[Applause]
thank you very much it’s great to see so
many people here today to be the change
follow the kids I don’t think this
message hasn’t ever been more important
than it is today when I was a kid I
wanted to be a grown-up so bad I wanted
to do grown-up things I wanted to travel
I wanted to play baseball I wanted to
have a job I wanted to see the world I
wanted to be grown up but I would
constantly hear you have to wait until
you’re grown up to do those things I
wanted a job so bad as a kid and I was
told I had to wait until I was 12 or 13
or even 14 that my buddy Chris Herrmann
and I started a pet detective business
we drove around on our bikes in the
neighborhood checking out the telephone
poles and the signs for loft paths we
put up signs with our phone numbers on
that on those same pole poles and look
for the pets in the neighborhood we did
this for a couple of weeks and we would
wait in his basement when we weren’t out
on our bikes or we were literally out
looking for these pets
we never got one phone call and we never
found one pet but I will say it’s one of
the fondest memories I have as a child
because it felt empowering to create
something I felt like I was doing
something that people told me I wasn’t
allowed to do until I was older school
schooling I went to great schools I had
great teachers but the school I went to
as many of us did at that time was very
teacher senator on the left you’ll see
the teacher at the center with students
in rows listening and learning it’s the
factory model the factory model was the
schooling that I had and it worked and
it was nice but it was a lot of
listening there was a set way to do
something and that was what it was there
wasn’t a lot of creativity there
wasn’t a lot of collaboration on this
student in my opinion was not at the
center it was the teacher and the
textbook a funny story when I was in
eighth grade we were doing that solving
problems and probably pre-algebra
I remember solving the problem following
it down on the piece of paper showed my
work and circle the answer my teacher
called me up at the time and it wasn’t
rude but but scolded me for not doing it
the way the book told me to to solve for
now my answer was correct but the way I
did it wasn’t the way the book told me I
had to do it so I had to stand up on my
desk and start to sing Frank Sinatra’s
in my way because apparently I had been
doing that a lot and he had been telling
me you shouldn’t do it this way you
should do it this way and as the way the
book said it and I remember thinking
myself but I got it right and I showed
my work that model right was there was
one set way to do things the model on
the right to me in the classroom of
today in the future one that has very
very stage the student is at the center
of it and in this particular picture you
don’t even see the teacher teachers are
vital to education in this process but
students must be at the center of
Education the factory model is broken
and the factory model is changing to one
that is more of innovation you got two
pictures up here and one is looking at
green salad here in Buffalo and poke the
picture of the Innovation Centre at the
Buffalo Medical Center campus right this
city was founded on industry and
manufacturing and transportation with
the Great Lakes and the need to have
workers and factories and doing all the
necessary jobs and responsibilities in a
great city at the time the innovation
and transformation that is happening in
the city
what’s in a sense what needs to happen
in our world we need to innovate we need
to build spaces for that innovation and
at the center of that innovation our
kids our youth and we talked a little
bit more about that in a moment
kids are makers and doers I I started
working on this presentation before the
events in parkland Florida and as I
started to work on my topic was already
set and I had some several examples
which I’m gonna share a minute but
seeing what kids are doing in Florida
right now and across this nation to try
and effect change it’s powerful it’s an
amazing for me as an educator to see
what kind of change kids can can make
and it’s just just fascinating it’s so
so powerful so I’m so encouraged by what
kids are doing right now and the change
that they’re affecting that I had to
build that into this talk it’s an
incredible incredible time for us our
schools need to look like this kid
museum picture on the Left there’s so
much learning that takes place in this
kind of environment some incredible kids
and some credible examples of kids who
are makers and doers and doing amazing
things they’ve even had a chance on one
of my favorite shows is Shark Tank and
you’re always I watch it all the time to
watch it with my kids and in one episode
I learned about mikaila Ulmer this is
the from probably from a few years ago
she’s 11 years old and she started a
company called with a bee sweet lemonade
and I love seeing a child tame the
sharks on the TV show it was it was
great she got on there she was confident
she talked about what she was doing
and she created this branch and created
this lemonade from her
great-grandmother’s recipe that’s now
sold in whole food stores nationwide and
it’s not just about lemonade it’s also
about saving the bees who in many places
aren’t
right now and her purpose is not just to
have a great lemonade but it’s to do
something great and to serve people I
love listening to her I love watching
