Episode 84: Real Talk-Edtech Ambassador Programs

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (00:29)
Hey friends, welcome back to Under the Hat Podcast. Today's episode is 84 Real Talk. I'm Steve Martinez, a former high school social science teacher, ed tech practitioner, and forever student of how we make classrooms work. As always, I'm joined by the lovely Sophie Young, a former middle school math and science teacher, secondary instructional coach, and relentless advocate for universal design for learning.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (00:58)
It is fantastic to be here today, Steve. It is great to have you here, Sophie. I'm really looking forward to where we're going today. Me too, Steve. For today, Steve and I are switching things up. No guests, just the two of us. Diving into a topic every educator with a social media account has encountered. Ed tech ambassador programs. My relationship with these programs has evolved across three

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:28)
completely different chapters of my career. In chapter one, as a classroom teacher and coach, being invited to an ambassador community felt like the ultimate validation. My feedback mattered. My ideas shaped tools for students. And I had a seat at the table. In chapter two, working inside the ed tech industry, I saw that community has a brilliant, indispensable hive mind of educators whose real world stories and problem solving

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:58)
Fueled my work every single day. Now in chapter three, looking at the entire ed tech landscape from a wider lens, it's time to pull back the curtain on how these programs are structured. We're digging into the real balance between genuine educator empowerment and unpaid product evangelism. Steve, let's get into it. First, how many

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (02:26)
different ed tech communities that you've been a part of.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (03:06)
A lot. Yeah, I feel like it's yeah. So when I was in the social science classroom, I remember the email signature. Yeah, with all the badges. With all the badges. and I wasn't and no disrespect or shade to anybody that still has this, but like I don't think it was like too obnoxious.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (03:37)
'Cause that be a thing where it's like it's like this intimidating like all every single thing, right? Yeah. but I remember I would list like the the ones that I felt were more validating or

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (03:54)
The Microsoft, the MIE. That was definite one that I had in the signature. but like I think I don't know, like over the years like I had to have been a part of

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (04:07)
twenty. Different communities. If not more. Yeah. Right. And well and there's sort of different levels too. Like you can be part of the community and be a user but not an ambassador.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (04:21)
Yes. Yes, you're right. And they come in different shapes and sizes. So like I remember like getting your your Google Educator like certific yeah. Certification. Certification level. so like doing the courses and being a part of c the community are not the same thing. Sometimes they get packaged as such, right? but like sometimes it was about

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (04:50)
the learning but then other times it was about the PLN, right? Like the like the network. what about you? How many how many have you been a part of? a number as well a bit of and so most of mine have been like Googly and Google adjacent like ones because my district was a Google district. and so even though the state I was in was a Microsoft state, each district could also then

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (05:18)
just whatever they wanted to use with their students. And so they bought Chromebooks. So then they also had to buy Google. and when they did that, they encouraged all of us to become like Google certified and become Google certified educators, level one, level two, and they would pay for it. That type of professional learning was fantastic though. Like I actually learned so much and reapplied what I already knew from like college and playing around in general. Going through those types of like

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (05:49)
courses not just for like Google and Microsoft but for other ed tech products and and programs to just learn how to do it on my own in my own time. And so I was part of a number whether it was like informal or had the official badge or not. It was it was a whole lot. Right, right. Can we take a quick side quest?

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (06:17)
Of course. Because you said the state that's a thing, because as you know, California does not roll that way. Like it's kind of interesting, like when I hear like state curricul state level curriculum or the state has a Microsoft, I'm like Yes. West Virginia is small enough to where the state

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (06:45)
purchase and I think it's also through some sort of a grant as well. I don't know the details. Don't quote me on this. I don't know, y'all. I don't know. But so I guess the governor of West Virginia is listening. Yes. By all means, maybe you'll learn something. I the state had an email system for the entire state. So it was when I first started it was one thing. It was like

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (07:14)
Or something. I have no clue what that was, but it was trash. And then during my first three years of teaching, they switched it over and everyone got a Microsoft account. And it wasn't just the educators, students did too. So every single student enrolled in West Virginia Public Schools, every single educator, staff member, para, custodian, everyone got a K12.wv.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (07:41)
US email address, that was a Microsoft email. And with that email, every single teacher and student got five downloadable Microsoft suites to five different devices. So it was one of those initiatives to push equity. Like it doesn't matter what money you have, you enrolled in a public school system in West Virginia have access to a Microsoft suite.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (08:10)
If you have a device to put it on.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (08:14)
Hmm. So that happened within the first three years of my teaching career. And when I left public education I took advantage of my students, my kids, my students' email addresses to get me Microsoft access. yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For free. I didn't have to pay for it, the whole thing.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (08:36)
Thank you for side quest. Yes. Okay, so back to the topic at hand. Yes, yes.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (08:45)
Ambassador programs. Ambassador programs and ed tech communities. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (08:52)
Did you have a question about that? No, I'm just ready. I'm just ready to to dive in more. Yeah. So I already sort of talked about how it was validating for me. Steve, let's take us back to when you were in the classroom and first invited into an ambassador community. What did it feel like to know a company was actually building features based on what you and your students needed?

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (09:18)
Yeah, I mean I think it's I think it there's something to be said about when you're in the classroom and mind you like this is the ed tech industry, that whole market feels and looks a lot different than it did back then. Well does it look different feel and look different because you've been behind the scenes of it or does it feel and look different because of the economy?

