Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:00:00]:
Welcome advocates to another episode of the Leading Equity podcast, a podcast that focuses on supporting educators with the tools and resources necessary to ensure equity at their skills. Today's special guest is miss Morgan Michaels. Without further ado, Morgan, thank you so much for joining us today.

Morgane Michael [00:00:17]:
Sheldon, it's a pleasure. I'm so excited to be on this podcast with you. Thank you.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:00:21]:
Let's do it. I'm excited too. We were just chopping it up. You're out in Canada, which I was just telling you. Now I've been thinking about moving north lately. So, but I I know a little bit about you, and I'd love for you to share a little bit about yourself and what you currently do.

Morgane Michael [00:00:35]:
You bet. Yeah. So I'm an educator, and my experience is mostly in early primary, mostly kindergarten. I'm also in leadership, so I do a lot of professional development planning. I'm an author of two books. So I've written From Burnt Out to Fired Up back in 2022 when we didn't even know how burnt out we were gonna be. And then I just followed that up with my newest book, A Blueprint for Belonging, where I really talk about belonging strategies for leadership and for the classroom teacher. I'm also a mom.

Morgane Michael [00:01:03]:
I've got an eight year old and a 10 year old, and I absolutely love education, and I I love having conversations related to supporting educators and leaders.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:01:11]:
Alright. Well, welcome to the show. And, folks, here's a copy of her latest book, A Blueprint for Belonging links in the show notes. Make sure that you get yourself a copy of support. I'm excited for this conversation because as we were talking before we started recording, I actually have a book coming out later on this year as well on sense of belonging, but I'm taking a different approach to it. So I thought your approach to sense of belonging was really interesting. I'm really interested in knowing about it. So for me, I think about sense of belonging from a okay.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:01:42]:
Here's a group, and we want each individual member to feel accepted, supported, and included. That is kinda what we're we're looking at it from from my lens. However, you have something that I didn't think about. Probably should have put in the book, but at this point, it's all good because I think your blueprint is gonna be really good and helpful as well. But you talk about the importance of being self, like, the importance of sense of self, and I wanted to see if we could start there. What did you mean by that?

Morgane Michael [00:02:11]:
Yeah. So before I wrote a blueprint for belonging, I did a lot of thinking around how is it that we feel settled as educators or leaders. And a lot of the work that we do can lead us to feeling sort of like we're alone and like we're sort of out to pasture. We don't know what we're doing, or maybe we do know what we're doing, but we've lost our way or we've lost our energy. And a lot of that ends up trickling into burnout or burnout type behaviors. And so we might end up feeling like we have a sense of dread kinda waking up in the morning, or we don't feel like we wanna be doing this career anymore. I know so many educators who get to that threshold where they're really questioning their that livelihood, like, to be a teacher, and they forget the reason that they first got into education in the first place. So most of us probably didn't get into it for the money.

Morgane Michael [00:02:59]:
We got into it because we wanted to make a difference. We wanted to be the teacher that we never had. We want to be the educator that maybe made a tremendous difference in our lives. Most of us have these really beautiful reasons that we wanna serve the community. So a lot of the work that I do around belonging starts with us first because I really believe that in order and I use this metaphor in my book, a blueprint for belonging. I use this idea of building something. We build the culture in a school. We build this beautiful family like dynamic with our students in our classroom, with our parents, that trust, all of this stuff.

Morgane Michael [00:03:33]:
But we can't get there if we don't have a deep sense of who we are first, and that we are deeply entrenched in terms of our values and what matters to us, and the way that we stand our own two feet when we are feeling like we're overwhelmed with decision making or when planning is a lot or when we maybe feel like our ideas are vastly different from our community, but we know that we are bound by integrity. And so A Blueprint for Belonging is kinda born from the first book, which is about how do we overcome this sense of burnout or that loneliness. And I can go on, but that's that's essentially that foundational aspect to get to that broader, bigger strength and and the building of community. We first have to start with ourselves.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:04:14]:
Start with ourselves. So there's that term, you can't pour from an empty cup. Mhmm. And so if we're saying, look. I want to create a sense of belonging for this community that I'm serving. I can't do that from a an empty cup. Does this mean that I need to be doing, I don't know, some self care stuff or are there some like what tell me a little bit more as far as what are some things that I need to be doing in order to make sure that I'm good to go in order to lead these chain strategies?

