Seizing the Day with Energizing Routines and Empowering Youth

Get ready to redefine your approach to physical health and discover the power of consistent action and movement. Join me as I share the morning routine that leaves me feeling energized and ready for the day, along with a heartening encounter that underscores the importance of dedication. Learn how we can take inspiration from the philosophy that our bodies, like airplanes, are not built for rest but for action, and how rust sets in when we stop moving. 

Venture with me into the vibrant world of teaching as I recount the electrifying opening day at a school often overlooked. Feel the joy and calm amongst students ready to learn, and join the empowering conversation about academic expectations for the year. Be part of the thrilling endeavor to create a school podcast network, as we unveil the plans to teach students about podcast production, and inspire them to have their voices heard. Tune in and catch a glimpse of the journey, as we inspire the next generation of podcasters.

Chapters

• 0:00 The Importance of Prioritizing Health
• 7:55 An Amazing First Day of School
• 19:26 Building a School Podcast Network

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

When they see me. They know that every day, when I'm breathing, it's for us to go farther. You know, every time I speak, I want the truth to come out. You know I'm saying every time I speak I want to shiver. You know I don't want them to be like. They know what I'm gonna say because it's polite. They know what I'm gonna say and even if I get in trouble, you know I'm saying that. Ain't that what we're supposed to do? It's. I'm not saying I'm gonna rule the world or I'm gonna change the world, but I guarantee that I will spark the brain that will change the world. And that's our job. It's to spark somebody else watching us. We might not be the ones, but let's not be selfish. And because we're not gonna change the world, let's not talk about how we should change it. I don't know how to change it, but I know, if I keep talking about how dirty it is out here, somebody gonna clean it up. And now he's been promoted his job principal.

Speaker 1: 0:55

Good morning Good morning, good morning.

Speaker 2: 0:57

We change your principle. It is September 8th 2023 and it is 5 39 in the morning, 5 39 in the morning, and I've been told by several people that I am Crazy for Getting up every morning this early. And not only that put my workout in. So today I decided not to go for a walk or run, go to the gym.

Speaker 2: 1:29

I got up and just pulled out my yoga mat and decide today, this morning would be a ball about push-ups and I don't do I don't do it a lot, any crazy number of push-ups, I just do and nothing at the body moving, so that I can stop my day the right way. So I think this morning I did I Told of 120 push-ups. So I do 30 regular, 30 wide, 30 military and 30 diamonds and I do it and sequence with in between 50, 60s on crunches. Then I then followed by some level stretch. So this morning I felt I need to really stretch my lower back. So it was push-ups, crunches, low back stretch, then same thing until I hit hundred, 120 push-ups. So, um, does it for this morning. I feel good.

Speaker 2: 2:27

Quick story yesterday I went to the, to the bodega across the street from my school. For those of you who are not in New York City, bodega in California called the liquor store, so I was looking at it's like the corner store, no, so I'm running there and the gentleman who works in there I think he's he might be one of the owners really, really awesome dude. There's them. I see him give him a pound. We have a conversation. So yesterday I walked in here about 6, 30 in the evening. Didn't even work and he did to me no actually I looked at him.

Speaker 2: 2:57

I was like so how you feel? And he's like tired, you know about, you know like I'm tired to be a long day. So he asked me so what time you give in morning? I said usually about 4, 4, 30. He was out, wow, you know, after going then then he asked me what, how long does he get to work? And I said roughly about 30, 40 minutes, you know been, depending on traffic. He was like so why do you get up so early? And I said I have to work out, I have to work. I was not in a question and he said, wow, he told me I don't have enough, I don't have enough time to do that. And I was like Then we talked about his day and we have roughly the same type of day and I was like you know, just, yeah, you just got committed at one thing.

Speaker 2: 3:40

I told him you know, I'm 40, I'm 47, so this is what keeps me moving forward. He said to me no, you're not 47. And this is the first time I've had another man to come in and in shock and awe, and said you know, you're not 47. And I and I was like you know, maybe he was just, you know he was just, maybe he was just blown smoke, but, um, they felt good because I know that um Followed this lot men out there, any women out there that are my age bracket, who don't feel good.

Speaker 2: 4:12

They're in that grind, that daily grind of like getting up, going to work. You know, just gonna be more than just win enough times. You just get the coffee shower, get dressed, jumping traffic, go to work, sit down all day, minimal movements, if this, and Sure body sore knees, 18 backs, and they do this every day. And they get home and it's like rinse repeat, wash, rinse. It's like wash, rinse, repeat. And it breaks my heart because I know what I know that pain when your body is just not optimal and I'm not saying my body's optimal right now and by any means, but I do know that the little that I do. You know I have this motto no days off, whether it's going for a walk, for a jog, stretching, this, something has happened every single day because this, this, this machine called our bodies. It was not built for rest. You know, rest was created to rejuvenate the body, so the body could work, not just be the resting motion.

