 Good morning everybody. My name is Jason Klein. I'm the director of P20 initiatives here at Northern Illinois University and I helped facilitate the Illinois P20 network alongside Laurie Alice Piper who's the dean of the College of Education here at NIU. The Illinois P20 network has over 150 school districts, community colleges, four year universities, all of the state agencies and other organizations that are involved in education who want to ensure that people in Illinois at all levels, at all age levels, at all levels in their educational development can continue learning in the best learning environments possible. And we have the goal alongside the state stated goal of having 60% of adults in Illinois by the year 2025 have a credential or degree of some kind. And so with that said, we are hosting our fall meeting with a little bit different format. We're meeting over the course of four Fridays. Three individual topics plus one of our admin academies on a couple of hot topics joined together and that's social and emotional learning leading to college and career readiness. That administrator academy is next Friday morning and it's a half day in online, and it's of course not open only to administrators but people, anybody that's involved and wants to be a part of that so with that said, we are excited to have a really great panel here today to talk about the teacher shortage. We're going to handle this panel discussion recruitment retention of diverse high quality teachers because of course that's our goal that we have teachers from all different kinds of backgrounds who are wonderful in connecting with students and then engaging them with really important skills and high quality complex content. So we're going to start by having our panelists introduce themselves and tells who they are what they do and where they are. And then we're going to have them talk about why, why in their current roles. This issue of the teacher pipeline and recruitment and retention are important to them so to kick things off. We have a team from Indian Prairie School District, 204 get us started Brian, can I have you get things going and then we'll hand it over to Katie. Welcome thanks for allowing us to join today my name is Brian Giovanni I'm the director of innovation for Indian Prairie School District 204 excited to join to discuss this is obviously a conversation that we're having in 204 about supporting teachers and building a diverse strong workforce of teachers who are interested in joining us so it's something that we're passionate about in 204. Thanks Katie. Good morning I'm Katie pop I am the president of the Indian Prairie Education Association the teachers union in district 204. You know just to echo some of Brian sentiments this is something that we are have a great interest in it with regards to teacher retention and the shortage. And we are spending a lot of time in our district focusing on how to engage our students and let them know that education and becoming an educator is a viable career for them. That's awesome. Thank you. Janice and then run I'm going to have you guys jump in and introduce yourselves please. Good morning I'm Janice Jones I am the college and career readiness facilitator at Stock Valley Community College in Dixon Illinois. And I think one of the pieces for us in in developing this teacher pipeline in our partnership is that we have seen so many of our local teachers come from our local area and so that a whole idea of growing our own to help alleviate the serious need for our partner districts is is an important piece. Ron. I'm Ron McCord, a superintendent of Rock Falls High School in Rock Falls Illinois. I believe this pipeline and teacher retention is essential. At this point with the shortage as it is. We're losing programs across the state. Because there are no candidates to fill those vacancies and when you don't have candidates and programs get dropped that's not good for kids. So, it is essential. Wonderful, and we heard Janice refer to growing her own teachers from Southern Illinois University and their implementation of the state's program. Stacy can I have you go ahead and introduce yourself please. Yes, I am from Southern Illinois University I'm a professor in early childhood so I certainly am aware of the shortage of teachers in early childhood and the concerns that we have for those children you know who are who are having to work with people who may not be as we want them to be right as they start their as they start their school career very critical part so I'm also undergraduate program director in the school of education and the director of the grow your own program. And so I'm excited to be here today to discuss this issue as it is very relevant and all areas of the state but definitely down here we you know we we are seeing the concerns of recruiting those who are from diverse populations. Thank you and then we'll wrap up with folks from Northern Illinois University Jenny and then Danielle. Hi, my name is Jenny Johnson, I am the senior director for our College of Education's Office for Student Success. Our college is super committed to the idea of confronting this really national but shortage in Illinois and we have come up with some innovative collaborations and strategies to help help hopefully help help make a difference right and so excited to have been invited to talk about that today and. Thank you. Danielle. Hello, I am Danielle or it's and I am a student in the, and then Northern Illinois University College of Education I specifically am not on campus but I attended program, the pledge program which is for Elgin Community College students and basically I currently am an Elgin and we take coursework there as well as to at least at my stage of things, and I think it's important because I see how the lack of people in schools can impact a child's education often you know they don't have the same resources as though they would if they had the number of people in the past and I think even in 2017 SB was putting out numbers of like lacking folks in this field so I'm like, I'm hopeful to see it grow because it's such a vital aspect of our country to educate our young people and give them a bright future so. Wonderful, well thank you all so much for being here. Before we jump into the first question part of the context I want to give is is something that Ron had mentioned in his opening which is the need for educators to be able to run a wide range of programs to meet our students needs and prepare them for their education. You know in Illinois, the context is there is a lot of support at the state level among politicians to continue expanding programs