and how we can actually make a difference! With the ever-dwindling standardized test scores, it’s time to shake things up and figure out how to restore joy in learning.
We’re joined by the fabulous Trish Wilkinson, who’s on a mission to transform classrooms into happy learning spaces through five brain-friendly practices that engage kids and make teaching a blast! So, whether you're a parent, a teacher, or just someone who loves a good giggle and wants to see real change, stick around as we unpack these tools and get ready to create a life filled with purpose, prosperity, and joy. Let’s jump in and figure out how we can serve our kids and empower them to thrive!
Takeaways:
- This episode emphasizes the importance of finding joy in education and creating engaging learning environments for students.
- Trish Wilkinson shares her mission to improve children's learning and restore joy in education through simple, effective practices.
- The conversation highlights the need for teachers to incorporate social and emotional learning into their classrooms to foster better student outcomes.
- Listeners are encouraged to understand their purpose in learning, which can significantly enhance their engagement and motivation.
More About Trish:
Trish talked about her book: Brain Stages: How to Raise Smart, Confident Kids and Have Fun Doing It, K-5 - available on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L75KY7B/ (kindle version).
Visit her website to learn more about her amazing programs for parents: thebrainstages.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Welcome to the show.
Tired of the hype about livingthe dream?
It's time for truth.
This is the place for tools,power and real talk so you can create
the life you dream and deserveyour ultimate life.
Subscribe, share, create.
(00:24):
You have infinite power.
Hello, and welcome to thisepisode of your ultimate life Life.
The podcast is dedicated toone thing, and that's to help you
create a life that you love.
A life of purpose, prosperity,and joy by serving with the gifts
and life experience that youhave today.
(00:46):
I'm grateful to have TrishWilkinson as a guest.
Welcome to the show, Trish.
Hi.
I'm excited to be here.
I love this podcast.
I mean, I've listened to awhole bunch of episodes and I thought,
I get to be a guest on this podcast.
I feel very grateful and privileged.
Well, I'm grateful andprivileged to have you here.
(01:08):
One of the things that I thinkis, you know, we were just talking
beforehand about the, thejourney each, each person has.
And some people are overcomeby their journeys and they're destroyed
and others, you know, thingshappen to them and instead of ruining
them that they let thosethings refine them.
(01:31):
And how we got where we are tohaving a passion and a story and
I know your passion willexplore as we go along is really
the, the blessing that we haveto offer others how we got there,
because people see us at thetop of something and they think,
ooh, that's cool, but I couldnever do that.
(01:51):
And they don't know how yougot there.
And that, that sharing of thatis so powerful.
It's literally the power thatwe have.
Anyway, so the first questionI want to ask you as we start is
I don't want you to be bashfulat all.
I want you to be open andeffusive, as it were.
And I want you to tell us howTrish is adding good to the world.
(02:16):
Well, so I'm on a mission,actually, Kellen.
I want to hear all about it.
So I'm on a mission to restorejoy in education and improve kids
learning because we just gotanother, we being the United States
just got another set of scores out.
You know, the, the scores thatthey take the standardized tests
(02:38):
and they're the lowest in mathand reading ever.
And it's been, we've beenreally struggling.
And some schools, you know, itdepends on the school and the area
and all of those things, butsome schools are.
So some are doing better than others.
But right now, overall as acountry, we're really struggling.
(02:59):
It was, we were strugglingbefore COVID then Covid hit.
And now it's worse than ever.
Even though we're working onthings like social and emotional
learning and trying tounderstand where kids are and helping
them develop the social skillsand manage their emotions and develop
empathy and all those kinds of things.
But teachers don't have timefor a whole new curriculum.
(03:22):
They already didn't have timein their schedules to do all the
other things that they'reasked to do by administrators.
So I want to ask you something.
I want you.
Keep going.
Just put a comma right there.
Okay.
How.
How do we compare?
You said it's the lowest it'sbeen in forever.
How do we compare with othercountries, European countries or
Scandinavian countries?
(03:43):
How do we compare with those?
In those same.
Are the scores such thatthey're comparable?
How do you.
How do we tell.
So we're not taking the sametests all over the world so we can
kind of, you know, look attheir scores and what's on their
test versus our scores andwhat's on our tests?
It's not exactly comparingapples and oranges.
(04:05):
I mean, it's kind of comparingapples and oranges, but at least
it's all fruit, if that makes sense.
Yeah, it does.
And that's a good way to say it.
So.
So.
And.
And we are not, in ourcountry, not doing as well as, you
know, places in Europe andvarious other places.
So I thought that.
And I want you.
I'm going on a thread here,and I want you to come with me.
(04:27):
And that is.
I thought I.
I made that up.
I didn't know that.
I thought that might be true.
And you said, you know,they're trying to have all these
curriculums of emotionalwellness and these skills and that
skills.
Do those schools in Europethat we're comparing to, do they
teach all that stuff?
So they teach a certain amountof it.
They call it social hygiene orsocial and emotional hygiene, something
(04:52):
like that.
And my daughter taught Englishin Cali, Columbia, for six months.
And when she was in theschools there, they actually have
a curriculum that they work onsocial and emotional hygiene.
So they're doing that in other countries.
But I feel like in ourcountry, we've gotten so into, you
(05:16):
know, off on tangents as to,you know, who's what gender and how
people identify and all kindsof all kinds of other things.
And the bottom line is we justwant people to be empathetic and
care about other people.
So.
So that was my question.
That was my thread.
(05:36):
The thread was, we're notdoing so well in the world.
I realize there's some applesand oranges, they do some of what
we do, but not enough.
We've got a bunch of tangentsthat it seems like we're going on.
And so my fundamental questionthat made me wander down that thread
is if we suck, why do we suck?
I mean, we have technology, wehave wealth, we have all this, why
(06:00):
are we, why are we struggling?
And I realize that teachersare overwhelmed and you're going
to talk more about that laterin terms of implementing what you
want to help them understand.
But why are we struggling so much?
You know, to me.
So here's a little anecdotalexperience, okay?
(06:21):
So I approached a schooldistrict and said, look, I have these
five brain friendly practicesthat we could do in the classroom.
That we could do exactly whatI'm talking about.
Create the environment forsocial and emotional learning kids,
you know, restore joy andeducation for both kids and teachers
because they know the kids arestressed out, the teachers are stressed
(06:42):
out.
And we've had this, thesestudies because all the five practices
are science based.
And the reason I justdiscovered them is because I was
teaching at the same schoolwhere my children were going to school
in elementary school.
And my kids, my own children,I felt like they were failing.
(07:04):
I had one kid who was superanxious all the time.
She wet her pants a lot.
We had to have, you know, intosecond and third grade, we had to
just bring extra clothes toschool for her because she just was
having such a hard time functioning.
And then my, my other daughterhad attention issues and auditory
processing issues.
And, you know, so here I'msupposed to be an expert with kids
(07:28):
and my own are just not doingso well.
So I thought, I, I have tofigure this out.
So I talked to, you know, Italked to their pediatrician first.
I read all these books andarticles and studies and you know,
I talked to a neurologist andpsychologists and you get the idea.
(07:49):
I just went on this quest.
I was like, I gotta help these kids.
These are my own kids.
And my husband was like, okay,you're doing all this stuff for everybody
else's kids, but ours arereally struggling and you're the
expert, I don't really knowwhat to do.
And I was just like, I'mhaving a hard time figuring that
out myself.
So, so basically I did a lotof these things with my own children
(08:11):
and it worked really well.
Our younger daughter stoppedwetting her pants.
She developed confidence.
She actually graduatedvaledictorian in her high school
in an internationalbaccalaureate program.
Wow.
And the, the other daughterended up doing way better.
And, and she's a verysuccessful software engineer now,
(08:33):
which if you'd have told me mykids would be so successful, I would
have laughed.
I would have said, well, Ihope you're right because, because
that's not how things weregoing at the time.
So when we were talkingearlier and you were saying, you
know, your own story, there'sa reason that we get to where we
are.
But the, but the thing thathappened after that is I was like,
(08:55):
you know, if this stuff worksso well for my own children, maybe
it'll work in my classroom.
And so I just plugged in thesefive brain friendly practices into
my classroom and just amazing,amazing things happen.
So we started, I started withthe question, how are you adding
good to the world?
And you started telling meabout these practices.
(09:16):
And then I took us off on atangent about how come our school
system's in so much trouble.
I think we're asking teachersto do so many things and, and there's
been so much technology that'sbeen taking the place of, of human
communication and we'refiguring, and a lot of this technology
(09:37):
in the last, you know, coupleof generations, it's still fairly
new, even though it's so mucha part of our lives.
Like, you know, look how we'retalking now, right?
And even having a meeting andlooking at each other, I mean, on
the podcast they don't see that.
But the point is, is we havethis technology now where we can
do all kinds of things that weweren't able to do before.
