Hi, my name is William Chia. I am a product marketer at GitLab and this is a customer persona video now a customer persona is a generalized way of looking at a particular role within an organization and What do you folks that are sit in that role? What do they tend to care about what tends to trouble them and Understanding and empathizing with them so that when you talk to them you can speak their language sort of say now this is not to say that Specific people are all different and so specific people are all different and they have specific needs So a customer persona is not going to apply everything in the persona is not going to apply to every single person But this is kind of saying generally what do most people who are in this role or in a similar role? What what are the most of the things that they care about in most organizations? So it's kind of a generic way to let you kind of understand this person and understand how you might speak to them differently than you would speak to a different persona For this video, we are going to be talking about a chief architect Now the chief architect, what do they actually do? So they provide architectural leadership Strategy and vision this is definitely a strategic role not somebody who's an implementer but somebody who is thinking at a high level about the strategy and vision of the company and How can they architect that? How can they bring together multiple pieces? To in order to to get that vision and move them and move the company in a certain direction So this is somebody who is often focused on a single highest priority Rather than trying to manage smaller little bits and this is someone who is going to take a proactive and Holistic approach so chief architect is going to be proactive in the sense that they're always looking to the future There's someone who is looking to say what new technologies do we need to adopt? Evaluating those and saying what direction do we need to take the company in as a strategic thinker? And it's also holistic So they're gonna want to say how do we adopt this technology across the organization and multiple functions And what is everything that the company needs to do to execute on this strategy? They are going to value implementing standards and common practices that can be generalized across the entire organization So rather than seeing things done in piecemeal or rather than caring about one team doing their one thing This is somebody who's going to care about the whole company moving in a direction together In fact the chief architect can be responsible for all elements of the IT environment Everything from infrastructure the cloud what platforms are on what products they're using the applications the integration the security the user experience basically everything across the entire chain of product delivery can be in the chief architect's purview and Can be part of their strategic vision? They're thinking at a high level. So they're not necessarily cared of they don't necessarily care about all the implementation details that are down low but across that broad swath of Different functions and different Places within the org They are defining a strategy that can work in all of those places So they can understand monetize and opera operationalize new technologies and they're thinking long term They're looking at what is coming down the road three to five years. This is what the chief architect cares about What are their drivers what motivates them? chief architect is often Focused on transformation So this can depend what this actually looks like within an organization can depend on what their maturity level is So they might just be adopting DevOps They might be moving to the cloud or they might be trying to embrace full-on cloud native But wherever they're at in that maturity model the chief architect cares about driving that strategy within the organization and taking that organization in that Direction and transforming the organization They definitely care about increasing the speed and the reliability of product releases This could be part of implementing their strategy. They're not necessarily cared with how that actually gets done But they it is as they're trying to transform the organization and move their organization forward Definitely moving faster and doing so more reliably is something that they care about as part of their strategy They are going to be organizing ways that improve operations So they're going to be reusing technology and systems across teams and projects and they're going to be doing coordination between groups So carrying less about what specific groups doing and more caring about multiple groups Sharing information doing things in a standard and cohesive fashion They are one of the strategies that they're Likely to be concerned with implementing is is moving towards automation What are the ways in which the organization can automate their processes more and so that they can move faster and do so more reliably They need a good strategy at all levels to make sure that they have enough visibility and Access to quickly identify and address problems So as they're trying to solve problems for the organization with technology and architect a solution for that they want to make sure that they can they have visibility into what the problems are so They notice is again, they don't necessarily care. What's what's down in the weeds But they do care about is information being surfaced the level that it needs to be surfaced so that the Organization can execute on problems that they have Even though the chief architect is a strategic thinker and they're they're caring about high-level initiatives They are heavily influenced by the engineers and the developers There is a a desire for the architect to want to allow developers to use tools and to work with technologies that they care about it are familiar with and and Care about and like so rather than trying to dictate and say they want standardization across the org But not necessarily to say This is the one thing without holding any opinions of what are the developers and the operators within the org What do they care about right that that opinion weighs very heavily on the chief architect So what are their challenges and the pain points that that come their way? So they have organizational challenges They they need to make sure that every team that's that's already been empowered to figure out their own issues using their own methods Now they want to get them to work together using common practices in communication Right, so a pain point could be different teams using different tools Could be a pain point because what one team learns can't necessarily be that applied to other teams So standardization is something they care about and different different teams on different tools can be a pain point Getting developers to change habits and use new tools is very hard Especially when folks are used to things are used to they care about the tools they care about Driving change can be a very painful thing But developers that Will rely on the architect team to be experts on new tools Right, so everybody is not necessarily trying out everything new but a chief architect Needs to be needs to know about the latest things and that can be a pain point keeping up with everything Similarly lack of people with the right technical skill set Can be a pain point now. This is across many personas And also in particular for the chief architect that as they're looking to exit You know implement a strategy across the organization and an architect a solution Knowing that they have human resources that have familiarity with certain tool sets is going to make that tool set more attractive whereas Using new unfamiliar tools has a training cost has an implementation cost as an adoption cost and so those things can be pain points There are also technical pain points that they have for example too many moving parts Having too many different teams on too many different tools and trying to make them work together are Areas those the surface area between those tools are places where things can break down their places that can be insecure their places where there could be duplication and Multiple different teams doing the same thing and so duplication of effort it can be wasteful or even just having to duplicate effort by this team doing something and Now they need to go and move it over to this team Having both teams do the same thing essentially twice is wasted effort and that can be a pain point Too much manual work Not only between two different teams But even just could be a single team that is not automating enough And it can be a pain point because some teams may just feel that that their work can't be automated that they may not Want to automate it and so there could be there can be resistance to that there can be a desire to have ownership and it into to keep manual work and so not only is too much manual work to inefficient and Doesn't drive the org fast enough. There could also be resistance to to automation because of some of the control that you give up and Finally problems can be very very hard to diagnose So when looking at the organization and saying what technology problems do we have? It may be very hard just to get an answer for that question You need to have enough visibility instrumented. You need to have enough monitoring Intermented need to have enough measuring instrumented in order to to have enough visibility to look at and say okay This is a problem and here's quantifiably why we know it's a problem that doesn't exist in a robust way or sometimes even at all and So being able to just even diagnose a problem and know why something is not working Can be hard to figure out. It can be hard to troubleshoot Sometimes small bugs can cause really big effects and it can get be very hard to get down to the root cause of that Be another pain point So what are the barriers of the blockers for chief architects adopting new technology? Well, first of all, it can be difficult to quantify or measure the benefit of improved efficiency. This is if you don't have Instrumentation in place now to measure how productive you are if you don't have a number to say Where this is what our productivity looks like today? How are you going to know what it looks like when you change it? So this can be a blocker just not even having having measured What things look like today to be able to measure and improve efficiency can be a blocker from even saying You know, they might they might feel the effects of the organization that we're running slow But they might not be able to put a number to it And that makes it very very hard to adopt something new or to justify adopting something new Similarly having the time to to get down in the details and look at all the existing tools This can be a blocker a chief architect is concerned with strategy a chief architect is concerned with broad technologies They're not really concerned with focusing on tools So they would care about driving an organization to move to being cloud native They would care about saying we want to move to containerized micro services as a deployment strategy, but They're not necessarily going to care about what the underlying tools are To to make that happen So this could be a blocker from a technology vendor perspective of getting to care about those tools because they they care more about the strategic initiatives They need to get buy-in from multiple stakeholders, so they need buy-in from Management as well as from developers like I said, they're going to care about the developers and operators that are using their