Today's guest is Nadia Madan-Morrow, principal of Place Bridge Academy in Denver – one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse schools in the country. Nadia has spent her entire 24-year career devoted to MLs in Denver Public Schools. She started as a bilingual teacher, became an instructional coach, and led the district's Multilingual Education Department as Executive Director before becoming Chief of Academics for the entire district. As the daughter of immigrants, this work is especially personal to her, and the Academy's success is a credit to the tireless efforts of the dedicated team she leads.
Nadia: We're looking for, are they ready enough to participate in either a bilingual classroom or a more traditional classroom. I always want to hesitate before you make too many comparisons between multilingual learners and students with IEPs, but do think about it in terms of the least restrictive environment. For LLs, newcomer classroom is a more restrictive environment. Language is acquired by interacting with peers. If we hold kids in newcomer programming too long, they're not going to grow as much linguistically. So the goal is to get them out with their grade-level peers as soon as they are ready. Brandon: Hey everyone. Hola a todos. I'm Brandon Cardet-Hernandez and you're listening to Leading Multilingual Learning, powered by Medley Learning. Each episode, we're exploring the leadership, the ideas, and the insights shaping better education for multilingual learners. And today, we're joined by Nadia Madan-Morrow, principal of Place Bridge Academy in Denver, one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse schools in the country. Nadia has spent her entire career, 24 years, devoted to multilingual learners across Denver public schools. She started as a bilingual teacher, became an instructional coach, then led the district's multilingual education department as executive director, and later became the chief of academics for the entire district. As the daughter of immigrants, this work is personal to her. Nadia is a powerhouse, so I am so excited to welcome her to the podcast today. How are you doing, Nadia? Nadia: I'm great. Thank you for having me. Brandon: It's a good bio. Nadia: Oh, thank you. Brandon: Pretty nice. It's a real, real commitment to our kids. I always ask this question: What's one thing that never makes it in your bio that you're like, you know, I'm really proud of this and I wish more people knew? Nadia: Um, I would say that sort of my side interest is sort of wellness and healing, partly because I don't do a great job taking care of myself, so I'm always trying to figure out best ways to do better by me and so I do things like I get up in the morning and I do yoga and I meditate and I try to drink lots of water and have good nutrition to try to set myself up well. And I have since learned that lots of people borrow some of my tricks. But it's a continual work in progress. Brandon: Okay, I'm going to pick your brain after the podcast about some of this because I have my own little breath work practice. So I see you trying to to do right by these bodies and these brains by taking a break and and doing all the right things. Nadia: Yeah. Brandon: Awesome. Okay. So let's get into it because I have way too many questions to ask you today. We're going to try to get through as many as I can. Before we start, mostly because I think Place Bridge is so special, can you just tell us a little bit about the school, the community, what Place Bridge is and and why it's so important in this work? Nadia: Yeah, so it is the most incredible place. Our numbers do fluctuate based off of immigration patterns, but we serve approximately 800 students, sometimes more, sometimes less. We serve ECE or four-year-olds through eighth grade. We were built and intentionally designed to serve immigrant and refugee students. So what that means is we basically serve as a magnet from across the city for students that could benefit from our programming. We have a newcomer program, which is for students that research often refers to as SLIFE, so students that have had interrupted or no schooling in their home country. We also have a bilingual program. Our Spanish speakers come to us for bilingual programming. And then we have programming for lots of different languages. Our kids literally come from all around the world. We have over 30 languages represented here and it is just an amazing place. Brandon: How special is that? All right, so walk me through this. A newcomer family walks into Place Bridge Academy in August or September or November, and they enroll. What happens? What's the intake process like and and how does it all work? What's the experience that family's going to have? Nadia: So first, we really pride ourselves in creating a welcoming environment for our families. When you walk into our building, you're going to be greeted with warm smiles, greetings, assisted, sometimes told where to go, sometimes walked personally into the office. We have a phone interpretation line that we use all the time. We also have speakers of many languages on staff. So meet with a family, complete the paperwork in a language that they understand, and learn a little bit about the student. And so we're looking for what languages do they speak at home, what kind of schooling have they had, if they've had any. And so we've got different questions that are sort of asking us that. And for Spanish speakers, we're asking families to select bilingual programming or not. So that's all part of the registration