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (09:49)
So I'm gonna put my econ teacher hat on for a second. I I I think no, I really do think that it is it's way more saturated. There's more a lot more players. There's a lot more Like different ed tech companies, you mean? Like Yes, there's more companies, there's more they are a l they're a lot more, I feel, thirsty for attention because there's more of them, right? Well, and there's also less funding.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (10:19)
Right now there's less funding. Esser funds you know, like like a post pandemic economy. Like we were like, Okay, cool, like it ballooned up and there's a lot more startups. And and so I I guess I guess my point is is that like

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (10:38)
Back then there were less less of them. Yeah, there's like the staples everyone knew about and everyone was using. And so because there were less, I felt like it did feel a little bit more and make if you're listening, watching, like feel free to disagree. but like I just feel like back then it felt a little bit more special that you got herd.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (11:07)
that a company was like, Hey, you're part of this our ambassador program. We want your feedback. And I think that like it just felt special like right now I feel like almost every company has some iteration of that. not to say though that like if I were still in the classroom that I would still have those types of connections and relationships with these companies. 'Cause I still do just it just looks different. It looks different in your capacity.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (11:36)
in my w where I'm at in my space at the teachers college, right? but I think there was value in feeling heard and seen particularly when the company made it about the kids. Mm-hmm. some do that better than others. but like you know I think that like having the capacity and space to

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (12:05)
bring in educators that you ultimately are selling to to build that community, I I I think that like it it could as long as they're fostering a place for network. That was my big thing. Is like am I like teacher to teacher network?

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (12:28)
Teacher to teacher network, teacher to industry network. I did care about that deeply, just having the being in the CTE space. and having opportunity to learn and teach. Microsoft was pretty g did well by me with that. Like so speaking and then like I was speaking at these like kind of virtual kind of kind of spaces and like networking with like

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (12:59)
From all over the world. Like that to me was super powerful. And during that time too, I was way into like not that I I'm not now, but like, you know, ISTE standards, global collaboration. and it looked different in the sense that back then we had Twitter. So like the Twitter chats, uh-huh, the going back and seeing that's the other thing. There's a lot more players now in social media. Yeah. So like back in back in that era.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (13:27)
was Twitter was the place to go. It was like Twitter. It was a place. Yeah. Now, like even we we struggle with this, like with the pod of like Do we do it on LinkedIn? Do we do it on X? Are we on Facebook? Are we on Instagram? Are we on Blue Sky? Are we like where are we are we everywhere? And so like that that so like to me too, like that was that was also very different during that time. And it wasn't that long ago, right? Like I do have a question that came into my mind.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (13:57)
about this. for me being a teacher and being in the classroom and being in West Virginia, I just wasn't exposed to as many different tools because there wasn't like if the state was paying for it, you were using Microsoft to its best of its ability and you were figuring everything out in Microsoft, period. And then if your district paid for Google, then you figured out everything you could do in Google, period. And then

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (14:27)
The other tools were just sort of used and found as an as a problem solving solution as they came across. So it wasn't like I was I wasn't really exposed to a whole lot of check out this tool, like Pear Deck and Edpuzzle and WeVideo. I wasn't exposed to all of these different tools. So while I was in a number of communities, that was because I

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (14:56)
took the initiative to go and find them because I had a problem I needed to solve for a teacher or for myself when I was teaching and coaching. it was it was interesting to to me to to like

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (15:13)
I didn't know there was a whole lot out there, so it felt like a smaller world. Like you mentioned, it just felt smaller and now it just seems to be saturated. And now I'm wondering like, does it feel saturated? Because we just know now. We are aware now of way more.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (15:33)
And we have these connections of like all these startups. Like before would we have known about these startups because

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (15:41)
We weren't going to these conferences. We weren't we didn't have these connections. We didn't have these friendships and communities built that we have now. If I may. no, I'm not done. No, just kidding I I think

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (15:59)
I think we in like the birth of open AI, right? Then you had like all of these all these educators, all these entrepreneurs, educeneurs, venture capitalists, right? Like that were like, wait, wait, wait, wait. That there is a there's something here. Mm-hmm. Let me go let me go make a magic school.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (16:28)
Let me go make a brisk. Like like that and like I I think it was a moment where snorkel and snorkel and no and no, like I I with the three companies I just named, I I use like yeah. So it's not it's not love all of these tools. Yeah, I love all these tools. But like I I don't think that like I don't think w without if AI wouldn't have come the way that it just presented itself, I don't know if we would have had

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (16:58)
the volume of startups that we've seen. I agree. In the last

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (17:04)
Well when our connections allow us to know these startups.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (17:09)
make sense? Yes. So because we we are we are in an interesting vantage point. I think like we'll have to app mention Stephanie Howell because I I think she's another person that could speak to this. But like this those of us that have we were in education, we were longtime educators, and then we jumped into the ed tech industry and then went back

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (17:36)
into public education in some way, right? Like you as a coach, Stephanie as a classroom teacher now. me as a as a You went back to the CTE and then college. I did I did go like, you know, snuck through a classroom really quick. and then landed at the college. but still like it so like we're we have an interesting perspective on on this, right? Where like we we have we we know what it's like to be a vendor.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (18:06)
We've explored vendor halls a lot more than the average teacher going to a conference. Yeah. And then w you kinda get to know how many times were you at Kami and you know, you're you just like, there's that person at that company. yeah. You it's it's a small it takes a small world. And like you go if especially if you're in a certain region and typically the people who run the vendor halls in that region

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (18:35)
Are all the same. So I went to like three different conferences in like the West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina area and saw the exact same people. So yeah. So there there's some friends of mine that I'm still friends with now on social media and still can't stay connected to and can chat with them and check and see what's going on because I basically spent my entire summer with them when I was away at work. They were there.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (19:01)
Ca can I can I just say though what's what was what's actually been powerful about that though is like going back into education, going back and I and I talked about this in at least one of the interviews I had, whether it's my current job or the one I had before, the CTE job, just talking about how like if you if you hire me, part of what you're getting, you're not just getting me, you're getting the whole crew that's behind me.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (19:30)
Because you end up having this network and like now going back into education, I I've collaborated with several many of these folks, whether it was in the CTE classroom, or now at the college, right? Like helping helping me build instruction, helping me build partnerships and pipeline and like I think that

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (19:59)
That's that's a pretty powerful piece. Like not everyone that they see through their halls can just be like someone up at like, I don't know, magic school and be like, Hey, I'm chatting with a teacher right now. Boom boom boom. when I was in Midaso City, like