Morgane Michael [00:04:40]:
K. This is seriously my favorite topic. So Okay. There are five small pillars that I can just well, they're big pillars, but I'll go through them fairly quickly just for time. So five pillars really to get to a sense where we are pouring back into ourselves. Sometimes self care gets a bad rap. It's not just about bubble baths. It's really about figuring out who in the world we are.

Morgane Michael [00:05:01]:
And so the first piece is about reflecting. So five r's, reflect. Who are we? What motivates us? And when we check-in during our day, because most of us probably go through our day if we're in busy buildings, we put ourselves on the back burner. We are not taking restroom breaks. We are not taking our water breaks. We're not eating properly. So that's the first piece is reflecting on where we're at. The next piece is about reframing.

Morgane Michael [00:05:25]:
So reframing unhelpful narratives. All of us tell stories. We have about 50,000 to 65,000 thoughts that course through our heads every day. We get to decide not our reactions or not necessarily our initial thoughts, but we do get to create a space between the stimulus and that response. And in doing so, we get a lot more control, and that's where that resiliency is built. And then we get to refocus. So refocusing is on how do we create goals that matter, that are aligned with our values. And so refocusing really invites us to dig down what matters to me, what am I about, and how can I propel this forward in my classroom or through my leadership? Four is about reconnecting.

Morgane Michael [00:06:07]:
The number one determinant of our well-being as human beings is our social connections. And so if we can really actively prioritize our work colleagues, our the way that we interact with our students, the way that we interact with our families and the people that are important to us, our friends, that that can pour back into who we are. And then the fifth one, and this is kind of the unusual one, that a lot of people are like, what? What does this have to do with self care? But creativity. I really believe that our most human element or our most human expression is our ability to be creative, and I'm not talking like a r t art. Like, I'm talking, how do you say hello to people? Are you intentional with the way that you maybe try a new recipe? The way that you take a new route to school because you wanna shake things up. So those are essentially the five pillars. And from there, then we can create this beautiful robust community.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:07:02]:
Now are these consent, like, in order? Like, first step is reflect and then I end with creativity, or do they go in different orders?

Morgane Michael [00:07:09]:
Yeah. It's kind of a choose your own adventure. I usually, when I do workshops and seminars, I do a lot of keynotes for people all over North America, And I usually start in a linear sequential fashion because most of us like to learn that way. But my book is really something that you can crack open in the middle and go, does this serve me or not? The other thing as an educator too is that there's nothing more annoying to me, and probably you're the same, than going to a professional development seminar and coming out and being like, well, that was interesting, and there was a lot of good theory, but I got nothing that I can use on Monday. This book and blueprint for belonging has actionable toolbox strategies that you can open, you can use. There's instructions on how to do it, whether it's journaling exercises, whether it's actual classroom activities, and it just it's very clear. So, yeah.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:07:57]:
Okay. You seem very passionate about sense of belonging. Mhmm. What's the backstory? Was there a time for you that like, what brought you to wanting to not only maybe do the research, but also be able to provide information and a blueprint for other individuals.

Morgane Michael [00:08:12]:
Thank you for asking this. I have I mean, we all have big stories, but I think the thing that primarily made me wanna be a teacher is two things. One, I was born in France, and I didn't speak English when I came to Canada. And I moved from this rural small town in France when I was four and a half years old, flew over to Canada with my family, and I didn't speak any English at all. And it was this rural little island of about 5,000 people, and they didn't speak any French. And so there was sort of a misunderstanding with, you know, kind of that adjustment period that any student who doesn't know the language kinda has to go through. And talking about these narratives that we create, I got to second grade. And at this point, my ELL teachers had had gotten me to a place where I felt fairly competent in English.

Morgane Michael [00:08:59]:
And I made up the story in my head, and it's this is the crux of belonging, is if we aren't really helped with that, we will create all sorts of maladaptive stories that prevent us from being part of the group, or prevent us from belonging to ourselves. So I told myself the story that French was the reason that I didn't belong, and I needed to denounce myself or denounce French from my life. I stopped speaking French at the age of eight completely. I said, I'm not gonna be part of that. And I think a lot of people will remove themselves from their cultures or feel like they need to assimilate in order to be part of the group. And I remember that feeling of loneliness and and feeling like I needed a reason to attribute to that feeling. And so I I sort of blamed French. Full circle, I ended up being a teacher.

