S2E4: Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock on Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), Respect, and Mentors

Mercedes (00:03.574)
Welcome to season two, episode four of FTCE Seminar, a teacher certification podcast. I'm your host, Mercedes Musto. Today, we're diving into the world of innovative social and emotional learning. Joining me is Dr. Frida Barnett Braddock. Dr. Frida Barnett Braddock has over 20 years of experience working in various levels of education ranging from K through 12 to higher ed.

She is a licensed educator in the great state of Mississippi and has earned her bachelor's in education, her master's in educational administration, her doctorate in curriculum and instruction. And I also want to add that she has graduate hours in psychology, which totally goes with our topic today. Frida worked as an instructor, course writer, and program director at Columbia Southern University before being promoted to founding

Dean for the College of Education and Assistant Provost for Academic Affairs in January of this year, 2024. Frieda's passion for social and emotional learning has deep roots as she created curricular materials, degree concentrations, and professional development presentations within this whole area. She's so passionate about supporting students by helping all the stakeholders involved realize

the importance of students' emotional and physical well -being as they seek to educate the whole learner, because the whole learner has diverse needs. Dr. B, welcome to the podcast.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (01:45.262)
Hello Mercedes and listeners, I'm so excited to be here today

Mercedes (01:50.989)
this is so great. It's especially as we're launching a new school year. So I've asked Dr. B on the show today to talk about her passion for social and emotional learning and how to help educate the whole learner with diverse needs. Dr. B, I can't wait to dive into social and emotional learning stuff at first. I always like to ask, know, I'd like our listeners to know a little bit more about your background. So, you know, first off,

I always think, yeah, people, there's an inspiration somewhere in your early life experiences that shape you and lead into your career choices. Like, how did you get into education or what were your early life experiences?

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (02:37.87)
Thank you, Mercedes. Yes, as you alluded to, early life experiences shape who we become later. And if I had to look back and reflect upon where I was first inspired to eventually become an educator, I'd have to give all the credit to my mother and my grandparents. They were phenomenally inspirational in my life. Just to give you a bit of a background, my grandmother

lost her mom at the age of five so at five years old granny is what i called her she had to learn how to cook so clean the house and basically be a caregiver for her three brothers and her dad so that is more than most five -year -olds should even have to fathom should have to be exposed to but my granny had to rise to the occasion and basically become

a young woman at a very, young age due to life's circumstances. So although she had many challenges growing up without her mother, she knew that she wanted to be her best in whatever she did. growing up in rural Mississippi, it was not easy going to school. There were many challenges. And so she had the segregated South to contend with as well as

trying to again just help her dad with the raising of her siblings and so the fact that she was able to persevere and become valedictorian of her class was so inspirational to me despite knowing what all she went through. My pawpaw on the other hand, my grandfather, his story is a bit different. He had to quit school when he was in eighth grade. His mom had nine children and again they grew up in rural Mississippi as well so

Mercedes (04:14.696)
Wow.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (04:32.876)
very very humble poor beginnings let's be honest and she needed help from him being one of the oldest children to help provide financially for the other siblings so my papa did what a young man would do and he rose to the occasion he quit school although he you know new an education was important he had to weigh in balance what was the bigger and more pressing important in his life and that was helping his mom

And so he quit school in eighth grade and never was able to complete. He didn't get a GED. He worked in factories throughout his whole entire lifetime once he became of age and could get a job. But he wanted better for his children and grandchildren. He knew how hard it was in life for him by not having a high school diploma, not having a GED, let alone having a college.

on degree and so he wanted his children and grandchildren to have better than what he experienced the last person but certainly not the least is my mother my mom at the age of twenty became pregnant with me she was finishing up her community college experience and she had to quit school once she finished her two years of community college so that she could go to work and start you know being a provider

for me she and my dad married at a young age on she was twenty he was twenty one and I'm they had lots of challenges but she knew that she never wanted to let go of that dream of completing her education so the three of them my granny my papa and my mom always pushed me and my sister have a sister who's ten years younger than me to go to school and to get as much education as we can my papa used to say freedom

get your education because that's the one thing they can't take from you and that always stuck with me because again i grew up in the south i grew up in north mississippi i knew all of the challenges that my grandparents had experience and that i too sadly was still experiencing as a young girl growing up and i and an atmosphere that wasn't always conducive to equity

