1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,640
Welcome to Cultural Connections Lab. I'm your host, Kelly Forbes. We are here to talk with

2
00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:16,560
educational professionals around the world to impact and influence the education system as we

3
00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:21,760
focus on cultural connections and the education of multilingual diverse students. We're excited

4
00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:43,880
to have you join us today and we sincerely hope you enjoy the show. Hello everyone. My name is

5
00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:49,000
Kelly Forbes and I am excited to be here for the very first podcast episode of Cultural

6
00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:54,640
Connections Lab. I am here with Mike Overholt, our producer, and also our very first guest with

7
00:00:54,640 --> 00:01:00,720
Dr. Jeffrey Taylor Tribble. He is the current president of EduSkills. It's a locally based

8
00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:05,600
educational software service provider that helps schools increase funding, simplify compliance,

9
00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:11,960
and support academic achievement for bilingual and emergent bilingual students. Dr. Tribble is

10
00:01:11,960 --> 00:01:16,960
also a former Spanish and ESL, ELL educator and administrator with extensive travel and volunteer

11
00:01:16,960 --> 00:01:24,760
experience around the globe. In 2014, he received his Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Leadership

12
00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:29,840
and Policy Studies from the University of Oklahoma. He also holds a Master's of Education in Bilingual

13
00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:34,560
Education, as well as a Master's of Education in Educational Administration from the University

14
00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:41,260
of Central Oklahoma and currently works as an adjunct, no, does not currently work anymore as an

15
00:01:41,260 --> 00:01:45,520
adjunct professor, but did work as an adjunct professor at the University of Central Oklahoma.

16
00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:52,640
He does work, just not as an adjunct professor currently. His research though was focused around

17
00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:58,320
four topics, Native American language, revitalization, bilingual education, language

18
00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:03,600
policy and planning, student assessment and evaluations, as well as ethics and educational

19
00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:09,360
administration. It is truly an honor to be with a good dear friend and calling of mine, so please

20
00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:14,640
welcome Dr. Taylor Tribble. Thank you so much for having me here. I'm excited for being here.

21
00:02:14,640 --> 00:02:21,600
Yes, yeah, good times. It's really kind of unreal to be in this space with you after knowing you. I

22
00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:26,640
was thinking about this morning, I've known you for 15 years. That's wild. It's really, really wild.

23
00:02:26,640 --> 00:02:33,280
15 past years. Just considering how we got to know each other in the field of bilingual education,

24
00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:38,640
helping me get into this field of education whenever that wasn't my background. As people

25
00:02:38,640 --> 00:02:44,720
that do know me, I wanted to be a dancing bilingual veterinarian. You still are. Who doesn't?

26
00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:51,360
That's the best question. I just quickly realized that I loved animals and not surgery on animals.

27
00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:55,600
I needed to focus on- You're not cutting up your chihuahuas at home?

28
00:02:55,600 --> 00:03:03,200
Definitely not. That is good to know. But anyhow, it's just really been exciting to

29
00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:09,040
reflect back upon whenever I first met you and what my own growth in culture and understanding

30
00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:15,760
about cultural proficiency, my current focus right now in my life in the field of education,

31
00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:20,960
but then knowing everything that you've done through your leadership and education, as well

32
00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:26,480
as through EDGE skills and the impact that you are making in our global community and our global

33
00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:31,040
society. Tell us a little bit just about, introduce yourself, who you are a little bit and

34
00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:36,800
why are you such a big deal in this realm of cultural connections, which you are?

35
00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:42,400
I would not say I'm a big deal. Small deal, but I've just been blessed with many-

36
00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:43,360
It's a matter of perspective.

37
00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:49,360
Yeah. Many amazing opportunities connected with many wonderful people like yourself.

38
00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:56,080
I am many thanks to many people.

39
00:03:57,600 --> 00:03:58,640
That sounds deep.

40
00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:07,120
Yes. As my wife likes to say, every few months I take on a new portion of me. Right now,

41
00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:09,920
I think I'm probably at a Taylor 16.3.

42
00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:13,440
That's a good version in control, by the way.

43
00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:15,040
I just did Kelly 2.0.

