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Welcome back everyone. My name is Gina Watts and co-hosting with me is Andrew McPeak. The one, the only. He tolerates me. I actually did find another Andrew McPeak on Facebook one time. Really? So you're not the one and only? Yeah, I'm sorry. You're the one and only that does the Squall on a mission podcast. That is true. Okay. So it's kind of true. He's a sci-fi genius. He's a published author. He's an amazing speaker.

But enough about me. And one of my most talented friends. Okay. It is good to be with you guys again though. And if you believe that school should be more than just essays and GPAs, if you believe that EQs are as important as IQs, if you expect amazing things from the next generation, then you are in the right place because we believe that too. We sure do. We sure do. So before we dive into our topic today, you guys know what time it is. It's opening question time.

So here it is, Andrew. What's one skill you wish they had taught in school that would have made your life easier today? Okay, that's a good one. Yeah. I think they actually taught it to me a little bit in school, but I think it would have been helpful to know a lot more about it is coding. I think I would have enjoyed probably not the process of learning it, but knowing it would have made me a lot more dangerous.

And that's one thing I really love. I feel like a lot of kids graduating today know a lot more about coding than I did when I was their age. So yeah, because we're still kind of catching up. Yeah, I know very little. Hmm. That's good. That was a good answer. I would say when I went to school in the dark ages, it would have been I think we need more and I still think we need more today. Practical courses on like life.

like financial management and not just like doing weird activities that aren't really gonna apply. here's how you look for an apartment and sign a lease. Here's how you balance your monthly expenses so that you don't have to get a bunch of credit cards and be in debt. Here is what it means to sign the student loan agreement that...

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you might pay for 400 years. Here's like, right? Like, it's just the practical stuff. Yeah. You know, or even, you know, here's how to schedule a doctor's appointment. Hey, but you know what? I know how to find the length of the hypotenuse. Yep. So do I really need all that stuff? I mean, I mean.

I do remember some of those classes, those kinds of things that stick with But it's a great answer though, in that practical knowledge. And actually, it's happened multiple times when you survey students and ask them, what classes do you wish we had here? Those are the kinds of things that always come up. So good I think parents try to do it, and then it's like, I don't know. Students don't always want to learn that part from their parents. I would say it took me about a decade to learn all that stuff after school. So I'd appreciated the...

the time saving. So, it's awesome, Gina. Well, I think a lot of educators can relate probably to both of our answers. But today we're talking about another specific subject. In fact, it's the first of two episodes we want to address this subject with. And we're talking about leadership. We're talking about innovation. And we have a guest with us today who has dedicated decades of experience and education and is now leading a groundbreaking initiative. So she's here.

because as I mentioned, this is the first of a two-part series. Our subject is social media. For most schools, I think when it comes to social media, it is either their greatest asset or the bane of their existence. You know what I mean? Yep. And so wherever you sit for that, for you right now, we know social media is a really big topic, right? So we today are joined by our first expert in this area. Her name is Dr. Jill Johnson.

Jill is joining us today and we are thrilled for you to hear more about her journey straight from her. Yeah, you bet. Thanks for having me, Andrea. I really appreciate the opportunity. I spent 30 years, it's kind of crazy saying that, but 30 years in education as a teacher, high school teacher and high school principal. Also did professional development in there for administrators. During that time, I was also dealing with a lot of...

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negative things with social media with students, as you might imagine being a high school principal and those things filtering in and finding that there weren't a lot of solutions available, you research-based solutions. And so I was working on my doctorate degree at the time, ended up doing my dissertation work in student-led social media and the leadership that allows it and really have met the most interesting people, found really cool tools and those types of things. And during that time, I had a team of about 50

students a year that we're doing the social media content creation for us at the high school, which led to the opportunity of where I am now as president of Class Intercom, which is a social media management platform. But we really try to promote student-led social media and giving kids these really cool opportunities to be content creators for someone other than themselves. And so I know there's a ton to dig into there.