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (06:53.886)
and making sure that all people were accepted and given different opportunities. And so I knew that by listening to them and seeing how they were able to triumph, it helped me to keep pushing and to want to help others. I knew that education was going to be the key to helping me have a better life than what they had experienced. So when you ask what made me want to get into education,

it was those three folks my granny my papa and my mom pushing me to never give up my mom even walked across the stage you know both graduated with our bachelors on the same day because she went back to school she went out her daughters my sister need to know that is never too late to complete your education a dream deferred does not mean a dream denied and so she as well as my deceased grandparents are my driving factors every day

Mercedes (07:49.885)
That is such a beautiful family story. And it really resonates with me that you said, rise up, that your granny had to rise up considering the circumstances and that your papa had to overcome and support the challenges he was being, and he rose up. And then it sounds to me like the...

the inspiration and love that you grew up seeing and echoed into your life. that's why you're bouncing around with all this really light, beautiful energy that I see in you. I think that you're the perfect person to take your family's life experiences and then translate them

into the whole topic of social and emotional learning. Because to me, my experience speaking for myself is that learning starts in the home. then when a student is in the classroom, let's say in the elementary years, you don't know what you don't know. And that's why teachers are so important. I always say teachers are some of the original influencers.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (09:00.344)
Absolutely.

Mercedes (09:17.564)
I would like to discuss a little bit about social and emotional learning and how important it is in different aspects, like for the student in the classroom and for teachers in teacher education.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (09:34.542)
Absolutely, Mercedes. Social -emotional learning is near and dear to my heart because it speaks to so many tenets of our lives. As you mentioned, students need to have tools and resources to best handle emotional issues that they're dealing with. They need to be taught how to handle their emotions, stress, how to build positive relationships, how to take responsibility for their decision -making.

and how to face challenges when they arise. Like you mentioned, I was fortunate to have good role models within the home. I had positive influences that showed me that there was more to the world than what I necessarily saw in our small circle at the time. I had positive people who poured into me and told me, treat others the way you want to be treated. Whatever you do, do the best you can in life.

no matter what you're aspiring to become but all students don't have that privilege they're not as fortunate as I was and so that's why I'm so passionate about social emotional learning because I believe it's not only important with the students but the whole entire school culture adults the teachers the staff the admins everybody experiences life daily we all face challenges we all have things that come into our path

that we have to overcome. so social emotional learning creates social awareness, self -awareness, being able to look at things, your emotions, your values, things that might be deemed as a limitation and how to address those and overcome them. Social emotional learning also deals with self -management. We all have the tendency to sometimes get angry and react when someone is maybe attacking us verbally or albeit less dare say physically.

but we need to learn how to responsibly respond during those tough situations when our behaviors want to be in a negative way. We need to have the tools and resources that we don't act out in an adverse way. Also, social -emotional learning teaches us about social awareness, just being mindful of the fact that we're all diverse. We all come from different backgrounds. We all have lived

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (11:58.314)
experiences that impact us. Childhood is one of the biggest factors that impacts someone's life forever. And we're always working, or we should be working, to correct issues that we've experienced in childhood, to try to grow from them, and to actually then, in my opinion, pour into others to help them be able to do the same. I believe that life is reciprocal.

When we are fortunate to receive something, then we should go and give that to somebody else. So social emotional learning gives us self -awareness that we're all different, but we're all important. We all have value and self -worth. And sometimes children, adults need to be reminded of that. Social emotional learning teaches relationship skills. Some students, unfortunately, don't have people who even communicate with them in the home.

They're busy. Lots of people are single parents. They're busy working outside the home. They're just trying to. There's some single moms who are working multiple jobs just trying to keep the lights on, food on the table, and to keep their children with their basic human needs. According to Maslow, we have basic needs that have to be met first before we can ever

move on to higher order things and so we've got some single moms and some single dads. not just single moms. We have people who are overwhelmed with life and they don't always have the time to help build those strong relationships with their children but that doesn't mean those children don't need those skills and those relationships. So social emotional learning helps us to teach children how to have healthy, positive relationships with others.

you may not like everybody that comes across your path but you sure can give them common courtesy and respect again that goes back to my granny and papa they were so wise neither had a college education but they were some of the smartest people I ever met in my life and they always said treat everybody the way you want to be treated it's a simple but profound truth that I believe is still applicable today and then finally social emotional learning

Mercedes (13:49.926)
Hahaha.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (14:10.808)
teaches children and adults about responsible decision making. just as I mentioned earlier, sometimes people will say things or do things to us that will trigger, trigger emotions, trigger reactions, but we have to take responsibility for our behaviors. We cannot control anybody else, but we are responsible for how we react and respond to others. So social emotional learning gives people, not children,

people, meaning children and adults, the tools to do that. That's why I keep reiterating the importance of SEL within the entire school culture. So it's important to teach this not only to the children, but to the faculty, to the staff, to the admins, and also involve the community. We've got parents who didn't get that strong foundation in social -emotional SEL learning.