tools They're going to want to implement tools that those folks Care about and enjoy but they also need to get some buy-in for management and so this can require one-to-one sales effort it can take a long time especially in enterprise buying cycles where someone is unfamiliar with the technology to begin with take a long time to Not only sell a chief architect, but now that chief architect needs to go and drive adoption within their organization And so that process just can just be a lengthy one Sometimes lack of a dedicated platform team or lack of a dedicated owner in a particular area can be a blocker to a chief architect wanting to adopt a new technology and Sometimes it's just getting management alignment on the top one or two priorities It takes a long time to get that one priority if it doesn't fit into that one thing They're working on the one or two things that they're working on then they're not going to care about it Finally, there is a perception among chief architects in general that the core tooling is already pretty good Right, so they might feel like what we're using today It works pretty good and I don't really want to dig down into all of the nitty-gritty of why there's a problem there They're only going to care if something's really bad So they're going to want to go and address the burning hot fires rather than slightly Optimizing something that's working pretty good, but could work a little bit better So the key here in this can be a blocker if it's not you know If it's not a migraine headache the chief architect might not care about it if it's just a small pain So what is the purchasing journey look like for chief architect? First thing you want to do is they want to understand and get agreement on the top enterprise priority Again, they might be working on only one or two strategic initiatives So that's the first thing that they care about are we moving to cloud native? Are we doing digital transformation? They're going to need You know customer delivery improvements could be one improving cx and improving customer delivery And they are going to want to get alignment across different organizations Right, so a problem might be different orgs are are not communicating So this might be a problem. I need to go solve. They're going to care about solving that one problem Next up they need to create a strategy and an approach For how i'm going to go and address this one priority They take an organizational wide view and they're going to determine any necessary components But not get too detailed about it Then they're going to try to get buy-in of course from all of the stakeholders from management and developers operators and depending on the organization then they'll typically recommend to cto or You know Maybe cio Someone someone who is a budget holder within the organization. They're going to make a recommendation on their strategy But they're probably going to also lean on other stakeholders to select specific tools So the the chief architect themselves is not usually a budget holder So what's some potential messaging that you can use when talking to a chief architect about gitlab First of all, gitlab is a single application for your complete devops lifecycle And this fits really well with the mindset of an architect that wants to do shared standardization across the organization so a chief architect wanting to have multiple teams being able to share processes being able to share learnings being able to have a uniform Implementation and and being able to have things be consistent This is what the chief architect cares about and the fact that gitlab is a single application Rather than multiple different tools cobbled together and you know have all these apis running between them This is something that actually plays well to the chief architect However, you want to distance gitlab from being a low level tool so that architect You know, they probably don't care about about jira or github or you know any kind of different low level tools That's kind of out of their preview. They're more concerned about the strategy so Pitching gitlab as a technology rather than a tool Pitching gitlab as a way to help drive their digital transformation as a way to Help drive their strategic initiatives like going cloud native This is going to be what's going to resonate more with the chief architect using language that enforces the value of consistent standards So the fact that gitlab is a single application And you don't have to have things named differently and different tools and making making sure that's consistent Otherwise, you end up with weird bugs the fact that uh, you have a consistent set of user permissions across the tools The fact that gitlab in general is just very very consistent from the user experience to the to the government's governance of the security That consistency it's going to play well to this persona with a longer term view Because the chief architect is concerned about long term strategy and long term roadmap Talking about the fact that they can future proof The roadmap is something that's going to be appealing to an architect So the idea that gitlab can be a strategic partner for the organization That's something that the chief architect cares about in this sense. We are an organization that ships software very fast We're one of the top 30 fastest shipping open source software fastest Fastest, you know fastest shipping open source projects on the planet. So we ship software very very fast That That means that we're always innovating. We're always shipping new things. We ship new code Once a month very very consistently on the same day every single month And so the fact that we are always shipping new features the fact that we are always innovating the fact that not only Do we have great features for you today? But we're a strategic partner. We're going to help future proof your roadmap So that in the future you're also going to have great features because we're also innovating at a very very fast pace That's something that's going to help you as a chief architect execute on your strategy So uh high level associations transformation automation cloud native these strategic initiatives That's what the chief architect cares about And finally in order to address their problems with with different teams. So adopting new technologies has a cost This is a great place where we can highlight various educational resources Whether it's our you know our documentation is very very thorough our great community that's uh 1800 members in our open source community and a hundred thousand businesses around the world The fact that there's a there's a lot of best practice out there And in particular our technical account management and customer success teams that are can come alongside new customers To make sure that they're successful in their adoption of git lab. These are things that the chief architect will care about And that is the chief architect


Hey, woke people stop trying to bring woke ism to fitness. It's not gonna work. Oh looking for a fight. I love it Yeah, like what's the latest thing now?  So now I'm on Twitter apparently Twitter is also Hell just like Instagram. What's just a little just more words. Yeah, it's just more But anyway, there's somebody on there her Instagram handle is at fatty MPH and You can't follow unless she approves it by the way, so I'm see if she'll let me follow her But anyway, this is a post that she did okay And it says it says this fatty MP. That's what it is fatty MPH MPH so it says here. I was per hour. I have no idea How many fatty per hour can you that yeah, so so listen to this and this is this is a quite infuriating But you know I get irritated by it, but to be quite honest, it's not gonna work Oh, you must be blocked by her then why cuz I can look at her really. Yeah, I can look at her page. No way Yeah, that means you're blocked. I've already got warnings dude. Wow. That's crazy. She's on to you. That happened quickly Huh? Yeah, that's impressive. All right, so check out what this post says it says periodic reminder that treating and preventing obesity actually means Trying to conversion therapy fat people into becoming thin people despite zero evidence.  The fitness industry is different than other industries in that most people or many of the people that work in this space who genuinely work in the space generally want to help people through Fitness through exercise through proper nutrition through developing a better relationship of food and their bodies and exercise We at one point we're all you know quote-unquote out of shape or overweight or unhealthy And fitness is what got us To kind of where we're at in terms of our health And our our physiques and whatever and it's also what makes us such Strong proponents of it. So in other words the fitness industry is made up of empowered people self-empowered people Who have thrown away? The victim mentality right because the only way you can succeed if you do have a big weight loss goal for example The only way you can succeed long term is to take the victim mentality and dispose of it because At some point you have to accept what you can't change and you have to focus on what you can change That's the only way to progress and if you do this long enough you figure that out And so somebody coming in and saying something like that to people like us It just it doesn't it's not going to work. It doesn't resonate at all I mean, it's it's about personal growth and and really that's the whole fitness journey is You know discovering who you are through um, you know these encounters these these um, you know this environment where you're able to work on hard um Hard things in in order to get stronger get better and get a better understanding of you know What's going to benefit your body versus? You know just sort of taking on the world Do you think these messages start from a good place and then they kind of morph into this like Just extreme example of it like I really I want to believe that what this pushback that You're getting right the fat phobia deal is Because the fitness space has failed obese people for so long Because I know the angle the statistics like right that she's trying to to point towards Is that that you know only you know 20 of the people have any success of that 20 15 of that them end up putting all that weight back on after two or three years So you know all these methods of how we lose weight or try and fix obesity Has continually failed for years. So it's been a big criticism that we've shared right and we brought that up So but do you so do you believe that? This messaging is Is coming from an initially a good place and then it's kind of morphed into this extreme version of it No, no at all. I think it's like it's a gas gas lighting right because it exists in other spaces It's it's the same philosophy applied to anything where the the Message is hey, it's not your fault. In fact, it's everyone else's fault You're a victim Don't do anything about it and it's all good and that that you see that permitting a lot of spaces It's the same message just applied now to the fitness space Where I think it comes from a good place are people within our space that are saying this message But in a better way people in our space are saying things like hey, look Restricting diets don't necessarily work or you have to love your body in order to have long-term success and love doesn't mean Uh, you know where you just this is my body. I'm gonna do whatever I want But rather I'm gonna take care of myself like from the truest sense, right? It's about healthy application of exercise that over exercise or over restriction or over dieting That message is coming from within the fitness space and although it's a minority It's still getting it's getting louder. We're one of those Those people in that space that says that so but this is not coming from a good place This is coming from this is a an ideology that is trying its hardest And you know, I under I know why they're trying to come after the fitness space. I'll tell you right now Pete because fitness is empowering. It is it is counter You think for yourself.  