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (20:21)
When when my students learn about all the stuff that I did beforehand, they're like, Wait, you work there? And I love and here's the fun story. I love sharing in my like first day of school kind of thing, like, here's all my pictures at Kami. And the next slide, it's me and Henji in front of my house. Cause Henji came to visit me at my house. For those of you who don't know, Henji is the CEO of Kami. Yeah.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (20:51)
he because he was just in California and I was working there at the time and he was like, Steve, I want to come see you and hang out and pick your brain about stuff. and so it's like those types of friendships and relationships with these individuals that I think are are impacting education. but also like once you make that bond with them, just same way we do with families and and and students, It doesn't just go away. It doesn't go away.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (21:19)
Well that was really cool like being at ISTE this last time around, just on behalf of the pod, like running into these folks and there's still so much like love for both of us and so much There are baby pictures being shown. Yeah, like it's yeah, it it's yeah. So that part I just I I just love. but anyway, probably we probably another side quest here. But we do. It's what we do. Yeah.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (21:48)
it is extremely validating being a teacher in the classroom and being asked what should happen next on a product because like your voice matters. I remember the first time even at Kami, one of the products, one of the tools that got an upgrade was because of some of the feedback I provided. and it was I'm still excited when I like

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (22:15)
when I would train on it, I'm like, this was my idea. And like it just is really cool to see something becoming more accessible to students because of your thoughts and words. Well, for me anyways, it was always about accessibility and making things removing barriers for students at all grade levels and at wherever they are. Yeah. okay so we also sort of talked about I mentioned about the power of the educator

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (22:45)
hive mind when you're in a community, the

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (22:48)
What was your favorite part about and this could be something now, not just about our time at Kami, but like what was your favorite part about connecting with teachers across the country who are pushing the envelope with classroom technology?

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (23:02)
I always loved hearing and seeing things that were outside of my content area. Mm-hmm. My grade band. Right. I remember attending ISTI during the year or two, like that that pocket of time during the pandemic where ISTI had to be virtual. Like for everyone.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (23:31)
And remember attending sessions that were maybe more geared for like STEM elementary or technology like the younger grade levels, even like even K through three kind of thing. And I remember just thinking and I'm like, wait, why can't why can't that fit into a high school classroom? And so I and p particularly around like

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (23:59)
There were a lot of things like an an example would be like some someone someone did a a session on on Minecraft and like students building their own kind of space and environment and their own homes and their own civilizations and their own like and like I think it was through a math lens. Don't quote me on this, but it's like through a math lens where like they had to do the math with the architecture and the like Were they doing things at scale? Yes. Okay. Yeah. That makes sense.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (24:28)
That immediately got me thinking like from a cross curricular lens, because I was doing a lot of that for my fr for the forensic bioacademy that I was teaching in. And but they were talking about doing this like with little kids. And I was like, What about the bigger kids? And and so I I I just for me it was like just seeing what was done out of my space. as you know, like, you know,

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (24:57)
historically, like history class can very much turn into read the book, answer the questions. Yeah. Or hear the slides, write down the notes. Or I'm gonna lecture at you, take notes. Yeah. So just seeing like bringing in elements of like what happens in a chemistry class, what happens in a math class, what happens in

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (25:25)
For me it was always like what's going on in STEM classes that are super relevant in terms of like the skills that we're always

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (25:35)
My favorite thing about like accessing a hive mind is that outside of the box thinking. Mm-hmm. That solves a problem that you didn't think about. So every time I would talk to another You didn't know you had a problem. No, just the way you solve the problem. yeah. Not the problem itself. Yeah. but like there are multiple times that

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (26:04)
before, during and after my time in ed tech, where I would come to the table whether I was part of the hive mind or I was asking the hive mind.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (26:17)
whether I was part of the hive mind or I was asking the hive mind, the the the solutions that they come up with, the applications, the integrations, the the implementation, that's the word, the implementation they use a tool for in which it wasn't originally designed for just blows my mind. And I'm like, Yes, or sometimes

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (26:42)
I'm part of that hive mind and I come up with that idea. I don't know. there was something in Kami quite a few times where I'm like, well, why don't you do it this way? And you were like, What? I didn't know you could do that. and it was just not even just Kami, but like other tools. Like I didn't know you could do it that way, or I didn't think about using it that way. one of the first things that I remember being like, What? was when a middle school science teacher took a worksheet that was gonna be like a group activity.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (27:11)
Change the formatting of a slide and then put the worksheet as the background where the kids couldn't delete it. It was part of like the master. The background, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Not just the background where the kids could alter it, but it was part of the like the template slide. So they had to know way more about Google Slides to change it. And I was like, Yeah. Wow, that blew my mind.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (27:37)
And then she's like putting the text boxes on there so that the kids would have like a starting place to start. and I was like, that is hands down the coolest thing I've ever seen. Like it wasn't intended for that. It was intended for you to like structure your slides in different presentation modes type of thing so that it would be already be there and you'd have this template, this format, like already ready to go when you go to make another one. But she used it to make custom

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (28:07)
group work. Yeah. Digitally. And I was like and it took away some of the barriers that were keeping the students from doing the work. So like they would delete things, like I don't know what happened. And they wouldn't like that removed a barrier. And us being a Googly district, that was groundbreaking right there. Yeah. and so teaching teachers how to do that was actually I was like

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (28:37)
Jill did this. She's gonna retire this year. Jill did this, and Jill said this is how you do it, and it's fantastic, and it removes all these barriers. You a little bit of prep work on your all's end, and it takes away this headache that you guys have been dealing with. and some people would just be like, well, it's just gonna use another tool. But no, she was like, How can I make this work in here and solve my problem in here with the tools I'm already using? And that, that's the

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (29:06)
innovation that I love seeing from a hive mind.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (29:33)
I think we and I'm gonna I'm gonna call out a name here 'cause she's phenomenal. that was kind of the unique thing about working at Kami on on the team that we worked on. the team that we were in was like all these educators from all over that were super talented in their own way. Like that's why we all landed there, right?