there is a big effort to continue the expansion of early childhood education, but we need to have enough early teachers. Last winter we have legislation passed that will expand requirements for world language experiences for our high school students, as well as computer science experiments experiences and we know we need to have enough world language teachers and teachers who can teach computer science around the state of Illinois to be able to to be able to follow through with those new requirements so given all of that let's start with. What do you think we have a shortage of educators today and I'll leave this up to whoever wants to jump in first but again let's start there's why do we have this teacher shortage. And in my opinion and in conversations across our district I think a piece of it has been the real societal message that students have gotten that you don't want to go into education. Professor of education I know my students have come in and go my teachers told me not to do this. So we've shot ourselves in the foot right. Teachers are underpaid they're underappreciated this is what society is telling us the pension issue has gotten huge headlines and all of that feeds into the understanding that education is not a viable career. And I think that has been a real issue for our students and perhaps part of the issue for the declining enrollment in education courses. I also think one of the other things that we've kind of encountered in 204 is sometimes it's hard to really make education exciting when you're doing it it's really easy because you get to solve a lot of problems. And he was just on a panel yesterday and one of our technology and engineering teachers is a former engineer and he talked about his experience and why he became a teacher and how like all the things that an engineer does he does in education that's why he loves it. But to kind of think back to it to kind of promote it to a high school and middle school students sometimes it's harder to give a hands on experience for education. I know there's pictures but stem was kind of a big deal and it's easy to give a stem hands on experience so that I know there's a lot of traction behind that so that's one of the things that we're trying to think through of how do we get better experiences for kids to see it. I would want to add on to that and that you know when we're thinking about experiences for people who are interested in education, it takes a while for them to get into those classes where they're going out in the field because of all the hoops that we have to jump through the background checks, everything else. So we can't just throw them in in the first semester and get their feet wet early to show them how exciting the field is and to get them inspired to be a teacher. I also think long term again I'm going to pop on to what Janice said is that in the field of education is not seen as very positive right now. And I think we have to figure out how do we support our teachers better so that they have the longevity in the field and you know what to stay in that career because you hear a lot of people say they're only going to be in there for a few years and then they're going to get out. You know, like Ron and others who are in the school districts will know that better than we do but preparing them to be long term teachers is a whole other endeavor that I think will work on. And I think the other thing is too educators aren't good at promoting themselves. I think the least person to want to, you know, likely to say, Hey, this is, you know, these are the cool things I get to do. I mean, you just know that it's natural part of your job and you just do it and you're here because it's something that's innate in you that you wanted to work with kids and you wanted to do this, that it doesn't really always dawn on you to say, Hey, this is a really cool thing maybe this is something you should look into doing. And to Katie's point how many schools, even elementary schools have career days and and they don't include education as one of the careers, even though everybody playing the career day is of that career. So great, great point, Katie. Ron, were you going to jump in and say something there. I have to piggyback on what Janice said, teaching is hard work. It's underappreciated. We shoot we shoot and we have we as educators have shot ourselves in the foot many times by how we talk about education with our students. But there there is there's a never ending cloud of mandates politicians cannot leave education alone. The idea of parenting has changed gone to the days when you get in trouble at school and you worry about what mom and dad are going to find out. And, and again, retirement benefits, you can think what you want. I believe people, you know, these young kids are smart enough to understand that there's a difference between tier one and tier two in Illinois, and that is an incentive to go elsewhere. But again, it comes back to politicians getting in the way. So, Danielle, you are you are entering the profession and you're you're obviously choosing to do that and I'm sure you've got peers who who you know went to high school with or whatever who are not choosing to do that. What's your take on, and why we have a shortage of teachers and you're obviously going to both benefit from that hopefully by having lots of opportunities for a job and you're helping solve that by becoming a teacher. But why do you think we have a shortage of teachers. I think a lot of times when I meet young people today, both like people near my age and those younger, a lot of times the jobs they look for either can relate to the money they make or how flashy it is. Oftentimes like only a doctor and it's like, and, and while I, and while I hope that child gets to go on and become a doctor that's what they truly want to do. I can have that you meet young people who I do think have leadership skills that could translate well to a classroom in like my case like people my age. But I do think that oftentimes the flashiness of the job or the money that comes with it is often what is first pushed forward and I think that's very true that teachers you know we don't make a lot of money. So I think that as some people noted before it a lot of it comes down to that and I think something that I've seen in the classroom is like I see that a lot of times kids they like to meet young people that are different from them they like to meet people that can ask questions they love to ask me like what do you do like what do you and I'll say oh I have a sister or something like offhand like what they're like they're so excited to meet young people that are