It is 100 counter.  I think and a lot of a lot of bad experiences And the people share let's be let's be honest here. Okay Uh, just go back five 10 years not even that long ago um The people that we we idolize in the fitness space or that were held up as the authority Just are not good examples. Most of them are broken inside They've got all kinds of issues and addictions and but that's what sessions But that's what's skewed. So think about this way think of all the people you know In the fitness space personally Vast majority of them are not like that. We're talking what you're talking about are the The insta celebrities. No, I don't I don't agree with that. I think most of the people you know in fitness Are I mean, I know I like to think the people that I surround myself with are good people And I've weeded out a lot of those people in my life but I think a vast majority of the fitness space is broken And I think it's a spectrum what the example I'm giving right now is an extreme the ones that have been highlighted and put Up on a pedestal and have a lot of fame and attention because of whatever vain reason But I I do think that a Vast majority of the fitness space is still very broken. I think that there's a lot of things to be fixed That's why we started the podcast But if you consider the whole fitness space which includes People that work in gyms Trainers coaches people that help people with nutrition people who work out consistently Who take care of themselves consistently? Then you'll see that a majority of the people I would say okay, so what it is is it's the small percentage that are If you if you bring in the the health and wellness portion of our space and you include that in the conversation They help balance that out Right the the and I you know, I've teased that space before the you know Hippy crunchy side, but I think that they have a much better approach They've been preaching the message of love yourself And and take care of yourself like they've been preaching that for a long before we were And I think they helped balance our our space out I think for a very long time the you know six pack abs muscles, you know Fake body parts They're not the majority. I get what you're saying. They're the ones getting the attention. Okay. So okay fine They're you can make the case of a minority, but they're moving the majority. They're speaking to the majority. Yes So it's the media. Yes, so you can make you could you could you know, I'll concede that maybe there is You know fewer not much fewer though in the entire space But they are the loudest voice or the most powerful voice and they have been for Several decades now that I agree with I think the the popular fitness media is garbage But when you meet people who work in fitness when I meet with trainers when I meet with coaches when I meet with gym owners the intentions are typically very good people are very Growth-minded. They're very accepting of people who want to help themselves who come into their gyms who are obese Who needs whatever we talked about this right the gym is a very accepting place Which is counter to someone like this would say which is the gym is the most judgmental place in the world Which is not true So yeah, I agree with that that there are the the influencers the fitness media people that's for sure garbage I think that's true for a lot of spaces though, but generally speaking it's a it's a it's a great space and Very empowered people take their health into their own hands and most people who work in fitness I mean every day people who work in fitness Uh dealt with this themselves at some point. They overcame these struggles themselves So trying to hit them with this message Good luck. It's not gonna work. You tell this to a trainer or someone who lost 50 pounds 10 years ago Who now figured out how to keep it off and take care of themselves?  It's trying to tear down Exactly and this is revenge culture. That's all I thought so I think we're in the revenge of everything Like like it doesn't matter. There's no forgiveness Everybody wants to take everybody out if they have a difference of opinion And it's it's all about revenge and getting self gratification for that That's what I picture is has happened is like I think that like this this example you're this girl You're giving right I briefly went through her page and kind of seen that the stuff and by the way, she's supposedly an educator That's scary right and and so what I think so she's probably she's educated probably and fairly intelligent And I think that she she arms herself with that and she's probably been hurt by somebody in our space who is superficial and vain and Probably turned her off or hurt her in a way whether it be emotionally or physically or metabolically Or done something and she is on a war path to tear down anyone and everyone that fits in that category and unfortunately for us A big portion of our space can be can be Cattle into that category could be or it could be that nobody in our space harder It's a hug. I guess it could be nobody in our space harder something else harder She's got body image issues and that's fair. This is the easy target You know what it reminds me of it reminds me of that guy. We all know that guy Who had a terrible girlfriend?  It's angry. It's vitriolic It doesn't help anybody it doesn't help anybody That's the biggest point because because if you're listening if you're reading that and you're in this position I try to put myself in that person in a person's shoes who maybe she's reaching right like so i'm overweight I've struggled with this my whole life Oh boy, it's been hard. I've gained it lost it. You know, I got teased for it Maybe in school feel very insecure. It's a tough position To be in this is by the way we all started working out here our the host of this podcast dealt with this ourselves But I imagine this person who's just can't figure it out as angry as frustrated reads this is like yes Never gonna work out again. Yes.  It's trainers faults. It's gyms faults. They're fat shaming me This is you know, this is i'm a victim of their oppression.  Good luck trying to permeate the fitness industry This is one of the most and I mean the genuine fitness industry the people actually Work with people not the media, you know people the celebrities Rather the trainers and coaches that work with people good luck trying to sell that message to them It's not gonna work. There's some of the most empowered People at least in this regard that you'll ever find. Yeah, I think we're also and I think I'm a bit jaded because I know We are in the middle of one. We're in this, you know, social media space. It's relatively new Um, the a lot of these probably the wrong people got a lot of the fame and attention Early on I like to think that we're part of the movement to some of the cream that will rise to the top And I think we're seeing that I think more and more of the better voices the better information Uh, you know, and that's when I see something like this Like I'm not the type person that would want to cancel her or you know at all shut her down It's like dude better better ideas win. That's right. Better ideas better conversations will will silence somebody like this because eventually those people that you know are Banting together or agreeing with her still have a ton of work They got to do on themselves and then eventually if they do want to grow Improve and change their life for the better They will eventually have to seek out the truth and the shit that she's spewing is not the truth Yeah, there was another article I read that's like lifting weights. Why lifting weights is toxic masculinity Oh my god, bro.  Hey, if you enjoyed that clip you can find the full episode here or you can find other clips over here and be sure to subscribe


So welcome everyone again to the heart of Chicago, where the winds of innovation blow. Now let's learn about a tale of cloud-native, open source, and global communities in tow. So Chicago is known for its pizza. It's so deep and fine. And just like open source, it's a collective design. From the source of ideas to the code that we write in cloud-native's kitchen, it's all done right. And have you ever wondered why the cloud-native projects love the deep-dish pizza so much? Because they both stack layers of cheesy code, of course. And just like the mozzarella that's ooey and gooey, our cloud-native solutions are always so groovy. The Chicago hot dog, it's a culinary delight with the mustard, relish, and that neon green light. And why did the hot dog join the cloud-native spree? To add a no-catch obtained, because that's just not right, you see. And have you ever wondered why the Chicago skyscrapers make such great cloud-native enthusiasts? Because they're experts at high availability and scaling up to new heights. Now, with the global community, together we'll rise. And from Chicago's skyline, we'll aim for the skies. So from the windy shores of Lake Michigan's grays, let's now talk about some of the challenges we face and things that aren't agreed for open source maintainers across the seven seas. From Mumbai's streets to Tokyo's neon glow, South Palo's wives were the KCD's flow, cloud-native and open source. And this global theme, we're growing together and we're chasing a shared dream. Maintainers work around the clock. That's the deal. In time zones worldwide, they're spinning the wheel. Full requests and issues, they keep pouring in. Now, while some are sleeping, others begin. So it's a never-ending cycle, it's a worldwide flow. And in this open source realm, this is how the contributions grow. So shout out to the maintainers across the time divide. You are the backbone of open source. In you, we confide. Time zone challenges, you're gonna conquer them with grace and the cloud-native world, you set the pace. Now, communication's the game in this techie race. And when languages differ, it's like a digital maze. So let's break down the walls and find the solutions we need. And this wonderful community where ideas all feed. Language barriers, we're gonna conquer them with grace. And in this global teams, we're gonna all find our place. Now, why did the cloud-native developer visit the Chicago Bean to reflect on the community? It was quite the scene. From the Field Museum to the Art Institute's Grace, cloud-native enthusiasts with a smile on their face. And Chicago's embrace where art and code convene. Inclusion and accessibility from the Palais painting a joyous scene. With that, welcome me in joining our panelists with an applause. So we've got Divya Mohan from India, who's a Kubernetes 6 docs chair. Divya Mohan from India, who's a Kubernetes 6 docs chair and a CNCF ambassador. You wanna learn more about Wazim's magic and CNCF's allure that she is your compass for sure. Akihiro Suda from Japan, who maintains the container D and runs C core, ensuring that containers run smoothly now and ever more. Carolina Valencia from Brazil, who's a KCD organizer and a leader in the Kubernetes release team. You've got to thank her for continuing to make the project supreme. And