process. During that process as well, we're learning a little bit about our the family. So the amazing thing here is that we've got a ton of wraparound services here. If they're telling us that they've just moved and they don't have any food, we've got a food food bank right here on site. We've got what we refer to as a clothing boutique where we can take families to go and get clothing that they need. We've got ability to provide our families with ESL classes or GED classes or citizenship classes, connections to various financial assistance if they need it. And then we also have a medical and dental clinic on site. And so we're like sort of assessing the family, seeing what their needs are, and then we might be taking them to those different locations to get them what they need. Brandon: It's like a real community school model. Nadia: Yes, it really is. Nadia: Then once a kiddo is in with us, we do some assessment right away. So we're in Colorado, so we're a WIDA state, so we use the WIDA Screener where we're assessing the student's language. And we're getting to know their background a little bit. Then we have what's called an ISA team or instructional services advisory team that is taking that information, evaluating to make sure that the student and multilingual learners are properly identified and that they're in the right classroom. So there's discussions right now about a few kids, like right here on my desk about this student is in this classroom, do they belong in this classroom, what do we need to do? And so we're spending the first couple of weeks of school making sure that they're in the right place. Brandon: I love this. It's intentional from the second a family walks in, but those wraparound supports, that's the stuff that changes lives and does the sort of bottom up the entire family ecosystem getting the support they need. Brandon: Absolutely. This episode is part of like a broader back-to-school series that we're doing and we wanted to talk to educators around how they're thinking about the new school year. And it was important for me to talk to you because I, and I said this to our team while we were thinking about like who can we try to get on for this conversation, because a lot of our schools, and I think this is not just true for you, I think this is true for a lot of folks, I just think maybe in your context it feels meatier. You know, a lot of our schools prepare for back to school over the summer: schedules, staffing, classroom setups. I'm sure you do a lot of that too, but the nature of newcomers is that they're showing up all the time and it's not a convenient September launch. So how do you plan as a, as a school leader? Like how do you plan for school when your enrollment is so unpredictable? Like what advice would you give to other leaders who feel that in their own community? Nadia: We always have two priorities, big priorities for the year. One is always under school culture and then one is always more tied to academics. You know, I think in lots of schools, you do the initial setup. Here are the classroom rituals and routines and here's our values and you do that the first couple weeks of school and then that's it. These are things that we are just constantly reinforcing and coming back to. We also have a big influence, emphasis on social emotional learning. So every classroom is doing a 20 minutes a day of dedicated SEL time and then we integrate it. And so we have created using the CASEL competencies, basically I statements that we kind of use as our own standards. So everybody across the school is focusing on a different competency at the same time. And so it's we're just constantly coming back to to those things. So right now, we're focusing on self-management. And so everybody is working on rituals and routines, our bridge values, what does it mean to live those, what does it look like, and then how are you managing your own body and emotions? And then we cycle back to self-management several times throughout the school year, so that it's reminders for all of us about how we manage ourselves, how are we respectful to one another. Um, so our bridge values, the first one is B for belonging, how are we creating a sense of belonging for others, not just adults but kids too, how are we demonstrating respect. So it's something that's just sort of woven into how we operate as a school. Brandon: I'm loving this and I love thinking about this idea that like, yes, rituals and routines, yes, class rosters and all this stuff, but you actually didn't go into the sort of sometimes operational headaches of school leadership and instead you're talking about the conditions for kids to be successful and that's like how do we create a culture where belonging is at the core, and not just as like hyperbole, but like all the other things that we do from self-regulation to having a sense of self, all the things that actually contribute, in addition to academic rigor and feeling smart and all of those things. Nadia: Yeah. And the logistics are still important. Like yesterday, we had to with our new schedule, we had to sit as a team and go our traffic patterns are colliding and so we got to so we still have to do those things, but that's like step one. Right, those are the basics. Really the other pieces are what makes a difference here and I think that that's, when people say that this school has a good feeling, I think it's because of that what we just talked about. We work to, in terms of my hiring, I hire intentionally people that have the mindset and beliefs that we do. We can teach