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (30:02)
But I remember always, like, if I knew I was gonna go watch Avra run a session. Particularly if it was I knew that this that the that the focus was gonna be early elementary. Hands down. I knew that I was gonna learn a ton 'cause that that was not my space. Still not my space. not to be confused with the social media platform. But

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (30:32)
Like I just knew because she's so phenomenal at not just like engaging with the elementary teachers, but just like her her knowledge of phonics, mm-hmm, fluency, literacy. Like just like just seeing her weave all of these intric like these nuanced elements of early education early education into one fluid session was always impressive. Absolutely.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (31:01)
And her presentation voice was so calming and welcoming and it it made you feel like you could ask her anything. Yeah. Just to speak on Aubra, just a hot second. But yeah, no, like and that was something that I loved about our team too, is that like if you didn't know, there was someone to teach you. Yes. And we just had this amazing hive mind around it all.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (31:31)
that we could talk to n any of us about any of our niches. And early education is definitely Aubra's niche. and then but even then I I was considered who potentially the math person or the science person. But even then I would come and talk to other people and I'm like, I never would have thought to use that and now I'm gonna apply it in a different way in like a math session or science session. Or a general just getting to know Kami for the first time because

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (32:00)
that's a way that I didn't think about using it before. and right now even just I guess we're supposed to be talking specifically about ambassador programs, but the EduGardians community, there's people loving all kinds of different tech tools in that community. And I go into a hive mind of their capacity. They're their own type of bucket, I feel. Yes. Because they're not like they are not

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (32:31)
Trying to push a product, they're trying to push a family. Yes. Well, and we're and a community. We do we w do want to be a community. We want to support each other and but we also want to learn from each other. And the fact that there are so many of us with our own little niches and experiences and we're completely different from one another. I ask the question to the hive mind that is the Edu Guardian community, and I come back with like fifteen different

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (32:59)
paths to go down to try and solve this problem. And it's fantastic. We even have a saying that's like, you don't know how to do that? There's an edu guardian for that. You want to learn how to use Wakelet? Jen. She's going to teach you how to use Wakelet. You want to learn how to use Adobe? Jessica. She's going to teach you how to use Adobe. Or Melissa. Like if you want to learn how to use any particular thing, we've got an edugardian for that. They know how to use it and they know how to use it.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (33:28)
to its best abilities. Can I can I just call out one that like is no longer with us that really did this well. Like really did community well. Flipgrid. Flipgrid, yeah. Flipgrid did community and big shout out to Anne Cosmo. Anne 'cause she just knocked that one out of the park and is doing phenomenal work now over at Adobe. Yeah. she spoke at Edu Growth. Yes.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (33:58)
Super good. but like there was something about yes, Anne did phenomenal work there, but I think it was just like the nature of what their product was. And what I mean by that is like just at that time to just video someone from anywhere and share ideas like Marco Polo. but also if you remember, at at one point

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (34:28)
When you went on the Flipgrid website, there was like a global map you looked at, and you were able to connect with different teachers everywhere. And then you were able to set up Flipgrid. I'm probably not using the right language, it's been a while, but like the you we our students would be able to collaborate with each other. Because that was the other piece too, which it it it just they I think that was

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (34:56)
probably one of the strongest exemplars of community that a company did. Mm-hmm. That I think was just it was just peak community for me. And I I I don't know if others would agree, disagree, but it was just strong. I've heard that a lot from a lot of other people that were part of that flip grid community.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (35:22)
that it was just really good and people were like devastated when it was like purchased and changed and now it's not free and you can't e can't use any of it, blah blah blah, unless you're a Microsoft district and even then you have to have like a certain package or add on to get it anyways. Not accessible. Yes. it it was always sort of weird for me to see everyone really upset about it because I was a flip grid advocate. I was get kids talking 'cause they

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (35:51)
Sometimes they can say it but not write it. And that's the gap. Like that's the bridge. You can have say it and then they can write after more they're listening. And I was like, do a Flipgrid, have them talking about it, reply to each other. but I was never a part of like the social media community of Flipgrid. So it was so I never experienced it myself, but it wasn't because I didn't use Flipgrid. I think I was I was

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (36:18)
Because they had the certifications too. Yeah. Like you had to do a certain amount of certifications and then you became a I forget what they call what they called it, but it was like you were part of their community basically. Yeah. and that's something that's also like you have like the informal people that's part of the community that are active in the community, but then you have the people who are certified that's part of the community and get tapped in to do like product feedback. and then you have like

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (36:48)
the leaders. There's there's there's a lot of and if you loop in like the Google innovators, the MIEs the ISTE what are they? ISTE certified ISTE things. That that one is that's something you pay a lot of money for. Yeah. Well some of the Google things you pay a lot to take the tests and you t pay sure to like to become certified and then they'll tap you to do

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (37:18)
gag work or you start your own gag and Google Educator Group. yeah, yeah yeah. Yeah. and then you're like just doing that for free.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (37:33)
Thoughts? I think there's like I think there's a fine line between

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (37:43)
you know, being a part of a community and then giving away your time, your talent, even at times like your resources and your ideas. Because then like I have seen it where companies will try to hijack sessions. So that's the thing.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (38:11)
But

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (38:14)
I remember getting excited about when a company would approach me and be like, Hey, we're we're wanting you to do this thing to be running this session or being at our conference or whatever the case is. Running a webinar. Running a webinar and I'm like, yeah, like it like, you know, especially er like early on for me and I was like, you know. but then like

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (38:43)
As I think about it now,

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (38:48)
I don't want to use the word exploitation. But

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (38:54)
I think that like there there's

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (39:00)
I think teachers that are talented that are excited about what they're doing, there should be a level of respect for these people. And so I'm not articulating myself well, I don't think. I just feel that I'm indifferent when they're being asked to commit the type of time that they're being asked. Especially at like the larger