Mercedes (14:42.001)
you

Mercedes (15:02.643)
Yeah.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (15:08.738)
we can create programs and outreach efforts that pull them in to let them know as a school we value you we love your children and we want you to be a part of this learning environment because you're an important stakeholder in your child's education so the benefits for social emotional learning are numerous research has shown that students who are exposed to some type of SEL curriculum social emotional learning curriculum

tend to do better academically. So 10 to 11 percent, there are different studies, but some studies propose around 11 percent better if they have those tools. Because guess what? You can't do well in a classroom learning academics if your mind is fixated on different things that you've got going on at home. Maybe major issues you've got going on with another student, say bullying. If you're sitting there hungry,

you didn't get to eat breakfast that morning. It's going to be really tough to focus on spelling words when your stomach is rumbling because you didn't have anything to eat because mom wasn't able to buy groceries because she's waiting on her check that comes in on Friday. it's important to make sure that we realize the benefit that social emotional learning can do for students in the classroom as well as the adults. It helps us with better emotional regulation, again, when people

are faced with heated situations or things that would net maybe push them to do adverse reactions social emotional learning give them give them those tools to try to talk about you know situations to realize that although you can't control someone else you have to learn how to control your own emotions so we can teach students and teachers

teachers work with other teachers teachers work with admins you're not always gonna agree with your administrator trust me I've been in those shoes but you as a teacher have to walk the talk so to speak and make sure that you are handling your stress and anxiety maybe this being pushed down on you so that it does not negatively impact your students in the classroom SEL does that also again it enhances social skills

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (17:34.134)
Some people tend to have issues with communicating and getting along with others. So social -emotional learning, again, addresses the simple principle of respect. You don't have to always like everybody. And guess what? You won't. But you can respect them. You can treat them the way you want to be treated. And that's a driving factor that I try to use in my life every single day. And I try to teach that to my son as well.

again we're going to be faced with all types of challenges adversities but the thing that we can control is that and our reaction to them so being able to dial it back when we want to overreact is a principle intended this social emotional learning teachers another com positive and benefit that i want to leave with the the listeners is social emotional learning creates a better school climate with everybody in the school environment

the admins the superintendents the the teachers the students support personnel what everybody feels valued because guess what there's no i a t we all are better together when everybody feels valued for the role that they play they're going to naturally tried to do better when you feel as if you are saying and heard and valued it helps your own self -worth it helps you

react more positively to others and when parents when we can make parents feel like they're important stakeholders in the educational process they are more likely to get involved in the school and to come and volunteer and to do things that are necessary to create that whole school culture and so SCL does that it shows us how to help connect all members of the school culture it helps to create a sense of safety

on schools are very much places they can often be deemed as hostile environments in some instances just due to that the challenges that many students face and they again they let those challenges that they're experienced maybe from bullying or from negative home environments they let that impact them in the classroom

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (19:57.666)
Well, we want to create a safe environment. The school has to be a safe environment, again, for students to be able to focus on their education. If you're afraid someone is going to bully you or physically harm you, it's going to be very challenging for you to focus on your ABCs and 123s. And then finally, SEL has long -term benefits. If we help students really, really dig into just the basic principles of social -emotional learning, recognizing their feelings,

finding ways to regulate their emotions, taking responsibility for decisions, because you're not always going to make great decisions. We're human. But taking responsibility for those, being big enough to say, you know what? I'm sorry. I made a mistake. I overreacted. Will you forgive me? Doing those simple yet important things will help students long term, because they're eventually going to become adults who will hopefully continue to practice these principles in life.

they're going to want to aspire to become more because they're going to realize that they have indeed self -worth and value and that they are a valuable member of not only their school culture but the entire community and we need them

Mercedes (21:12.563)
There's so much good stuff to unpack here. I just I have goosebumps. I I I wanted I was it takes me back to my first year teaching and I was very fortunate I I can see it even more clearly now, you know shout out to Laura touchstone who was the principal at pine force high school and it was like 2016 2017 she's at Tate now, but shout out to her because

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (21:15.8)
Ha!