44
00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:25,600
Over time, I guess I just really love diversity of thoughts and I'm learning a lot from different

45
00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:34,160
types of people, but foundational to my background and experience and passion for supporting

46
00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:39,760
people of many cultures and languages and religions is my background with travel.

47
00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:45,600
Out of high school, I had the fortunate opportunity to go live with my uncle in Sweden,

48
00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:51,360
18 years old. Didn't know what the heck I wanted to do when I grew up and I'm still not sure that

49
00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:58,720
I do know, but my uncle lived in Sweden after he played professional basketball there.

50
00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:07,760
I didn't know if I wanted to go to college right away and so my mom, I think, regretted making this

51
00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:13,440
recommendation, but said, hey, you should go live with your uncle in Sweden. I thought,

52
00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:14,480
that sounds like a heck of a-

53
00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:15,200
Heck yeah.

54
00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:16,320
Yeah. Let's roll.

55
00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:23,120
18 year old, my uncle had a coffee shop in this, I mean, it was just pristine, beautiful place,

56
00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:31,360
small town in Sweden and basically in the forest. He had remodeled a farmhouse,

57
00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:34,160
a bar and basically, and turned it into a coffee shop.

58
00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:42,160
So had the opportunity at 18 to go work for him in a coffee shop and he let me work as much,

59
00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:49,280
as little as I wanted, make a little bit of money. I'd work about 12 hours a day for two weeks,

60
00:05:49,280 --> 00:05:56,320
save up some money and then travel around Europe. And so coming from the background that I came from,

61
00:05:56,320 --> 00:06:02,560
being brought up in a fairly conservative community, just going outside and traveling

62
00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:10,880
around Europe and seeing different way of living just had a huge impact on me and gave me a great

63
00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:17,920
excitement, appreciation for other languages and cultures and religions. And just knew pretty

64
00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:21,920
quickly that I wanted to continue exploring. I knew at some point I wanted to get my degree,

65
00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:31,280
but I was in no hurry to do it. And so I would, some through lonely planet travel guides at the

66
00:06:31,280 --> 00:06:38,960
time, there was no real internet to speak of. So you couldn't search information. I would go to the

67
00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:46,720
libraries or just buy lonely planet travel guides and look in the back, they'd always have a section

68
00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:53,920
on volunteering and I would find places to go volunteer and started to become real interested

69
00:06:53,920 --> 00:07:00,560
in developing nations, developing worlds. Kind of wanted to experience something a little unique.

70
00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:08,400
I've always had a passion for anthropology and cultures outside of the United States or outside

71
00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:14,960
of Western world. Just really became more interested in experiencing something completely unique to

72
00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:22,080
what we, the day-to-day life that we live. And so had the opportunity to volunteer, work, travel

73
00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:31,280
in over 20 countries outside the United States from the age of 18 to 25. And I think the kind

74
00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:37,520
of most life-changing experience for me was living six months in India. And then, but beyond that,

75
00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:43,440
I hitchhiked all the way from here to Panama and back and was treated so well by so many people.

76
00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:44,160
That's nuts.

77
00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:52,240
Yes. If you don't know me, I am a little bit nuts. Now I have family and kids and so that's

78
00:07:52,240 --> 00:08:02,960
tempered my risk take inside, but it still exists. And make long story short, obviously happy to

79
00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:09,600
kind of dig into some of those experiences that I had traveling. But those experiences, people

80
00:08:10,480 --> 00:08:15,680
treated me so well. My family, my mom in particular was so nervous about all the travel that I was

81
00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:24,000
doing, but I was just feel like protected. There was nothing bad, weird, anything like that,

82
00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:29,200
that happened all through my travels. And I was not staying in luxurious places. I was

83
00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:34,240
flying in the cheapest place to stay, places that you would think that you might have a bad

84
00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:41,840
experience. But people just treated me so well. Like I said, from all different languages, religions

85
00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:50,160
and that, those experiences kind of built in me this excitement and passion for helping people

86
00:08:50,880 --> 00:08:55,440
that come to the United States that are trying to make a better life for themselves. And so

87
00:08:55,440 --> 00:09:03,040
that's kind of where my journey towards passion and appreciation for people of other languages

88
00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:07,680
and cultures came from. It was all through experience and just the kindness and generosity

89
00:09:07,680 --> 00:09:14,720
from people of all languages and religions. You literally have a background that I am so

90
00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:18,400
envious of to be able to travel to so many different countries. I believe that it is so

91
00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:22,960
important for people to have those experiences because they're life changing for us. And it

92
00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:29,760
sounds like your uncle is really the root cause of you being exposed to opportunity to learn about

93
00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:32,800
other people. How did that really impact you though as a person?