some of the expertise. I'm looking for people that want to be at the school and they're going to be okay with high mobility. They're they're looking at kids first and I can teach them how to teach the curriculum. Brandon: I used to say the same thing when I was a school leader in the Bronx. Like I was like, I need people who love kids, who want to create really healthy boundaries with young people, safe spaces, who like share just this like radical belief that we think like anything's possible for a young person. And the other stuff I can get you there. Like we can figure out the scope and sequence, but it's really hard to train quickly on the some of those softer skills. Nadia: That's correct. And that's what we do when we talk to teachers about the importance of SEL time. Right? Our goal in schools is to prepare our kids to go out for their future. And if I am telling you as an employer that the soft skills are as important as the other skills, then we better be teaching them in schools. Brandon: Yeah. I have a core belief, total non-sequitur, but that you know, as AI becomes sort of a a greater driving force in the lives of young people and and their world of work, those are actually going to be the skills that are the real differentiator. Like, how do you work on a team? Like, how do you reflect on your own decision-making? Like, how do you regulate emotions in really hard moments? Like, when knowledge is going to be so accessible, like those will be the things that differentiate who is thriving in the world of work. Brandon: I love thinking about our kids getting that support and training and not it just existing for kids with the most, you know, economic opportunity. One more question about back to school. You sort of referenced this, but tell me about what you prioritize in those first two weeks to help students feel safe, to start learning, to help staff feel supported. Like where is your brain? And you're in it right now, so like where is your brain these first two weeks of school? Nadia: That's a kind of a hard question to answer actually. I mean my priorities, I'm going to read you my three priorities for this week. I always have, I have like a little weekly worksheet that organizes myself and I send out three priorities. And this helps me as a school leader. This is a massive school and I always have a to-do list that's like a mile long and I'm one of those people that like beat myself up if I don't get through my to-do list. I'm going to identify three priorities for the week. And if I've accomplished those three priorities, I've had a good week. Because my to-do list is always there. So here's my three priorities: Welcome back kiddos and enjoy them! Yeah. Because so often we're like in the go, go, go, go, go, you're not taking time to like see the kids. So my goal has been connect with kiddos, check in with teachers, make sure people see me, and and I'm enjoying the kids and all of the stories. I was just out on the playground and a little guy was telling me about his brand new baby sister. So making sure I'm taking time for that. My second priority is completing hiring. I'm not completely hired. I had some changes over the over the summer and so I'm I'm I got to finish hiring. And then I'm doing unit planning with my bilingual teachers next week, which is different from year's past and so I need to make sure I've got a strong plan for that. But my I've got three assistant principals. My assistant principals are really focusing rituals, routines, checking in with people, getting me numbers of students in each classroom, noticing who are the students in each classroom that might need some extra TLC or attention from us. So that's where what the assistant principals are really focusing on. Brandon: I love this. It's to do list can be so long, to write these three priorities. I there's like a program, I don't know if you know this, it's called like Together Teacher. I may be making up the name, but... Nadia: Yes, Together Leader. That's where I got it from. Brandon: Oh, amazing! So yeah, there was Together Teacher, then Together Leader. I did this as well and that anchoring in three priorities was the kindest thing I could do for myself because if I just did a to-do list of stuff and things, I will end the week and have failed. But if I set these sort of these broader goals for the week, and I love that you centered kids in your first one, why we're there, like it will I will leave feeling successful which will motivate harder work, faster work, more thoughtful work. Yeah, I love that. Set it up, set yourself up to win, still a heavy lift. Nadia: Yes. Yes. Brandon: I see you. I see you. Okay. Brandon: Now, I have to ask you a little bit about your professional journey to Place Bridge. You were chief of academics for all of Denver Public schools before becoming the principal of Place Bridge Academy. Something pulled you back to kids and to a building, and that is not a typical move. Like you were on a very different director of multilingual learning, the, you know, chief of academics. I won't name what the next position probably was supposed to be, but there was a journey that you were on, and you decided to go back to a very special school and community. What... why? Tell me more. Nadia: Yeah. So, I mean, you can sort of think about my career as um, sort of like three chapters, right? So I did 15 years really in one school where I started as a teacher and then I went to an instructional coach and then I basically served as an AP without the title of an AP. And we were a school in turnaround