different than them. So I think that you know this is a very, very interesting job and I think a very enlightening job because you see your work every day and young people you work with even if it isn't a perfect grade on a test maybe they start to have a social and emotional change like they start to use certain like whatever the goal is. I think that you see your work visually every day with the kids and even if it isn't an improvement here there. I think it's a very clear like oh somewhere somehow my job is having an impact so I think that that sentiment is something it doesn't give you as many dividends financially as it does in sense of your feeling in your heart like oh my gosh I did something today and it makes me feel good and I'm like I go home and even if it's a bad day I'm like at least one kid I at least was able to do this for so it's those small wins I think are not as easy to put out a screen and say oh yeah teachers make this much money it's like well they don't but they do so much good in our society so I think that that dividend is not found easily even if people in the field can attest to it as I would myself. And Danielle I think I think everybody else on the panel would echo what I'm about to say which is just you wait until you meet a former student five or 20 or 30 years down the road. Maybe someone who who struggled a little bit with being successful and you invested a lot of time in them and they're doing great and yeah I mean that's pretty significant so I think one of the questions there is how we can help people as they're considering careers kind of understand what that feeling is to and and maybe connect with that I'm not sure how to do that. Yeah I've I've heard of some programs that actually reach me to the high schools I know I. I'm trying to think of I know I had a program in high school that got me to get me connected to an actual school and I was a senior in high school in a school under the supervision of a teacher so I think that that was a real catch for me because I didn't know what I want to I was like I would be a nurse because that's the thing my mom I said oh be a nurse you'll have a job river. And even though I have great respect for nurses for what they do. I personally didn't feel any sort of so I think like catching kids early on if they do I like I think there's some programs out there already that I kind of pull them in. So there are it's almost like I wanted Danielle to say that so we could switch to the next question. There are people who run some of those programs Danielle that was awesome. So let's shift to talking about what you think is the most important and or effective strategies that that you're using to try and support new teachers coming into the profession the success of our new teachers that we've recently hired. I am going to put, well everybody else on this panel has experience with programs like that so whoever wants to jump in and share. So what you're doing this is the moment where where the whole state wants you to brag and share about that thing that's working well so please do Katie great go for it. So one of the programs that we're working on is we're actually partnering with IEA was our mentorship program that they were given a grant, both IEA and IFT with regards to throughout the states and so what we've been able to do is with our 10 second year teachers we've been able to provide them a building mentor so they have somebody in the building that they can connect with to get to know the climate and the culture of the building and you know the basics like how do you actually use the copier and things like that. And then what we're also able to do is provide them with a virtual coach and I'm also a virtual coach myself because I wanted to see what the teachers were going to be receiving. And so the nice part with the virtual coaches it's somebody who's more familiar with your content area and what your day to day life looks like and can help you anywhere from classroom management to your curriculum. And just basically survival. How do you survive that first year and you know a lot of the questions that you know as we get into this year in particular. And as you know we're in mid October a lot of for me a lot of my mentees have been asking how do you take a break from this job like how when when do you like when's the downtime or and it's you know so those have been our conversations around that and the nice thing with the virtual coach also is it also reinforces those Charlotte Danielson concepts. So it gives you an opportunity to work around Charlotte Danielson and the terms and the attributes that they need to become familiar with so that they can also be successful in their evaluations. So that's one of the programs that we've been working on. To continue off with Katie said is in 204 Katie and our district team as teachers come into our district. We tried to take a different approach and try not to give them everything at the start of the year like alright here you go good luck for the entire year, more of a as students walk in welcoming exciting here's our culture we want to get to know you the curriculum will get there you know let's be successful on day one. Then let's do day two. And then when we talk to you October okay here now we'll start getting into these things but really just be welcoming and talk about the experience they're going to have been in kind of supportive. Jenny. Thanks. So one of the things that we're doing at NIU and in the College of that and Danielle is a participant in is we have a pledge program. And that stand, it's actually an acronym that stands for partnering to lead and empower district grown educators. And this program is a collaboration between NIU between and LGN Community College, and also one of our larger district C 46. And so we really are working to foster a pipeline where our students start the first half of the two plus two at LGN Community College, then they become Huskies, but we bring the classes to them. So what we're doing there is, is hoping to provide the opportunities or remove those barriers for, for students that might not be able to for family reasons or other reasons or proximity somehow. So we deliver all the coursework there, all of their field experiences are in the community as well. And then, you know, the hope is that they'll become hired within that community and so our first cohort graduated last spring and the only news is that everyone that began this model graduated and became hired. So, really exciting and Danielle is a part of our second cohort, and all of those teachers or future teachers will be licensed elementary with ESL or bilingual endorsements