Schurtz and Ties: A podcast about education and culture

Whenever people are gathered, gossip is present. And that is okay!

In this episode, Brian and Kasey point out the positives of gossip, explain how we can embrace it in our homes, communities, and workplace, and provide tangible ways to address this topic that encourages community and creates safety.

The key distinction rests on clarifying the conversation. Does it magnify the problem, or clarify it?

Positives of Gossip:

- Spreads and affirms social norms

- Helps define the problem that exists

- Creates community

How to Address Gossip:

- Create a visual (Serman on gossip, "Collect the feathers.")

- Say, "It's not my story to tell."

- Fix the small things; provide notecards (From Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Journey)

Please reach out and let us know your thoughts, share a topic, and let us know what you think!

Twitter: SchurtzandTies

Gmail: [email protected]

#DoGreatThings and #KeepKnocking

Thank you to Matt Hard for the outro music (it was generated from our Chat GPT Episode) and Karl DeCock for creating the cover art!

Happy 25! To celebrate this simple milestone, Brian and Kasey spend time reflecting on those who have influenced their journey, what good teaching looks like, and reminding us all why this profession deeply matters.

Mr. D; Mr. Donut; Mr. Denison:

"Take nothing on its looks. Take everything on evidence. There is no better rule." - Charles Dickenson, Great Expectations.

Mr. Furman:

Be purposeful with your positive words of affirmation, and specific. They matter.

Mr. Metzger:

“You see, some things I can teach you. Some you learn from books. But there are things that, well, you have to see and feel.” - Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns

Mr. Palladino:

Invest in who they are, now, not simply who they will become.

Dr. Flamm:

Matt Hard, Eric Trauger, and Kasey Schurtz:

Surround yourself with people who will make you better.

Please reach out and let us know your thoughts, share a topic, and let us know what you think!

Twitter: SchurtzandTies

Gmail: [email protected]

#DoGreatThings and #KeepKnocking

Thank you to Matt Hard for the outro music (it was generated from our Chat GPT Episode) and Karl DeCock for creating the cover art!

All too often, we try to solve complex problems with large-scale, pie-in-the-sky solutions. Anxiety is one of those problems. In this episode, Brian and Kasey wrestle through some very tangible, use-it-tomorrow solutions that combat the growing epidemic of teen (and adult) anxiety.

Why Are We Anxious?

1. Culture of success (Cult of achievement)

2. Origin stories

3. You are what you data

Solutions:

1. Re-establish our purpose

2. Rest

3. Restore

Podcast Referenced:

- Both by Plain English

Articles Referenced:

Daniel Pink references . . . again:

TEDTalk: The Puzzle of Motivation

Literature Referenced:

City on a Hill, by John Winthrop

"Go west, young man" by Horace Greeley

If, by Rudyard Kipling

Please reach out and let us know your thoughts, share a topic, and let us know what you think!

Twitter: SchurtzandTies

Gmail: [email protected]

#DoGreatThings and #KeepKnocking

Thank you to Matt Hard for the outro music (it was generated from our Chat GPT Episode) and Karl DeCock for creating the cover art!

Punishment and consequence are often used synonymously in our schools and homes, but they shouldn't be, largely because the key distinction between the two (me-focused vs you-focused) makes a world of difference in the short and long term. For the child and the adult.

In this episode, Brian and Kasey draw a line of distinction between punishments and consequences, wrestle with why that distinction is important for implementing systemic change, and argue over spankings . . . are they a punishment or a consequence?

Quotes Referenced:

"If you want to punish students, you have lost your professional soul" - Dr. Anthony Muhammad

"People like certainty more than hope" - Josie Duffy Rice

"A person who has been punished is not less inclined to behave in a certain way. At best, he or she learns how to avoid punishment." - B.F. Skinner

Why do we shout in anger? To cover the distance our hearts are experiencing.

How to Provide Appropriate Consequences:

1. Be Emotion-less in our responses

2. Empower More the people we are engaging with

3. Be Time-less in our timeline for change

Referenced Research on Punishment/Spanking:

I say dog, you say chicken? New study explores why we disagree so often

Spanking and Child Outcomes: Old Controversies and New Meta-Analyses
National Institute of Justice, "Student Suspensions Have Negative Consequences, According to NYC Study,"

What Science Says—and Doesn't—about Spanking: Are kids being spanked for acting out or acting out because they’re spanked?

Please reach out and let us know your thoughts, share a topic, and let us know what you think!

Twitter: SchurtzandTies

Gmail: [email protected]

#DoGreatThings and #KeepKnocking

Thank you to Matt Hard for the outro music! (It was generated from our Chat GPT Episode) and Karl DeCock for creating the cover art!

As educators, we can hold a single story of poverty, often understanding it and all its forms from an academic or "other" point of view. In this episode, Brian tries to gain a more personal understanding of poverty by asking Kasey to dive deeper into his childhood and inviting an old group-home friend, Kairi Hyman, to join the conversation.