Morgane Michael [00:09:45]:
And at the beginning of my career about just about twenty years ago, there weren't jobs. And I live in Canada, and the second language is actually French. And, of course, where were the jobs but French immersion? So full circle, at about, you know, 23 years old, I became a French immersion teacher, and I taught French immersion for about ten years. So I think in many ways, life kinda handed me these cards, and it taught me that, actually, that very thing that I had rejected as part of my identity became a lifeline in many ways. So that's one of the reasons. And I have more, and I speak to, a beloved teacher, mister Graham, who made a huge impact on my life when I was struggling through some identity things. My home life was not ideal when I was younger and and going through school, and so he was a a really huge part of creating community and belonging for me. And we remained friends after high school, and he was just a very, very dear friend.

Morgane Michael [00:10:40]:
And and so that's also a piece as well as having that amazing inspiration in terms of teachers too.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:10:46]:
So your own purse thank you for sharing, by the way. Mhmm. Your own personal story starting off with you said moving to Canada at the age of four, going to a a I I don't know, identity where it's like French is not something I wanna hold on to. I'm gonna go with what everything else is so I can fit in. But then full circle, you ended up coming back to French, and that was something that was important to you or still is important to you. Thank you. That that that makes a lot of sense, and it's got me thinking because a conversation when it comes to sense of belonging, assimilation does pop up a lot. Mhmm.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:11:24]:
If I'm thinking about it from a self regulation, because we're talking about ourselves starting this off, How important is it to consider assimilation when it comes to regulating ourselves? Because if we're trying to create a sense of belonging, are we looking to change culture or are we looking to assimilate to a certain culture? I I guess that's the question I'm trying to ask.

Morgane Michael [00:11:46]:
Sheldon, this is so big, and I grapple with this a lot. I really do. This is a really interesting question because I think when we we hear that word assimilation

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:11:55]:
Mhmm.

Morgane Michael [00:11:55]:
Of course, we don't want that. We wanna maintain your own integrity. You wanna have your own cultural values. You want to hang on to that. And this is something that I didn't write a lot about in the book, but this is sort of what I believe, that we need to have the capacity to be fluid in different environments. And in order to do that, we need to be able to wear different hats. So I say this to my own children. I say this to my students in my classroom or to the people that I'm coaching.

Morgane Michael [00:12:23]:
I'll say, sometimes we wear, like, if you think about it, drill it down to really basic. We won't wear the same hat, meaning we're not gonna speak the same way. We're not necessarily gonna dress the same way in front of our grandparents versus our eighth grade friends. It's a very different clientele. And while you can maintain that essence of who you are, deep down, that doesn't change. Sometimes the world requires us to wear different hats at different times. And if I can think about it that way, it feels less like assimilation, and it feels more like broadening our language, broadening our capacity for being fluid with the ability to maintain our integrity through it. As parents, as teachers, we give our students the most tools because the world kinda sees things as particular ways.

Morgane Michael [00:13:05]:
So we are able to have certain tools at our fingertips if we have that broad perspective versus narrowing the perspective and saying, I only wear one hat, and that is the only way that I can navigate through the world. I'm not sure if it's the right way. What it does is it creates opportunities and choice. And if we can choose, then we could choose to wear one particular hat in any given circumstance, but that's a choice. It's not a default, and it it's with intention, if that makes sense.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:13:32]:
I'm with you. I'm with you. Okay. So it makes sense. So I've had conversations with individuals because, again, center centering around sense of belonging. And there's that conversations like, well, here's a student. This is a home life upbringing that they have. They want to be able to do whatever they do at home.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:13:51]:
They wanna be able to do that in the hallways and that school, and that doesn't always line up with the overarching school culture. But then we're saying, well, since belonging Yep. They should be able to be themselves.

Morgane Michael [00:14:04]:
Uh-huh.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:14:05]:
And so I remember having conversations with a I remember a very I had a conversation with a assistant principal one time, and his his thing was, for example, a lot of his students listen to rap music at home Mhmm. And they they playing it in the hallways, they're playing it in the classrooms, and they're singing the song. They're sharing it singing the lyrics, and they wanna be able to use that language in school. Mhmm. And his thing was there's a time and a place. Right. Said you you can do what you wanna do. However, you also need to be prepared for whatever happens afterwards.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:14:38]:
So there's ultimately a time and a place. So some of the things I just heard you say was kinda seemed a little similar to the idea of, yes. Yes. We want you to be yourself no matter your background, identity, language, customs, traditions. Yeah. However, you have to be able to navigate

Morgane Michael [00:14:54]:
And I don't know if I have the answers. Like, I really don't. We're all navigating it. But what's clear is creating a sense of intention

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:15:01]:
Mhmm.