and really, really hoping to meet a need in a community and we're always working to scale up but super excited that to bring it back to before they become teachers how can we support them and and doing it in the community and partnering with our, with our other, you know, our community college partners but also community partners also district partners and hoping to really make that circle work. Awesome. Thank you, Ron. Y'all reiterate some of the same new teacher orientations, mentor programs being as welcome and supporting as you possibly can be helping new teachers connect to the community are all good strategies for new teachers. I'm going back in time, because so many of you have experienced with starting with high school students who think they may want to be educators and, and I'll throw in one plug here and that's that we have to remember when we're doing work around the career pathways. One way to measure our success is by the number of students that move forward in that pathway. Another way to measure success and this starts to become difficult to quantify is with students who decided that pathways and for them. But they've decided that much earlier than after spending four years of time and money, for example, earning a bachelor's degrees they can go in a different direction so that is a success, harder to measure, but talk to us. Any of you that have experiences with beginning to engage high school students in the process. What you do there and that's been most effective. I think one of the things that is is essential in any high school program. Number one is identifying the students, every student thinks they know what education is about because they've been a student. And we know it's totally different on the other side of that desk. And so helping them to identify those skills, you have these skills that would translate into being an educator is key. And in making that we're really working hard to make that a culture of not just our, our school but our districts and our communities, so that people will be able to say wow I don't know what you're thinking about doing but you know you'd be a great teacher, and that can really be a real guidance for students. I think another piece based on how the four year system or the post secondary system is set up is helping students identify what grade level they're most interested in. And the last thing we want to do is have a student, you know, get to student teaching, and as an elementary teacher and go, This isn't for me, I should be, I should be an, you know, early childhood or I should be middle school and so giving students those experiences with different age groups. We constantly see that that conception students have a conception of what it's like to be a kindergarten teacher. And after they're there for a few days and they go, Man, I don't, I don't want to take out boot liners wet boot liners and put them back in and, and, you know, flip gloves and I don't want to do that that's, you know, and thank goodness somebody knows right but that's not for them so that so they learn those pieces right so maybe they don't leave the pathway all together, but then their next experience can be with older kids. So I think that is really really helpful to help guide students so they do that in high school before they commit to a college pathway. Awesome Stacy, rather than talking about high school students can you talk to us about the focus of the grow your own program and how that engages and then Jenny sorry I cut you off apparently the challenges of doing this over zoom but Jenny if you want to jump in right after Stacy that would be great. We have several cohorts for grow your own and grow your own teachers and we are very excited we have 17 in our first cohort of sped paraprofessionals who are getting ready to graduate this fall so I mean wonderful so we started out with 20 right so you know you do have some and, but, but I feel like we've had a good support system and having cohorts I think really helps them now. The other thing that we're, we've worked hard on in and it is part of grow your own is making sure that they get professional development as part of the program model and the schools and I do think that helps them, because they're running into those issues as they're in their current classrooms, and then they're getting the education right there to address it. And the other thing is is that we're working on it with our newer cohorts and getting mentors coming in, especially for those who are from minority backgrounds because I think that they're going to encounter different issues. Then the, then, you know, your, your regular what we traditionally seen in our programs and we want to we, I think, you know the more successful we are in supporting them they're going to get the word out and, and others are going to say hey I can do this and so that's what we're really excited about. You know, I think the big thing and making them successful is that they are currently in their classrooms and they're actually in our new early childhood cohort we have one person who is in a high school. She's in early childhood that's where she wants to go, but see there's a pre K and in that high school. So, so that's helping her get the experiences that she needs and she's seeing that is, you know, that's a benefit because I think that they'll start to move her into that room too. You know, so I think that as many ways that we can think as many creative ways that we can think outside of the box to support the students, I think they're going to be more successful. And we're constantly checking in with them you know what are the issues what do you need help in, and I love it because they're more vocal than our traditional students also like I have an email from last night. Okay, we need some more information from our supervisor, you know, we want more, you know, and I love hearing that, you know, and that also I'm going to push that down into our teacher ed program for the traditional students and see, you know, how can we help them because this is what these students are asking for, and maybe our traditional students do not know what to ask for. And, and anyway, so I think that this interaction and the collegiality between programs and among students is going to make it a better. Make it better in the future for what we offer. Jenny did yeah go ahead. So what I was going to say was piggybacking off of how we get to the students and one of the things that we've done is participated in, you know, like you say that the, what do you want to be days, and present in like a myth buster fashion because you know so then we're in middle school students