(09:59):
But now society is adjusting.
How are we, how do we engage kids?
Like people are always sayingthings about gen Zers, you know,
Generation Z, how they don'thave an attention span and they,
you know, just all thesedisparaging things, they, they don't.
Anyway, the point is gen zersjust don't have the patience to do
(10:23):
things that in their opiniondon't have a purpose if they don't
have a why, if they don't havea reason for doing so.
One of the practices is tohelp kids tell them what they're
going to learn, put it into anAI because you know, ChatGPT or you
know, whatever you're usingand say, how can an 8 year old child
(10:43):
use elapsed time in their lifeif that's a math concept or how can
a 15 year old use thisgeometric concept in their life and
it'll spit out all of thisstuff and the kids look at it and
go, oh my gosh, I can use thisin all these ways, and then we say,
(11:04):
yeah, pick a couple of them.
And, you know, that resonatewith you.
Start asking questions in yourmind like, you know, what would this
look like if I was doing thisin my life?
And be thinking about that asyou're learning this material, it,
it just turns it all upside down.
I mean, the, the teachers whoare doing this, and for me, myself,
(11:25):
I used to feel like Sisyphus,you know, rolling the rock up the
hill, trying to get the kids engaged.
And then the next thing I knewis rolling back on top of my head,
right?
You know, they're all staringout the window and so.
Yeah, but again, helping themdefine a purpose for what they're
learning and how they're goingto use it.
I, I just don't even have tothink about engagement anymore.
(11:49):
They're engaged because theyhave a reason.
They know the why we're notteaching things out of context anymore
because they have a purposefor learning it.
And then there's a couple ofreally good things I want to, I'm
sticking in here.
There's a couple of reallygood things.
One is the shift to the context.
Meaning you're saying at leastthat group must have a reason or
(12:09):
it's.
They don't have, they don'thave patience for it.
And that probably comes tosome degree from the immediacy of
technology and everything else.
And that's a very interesting thing.
And then the outcome of thatis as soon as they have it, then
the engagement happens of itself.
So I want you to tell me, Iwant you to tell us the five brain
(12:31):
friendly practices.
Tell me what they are thatchanges the world, changes the game,
changes in the classroom.
What are they?
So the first one is we givekids five.
Well, if they're elementaryschool, we can give them 10 minutes
of exercise and last them all day.
You know, we used to walk toschool or ride our bikes or whatever.
(12:51):
Now we drop the kids off, theytake the bus, right?
So basically they're coming toschool and their, their brains are
asleep.
But you can't do that inmiddle school or high school.
You only have the kids forlike 50 minutes, unless you're doing
block scheduling.
So.
So I have them do it for like90 seconds if they want to spend
a little longer than they can,but even 90 seconds of exercise.
(13:14):
And I have all kinds of funlittle things that they can do with
kids, all kinds of movementthat they can do with kids to just
raise their heartbeat enoughso that the oxygen gets to their
brain, all the chemicalsstart, you know, Start moving the
way they're supposed to.
In their brain, theirelectrons start.
Or their electrons.
(13:35):
They're.
Neurons start firing.
Neurons.
There we go.
Yeah, the neurons.
So that their neural pathwaysare all firing.
So it gets their brains ingear and think about it even.
And usually the movement is alittle bit silly.
So in the beginning they'relike, I'm not going to do this.
And then everyone else isdoing it, and so they start doing
it.
(13:56):
And there's this mirror neuronthing that happens.
So the teacher is doing it, sothey're doing it.
And.
And a lot of it has to do withthe, you know, with the teachers.
Well, I'm not sure I'mcomfortable with that.
A teacher told me, and I said,so, do you want your kids engaged?
I mean, I get that it'suncomfortable, but, you know, doing
(14:16):
something that might make youa little uncomfortable or think of
things that you'll feel morecomfortable doing.
If you don't like that ideafor doing that particular physical
exercise, let's think of somethings that'll work for you that
you'll feel comfortable doing.
Wake up.
Wake up.
The body, whether it's 10minutes or 90 seconds depends on
context and who you're doingand everything.
But wake up and get stuff moving.
(14:38):
All right, what's number two?
Number two is water.
So our brains are 73% water.
And most kids come to schoolof all ages dehydrated.
So one of the reasons we eatbreakfast and the things kids eat
for breakfast, sometimes theycome, you know, without any food
in their bellies.
Sometimes they've just had anenergy drink.
(15:00):
They need water.
There is no substitute for water.
So I have them all bring theirown personalized water bottle with
their name on it to school.
And they get a couple of swigsof water before they start.
Because a lot of times whenkids complain about headaches or
they're tired or they have astomachache or any of those things,
(15:23):
a lot of them are just signsof dehydration.
And if we can just give kidsnot so much that they're running
to the bathroom every five minutes.
Because I made that mistakewhen I first started doing it.
I imagine you did.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I started it with fourthgrade, and they were so excited about
being able to have a waterbottle and drinking it all the time.
They.
(15:43):
They were just running the.
But we worked that out withinthe first week.
I said, okay, we gotta modify this.
And I had the kids help me.
So what does that look like?
So, but so now it's just okay,everybody take a couple of swigs
of water.
You know, not too much.
We, you know, you know whatwe're talking about here.
So they just take a couple ofswigs of water and I can't even tell
(16:03):
you the difference.
Just a little bit of water makes.
It's crazy.
Wow.
But it, so, but it's how ourbrains work.
Yeah, 73%.
Yeah, I didn't know that.
So.
All right, one, two, at move,wake up, have a little water.
Keep your brain, you know, hydrated.
And what's number three?
Number three is we play alittle brain game because we never
(16:25):
know where, how kids come intothe classroom.
And the cool thing about thebrain games is that like, for example,
one of the things I love to dois play with them.
Add a move, and we also dolike, add a sound.
I make a move, then we makethe same move and a kid makes another
move.
Then we make another move andwe keep adding moves.
(16:46):
Because one of the things thatdoes is it improves working memory,
which is executive brain function.
Right.
But the other thing it does isif the kid just had somebody say
something mean to them in thehallway, or they got in trouble that
morning, or they had a fightwith their big sister or whatever
the case may be, they come infrom all kinds of different situations.
(17:08):
And what happens is, is whenthey're focused on a little game
like that, and all theselittle games are funny, so it just
allows them to relax.
It takes at least 90 secondsto work through the cortisol, the
stress hormone in your brainand replace it with dopamine and
other happy hormones.
And so we just play a 90second brain game and then we take
(17:31):
three deep breaths, becausethose deep breaths are a trigger.
Because after you've beendoing this for a while, then they
know, oh, we're getting into learning.
So what we've done, and I callthese first three practices, we prepare
kids brains for learning.
So elementary school, they'lldo it.
If they do 10 minutes ofexercise, it's 14 minutes.
(17:52):
If they do it in middle orhigh school, it's four minutes because
they're only doing 90 secondsof exercise and they're.
And then they're taking a swigof water and they're doing 90 seconds
of a brain game and then thedeep breaths.
So it's super practical.
And that four minutes saves somuch time because their brains are
(18:14):
ready to go.
I believe you.
You know, I.
People talk about that.
And I, you know, you and Ihave talked before, or at least I've
talked about it in placeswhere you've been about morning rituals
and how we prepare ourselvesfor the day.
And mine's long, two and ahalf hours.
And people say I don't havethat kind of time.
And the answer is, createsfive hours.
Exactly.
So, exactly, you know, whatever.
(18:37):
So I can't, I love this.
Keep going.
What's number four?
So you've prepared my brainfor learning, then what?
So it's prepare, purpose, process.
So the next thing we do is weget the beginning of the week, we
give kids a purpose for whatthey're going to be learning.
So at middle school or highschool, they know basically what
(18:57):
they're going to be coveringin that subject.
So if they're teaching aconcept in math or they're, they're
teaching about a period insocial studies or if they're reading
something, you get the idea inelementary school.
Elementary school they learnto do it, you know, much quicker
(19:19):
because they're teaching a lotof subjects.
So they do this several times,maybe on a Monday, but then they
don't do it again until Friday.
And what happens when we givekids a pregnancy purpose for their
learning?
Eliminate.
So when I was doing it, when Ifirst started doing this, we didn't
have any AI, so we had to comeup, I had to look things up ahead
of time.
(19:39):
I would ask the kids what theythought, we'd brainstorm.
It took way longer, but now ittakes like five minutes because now
we just use like Chat GBT orone of the other AIs and we say how
can an 8 year old third graderor 8 or 9 year old third grader use
this particular math conceptin their life?
(20:01):
Or we're, we're reading thisstory because Chat GBT has everything,
right?
So we're reading this storyand it has these themes and a lot
of times you know, Chat GPTwill know, you know, they'll even
be familiar with the story.