94
00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:42,640
Well, I think I've alluded to it a little bit that it is true. My uncle was kind of,

95
00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:47,200
as I said, being brought up in a more conservative community.

96
00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:48,000
I understand that.

97
00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:59,200
Yeah. He was kind of on the outside and I, over time became one person in my family that I felt

98
00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:05,920
like kind of could relate to me very well. He also, like I do, appreciated my upbringing and

99
00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:15,280
the religion I was taught, but he also experienced other cultures. And so as I started to explore

100
00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:20,960
and experiment with other thoughts, he was always there and supportive of me.

101
00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:28,800
So having someone in my family that supported me when I'd come back from travel, oftentimes

102
00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:35,920
I'd get a lot of strange looks. You wouldn't recognize me. You're talking about Taylor,

103
00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:40,240
but what did I say? 16.3 right now we're talking Taylor.

104
00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:41,440
That was Taylor 2.0.

105
00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:49,360
Yeah, maybe more like 6.2. But long beard, long hair, traveling through Central America,

106
00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:56,640
people would call me, hey, Seuss. I look like I walked straight out of one of those pictures.

107
00:10:56,640 --> 00:11:02,080
Listen, if you could see him now though, his short hair, collared shirt, totally professional.

108
00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:03,280
There's no long hair.

109
00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:04,400
No, you would never guess.

110
00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:04,880
Never.

111
00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:12,240
But I think one thing to point out, you were talking about how life-changing travel is.

112
00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:20,640
I think a lot of people assume that there's this cost barrier. And I know there are definitely

113
00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:27,280
safety concerns to think about, but it does not have to be, you don't have to have tens

114
00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:33,440
of thousands of dollars to be able to travel. And I think that's a very important thing.

115
00:11:33,440 --> 00:11:41,760
Tens of thousands of dollars to be able to do what I did. It was in 1998 that I was traveling

116
00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:50,320
in India for six months and I spent, not including a plane ticket, $1,200 for six months.

117
00:11:51,680 --> 00:11:58,560
Traveling through Central America, $1,700. And again, I understand most people are going

118
00:11:58,560 --> 00:12:09,520
to be hitchhiking like I was doing, but I spent a month in Guatemala. I lived with a family

119
00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:17,680
while in Guatemala for a month. They had a family stay. I signed up, they have programs like this

120
00:12:17,680 --> 00:12:24,800
all throughout Central America. Went over a summer, stayed for a month with a family and had

121
00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:31,200
Spanish language instruction five days a week for half a day. And then would be able to do

122
00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:40,640
travel experiences outside of that. And that was really where I picked up a lot of Spanish very

123
00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:48,400
quickly. And that was 400 bucks for a month. And again, I haven't looked to see how much it

124
00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:56,240
costs now, but my point that I think I want to make is I agree with you, Kelly, that travel is

125
00:12:56,240 --> 00:13:01,760
really influential and life-changing and that more people should take the opportunity to do it.

126
00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:08,000
And oftentimes people think they can't because it costs too much. And my point is that it does not

127
00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:12,160
have to cost. Yeah, we're not talking about the all-inclusive resort travel. We're talking about

128
00:13:12,160 --> 00:13:16,240
traveling and going to be spot-lutists waiting to have a nice... We're talking about being part

129
00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:20,080
of a community, part of a culture learning from them. And that's what gets me so excited

130
00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:24,320
because we bring all that back here. So how does that impact what we do in our lives? And

131
00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:29,520
so from my experience is that whenever I get to leave the border of my country and go experience

132
00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:33,040
the lives of other people and be in their homes instead of their table and eat their food and

133
00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:40,960
learn their language, it just makes me understand more about my own culture. And I appreciate more

134
00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:47,360
of who I am as a person, as an open gay man in a very conservative state here in Oklahoma.