Speaker 2: 5:21

There's a saying that they say, there's a saying that goes the most dangerous time for airplane is when it's on a runway and sounds kind of crazy. Right, a plane on a runway is in danger. Yeah, because it's built to fly. All the little mechanisms, all the little machines, all the little, you know, widgets or whatever is in the plane, the engine, the fuel lines and everything else are meant to be running. So if it sits for a little too long, rust sets in, pipes start to deteriorate, things start to get stuck. So when you try to, then, then when you take off, guess what? One little screw can take down the whole entire plane. One little rusted screw can take down the whole entire airplane. So the same thing with our bodies. If we don't take care of our bodies by moving, then we're just speeding the timeline towards our demise.

Speaker 2: 6:26

My grandfather lived to 116, my maternal grandfather lived to 116 years old, and the story was that up until the last few years you know we're talking about like last two, three years of his life he walked almost three miles every day to go sit with his best friend, who was also another man over a hundred years, and by that time my grandfather was blind. So one of his great-grand children, whoever would walk with him, you know, hold his hand and walk with him three miles. And it's funny because you would think, why would this man well, over a hundred, there's over 110 me walking three miles every day just to go sit down and talk with his friend? And of course, the mind, you know, being active like that and conversation is a great thing. The heart, you know, being amongst friends and loved ones is always good for the body. But that three mile walk kept his airplane, you know, in tip-top condition. You know, when he passed away, he passed away in a sleep, peacefully, there was no trauma, there was no drama, it was just, you know, lived across three centuries the 1800s, the 1900s and 2000s. So I say all that to say you got to get up and move, you got to prioritize your health, especially school leaders. Too many of us are unhealthy because we are living in a very stressful space continuously and I'm not I'm not, you know, immune from it.

Speaker 2: 7:55

Yesterday, by the time I got home, it was 7.30. And I think I had, maybe about an hour before I pulled out the laptop and had to go through some emails and a bunch of other stuff that just had to be done. So I understand it. But I didn't hit the pillow till about right before midnight, but four o'clock I was up. I'm sorry I'm at 4.30.

Speaker 2: 8:20

I was up and then at 4.30, I went to my morning rituals and, you know, brush my teeth, brush my face. You know, did my reading Just right now I'm reading scripture, you know, just trying to get my mind right. And then I got to my exercise. The exercise is like it's the cake, it's the meat, you know, because again, this body, this airplane, has to be in motion. It's not. This is not even what I want to talk to you about, this one, but I just moved to make sure I put that out there. Let me do my little time check, okay. So yesterday was the first day of school and I got to tell you 19 seasons, 19, 18 seasons I had once I had one season, no, I could know nothing that back. So I have two seasons where I wasn't there for the first day of school, you know.

Speaker 2: 9:19

But, um, but over the course of 19 years in education, 17 school year openings, um, this had to be the best one, for sure, without a doubt. And what made the best ones? Because I love beating spaces where people don't expect much when people, um are not believers. And and this is a school that is an amazing, amazing community, amazing kids, amazing Families, just the energy in the streets. You know like it's.

Speaker 2: 10:03

I'm a hook kid, so grown up in in South Central LA and grew up in in New York, california. Grown up in, you know in, you know in the streets of Kanun in West Africa, all these places I've always been the spaces where it was super urban and you can say these were not the most affluent communities and by any means at all, and there's always this energy community and just survival and do what you gotta do to hustle. So I love these spaces. And here's a school that took over me, first that, um, I Mean people, happy, but written off, had written off and From May 1st, my first day as officially as a principal, in dramatic thing, of the school and Closing out the school year.

Speaker 2: 10:55

And then yesterday, start off, you know, kicking off the school year, and I did something that, um, I've done before, but this year was super intentional. What I did this year was that I said I have an amazing team. I have an amazing team, amazing squad, teachers, leaders, aspiring leaders and I'm going to empower them To put the interaction, what they know they can do and in some cases, what they did know they can do. So I'm, you know, delegating, you know responsibilities, mapping things out, last week, over the past, over the past three weeks, and Point to people, you know, becoming a motivator, becoming the facilitator of leadership. But in a day, I know what, what everything's happened. I know how it should be. I've set my expectations, but I let my, I let my leaders step up. You know, if I'm going to be the general, I gotta let my kernels, my captains, my lieutenants, you know my squad leaders, my platoon leaders, you know, I know. But my military talk and the plus, I'm wearing my, my, you know, military green this morning back, I let them lead and Yesterday, from the moment, is walking through the building Into the cafeteria or shooting to into the auditorium, you know, put into their classes. You know mean their teachers, who's getting your schedules, and my assistant principal welcome, welcoming them and Speaking to them. You know I was fortunate, my, my superintendent stopped by the right time. He was introduced, he spoke to them and this space I'm standing, I'm standing the cut, I'm standing the corner watching all this.