How can an 8 year old student,a 6 year old student, 12 year old
(20:27):
student, however old the kidis, use this, the concepts in this
story in their lives and it'lljust spit out 10, 10 ways it does
that.
And I love that.
I'll, I use that too.
I'm not going to describe itbecause it'll just take too long,
but I do.
So number five, so you gavethem a purpose, you prepared the
brain, you gave him a purpose.
I want to say one more thingabout purpose because this is really
(20:48):
important.
All right.
They have to look at the listand they have to choose what resonates
with them.
We can't say, see all thesegreat things it does for you.
We need to take the extra twominutes to say, let's go over the
list and.
And you write down in yourjournal what resonates with you,
what is important to you.
(21:08):
How do you think you might usethis in your life and know that throughout
the week you may sparksomething else and think, oh, now
this is my purpose.
Your purpose might change, butwhat's really important for you to
do is know what we're going tobe learning and then have a reason
to learn it.
You have your why.
That's your purpose.
(21:29):
Because think about how muchbetter our lives are when we have
purpose, no matter what we're doing.
So I wanted to say that beforewe moved on, because this is a really
important step.
Yeah, it is.
Thank you.
So number five.
Number five is process.
So at the end of the week, wetalk about, you know, it's thinking
(21:50):
about thinking.
Right.
At the.
At the end of the week, weallow their brains an opportunity
to process what they learned.
And I just would set thetimer, and they would write in their
journal.
Okay, we, you know, for thisstory that we've learned, what have
you learned?
And how do you think you canuse those concepts in your life?
Here's the timer.
I'm setting it for five minutes.
(22:11):
Ready, go.
And they write for five minutes.
And then.
And you have to modify it fordifferent age groups.
And, you know, I get all that,but for the sake of the podcast,
so.
So they write in a journal,and then the timer goes off, and
then they get a partner.
And I would encourage them toget different partners each time.
And so they're sharing whatthey learned and how they're going
(22:35):
to use it.
And I would hear in theclassroom at first, in the beginning,
I would hear, oh, my gosh, Ididn't even think of that.
I'm going to put that in my journal.
And then another kid wouldsay, hey, you can't use that.
That was my idea.
And I'd say, wait, so youdon't want to be a leader?
And they'd say, what do you mean?
(22:56):
And I'd say, that's literallywhat being a leader is.
Somebody sees what you'redoing, they see something, and they
go, wow, that's awesome.
I want to do that, too.
And that's exactly what beinga leader is.
And they're like, oh, yeah,okay, you can put that in your journal.
And I say, I would encourageall of you that if you hear something
(23:16):
that you didn't think of toPut in your journal, definitely add
it.
Because our world.
Would you agree that our worldneeds some good leaders?
And they're like, oh, yeah.
And I'd say, okay, well, solet's have everyone in this classroom
be a good leader, come up withgood ideas that people want to follow
that.
That people can hang on to,that you can contribute to other
(23:38):
people.
So then they start doing this.
So those are the fivepractices, and here's the magic.
You ready?
Yes.
Give me the magic.
So when they've been doingthis for a few weeks, like the third
or fourth week, I have theteachers and what I did is start
handing it off to the kids.
So in the beginning, does ittake a little longer because you're
(24:00):
planning it, it's something new.
Yeah.
But then you start handing itoff to the kids.
So it's a student who leadsthe physical exercise, and it's a
student who leads, you know,reminding everybody to get a drink
of water.
They lead the brain game.
They lead coming up with a purpose.
They put the information into.
(24:21):
Into an AI and they come up,you know, they have it come up on
the screen because they havethese big screens in the classrooms
now.
And they come up on the bigscreen, it all, you know, spits it
out, and they can read it all.
And they're the ones that arerunning it.
And then it's a student thatruns the process.
Okay, everybody, we're gonna do.
(24:41):
We're gonna process what welearned about this and this subject,
whatever they're doing this week.
So everybody get out your journals.
They lead it, and we let themknow, guys, we really need your support.
And you start with yourgregarious, really outgoing kids.
And you say, make sure you'rereally kind to the people who are
(25:02):
up here leading it.
Because everyone in here getsa turn to do every one of these practices.
And then I would have kidsdesign a chart for who gets to do
it, what date, and whenthey're going to do it.
And if somebody's anxiousabout it, they can work with each
other on.
On being anxious.
How can you feel about it?
And we work on.
Like, that's one of the thingsabout the breathing, the brain games,
(25:25):
that kind of stuff.
So it's.
So it's all it.
The social and emotionallearning is embedded with the academic
learning.
Well, certainly, becausethey're leading it.
So that's fabulous.
So I'm really excited.
That's when the magic happens.
Because just consider.
Because at first, you know,they can, you know, they can tease
each other a little.
(25:45):
And I'll say, okay, you gottaknow what comes around goes around.
You're gonna have a turn to do this.
Do you want people to get.
And they're like, oh, never mind.
Good job.
Right, right, right, right.
And, well, and the other thingis then the gregarious kids have
been up.
A real shy kid comes up.
They're nervous as heck.
They come up and the.
And the kids go, I know, I wasnervous too.
(26:07):
You can totally do this.
So it becomes this verysupportive, amazing environment.
And.
And the first year I did this,I did it with a really rough class
that I was like, oh, my gosh,I don't know how I'm going to get
through this school year.
I don't know how I'm going toget through this week, much less
the school year.
And it ended up, you know, weended up getting the highest scores
(26:27):
and in the school for ourgrade level.
And the following year when Idid this in sixth grade, we got the
highest scores in the district.
And it wasn't me that I'm so amazing.
That's why I'm teaching otherpeople to do it.
So thank you.
I think.
I know it took some minutes todo all that.
I'm really grateful becausewhat occurs to me is, yeah, you're
(26:48):
putting that in as a practicefor school, but it's also a practice
for anyone and everyonebecause our brain's still.
The brain.
Processing.
Still processing.
Having a purpose is stillhaving a purpose.
So I want you.
Exactly.
So I want to know how you toldme a little bit like, you had your
own kids and they were havingtrouble and you figured this stuff
(27:10):
out so that it would work forthem and then for your own class,
and that worked.
What is it?
I mean, now your kids aregrown up and they're all successful
and you win.
So what is it that's inTrisha's heart that makes her now
an evangelist that iscommitted to helping other people
learn this.
(27:30):
Like, why is that so importantin your heart?
Because I see so many people suffering.
We are losing so many teacherswho are just exhausted and overwhelmed
and feeling like I can't getthese kids engaged.
And.
And kids are so anxious and, and.
(27:50):
And the thing is, is these aresuch simple processes.
Like, we look at this pro.
These problems that we'rehaving in education, not just here
in the United States.
It's happening all over theplace because I do a lot of international
stuff.
So it's not just the United States.
It's happening everywhere.
And we look at this as, like,almost like it's an Insurmountable
(28:14):
problem.
And it's not.
And it's actually, you know.
And are these only these fivepractices the only things that we
need to do?
Well, maybe not the onlythings, but if everybody's doing
these five practices, oh mygosh, what a difference it would
make.
And then there are otherthings to add to it.
So.
So my passion is we don't needto be in the state we're in, in this,
(28:39):
in this country, in thisworld, as far as education, people
can learn to be problemsolvers again.
People can learn to, toinstead of living out of fear, you
know, we talk, we hear aboutthe, the polls between love and fear.
Right?
Yeah.
And we can operate a lot moreout of love if we take a lot of the
(29:01):
fear away.
And, and these practices,that's what it helps them do.
It helps the kids build self confidence.
They start working togetherand becoming a community.
It's what, what's burning inmy heart is.
I feel like this is a program,a problem that we can solve.
(29:22):
We can improve communicationand we can improve education all
over the planet, and we canuse the technology in a positive
way that instead of separatingus, it can bring us together, you
know, just like using it for purpose.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And so I know that you havebeen on a mission to get it in school
(29:46):
districts, and you've told mebefore that, that, you know, teachers
are overwhelmed and they havetoo many things and they can't.
Can't do it.
So tell me a little bit aboutyour journey, where you are now in
terms of initial places, interms of some beta testing, you know,
to get some kind of rollout,like what kind of things are happening
(30:09):
and does the recent, any ofthe recent political changes matter
to you or is that indifferent?
What's been your journey toget this in?
And I know there's been a lotof frustration, but talk a little
bit about that, because here'swhy I want that.
I don't want the story of woe.
Although it might sound likethat sometimes.
I want to highlight your ownpersonal determination and commitment
(30:30):
to make this happen.
Because the idea of creatingyour ultimate life of purpose, prosperity
and joy is founded on awillingness to persevere and to do
hard stuff and to keep goingbecause nobody ever fell up the mountain.
So tell me a little bit about.
That journey because no oneever fell up the mountain.
Yeah, that gravity thing justreally gets in the way.