But that's definitely what led me here. And if you would have asked me 15 years ago where I would be, it definitely wouldn't be here. We've seen that evolution of social media. You know, didn't even realize sometimes the jobs that exist and where it would take us, but it's definitely not going away. So trying to embrace the positive for sure. love this term of student led social media. Yes, me too. You know, it's not one that you hear of very often, but Jill just did a really great intro to it.

It probably piqued a few people's interest. And you might really want to find out more. Yeah. Yeah. When she said, I think we wanted to give students an opportunity to create content, get this, that wasn't about themselves. All of my alarm bells were going off in our conversation. It makes me lean in closely. I think probably a lot of people are leaning in closely too. So Jill went on to share about the content creation program.

that she leads and the effects that she saw it had on both the lives of the students and the teachers. Yeah, for sure. And I'll back up just a little bit to be very honest. When I was an assistant principal, I was charged with doing social media as a other duty as assigned, as all educators know. And I knew it was important in our storytelling. so honestly, I brought on the kids because they had time and.

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You know, you can engage them and they're creative and they know social. And so I did it out of a need and then really started to realize the positive effects. The biggest takeaway when I did an informal survey after that first year was that students said they thought more about their own personal social media content creation and took that pause because they had created content for someone else.

We talked about what might happen if you use a bomb emoji on a school social media post or use the word kill or basic things like that. And so we teach a lot of digital citizenship, but we don't really allow a lot of authentic practice. And so I was really getting to see that in real time and then start to build on that programming. And so I was then going out and about across the state and presenting with these students and really hearing

their learning from their voices. And so it helped me create these programs where students can get involved. And we were using this software for the company I work for now. We were an early adopter when they were a startup. And so now we've been able to build that to where we're promoting student-led social media teams across the country. Sometimes that's just student interns, maybe in a communication director's office.

But it's also digital marketing classes, journalism classes. And then my big hairy goal is to have a student-led social media team in every high school in the country. That was my 10-year goal. I started three years ago. And we are definitely making progress. And it's so cool to see. I love the structure that she came up with. It's so cool to me, especially because Jill mentioned giving them real-world experiences.

about a subject that oftentimes we as adults think, why aren't kids better at this, right? And the truth is a lot of times it's because the kids are out of practice. just haven't had opportunities to actually learn it. I couldn't agree more. know, creating those hands-on opportunities for students is essential. It's actually one of the ways I used to teach back in the day. it's exactly why I love the workshop Jill just shared with us. It's such a fantastic way for students to actually practice and develop their skills in real time.

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We're hosting, we host every year, we call it the content generation workshop. We bring about 150 kids in for the day. They're learning from industry experts and then also doing what we call quick hit challenges. So they're creating content right on the spot and we are publishing it, but it goes through a moderator, right? They get feedback, they get suggestions to edit that before it goes out.

And then we also hosted our, and I should say we have those 150 kids live. We also have people streaming in from all over the country. We had 30 states last year. So, and when you're doing, you know, it's a great thing about technology is that we can all be engaging and social media is social. And so it's a really powerful, powerful event. But we also hosted our first student led social media contest.

We did a pilot this spring, so we had three teams, three high school teams came in live, competed for three hours. They were doing hype videos, they were writing blogs, they were doing Instagram stories, you all these different challenges, again, in a very secure way for their school's social media. And we're doing another one next month in another state at a state conference. So those are the types of pieces that we're really trying to promote.

Everything we do is based in what we call our five pillars of pedagogy. You know, if you want to get really education speak there, but we really try to promote that storytelling, skill building, digital citizenship, student voice and community. so everything we do is really based in those things and trying to really give kids, students these authentic experiences, but in a really safe and guided practice type of way. Chills Workshop sounds amazing.

She's bringing in 150 students to work with industry experts, create content on the spot, and even stream the event to others nationwide. It's a real hands-on, real world experience. Totally. And what I love is that it's not just about creating the content.