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (21:19.373)
Yes.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (21:25.71)
Mm

Mercedes (21:41.829)
She brought in Capturing Kids Hearts and four faculty and staff. We all attended a three day workshop and we went in and we're like, a teacher workshop. It's, you know, back to school. But man, we got in that workshop. Tears were falling down. We're hugging each other. And it's because I had never looked at the coach like that before. I had never listened to the science teacher.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (21:45.026)
Mm -hmm.

Mercedes (22:11.627)
I had put them in a box and then we became human together. It was the most beautiful workshop I have ever been to. Then we took those principles that we had learned and some of us who had not learned those at home into the classroom. I had the best first year by bringing Capturing Kids Hearts into the classroom.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (22:19.96)
Mmm.

Mercedes (22:40.21)
I actually spent 10 days working with how we're going to treat each other here. And we made a social contract that I facilitated. The students decided this is how, and respect was always number one, always number one. And we modeled how we would like this to look. by the end of the school year, we had...

I like light music in my class. taught a journalism course. And so we had like chill, lo -fi, instrumental hip hop. We were a very calm class. Everyone knew what to do. If you had a hard day, it was understandable. I had a start your day over line. You go behind line. I've started my day over. And then you step over the line. And because you got, you were able, we had skills, we had coping skills. And so I'm, when you mentioned,

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (23:26.808)
Hmm.

Mercedes (23:36.594)
the importance of administration, faculty, staff, that it's everyone. It's not just K through 12 learning. It's everyone. And that I had recently said, was talking with a student and they're saying, I feel like the world is happening to me. know, all this is happening to me. And I was like, yeah, you know what though? You don't have to react. You can respond because you're also happening to the world. You know, so when

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (24:00.6)
Bye.

Mm -hmm. I love it.

Mercedes (24:04.55)
When you have this negative emotion or an experience that is crunchy, you can smooth things out by responding with respect or calmly or how you would like to be treated. We don't have to raise our voice. And then that begins to break those cycles. That person might have thought, I thought they were going to yell back at me and you didn't. And now we're spreading those seeds of respect. It's like drop an ounce of respect somewhere.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (24:11.992)
Mm -hmm.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (24:16.084)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Absolutely.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (24:29.227)
Absolutely.

Mercedes (24:33.914)
see how it spreads. And so I'm just floored at how much good stuff you had to share. I know that you have an extensive background of experience, like a whole bunch of it. Just to me, amazing successes in administration. What was one of the most challenging situations you faced related to education or the classroom? And how did you navigate through that?

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (24:59.982)
love that you mentioned first year teaching. And so when I think back to one of the more challenging experiences that I faced, I go back to my first year as a teacher. I had a student who had behavioral issues. He was very disruptive in my classroom. And as a first year teacher, I went into the classroom, I was excited.

i thought all students were going to just sit there quietly and listen to me and just want to soak up everything that i had to say and offer boy was i wrong this little student had many behavioral and emotional issues that he was dealing with and as a first -year teacher i had you know been exposed to various courses to prepare me for that but there's nothing like

experience experience is the ultimate teacher and so i had all of these strategies in theory that i should be doing an implementing in the classroom but nothing was working and coincidentally out turned to my administrator whom i thought was going to be able to provide support and help and unfortunately i didn't receive that i

at the time couldn't understand why i was being told to do certain things for this student when it was clearly being assigned a showing favoritism the student had a parent who was actually a teacher within our district so there was a bit of favoritism being shown and so it was very challenging for me because some of the directives i'll say that i was given on how to handle the student were clearly not fair

to the other students in the classroom. As I really had a tough time adjusting during that first year because it was seemingly challenge after challenge after challenge. But looking back now after 20 plus years of experience, I realized just as I was frustrated, confused, torn on what to do, that administrator,

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (27:20.142)
That was his first year as an admin. So he was learning too. He was learning on how to navigate supporting his faculty, his teachers. And so just like I know, and this is a part of taking responsibility for your decision making, just as I wasn't perfect in some of the decisions I was making in the classroom, I had to realize that that administrator, although he was doing his best, he wasn't perfect either. We were all learning.