(30:51):
Yeah.
So.
Well, I'm in the process ofthat right now, truthfully.
I'm doing the second cohortwith a Handful of teachers.
And I'm actually working withco homeschooling parents as well,
because homeschooling parentsare having trouble with education,
keeping their kids engagedjust like everyone else.
So I really am looking at.
(31:12):
Look, however kids are gettingeducated, I.
I don't have any.
You know, some people areagainst charter schools, some people
are.
Again, you know, there are allthese opinions about all these things.
For me, I just want teachers,educators, whether they're parents
or, you know, teachers at acharter, at a.
(31:32):
I've worked with teachers atcharter schools, private schools,
public schools, wherever, allage groups now, elementary, middle
school and high school.
And we've had to modify thepractices somewhat for age groups,
but it's pretty universalthat, wow, this, you're right.
This, this really works.
(31:53):
What's really been difficultfor me is teachers are so overwhelmed.
They're just like, I can't doone more thing.
And I just say to them, oh mygosh, this will save you so much
time and you'll feel so much better.
But, but they are, they feellike they're just maxed out, that
(32:14):
they don't have any more togive, and they feel like learning
something new would be onemore thing.
So I'm.
And I will tell you, I'vealmost quit this lots of times.
I mean, and every timesomething else will happen, I'll
go.
And it's like the universe islaughing at me going, you're not
getting out of this.
(32:36):
So.
Because it is really hard, andI feel like I've done all this work.
I have made very little moneydoing it, but it's a labor of love
for me.
So, you know, I really want tosee education improved.
I.
I mean, I want teachers to goback to where I started.
When I first started teaching,I was like, oh my gosh, they're paying
(32:58):
me for this.
This is so much fun.
And I felt like that in thebeginning because I bring in my guitar
and my rhythm instruments.
I taught a bunch of stuffwith, you know, music and, you know,
I'd make up songs, they'd makeup songs.
So my little kids, when Itaught first grade, it was a great
way for them to learn to read.
It was a great way for mysecond language students who were
learning English to learn English.
(33:20):
And, and I love music, so.
So I was just like, I can'tbelieve they're paying me for this.
But then I too was just like,you know, they pile more and more
and more on that teachers haveto do it.
It's exhausting.
And I thought, I don't know.
And then it came to a headwhen I had this really difficult
fourth grade class and Ithought, I don't know what I'm going
(33:41):
to do.
And then I started pluggingthese things and went, holy mackerel,
this is ridiculous.
So, I mean, my passion indoing all this is that I know it's
surmountable.
I know that it can work, butit is hard.
I'm in my second cohort and Ionly have a handful of teachers that
(34:02):
I'm working with right now.
And I really am looking for a school.
I feel like once I get aschool, I talk to the administrator,
I talk to the teachers, tellthem what's expected in the fall
and really get them going andexcited about it and show them that
it's a lot easier than theythink it would be and that it's going
(34:23):
to take them less time, not more.
And then they get to enjoytheir jobs again and they're.
And they increase their scoresand, you know, just all of that,
because I feel like thecommunity of a whole school doing
this stuff together would alsocreate just amazing miracles rather
than just having teachers hereand there.
(34:45):
But I haven't been able tofind that yet.
I'm looking.
Yeah.
I want to know people that are listening.
I want to.
I want two things from you now.
And that is where.
Where can someone go right nowto whether they're a homeschooling
parent listening to this or aperson that's affiliated with education
in some way.
(35:05):
Where can they go to read moreabout this, your website, or some
explanation of this?
Do you have a place where theycan go and take a look and learn
a little bit?
Yes.
So they can go to thebrainstages.com and go to the Empowered
School tab.
It's called the EmpoweredSchool Project.
(35:26):
Okay.
That is thebrainstages.com andthe empowered School Project.
And, you know, I've had the.
The privilege of having, youknow, conversations with you about
this and hearing some of this,although I'd never heard you describe
the five things like you didthis time.
And I'm excited for it, too.
And I.
I have this, this sort offoreboding sense about, you know,
(35:50):
this thing we call educationthat isn't very functional now, and
I'm not even involved in it,but I just have this feeling and
I love the idea of returningsome joy and some fun.
And my sister taught secondgrade for 20 years before she went
back and got her PhD and thenended up teaching at university.
(36:11):
But, you know, she did a lotof Things in music and stuff.
But that was years ago, and itdoesn't feel like that kind of stuff.
You know, that spontaneity oranything gets to happen anymore.
Am I nuts or is that real?
I think it depends on the teacher.
I know teachers, like, eventhis is a story.
(36:31):
So at one point I had to.
Our school district said thatteachers had to write the standards
on the board for what theywere teaching that day.
And, you know, I always hadpretty good scores, and a lot of
it was because I taught withother modalities like art and music
and whatever.
But.
(36:51):
So the principal would do awalkthrough and he'd say, I don't
see your standards on the board.
And I'd say, so what do youwant me to cut out?
Like, I help with the runningclub, you know, I listed all the
things I do in the school.
Yeah.
And.
And I said, so what would youlike me to do to cut out so that
I can take the time to makesure that I get the standards up
(37:14):
there for, you know, for whatI'm teaching?
Because I already do thispurpose thing that has meaning for
the kids much more than thestandard, you know, the jargon basically,
that the standards use.
Right.
So what was the answer?
And he said, actually, I wouldlike you to keep doing what you're
(37:36):
doing.
And, and let's.
I said, and you know what?
Just look at my scores at theend of the year, and if you're not
happy, then we can haveanother discussion.
I don't want to beinsubordinate or, you know, difficult
in any way, but I can't takeany more time from my family.
I just.
There has to be a boundary there.
So.
(37:56):
So he said, well, okay, we'llsee what happens.
And by.
By mid year, he was having allthese people marching through my
classroom to see what I wasdoing because I was doing the practices
right.
And so they would watch what Iwas doing.
Different people fromdifferent, you know, newer teachers
from different schools,administrators, you know, I love
(38:17):
it.
So I want to ask you one.
One final, final thing.
Two final things, actually.
One is, I want.
I understand the brain stagesand empowered schools.
Great.
If someone wants to find outmore about.
See, I've.
I've heard your journey now,and we talked in the beginning about
the.
How you got where you are isthe most important thing.
(38:38):
And I'm fascinated.
And so you said, well, gee, Idon't have much of a story.
And I.
I would just flat out disagree.
So if somebody wants to know alittle bit more about You.
Is there any place that that'savailable, or do you.
Are you only the school lady?
Like, how can we find out moreabout how you got where?
(39:00):
I'm not sure.
I mean, I haven't written abook on that.
I mean, I wrote Brain Stages,how to Raise Smart, Confident Kids
and have Fun Doing It.
And in there, there are quoteunquote, real deal stories that talk
about several experiences.
We have the name of that book.
Again, slower, because I wanteverybody to be able to hear that.
Okay.
It's called Brain Stages, howto Raise Smart, Confident Kids and
(39:24):
have Fun Doing It.
I believe raising kids andeducating kids should be fun.
So it's basically, this iskind of where your child's brain
development is at this age,although all kids are different,
obviously, but.
And this is kind of where theyare socially at this age.
And this is what they'resupposed to learn in this grade.
(39:45):
Kindergarten through five.
It's.
It's kindergarten throughfifth grade.
And here are a whole bunch offun games to play to make sure they
get the need, their needs met,no matter what's going on at school.
And a lot of teachers actuallyuse that book because it has, you
know, if they have kids whoare having trouble learning something
or they just want to change itup a little bit or whatever, and
they're teaching a certainconcept, then they'll play the games
(40:06):
that are in the book becausethey don't require a lot of equipment
or any of that kind of stuff.
And it's just fun.
There's nutrition stuff.
So if they want to find outabout me, there are several quote,
unquote, real deal stories in there.
And then there's moreinformation, like, about me stuff
on.
On my website.
All right, good.
Thank you.
So the last question is, whatdidn't I ask you that you want people
(40:29):
to know?
I'm not exactly sure how toanswer that.
What didn't you ask?
I don't know, because I feellike the most important message that
I want people to get from thisis if you are feeling upset about
(40:54):
what's going on in our worldright now, I want you to know that
we have the tools, thetechnology, the research, all that
stuff.
We have everything we need torecreate what's going on in our world.
And like you said, like thefive practices, I've had dads come
(41:14):
up to me after parentpresentations because I don't just
do this for schools.
I also do it for parents.
And he said, you know, I havemy own business, and I did this stuff
with my staff.
Oh, my gosh, I can't believethe difference, he said.
I can sure see how this worksfor kids.
I can totally get on boardwith that.
So I want to thank you, Trish,for being here with us today, for
(41:37):
being open and fun and makingthis a joyful and educating experience
for me and for everybody.
Thank you.
Well, thanks for having me.