finally, Destinio Connor, who's a chair of the CNCF, deaf and hard of hearing working group, who's been phenomenal in making sure it's known that tech is for everyone in every turn. Thank you, everyone. Now let's talk to our panelists. Let's have a seat, everyone. So let's get started. So Carolina, starting with you, you had mentioned that KubeCon has had a tremendous impact in growing local communities in Latin America. That is so inspiring. So can you talk a little bit about that? Yeah, sure. After more Latin members are coming to KubeCon, this inspired to create a lot of new communities in the Latin cities and together with the KCD events. For example, we have in the last six months, we have nine new chapters created. And in total, it's 20 chapters that are active. And this is very inspiring and this year the CNCF help us with the scholarship to the KCD organizers for people that never had the opportunity to come to KubeCon. And for the first time, organizers from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala and more, and here with us. And this is great because this is an opportunity to participate in a global event and give back to our local communities. I love that. And also, I love that with KubeCon, you're getting to be such a force multiplier and also inspire so many folks. Destiny. So, CNCFs enabled you to meet deaf and hard of hearing peers and allies from all around the world. So, can you elaborate a little bit on how you got started in the community? Yeah, absolutely. So, I started wanting to meet deaf and hard of hearing. There's a lot of people in the technology space, but I noticed that we faced a lot of challenges and limited access to accommodations. So, during that time, I found CNCF, Deaf of Hard of Hearing Working Group. And really, it's my first time here at KubeCon and my working group members, many of us are here, so that's been great. So, thank you so much for CNCF Scholarship Opportunity to become, and it's been amazing to meet everyone here in person. That's wonderful. Thank you, Destiny. And the working group has also been doing phenomenal work and improving accessibility for the deaf and hard of hearing community. So, congratulations on that. Yeah, this is very inspiring. In the KCD Peru, we have members with hard of hearing and speech impediments, and this makes me think, how can we be more supportive and create more awareness in our local communities? Yeah, I agree. Also, changing gears a little bit. We've mentioned a lot about scholarships, so talking about scholarships. Divya, we were recently discussing about the financial struggles of folks getting started in the community. Yeah, so for a lot of folks getting started and open source, despite the scholarships and the support that's offered by various organizations, specifically from India, it's still very much a pipe dream for folks to attend conferences like these. That's because as many of us in the audience can attest, getting visas is hard, and it's super expensive. So, a lot of folks who are actually contributors can't make it, and honestly speaking, I think times are changing with massive conferences like UConn being held in India for the upcoming year in 2024. Yeah, I agree. In Latin also, it's hard to get a visa. Together with the currency exchange, it's very hard to travel to USA and Europe. And that's the reason that we are hoping that we will have a Q-Day Latin that we can bring together all the countries in a big event for all the people that can't travel to USA. I love that idea. I hope that happens. We've got one more exciting announcement to make related to that. So from KubeCon plus CloudNativeCon, based on the community feedback in Paris in 2024, we're now going to announce KubeCon scholarship notifications way in advance, so eight whole weeks prior to the start of the conference date. This will allow for more folks to attend and to help with visa applications. It's truly amazing news, honestly. But I think going back to the financial struggles for a bit, I've also noticed as a dox maintainer that not a lot of folks who get started, specifically early career folks and students who try to get into open source, they don't have access to the right kind of infrastructure in the name of laptops with decent specs. But it's been great to see their resilience as they rise up the contributor ranks and to actually ensure that going forward, future generations of contributors and maintainers are not really impacted by the same set of struggles that they are actually impacted by. So it's been great to see that. Yeah, and in fact, I think I recently saw that India is now the second largest contributor base to Kubernetes in the world. Yeah. So to add to that fun statistic, India along with China and Germany, which are three countries that don't have English as their native language, they feature in the top five contributing countries to the entire CNCF ecosystem. So to be honest, when we are interacting with each other at such conferences or even during your SIG and TAG meetings, it's extremely essential to sort of not use technical jargons or acronyms while having those interactions because newer folks might not really be familiar with that. And I think Akira has some valuable insight in that regard. Yeah. Yes. Japanese people are struggling with this English issue as well. At CUBE Group and other international conferences, it's sometimes difficult to follow along in English when the presentation does not have slides or when the slides do not contain much information. And also my English accent is a challenge when attending conferences or synchronous meetings. Sometimes I even fail to say salutation phrases due to my accent issue. Yeah. To add on to what Akira just said, meetings in general are a really la-muxing problem when it comes to time zones outside the US and EU because it's hard for us to attend meetings and they are typically at a very unfriendly time for a lot of us. And honestly speaking, it leads to a lot of terrible work-life balance issues here. Yeah. Agree. And for the time zone issue, I want to give a special shout out to Davanam Srinivas who is also known as Dimus. He's a maintainer of continuity in the Kubernetes and he always cares about time zone minorities such as me who finds it difficult to attend in synchronous meetings and she always cares about us and tries to make sure that our opinions are reflected through the community. So I want to appreciate Davanam Srinivas, Dimus. Yeah. Communication always is hard for me. Like you can feel shy and hesitate before talk. It's not your natural language. But together with acronyms and idioms, it's hard to understand without a context. So let's try to... I think in general, effective and inclusive communications is difficult in any language. So let's try to have more empathy between each other when we use the synchronous and asynchronous communication. I love that. I love that. I really love that. So I think we need to really remember that in a world full of diverse languages, kindness and empathy eventually end up becoming the universal language of connection. I'm also a huge, huge fan of asynchronous communication. For meetings, closed captioning is one way to tackle the issue. But Destiny, you've called out that that's not enough. Absolutely. Yeah, closed captioning is not enough. We really do need interpreters. Spoken language and closed captions are very different from ASL. It's way more visual. So CNCF has been amazing support and they've provided interpreters here for us today. They've been following us around to various sessions and if you want to interact with us, feel free, please come say hi.  Thank you so much, Destiny. And I think we need to remember that we need to make tech more inclusive and accessible and also recognize that inclusivity starts at its core. This is also how we can grow community members from all around the world. Definitely. And for growing the international community, I want to note that in Japan, there are still not so many contributors to the collaborative technologies despite the huge numbers of the users. And in Japan, there were five workshops for new contributors to Kubernetes in the last three years. And that helped a lot, but there's still more to do to grow the international contributor community. Yeah, and also improving accessibility will help us draw more senior and experience folks into the community and we desperately need them to sustain the future of our cloud-native projects. So overall, let's reflect on how we can be more inclusive in this community and remember that true progress does not come only when we invite diverse voices to the table, but it comes when we ensure that they get a meaningful seat that helps shape technology that reflects the world that it serves. So thank you, everyone, and here are also some breakout sessions that go into more detail about this topic that I highly recommend checking out. So thanks, everyone, and have a wonderful conference.


All right, well good morning. This is probably, we might have one in May if we need to follow up with things but I know May gets to be pretty busy. So this might be our last, I think it was our last one scheduled and I moved the date till this morning, hoping that that might work for a few more people. But we will just kind of work through some of this today is for you and some of it is for us to get some information too. So Steph, are you on a time crunch? I want to ask you first. Yeah, a little bit. Do you want to go ahead and cover? I have till 10, 15.  We'll see if we can get a few more people on. Okay, so my motivation Monday, I just made that up. But what motivated you to step up and become an educational leader? This was asked to us at, doesn't mean you had to become a principal or something. We were at a meeting and I thought that was a really, just a good reflection statement because sometimes what motivated us to do this at the beginning is not why we do it now. But does anybody want to share what motivated you to step up and become an educational leader? Hey, this code, am I the only principal on here? McKayla Ryder is too, yep. McKayla's here too, okay. I'll just say what motivated me a little bit. My first, so when I was hired, I was hired in Lexington after middle school and our first principal that we had, he's now superintendent at Loop City, Dean tickles his name, but I don't know. I just, the way he interacted and relationships he had with his other teachers and whatnot kind of motivated me to do that. He kind of approached me as well and after a couple of years and encouraged me to go that direction a little bit. So I don't know if that's a great answer or not, but. Yeah, anyone else want to share? You are all educational leaders. So in your own form. I guess mine was just to make sure that we have quality education in all classrooms here. And so that's why I went back to, couldn't do as a classroom teacher. I couldn't affect all the classrooms as a classroom teacher. And I knew being a principal, I could affect every single classroom here and every student that walked through there to make sure that they had a quality education. Like I'm similar to that I'm very curious about systems. And I saw areas where I felt like the system needed to grow, but I knew I couldn't help fix a system if I didn't really fully understand the system. And if you need to understand the system you have to get into it by getting into leadership. So similar to Mikayla, fixing the system by understanding the system and that requires leadership. You know, I think I thought I taught in a classroom for a while, you know, I was ready