Mercedes (27:21.768)
Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (27:50.316)
that student was depending on us to be the examples to lead by example and to teach him what was and what wasn't acceptable behaviors but to also realize he was just a child he was still navigating life at a very young age of six you know many of the behaviors and and and calls for attention

were really cries for help. I looked back later and with a different lens, I call them an SEL lens. I put on my SEL glasses and I looked back and I saw more clearly that that student needed support in ways that we didn't even realize at the time. Again, you have to remember this was back in 99, my very first year to teach. So SEL wasn't a buzzword. That type of training wasn't

quote -unquote popular and even in existence yet and the form that we have it now excuse me so i didn't have those resources those tools to to lean upon and to embrace i'd be attracted lead with love but i also know now reflecting back and again that's part of taking responsibility for one's own actions i could have done much better so that's one of my driving

Memories as far as challenges it was my first year to teach I was learning just like those students were learning and then in turn my admin was learning because he was new in his role, so Once you realize that everybody like you just mentioned is experiencing life They're going through their own challenges that we are not even aware of it makes it a little easier to extend empathy and grace to others because Truthfully, I believe at the heart of most people is goodness. They want to do

do well they want to treat others with best in with the best intentions possible but we'd all we just sometimes don't realize what that is while we're in the moment while we're experiencing that particular issue as i look back i think you could have done this better you could have done that better and although i can't go back in time and change some of the decisions that i made

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (30:17.356)
can help others not make the same mistakes that I did. So I try to pour into new teachers and our faculty members and help them to realize that sometimes behaviors that you see on the surface are not directly related to what the deeper and root cause is. And so it's important to realize that not only when you're dealing with children, but as you mentioned, as we're dealing with fellow colleagues, someone could be snappy.

and you know make a snide remark but you don't know what they just experienced before they left their home you know that morning and so although you may be the recipient of and quote unquote nasty attitude it has nothing to do with you and so that's what i i i tried to lead with in my life now is i'd try not to take things personally when people come across in a negative manner because usually it's not even about me

Mercedes (30:51.686)
Yeah.

Mercedes (30:59.381)
Ha ha ha.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (31:15.384)
there's something deeper that's going on and just like they don't know what's going on in my life I don't know what's going on in their life so that helps me to be empathetic and to say let me not add to their plate let me try to treat them with kindness and hopefully that will shine just a little bit of sunshine on their gray day

Mercedes (31:36.439)
This is exactly why I'm so glad that you're on the show today and to discuss how important this is in every aspect of school culture. With the students, I really brought to my attention one person that I learned from about social and emotional learning was a student, and this is in the detention center that I worked at as an English teacher.

a student named Marvin, he was an older student, it's fifth through 12th in the detention center. But Marvin sat down, he said, know, Ms. Miso, I want to, I'd like an assignment with a quote at the top and then we can write about the quote. his idea, I put that idea on paper because he was one of the influencers of, you know, being an older boy in the classroom.

And it was like a writing, I made it a writing assignment. And then how you were discussing your own personal reflection. So you reflected on your experience and you said, well, you know, I don't want to do that again. I'll do it differently next time. And then I'll share that experience with others. And that's what we did with Marvin's idea for an assignment. And that assignment ended up turning into a hundred different quotes with reflections.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (32:54.328)
Mm -hmm.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (32:58.445)
Hmm.

Mercedes (33:03.283)
for all the students and they would keep them, we would write and then we would discuss it to your comfort level. And the students got to reflect on anger or on, here's one that I learned when I was in there, that aggression may be a form of depression. And they're like, maybe I'm frustrated. So we're learning new vocabulary, we can name what we're feeling and become, here's something else you brought up, aware.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (33:10.7)
Mm -hmm.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (33:21.794)
Mm -hmm. Absolutely.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (33:33.069)
Mm -hmm.

Mercedes (33:33.23)
And it was really, and so this was the seeds for me, the beginning of this type of learning and teaching. So I learned it from a student and then I was like, this is a great idea. We should teach this to others. And then it became a thing. And then we added some more dimensions to it. And here we are today. So I would have to say, you you had mentioned your granny and your papa and your mother. And I'm really big on the mentoring.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (33:40.547)
Yes.

Mercedes (34:02.788)
influences in people's lives. know, it could be sometimes it's just a few minutes. It's like a passing conversation in an airport and it sticks with you. And or it could be someone whose lifetime was an influence on you. Particularly like who would you like to mention as an influence in your life that mentored you throughout your amazing educational journey?