and that was very stressful and I had two very young kids at the time and my father had just passed away from cancer and I was like, I need a break. And I got tapped on the shoulder and I was asked to go central and I was like, this is great. I'm going have a great impact on kids and be able to structure my time a little bit more flexibly. And so I went down to central and then I sort of kept getting tapped on the shoulder and going higher, higher, higher, higher. Well, so I was in did a 10 year stint in central office. In the middle of that was the pandemic. And so here I came into chief of academics and I was starting to feel a few things. One, I was starting to feel a little out of touch because my experience in school was pre-pandemic. And pre-pandemic is very different from post-pandemic. So I was starting to feel a little bit of imposter syndrome because I'm like, I don't know if what I know is still applicable. So that was one thing. The second thing was, truly and honestly, um, when you get that high in a school district, you're dealing with all adults and there's a lot of politics. Um, while I might be good at navigating politics, I do not enjoy politics. Some people, that's their jam, that was not mine. And so I was feeling uh, very like I need to get back to why I started. Um, and Place Bridge was always sort of my dream school. I had led for multilingual learners my entire career. When I was leading the multilingual education department, I was leading for newcomer programming, for bilingual programming, for, um, and so I was like this has it all in one school. It happens to be walking distance from my house. And so I'm like, and so when it opened up, I was like, that's my next move. Brandon: I love that. I uh, can really relate to you on a personal, my own personal journey. After serving as a school leader, I did district work, but I was really lucky. I got tapped on the shoulder and I was asked to serve as the education advisor to the mayor of New York City. Once the lights turned off and the administration was over, and similarly, like it brought me further away from kids than I, than I liked, I went back to a school and people thought I was crazy. They're like, you can do anything after this. I was like, I miss kids and it was post-pandemic and I was like, and it's this is all different. This is all different and I want to get closer to it and it was a great decision for me, but I'm sure similar to you, people were like, what is what what in the pendulum swing? Nadia: There was a lot. Yes. Yeah, so like obviously like superintendent is next for you or something. Nope. Nope. I really just want to get back to, um, just why I started. Kids and families are where it's at. Um, and I think especially right now, every time you turn on the news, there's something absolutely horrific that you're watching. And I think many, so many people feel pretty helpless. And I'm like, well, I can't do anything about that on TV, but what I can do is I can create a culture in a school where our kiddos and families are loved on and are safe and we're going to do the best by them. So... Brandon: I see, you're like, you just made me tear up. I I feel that deeply. I feel anyone who cares deeply about this work, you you could you can feel a real helplessness right now and so I can totally understand that. I feel that about what I'm doing right now as well. Like, I can't control what is happening out there and that's coming through the television waves, but I can really put my head down and focus on making each day a little bit better for a kid and to do the thing that really transforms outcomes, which is to have knowledge and agency and a sense of self. So, I feel you. Okay. Nadia: Yeah. Brandon: Now, you're in the central office, you name, you're like sort of further away and it's a lot of politics and it's a lot of adults. The principalship can also be a lot of adults sometimes. So like, which is very true, but is there anything that you feel like you can see from inside of a school that you just weren't seeing when you were in the central office? Like going back, when you're like, now I'm back again. I was like, oh, I missed this the first time I was doing school-based work. I missed this in the central office and now I'm here again with all of these different chapters, these two big chapters, and I'm seeing something a little different. Anything show up for you? Nadia: I think I had started this as I was chief of academics and like sometimes I'm like, maybe I should have seen that out, but I don't think so. This is where I was supposed to be. I think too often in central office, and, people live in departments, right? You've got this department and this department and this department and they're seeing things through their lens and they're not looking at the interconnectedness enough. And they aren't collaborating enough and seeing how do things play out at the school level, right? So just an example, as a principal, I can't even tell you how many surveys I've had to fill out for different departments. And I'm like, can't you all like talk to each other and give me one survey instead of five surveys? And a lot of times you're asking the same information. And so, and I'm just the principal, like then how does that translate to teachers? And I think that we don't do enough of the sense making and connecting of the dots for teachers. You know, I guess that's my advice to people in central office is to like really think about what this means on the ground level and that because every new initiative you all are