Brian and Kasey (along with Kairi) also try to wrestle through the complexity of raising teens, the impact of music, the power of peer pressure, and how educators can often unknowingly place the unfair burden of imperfect parents on the student.

Also, hierarchical is a word. It's an adjective and it means, "of the nature of a hierarchy; arranged in order of rank."

Click here to find all of Kairi's music. You can also find him on Instagram.

If you connect with Kairi's experience of identity, of "not being suburban enough" and "not feeling hood enough," check out the book, The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie.

Please reach out and let us know your thoughts, share a topic, and let us know what you think!

Twitter: SchurtzandTies

Gmail: [email protected]

#DoGreatThings and #KeepKnocking

Hippopotamus laws, more commonly referred to as Eponymous Laws, are principles or rules named after a particular person. In this episode, Brian and Kasey discuss a variety of Eponymous Laws, the ethics of data collection, and wrestle through the distinctions between facts and truth.

Amara's Law:

"We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run."

Chesterton's Fence:

"The principle that reforms should not be made until the reasoning behind the existing state of affairs is understood. The quotation is from Chesterton's 1929 book, The Thing: Why I Am a Catholic, in the chapter, "The Drift from Domesticity":

In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, 'I don't see the use of this; let us clear it away.' To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: 'If you don't see the use of it, I certainly won't let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.

Goodharts Law:

Campbell's Law:

"To understand what another person is saying, you must assume that it is true and try to imagine what it could be true of."

Kasey Schurtz . . . because he forgot it last week:

"How much you can grasp something impacts your ethics."

And whither then, I cannot say.

Let us know your thoughts by emailing us at [email protected]

or by connecting with us on Twitter: SchurtzandTies.

Thank you to Matt Hard for the outro-music! (It was generated from our Chat GPT Episode). 

Life and work are busy. They are also consumed by screens. In this episode, Brian and Kasey discuss how leaders, teachers, parents - people! - can be intentional about making the intangible moments tangible, and why doing so can have a deep and meaningful impact on your schools, homes, and community groups.

The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact

Raising a Modern-Day Knight: A Father's Role in Guiding His Son to Authentic Manhood

Quotes:

"Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops." - Kurt Vonnegut

The Debt

BY PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR

This is the debt I pay

Just for one riotous day,

Years of regret and grief,

Sorrow without relief.

Pay it I will to the end —

Until the grave, my friend,

Gives me a true release —

Gives me the clasp of peace.

Slight was the thing I bought,

Small was the debt I thought,

Poor was the loan at best —

God! but the interest!

1. Demonstrate Your Worth

2. Gemba Walk: Observe, Recognize, Communicate, Cooperate, Problem Solve

3. Give Complete Answers - Not Quick Answers

4a. Know the Work Your People Are Doing

4b. Know Their Choice of M&M's

Let us know your thoughts by emailing us at [email protected]

or by connecting with us on Twitter: SchurtzandTies.

Thank you to Matt Hard for the outro-music! (It was generated from our Chat GPT Episode). 

Brian attended Innovative Schools Summit in New York; Kasey attended Solution Tree Summit in Arizona. In this episode, they reflect on their experiences, the ideas discussed, and the importance of relationships - which, as it turns out, is the most innovative thing in our buildings!

People and resources mentioned:

"Clarity proceeds competency" - Mike Mattos (@mikemattos65)

Inspiration gets us out of our seats. Conviction ensures we won't sit back down.

Mario Accosta (marioacosta31)

The Dip, by Seth Godin

The Seven P's of Competency: Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance (Brian Wright)

Gerry Brooks (gerrybrooksprin - Instagram)

"The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth" - African proverb

Anthony Muhammad (newfrontier21)

"We are the only business that doesn't ask its clients how to improve our product" - Michael Bonner (michaelbonner_)

From hallway decorations to graduation, fear of humiliation to content, even the pursuit of safety, what gods are we intentionally or unintentionally serving, and what impacts do they have on our schools, classrooms, and students?

In this episode, Brian and Kasey wrestle with the culture of our schools, the purpose of graduation, and why today's students aren't much different than those of the past - they simply serve different gods. 

 Brian references the books:

Kasey references:

Thank you for listening!

Please reach out and share your comments, questions, or suggestions:

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: SchurtzandTies

Dr. Mary Jo Fresch has been an elementary teacher, literacy professor, has published more than 22 books, and is a brilliant and calming mind in the world of literacy learning. In this episode, Dr. Fresch walks through the history of teaching literacy, dissects the science of how we read, and provides practical, in-the-classroom advice for how to naturally engage students and teach reading. Most importantly, Dr. Fresch takes hold of the swinging pendulum of literacy learning and encourages teachers to do what they do best: know their students and teach with confidence. 

You can learn more about Dr. Mary Jo Fresch at her website, maryjofresch.com, invite her in for a literacy workshop, or order her books at Amazon.

Follow Schurtz and Ties on Twitter (@SchurtzandTies) or send us an email ([email protected])