135
00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:51,360
And through my experiences, through the field of bilingual education and helping multicultural,

136
00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:57,040
diverse backgrounds of many of our students or rather not helping the backgrounds, but helping

137
00:13:57,600 --> 00:14:02,960
and serving students and educators that have multicultural diverse backgrounds, it's just

138
00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:08,480
really impacted me to understand and want to understand more about who I am and where am I

139
00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:14,560
in this continuum of being culturally proficient, of being an ally, not just an advocate, of having

140
00:14:14,560 --> 00:14:19,520
intercultural connectivity and things like that. But how has learning about all these other cultures

141
00:14:19,520 --> 00:14:24,880
really made you learn more about who you are in your own culture and from where you come and your

142
00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:33,360
ancestors originate? That's a great question. I think that it's only fairly recently that I've

143
00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:40,720
kind of started to dig a little bit more to my background. I think one of the things that

144
00:14:41,520 --> 00:14:47,280
we lose sight of when trying to learn about other cultures is the fact that we have our own,

145
00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:55,600
we have our own culture and background. And I think we as white males, Americans, sometimes think

146
00:14:55,600 --> 00:15:01,280
that it's like we forget about this fact that we do have our own culture and we kind of think of

147
00:15:01,280 --> 00:15:08,240
culture as something outside of us that comes from other countries, similar to I think what

148
00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:14,320
sometimes people think about their accent. Like they all, people generally think they don't have

149
00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:18,320
an accent. Other people have an accent. Being in Oklahoma, we have-

150
00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:19,360
I ain't got no accent.

151
00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:25,600
No, no, why? Those people up in the Northeast, they're the ones having an accent.

152
00:15:25,600 --> 00:15:26,400
They're crazy.

153
00:15:26,400 --> 00:15:37,600
They're crazy. So I think that we forget too that it's similar. We forget that we have an accent.

154
00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:45,280
We forget we have our own culture. And it is important to understand that background,

155
00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:50,720
who you are, where you came from. So yeah, over the past few years,

156
00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:58,320
I kind of started digging into that a little bit more. Being a white male, definitely have strong,

157
00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:08,880
dominant European, Western European background. It appears that last name came from Normandy,

158
00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:15,600
France, traced back to Sweden as well. So I've got a lot of the, a lot of Americans have

159
00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:22,160
a background from Western Europe, France, also a lot of Scottish, British.

160
00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:22,960
Mine's German.

161
00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:27,920
I have some German too. So we may have, we might be long lost cousins.

162
00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:30,160
We might be. Strange.

163
00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:31,040
You never know.

164
00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:41,120
35 times or maybe. So, but I did have an opportunity to go back to where my uncle lived.

165
00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:45,760
He actually passed away this year. And so I was able to go back and see the family and visit the

166
00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:53,840
place, the coffee shop that I worked in. And I definitely have taken more time to understand

167
00:16:53,840 --> 00:17:02,880
the history of those nations and kind of where my roots are from. The first Tribble is from England

168
00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:13,840
that came, we traced back all the way about 400 years ago that the Tribble name came from England

169
00:17:13,840 --> 00:17:21,120
over to the United States. And so it's been fun. I definitely, you know, through my research on

170
00:17:21,120 --> 00:17:26,320
Native American language in Oklahoma, what did comment from my family, like, you know,

171
00:17:26,320 --> 00:17:33,360
you're, why are you so focused on helping people with other cultures? Why don't you help people

172
00:17:33,360 --> 00:17:39,120
of your own culture or understand your own culture better? And it wasn't, you know,

173
00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:47,760
I didn't take that so much as, it could obviously could take that as a negative challenge to

174
00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:53,760
what I was working on, but it did make me think a little bit about, I haven't throughout my life

175
00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:58,800
really taken a lot of time to understand my own culture. I've spent more time trying to understand

176
00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:08,000
other people's and trying to help them out and not that a majority group white males need a whole

177
00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:15,920
lot of help here in the United States. We're pretty good. But so again, it didn't make me really

178
00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:22,640
think, oh, I need to help the white males out more, but it did make me think I do probably need to

179
00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:28,800
spend more time trying to understand my background and culture. But, you know, a lot of what I do is

180
00:18:29,360 --> 00:18:36,720
based on the two experiences I had traveling and that has to this day kind of really

181
00:18:37,360 --> 00:18:42,240
built me the desire to support people who are coming here from other countries that speak other

182
00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:46,000
languages that might feel a little bit lost trying to help them find their way.