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They receive the feedback that they need. They get to edit their work before publishing it. It's like professional training, but in a safe environment where they're still building their skills. Yeah, it's all about learning through those authentic experiences, even if they make mistakes while doing so. But yeah, there is that risk because even when things go out, like I remember the first time a student put something out and I approved it and it had the wrong time for the football game. And you can imagine, like people went crazy on social.

correcting us and it was really, really cool just to then have that student be able to pivot and be, you know, make a really appropriate apology, correct the mistake and move forward. And while like that's an incredibly powerful digital citizenship lesson. And I mentioned that even with the bomb emoji because the very first post I had a student make and I had given them zero, honestly zero training and they put

the Cardinals killed the Blue Jays. Bomb emoji, bomb emoji, bomb emoji. We were the Blue Jays. It was a football game and we were the Blue Jays. We're the ones that got beat. And so just having that really quick conversation about let's highlight our school, let's put us in the active voice, former English teacher, and then also think about how people might react to that verbiage as well as those emojis and what might be better. so...

It is truly authentic when they get to see people's reactions and know that there's always going to be haters out there that are going to blow you up no matter what you put. So. Wow. I love that example. It's such a valuable lesson. Mistakes on social media can be very nerve wracking. But the way you get your the way your students handle them is so impressive. It's a powerful reminder that digital citizenship isn't just about avoiding mistakes. It's about learning to own them and grow from them.

You know, Andrew, that's just one of the reasons I think so many educators and even parents shy away from letting students engage with social media. The fear of mistakes, criticism, and the amount of training needed to get students up to speed, it can feel like just one more thing we have to do on our already full plate. Yeah, I completely agree. But of course, as Jill has been explaining, there's so much opportunity when we trust that students have the ability to rise to the occasion.

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And Jill has really heard it all when it comes to the concerns that educators have. Yeah, for sure. So the number one concern is that students are not going to create the quality that's necessary. And that's just, I always have felt this in my educational career. Students live up to the expectations you set for them. So when you set those expectations high and you give them the scaffolding to get there, they're going to live up to your expectations and you celebrate those things. so

That's the number one concern though is quality. It's also why even with this workshop, like, you know, we have a whole site just devoted to student created content. I also like to walk the talk where I have students write blogs for us. They create how-to guides for us. They're on our podcast. They're on our webinars, all those things because students just have a really powerful voice and when we give them that opportunity, it's amazing what they can do.

So that's the number one concern. I think the number two concern is that it's gonna be more work for the adults that are managing. And again, I think that's a falsehood that we can easily disprove is when you have more voices helping tell your story from really an authentic place, it creates a much richer story, a much more authentic story. I mean, schools are competing against one another, right? We've got publics, we've got privates, we've got...

you know, small, big charters, parochials, whatever it might, homeschool. So they're all trying to vie for those same students and families. So you want to tell your authentic story so that you can bring those people in. And so I think once they realize how they can do this very systematically, it really is a lot less work and you get a much better product. But those are the two biggest concerns.

I mean, social media is not going away. even there's a lot of lot of leaders who want to bury their head in the sand, but it's not going away. So we might as well harness it for good and teach our students how to use it properly. That's such a great perspective. I mean, when schools, teachers and parents think about kids and social media, the focus is usually on what's being consumed rather than what's being created. Right.

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I mean, we often worry about it being a disruption or a distraction. Exactly, exactly. We've all heard those eye popping stats about kids spending upwards of nine hours a day on their phones. That is definitely a concern. It's a very real problem. But I was curious. So I actually got to ask Jill, what can we do to help schools and students use social media in a more positive, productive way without it becoming the distraction that we all fear it is? And she had some really fantastic insights on this.