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (39:30)
places like ISTE and FETC that re that's a a bigger lip. And like are they are these companies paying for them to travel there? Mm-hmm. So that's and I I actu I I don't I've only worked for one Ed tech company. I don't I I don't know. I don't I don't know. Right. I it's just these are just questions that that I have is all. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and same. I've only worked for one ed tech company. I don't know what all of them are doing. I don't know if like if you see a teacher in a booth,

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (39:59)
Are they volunteering their time? Were they already going? Did their district send them? And then they're just now hopping into the booth to advocate for something that they love. I've been to a number of FETCs and ISTEs now, and I've been to quite a few regional around like West Virginia and Louisiana and Virginia conferences now as an educator and as a vendor.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (40:28)
and I do see a number of educators being sent on behalf of a company, being like popping into a booth session or and like they're presenting or they're like sort of working it or just talking or they're doing a session out in the concurrent time and there's like a vendor hanging out with them in that space. And I'm all I am curious though, like

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (40:58)
Do they pay you to talk about their product? Do they pay you to be presenting in their booth? Or is that an opportunity for are they giving you a platform to show off? Like and they're helping you? Or so like so so it it it depends on who you are and what your goals are. And they just love presenting. Like it's very much just

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (41:26)
I don't wanna say it's a hobby, but it's something their passion. That that's their passion for it. So they're they're obviously gonna do it.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (41:38)
For others, I feel like they are trying to move into like the consulting space. They're trying like they are building a website, they have a podcast, maybe they're thinking about a book, right? There's like all these then them speaking in these booths, right? That is name recognition. That is they they have a there's a brand recognition there be like.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (42:12)
I don't mind saying saying this. Justin's a good example of this. So when Justin's at Q, now Cali, you know He presents a lot on the edge protocols, right? Yes, he he does, but he'll be like he'll be do like he'll do like an edge protocol session in like the Ed Puzzle booth and then he'll do another one. I think my last year at Kami I had him do one in the Kami booth. and he'll do another one.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (42:42)
with way ground like he'll he'll be floating around and he has he does blogs. He has like a huge I'm sure I've shown it to you, but it's huge like slide deck with all his protocols that he uses through a social science lens. And he's just sharing that out like all the time, right? Like so like I think that does benefit him. Mm. And I think if like you're just trying to get yourself out there then like there is that I feel that's more

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (43:12)
Mutually beneficial.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (43:16)
I don't think that that's always the case when you see this happen in other situations. Other yeah. So

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (43:27)
you said that Justin has like a master slide deck that he just shares out, right? Yeah. You have thoughts on things like this. And you and I have had this conversation before. Yeah. Where it's like that is your idea. Those are your

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (43:46)
brain babies and you're not gonna share any of that with anyone just openly. And I'm like, yes, share it with everyone. Education needs to have the best thing. Wait, I'm not I mean, me as your best friend asked you for something once and I got one file.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (44:11)
so it depends on what it is. If it's something that is polished up, that is something that I feel

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (44:28)
Can be delivered.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (44:32)
With an invoice.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (44:38)
You're gonna do it. I mean, I think that there

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (44:45)
Teachers is like being a tea is the only profession where like you you go through you spend all this money on degrees and credentials that like then is just like, no, don't get paid.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (45:05)
You don't see that with doctors. You don't see that with lawyers. You don't see that with nurses, right? Like you don't, you don't like teaching is I feel is like maybe I'm wrong here, but like teaching is the only profession where it's like the expectation is that you bend over backwards, put the blood, sweat, and tears into everything, but don't expect anything in return.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (45:32)
And to me that that there's a huge problem with that, right? And and and so I think we have to know what our worth is. And if you know what your worth is, there's nothing wrong with setting those boundaries of just like, no, I I have this knowledge, I have this skill set, I can help you. But everything has to be mutually beneficial with.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (46:02)
with the two parties. Now not not to say that there's certain certain things I I won't share. Like absolutely one hundred percent. but I think like if someone wants a whole design thinking unit that I built out for an entire semester of economics. Like I think I think it depends I think it depends on what it is.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (46:33)
And what what's what's also like involved with the ask. Right. If the ask is like Steve, we we want you to come in and speak at our professional development day. I'll be I'll be sharing that with them. Like, you know, and and you know, I I don't think there's anything there's there's anything wrong with that. the other thing too is we've talked a lot about like

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (47:02)
It's okay to duplicate ourselves at a certain level, but it's also okay to hold back a little bit.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (47:14)
To encourage even more curiosity, to encourage more discourse. And and I'm speaking, I'm speaking to this more on the private sector side. Not I'm definitely not this way within the public education realm of things. but when I was in the private sector, I was really intentional of like, no, I do not want to be replaced, and I wasn't.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (47:44)
So you'd mentioned before that you would like

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (47:49)
spoken on like webinars, at events for other companies. Have you ever sat like in a panel and like reviewed something in beta and told them this doesn't work, this doesn't

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (48:09)
At an ed tech company or outside of working there? Outside of working there.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (48:18)
'cause I feel like if you're working for one it's kinda your job to give the It's kinda your yeah, it's kinda your job. But if you don't work for one and you are the consumer, have you ever done that? Have you ever sat in there and been like Yes. Yes. Yes. I won't name the companies or whatever. but I remember getting like beta access.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (48:48)
Or they're like startup startup. Like they're learning how walk. Yeah. And then they give me access and we have a couple that we have access to some like startup startup stuff. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's I think it's fun. I think it's like let me let me kind of answer this from two different like points. One is like

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (49:17)
way things were. And when I say were I mean like before AI. As we know it. Like, that was a lot of fun, a lot of like, ooh, this would work, but reconsider this. 'cause we know that engineers are not teachers, right? And so like that And translating what the teacher actually wants into what they need to build. Yes. Is it's