for a new challenge too. And to grow, and I think it is so gratifying working in so many different schools with different people at different levels. So principals, but teachers, parents, hopefully substitutes this year. So it's fun to affect all those different groups and work with them, learn from each other. And I would build off of kind of what Cody said, I was put into leadership because I've been really fortunate to always be under great administrators. And so that was kind of the direction I went and yeah, excited to help schools. I think school has always been an interest to me and so any involvement at any level is always getting to help and get involved. So it's good to be part of this group. I'll be honest, I started my, actually my administrative degree early on. It was, I was a single mom and it was to move up the pay scale. However, leadership has always been something that I would say I fell into probably because it was just something that I was interested in and did a lot of. And so when I started mine, I knew that I had several years in the classroom yet before I was ready to take on and something like that. But I think that it's our nature, we just do a lot of things that lend us to being really good leaders. So thank you all for sharing that. Steph, do you want to share about your stuff? Cause I don't want to run you out of time. So we'll jump. Steph has a couple of things she wants to share then she's got to jump off. Yeah, so the first thing is I'm out of school today. Sorry guys. So I'm just jumping on for a moment in between during a letters break. But, you know, the idea started to come to us about having a sub training day, kind of like we have a para training day each summer. And, you know, we had secretaries in school secretaries and it came up that at one of the biggest school shootings it was a sub on duty who had a door open, door propped open kind of situation. And I thought, do our subs, have they ever had standard response protocol? And have they learned some of those procedures that we are standardized throughout schools? So in this day, we're going to have that standard response protocol. And I think about our subs, maybe they are retired, maybe some things have changed, but also some of our subs are those local subs who might not have a teaching degree, who might not have come by some of the school safety information. The day is not all about school safety though. I was really thinking about those local subs and how we need to help equip them with some of the skills to help them feel successful. We need them now more than ever with our sub shortages. And so we're going to work on things like classroom management. JVC is going to come help us with some digital citizenship things about when you're working with kids, your online presence is now going to be just a little bit different. You have to be a little bit more careful in what kinds of things can you share or not share. We're going to work on some positive behavior supports that come from PBIS, but can be implemented in any system. I think about some of those local subs who may be experienced behavior management in a different way than we do now. It was more authoritative. It was not as positive as we would like to see in our schools today. So we hope that you can get some of your subs on board. The thing is that we need you to help register those subs. We're going to have schools actually send us in the registration information. So on this flyer, there's a link at the bottom. I've also emailed it to you. And you will just go ahead and register your subs. There is a $20 fee that kind of covers some of our supplies and lunch and that will be billed to schools. But if you can supply us with sub names and email addresses and things like that so we can be in touch with them for reminders for the day. We're looking forward to it. We have NDE book to come in and help us with some of that safety information. And then our staff will be providing the rest of the day. So we hope you can get some people registered to come with us. And the next one is also on a safety matter. I was in touch with Scott Stemper who's actually coming out to do that training. And he said that the Public Policy Center has a grant right now to provide like a half day training for safety teams. Each of your schools has the safety team that's been identified. And they would give scenarios like possibly a tornado or he said even a tornado during a track meet. And it immediately took me back to May 12th of last year when that dust storm hit right at the end of the school day. And it sent some of us kind of scrambling of what do we do with our kids? It could be an active shooter. They have several different scenarios that they will help your teams work through. So we thought that was an excellent opportunity for your training teams. We wanna hear from you. Would you send a safety team for that? And they had first proposed early August and I said, no, do not do that to our schools. It's too busy. So we're asking you would late August or early September be more agreeable on that?  Hey, this Cody, the sub day, I think it's a good idea. It makes sense to me to do that early August late July instead of right after school. And that gives us a chance to contact our subs and stuff a little ahead of time. And as that school year's coming up, we usually last couple of years we've went through in the summer and I guess we contact all of our subs and see what kind of days they want as far as the year goes and stuff. So it makes sense to me to do that that late July early August for the sub day, safety training day, either one, probably early September would be good. Either one though, probably we can make work. Ben or McKaylee, you guys have thoughts on what works for you then? Or if you're interested. I'll talk with Ron about it. And I think they both look pretty decent, but I do know a lot of our assistants in the office have already gone to the safety. Yeah, this would be a little bit different where your whole team would work on some scenarios like if it's a tornado during a track meet or. It's a good idea. Just to talk through your plan. We have our principals. Okay. Morning, Patty. Sorry I got a new computer and didn't realize that I didn't put Zoom on it. So I scrambled in to try and find a way to get in. Patty, we're talking about that sub day, that sub support day that I sent out some information on a couple of times and just the need to get some needed information, especially those who are maybe local subs who don't have teaching degrees. We also have a safety component for any sub. And then also a safety training. There's a grant to fund this and they would work through scenarios of, say there's a tornado at a track meet or an active shooter in your building and they have several different scenarios that you could work through in a half day with a safety team. Okay. We're proposing late August or early September for that. Okay. How would either of those sound or both? Don't care, we just need to get something in place. Okay. So are you saying your safety team needs some PD? Cause I have some other safety things here I wanna talk about. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Anything else, Steph? I mean, Steph, you're welcome to say but anything about letters? Yeah, just a reminder about letters we're now enrolling for next year. We would love to have your staff included. It's a misconception to think that volume one is enough. Really the full component is volume one and volume two.  Makayla's team is coming, the whole team has gone through volume one and they're gonna go through volume two with me next year and we're really excited about that. So reach out if you have any letters, questions, Nealey Oakdale's graduating, right Ben? Yeah. New teachers that are coming on, she's got something you don't have to do your whole staff, it would just, they would come for, if you've got a new teacher that you need to send through or something too. Yeah, those mixed groups. And then also we're continuing on our parent training series. So that will be, I believe that's August 1st. It's on the calendar. And I'll be, I sent that out once already but I'll send out a reminder. We love having your parents there. They are the most grateful people to receive a training day. They feel honored that you invest in them. And our theme this year is gardening and growing those kids in our gardens for the year. So planting that seed for success. If you have any topics you think would be really important for subs or for, sorry, Paris to cover or subs for that matter too, shoot them my way. All right, great. Thanks Steph. Everybody. Enjoy your day at letters. Yeah, I will. Your life of letters. Life of letters. Yeah. All right, thanks. We'll jump back up to the top. I know Katrina's in another meeting too. So she's jumped out and she's welcome to stay the whole time too. But if you wanna go back to, I just put it as tier one needs assessment questions for in Katrina, you can explain why we're doing this and everything so. Yeah, if you wanna open that document. So NDE, we're working on collecting information to best help our school districts really streamline their adoption processes and connect them to MTSS tier one best practices and support. And so we are just gonna use this document. I'm gonna take some notes in this note to catcher but Molly, when we send this out I did make this view only. So if we have other school districts that wanna complete this maybe they can just make a copy of this document. And just since you are sending this out as a recording you'll just go up to file, make a copy and then they can just share that back with me. So anyway, I just wanted to take a few minutes and just kind of gather some information from those of you who are present today to give us some feedback on sort of your practice for adoption and implementation for high quality materials. We know a lot of schools got new materials with Esther's funds, et cetera in the last few years. And so we're kind of wanting to update that and use that to inform how we move forward in our support of you as you are implementing those materials. So the three of you, is it still? Yep, three of you, four of you, sorry. If you could look at that question one there's four options there. Would you be able to tell me kind of where you are in your approach to the role of materials in the classroom? And what I will do is I'll just put your district name under each one of those as you respond. So A, consistent foundation for grade level teaching and learning you expect all teachers to use those as their primary source for instruction in the classroom. B, you encourage them to use it as a starting point but you do not have an expectation that they are a primary resource in their planning and instruction and implementation. C, you really trust that your teachers know best and you encourage them but you also encourage them to create teacher-created materials or D, if you don't see something there and you have something else that you'd like to share. And there's no right or wrong but this will help us when we go in a couple of weeks we're doing a training and so they wanted to kind of see where schools were before we went so. And as I work through districts and help them with their lesson planning and their curriculum and instructional design this just kind of gives me an idea of where their starting point is and where they want to go. Hey, this is Cody Westphal. We did new ELA and new Math this year B is kind of where I started this year, I would say. Encouraged them to use it and kind of feel it