I think it really is that differentiation of consumption versus creation, right? So you might be consuming some, but if that's all you're doing, it's such a passive activity. And it really can't, you really can start to get in those algorithms that are really deciding for you what you see. So we're really promoting students spending less time consuming and more time.

creating and really thinking about how they can utilize that for good. We're also seeing that in almost every industry, right? You think about what industry doesn't use content creation to promote it. I know right away I'll have kids say, well, doctors because of HIPAA. Then I'm like, you ever seen Dr. Pimple Popper? That's just one, right? It's definitely an industry that's growing.

You know, it's helping get them college and career ready, but also really making them aware of the need to keep those things in balance and focus. The first year we had our workshop, we had a group of kids from a small, was a rural private school come. They had no equipment, no team, nothing, but their marketing director was wanting to expose them to something. They came in, they ended up winning one of our contests, won a super cheap.

lapel mic, you know, cost like 25 bucks on Amazon. So nothing major, but they were thrilled. They went back, ended up the students created videos for a fundraising day of giving that they hold every year, usually raised 20, $25,000 on that day. The videos were not great. The interviews were not great. It wasn't great quality. They did have decent sound because they had the lapel mics, but

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They created this series of video interviews. They raised $80,000 that day. And again, that's comparative. So four times as much as they had done in past years. And so that authenticity and genuine storytelling really was able to shine through because the kids were doing it and knew what people wanted to hear and took a risk, right? And the marketing director took a risk letting the students

lead with that instead of doing something very polished and what they'd done in the past, which had been working for them okay. I've also seen just really incredible students where they have a team of students, maybe even from a class, but when it becomes a team, just like a basketball team or a football team or a speech team, where we have one school that they actually have tryouts and they make more cuts than any sports team.

in their district because they have such great interest in it and kids are really vying for spots on this team because they want to be content creators. And so when they start to do that, the game starts to go up, the level starts to go up. It's not necessarily a competition against someone else, but they're starting to see that then reverberate back to their, in their community.

and not only their community at large, but their school community, because I think we all know that perception becomes reality for a lot. And when you're starting to put out those stories from your school, people start to see, wow, this is really cool. They do really care about all kids. They really are showing all kids and their different stories, not just the athletes or just the star musician or whatever it might be. know, it's the kid that...

wears the Kansas City Royal shirt every day to school or the kid that plays 19 instruments and was homeschooled until this year, know, whatever it might be. Wow. I love that story about the small schools video project. It's such a great example of how authenticity can outshine even the most polished production, right? And it shows how when students are empowered, they really do have the ability to rise to the occasion and be so creative.

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Andrew, you know, it reminds me of the famous quote by Theodore Roosevelt, do what you can with what you have where you are. So good. Those students didn't need fancy equipment. They just needed the opportunity. And look what happened. Four times the donations. It really highlights the power of storytelling when it's genuine. Exactly. And it's amazing how students can bring out these unique stories from their schools, stories that might not be told otherwise.

I mean, when you give students the chance to lead and create, it's not just the standout athletes or the performers, as in the people you expect that would shine, but every student discovers that their story has a place. Yes, it's about capturing the heart of the school. Whether it's the kid who wears a Kansas City Royal shirt every day or the student who taught themselves how to crochet stuffed animals. These are the kinds of things that make a school community feel real and feel connected.

You know, when an adult walks in the room, it changes, and especially if it's a principal. And sometimes that's for good and sometimes for bad, right? But really, when you want that authentic voice, you want to see that. And when I say that, I'm not talking about kids swearing or doing inappropriate things, or obviously those aren't the stories we want to share, but it really is, they know about that kid that taught themselves how to crochet and made 87 stuffed animal bears and gave them to a...

a local hospital, right? I'm not just making that story up on my own. There's so many stories to tell. My students started doing a Who Knew Wednesday just to fill space because we didn't have a lot on Wednesdays. And that's where these stories started to really unfold. And I think it lets your, I don't know, kind of your tapestry of your school really become complete because it's not just about the events and activities and even academics. It's

It's about everything else, right? Like the kid that spent a lot of time building the float or brought in his dad's tractor to pull it in the homecoming parade or whatever it might be. I love that. Not just the star athletes, not just the academic achievements. It's those unique everyday moments that truly make up the heart of the school. And I think sometimes we overlook how important those stories are in shaping the school's culture. Exactly. It's those small personal stories that people connect with the most.