who maybe never thought about being a teacher and say, Well, did you know this you did you know and kind of maybe put plant in that seed and we've gone all the way, you know, we've been in middle schools we've we've invited groups of middle school students as a matter of fact on next Wednesday I have a group coming to campus to, you know, see what it's like and we do team building activities and make it. We're showing them the other side of what they're experiencing like you said as students so seeing what it is like to maybe be a teacher and and when you bring the whole group. You never know which ones are going to are going to catch right and so that's just an approach that we're trying to get that the idea of this is the best profession in the whole world and here's why. And let me tell you an eighth grade think about it or another thing that you know we what we do is we provide many of our alum with alumni packets to put just proud to be a husky around the room and you know get plant that seed of you go there I love you as a teacher go there and maybe I'll go to the college right so just little things we're hoping to grow. And then once we have a bit of an interest and you know then it's all about the support right we want to we want them to be supported from the very beginning they're very first semester we have. We get our students out into engaged learning experiences right as soon as they walk on campus we call it our educate and engage series. And so while it's not a true clinical experience they are in a classroom and they are engaging with students at multiple levels sometimes just today sometimes it's a week. I'm really trying to once we have them thinking about becoming a teacher, learning to love it and seeing it in multiple spaces and contexts and have them feel like they're supported in this journey. So Danielle I'm going to put you back on the spot. I'm sorry to do that, but as you're, as you're in this process. I guess I want you to think again about people that you went to school with prior to graduating from high school. If you were to go back and and talk to, to your high school classmates with who you are now, or if it's the last night of the of the high school football season tonight if you were to go to some high school and at half time be given a microphone and say, what would you say to students to high school students or to middle school students, which is is really critical there's a whole body of research from almost 30 years ago about making kind of career pathway choices as early as sixth grade. And not the kids should know what they're going to do I mean the jobs that exist when they're in sixth grade will be different than the jobs that will exist 10 years later. But, but what are their interests and thinking about the skills they need so Danielle, what would you, what would you say are the, the reasons that high school students, community college students, other undergraduates at the university would want to hear about to consider teaching as a profession to help address the shortage that that maybe all of us that have been doing this a long time aren't saying to them. I think a lot of times, especially folks who come from different backgrounds that would you know engage students with people that maybe don't look like the typical teacher because I know when I go to my classes at coursework there is a certain type that you see it's pretty normal but I think to engage those who maybe don't look like the typical teacher, whether it's a male teacher teacher color whatever that category might be. I think a lot of times, it's being that thing that you needed when you were that age, which is kind of hard to describe in a sense because it's kind of, I think a lot of times done people you know they were taught up by teachers who didn't look like them and sometimes they were like, I don't I don't why do I care to listen to you. But if they had a teacher who maybe it's a boy who he feels like his teacher doesn't get him but if he had a male teacher who could be in that room with him, or some sort of professional who maybe is like a pair or fill the blank or some sort of professional in the fields I think finding that sense of like, you can look like somebody's like they need that somebody's like aid help or guide whether it's the teacher or some sort of support staff so I think representing that to a child is obviously I've been in the field for a while so I haven't got my own bias. I like it a lot but I think representing like the thing is the role model a child needs is important, especially in the day and age where a lot of young people are very negative you know stereotypes to lean into but they sometimes feel like, oh I can't be smart because it goes against the social pressures I feel at like my in my community. So, sometimes a guy of students who they are really good at the subject but sometimes I get the feeling they feel like, oh well, I, but I'm not going to end up doing big with school anyway so I think if they had a role model who's like yeah well I went to school and I was in the community like you like it gives them a sense of like, oh school's cool and staying in it is really even like more worth it so I think the long term benefit of having those faces in the room that look like our students is really monumental so I think that representation of a role model is really important. That's a great answer Danielle and Danielle has also just said she wouldn't go out into the middle of the half time field by herself she bring a whole bunch of different people that look like all of our students and Danielle that is that is a wise wise answer that we should all hear. Ron, I'm going to shift to you and I'm going to rephrase one of the original questions we had here, which was what is the biggest challenge for teacher candidates to overcome to become successful full time teachers but as as an administrator in a school district and Katie and Brian, I really want to hear from you guys on this one next, but what is, what is the things that that are in place that help our new teachers, or our student teachers be most successful as quickly as possible in your experience. The first the first year is always the toughest outside the student teaching experience there's not a whole lot that can really prepare you for taking over classroom. However, when the focus is what's in your classroom is on what's best for kids, you know challenges don't go away, but we're certainly moving in the right direction. I find that when students take priority in the classroom building relationships as much easier and students generally want to be there. And when when your students want to