rolling out, it's probably resulting in 10 things that a person has to do. And then if you're getting that times five departments, that's 50 things. You all see it as three things, we see it as 50. Brandon: Yeah. Nadia: I think a lot of my job and my coach's jobs is sort of helping our teachers make sense of things because they often don't see the interconnectedness. Even if I'm just talking within academics, right? Like you've got a new curriculum from math and I love our new curriculum from math, but it's very much about, you know, pushing the cognitive lift onto students, which is great. But oftentimes our our teachers are compartmentalizing it, right? So like those instructional strategies I just did in math are staying in math and they aren't coming over to literacy and they're not coming over to ELD. So we do so much of sort of like, how are we connecting it across across for our teachers because they're just like, well, I went to this math training, this is what I have to do for math, and then I went to this literacy training and so like we've got to like sense make for for them. Brandon: I see that. I really see that. I've recently talked to a lot of folks who are either reimagining their newcomer programs given the change in immigration patterns over the last year or so, um, some who have even been thinking about like, do we need it anymore? Does it make sense just because of, you know, the the broader human capital constraints that come with reduced enrollment. Your newcomer classes are capped at 15 students and students typically stay in the program for about a year before transitioning out. For the other educators, school leaders, district leaders who are listening, how do teachers in your program know when a student is ready? Like what does that recommendation look like? And then tell me about what the transition looks like as well. Nadia: Mmm, it's good, that's a great question. So the goal is within about two semesters, right? But we're looking at the whole child. So we're looking at, first of all, are they socially, emotionally ready? Some of our kids have never been in school before. Part of their being in newcomer programming is learning what is school and what are school behaviors and addressing some of the significant trauma that they might have had, right? And so that's a part of it. Then we're trying to give them basic literacy and math skills so that they can participate in the other classrooms. And so we're looking at the social emotional aspect and then we're looking at how are they doing in those other areas. We are not expecting grade-level proficiency before they transition out. Brandon: Like, we have to say that again. Like we are not expecting grade-level proficiency before they transition out. Yeah. Nadia: Yep. Yep. The reason why is then it would turn into a year, like years and years long program, right? And so all of our teachers in our school are language teachers. All of our teachers have the training to move, to teach all of our kids. We are looking for, are they ready enough to participate in either a bilingual classroom or or a more traditional classroom. I always want to hesitate before you make too many comparisons between multilingual learners and students with IEPs, but do think about it in terms of the least restrictive environment. For LLs, newcomer classroom is a more restrictive environment. So when are they ready enough that they can participate in the other classroom? Brandon: I think we probably just found our pull quote for the podcast. Like it is real and I'm with you. We want to be really thoughtful about comparisons. The reason I often, and I think a lot of us lean into that space, one, because it's another group of really vulnerable kids in a learning environment that isn't really designed for them. And so like it requires an intentional design and development. There's like a real thinking that has to sort of go along. It also has the most clear universal, universally understood rules around programming, and that's the reality of special ed just because of the sort of federal nature of it. And so it is so I'm just with you and that like sometimes we draw from it because you know, if I'm in Colorado or in Florida, there's a million things that are going to be different, but there's some key pieces of special education that actually are just universal. It's one of the few things that are universal around the country. So I get what you're saying and yes, uh, least restrictive environment, can they with the right supports start to engage in a meaningful way that and I'm hearing you, tell me if I'm getting it right, like that's going to be good for their sense of self and is going to allow for the right academic challenge so that they can grow with their peers. Nadia: Right. And if you think about language, language is acquired by interacting with peers, right? And so if we hold kids in newcomer programming too long, they're not going to grow as much linguistically. So the goal is to get them out with their grade-level peers, um, as soon as they are ready. Brandon: Yeah. I, I see you. There's work that I'm really fascinated by and anyone who knows me knows I I talk a lot about the sort of integrated need for rigorous learning and a strong social, emotional development. Like to me they're they're just like the right braid. I think about that as a parent. I want that as an educator. Like they are two things that are true at the exact same time. It's so clear for you. Like it's the first thing you said. I have a feeling it'll be one of the the last things