Morgane Michael [00:15:01]:
Understanding that every behavior is a choice. And if you choose to listen to rap music, then what that's that's ultimately a choice that you have. However, there are certain individuals who may interpret that a particular way and may have a particular response to that. This goes for anything. We have students in our building, for example, and this is maybe controversial for some audiences. I don't know. But some students who are born male, for example, and they might come to school wearing a dress or

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:15:30]:
Right.

Morgane Michael [00:15:30]:
Different clothing, for example, that you wouldn't necessarily expect that particular gender to wear. Whatever that looks like for you, that is essentially gonna signal certain things to certain people. It's just a queuing thing. And so but we remove judgment and we remove, our personal interpretation of that. The bottom line is is that we signal to other people different things through our nonverbal behavior, our words, the physical expressions that we have on our face, and whether you have any particular opinion about that. Certain people will view that a certain way, and that is ultimately something that is helpful to know when we are walking through this world so that if that is where we are at in terms of self expression, then we are prepared for what some segments or sectors in this population or this world may throw at us as a response. And just understanding that is half of it. I tell my daughter, for example, when you have, like, a resting bothered face or you look at your friends, you have two ways that you can interact with them as a 10 year old.

Morgane Michael [00:16:40]:
You can greet them in the morning, look them in the eye for for two seconds, give them a smile, and then that's it, or just say a quick hello with an open palm, and that signals openness. That signals, I wanna start this conversation. Another way that you might choose to do that is to look down, is to not initiate conversation, is to kind of have a physical wall up between you two, and that's gonna signal an entirely different vibe from you. And then your friend or your table partner is gonna then respond in turn with whatever you're kind of putting back. We have this and this is something I talk about in the book. We have this vulnerability cycle that that signals trust. And so much of what happens in the world is sort of a response to our cues that we put out there, and we adjust to each other, and a lot of that is nonverbal. So some of the ways that we present, if we're if we're open face, we're opening ourselves as much as we can to the world, that is going to signal that we are an open sort of safe person in the world, and then we will have some of that response coming back to us.

Morgane Michael [00:17:43]:
So it it can be so tricky. I don't think there's a line. I don't think this is necessarily science. The work that that I do with people is just being aware. So like with my daughter, just be aware that if you choose not to be intentional about the way that you're greeting people in the morning, you may have an interesting response from people. They may think or they may jump to conclusions based on their own perception of who they are and how they navigate through the world, then maybe you don't like them or what I mean. So it's so tricky, but a lot of that is intentionality.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:18:11]:
So does that mean that it impacts their sense of belonging if we're not okay. Because there's a lot there. I I

Morgane Michael [00:18:18]:
There's so much. There's so much. Unpack.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:18:21]:
And and shout out to you. And when you said resting bothered phase, I I almost started laughing because I never heard it referred to me that way. I've heard it referred other ways. Yes. This is the

Morgane Michael [00:18:35]:
p this is the PC, seminar version. Yeah.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:18:38]:
This is the g rated. This is g rated. Okay. Alright. But, yeah, you talk to your 10 year old. You probably yeah. That's probably how you're gonna you're framing it. Mhmm.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:18:47]:
One piece that I that sticks stands out what I heard you say was talking about the nonverbal approval. Mhmm. So sometimes when we think about how student is navigating a school and we think about, oh, well, is this accepting? Is are we embracing or are we acknowledging this person or validating this individual's identity? I just call identity, whatever that looks like. But there's those cues that we might be doing unintentionally Yep. That is creating or or or not enhancing the sense of belonging that we're striving for. So we might say, well, I I I don't have a problem with how this individual comes to school, however to dress or whatever they got going on. I don't that doesn't bother me. I don't care.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:19:30]:
However, were your arms crossed when you saw? Did you did you make a scowl on your face when you initially saw them? Did that student receive the message that they really am that they really are welcomed within the school when you when they walked in, or did you provide some sort of nonverbal cues that showed your disapproval? So maybe you didn't say anything, but your actions spoke something else.