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (34:27.502)
Well, excuse me, Mercedes, as you mentioned, I am the biggest proponent of mentorship. I believe a mentor, as you mentioned, they may happen or drop into your life for a brief moment, one experience, or they can have long -lasting connection with you that truly does have a wide breadth of influence. But one of the biggest

impacts that has ever taken place in my life was my experience of being mentored by shantel cooling shantel may school e and her family found it columbia southern university and i first heard shantel speak i believe it was around two thousand twelve two thousand eleven or two thousand twelve i was a part -time adjunct their columbia southern i had gone to campus for a summer

event where they brought in faculty members so we could connect with each other and gain some best practices and meet administrators and interact with different staff members. And so of course I was excited to go down to the beach, Orange Beach, Alabama and meet some of the folks that I had been working with online. But I never would have dreamt that I would get to meet one of the actual founders of the university.

and when i tell you shantelle coole is a powerhouse in motivational speaking and leadership and mentorship she changed my life i remember listening to her and the transparency that she exhibited during her talk she was trying to get faculty members to understand the history behind columbia southern have their families

literally start university with twenty five dollars and adoring and and what blew my mind was all of the tragedies that they faced that eventually became triumph so it's from tragedy to triumph and she was sharing all of those nuggets very valuable nuggets of wisdom and her talk and

Mercedes (36:24.05)
you

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (36:47.49)
Her family had many adverse circumstances that they had to overcome. She writes about them in her books. So anybody can go and order her book and read firsthand what their family experienced as they were founding the university and the ups and downs that they experienced during those initial years. And I sat there and all I could think of was, wow, if this woman who had so many challenges

you know had gone through so many things that were meant to keep her down to discourage her to make her want to give up a quick if she can stand before me and tell me hey I made it to the other side then I can too and it just lit a it lit a fire in me to want to instill that in our students because I was teaching so many students who would share stories with me about

know how they're working a full -time job, they're trying to fit in, going to college, and it's a dream that they had to put on the back burner but they hadn't given up on it, but they just were almost at their wits end and wanted to throw in the towel. And from hearing her that day, I went back home with just a renewed passion and actually an invigorated spirit to share that tenacity of never giving up with our students.

and so i can recall thinking i've got to meet her i've got to get to know her because that little one instance that i had where i was just basically waiting my appetite because i wanted to become just just a a a semblance of what she had become as a leader knowing that you can be transparent you can admit that you've not always made the best decisions but you can change and you can try to

positively shape and inspire lives each and every day that you get up and so I Was inspired by that first meeting a few years later. I actually moved down to the coast when I became an administrator I had the privilege privilege in honor of being the director over the psychology department and so I actually got to Have more one -on -one with her and she became my mentor and I you know, I learned so much from her on

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (39:13.898)
sometimes you learn morph about leadership based on what not to do so she helped me to realize sometimes we have to be calm that leader that we didn't have we have to give the tools that we didn't receive so she helped me to realize that in order to be the best leader that i can be i have to become a good

learner and follower. I have to lead by example. I have to realize that no one person is more important than the other. It all takes us working together and doing our best to carry out our gifts, talents, and abilities and most of all to surround ourselves with people who can pour into us. You know, if you are the smartest person in your circle, you need a bigger circle.

Mercedes (40:04.788)
Hahaha

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (40:05.9)
So you should always, that was one of the things she taught me and I live by that today. You need to surround yourself with people who are different from you. That's how you're gonna learn, that's how you're going to grow. And so her passion for helping students to keep going after their education despite challenges, despite roadblocks, despite all the no's you received, that was planted inside of me. Those seeds of hope, I like to say she,

She planted those seeds of hope. She's a hope dealer. She planted those seeds of hope within me, and it just made me want to go then pour that into my faculty members, and that they would in turn pour that into our students. So even to this day, she still mentors me. She helps me to sharpen my leadership style, so to speak, and make sure that I'm constantly growing. I'm constantly trying to find new ways to reach our faculty.

our students to develop ideas that will help others around me. want to be a positive influence in people's lives and just by connecting with her my life was forever changed. So I want to encourage people to find you a great mentor, find someone who is what you would like to become someday and learn what you have to do to get on that same trajectory, to get on that path to becoming

but maybe you didn't see i didn't have a lot of people around me growing up who had necessarily overcome challenges they were still in the midst of challenges but this lady showed me that you can be in the midst of life losing everything but coming back from it and having a greater story on the other side and that can in turn help change the world when you're willing to share your own story with others

Mercedes (42:02.131)
Gosh, this conversation is on fire. It's on fire. that's what I hear the authenticity. There's an authentic self. And when you're encouraged and you see it modeled by someone else, you're like, I can be more honest here with me. And then I bring that to the people around me, accept it or no, I'm living with integrity.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (42:05.979)
Ha!