I this is my passion, so Ilove to talk about it.
I want to encourage all of youto listen again, whether you're a
kid, whether you're an adult,and to think about these Preparation
(42:00):
is so important.
Understanding your purpose andprocessing what you have learned,
no matter what it's from, froma difficult experience or from anything,
is so powerful and is right inline with everything that we talk
about here.
To create your ultimate life.
Never hold back and you'llnever ask why.
(42:24):
Open your heart in this timearound, right here, right now, your
opportunity for mass andgrowth is right in front of you.
Every episode gives youpractical tips and practices that
will change everything.
If you want to know more, goto kellenfluekegermedia.com if you
(42:46):
want more free tools, go here.
YourUltimateLife CA Subscribe SA.
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(00:24):
You have infinite power.
Hello, and welcome to thisepisode of your ultimate life Life.
The podcast is dedicated toone thing, and that's to help you
create a life that you love.
A life of purpose, prosperity,and joy by serving with the gifts
and life experience that youhave today.
(00:46):
I'm grateful to have TrishWilkinson as a guest.
Welcome to the show, Trish.
Hi.
I'm excited to be here.
I love this podcast.
I mean, I've listened to awhole bunch of episodes and I thought,
I get to be a guest on this podcast.
I feel very grateful and privileged.
Well, I'm grateful andprivileged to have you here.
(01:08):
One of the things that I thinkis, you know, we were just talking
beforehand about the, thejourney each, each person has.
And some people are overcomeby their journeys and they're destroyed
and others, you know, thingshappen to them and instead of ruining
them that they let thosethings refine them.
(01:31):
And how we got where we are tohaving a passion and a story and
I know your passion willexplore as we go along is really
the, the blessing that we haveto offer others how we got there,
because people see us at thetop of something and they think,
ooh, that's cool, but I couldnever do that.
(01:51):
And they don't know how yougot there.
And that, that sharing of thatis so powerful.
It's literally the power thatwe have.
Anyway, so the first questionI want to ask you as we start is
I don't want you to be bashfulat all.
I want you to be open andeffusive, as it were.
And I want you to tell us howTrish is adding good to the world.
(02:16):
Well, so I'm on a mission,actually, Kellen.
I want to hear all about it.
So I'm on a mission to restorejoy in education and improve kids
learning because we just gotanother, we being the United States
just got another set of scores out.
You know, the, the scores thatthey take the standardized tests
(02:38):
and they're the lowest in mathand reading ever.
And it's been, we've beenreally struggling.
And some schools, you know, itdepends on the school and the area
and all of those things, butsome schools are.
So some are doing better than others.
But right now, overall as acountry, we're really struggling.
(02:59):
It was, we were strugglingbefore COVID then Covid hit.
And now it's worse than ever.
Even though we're working onthings like social and emotional
learning and trying tounderstand where kids are and helping
them develop the social skillsand manage their emotions and develop
empathy and all those kinds of things.
But teachers don't have timefor a whole new curriculum.
(03:22):
They already didn't have timein their schedules to do all the
other things that they'reasked to do by administrators.
So I want to ask you something.
I want you.
Keep going.
Just put a comma right there.
Okay.
How.
How do we compare?
You said it's the lowest it'sbeen in forever.
How do we compare with othercountries, European countries or
Scandinavian countries?
(03:43):
How do we compare with those?
In those same.
Are the scores such thatthey're comparable?
How do you.
How do we tell.
So we're not taking the sametests all over the world so we can
kind of, you know, look attheir scores and what's on their
test versus our scores andwhat's on our tests?
It's not exactly comparingapples and oranges.
(04:05):
I mean, it's kind of comparingapples and oranges, but at least
it's all fruit, if that makes sense.
Yeah, it does.
And that's a good way to say it.
So.
So.
And.
And we are not, in ourcountry, not doing as well as, you
know, places in Europe andvarious other places.
So I thought that.
And I want you.
I'm going on a thread here,and I want you to come with me.
(04:27):
And that is.
I thought I.
I made that up.
I didn't know that.
I thought that might be true.
And you said, you know,they're trying to have all these
curriculums of emotionalwellness and these skills and that
skills.
Do those schools in Europethat we're comparing to, do they
teach all that stuff?
So they teach a certain amountof it.
They call it social hygiene orsocial and emotional hygiene, something
(04:52):
like that.
And my daughter taught Englishin Cali, Columbia, for six months.
And when she was in theschools there, they actually have
a curriculum that they work onsocial and emotional hygiene.
So they're doing that in other countries.
But I feel like in ourcountry, we've gotten so into, you
(05:16):
know, off on tangents as to,you know, who's what gender and how
people identify and all kindsof all kinds of other things.
And the bottom line is we justwant people to be empathetic and
care about other people.
So.
So that was my question.
That was my thread.
(05:36):
The thread was, we're notdoing so well in the world.
I realize there's some applesand oranges, they do some of what
we do, but not enough.
We've got a bunch of tangentsthat it seems like we're going on.
And so my fundamental questionthat made me wander down that thread
is if we suck, why do we suck?
I mean, we have technology, wehave wealth, we have all this, why
(06:00):
are we, why are we struggling?
And I realize that teachersare overwhelmed and you're going
to talk more about that laterin terms of implementing what you
want to help them understand.
But why are we struggling so much?
You know, to me.
So here's a little anecdotalexperience, okay?
(06:21):
So I approached a schooldistrict and said, look, I have these
five brain friendly practicesthat we could do in the classroom.
That we could do exactly whatI'm talking about.
Create the environment forsocial and emotional learning kids,
you know, restore joy andeducation for both kids and teachers
because they know the kids arestressed out, the teachers are stressed
(06:42):
out.
And we've had this, thesestudies because all the five practices
are science based.
And the reason I justdiscovered them is because I was
teaching at the same schoolwhere my children were going to school
in elementary school.
And my kids, my own children,I felt like they were failing.
(07:04):
I had one kid who was superanxious all the time.
She wet her pants a lot.
We had to have, you know, intosecond and third grade, we had to
just bring extra clothes toschool for her because she just was
having such a hard time functioning.
And then my, my other daughterhad attention issues and auditory
processing issues.
And, you know, so here I'msupposed to be an expert with kids
(07:28):
and my own are just not doingso well.
So I thought, I, I have tofigure this out.
So I talked to, you know, Italked to their pediatrician first.
I read all these books andarticles and studies and you know,
I talked to a neurologist andpsychologists and you get the idea.
(07:49):
I just went on this quest.
I was like, I gotta help these kids.
These are my own kids.
And my husband was like, okay,you're doing all this stuff for everybody
else's kids, but ours arereally struggling and you're the
expert, I don't really knowwhat to do.
And I was just like, I'mhaving a hard time figuring that
out myself.
So, so basically I did a lotof these things with my own children
(08:11):
and it worked really well.
Our younger daughter stoppedwetting her pants.
She developed confidence.
She actually graduatedvaledictorian in her high school
in an internationalbaccalaureate program.
Wow.
And the, the other daughterended up doing way better.
And, and she's a verysuccessful software engineer now,
(08:33):
which if you'd have told me mykids would be so successful, I would
have laughed.
I would have said, well, Ihope you're right because, because
that's not how things weregoing at the time.
So when we were talkingearlier and you were saying, you
know, your own story, there'sa reason that we get to where we
are.
But the, but the thing thathappened after that is I was like,
(08:55):
you know, if this stuff worksso well for my own children, maybe
it'll work in my classroom.
And so I just plugged in thesefive brain friendly practices into
my classroom and just amazing,amazing things happen.
So we started, I started withthe question, how are you adding
good to the world?
And you started telling meabout these practices.
(09:16):
And then I took us off on atangent about how come our school
system's in so much trouble.
I think we're asking teachersto do so many things and, and there's
been so much technology that'sbeen taking the place of, of human
communication and we'refiguring, and a lot of this technology
(09:37):
in the last, you know, coupleof generations, it's still fairly
new, even though it's so mucha part of our lives.
Like, you know, look how we'retalking now, right?
And even having a meeting andlooking at each other, I mean, on
the podcast they don't see that.
But the point is, is we havethis technology now where we can
do all kinds of things that weweren't able to do before.
(09:59):
But now society is adjusting.
How are we, how do we engage kids?
Like people are always sayingthings about gen Zers, you know,
Generation Z, how they don'thave an attention span and they,
you know, just all thesedisparaging things, they, they don't.
Anyway, the point is gen zersjust don't have the patience to do
(10:23):
things that in their opiniondon't have a purpose if they don't
have a why, if they don't havea reason for doing so.
One of the practices is tohelp kids tell them what they're
going to learn, put it into anAI because you know, ChatGPT or you
know, whatever you're usingand say, how can an 8 year old child
(10:43):
use elapsed time in their lifeif that's a math concept or how can
a 15 year old use thisgeometric concept in their life and
it'll spit out all of thisstuff and the kids look at it and
go, oh my gosh, I can use thisin all these ways, and then we say,
(11:04):
yeah, pick a couple of them.