her I’ve since followed her career and
anytime in that wholefoods I make sure I
buy her product business-school
investors one of the great pieces I get
to do my job is teach still and I teach
a class called business school and it’s
with 5th grade and one of the components
of this course is that they learned to
become investors they learn about money
they learn about how to spend how to
save how to share their money and what
we do is we create a portfolio of real
investments that they get to me and in
most cases 10 and 11 year olds aren’t
usually investing money for a school but
ours do and I’m thankful that my school
allows us to take a small amount and
allow our students to do that and what
we get to see what we’ve seen is it’s
pretty amazing now I know the markets
done really well over the last day
eighteen months to two years but our
students have produced a 27 percent
return on their investment and what
they’re gonna do with that money when
they graduate as eighth graders they’re
gonna turn that investment around and
make a gift to the school and decide
what that money is gonna go for to help
make the school better
so not only their investing and their
learning about money and how it works
and the importance of saving it and
growing it but they’re learning they can
make a difference with it they’re
learning that they can do this and give
back at the same time and it’s really
powerful and I can’t wait to see what
they do as eighth graders and how they
then reinvest that back into the school
like I said 10 and 11 year olds aren’t
usually doing this kind of work but ours
do and many others can as well we’ve
also partnered with an organization
called rural scholars which is focused
on teacher teacher driven and
student-run businesses they empower
teachers and students to create business
as a part of their curriculum to deliver
real learn
experiences for their kids and and in
the majority of the profit that the
students make in their businesses goes
back to support their community so it’s
a fascinating component and seeing that
there are organizations and there are
kids and programs out there supporting
youth that are doing this great work
because they are the ones who all affect
change so before I get to my next slide
Buffalo is a center for this work and
they talked earlier it has it enlarges
youth young adult populations and
transformations of the city the
Renaissance that Buffalo is going
through is in large part due to the
innovation and the entrepreneurial
mindset that’s developed here and
continues to develop and you are at the
center of that movement so what do the
adults need to do to help the kids be
change talk less and listen more we’re
good at talking I know I’m really good
at talking my kids will tell you I talk
for them way too much talk less listen
more
my wife had a great t-shirt that she
talked about wearing as a kid that said
kids are people too and she wore proudly
around her house right I might add to
that shirt today and say kids are
powerful people to look at the change
they’re effective look at the chain
they’re making in our country right now
we need to listen more we need to talk
less and to follow their lead we also
need to help kids find a purpose purpose
is so important right if you ever get a
chance and some of you have probably
seen it Simon cynics TED talk on knowing
your why your why is important you have
we have to help our kids develop and
understand purpose and why they are
doing what they’re doing that passion
that drive that’s what’s not only going
to get you up in the morning but that’s
what’s going to get you to stay up at
night to work on a project to solve a
problem to create
something that knowing your why is so
important as adults we must position our
kids we must help them explore those
wise and develop that passion because
they are going to be the drivers for us
in the future
last but not least it’s failing forward
I love this term and in my class I had
was fortunate having an entrepreneur
come in to talk to to the kids about
lessons learned and messages share
failing forward I think is one of the
best phrases I’ve ever heard about
learning from the stage we have to help
our kids grow failure most people don’t
wake up in the morning and say I can’t
wait to fail at this right but it’s
gonna happen and we are gonna fail we’re
gonna fumble we’re gonna have balls
picking ourselves up developing
resilience learning from those mistakes
learning from mistakes of others is
fighting as we help our kids grow and
not being afraid of it
failure can paralyze us but it can play
if what it must do is enlightenment
enlighten us to grow and change and our
kids are resilient our kids can brush
their knees off and our kids are gonna
be the ones they’re gonna learn from
these mistakes ours and theirs and we
must help them do that it’s so important
so adults get out of the way kids will
be the ones that make a change in
closing as a kid I want to be a grown-up
so bad to do all the cool things
grown-ups did as an adult that paradigm
is
as an adult I want to be a kid because
they do the coolest things well we can’t
reengineering to make that happen yet oh
I don’t think I want that to happen
right we can and must listen more to and
follow our kids they have incredible
powers and energy and ideas that need to
be heard they will be the
once that effect change in the future
and it’s time to listen and follow
[Applause]
thank you very much it’s great to see so