183
00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:53,520
I think it's really important to mention about how vulnerable you have to be to try to learn about

184
00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:58,480
your own culture and about the cultures of others, because through that process, you're going to be

185
00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:02,640
on this journey and you're going to recognize things that you do that might be culturally

186
00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:07,040
destructive and other things that might be culturally proficient, right? But whenever we're

187
00:19:07,040 --> 00:19:10,960
looking at cultural proficiency and these connections that we have to how it impacts the

188
00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:19,040
educational practices and pedagogies and the systems of our students, it's just important

189
00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:24,720
to recognize that what you're talking about right now is so real in the aspect of being

190
00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:30,880
exposed to other cultures, but also understanding that this is a journey that starts from the inside

191
00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:36,480
out, that we're not able to help support other populations unless we can first understand

192
00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:44,240
ourselves and from where we come at that same time. But that experience can be intimidating

193
00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:50,720
sometimes. While I've been doing my research from Randall Lindsay, Nury Robbins, Raymond Turrell,

194
00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:57,440
and Dolores Lindsay as well, thinking about cultural proficiency, it just is incredible to see how

195
00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:03,840
leadership really matters and their experiences matter. And so coming back to the title of this

196
00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:08,480
podcast and cultural connections, you've made a huge connection from your background and your past

197
00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:12,880
into creating, and I know this isn't about EduSkills, but an incredible platform that I

198
00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:17,680
personally have been able to work with to help elevate a better and more equitable education,

199
00:20:17,680 --> 00:20:22,800
being an advocate and an ally for students and other populations that have linguistic

200
00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:27,920
and different diverse needs in their educational settings. And so in your experience and what

201
00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:31,360
you've been doing through EduSkills, and again, thank you, EduSkills, for being a

202
00:20:31,360 --> 00:20:36,480
sponsor of this incredible podcast, but just on a personal note for just Dr. Taylor Tribble right

203
00:20:36,480 --> 00:20:44,800
here, what have you learned from this experience and how have being the president and CEO of

204
00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:49,600
EduSkills that is helping truly so many educators reach students and other families

205
00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:56,000
in multiple languages, et cetera, but how have your past experiences and what you're experiencing

206
00:20:56,000 --> 00:21:01,120
now through EduSkills, what have you learned through both of those processes and how has that

207
00:21:01,120 --> 00:21:05,920
connected to the impact that you're trying to make or wanting to make in the field of education?

208
00:21:05,920 --> 00:21:11,840
Yeah, that's a good question. Now we're moving on past those earlier versions of Taylor into more

209
00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:17,200
monitors. Yeah, I think we're getting there. As the story continues, his hair gets shorter

210
00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:21,600
and shorter and shorter. That's true. I mean, here before long, they'll probably go bald and

211
00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:33,520
we'll have a choice. Hey, welcome aboard. The transition from somewhat of a vagabond to a

212
00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:43,600
professional really did come from that desire to support students that are coming from other

213
00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:49,520
countries, trying to make it in this world, trying to fit into the world of the United States and our

214
00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:56,240
fabric and trying to make it through school. So I started teaching in the early 2000s,

215
00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:05,040
taught Spanish and then moved on to teaching multilingual students because I didn't really

216
00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:11,120
feel like I was making as big of a difference teaching Spanish as I could teaching students

217
00:22:11,120 --> 00:22:19,040
from other countries to learn English and obviously promoting the retention of their own language

218
00:22:19,040 --> 00:22:26,240
because I'm a huge advocate of bilingual education and believe that's really the only way to

219
00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:34,080
grow students from other countries, but then also for native English speakers to become

220
00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:40,880
proficient in other languages. It's just essential that we really spend more time focusing on that

221
00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:50,720
in public education, but getting back to that initial portion, moving on to a career teaching,

222
00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:58,320
I wanted obviously to make an impact and help kids, but there were times that my principal

223
00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:05,760
would ask me to shut down my classroom to do paperwork and it just impurated me because I

224
00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:11,440
felt like- You don't find paperwork fun? Not particularly. There are unique souls who do

225
00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:18,240
and it's a little ironic that I've taken on a challenge that means that every day I'm

226
00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:25,600
faced with those challenges, paperwork and compliance issues that I was faced with as a teacher,

227
00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:32,400
but I really, the ultimate goal is to try to take that off the plate of the educator so that they

228
00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:40,560
can spend more time with kids because I know as well as you guys do that teachers do not have

229
00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:45,840
enough time to build a relationship with kids and the relationship is what really matters.