And, you know, that resonatewith you.
Start asking questions in yourmind like, you know, what would this
look like if I was doing thisin my life?
And be thinking about that asyou're learning this material, it,
it just turns it all upside down.
I mean, the, the teachers whoare doing this, and for me, myself,
(11:25):
I used to feel like Sisyphus,you know, rolling the rock up the
hill, trying to get the kids engaged.
And then the next thing I knewis rolling back on top of my head,
right?
You know, they're all staringout the window and so.
Yeah, but again, helping themdefine a purpose for what they're
learning and how they're goingto use it.
I, I just don't even have tothink about engagement anymore.
(11:49):
They're engaged because theyhave a reason.
They know the why we're notteaching things out of context anymore
because they have a purposefor learning it.
And then there's a couple ofreally good things I want to, I'm
sticking in here.
There's a couple of reallygood things.
One is the shift to the context.
Meaning you're saying at leastthat group must have a reason or
(12:09):
it's.
They don't have, they don'thave patience for it.
And that probably comes tosome degree from the immediacy of
technology and everything else.
And that's a very interesting thing.
And then the outcome of thatis as soon as they have it, then
the engagement happens of itself.
So I want you to tell me, Iwant you to tell us the five brain
(12:31):
friendly practices.
Tell me what they are thatchanges the world, changes the game,
changes in the classroom.
What are they?
So the first one is we givekids five.
Well, if they're elementaryschool, we can give them 10 minutes
of exercise and last them all day.
You know, we used to walk toschool or ride our bikes or whatever.
(12:51):
Now we drop the kids off, theytake the bus, right?
So basically they're coming toschool and their, their brains are
asleep.
But you can't do that inmiddle school or high school.
You only have the kids forlike 50 minutes, unless you're doing
block scheduling.
So.
So I have them do it for like90 seconds if they want to spend
a little longer than they can,but even 90 seconds of exercise.
(13:14):
And I have all kinds of funlittle things that they can do with
kids, all kinds of movementthat they can do with kids to just
raise their heartbeat enoughso that the oxygen gets to their
brain, all the chemicalsstart, you know, Start moving the
way they're supposed to.
In their brain, theirelectrons start.
Or their electrons.
(13:35):
They're.
Neurons start firing.
Neurons.
There we go.
Yeah, the neurons.
So that their neural pathwaysare all firing.
So it gets their brains ingear and think about it even.
And usually the movement is alittle bit silly.
So in the beginning they'relike, I'm not going to do this.
And then everyone else isdoing it, and so they start doing
it.
(13:56):
And there's this mirror neuronthing that happens.
So the teacher is doing it, sothey're doing it.
And.
And a lot of it has to do withthe, you know, with the teachers.
Well, I'm not sure I'mcomfortable with that.
A teacher told me, and I said,so, do you want your kids engaged?
I mean, I get that it'suncomfortable, but, you know, doing
(14:16):
something that might make youa little uncomfortable or think of
things that you'll feel morecomfortable doing.
If you don't like that ideafor doing that particular physical
exercise, let's think of somethings that'll work for you that
you'll feel comfortable doing.
Wake up.
Wake up.
The body, whether it's 10minutes or 90 seconds depends on
context and who you're doingand everything.
But wake up and get stuff moving.
(14:38):
All right, what's number two?
Number two is water.
So our brains are 73% water.
And most kids come to schoolof all ages dehydrated.
So one of the reasons we eatbreakfast and the things kids eat
for breakfast, sometimes theycome, you know, without any food
in their bellies.
Sometimes they've just had anenergy drink.
(15:00):
They need water.
There is no substitute for water.
So I have them all bring theirown personalized water bottle with
their name on it to school.
And they get a couple of swigsof water before they start.
Because a lot of times whenkids complain about headaches or
they're tired or they have astomachache or any of those things,
(15:23):
a lot of them are just signsof dehydration.
And if we can just give kidsnot so much that they're running
to the bathroom every five minutes.
Because I made that mistakewhen I first started doing it.
I imagine you did.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I started it with fourthgrade, and they were so excited about
being able to have a waterbottle and drinking it all the time.
They.
(15:43):
They were just running the.
But we worked that out withinthe first week.
I said, okay, we gotta modify this.
And I had the kids help me.
So what does that look like?
So, but so now it's just okay,everybody take a couple of swigs
of water.
You know, not too much.
We, you know, you know whatwe're talking about here.
So they just take a couple ofswigs of water and I can't even tell
(16:03):
you the difference.
Just a little bit of water makes.
It's crazy.
Wow.
But it, so, but it's how ourbrains work.
Yeah, 73%.
Yeah, I didn't know that.
So.
All right, one, two, at move,wake up, have a little water.
Keep your brain, you know, hydrated.
And what's number three?
Number three is we play alittle brain game because we never
(16:25):
know where, how kids come intothe classroom.
And the cool thing about thebrain games is that like, for example,
one of the things I love to dois play with them.
Add a move, and we also dolike, add a sound.
I make a move, then we makethe same move and a kid makes another
move.
Then we make another move andwe keep adding moves.
(16:46):
Because one of the things thatdoes is it improves working memory,
which is executive brain function.
Right.
But the other thing it does isif the kid just had somebody say
something mean to them in thehallway, or they got in trouble that
morning, or they had a fightwith their big sister or whatever
the case may be, they come infrom all kinds of different situations.
(17:08):
And what happens is, is whenthey're focused on a little game
like that, and all theselittle games are funny, so it just
allows them to relax.
It takes at least 90 secondsto work through the cortisol, the
stress hormone in your brainand replace it with dopamine and
other happy hormones.
And so we just play a 90second brain game and then we take
(17:31):
three deep breaths, becausethose deep breaths are a trigger.
Because after you've beendoing this for a while, then they
know, oh, we're getting into learning.
So what we've done, and I callthese first three practices, we prepare
kids brains for learning.
So elementary school, they'lldo it.
If they do 10 minutes ofexercise, it's 14 minutes.
(17:52):
If they do it in middle orhigh school, it's four minutes because
they're only doing 90 secondsof exercise and they're.
And then they're taking a swigof water and they're doing 90 seconds
of a brain game and then thedeep breaths.
So it's super practical.
And that four minutes saves somuch time because their brains are
(18:14):
ready to go.
I believe you.
You know, I.
People talk about that.
And I, you know, you and Ihave talked before, or at least I've
talked about it in placeswhere you've been about morning rituals
and how we prepare ourselvesfor the day.
And mine's long, two and ahalf hours.
And people say I don't havethat kind of time.
And the answer is, createsfive hours.
Exactly.
So, exactly, you know, whatever.
(18:37):
So I can't, I love this.
Keep going.
What's number four?
So you've prepared my brainfor learning, then what?
So it's prepare, purpose, process.
So the next thing we do is weget the beginning of the week, we
give kids a purpose for whatthey're going to be learning.
So at middle school or highschool, they know basically what
(18:57):
they're going to be coveringin that subject.
So if they're teaching aconcept in math or they're, they're
teaching about a period insocial studies or if they're reading
something, you get the idea inelementary school.
Elementary school they learnto do it, you know, much quicker
(19:19):
because they're teaching a lotof subjects.
So they do this several times,maybe on a Monday, but then they
don't do it again until Friday.
And what happens when we givekids a pregnancy purpose for their
learning?
Eliminate.
So when I was doing it, when Ifirst started doing this, we didn't
have any AI, so we had to comeup, I had to look things up ahead
of time.
(19:39):
I would ask the kids what theythought, we'd brainstorm.
It took way longer, but now ittakes like five minutes because now
we just use like Chat GBT orone of the other AIs and we say how
can an 8 year old third graderor 8 or 9 year old third grader use
this particular math conceptin their life?
(20:01):
Or we're, we're reading thisstory because Chat GBT has everything,
right?
So we're reading this storyand it has these themes and a lot
of times you know, Chat GPTwill know, you know, they'll even
be familiar with the story.
How can an 8 year old student,a 6 year old student, 12 year old
(20:27):
student, however old the kidis, use this, the concepts in this
story in their lives and it'lljust spit out 10, 10 ways it does
that.
And I love that.
I'll, I use that too.
I'm not going to describe itbecause it'll just take too long,
but I do.
So number five, so you gavethem a purpose, you prepared the
brain, you gave him a purpose.
I want to say one more thingabout purpose because this is really
(20:48):
important.
All right.
They have to look at the listand they have to choose what resonates
with them.
We can't say, see all thesegreat things it does for you.
We need to take the extra twominutes to say, let's go over the
list and.
And you write down in yourjournal what resonates with you,
what is important to you.