many people here today to be the change
follow the kids I don’t think this
message hasn’t ever been more important
than it is today when I was a kid I
wanted to be a grown-up so bad I wanted
to do grown-up things I wanted to travel
I wanted to play baseball I wanted to
have a job I wanted to see the world I
wanted to be grown up but I would
constantly hear you have to wait until
you’re grown up to do those things I
wanted a job so bad as a kid and I was
told I had to wait until I was 12 or 13
or even 14 that my buddy Chris Herrmann
and I started a pet detective business
we drove around on our bikes in the
neighborhood checking out the telephone
poles and the signs for loft paths we
put up signs with our phone numbers on
that on those same pole poles and look
for the pets in the neighborhood we did
this for a couple of weeks and we would
wait in his basement when we weren’t out
on our bikes or we were literally out
looking for these pets
we never got one phone call and we never
found one pet but I will say it’s one of
the fondest memories I have as a child
because it felt empowering to create
something I felt like I was doing
something that people told me I wasn’t
allowed to do until I was older school
schooling I went to great schools I had
great teachers but the school I went to
as many of us did at that time was very
teacher senator on the left you’ll see
the teacher at the center with students
in rows listening and learning it’s the
factory model the factory model was the
schooling that I had and it worked and
it was nice but it was a lot of
listening there was a set way to do
something and that was what it was there
wasn’t a lot of creativity there
wasn’t a lot of collaboration on this
student in my opinion was not at the
center it was the teacher and the
textbook a funny story when I was in
eighth grade we were doing that solving
problems and probably pre-algebra
I remember solving the problem following
it down on the piece of paper showed my
work and circle the answer my teacher
called me up at the time and it wasn’t
rude but but scolded me for not doing it
the way the book told me to to solve for
now my answer was correct but the way I
did it wasn’t the way the book told me I
had to do it so I had to stand up on my
desk and start to sing Frank Sinatra’s
in my way because apparently I had been
doing that a lot and he had been telling
me you shouldn’t do it this way you
should do it this way and as the way the
book said it and I remember thinking
myself but I got it right and I showed
my work that model right was there was
one set way to do things the model on
the right to me in the classroom of
today in the future one that has very
very stage the student is at the center
of it and in this particular picture you
don’t even see the teacher teachers are
vital to education in this process but
students must be at the center of
Education the factory model is broken
and the factory model is changing to one
that is more of innovation you got two
pictures up here and one is looking at
green salad here in Buffalo and poke the
picture of the Innovation Centre at the
Buffalo Medical Center campus right this
city was founded on industry and
manufacturing and transportation with
the Great Lakes and the need to have
workers and factories and doing all the
necessary jobs and responsibilities in a
great city at the time the innovation
and transformation that is happening in
the city
what’s in a sense what needs to happen
in our world we need to innovate we need
to build spaces for that innovation and
at the center of that innovation our
kids our youth and we talked a little
bit more about that in a moment
kids are makers and doers I I started
working on this presentation before the
events in parkland Florida and as I
started to work on my topic was already
set and I had some several examples
which I’m gonna share a minute but
seeing what kids are doing in Florida
right now and across this nation to try
and effect change it’s powerful it’s an
amazing for me as an educator to see
what kind of change kids can can make
and it’s just just fascinating it’s so
so powerful so I’m so encouraged by what
kids are doing right now and the change
that they’re affecting that I had to
build that into this talk it’s an
incredible incredible time for us our
schools need to look like this kid
museum picture on the Left there’s so
much learning that takes place in this
kind of environment some incredible kids
and some credible examples of kids who
are makers and doers and doing amazing
things they’ve even had a chance on one
of my favorite shows is Shark Tank and
you’re always I watch it all the time to
watch it with my kids and in one episode
I learned about mikaila Ulmer this is
the from probably from a few years ago
she’s 11 years old and she started a
company called with a bee sweet lemonade
and I love seeing a child tame the
sharks on the TV show it was it was
great she got on there she was confident
she talked about what she was doing
and she created this branch and created
this lemonade from her
great-grandmother’s recipe that’s now
sold in whole food stores nationwide and
it’s not just about lemonade it’s also
about saving the bees who in many places
aren’t
right now and her purpose is not just to
have a great lemonade but it’s to do
something great and to serve people I
love listening to her I love watching
her I’ve since followed her career and