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And when she mentioned Who Knew Wednesday, it really struck me probably because, you know, it's got two W's. It's not quite a full alliteration, but it is completely a brilliant way to highlight those hidden gems in the community. It's such a simple concept, but so impactful. Well done.

It was highlighting individuals or groups, but we were kind of digging for a while. And at first I was kind of having to feed the kids, well, did you know this or did you know that? Or did you know that our custodian's been here for 47 years and this is his first job out of high school or things like that. And then they started bringing them. And then other kids started coming to us and saying, you know who you should do. And then people in the community started calling.

and said, you know who you should do is the kid who stopped when I got a flat tire this morning. And I know he was late for school. So one, could you please excuse him? And two, can you highlight him on your Who Knew Wednesday? Right. So it just started to really build like that to where we had, we just had all these stories to tell and we could tell them, you know, schedule them, set up, forget it and go on. And then the local newspaper and even a TV station for a couple of stories asked, can we?

dig in and tell that story in a little deeper level. It's amazing how those stories really take on a life of their own once people start contributing. And what I love is it doesn't have to be this grand polished production, just authentic stories that reflect the heart of the community. And it's clear how powerful storytelling can be in schools, especially when it's coming from the students or the community. But you know, there are still a lot of educators who feel hesitant about using social media in their professional lives.

whether it's for networking or classroom use. I mean, I get it. There are so many concerns about privacy, time, and managing it all. Right. And I think for lot of teachers or administrators, there's a bit of fear, too, around how to start or even if starting is really worth it. So as mentioned earlier, Jill has certainly heard these concerns, but she offered some really practical advice for those who are unsure about diving into the world of social media. Well, one, I would say

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If you don't tell your story, somebody else is going to, right? And I wasn't the first person to say that, but I repeat that mantra all the time. So if you want to have some control of your story or people to know the good things happening, you have to tell them. And so for those skeptics, really think you have to think about this is a powerful tool. It's a free tool in many ways. It's out there and it's where our people are.

We wanna take advantage of it and other people, those private groups, those city groups, every town has one, they're in there talking about you. So if you're not giving them the correct information, they can't kind of help you fight those battles. As far as where to start, think we tend to overcomplicate it. And so I think one, if you're on zero social platforms for your school or district, start with one.

Facebook, I know it's the old people platform, but it's king and it still is. Data continues to show us that. Most followers, most engagement, all those things. it's where your families and your taxpayers are. So start simple and then you can always add Instagram or you want to add LinkedIn because you're trying to hire some people, but you want to tell the story. I think too, we tend to think we have to be PR professionals and we don't.

A good friend of mine who's one of our clients, he always says, if all else fails, show a picture of a smiling kid. You can't go wrong, right? And so start simple. If you're thinking about starting a student team, start small. Or even with your adults, start small. Get that student intern. My first student was a kid who was, I was on lunch duty and she was taking a picture of her foot and she enlightened me to the world of Snapchat. You know, that was eight years ago or whatever. And so,

I knew she was a content creator already, we just had to harness that. Or you have a journalism class, marketing class, those kind of things, those are great places just to really start. And then the momentum starts to build when people start to see their content posted, even if you've had to edit it a bit or change it up a little bit. And so then more people want to start sharing those stories, it's really contagious. There's so much good advice from student led social media.

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to that last nugget of truth. If you don't tell your story, somebody else is going to. Actually have a journal that says that on it. In fact, somebody else probably already is, right? Yeah. This is such, such good advice. Very great advice. So Jill obviously dropped some major knowledge on us today, but she also wanted our listeners to be able to connect with her. So I asked her if she could share how we could stay in touch with her, as well as some information about what her organization is doing.