(21:08):
How do you think you might usethis in your life and know that throughout
the week you may sparksomething else and think, oh, now
this is my purpose.
Your purpose might change, butwhat's really important for you to
do is know what we're going tobe learning and then have a reason
to learn it.
You have your why.
That's your purpose.
(21:29):
Because think about how muchbetter our lives are when we have
purpose, no matter what we're doing.
So I wanted to say that beforewe moved on, because this is a really
important step.
Yeah, it is.
Thank you.
So number five.
Number five is process.
So at the end of the week, wetalk about, you know, it's thinking
(21:50):
about thinking.
Right.
At the.
At the end of the week, weallow their brains an opportunity
to process what they learned.
And I just would set thetimer, and they would write in their
journal.
Okay, we, you know, for thisstory that we've learned, what have
you learned?
And how do you think you canuse those concepts in your life?
Here's the timer.
I'm setting it for five minutes.
(22:11):
Ready, go.
And they write for five minutes.
And then.
And you have to modify it fordifferent age groups.
And, you know, I get all that,but for the sake of the podcast,
so.
So they write in a journal,and then the timer goes off, and
then they get a partner.
And I would encourage them toget different partners each time.
And so they're sharing whatthey learned and how they're going
(22:35):
to use it.
And I would hear in theclassroom at first, in the beginning,
I would hear, oh, my gosh, Ididn't even think of that.
I'm going to put that in my journal.
And then another kid wouldsay, hey, you can't use that.
That was my idea.
And I'd say, wait, so youdon't want to be a leader?
And they'd say, what do you mean?
(22:56):
And I'd say, that's literallywhat being a leader is.
Somebody sees what you'redoing, they see something, and they
go, wow, that's awesome.
I want to do that, too.
And that's exactly what beinga leader is.
And they're like, oh, yeah,okay, you can put that in your journal.
And I say, I would encourageall of you that if you hear something
(23:16):
that you didn't think of toPut in your journal, definitely add
it.
Because our world.
Would you agree that our worldneeds some good leaders?
And they're like, oh, yeah.
And I'd say, okay, well, solet's have everyone in this classroom
be a good leader, come up withgood ideas that people want to follow
that.
That people can hang on to,that you can contribute to other
(23:38):
people.
So then they start doing this.
So those are the fivepractices, and here's the magic.
You ready?
Yes.
Give me the magic.
So when they've been doingthis for a few weeks, like the third
or fourth week, I have theteachers and what I did is start
handing it off to the kids.
So in the beginning, does ittake a little longer because you're
(24:00):
planning it, it's something new.
Yeah.
But then you start handing itoff to the kids.
So it's a student who leadsthe physical exercise, and it's a
student who leads, you know,reminding everybody to get a drink
of water.
They lead the brain game.
They lead coming up with a purpose.
They put the information into.
(24:21):
Into an AI and they come up,you know, they have it come up on
the screen because they havethese big screens in the classrooms
now.
And they come up on the bigscreen, it all, you know, spits it
out, and they can read it all.
And they're the ones that arerunning it.
And then it's a student thatruns the process.
Okay, everybody, we're gonna do.
(24:41):
We're gonna process what welearned about this and this subject,
whatever they're doing this week.
So everybody get out your journals.
They lead it, and we let themknow, guys, we really need your support.
And you start with yourgregarious, really outgoing kids.
And you say, make sure you'rereally kind to the people who are
(25:02):
up here leading it.
Because everyone in here getsa turn to do every one of these practices.
And then I would have kidsdesign a chart for who gets to do
it, what date, and whenthey're going to do it.
And if somebody's anxiousabout it, they can work with each
other on.
On being anxious.
How can you feel about it?
And we work on.
Like, that's one of the thingsabout the breathing, the brain games,
(25:25):
that kind of stuff.
So it's.
So it's all it.
The social and emotionallearning is embedded with the academic
learning.
Well, certainly, becausethey're leading it.
So that's fabulous.
So I'm really excited.
That's when the magic happens.
Because just consider.
Because at first, you know,they can, you know, they can tease
each other a little.
(25:45):
And I'll say, okay, you gottaknow what comes around goes around.
You're gonna have a turn to do this.
Do you want people to get.
And they're like, oh, never mind.
Good job.
Right, right, right, right.
And, well, and the other thingis then the gregarious kids have
been up.
A real shy kid comes up.
They're nervous as heck.
They come up and the.
And the kids go, I know, I wasnervous too.
(26:07):
You can totally do this.
So it becomes this verysupportive, amazing environment.
And.
And the first year I did this,I did it with a really rough class
that I was like, oh, my gosh,I don't know how I'm going to get
through this school year.
I don't know how I'm going toget through this week, much less
the school year.
And it ended up, you know, weended up getting the highest scores
(26:27):
and in the school for ourgrade level.
And the following year when Idid this in sixth grade, we got the
highest scores in the district.
And it wasn't me that I'm so amazing.
That's why I'm teaching otherpeople to do it.
So thank you.
I think.
I know it took some minutes todo all that.
I'm really grateful becausewhat occurs to me is, yeah, you're
(26:48):
putting that in as a practicefor school, but it's also a practice
for anyone and everyonebecause our brain's still.
The brain.
Processing.
Still processing.
Having a purpose is stillhaving a purpose.
So I want you.
Exactly.
So I want to know how you toldme a little bit like, you had your
own kids and they were havingtrouble and you figured this stuff
(27:10):
out so that it would work forthem and then for your own class,
and that worked.
What is it?
I mean, now your kids aregrown up and they're all successful
and you win.
So what is it that's inTrisha's heart that makes her now
an evangelist that iscommitted to helping other people
learn this.
(27:30):
Like, why is that so importantin your heart?
Because I see so many people suffering.
We are losing so many teacherswho are just exhausted and overwhelmed
and feeling like I can't getthese kids engaged.
And.
And kids are so anxious and, and.
(27:50):
And the thing is, is these aresuch simple processes.
Like, we look at this pro.
These problems that we'rehaving in education, not just here
in the United States.
It's happening all over theplace because I do a lot of international
stuff.
So it's not just the United States.
It's happening everywhere.
And we look at this as, like,almost like it's an Insurmountable
(28:14):
problem.
And it's not.
And it's actually, you know.
And are these only these fivepractices the only things that we
need to do?
Well, maybe not the onlythings, but if everybody's doing
these five practices, oh mygosh, what a difference it would
make.
And then there are otherthings to add to it.
So.
So my passion is we don't needto be in the state we're in, in this,
(28:39):
in this country, in thisworld, as far as education, people
can learn to be problemsolvers again.
People can learn to, toinstead of living out of fear, you
know, we talk, we hear aboutthe, the polls between love and fear.
Right?
Yeah.
And we can operate a lot moreout of love if we take a lot of the
(29:01):
fear away.
And, and these practices,that's what it helps them do.
It helps the kids build self confidence.
They start working togetherand becoming a community.
It's what, what's burning inmy heart is.
I feel like this is a program,a problem that we can solve.
(29:22):
We can improve communicationand we can improve education all
over the planet, and we canuse the technology in a positive
way that instead of separatingus, it can bring us together, you
know, just like using it for purpose.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And so I know that you havebeen on a mission to get it in school
(29:46):
districts, and you've told mebefore that, that, you know, teachers
are overwhelmed and they havetoo many things and they can't.
Can't do it.
So tell me a little bit aboutyour journey, where you are now in
terms of initial places, interms of some beta testing, you know,
to get some kind of rollout,like what kind of things are happening
(30:09):
and does the recent, any ofthe recent political changes matter
to you or is that indifferent?
What's been your journey toget this in?
And I know there's been a lotof frustration, but talk a little
bit about that, because here'swhy I want that.
I don't want the story of woe.
Although it might sound likethat sometimes.
I want to highlight your ownpersonal determination and commitment
(30:30):
to make this happen.
Because the idea of creatingyour ultimate life of purpose, prosperity
and joy is founded on awillingness to persevere and to do
hard stuff and to keep goingbecause nobody ever fell up the mountain.
So tell me a little bit about.
That journey because no oneever fell up the mountain.
Yeah, that gravity thing justreally gets in the way.
(30:51):
Yeah.
So.
Well, I'm in the process ofthat right now, truthfully.
I'm doing the second cohortwith a Handful of teachers.
And I'm actually working withco homeschooling parents as well,
because homeschooling parentsare having trouble with education,
keeping their kids engagedjust like everyone else.
So I really am looking at.
(31:12):
Look, however kids are gettingeducated, I.
I don't have any.
You know, some people areagainst charter schools, some people
are.
Again, you know, there are allthese opinions about all these things.
For me, I just want teachers,educators, whether they're parents
or, you know, teachers at acharter, at a.
(31:32):
I've worked with teachers atcharter schools, private schools,
public schools, wherever, allage groups now, elementary, middle
school and high school.