be in your class generally they will be more successful, which makes you in turn a more successful teacher. So it's about relationships it's about more than just content it's it's not about us it's about the kids. Awesome thanks Katie Brian. I think we see from our first year teachers when some of them are coming in. A lot of them have a good understanding of developing student centered lessons, and what that means and what that looks like. So they come in with that knowledge and I think they also come in with a better understanding of the need to diversify some of their lessons to be make sure that they are engaging all students. And minority students included because they've had more, I think some more training in that area than some of our more veteran teachers, because that wasn't something that was as ingrained in the programs. So I would say those are the two biggest things that I notice. I'd echo everything that Katie and Ron just said and I think and I'm thinking back to a conversation that we just had with a new teacher who was feeling a little overwhelmed. To really pinpoint the importance of focusing on relationships with kids. If you know your kids you're then able to identify books that they want to read you're able to support their right and you're able to support their math you know that relationship is so important to that student dynamic or that that's culture in the classroom. And at the same time helping them identify what's kind of the, the extra and like alright here's the core and kind of focus on this and then I asked as you get experience you'll kind of build in the other things but relationships and here's kind of the things to kind of focus to get you going and then you can build up to the other things throughout your experience. So I want to jump in and make a comment first and I'm going to ask a follow up question of the group and the comment I want to make is Katie's comment I think was, was really helpful I hope for our post secondary folks to hear. Because that's maybe a sign of the work being done at the community college and the university level heading in the right direction. More and more in her experience and their experience in 204 more and more of their new teachers come in and are pretty good at designing student centered lessons and learning environments right from, from day one I mean that's, that's a huge shift right there from again to Katie's point. I'm not saying all of us who who were teachers, many years ago originally, but, but it was what we experienced and what certainly those people who were teaching us at that time, experienced themselves as, as pre service teachers. And the, the other thing we've heard from everybody that works in a school district setting right now has talked about the importance of building relationships with students. And unfortunately I don't have it with me, but this, this week Education Week issued a more of a magazine versus it's normal newspaper focus on SEL and teenagers. And one of the themes and there was one specific article but one of the themes throughout it was that it couldn't be artificial. It had to be authentic. And if it wasn't middle school and high school students would see through that immediately and and really reject it. And so, what advice do, would you give both to teachers directly for being authentic and how they build those relationships, or for university leaders, community college leaders and school district leaders for how we help support teachers in doing that authentically Anybody feel free to jump in, but I think that's really a critical question because we've heard how key that is to success for new teachers. I think specifically for new teachers. I think the big thing is for them to understand that nobody expects it to be perfect. And that it's okay to make mistakes. And no matter how long you've done this job that's what happens it's what you do with the mistakes and how you learn from them and how you adjust. This class, I mean, the way you teach something first period is not the way that it ends up being taught eighth period and if you are teaching it the same way then you haven't learned to adjust to your kids. So I think that's the biggest thing is, and I think that's also important that your kids see that you make mistakes, because then they know it's okay to make mistakes as well. The best advice I ever got my first year of teaching was, and I didn't even realize I did it I screwed up something on a map when I was teaching world geography and my department chair happened to be there. And I apologize to the kids that I had messed up and fixed it and just kept going and it was the first thing he said to me when I was finished that do you understand how hard it is for a teacher to admit to kids that they've screwed up. But the amount of respect and credibility you gained by doing that in just 15 minutes. So I think that's always stuck with me so I think that's important. That's great other thoughts on how to support teachers with building those authentic relationships Katie that's a really specific one and yes, we will make mistakes throughout our career every day every year because we're working with with other human beings. I think modeling it as much as we can and making that a priority. I think that's a that's a key component to it. I was going to say that, you know, being with the background of early childhood that relationships are really key in how we teach children and that again I mean this has been brought up and that the way that kids learn from you is really through those interactions you know we know that television is not really going to teach them because it's it's not interacting and kids learn in the context of a relationship and I don't think that changes as we get older. The teachers that we remember most from our school are the ones that seemed seemed to care the most for us now some of the research and some of the research I have done has to look at what are quality programs and a lot of them have to do with how a tuned teachers are. Not everybody is going to be a tuned. So I do think it has to also come in and that we coach people right and but we can only teach them so much about building relationships and how they feel close to students you know or or whether they're able to read their cues those kind of things and you know interest and and some people may get into the job because maybe because they think it's easy, you know and then they realize how challenging it is that it's not as easy as what they thought, but I do think a key part of what we observe and students and we have a disposition system. I'm going to say hey you're not going to make it, but