you name too. It's very part of how you think about this. I think it really matters for us too for the the broader multilingual community. For a student who arrives to Place Bridge as a refugee, they may have experienced trauma, they've had interrupted schooling, sometimes separation from their family. Talk to me a little bit and this is true, you get, you have higher density, but this is true across every system. So what does supporting the whole child look like in practice for you? Like what happens when you get this complex young person uh, arriving who's going to need different supports. Nadia: Yeah. I mean I think it starts sort of with their first introduction to the school as I talked about. We start to get to know the family, what does the family need, right? So often we get kids that come in in the middle of February who are wearing sandals and it's snowing outside and we just notice right away, hey, you all probably need some shoes and some sweaters. Let's take you to what we call our clothing boutique. I know not all schools have that infrastructure, but you could have a small stash of, you know, hoodies or something, um, or the names of places where they could go, like the ARC down the street. Brandon: Yep. Nadia: You know, our clothing boutique is not new clothes. It is usually donated items, right? So all of my kids as they outgrow clothes, they ended up in this clothing boutique. So it's not brand new clothes, but what we do is we just present it in a way that looks like they're shopping. So I think it starts with just getting to know what are their basic needs. Um, do they have, do they have food? Do they have, do they have medical needs right now? Like how can we help if even if you don't have it on site, are there a list of resources you can provide the family to start connecting them? Because, you know, I like I relate that to that as when my family arrived here when I was a child, right? Like, if I had a dollar for every time my mom said, I don't know how that works in this country, right? It would be so, we would be so rich. When you've come from another country and especially if you've come from a traumatic for a traumatic reason, you don't even know where to start. You don't know where to go. And so I think just the more that the school can at least provide the resources of where to go, um, better if you could do it on site, but just provide the resource where to go. I think that's the first step. Um, and then, um, mental health supports. Um, so we have a pretty robust mental health team here. Um, and so, uh, we can recognize pretty close quickly who might need to connect with our counselors or our social workers to start doing some, some work, uh, with the trauma. Um, and then as a part of the, uh, you know, MTSS or we have students that are exhibiting certain behavior, we're asking really key questions that are related to this, right? Like is the student acting out, uh, because they don't understand what's happening in the classroom? Are they acting out because this might be the first time that they've been in school? I remember a couple years ago, we used to refer to this kiddo as a runner because the country that they came from, they did lots of running. And so at every, uh, chance that student got, that student bolted from one end of the building to the other. And so, you know, just recognizing like, just really thinking through why is a student exhibiting the behavior that they are and just thinking through every behavior that student is showing us is a form of communication. And so what does that kiddo need to be successful? Brandon: Mmm, I see you. Brandon: Okay. So back-to-school night. A bunch of our schools are planning them right now, figuring out what we're going to do. I think you said there's 30 languages in the building. Nadia: Over 30 languages, yeah. Brandon: Over 30 languages. So now, walk me through, like when you have that many languages and cultures in one building, family engagement, the back to school night, all of that stuff creates new complexities. So what does Place Bridge do to one, build the trust and connection, but like walk me through like the structural decisions you're making to be able to create equity in communication, but, you know, also meet the needs of of the families? Nadia: I mean, I will share some things with you. I will just name that this is a place where we can are continually trying to do better. Our kids, as I shared with you, come from all across the city. We're served by 11 school buses and so, you know, we are not the community where they can all just walk to school. And so that's the first place we start. We start by, we have two big apartment buildings where a lot of our kids come from. So I send a school bus to bring families to back-to-school night. That's the first place I start. Work with my transportation department to do that because, um, many of our families don't have any form of transportation. The only way they're going to get here is if I provide transportation. So that's the first place. Second place is over-communicate and bribe kids to come. Brandon: Yeah. Nadia: Yep. And I think most schools do that. But really framing it with teachers about the back-to-school night is not your vehicle for disseminating information to families, which when I show up at back-to-school night as a parent for my kids, that's what it is, right? You show up, there's a schedule, you go to session one, you sit and you listen to the teacher, and then there's a passing period, you go to the second one. Okay. Well our community, first