out. I did, however, have a conversation. Our English teachers are probably more A. Did have a conversation with our Math teachers though. We had one teacher kind of at A, couple teachers kind of at B to C, had a conversation with Math teachers. I wanted to move everybody to A next year. So that's kind of where we were at anyway with the new ones. Okay. We're A. Okay. And then we go with A because if not, they would just go back to using the same stuff that they felt comfortable with forever. So. Okay. You said A between an A and a B. And okay, Micaela. Okay, Micaela, can you share between an A and B? Can you share just a little bit more of what you mean by that? We also just adopted math and reading. So we're going to be doing more curriculum mapping, some more planning on exactly at what point you should be here using what material. And so we will be a strong A hopefully in the next year or two. But in the past, they've been able to use whatever. And it's kind of, it's an implementation process, right? Yeah, there's every once in a while. Oh no, you can't, you're not using that. You're using this. Sure. And other schools when you said A, is that across all content areas that you expect that or in core, just core areas? Ours is in reading, math, science. Or no, reading, math and social studies. We will be adopting a new science program here next year. And so it will be in science also. Okay. And then our intervention and enrichment is a hard A. That's, there's no supplementing there. You said that was your enrichment. Mm-hmm. Okay. Enrichment and interventions are all district, school, purchased, assigned. There's no supplementing whatsoever. Okay. All right. Anything else you'd like to add to that? If not, if you look down quick at question two, strengths and challenges in your adoption process. So as you have adopted, what are some things that maybe you feel have gone really well in this process and in some areas of challenge that you've been facing? Some of our strengths at EV is that the staff pretty much knows when it's time to revamp things. And for the most part, they're all pretty good about it. We all, we order samples. They take a look at it, decide which of those is going to get best with our needs, with the standards, those kinds of things. And then of course your challenges, there's always that one that says what we're doing is just fine. They've been doing the same thing for 20 years. It's not fine. So a little bit of resistance, but in general, your teachers. Yeah, for the most part, they're very good about, they know the process. And if you don't have any interest in helping, then you don't have a say. This is what we're going with and you will be expected to use it. So they just never want that to happen. Okay. The process I've used for the last couple of years is we look at our data to determine whether we're making gains or not. And then we have a curriculum rotation. And so then whatever one we're on, if we're not meeting or still making gains, I require the staff to go look at different curriculums online or wherever, compile a list of curriculums that they would like to see. Then we order samples. Once they get the samples, they look to see personally which ones, which, what are their top three? We compile those. And then I have a rubric that they have to go through goes by whether it's meets ed reports and material matters. And there's a list of them. They have to go through and check all of them. They have to go check, make sure they meet our Nebraska standards. If there's any components missing, I'm not for sure what else is on there anymore. And then we rate each program that we do. And then they have to pilot the top two programs for at least a week. Some of them too, if we can't decide like science right now, we're having a hard time picking. And so they're gonna pilot each one for another week to see if it's the curriculum, see if it's teacher familiar, familiar error. Can't say that word. You're already here. Hopefully we'll get one next year in the next couple of weeks. All right, thank you. Hi, Will. We are just looking at this document that's in the agenda for today on looking at your adoption and implementation process. Okay. Ben or Cody, do you wanna, do you have anything you'd like to add to that one? Yeah, we're pretty much the same as Elkhorn Valley and Wheeler Central. We, I kind of let the teachers lead a little bit as far as which curriculums they wanna take a look at. We check out reports, get samples in. We meet a couple, two, three times, let the teachers play with it a little bit in their rooms, see which one they think fits for them. So, pretty much the same. We'll have to send them on visits just to make sure they went to Neely. I know in elementary, they went to Neely to look at, so it's an old letter one CK, CLA. And then they went to David City and then I think they went to Hampton to look at how things were done as well. Okay. Mr. Dempsey, do you have anything you'd like to add? We had all of our elementary involved and our high school English, but we had a committee selected from that group with Ron and I and those. And pretty much the committees are the ones that really dug through and found out the information that it was most beneficial. And listen to the pros and cons and ended up with CKLA and ELA Amplify. That was a very, it was a long process, but it was very successful. Good, good, okay. Awesome. Mr. Eggies, is there something you'd like to add? I know you were just able to kind of see where we are, but if you wanna add something, be happy to put you down here. I mean, curriculum-wise, looking for math, our whole math department has kind of got together, browsing through the different curriculum types I've contacted, then the companies to get samples sent in. We spent a day looking at the curriculums. Teachers have kind of played with what they liked and liked and then we're gonna go look at schools that have the current curriculum right now. We've talked with West Holton Cody to go look at into math and into AGA, but I think math has kind of been the tough ones so far because everyone's at the crossroads of needing to find a new one and there's not a whole lot of places to go out and check out who's used it or who's even had a lot of time to go through it. With West Holton having it for this last year, it's great, but if we had found another school that has used it for a couple of years just to know all the nuts and bolts would be great, sure, yeah. Okay, we'll just skip down to the one below and I'll try to summarize, especially if a lot of you kind of have the similarities. So in terms of when you do adopt and this goes back to that first question, most of you said you have an expectation that teachers will use their adopted materials as their primary source or you're planning on moving toward that in the next few years. So what do you do to ensure that the teachers are actually using those as their primary resources? Do you have anything specific or is it just, you trust them to be professionals and expect that that's what they're doing? Just do a lot of walkthroughs and I'm in their classrooms a lot when they use them. I will tell you I had to go as far as with one teacher because she just refused to use the new stuff. We adopted a 678 program where they rotate, it's the Glenco series and then they rotate based upon the needs of the kids because you can no longer do what you did in seventh grade and in eighth grade and in sixth grade and expect them to meet all the standards. So we adopted one where they rotate based on the length of the units and those kinds of things how long. So they worked out a system on how they rotate those but she just refused to do it. So she had to actually put it in her lesson plans what she was doing and then I had to check on it because she just wasn't doing what she was expected to do. I don't have to go to that length with many people but if needed, I will do that because I know she wasn't using it. Okay, anybody else have anything they would like to add on that? We not only check to make sure they were using it but we're checking for the fidelity amongst all the teachers. That was our main emphasis is that we had to have fidelity. Ben, eight, 12. It was the new program was for K8. One CKLA the other one ELA amplify. And for the most part all of our teachers are they're all using it and pretty much everyone is using it with their fidelity in every one of them. Ben, are you doing those fidelity checks? I'm just curious. I do them and Becky Kirkman does them over here and Becky does them and Ron does them over at East Ward. I mean, West Ward. Yeah. Okay, anybody else wanna add to that? Okay. I mean, we do the walkthroughs as well but then on some of our staff development days have the department meet together to kind of do pacing guide and just see exactly how things are going and sit in those meetings as administration just to see where we're at and how things are going is, is there a little bit of missteps that we maybe didn't calculate? But yeah, otherwise it's like everyone else has said you do your walkthroughs and you trust your teachers. So do you all have a formal walkthrough tool then that's aligned with the standards and the expectations then a formal tool? Yeah. Okay. All right. What do you think the main challenges are that you're finding? I know Patty you had mentioned a few teachers maybe just struggling or resisting using them because it's maybe not comfortable. Do you have any other challenges that you could, you support in with your teachers when they're adopting new materials into the classroom? Okay. Well, we always call if we need help. We call people from the ESU and they come over and do what we need them to do. So that's our point of... I heard some of you though talk about like in their grade level meetings or their I'm in a column PLCs but they in your math department maybe gets together and talks about those things. And that's a good way to support that. Will I think you mentioned that that they'll kind of look and see if they're, you know how their pacing's going or those kinds of things. And that's a great way when they collaborate that way to figure out a new system. Yep. We use plan book too. And next week we get out Fridays at 2.30 and so that's when we meet at least three of the four Fridays we have something going on. And so this next Friday we'll meet together and they'll use the plan book and they'll print off make a list of their standards and then they'll meet with their groups that they, you know, math people will meet the English people and make sure that we're getting all the standards covered. Okay. So I know I've worked with some of you professional development for your teachers and also for you as administrators just to help with that whole implementation science piece. So this year or moving forward do you have any of that scheduled or is there more that you would like? Because we can kind of blend that with the last section here which is areas or services where we can help provide some more support for you to work with teachers individually or as departments. I want you to know we didn't make this because I'm not sure I would ask you what you would want to trade for more support. But we're asking the questions they gave us. Yes. As the curriculum nerd here, my thought is always, you know, you as principals have a lot to manage already and are there areas with the implementation piece where we can offer service to you to take some of that load or work with individual teachers who might be either resistant, hesitant, scared, you know, to really move over to