230
00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:55,920
Today, kids can get information in so many places. We don't need another place to get

231
00:23:55,920 --> 00:24:03,200
information. Kids need relationships and that can't happen on a computer. That can't happen

232
00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:13,280
isolated in a home. Obviously, it can happen to some extent through Zoom, but especially kids

233
00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:19,360
from other countries need those relationships and so I felt that was so important for me to

234
00:24:19,360 --> 00:24:24,560
build relationship with my students when a principal would come in and tell me to shut down

235
00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:32,080
my classroom to work on paperwork and it was just infuriating and that's what spurred the idea of

236
00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:38,640
eduSkills. I didn't initially at that point, I had no intention of being an entrepreneur. In fact,

237
00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:42,880
I called myself an accidental entrepreneur. It was not something that I had planned out,

238
00:24:45,360 --> 00:24:51,520
but I faced the challenges that many educators face when supporting students learning English.

239
00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:57,120
You want to build that relationship to help them learn and then there's all this paperwork and at

240
00:24:57,120 --> 00:25:02,960
the time I didn't realize how connected it was to funding and compliance and so I had a lot of

241
00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:12,320
learning to do, but at the time I knew that this was taking time away from kids, which is not what

242
00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:21,040
teachers should be required to do and so over time I just really kind of thought out what a technology

243
00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:27,280
tool might be like that could simplify compliance, kind of offload some of that paperwork and

244
00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:32,960
compliance, data tracking, and then something that could be a tool and a resource as well

245
00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:42,480
to provide instructional support to students and as I moved on through my career working as an

246
00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:52,080
administrator, I actually approached the IT team of the school district that I worked for and proposed

247
00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:59,840
doing something internally similar to the services that eduSkills provides today and I was always

248
00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:06,800
turned down. They said now is not the time and so I just kind of put that on the back shelf and when

249
00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:15,520
I was working on my doctoral program at the University of Oklahoma, I felt like maybe that

250
00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:23,200
was the time that I should start exploring options for software development and how it might be able

251
00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:29,040
to help students and teachers and I wanted to do a research assistantship at the University of

252
00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:34,080
Oklahoma and again I had no intention of being an entrepreneur. I was just thinking about different

253
00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:39,520
ways that I could get through the PhD program, put food on the table for my kids, had two daughters

254
00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:47,280
at the time, now I have four. He's craving. Yes, we already kind of established that.

255
00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:59,040
Just reinforcing. So I was kind of exploring options for putting food on the table to be able

256
00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:04,240
to make a little bit of money to support the family. Started doing some training. Actually

257
00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:10,400
resigned from the school district that I was working for and took on the research assistantship

258
00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:19,200
that paid hardly anything and was just laying up at night thinking how could I kind of create a

259
00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:27,120
platform because I had no experience with software development and that's kind of been my history

260
00:27:27,120 --> 00:27:34,640
so far. Really, I consider myself sort of the jack-of-all-trades. I'm not an expert at anything

261
00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:39,680
to be frank. I just know a lot of really good people and I'm willing to take risks and try things

262
00:27:39,680 --> 00:27:48,800
and at the time I found a group outsourced software development here locally with a group that I call

263
00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:54,400
the Yes People. They were software developments that charged quite a bit per hour. I racked up a

264
00:27:54,400 --> 00:28:01,120
lot of debt on a credit card and to be able to create a system that, as you know, Kelly,

265
00:28:01,120 --> 00:28:07,280
you were the very first customer and it worked. The platform worked for you guys and it worked

266
00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:13,440
well but it was a lot of time on the back end. My wife and I were staying up late at night trying

267
00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:22,320
to make things work on the back end for data to flow correctly and so I knew that there wasn't a

268
00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:30,080
way forward with that model. It wasn't sustainable. I couldn't grow the company and have a large group

269
00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:36,720
of customers without doing something. Or a life. Or a life. Yeah. My wife and I did not want to be

270
00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:46,880
staying up late at night indefinitely. I'm very fortunate to just randomly talking to one of my

271
00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:54,080
friends from high school that I grew up with. I would go over to his house growing up for Bible

272
00:28:54,080 --> 00:29:01,280
study and I knew who his family was but I didn't know what they did and didn't know what his dad

273
00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:05,200
did and so I was just talking about my challenges and he said, you need to talk to my dad.