of all, often arrives late. So it's supposed to start at 5:00. Many of our folks are arriving 5:30, 5:45. So sessions don't really work. We just need to acknowledge that. Brandon: Yep, drop in. Nadia: Um, yep, let's not do a stand and deliver presentation because we're going to need interpreters. So let's think about how we leverage our kids to communicate to families. So have them have a little list of things that they're walking their families through. Here's where, here's where I sit, here's where my homework folder goes, have them have some things. We also will have interpreters, um, available in the lobby. So any time people need an interpreter, they have that. We also have, we all keep have this, which is the phone interpretation line, so we're able to pick up the phone and call so we can have brief conversations. And then teachers are preparing packets of family-friendly information. It's supposed to be simple, lots of visuals. We need to recognize that many of our families don't have much literacy skills themselves. So family-friendly language, family-friendly information, but really the goal is to make a connection with the family. It's not to disseminate information. Brandon: I knew your final thought was going to be about belonging again. I named it and it, I feel really moved by you in many ways and I see you and I, I can like imagine a smaller version of myself having you as my principal and how great that would have been. And I'm like holding and I hope the folks who are listening, so much of what you just said in the last answer, right? It's knowing the community you're serving. Like folks are not showing up on time. Whether that's because they're getting out of work or like I'm Cuban, so like there's just different cultural expectations of like 5:00 is really 6:00, like whatever it is, right? That's bringing people, but like that we're not holding like three perfectly run sessions. It's going to have to be more fluid. Creating these opportunities for kid leadership, like leverage the students, let them show off and show and tell and that there's like this power in that. And then at the end of the day, like the point is for families to feel connected to this completely foreign place that they are sending their kid to that into an entirely different experience than they had themselves. There is no parallel journey that they can connect this to. And so like connection is the key. Yeah, that must be so grounding for so many families, particularly when there's a drumbeat of those types of activities. When it's not just back to school night, but it's whatever the next event is and whatever the next event is. Nadia: Yeah. Nadia: I mean I think, just because I, you know, I was an immigrant, came as a, as a child, I think that I just relate deeply to that idea that my parents had no idea. We were learning this system all together. I know the fish out of water feeling that is, so many of our families have and so I think that that, and I'm not the only one. I've got so many staff that come from all around the world, that's just how we frame things, knowing that so many of us had that similar journey and what would have been helpful for us. Brandon: Mmm, I see you. Brandon: All right, you have three lofty goals for this week. So I have to let you get back to them. But before you go and work on those three things and have a a killer week doing incredible work, I always ask this question. We're talking about learning. You're about to lead learning for adults across your building. And as you do that and as you encourage that, what's something you're learning from right now? Something or someone? Nadia: Uh, I actually happen to have it right here. I'm in year 29 of my career, and it has been a very long time since I have done this to a book. Brandon: Ooh, I love this. So for folks who can't see it, there's like sticky notes everywhere. There's I see some notes. Awesome. I see you. Nadia: This is Zaretta Hammond's new book, uh, Rebuilding Students' Learning Power. Um, and so I read this with my leadership team over the summer. Um, and this one has really resonated with me as is evidenced by my book, um, because as I talked about, our job is to build connections for teachers, but even more so for kids, because our kids are treating too much of what we do like Vegas. So I go to ELD class and that's Vegas and I'm going to leave that language over there and I'm going to walk across the hall to social studies and this is brand new and I just learned how to do a bubble map in social studies, but now I'm going to go over to science and I'm going to leave that in Vegas over there. So Zaretta Hammond is talking a lot about, I mean as she did in her last book, creating independent learners, but also us really explicitly teaching the learn-to-learn skills that our kids need to be successful. Brandon: I love it. Okay, now I have to read it and so I'm on and I'm going to shoot you a note when I finish. And before I let you go, I just have to say thank you. Thank you for the work that you do. Thank you for spending this last hour with me. I think you know this, I've been really impressed with everything that you're up to for a while. I have like followed Place Bridge. We need more places like this across the country. I know they exist in other pockets. I just know about you, but we need more of this. Our kids deserve this. So thank you and I hope you have an awesome year. Nadia: Thank you so much. Brandon: Thank you everyone for listening to this episode of Leading Multilingual Learning, powered by Medley Learning.