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (49:44)
Two different languages. There's two different languages and you've got to like we got we got good at that at Kami. I I felt we got pretty darn good at that. but like now the way things are now, yeah, we get access to things and like ever AIs and everything. Mm-hmm. So like part of what I see now with that is like

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (50:09)
How are you different? Mm-hmm. Because because they're infusing AI and there's like I don't want to say they're not they're not thinking outside of the box, I'm not saying that, but like I'm like I feel like there were a bunch of chat bots that popped up all at once, and then it's like, okay, why you over this one? Yeah, it's like duplicating efforts, right? And we're like, you so you you're literally just doing the same thing as the next guy or gal. Right? Like it so I I think

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (50:37)
That goes back to it being oversaturated. Mm-hmm. Right, where they're just all trying to just basically kind of build the same thing. But they think they could do it better. But as like the end con end user, it just all feels and looks the same. Yeah. Yeah.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (50:56)
But yeah, there is something 'cause I know of someone that I feel like is a friend of mine, if I were to run into them we would hug type of thing. he sat on a panel and met with the company multiple times throughout his work day like over a span of like three months giving them feedback on a beta feature.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (51:26)
I mean, that's a lot. That's a lot of time and brain power and like also him taking it and trying to implement it with like students and teachers and taking all of that feedback back to the company.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (51:42)
I think closest I've done to something like that, I remember like during lunch or like a prep period.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (51:52)
this before I worked there, but Kami got me on a call to talk about product. Louie was on that call. and I f during that time I forgot I forgot what it was. I forgot like it may and it was more than just one feature. it may have been

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (52:17)
The early developments of Classview. That's about that time. It was like the early developments of it. Mm-hmm. which is phenomenal. I love Classview. Mm. I do too.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (52:35)
So yeah, so that that's I mean, I've done it. I I I've never committed the kind of time that you just described, but Yeah. Yeah. Well when you get to that point too, and I'm like, that's a lot of time, that's a lot of energy, that's a lot of research. Mm-hmm. And that's not your job. Mm hmm. But it was taking your job time to do that. So yeah, I I just feel like these kind the

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (53:03)
Companies need to like very aware of that. And it's it's like it's a fine line. You wanna help out a product and a tool that your students are using. And he's at like the district level and so he was doing all of this. and like that your students are using and you wanna make sure that it's actually gonna be beneficial, but and then sometimes sometimes you get a discount, sometimes you get it for free, sometimes you're getting a T shirt, but at some level, like this there's a person doing all of this.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (53:33)
So the prices for all these things are crazy now. when I first I remember when I first like I first had a buy Kami out of pocket because it was before my district purchased it. I remember looking at the price. I forgot what it was back then. I was like, that's nothing.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (53:55)
ninety nine dollars. For the year. Yes. Which is dirt. Well, like it was nothing. Yeah. but like all these different tools like some of them are like, you're paying several hundred dollars. yeah. For like a teacher plan. Yeah. One teacher and your kids. I remember going through my second master's degree and I had to do a training on a tool that I've never used before, which was kind of hard for me to find one.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (54:27)
and the one that I ended up selecting, I had to like learn how to use it and train within the thirty day trial period because there was no way I was paying for that out of my pocket. 'Cause it was expensive just for one teacher plan and my students. And I was on maternity leave. So like I wasn't doing anything. No, it was before maternity leave, I was pregnant. but like I was

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (54:56)
It was just wild to me though to see like this product that's really cool. It was really cool. It had these interactive things, it had a gamification, it was like a really cool presentation tool that could be self paced or asynchronous or even teacher controlled. It was a really awesome tool, but it was so freaking expensive there was no way that a teacher could pay for it on their own. Hmm. Interesting. I as we're just as we're going through all this

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (55:25)
A memory just popped up which I think is pretty relevant here. I did serve on a technology committee for Medesso City Schools. Now were you given a stipend for that committee? Yes. Okay.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (55:42)
But it was we did a lot of different things in that committee. Mm-hmm.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (55:49)
One of which was we helped train the district on ISTE standards. Mm-hmm. In fact, they ended up getting this is after I left, but they with that work and this work was led for for those that are listening by the phenomenal Matthew Ketchum, but they got like ISTE distinguished district. District. Yeah, so they ended up getting that with like having that kind of like ambassador program and roll it out. Like there was like an ambassador or

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (56:19)
Tech lead. A tech lead at every school site that was then training the school site on ISTE standards and implementation. Examples and stuff. but the other thing that we that we did is or maybe those those were two separate committees, but it was like the same crew of people. But but we we did a lot of we did a lot of pilots. So

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (56:45)
In terms of the product feedback, we give the company feedback because the company would come in, do the PD for us, and be like we would test it out. And use the product in your classroom. So one we did, I remember was Wii Video. just fell in love with We Video because it has or at least had a Schoology integration. Mm-hmm. And then you could like push out an assignment. And you were a total Schoology nerd, weren't you? yes.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (57:16)
I knew the answer to that question. If if you if you tell me that like you like Steve, I'm gonna teach you something about schoology, I'm gonna be like What are you gonna teach me? Bet. But because because I just was in it like all the time and just dug into it. but yeah, like so like we we did it for like we video. So it was it was you know, giving product feedback to them felt a little bit more purposeful because like we wanted this to be right for our district and our kids.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (57:45)
We did the same thing right before I left with Parent Square. Which different different type of thing, right? Different like the communication piece, right? I remember doing a pilot for the state of West Virginia on class craft, which doesn't really exist anymore. it doesn't exist anymore. But that thing was so good. And I got it for free to pilot it with my eighth grade science kids. And I then trickled some of it into my seventh grade science kids too.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (58:13)
but I really used it with fidelity with my eighth grade science kids. And it was through the state of West Virginia was piloting this to see if they were going to no kids were suggested or not. Kids would dig in to class craft. add in your own prizes that they could spend their points on and coins on. There is a it was there's a PBIS loop in with that. Yeah. Like if you had a PBIS store.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (58:41)
You can set up where like Yeah, and I did. You did, yeah. Yeah. And one of the things they wanted to spend their money on was sitting with one of my frogs at their desk for the class period. It wasn't squishies? No, they were not that big then.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (58:57)
but anyways, my point is like you could