Mercedes (42:32.004)
And so a theme that keeps, you're, it's in your words. I'm listening and I'm hearing the massive amount of humility that you live. You never stated that word, but it's in all your examples. Be teachable. Be teachable. Be respectful. Be grace. Be of grace.

I had heard Anne Lamont had talked about that grace was God's WD -40. you're just a little, being a little squeaky today, you need some grace. I have a lot to think about. I can't wait to go back and re -listen to this. We've covered a lot of your background, your mentors, your experience as an administrator in the class.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (43:01.742)
Mm -hmm.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (43:09.038)
I love it!

Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. I love that.

Mercedes (43:29.651)
and in the classroom. Dr. B, I know you're working on lots of projects, but give our listeners an update on what are you currently working on or what's coming up at Columbia Southern University.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (43:44.62)
Yes mercedes. I have been fortunate enough as you mentioned at the top of the podcast to be bestowed the privilege of being the founding dean of our college of education And that's my baby. The college of ed is my baby. I've been working on it for the past couple of years working to do With our team to develop curriculum to get everything in place. And so we have currently

a Masters of Science in Instructional Design and Tech knowledge that we offer. offer a graduate certificate in Instructional Design and Tech. We offer a Masters of Curriculum and Instruction and a Doctorate of Curriculum and Instruction. But we also have certificates and concentrations that will help students, again, pursue what their future trajectories are. I always tell students, you've got to find out

what your path is and then we'll help you get there so you've got to be motivated by what drives you and so i'm looking to expand our offerings we're working on doctorate of higher ed eventually will be you know rolling that out we want to again as you said prepare k -twelve administrators that were working to eventually offer masters of ed in instructional leadership

other certificates and concentrations that again will help people who are not only teachers but educators. An educator is someone who simply imparts knowledge and trains others. So instructional designers are educators. People who work on training and development within human resources, they're educators. People who serve as healthcare teachers and trainers, they're educators.

The spectrum of people that we can cover and help is limitless because everybody has some type of role in which they are trying to educate or teach others. Even if you might not necessarily have that title, you as an individual are serving in some type of capacity where you are teaching something. Even if it's nothing but a behavior, how to treat others, how to, like you said,

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (46:04.684)
how to interact and respond responsibly and so we are developing different areas in which we can help individuals better succeed in those areas social emotional learning that's one of the things that we have curriculum that we can work with school districts on to help them with their you know school culture not just the teachers not just the students but the entire school culture which encompasses admins staff

community members, the parents, the leaders in the community. It takes a village. That's an old adage. It takes a village. And I really believe in that. And so my brain is always thinking and trying to think of what next steps are, what are ways in which we can pour back into others and help individuals continue their education. Because education truly opens doors. Had it not been for my education,

Mercedes (46:38.032)
I

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (47:03.136)
and my grandparents and mother pushing me and my sister. sister has her terminal degree in social work and mine is in education. We didn't see people like us when we were growing up. We didn't know that there were doctors who were in fields other than medicine. The typical doctors that we saw back then didn't look anything like us. And so I want students to see that you can become

Mercedes (47:26.3)
You

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (47:31.572)
anything that you want to be with the right support, the right mentorship, guidance, and time. Some students it takes a little more time than others to reach their goals, but as I mentioned earlier, a dream deferred, meaning a dream that might be delayed, does not mean that it's denied. It does not mean that it's not ever going to happen, but sometimes people just need a little bit of encouragement along the way. So the College of Ed is committed.

to helping all learners no matter what needs they have because we all have diverse needs and experiences. We're committed to helping all learners reach their highest levels of success. And I'm just honored and privileged to be able to help our team guide the next generation and future generations. Because if we can positively impact a student today who's working on increasing

their financial livelihood so that they can you know provide for their children. We're not only changing their life but their future generations. We're changing how they see and how their children see what their lives can become. And so we're committed to helping students no matter where they come to us. Helping them realize success because success looks different for everybody but in the College of Ed we want to help them reach their level.

of success and we do that by meeting their diverse needs.