And we've had to modify thepractices somewhat for age groups,
but it's pretty universalthat, wow, this, you're right.
This, this really works.
(31:53):
What's really been difficultfor me is teachers are so overwhelmed.
They're just like, I can't doone more thing.
And I just say to them, oh mygosh, this will save you so much
time and you'll feel so much better.
But, but they are, they feellike they're just maxed out, that
(32:14):
they don't have any more togive, and they feel like learning
something new would be onemore thing.
So I'm.
And I will tell you, I'vealmost quit this lots of times.
I mean, and every timesomething else will happen, I'll
go.
And it's like the universe islaughing at me going, you're not
getting out of this.
(32:36):
So.
Because it is really hard, andI feel like I've done all this work.
I have made very little moneydoing it, but it's a labor of love
for me.
So, you know, I really want tosee education improved.
I.
I mean, I want teachers to goback to where I started.
When I first started teaching,I was like, oh my gosh, they're paying
(32:58):
me for this.
This is so much fun.
And I felt like that in thebeginning because I bring in my guitar
and my rhythm instruments.
I taught a bunch of stuffwith, you know, music and, you know,
I'd make up songs, they'd makeup songs.
So my little kids, when Itaught first grade, it was a great
way for them to learn to read.
It was a great way for mysecond language students who were
learning English to learn English.
(33:20):
And, and I love music, so.
So I was just like, I can'tbelieve they're paying me for this.
But then I too was just like,you know, they pile more and more
and more on that teachers haveto do it.
It's exhausting.
And I thought, I don't know.
And then it came to a headwhen I had this really difficult
fourth grade class and Ithought, I don't know what I'm going
(33:41):
to do.
And then I started pluggingthese things and went, holy mackerel,
this is ridiculous.
So, I mean, my passion indoing all this is that I know it's
surmountable.
I know that it can work, butit is hard.
I'm in my second cohort and Ionly have a handful of teachers that
(34:02):
I'm working with right now.
And I really am looking for a school.
I feel like once I get aschool, I talk to the administrator,
I talk to the teachers, tellthem what's expected in the fall
and really get them going andexcited about it and show them that
it's a lot easier than theythink it would be and that it's going
(34:23):
to take them less time, not more.
And then they get to enjoytheir jobs again and they're.
And they increase their scoresand, you know, just all of that,
because I feel like thecommunity of a whole school doing
this stuff together would alsocreate just amazing miracles rather
than just having teachers hereand there.
(34:45):
But I haven't been able tofind that yet.
I'm looking.
Yeah.
I want to know people that are listening.
I want to.
I want two things from you now.
And that is where.
Where can someone go right nowto whether they're a homeschooling
parent listening to this or aperson that's affiliated with education
in some way.
(35:05):
Where can they go to read moreabout this, your website, or some
explanation of this?
Do you have a place where theycan go and take a look and learn
a little bit?
Yes.
So they can go to thebrainstages.com and go to the Empowered
School tab.
It's called the EmpoweredSchool Project.
(35:26):
Okay.
That is thebrainstages.com andthe empowered School Project.
And, you know, I've had the.
The privilege of having, youknow, conversations with you about
this and hearing some of this,although I'd never heard you describe
the five things like you didthis time.
And I'm excited for it, too.
And I.
I have this, this sort offoreboding sense about, you know,
(35:50):
this thing we call educationthat isn't very functional now, and
I'm not even involved in it,but I just have this feeling and
I love the idea of returningsome joy and some fun.
And my sister taught secondgrade for 20 years before she went
back and got her PhD and thenended up teaching at university.
(36:11):
But, you know, she did a lotof Things in music and stuff.
But that was years ago, and itdoesn't feel like that kind of stuff.
You know, that spontaneity oranything gets to happen anymore.
Am I nuts or is that real?
I think it depends on the teacher.
I know teachers, like, eventhis is a story.
(36:31):
So at one point I had to.
Our school district said thatteachers had to write the standards
on the board for what theywere teaching that day.
And, you know, I always hadpretty good scores, and a lot of
it was because I taught withother modalities like art and music
and whatever.
But.
(36:51):
So the principal would do awalkthrough and he'd say, I don't
see your standards on the board.
And I'd say, so what do youwant me to cut out?
Like, I help with the runningclub, you know, I listed all the
things I do in the school.
Yeah.
And.
And I said, so what would youlike me to do to cut out so that
I can take the time to makesure that I get the standards up
(37:14):
there for, you know, for whatI'm teaching?
Because I already do thispurpose thing that has meaning for
the kids much more than thestandard, you know, the jargon basically,
that the standards use.
Right.
So what was the answer?
And he said, actually, I wouldlike you to keep doing what you're
(37:36):
doing.
And, and let's.
I said, and you know what?
Just look at my scores at theend of the year, and if you're not
happy, then we can haveanother discussion.
I don't want to beinsubordinate or, you know, difficult
in any way, but I can't takeany more time from my family.
I just.
There has to be a boundary there.
So.
(37:56):
So he said, well, okay, we'llsee what happens.
And by.
By mid year, he was having allthese people marching through my
classroom to see what I wasdoing because I was doing the practices
right.
And so they would watch what Iwas doing.
Different people fromdifferent, you know, newer teachers
from different schools,administrators, you know, I love
(38:17):
it.
So I want to ask you one.
One final, final thing.
Two final things, actually.
One is, I want.
I understand the brain stagesand empowered schools.
Great.
If someone wants to find outmore about.
See, I've.
I've heard your journey now,and we talked in the beginning about
the.
How you got where you are isthe most important thing.
(38:38):
And I'm fascinated.
And so you said, well, gee, Idon't have much of a story.
And I.
I would just flat out disagree.
So if somebody wants to know alittle bit more about You.
Is there any place that that'savailable, or do you.
Are you only the school lady?
Like, how can we find out moreabout how you got where?
(39:00):
I'm not sure.
I mean, I haven't written abook on that.
I mean, I wrote Brain Stages,how to Raise Smart, Confident Kids
and have Fun Doing It.
And in there, there are quoteunquote, real deal stories that talk
about several experiences.
We have the name of that book.
Again, slower, because I wanteverybody to be able to hear that.
Okay.
It's called Brain Stages, howto Raise Smart, Confident Kids and
(39:24):
have Fun Doing It.
I believe raising kids andeducating kids should be fun.
So it's basically, this iskind of where your child's brain
development is at this age,although all kids are different,
obviously, but.
And this is kind of where theyare socially at this age.
And this is what they'resupposed to learn in this grade.
(39:45):
Kindergarten through five.
It's.
It's kindergarten throughfifth grade.
And here are a whole bunch offun games to play to make sure they
get the need, their needs met,no matter what's going on at school.
And a lot of teachers actuallyuse that book because it has, you
know, if they have kids whoare having trouble learning something
or they just want to change itup a little bit or whatever, and
they're teaching a certainconcept, then they'll play the games
(40:06):
that are in the book becausethey don't require a lot of equipment
or any of that kind of stuff.
And it's just fun.
There's nutrition stuff.
So if they want to find outabout me, there are several quote,
unquote, real deal stories in there.
And then there's moreinformation, like, about me stuff
on.
On my website.
All right, good.
Thank you.
So the last question is, whatdidn't I ask you that you want people
(40:29):
to know?
I'm not exactly sure how toanswer that.
What didn't you ask?
I don't know, because I feellike the most important message that
I want people to get from thisis if you are feeling upset about
(40:54):
what's going on in our worldright now, I want you to know that
we have the tools, thetechnology, the research, all that
stuff.
We have everything we need torecreate what's going on in our world.
And like you said, like thefive practices, I've had dads come
(41:14):
up to me after parentpresentations because I don't just
do this for schools.
I also do it for parents.
And he said, you know, I havemy own business, and I did this stuff
with my staff.
Oh, my gosh, I can't believethe difference, he said.
I can sure see how this worksfor kids.
I can totally get on boardwith that.
So I want to thank you, Trish,for being here with us today, for
(41:37):
being open and fun and makingthis a joyful and educating experience
for me and for everybody.
Thank you.
Well, thanks for having me.
I this is my passion, so Ilove to talk about it.
I want to encourage all of youto listen again, whether you're a
kid, whether you're an adult,and to think about these Preparation
(42:00):
is so important.
Understanding your purpose andprocessing what you have learned,
no matter what it's from, froma difficult experience or from anything,
is so powerful and is right inline with everything that we talk
about here.
To create your ultimate life.
Never hold back and you'llnever ask why.
(42:24):
Open your heart in this timearound, right here, right now, your
opportunity for mass andgrowth is right in front of you.
Every episode gives youpractical tips and practices that
will change everything.
If you want to know more, goto kellenfluekegermedia.com if you
(42:46):
want more free tools, go here.
YourUltimateLife CA Subscribe SA.
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