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (59:01)
All this like when you're doing it for your district, you're doing it for your state, you're doing it for education, for education purposes, to see if it's actually going to work, to see if it is a really good product, and the feedback is going to like internally. I feel like that's more purposeful. You're on a mission, you're trying to solve a problem for your kids, type of thing. But when it goes into

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (59:30)
you're s the only one in your district using it and they're bringing you in and you're doing presentations for them for free. You're so there's there's there's two sides of the house here. Yes. One side is the sales side. So within a sales cycle, if you're like someone like me that was serving on a committee that was quasi decision making, like I was more like input.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (59:58)
Tech directors, they're the ones making the final the decision. But we were trying to evaluate, we were helping them evaluate whether or not to purchase it, right? So you were helping them make the decision on what to purchase and why. And so the company involvement there is just like they are the seller, right? That's on one side of the house. I didn't mind doing that. The other side of the house is the marketing.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:00:28)
And for anyone listening that's like not too familiar with like the business side of things, like sales and marketing, they're not the same thing. They are not the same thing. They're not the same thing. and so they do not speak the same language, they do not have the same goals. They don't have the same goal, they don't have the same metrics, right? And so what what what and Sophie might be able to shed even a

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:00:56)
even more light than I because I felt like you were more you were working with marketing a lot more than I was. And I was so curious. I asked a lot of questions. So on the marketing side, they're doing a few things like how where is their brand? How many people know about them? Awareness. Where it's the it's the it's the awareness, right? It's the marketing awareness. It is the tone of voice. It is what's the personality of the company, right? And

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:01:26)
So like all these all these different places or all all all these different ways that mark and then social media gets looped into that, right? but if it's on the marketing side, then it is what you're describing that if they're like, Hey, you're an ambassador, go speak at these conferences, go wear our merch, go take a picture of this box we sent you and post it on social media. Yeah. So

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:01:55)
You are then, if marketing is a chessboard.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:02:03)
you are just as a teacher one of those pieces that they're playing with. And I know that sounds icky. But you have to evaluate that if you are more if you're if your involvement there is more of just a marketing piece. Mm-hmm.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:02:28)
you have to decide how you feel about that. because especially if you're somebody that's already purchased, you're you're a customer. So they're like, you you're a customer. Part of how they're gonna retain you is to empower you, make you feel good, and that's fine. But then also how are they gonna use their power users to spread that awareness to have larger reach.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:02:59)
So again, two sides there's two sides of that house there of like we your involvement, how you're collaborating with these with these companies. Mm-hmm. Yeah. th there are completely two two sides. There's and I w I'd actually say that there's sort of three because what I was talking about was more like product and development with my friend. And that is that's also that's different. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a different bucket.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:03:25)
so you've got like in the sales, is this good enough? Is this what we're gonna use? As is which tool do we use? We video or screencastify or whatever. Yeah. Not that they're the same. or Edpuzzle or Screencastify or whatever. Not that they're the same, but like which one is gonna solve the problem and be the useful tool that we need to use for our kids in our district at this time. That's like sales. Then you've got the

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:03:53)
we sent you swag, post about it, wear it, talk about it on social media. We want to help you raise your voice as you are talking about how much you love this product. That's marketing. And then there's the feedback on a new feature, and that's product and development. so and but these are all ways that you can be part of this ambassador program. And for someone who's not really out there on social media, like I

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:04:23)
was like we were connected on social media before we started working at Kami. We finally connected in person virtually because of the Kami roles that we took. but it was like in my world before Kami, pre-Kami, I was oblivious of a lot of these things. I was oblivious of what like my ideas, how it could influence.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:04:53)
Tech company. It felt made me feel good. It made me feel really good about like, they're listening to me. they think I have good ideas. I'm part of this community and we join a webinar together and talk about what's coming. And they sent me a box with like swag and stuff in it. And they're listen like they're listening. And it it was actually kind of interesting because I knew a lot of stuff about a lot of stuff, but there wasn't a whole lot of people listening to me at my district level.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:05:20)
I was just Sophie's all tech nerdy and she's going on about this again. I'm not gonna use that in my classroom until we hit COVID and then they all were. but but it was it was one of those things where I was like I felt heard. So I was like diving into it. And then I loved listening to teachers because my nerdy brain I wanted to know all the ways that they were using it too, because I didn't think about using it that way.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:05:50)
Now looking on the other side and being on this side again.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:05:57)
I'm like, wait a second.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:06:00)
Are you using a sales line on me? Are you trying to get like marketing for like it's just like I didn't think about it then, I didn't think about it when I was in it, but now that I'm outside of it, knowing what I've known now, knowing what I do for the podcast, knowing what I did in the first two chapters of my career for other companies and for my district and and things like that. I'm a little like

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:06:31)
I'm jaded. I'm skeptical.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:06:37)
again you end up being a piece on that board. Right? And again, people can be okay with that. I don't they can be. I'm not we're not we're not sitting here like bashing any company or like the the part of what makes I think a successful classroom right now is yes, the teacher, yes, the instruction, the pedagogy, right? The like

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:07:06)
But it's also the different tools and strategies that are that one barriers. That were are removing barriers. Like the And elevating learning, redefining what they could possibly do with just pencil and paper. Mm-hmm. That and again it that doesn't always have to be technology all the time. Mm-hmm. Cause there is 'cause there's other companies out there that are not really like ed tech heavy but more like

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:07:36)
resource heavy. Mm-hmm. Like common lit is a good example of that. Like phenomenal products products. Common lit. Yes. I love the using those all the time. Yeah. so yeah, and and I think the the your whole bit about being the only tech person

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:08:01)
That could be a whole a whole conversation within itself. All within itself. Being the only tech person in your department, in your wing, in your school, using the tech all the time would be extremely isolating, which you understand as well. Yeah, I do. but yeah, so it's just one of those things where ambassadorship programs. I do have a lot of questions too about like the Google Innovator things when people go off