Morgane Michael [00:19:54]:
Exactly. And I think that's the piece that if we can teach our students and we can teach our colleagues, we can teach our leaders just a little bit about that nonverbal, like you said, the recognition. And some of that is really simple. It can be in the head nod. It can be in instead of crossing your arms or in a parent teacher, potentially conflictual conversation. Maybe you have a student who's done something wrong. You've asked the parents to come in if you're a leader or or a teacher. Maybe don't put a table in between you.

Morgane Michael [00:20:22]:
It signals separation. It signals conflict. The only time that we are, really face to face like that is if we're going to kiss, actually, is what the research says, or we're gonna have a fight. And so when you're toe to toe with someone face to face like that, those are sort of the two circumstances. So it already just there, the room setup can create a sense of animosity. So instead, what about tilting yourself to a 45 degree angle and kinda being on the corner of that table instead? That creates a whole other dynamic. I've coached leaders to say, for some of those one on one meetings that can be tricky with other educators, why don't you go for a walk? And being shoulder to shoulder with someone can be a lot easier to have those difficult conversations versus face to face. Just simple cues like that can make a tremendous difference on how comfortable someone feels.

Morgane Michael [00:21:11]:
And when someone feels like you genuinely care about them, the and this is the this is the matrix of trust. Right? The three things. You genuinely care about them and you want you have their best interest in mind. So that's benevolence. The second one is competence. So you build trust by truly showing up for your students, truly showing up for your staff. And then the third piece is integrity. Do you say what you mean, and do you do what you say? And those three things can create a sense of trust.

Morgane Michael [00:21:37]:
And when somebody trusts you, a lot can get done. Like, some amazing things can happen. And there can be a lot of flex and flow, but trust is that key to building belonging. And you can't really build trust with people if you don't know yourself. First, you kinda need to know what you're about. But after that, if people trust you, they'll come on the journey. They'll get enrolled with you. If you can get to a place where everyone on the team, whether that's students, educators, parents, are kind of headed in the same a to b direction, then, really, that that's where the great stuff happens.

Morgane Michael [00:22:10]:
Right? We're all aligned in the same direction.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:22:13]:
I love this. I love this. Okay. Okay. One of the things that you said that that really stood out to me in that response was the idea of sometimes as as principles, we got some difficult conversations to have with staff.

Morgane Michael [00:22:25]:
You bet.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:22:26]:
And typically, we send them to my office, and so they sit down and they're in that space. You close the door. And so sometimes a staff member might already be in defense mode or they're already kinda uneasy because, oh, no. The principal wants me. What do they want? I like the idea of taking a

Morgane Michael [00:22:42]:
walk. Mhmm.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:22:43]:
Hey. Can I you got five minutes? Let me go chat. Can we chat? And then taking a walk, like you said, side by side might present a or lessen the load or barriers that might be or walls that a staff member might put up because they are afraid that they might be in trouble. Mhmm. Are there some other benefits to the relationship?

Morgane Michael [00:23:03]:
It really depends on what your leadership style is. Right? Mhmm. I think at the end of the day, if you're strong arming, you know, your leadership through hierarchy and status, you're gonna come up with some problems because people are maybe gonna see that signal and go, I have a natural propensity to wanna fight against that, or I'm not great with, authority roles. So I would argue that probably coming alongside people is gonna be your best bet for for having behavioral change anyway. But if you choose to be the kind of leader who is very top down and hierarchical, yeah, maybe it does put a little wrench in in the plans. I mean, at the end of the day, it's not a democracy, and most leadership isn't, and it shouldn't be because sometimes you have to make decisions and you have to say no. If you can do it from a place where people understand and I've worked for many different leaders, And I've, you know, I've had to guide teams too. And if you can get to a place where people will accept the fact that you say no because they know that you have integrity and you're not making some deal for somebody over here, they'll go, you know what? Yeah.

Morgane Michael [00:24:02]:
She said no or he said no to this or or he's he's making this call, and I don't agree with it, but I respect them. I think that's where you wanna get to. And there might be bumps in the road. And I think if somebody's not ready to talk, pressing pause and going, I think we need to revisit this, you know, feel free to write some things out. Write me an email. Tell me where you're at, and then we can revisit. Like, giving it time is important. People get into a sense of fight or flight, and that's an ugly place to be.