the new materials or feel just very challenged by them. So this is your real person, not your NDE sort of asking just what can we do to better support you and your teachers to help make it more manageable? Katrina, I'm going to sit down. It's on my list. I've created my summer work list. I started on that. I'm going to take their smart goals and there's several of them that need to work with things like differentiated instruction. So we're going to start, those Fridays are nice for that type of thing. So we're going to start doing more of, you know, on this Friday, you're going to work with these three or four teachers. The rest of them can work in their rooms. Gotcha. You know, I have some that need some serious classroom management. So we're going to start doing that. And I'm going to work on that with, I'm going to take care of that over the summer. We meet May 5th and that's the day that we'll work on our smart goals. And then we'll kind of, they're going to come up with a list of professional development that they could do. Okay. Seek that out. So we're going to get more into that. I love that idea of more personalized professional development. You know, some of them have great classroom management. I have about three or four that could, yeah. Yeah. I like that. Well, here's just that reminder that you are always welcome to reach out and working with, you know, cognitive coaching or instructional coaching or just doing some plot partnering with those teachers who need some extra support there. Anything else that you need on that, Katrina? I don't think so. I'll just follow up with you, Patty, on that. And we can touch base on what that can look like for you and anybody else. So that was kind of our homework. We're going to this training in a couple of weeks, first week of May and we had to do that. So you're helping us with our homework, you know. Appreciate that. Well, thank you for your thoughts and please feel free to follow up with me if you have other things you'd like to add or just want to touch base on any other areas where you think that I can help serve you and let me know. Otherwise, I'm going to say goodbye and dive back into my Perkins grants. So. Thanks, Katrina. Thanks, everybody. Thanks for that one, Katrina. Take care. All right, Claire has a couple of things coming up here. Claire, I'll just pull the flyers up if you want to talk. Yep. The first one is New Teacher Academy. This is just a reminder that this is for brand new teachers to the profession. So maybe they're coming right out of college or they've done the program and are becoming teachers later in life, whatever that is. These are our tentative dates. They're very similar to what we had this year and we'll do four days again. Coaching will be involved. You're a contact person for this will be Katrina. And so if you have new staff members, please send their names to Katrina as soon as you can because it is not on the OD on our ESU8 website. So just send the new teacher's name and contact information and Katrina will be in touch with that. So again, this is for new teachers, new to the profession. And then the next thing we have student exploratory day in the past, I believe ESU8 has done this, but it's back. And so we are- It was pre-COVID, pre-COVID we did some days and then we just haven't done anything since for students. So this is back and it's going to be May 31st here at the ESU8. And we're starting to talk about student leaders. And so we are asking principals, I will send this out in an email but we're asking principals to just select two to three students who they think would be a good fit for this and grades fifth through eighth grade. We're going to look at strengths. We're going to look at teamwork on a pre-new year. I can't even say that word mindset, but we just ask that the principals print this flyer out and give it to those two or three students that they select. And then the parent needs to use this QR code to complete the form. Parents responsible for getting the student there this day as well as providing their like a sack lunch. And so again, I will send this out with more details in an email to all principals, but we just ask that you forward on this information to two to three of your students that you think would be a good fit for this. And we'll have outside resources here and then our PD team will also be here helping with this day. And so hopefully we get a good turnout for that. So let me know if you have any questions with that once I send out the email, but be looking for that sometime this week. Great, thanks Claire. One thing I wanted to ask, so we have always done a new to ESU eight orientation. So this is separate from what Claire was talking about, the new teacher academy, but it could be some of those same people, but anybody that's new to ESU eight. And so they've come in and we've talked about the services and the resources that we have available. We have done this where we've had 40 some people and we have done it where we've only, we've had very few in the last couple of years, possibly because of when it's been held and things like that. So I just want your thoughts on it. Do you think that coming to the ESU to get that information is important? We have created a video in the past. I don't know if it got shown to teachers enough. What are your thoughts on that? We would like to, we'll continue it or we'll make it better. We're just need a little input. I think it's great to do just for any new teacher to so we can utilize the ESU. The tough part is as a new teacher, it seems like they go to 10 different days where they're gone, whether it's the new teacher academy or we send them to Marzano trainings, the trainings that we have, it just seems like it's a lot that, but I think the intent behind it is really good. So I don't know if it's easier just to make a video, but then there's no way of having that fidelity that they watched it and know who all of you are. So when they see you, they can once say hello or know who to reach out to. So- Good to remember it. And those that actually come to the new teacher academy, we can get them that information. They're coming in and some of that, but there's other people that aren't brand new teachers that are new to the ESU-8. And so even administrators, but we can sure try the video thing again. I agree with you, Will. I think that it's just, I don't know that there's a better time for it either, but they're just got so much that sometimes I think they're like, we're like, you were at the new teacher or new orientation, but they were just on overload. I like it in person just because, again, Will's right, they're gone for a lot of things, but if they're new to the ESU, those teachers don't necessarily need to go to the new teacher or the new teacher- Academy- Period wouldn't need to come to this day, but I think it's good for them to see and meet all of the people and meet the people in their area. Yeah. All right, so when we were talking about this, I don't think I have the right notes up, but we were talking about Claire, JCD, remember what day it was in August? If we were to have this I think it was that first- calendar, full week, Monday. Like the seventh. Right. Yep. So August 7th, what is, I mean, are your teachers even under contract then to come to that? Or would you send them anyway? If they're, it's a new to ESU 8. In the past, we've just made them go. Okay, they're not under contract anyway, so. Okay. Are they doing something that you're building on that day? Probably, but you know, if we know, if we know this ahead of time, we can plan accordingly. Right now, knock on wood, we don't have anybody. Same here. Okay. Well, we'll do it another year and see how it goes. And if it's just not, maybe we'll have to pivot and just do it virtual, even though, or recording, if, and it could be a year that there's not as many people hired to, and why our numbers were lower. But I think it's just more of a timing thing, but that gives, that's good info for us. Thank you. I think just listening, I think it'd be nice to have just a video of everything that the issue offers, just, I mean, for all of my staff, because they're staff that's been here for 30 years and they'll say, oh, I didn't know the issue did that. And I'm like, So here's another, if we made a video and truly try and keep that under, you know, three minutes, but probably closer to five, I would guess, if we're talking about everything we're doing, is that something you would show at your all staff back? And so if you had it by the 1st of August, you could maybe put that in your, even if we have the day, just something to share with your staff. Yeah.  And then I'd probably email it to them so that they could just keep it in their email. And if they ever questioned, hey, what is the issue? You know, can the issue do this? Cause I get this, that question all the time is, if I send this to the issue, can they do this? Or does the issue have something for this? And I always just go to your website or ask JC. Cause yeah. Yeah. Well, and I'm not sure it'll be all encompassing, but we'll see what we could do and we could work on that this summer. And so it'll be more than just professional development. It would be like our media services poster maker, all that kind of stuff. So just, yeah. And even if you had a list or, you know, a document that said, this is what everybody does. Okay. Thank you. That's very helpful. JC, you have a couple of things you wanted to talk about. Sure. Yeah. I'm excited to have two technology training options this summer. So one would be the first ones geared towards your administrative assistance. So we know that sometimes the secretaries are playing such a big role and having some modern or updated tech experience and time to collaborate with their peers in their roles and job specific tech related options. So we'll go through some like Google items like Gmail and as well as like Canva and some of the artificial intelligence, how that's going to play a role in their positions potentially. There's a flyer to come, but I would welcome you to pass the word on to your administrative assistance if we would like to see them that day. And then the second one will be closer to like a back to school timeframe of August 1st. That will be for teachers that are wanting to brush up on tech skills. And that was similar to what we did last year. And so that's an opportunity to, you know, dive into what they, it won't be content specific and it's elementary through high schools, but that time can be exposure to some of the new tech options out there, especially with the artificial intelligence growing in popularity and a lot of different platforms. So we'll look at that. And then they'll have some time to collaborate as well and get some just one-on-one assistance. And if it's somebody that, you know, is super techie, I invite them. And if it's someone that really struggles with tech, we invite them. And that can, as I bop around to school throughout the year that sometimes that first day has been helpful to get to know them. And then I can follow up with them throughout the year with tech as they or you see fit. So fancy pretty flyers to come. And otherwise, yeah, I hope that they can, hope you'll pass that along and invite them to participate. Somebody's knocking at the door. So I'll be right back. Thanks. Thanks, JC. I think I'd like just to have one more thing. So PFA training, I said there was a little bit more on safety training that Steph had talked about. So NDE offers this list right here of some different trainings. And one is the psychological first aid S, they