Summer Conference Keynote Highlight: Brad Montague

Brad Montague, Author and Creator of the Hit Web Series Kid President

Brad Montague is a New York Times bestselling author of books for kids and former kids. He is creator of the web series Kid President, The Circles All Around Us, and, most recently, The Fantastic Bureau of Imagination. Brad lives in Tennessee with his wife and kids. He can currently be seen as the host of the television special “The Kindness Project” on The Magnolia Network via Max. As a storyteller, his inspiring stories, and imaginative resources, are used in classrooms around the world daily.

Brad will present as a keynote speaker at the AWSP/WASA Summer Conference on Sunday, June 28. Learn more at www.awsp.org/SC.

The Stubborn Optimist: When School and District Leaders Gather, Great Things Happen

Note: This article was transcribed and adapted from a video Brad Montague created for AWSP members who attended a Grade Level Leadership Committee meeting earlier this year. His message still applies and he looks forward to presenting to school and district leaders at the Summer Conference this June! Watch Brad’s full video.

It’s an honor to send this message to all of you there in Washington. Thank you for everything you’re doing—for kids, with kids, for students, with students, for educators, with educators, for parents and caregivers, and with them who bless you.

School leaders, you are the unsung heroes of, education. I mean, teachers get apples, students get recess, and you get emails—emails with subject lines like, “Urgent cafeteria incident.”

So that’s something. 

I hope you can make it to the Summer Conference, and I hope your time at the Summer Conference is encouraging for you. You get to be together, you get to gather. And what does it look like when a whole bunch of school and district administrators come together? It’s a frightening idea to many, but I hope it’s encouraging to you, because we need you. And I’m so glad you’re doing the work you’re doing. 

This is a drawing I did of a ladybug. One ladybug is really cool, but did you know that when a whole bunch of ladybugs come together, there’s a word for that? It’s not just “ladybugs.” No. The collective noun is a loveliness. Isn’t that perfect? 

Similarly, one hummingbird is beautiful and magical and enchanting. But a whole bunch of them all together is called a shimmer or a charm.

But you. What do we call all of you when you come together, when a whole bunch of school leaders from
Washington come together?

I asked a few students, and they said that maybe it’s called a havoc of headmasters, or they call it an assembly.

Whatever it is, I’m glad you’re getting together. It’s a big deal that you’ll be together. You are people who understand how much it matters to show up for kids. You’re caring. You’re present. You’re leading in a way that points people towards what’s possible. 

The Circles All Around Us

My wife Kristi and I create several books together. I’m a writer and illustrator and I love stories. As a storyteller, I get to spend time in classrooms all over the US. There’s a key thing I’ve learned about classrooms and schools that are great: They don’t happen by accident. They happen because there’s somebody who is thoughtful, somebody who cares. They happen because of leaders like you. 

I wrote a book called The Circles All Around Us, and the whole idea is that these circles start right around you as the leader. They’re with you everywhere you go. Under your leadership, circles of care grow and grow and grow. And we need that. One in three kids deals with anxiety to such a degree that they cannot function. One in three kids. 

Fail-a-bration

Those statistics are part of why another children’s book project of ours has been so important to my wife and I: Fail-a-bration. The book has led to Fail-a-bration parties in every state. My wife and I also just completed an art show around the book that’s on display in Michigan called “We Hope You Fail Better.” (Which, you know, sounds like a very southern way of saying, “We hope you feel better.” But, being from Tennessee, that is how we speak.) 

The book and project started because I’ve been learning that there’s this pressure cooker of perfection that all of us are in—schools, students, and grown-ups. In response, we threw a party called a “Fail-a-bration” in which all my friends were invited who’ve done really impressive things, but they couldn’t talk about any of it. Instead, they had to give talks about all their projects that went wrong, all the things that went sideways in their lives. It was like a Ted talk, but really terrible. And what happened is, we laughed. We had fun, we connected, we found out that we were all human, and it was really meaningful and profound. 

The theme of the whole party was imperfection and failure. So even when writing out your name tag, you would put the wrong name. So if your name’s Bryan, you’d put brain. My name is Brad. So mine said bread. And, and in doing that, people were already uncomfortable doing something purposely wrong. It’s hard—especially for people who do so much right. And yet there is freedom in doing something purposefully wrong just to pop that bubble of perfection. And that is the premise behind our book Fail-a-bration.

A Community of Growth

A lot of really sad stories start with, “That didn’t go the way I thought it would go. That conversation didn’t go the way I thought it would go. That person’s trajectory didn’t go the way I thought it would go. My own life isn’t going the way I thought it would go.” 

I’m finding the only way through that is for us to have a community where we can discuss and share those feelings. In elementary school, I really thought I was a failure. Part of that is because I had an educator tell me I wasn’t good at math, so I just believed her. I’m just not good at math. Now, that’s not a thing any of you would say to a child, because we understand the growth mindset. You might say you’re not good at math yet. 

Which leads me to one of the next concepts I’m really fascinated and inspired by: a lot of educators are realizing it’s not just about the growth mindset for the individual. One of psychologist Carol Dweck’s own students asked, “If growth mindset is about the individual, what is it for a whole group of people? What would that look like?” And they coined this term, a community of growth. 

What does it look like for a whole bunch of people to grow and help each other grow? That’s exactly what a school culture is. It’s a place where we grow and help each other grow. It starts with leaders like you who make that possible, who nurture the space, who water the space, who create the space for students and staff to thrive. 

Better Together

I hope during the Summer Conference that you feel cared for. I hope the theme of Better Together helps you realize how much you matter. And I hope today you realize you can fail better and that you can learn and help each other learn. 

Whatever you decide to call a gathering of school and district leaders, I hope you know you all make me a stubborn optimist. I’ve read the news. I’m aware of all the challenges. But, like one of my favorite poets Wendell Berry said, “Be joyful, though you’ve considered all the facts.” I’m aware of all the facts, but I am also a stubborn optimist because, well, there’s you. 

So thanks so much for being who you are, where you are, and doing all the things you’re doing for children. It’s a gift to be able to send you this message. You help us all see glimpses of the world as it could be. And that’s the truth. See you at the Summer Conference, friends!