I'm at Dr. Jill Johnson on most social platforms, also jill at classintercom.com. And so if you want to reach out, I love to answer questions or if you want to just discuss problem solve, strategize, always love to do that and listen to your stories or maybe even your successes that you're having with your teams. And let's get you in one of our contests so we can highlight those kids. Well, Andrew, I'm walking away with so many thoughts.

and my brain. Too many thoughts. Too many for sure. You've got too much information. We got TMI. We do. So perhaps we need to do a DMI.

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DMI of course stands for Don't Miss It. Gina and I will both highlight one thing from today that we don't think you should miss. So Gina, do want to kick us off? What's the best thing you heard today that we don't need to miss? I can only give one. Yep, only allowed one. Okay. when, especially at the beginning when we were hearing Jill and she was just sharing her perspective about training,

these young people in real life experiences, right? Deploying those 150 kids in the workshop format. I just kept thinking, like, you know, we don't let people drive without training them. Like, you have to train, you have to pass a test. Some of us train longer than others or do it more formally than others, you know. A lot of people where I grew up, we did it on dirt roads.

big fields. I feel like there's some stories there. but there's training, right? And then you get your license and you have to like pass tests and everything, right? It feels like it's the same with social media. If we would just have space to practice, to train, to learn how to exercise the muscle well, right? The way that we use it, trying to be responsible in the way that we use it.

is something that will come naturally. Because like, do you think about driving now? Or you just get in your car and drive, right? So it's the same thing. If you don't think about how you post on social, you would do it because you practiced it. And so for me, it's something that I'm just walking away with a new perspective on, like the value and importance of. I already love...

real-world experiences and trainings and workshops. I already love that. She like speaks my love language. But I also think if we equate it to things that we already do in our life, like learning to drive a car, like we should, you know, it just becomes automatic. We often put social media a completely different category. We do. Kids already know how to do it, but no, they don't. Not really. Not in a positive, redemptive, helpful sort of way. Right. That's a great example. Yeah, thanks. How about you? Yeah, for me, I think it's just the baseline of

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What would it look like if you involved students in the school's social media? Yeah. Yeah. In telling the story of what's going on at your school. And that can be a very scary proposition. Yeah. But as we heard from her and all the examples she shared, students are going to tell stories that are more authentic. They're going to tell stories that are more on the ground realities, what's really going on. And they're also going to tell stories that administrators could never get to. Right.

And those advantages are worth the risks, right? So if you're, you know, one, I think we need to involve students in social media. If that freaks you out, send them to jail to get trained, you know? And help them get ready and get the tools that they need and a little bit of practice, and they'll come back ready to tell that story. And then your students can train other students on how to do this. So I just, that baseline idea of what would it look like to involve students and what could that do for your school and the brand that you're trying to put out there in the world? That's great. That's great. Well, thanks again.

Dr. Jill Johnson for being with us today. This has been another great episode. Thank you all for joining us as well on this episode of the School on a Mission podcast. Now before you hit skip or onto your next podcast, we've got a little challenge for you. Grab a pen, a notebook, a sticky note, or even the back of your hand and write down one action you're going to take this week.

Maybe it's something you're going to do, something you're going to investigate, something you want to read more about, or a person you want to meet with. Got it? Perfect. Now DM us with your action step. We can't wait to see what awesome things you're up to. Until next time, friends, stay curious, stay bold, and keep leading your school on a mission. The School on a Mission podcast is produced by Growing Leaders, powered by Maxwell Leadership Foundation.

You can find out more about Growing Leaders at growingleaders.com. We especially want to thank Dr. Jill Johnson for joining us as a guest on today's episode. This podcast was co-produced by Angelica Oliver and Kara Mallory. To find out more about the School on a Mission podcast, head over to schoolonamissionpodcast.com.