I think it's really important that we say hey we're seeing some struggles here what's going on, and how can we support you so that's what it really is for maybe we need to name it something else you know, but but the key part is making sure that we're going to use early on and that we're coming in and we're we're supporting them because some of the things that Katie and Brian are talking about Ron and is that that is not going to get better if we don't step in and and if we're not monitoring that and and the teachers that we're putting out there is really really important that they are successful right because they're going to speak to the field they're going to spread the word and so if we can help people along the way I think that's going to go a long way and making sure that they can be successful. Someone else was going to jump in too so please go ahead and do that thank you Stacy. If not, I will jump in and say this that I've thought of a few times I will never forget the. I had I had the same teacher for three or four years of social science and I will never forget one day after class chatting. My must have been early in my senior year of high school and there was no way even when I graduated high school that I was going to become a teacher, but clearly what he said embedded itself there. And Mr young blood said you know this is really a great job. And he listed three or four reasons why it's a great job and some of what Stacy just said echoed that that again, one of the things that we need to do and this was Katie's point that were our own. We're not best advocates, a lot of times as educators we want to go about and push our kids out there and have them be in the spotlight and so to solve this. We need to probably do a little bit more of that and maybe that's one thing as as leaders, particularly for those of us that are working as school and district leaders. Excuse me is encouraging our teachers to to be real active about doing that. And some of that happens on Twitter with people posting, you know, really exciting things that they're doing, but by and large they're posting that for other educators. And that's important too so we can learn from each other but that's, that's not necessarily where their students are going to learn from them or where they're their parents of their students are going to say, Oh, this is what's going on. And with that said, what, what are some specific things we can do I mean we heard Danielle kind of lead us there when it comes to the diversity of the teacher candidate pool and that's making sure we're hiring diverse people in our schools to work in a variety of different schools. And, and probably along with that I would add, helping everybody in our school buildings, especially at the building level, think of themselves as an educator, even if they're if they're not in a teaching role, and how they contribute to that so that a student can see those interactions with a para pro a secretary a custodian a nurse can can think of it broadly as as an educational role, and, and see themselves in that light and then we also know we have these needs I mentioned earlier in specific areas. Teachers, special education teachers, particularly for low incidence kinds of needs. All the supported special education staff like school psychologists social workers OTs PTs. And then again you layer bilingualism on top of any of those areas as being critical CTE. What are the things that you either have thought of you're doing in your various programs, or that you want to do. And that you think can help us address those more specific candidate needs with regards to area role as an educator or the diversity of our of our background. I don't have anything necessarily specific as educator numbers as a whole grow and get and get better. I believe a lot of these hard fill areas will also be filled. I don't remember in the past, you know, similar to the education educator shortage in Illinois specific areas that were in dire need before that very, very long with with with large numbers of people entering the field. Those, those various areas specific areas get seem to get filled. You know just with our with our education pathway the the idea is to grow our own and give kids experiences while they're here that will help them choose education as a as a as a field, and then hopefully come back to us. We currently have around 26% of our certified staff are alumni of Rock Falls High School, and to me that you know growing our own and and continuing that I think can can do nothing but benefit us in all areas. And then I want to piggyback on what Ron said I'm a huge believer that experience makes the difference. Students don't know what they don't know. And so, you know, they know kindergarten through 12. Maybe they are not a special education student they don't know what it means to be part of a pullout program or a self contained program and experience even observation experiences and those types of classrooms can be life changing. And I'm also, you know, the impetus has to be on us as well to point that out to our students. You know, you're bilingual student just naturally. Wow, we can use you who doesn't want to be used. I mean, well not use who doesn't want to be wanted. Right. And so I just think those experiences if we can have those for students provide those for students in high school. It's a much clearer path in post secondary post secondary doesn't always have that opportunity. And so I'm a huge believer that the, you know, even if it's for a couple of times in multiple classrooms. You know, the teacher in fourth grade on the right side of the hall teaches differently than the teacher in fourth grade on the left side of the hall so the more experiences we can provide in our pathway in high school, the better it's going to be for our teachers. Yeah, and I think I'm going to as I was listening to, to Janice talk about again how we have to get students outside of our own experiences. I was thinking about part of what Danielle said about how young people are thinking about things about careers that seem flashy or exciting or how much money they're going to make. And I'll never forget that in that conversation I referenced. And that's what the young blood said in that conversation and his wife was a was a teacher also a middle school, world languages teacher. He said, we're not rich, but we're very comfortable. He said I take vacations I have time to do that. I get a coach. You know, during the day is fun and then that's extra fun. I mean so he really, he really sold that. And again I walked out there shaking my head and laughing at him and, you know, two years later was telling