Speaker 2: 12:40

I'm smiling, I'm telling from ear to ear. I see my seed mill schoolers, my eighth graders, in the middle, in the middle middle seating. You know the orchestra seed seating in the middle in their black Polos with a school logo. Then I looked to my, to my right, you know all my seventh graders in their great polos with their the school logo. Then I looked to my left, my sixth graders in the Navy blue. I'm looking at, I'm looking at all this.

Speaker 2: 13:09

Every kid is Out, not every kid, but I would say 90% of kids in their uniforms, with kekie pants, the polo shirts. You know some kids, of course, you know when they were getting from shirts, but they received it. They was putting a uniform, shorts and every shirt on everybody sitting there and there was a sense of calm. You know, of course this is still most words. They're talking to each other, they're laughing, everything else. There's a sense of joy. There's definitely not sense. There's joy in the space, but there's also a sense of calm, you know, and and there's this also, sense of this is who we are. You, this is who we are as a community. This is the community.

Speaker 2: 13:48

And by the time I got up to do to kick off my town hall and speak to the students. Tonight I think I stood there for a good hour, toads down all toasts and toasts down engaging. The students are talking to me about our community expectations, our instructional expectations. We're the plan for the year, the role and honor of our Regents for all program Preparing, our letting them know that we're not just preparing them for for college and career readiness. No, you know, that is without say. But our implicit mission, that's very clear, is high school readiness. Having that conversation and talking to them and seeing kids' eyes open up, and some of them were nervous, some of them were excited, some, all these things, you know, because everything was grounded in academic endeavors, the academic mission, the academic focus, but then, you know, padded with the supports, social-emotional, academic interventions, all these different things. We talked about this and then, for the first time, I can tell you, ever in my career, I had seven visitors, people, seven people who came from the district, who came in, and every time I saw them I was excited because I was like, please come see. You know, carry, carry, carry what you see here and let the world know what we're doing here. You know, and by the time we started moving the kids upstairs, kids were in line to get upstairs. They got upstairs, went into the classrooms. You know the flow in the hallways, you know every.

Speaker 2: 15:22

I know people might say, yeah, this is just day one, but trust me, I've had 17 day ones and this was different. This was different. You know, and again I'm gonna say this, it wasn't me. All I did was I had a vision and I had a foresight of what I wanted to see, of what I believe was gonna happen. But, however, I have to say the right people are on the bus. You know, from teachers, teacher leaders, administration, support staff there's energy in there. That is very clearly that we are on the bus together. Listen, is everybody on that bus fully? Some people might be hanging out the window a little bit, some people are hanging on the back of the bus.

Speaker 2: 16:18

You know, not quite sure, but regardless, yesterday was an amazing day and further evidence by the people who have been in that building for a number of years, people who have been in this educational field for decades, who are saying to me members of my staff, people from other schools in the building, saying we see what you're doing, we see y'all, we've heard. People are saying like, wow, that was something I've never seen in my multi-decade career and y'all, this is just day one. This is just day one, and the thing about that is the way we sustain this is by understanding one thing what happened yesterday was more about the adults in the space and less about student behavior. You notice, this is the first time I've used the word behavior throughout this whole entire description of yesterday and I do a behavior I had everything to do with the fact that the vast majority of the adults in the space has set aside this thing. That is the bait of my existence soft bigotry, when we set the bar so low that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, versus saying the bar so high that it becomes an excellent accomplishment. Yesterday was an excellent accomplishment and will continue to do so, because I will lead my team, I will be their Pipe Piper, I will be their champion, their divorce and the wilderness screaming to everyone here in this school, we believe that our kids, our students, our scholars are excellent. They may not be perfect, but they are excellent.

Speaker 2: 18:35

So now it's 5.57. I'm going to go jump in a shower, get dressed, try to get to school Now. I have to get to school by 7. I have a 7.30 meeting and also drum rolls, please. I have a class at 8 o'clock.

Speaker 2: 18:55

Yes, your boys teaching a class this year. I actually love teaching classes. I haven't taught a class since the pandemic the year we were virtual and that's way too long. So what am I teaching this year? I'm teaching eighth graders, and what is the subject area? Mixed media. And what is the particular topic in mixed media? You teach you, mr Njoku, podcasting.

Speaker 2: 19:26

We are going to build a school podcast with network, with multiple shows produced by students interviewing, talk about music, talking about fashion, talking about sneakers, whatever it is that kids want to talk about. But we're going to I'm going to teach them how to produce a podcast, from scripting, producing opening video, closing, all those things. I'm not expert at this, but I love doing it and I've been doing it for a little while now, and there's more than one way to create a podcast and we're going to do one at my school. So stay tuned. The Ford Exploration Discovery Podcast Network is coming very soon, so I'm excited about that. This morning, at eight o'clock, I have my first group of eighth graders and we're going to be talking about podcasting. And, yeah, thank you so much for indulging me in this space. I can share my thoughts with you. Have an amazing day and I'll talk to you all soon. Peace.