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:08:28)
To become a Google innovator at like Chicago or Atlanta. Are you paying for yourself? Like, and that's just because I I didn't pursue that stuff because part of me is like, I already know everything that's in that certified one and two. I already train on everybody. Why do I need to have a badge to prove that? Like I already do it type of thing. A mentality in my head. Like I don't wanna have to pay to take this test to prove that I know how to use Google type of thing. So I'm a little like

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:08:58)
When it comes to those types of things. But I am curious on like if you go and lead a team, are you compensated? Are you just are you like, do they pay your way? Do they pay your hotel? like, are you would you go and participate in this in what people have said is the best professional development experience of their life, which no doubt I believe in. are and then you post about

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:09:29)
your experience there and you share your knowledge and like but are you compensated for your time in any way? Are you they helping you get there? Or is this a pay to play? I don't know, 'cause I've never gone that past I don't know either. And I I never went down that road for similar reasons as you. Mm-hmm. However, I did and I don't know if I still feel this way. But I had a very

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:09:59)
unpopular opinion that I mostly kept to myself. I think the only other I've only said this to one other person. It may have been Stacy Roshan. Are you and you're gonna say it to the world. And again I don't know if I still agree with it, but like I I I always felt I always felt odd about this Google innovator. Because in my head I'm like, are they Google innovators for a whole suite of tools

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:10:27)
that I didn't really find that innovative.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:10:33)
Now this was pre Gemini.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:10:37)
Now she is phenomenal. Now and I think that that's what's sort of cool about being a Google innovator though, because I've watched some people go through the process.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:10:51)
And I've watched like their presentations and I've watched what their innovator project is type of thing. Or any that's right, 'cause they do like a pro but and there's some cool things that come out. Because they're taking this not that innovative slide deck and turning it into an app.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:11:13)
So that's what's makes it innovative. So I get that part. I get that part. but then I also know people that go through programs like that, I, or Google Innovator or there are a lot of different like higher level more than just being an ambassador, but like you get jackets and sent to places and that type of level of ambassador. I see you Adobe Jacket.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:11:44)
I need that jacket. Who did I talk to? I talked to someone from Adobe about this. And they're like, I was like, you can just buy it. Like, you can also just give it to me. And they have a cool hat. I think Fonz has the hat. Fonz has it's the black hat and it's it says Adobe also in black. Ooh. You could probably just buy it at other swag store. I know, but

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:12:14)
I feel like I know enough people at Adobe that like, dude, come on. anyone from Adobe that's listening, I'll send you the

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:12:28)
anyways.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:12:29)
I think you and I talked about this at our time like at towards the end of being in the private sector, we were sort of losing that spark of like being excited to talk about Teaching Teaching, being excited to talk about this next new fancy thing. Because I think it we were just too we were t out of the out of the classroom for too long to see the real problems that are happening.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:12:56)
in there and to be solving the real problems right then and there. And so with my role now, and like I got a little bit of it, like of when I would get these really good connections with a customer who would come back and ask me questions again and again. I got a little bit of taste for that, but then to for me being able to go in and watch this teacher teach, see how these students are interacting and use my powers of pattern recognition.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:13:26)
to identify where this barrier is and to help that brand new teacher out with my experience, because they don't have any, to solve a problem in a real classroom right now, that has just been

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:13:47)
There's nothing an ambassador program can do like that.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:13:54)
True. We've gone side quests all over the place for

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:13:57)
Sophie, this has been good. I so this whole this is this is kind of a maybe a different format than what we usually do, yeah. And we can pepper these in, I feel, and we'll kind of get like listener feedback on it. Like yeah, what do you guys want us to have real talk about? Yeah. If we're not an expert, we'll figure it out. That's what we do. So real talk, yeah. This is so just a little bit of context here. this whole like ambassador program kind of conversation.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:14:26)
This is something Sophie and I have talked about a lot, just passively offline. Kind of just like like wait, what this is something we should just talk about on the show, but like not with the guests, like kinda like like what if we had like real talk? And therefore the show. And there's the this is like a little mini series within our Yeah, and we could yeah, if we can we can pull all real talk, maybe from one season pulled together at the end kind of thing. That'd be kind of yeah, that yeah.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:14:56)
We'll see. We'll see. See if there's time. so yeah, so just so yeah, we'll we'll kind of roll this out. We'll see how it goes. we all wanna get other real talks. What do you want us to talk real about? Yeah, like and it could be from anything from like classroom management realities to gosh. To is it illegal for your students to have cell phones in the classroom?

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:15:25)
Yeah. but yeah, so like yeah, let us know. Let's know what you think. Also, definitely want to plug a few things here. One, big shout out to Learning Genie. and so they are sponsoring this semester of Under the Hat Pod. and so expect some more content showcasing Learning Genie and how it's used. some of which will be through the lens of my college, how I'm implementing.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:15:55)
learning genie in my own program. The pre-service situation. And then some of it will be through the lens of like an instructional coach and first year teachers and how it can be used in in the classroom right now. So two different viewpoints on how Learning Genie can be used. Yeah. Also we have our PD event coming up next month. The Shadow Quest. The Shadow Quest. It is a virtual conference. It is 100% free.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:16:24)
But as the name suggests, there are some secrets. So if you do not register for the event, you will not get the link and passcode to gain access to the Shadow Quest material.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:16:37)
Doing this real talk. next week, I forget who we're talking to. I believe we're talking with Don Bott. he's a local person in our neck of the woods. He has a book in California, he has a book out. retired educator, instructional coach. so he's gonna be on chatting with us about all sorts of things. All 40 years, yeah, it's the 40 years of his experience.

Hosts: Steve & Sophie (01:17:06)
All packaged in in in one book. So looking forward to that. All right. Until next time, friends, keep your hats on. And your minds open. Stay curious.