anytime in that wholefoods I make sure I
buy her product business-school
investors one of the great pieces I get
to do my job is teach still and I teach
a class called business school and it’s
with 5th grade and one of the components
of this course is that they learned to
become investors they learn about money
they learn about how to spend how to
save how to share their money and what
we do is we create a portfolio of real
investments that they get to me and in
most cases 10 and 11 year olds aren’t
usually investing money for a school but
ours do and I’m thankful that my school
allows us to take a small amount and
allow our students to do that and what
we get to see what we’ve seen is it’s
pretty amazing now I know the markets
done really well over the last day
eighteen months to two years but our
students have produced a 27 percent
return on their investment and what
they’re gonna do with that money when
they graduate as eighth graders they’re
gonna turn that investment around and
make a gift to the school and decide
what that money is gonna go for to help
make the school better
so not only their investing and their
learning about money and how it works
and the importance of saving it and
growing it but they’re learning they can
make a difference with it they’re
learning that they can do this and give
back at the same time and it’s really
powerful and I can’t wait to see what
they do as eighth graders and how they
then reinvest that back into the school
like I said 10 and 11 year olds aren’t
usually doing this kind of work but ours
do and many others can as well we’ve
also partnered with an organization
called rural scholars which is focused
on teacher teacher driven and
student-run businesses they empower
teachers and students to create business
as a part of their curriculum to deliver
real learn
experiences for their kids and and in
the majority of the profit that the
students make in their businesses goes
back to support their community so it’s
a fascinating component and seeing that
there are organizations and there are
kids and programs out there supporting
youth that are doing this great work
because they are the ones who all affect
change so before I get to my next slide
Buffalo is a center for this work and
they talked earlier it has it enlarges
youth young adult populations and
transformations of the city the
Renaissance that Buffalo is going
through is in large part due to the
innovation and the entrepreneurial
mindset that’s developed here and
continues to develop and you are at the
center of that movement so what do the
adults need to do to help the kids be
change talk less and listen more we’re
good at talking I know I’m really good
at talking my kids will tell you I talk
for them way too much talk less listen
more
my wife had a great t-shirt that she
talked about wearing as a kid that said
kids are people too and she wore proudly
around her house right I might add to
that shirt today and say kids are
powerful people to look at the change
they’re effective look at the chain
they’re making in our country right now
we need to listen more we need to talk
less and to follow their lead we also
need to help kids find a purpose purpose
is so important right if you ever get a
chance and some of you have probably
seen it Simon cynics TED talk on knowing
your why your why is important you have
we have to help our kids develop and
understand purpose and why they are
doing what they’re doing that passion
that drive that’s what’s not only going
to get you up in the morning but that’s
what’s going to get you to stay up at
night to work on a project to solve a
problem to create
something that knowing your why is so
important as adults we must position our
kids we must help them explore those
wise and develop that passion because
they are going to be the drivers for us
in the future
last but not least it’s failing forward
I love this term and in my class I had
was fortunate having an entrepreneur
come in to talk to to the kids about
lessons learned and messages share
failing forward I think is one of the
best phrases I’ve ever heard about
learning from the stage we have to help
our kids grow failure most people don’t
wake up in the morning and say I can’t
wait to fail at this right but it’s
gonna happen and we are gonna fail we’re
gonna fumble we’re gonna have balls
picking ourselves up developing
resilience learning from those mistakes
learning from mistakes of others is
fighting as we help our kids grow and
not being afraid of it
failure can paralyze us but it can play
if what it must do is enlightenment
enlighten us to grow and change and our
kids are resilient our kids can brush
their knees off and our kids are gonna
be the ones they’re gonna learn from
these mistakes ours and theirs and we
must help them do that it’s so important
so adults get out of the way kids will
be the ones that make a change in
closing as a kid I want to be a grown-up
so bad to do all the cool things
grown-ups did as an adult that paradigm
is
as an adult I want to be a kid because
they do the coolest things well we can’t
reengineering to make that happen yet oh
I don’t think I want that to happen
right we can and must listen more to and
follow our kids they have incredible
powers and energy and ideas that need to
be heard they will be the
once that effect change in the future
and it’s time to listen and follow
[Applause]
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