Morgane Michael [00:24:28]:
You can't have a conversation with someone when they are lashing out or they're feeling like they're they they maybe have some negative feelings that has them in that cycle of hiding or or wanting to blame or just pause, freeze, get can't get their words out. You wanna let people get to a place where they can really process. The other piece that that's about especially when it comes to parents is and this really goes for anybody sitting in front of you, but you wanna signal three things. You wanna say, first of all, I like you on a basic level. I like who you are. I like what you're about. Like, at least, and not sandwich it in a really cheesy way, but through your vibe. Like, be able to communicate that you care for this person and that they're valuable to your team.

Morgane Michael [00:25:08]:
The second piece is not sugarcoating. This is the challenge I'm seeing and checking in. Does that sound right to you? Are you seeing the same thing, or what's the biggest challenge for you here? And then the next piece is let's create a plan. We're noticing this specific thing is not going well. Maybe classroom management's a disaster. You're getting your report cards in late every day or every every semester. And sort of targeting that specifically without sugarcoating it, and then getting to the plan and trying to get there together, saying, let's let's think about some solutions. I have these things in mind.

Morgane Michael [00:25:37]:
Maybe you can think about some things. How does that fit for you? And and being able to check-in like that. Saying also what's the biggest challenge for you, listening deeply. It might be a time constraint, a resource constraint, maybe they have conflict. And if you can sit and just be present while they express some of that, that's half of it. Most of us just wanna be validated. You know? We wanna have somebody sit there and go, I get it. It's hard.

Morgane Michael [00:26:01]:
Still not acceptable, and here's how we move forward. That's what I'd suggest.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:26:05]:
Alright. I love it. I love it. Alright. So, folks, definitely get yourself a copy of the book, A Blueprint for Belonging, Building a School Culture from the Ground Up. I think that this is, something that that must be read, especially now would you recommend this just for our school leaders or what's the I guess, who was the intended art audience for the book?

Morgane Michael [00:26:25]:
I'm so glad you asked that. Okay. So I wrote this in my with two two audience types in mind. So first was the educator who says, okay. I read your first book, but now I wanna translate a lot of these things to my classroom. So in each chapter, I have a toolbox specifically for classroom teachers, and then I have a toolbox specifically for educational leaders. So how do you create the sense of belonging in terms of, like, literally, like morning meeting scripts? Here are some ways to create activities around kindness, around building a sense of belonging in a really tangible, actionable way that you can implement on Monday. And then for the leader, how can you run meetings more effectively and more in a such a way that you can create a sense of belonging? How do you support your staff throughout the year so that they feel like they're part of something? How do you manage the parents and and the other stakeholders when you feel like you're kind of a middle manager sometimes? And so it's a there are probably I don't even know, probably over 30 toolbox strategies for both groups.

Morgane Michael [00:27:24]:
Just very action packed and and a lot of tangible strategies.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:27:27]:
Love it. Alright. Well, I'll tell you what. I've learned a lot, and I enjoyed the conversation about sense of belonging. Like I said, we took a different angle than what I've been researching, so I I found yours very refreshing, and I'm excited to dig into the book. But I'd love for you to share one final word of advice to our listeners out there.

Morgane Michael [00:27:43]:
Oh, thank you. We need to simplify to amplify. With this current world, the way that it is, we are bombarded by information, strategies, looking at bigger, better deal over here on Instagram, who's doing better bulletin boards on Pinterest. We need to get down to brass tacks. What matters in education are those people in front of us. We show up with a caring, benevolent spirit, and we do our very best every day to push forward the learning in the way that we know is best practice. Comparing is not gonna help us. We need to create and carve out time for ourselves so that we can replenish in order to be that very present educator or leader.

Morgane Michael [00:28:25]:
And in doing so, that's how we compound learning and connection and ultimately get to that place of belonging. So I'd say that's that's my advice for people.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:28:34]:
Alright. Ultimately, get to that place of belonging. Mhmm. If we have some folks that wanna connect with you, what's the best way to reach you online?

Morgane Michael [00:28:40]:
Yes. Thanks for this. So morganemichael.com, m 0 r g a n e m I c h a e l, is my website, and I have everything there, including links to the books, speaking, all sorts of things, and I always love to hear from people, so feel free to email me.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:28:55]:
Morgan, it's been a pleasure. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Morgane Michael [00:28:59]:
Sheldon, this was so much fun. Thank you for the conversation, and some of those great questions.

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