my parents Oh by the way I'm going to change my major and I think there's nothing to add. I will never forget that conversation either. They were both teachers and they said no. Why would you want to do that. And so that's someone said that earlier on this call that we are in this in this panel, we do that and and we have to stop doing that. And that alone won't solve our teacher shortage overnight, but it will, it will help get us there. So what are your ideas about solving these specific needs in particular areas or related to the diversity of all of us as educators across the state so we look more like our students are. I'm sorry, go ahead Katie, or go ahead. I'm just going to say, I heard someone say something about value and so when going into the community community and identifying value telling people like you said, wow you're already bilingual did you ever think and then once that conversation starts, talk about maybe why you didn't think and what is that, you know, not to use the word barrier in the conversation but identify the barrier and remove it one way or another, get get those innovative ideas going and in place to then allow those community members that have the value to return to the same space because Danielle just spoke so eloquently about having someone look like you teach you makes all the difference in the world that's step one and establishing that relationship, just in that context and. So I really think finding, I believe that going into the community and doing that reach out at to our young people to our other community workers to our people in the spaces as Danielle said, how can we flip our parents to professional educators how can we flip our, you know, and use those people already in the spaces with so much to give to their school and to their their future, their future their students coming through those spaces. How can we support that those kinds of things I think are going to be the way that we begin to make that change to fill those those needs. I also think that because I work with the CT doesn't look like her students but the way that I think she reaches to them in the very like, in a very like night in a very like motherly way she has her own children but she off like her class and she's values driven so in a lesson she may include lesson about working hard even when it isn't easy like, or if it's regarding, I know we talked about history recently like history is always a subject that tends to bring up some maybe not so positive topics, but having lessons that, you know, may not be like that are that are good here so I think that values during classroom can also play a big role and I see the law with teachers today is that they're not just teaching the child's brain but, you know, their heart and the little human or whichever or bigger demands a great level but of course I think that so even if a teacher is not the same as their student in appearance, having the, you know, the decision to add values into your classroom whatever makes sense for that classroom of course is everyone is different. I think can go a large like leaps and bounds towards so showing them that you care about their future in there and what that becomes. Yeah. Danielle I love that you said that because that's one of the things that we talk about now is that how do we prepare our teachers who don't look like their students meet the needs of those students, because until we have that pipeline of diverse teacher candidates in our spaces we need to be sure that we're preparing our current teachers to meet the needs of the students that they're going to have in their classrooms so I'm happy to hear that you're seeing that being modeled. Brian before we wrap up did you have something you wanted to add. That's hard to follow Danielle I think she said it so nicely that I don't want to steal her space because she talked about it so well and how to support our students who are becoming future educators. Well and it's funny because I was going to ask Danielle at the end to to kind of give us that as a as a parting thought so Danielle thank you for doing that and with that said we're just about a time here and so one thing I want to mention is obviously we've talked about the importance of teacher relationships with students in being important for student success. As I was thinking about it, I think that's important for teacher success also and for teachers to then stay in the profession once in the profession. The other thing that we've touched on is is the idea of mentoring and we've heard and Katie talked about the innovative new is be IFT joint virtual coaching virtual mentoring program that we now have statewide and so Katie thank you for talking about that and as I was thinking about that. I was again thinking earlier about the, the benefits of mentoring not just to the new teacher, but to the experience teacher right, and it keeps us fresh and it requires us to think in new ways, and I want to believe that by being a mentor that's going to be more likely to keep our experienced teachers not only in the profession, but engaged in growing in the profession, and one of our participants sent the message to the chat directly to me, and I think this is relevant to that mentoring conversation, and probably again a good thing for us to remind all of our experience teachers, or anybody working with a student teacher or a student who's observing in a classroom. And the best advice I heard for a mentor of new teachers was to remember that when you are feeling so busy that you don't have time for your mentor, or your mentee that's when your mentee needs you the most. And so I think it's also incumbent on those of us in school district leadership positions think about how we create that time for for everybody to have it when they don't feel like they have it so there's a lot of layers I think of specific things that we can do from going out in our communities, like both the SIU Grow Your Own and the NIU programs are doing in different ways to making people feel wanted for all the skills they already have and bring those into our schools, and and enriching our schools through that and then through all these specific things so I just want to thank all of our panelists you're doing extraordinary work up and down throughout Illinois and thank you all Danielle we wish you the best of luck as a group for everything you represent in solving this teacher shortage and we want to remind everybody we will be posting this on YouTube and we have a few more weeks of fall meetings so please join us for focus on equity and a focus on the career pathways on November 5th and November 12 so thanks again everybody.