call it for schools. But what I wanna know is they're asking if ESUs would train what they're calling an ESU school team. And you can read what she said here, but basically it's a two day training of PFA with ESU people and then one or two people from all of our member schools. And so then we say, let's say, Battle Creek has an incident and they need some support. We would, they say survey member schools who's available or who's close that could send support outside of the school. So my thought is I know that a lot of our schools already have PFA trained teams. ESU has a PFA trained team. It's not one that's been trained together. And we already kind of support each other if needed. But I would be curious if you think this would be important to have this model. Two ESUs have done it. And so they're trying to promote it. Do you guys have PFA trained teams already? Psychological first aid? We do, Molly. Yeah. I know I had a list at one time and a lot of our schools do have them already trained. So do you see value in this? Or because I know that right now, in this past year when we've had some incidences, Pierce or Stanton neighboring schools have automatically said, hey, let me know if you need anything. They've sent our psychs from their schools to help or those kind of things. And so I don't know if it's necessary. The two have done it, have done it, are out in panhandle schools. And maybe it makes a difference because schools aren't that close and they don't maybe rely on their neighbors. I don't know. But I will ask superintendents next week to their end. But do you guys have any comments, thoughts on that? Well, like it's a bad idea. We don't have these. Okay. I mean, I guess some of them, but I've not been put in that situation. So I think in that situation, it would be really nice. Right. I guess. And I would just say team, no team. If you're ever in that situation, please reach out to us. We do know who has and we, you know, we will try and find support if we don't have something like this made, but yeah. All right. I will follow up with superintendents and see and then kind of decide whether we're going to go forward with that. And the last two things we're coming on a full hour here are Megan just put two flyers in here that she has things coming up for MTSS. Megan is still on maternity leave, but she's been organizing and getting things ready here for summer. And this one I believe is this one, Claire, you're helping with? Yes, it is. Yep. And so we're just looking at the interventions. We've had a lot of schools reach out saying they need some help with interventions and just aligning them with their curriculum that they are doing. And so we are doing, we've decided to split it up K2 and three for six. And so there will be two separate dates for that. And really that will just kind of be a small group one-on-one time to help teachers build those interventions and what those groups might look like. And then she has a couple here, one with, I haven't really tied hard time. These are both secondary. So I think she's been in touch with those schools that are beginning the secondary MTSS implementation. And so just a reminder to sign up for those through the ESU8 website. Thanks, Claire. Yep. All right. Anything else that anybody would like to talk to or their counterparts this morning? Anything on your mind? Will, you're muted if you're asking something. Yeah, thanks, yeah. Most of you do high school. I'm just curious, what do you guys do for like a step up day or when you bring your sixth graders up to the junior high? Does anyone have the group plan or yeah, something that's just dynamite that we need to add in? Well, we do something. I don't know if it's dynamite or not. On the 18th, we actually have a move-up day. They spend a day in seventh grade. Most of our junior high kids are gone to a track meet. So, and I can tell you that Cary has gone to way more work than I had intended this to be. I had done this at the previous school I was at and we only kind of did it for the morning because all of our junior high core classes are in the morning because most of the stuff they take off for is in the afternoon. So, we moved all core classes in the morning and then that's as long as I kept them while she figured they should be here the whole day. So, she's got this big old schedule planned and has divided them up into groups and way more work than I had intended but she did a good job with it. So, they're just gonna spend a day in seventh grade which isn't anything, whoop whoop, lots of people do that. Okay, thank you. I don't know if this really meets that but I just learned that what Neely Oakdale's doing, Ben, with your dances, you reuse your prom decorations and they have three days of dances but it's like a transition and you can add like a seventh or eighth and the freshman, what I don't know, Ben, you wanna add to that but I thought that was interesting. We did K-6 on Sunday from four to six, 30 and then four to six and then six, 30 or seven to eight, eight, 37, nine, we did seven, excuse me, eight, nine and tonight we have six, seven and they all get to use the prom decorations. But it's those six graders leaving and those seventh graders so they'll kind of meet each other. It's not really about the school and the academics, it's more about the social meeting those kids and I thought that was a cool idea to reuse your prom decorations and to start fostering those relationships. I wish it was my idea but it wasn't. Oh, well, Nealey's idea, I liked it. Great, anything else anybody has? End of the year coming. Let us know how we can support you if you need anything and we're thinking about next year also. I like Moscato Molly. I can support you there. Okay, thanks. Oops, stop, record, edit. All right, well, I won't take up any more of your time. I appreciate you guys coming and I will send this out and we're working on a one spot with all of our summer flyers and stuff. So that'll be coming out to you, hopefully by next week too. So that'll be helpful to share with teachers and you. All right, have a great day. Thanks Molly. Thank you, you too. Yep.


Hey, Psych2Goers! Have you ever wondered whether your relationship with someone is just friendship, kindness, or something more? You're probably well acquainted with the frustration that comes along with this. Sometimes overthinking about a person's actions leads to headaches and even more confusion. So, to help, this video lists seven signs someone likes you but is afraid of admitting it. Hope it helps. Oh, by the way, one more thing. We have a treat for you at the end of this video if you want to get more involved with us. Let's begin. Number one. They make you feel like someone special.  Do they light up more when they're talking to you? Do they go out of their way to create interaction? When someone likes you, chances are, there are ways it will show, even if they're afraid to admit it to you. If you're unsure, try looking at the small details. Are they acting in a way that makes you feel like they care for you more than others? If so, it's good to consider the chance that they might have feelings for you. Number two. They want you to meet those important to them. Have they introduced you to their friends, parents, or even pets?  Even if they're afraid of admitting how they feel, this method gives them a chance to connect with you more and build a deeper relationship. Of course, not everyone who does this means that they have feelings for you. However, when a person does this out of the blue or if they do it together with the other signs mentioned in this video, there is a good chance that they like you and are afraid to admit it. Number three. They either compliment you or tease you a lot. Sometimes, even both. Do they often attempt to flatter you? Do they joke around and tease you but still manage to remain friendly? There is a line between playful teasing and outright insulting, so if they somehow find a way to tease you while remaining your friend, they're just probably looking for a way to get your attention. When someone is afraid of admitting their feelings, they tend to find other ways to communicate them. So, if they constantly drop compliments or do stuff that turns your head their way, they might just be waiting for you to get the hint. Number four. Somehow, you see them a lot. This relates to the third point. When they compliment, tease, or find ways to be around you, even if they have no reason to be there in the first place, they're basically screaming, they want you to notice me. Do they find ways to hang out with you and your friends?  A person who has feelings for you most likely wants you to think about them a lot, and that's why they want to be involved in your life as much as possible. Number five.  Do they sometimes say flirty things that they pass off as a joke or something along those lines? Whenever they do this, they're most likely testing the waters. If they see a good reaction, their confidence will probably go up. There's a lot of anxiety that comes with liking someone, and as much as it's good to confess their feelings completely, they may also get the urge to protect themselves from the hurt or rejection. Number six. They ask for assistance from others.  If someone who likes you is too scared to tell you themselves, they may ask for help from other people to tell you for them. Of course, there is nothing better than open, honest communication, so if you notice that they're doing their best to show their feelings, it might be time to have a good chat about it. And number seven. They do everything but confess. Have they done everything in this video except talk to you about their true feelings? Perhaps it's because they're waiting for you to bring it up first. You may mistake someone's friendly affection for something more. However, your intuition is also not something you can just ignore. Do they act more romantic than friendly?  If you're starting to get these thoughts, it's good to talk it out with the other person. It may even save you a lot of time and frustration. And who knows? Maybe you're even helping them out a great deal by doing so. Do you have a certain someone in your life who acts this way? Did this video give you any clarity? It's good to remember that there are a lot of factors that go into someone confessing or choosing to hide their feelings. Whatever it is, it's good to remain understanding and true to what you feel as well. If you have experiences with confessing, being confessed to, and alike, you can always share them in the comment section below. We always appreciate hearing about your experiences. Thanks for sticking with us to the very end.  Given the current state of the economy and how difficult it is to find a job, we take pride in our ability to hire new talents from all over the world. That said, we're once again looking for 2D animation talent, scriptwriters, researchers, and project managers to help enhance the content on Psych2Go. Our goal for 2022 is to continue producing high-quality, well-researched content in order to keep up with all your topic requests. We'll be able to accomplish more as a larger group. If you're interested, please send an email to recruitingatpsych2go.net. With the subject line, animation application, SC application, VO application, or PM application in the subject line, we're looking forward to meeting you. Please send a portfolio, custom samples are preferred, resume, and your reason for applying. We'd like to thank everyone again for watching, supporting, and sharing our content. It means a lot to be able to do all of this. See you next time.