Mercedes (49:01.075)
is I love Columbia Southern very much congratulations on the position is position something really the best word but on your January 2024 you have overcome much and like your grandparents you rose to the challenge of bringing this dream of facilitating the stream for others I believe education is a game changer that's why

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (49:14.712)
Hahaha!

Mercedes (49:30.438)
That's why I went in and that's why I went to the juvenile detention facility because I thought, I can teach you. I often say I was hired to teach English, but I found myself teaching hope. We're here. With the motivation, you can do things differently than you have seen. There is another way.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (49:47.982)
Yes, absolutely.

Mercedes (49:57.806)
And he talked about the lens, putting on different glasses. I have a new pair of glasses today because of education. there's so, so much positive impact from educators. And that can be anyone. That can be anyone who's involved in helping someone help light their own fire. You know, I'm in fire. I'm on fire. how'd you get on fire? Well, let me show you how I did it. And then you can find your own way.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (50:20.782)
Bye.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (50:24.802)
Right.

Mercedes (50:25.99)
because success does look different for everyone. I always get really excited. I feel motivated just listening to you. A lot of good stuff today. Before we wrap it up, what words of wisdom do you want to have for our future teachers entering the classroom? How would you like them to launch?

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (50:54.402)
the best words of wisdom that I could share with any teacher, any new administrator, anybody in life comes from

a person who had to drop out of school in the eighth grade. He said, treat everybody the way you want to be treated. That is applicable in anything you do in life. So as you're going into that classroom for the first time, you look at those children as if they're your children. You treat those students the way you want somebody to treat your child. If you're an administrator and you're going into that school for the first time as an admin,

and you're responsible for hundreds maybe thousands of lives you treat those individuals how you want to be treated and everything else just seemingly will fall into place if we just keep a guiding principle of respect having the courage to admit when you know we're wrong or can do something better and just

trying to always shine a positive light on whomever crosses our path we're going to impact the world one person at a time and so i would just encourage anyone teacher admin staff member always remember your importance you're on the team for a reason you value you have value and you matter and we need you so don't ever ever let anyone take that away from you

Mercedes (52:29.702)
I gotta, I gotta just take a, take a moment. Everybody take a, take a moment. This is beautiful, beautiful wisdom from your Paw Paw that will continue on. You know, you, he shared it with you, you shared it here, you share it with others. And that's exactly what you're talking about. It's, you know, I had heard some people plant the seeds, some people come by and water them. And we all have these different roles of nourishment.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (52:38.136)
Thank you so much.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (52:45.539)
Yes.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (52:55.373)
Mm -hmm.

Mercedes (52:59.114)
and planting and sewing. I believe I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer in my life. Dr. B, I want to express my sincere gratitude for you joining us today. I deeply admire you and your commitment to the academic advancement of Columbia Southern University. I just thank you so much for joining us.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (53:04.994)
Yes, yeah. Great analogy.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (53:11.679)
Absolutely.

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (53:21.622)
absolutely, thank you Mercedes, I truly appreciate this opportunity and I look forward to connecting again in the future.

Mercedes (53:28.369)
Yes. I want to know that I do want to thank you for sharing your experience with our listeners. Where can our listeners find you on social media or do you have a preference of contact?

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (53:42.046)
Yeah, anybody who wants to connect I am the queen of connections find me on LinkedIn Freda Barnett Braddock Send me a request. I'm gonna follow you. You follow me We'll link up together and see how we can pour into each other's lives. Absolutely can't wait to connect with you guys

Mercedes (53:58.242)
That is excellent. do follow Dr. on LinkedIn and she's all over the place. is smiling at all the conferences. I'd love to run into you at a conference sometime. to end it out, message to the teachers. Think about the teacher education program you're in right now. Is there a teacher, leader, an administrator, or a professor that you would like to thank for their encouragement, mentorship, or support? Hey,

Dr. Freda Barnett-Braddock (54:11.191)
Yes.

Mercedes (54:27.79)
Send that professor an email or stop by campus and say thank you or shout out to your administrator because we're in the business of personal reflection, growth and positive feedback. Stop what you're doing right now and say, hey, thank you to your mentor or your teacher. Say thank you today. You'll be glad you did. This is your host Mercedes Musso. Join me again on FTCE Seminar, a teacher certification podcast.

Hey, subscribe and sign up for our mailing list at ftceseminar .com or follow us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your favorite podcast players. This podcast is listener -supported. Contributions can be made via the listener -support link on Spotify or hey, you can buy me coffee at ftceseminar .com.

Stop.