274
00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:14,400
So I did. Went and spoke with his dad. His dad has been in software development for decades.

275
00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:19,680
Has a lot of experience but an IT director for a school district before many years ago.

276
00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:28,240
And so he really had a lot of background experience that has helped EdgeSkills grow to

277
00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:32,000
the point that it is today. He's been a wonderful mentor as a current business partner.

278
00:29:34,080 --> 00:29:40,560
But he kind of helped bring together a team that actually could develop the software.

279
00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:47,040
And Mike being one of those that he, my partner has known Mike since he was a baby.

280
00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:47,920
A very long time.

281
00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:48,720
Since he was born.

282
00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:53,520
Yeah. So long history there as well.

283
00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:57,120
But he'll tell you plenty of stories about how he helped me when I was just born.

284
00:29:57,120 --> 00:29:57,760
I'll only be a pathologist.

285
00:29:57,760 --> 00:29:58,640
If only you asked.

286
00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:00,880
I don't think you have to ask.

287
00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:03,360
Yeah, fair enough. He might just put it out there.

288
00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:05,040
He's a storyteller.

289
00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:06,880
Yeah. Yeah, we'll go with that.

290
00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:16,160
So long story short, he's the one that really has been able to help me put together a business that

291
00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:19,200
actually is sustainable, can grow.

292
00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:22,560
And we're continuing.

293
00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:24,720
Our focus is customer support.

294
00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:30,720
We really pride ourselves not in focusing on growth but focusing on our customers and

295
00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:34,880
growing the program to make the program better and to provide more support for

296
00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:36,640
for educators.

297
00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:41,200
At the beginning, we were very much focused on offloading compliance.

298
00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:43,600
So we were compliance focused.

299
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:49,200
But since then, we've really built out to providing instructional support for teachers

300
00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:54,960
and to now really focusing on ways that we could support families and parents.

301
00:30:54,960 --> 00:30:56,960
And we're getting creative in that area.

302
00:30:56,960 --> 00:30:59,920
They also obviously need resources.

303
00:30:59,920 --> 00:31:03,040
And so we're trying to be innovative and creative about

304
00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:09,440
resources that we can provide to educators without kind of stepping too far into

305
00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:12,400
a super competitive market.

306
00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:15,120
The curriculum market is very competitive.

307
00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:21,600
We're in an itch space and try to be very intentional about the types of services and

308
00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:22,800
support that we provide.

309
00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:27,200
But we definitely are really working on building out support for families.

310
00:31:28,240 --> 00:31:32,240
Your impact has truly been remarkable in the field of education.

311
00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:36,160
And you're incredibly humble all the time whenever I talk to you about things like this.

312
00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:42,160
But the reality is that what you do and you allowing yourself to really reflect upon your

313
00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:46,720
past experiences and then you come and you really have such a big, huge heart for

314
00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:51,520
people in general, but especially for underrepresented populations.

315
00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:57,840
And so you've allowed a space for educators like myself to be able to leverage the type

316
00:31:57,840 --> 00:32:02,080
of equitable practices that we want to see and that we read about in our textbooks that

317
00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:06,160
whenever we're in college, we're learning about what we're supposed to be doing.

318
00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:09,360
And then it's just sometimes ironic that in education, we're all about research,

319
00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:11,840
but then whenever we want to implement research, we can't do that.

320
00:32:11,840 --> 00:32:13,920
I don't necessarily understand why.

321
00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:19,280
But then there are people like you that come along that took the time that sacrifice time

322
00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:23,440
with family, family sacrifice time to help with the business, to create a platform where we can

323
00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:24,400
make these connections.

324
00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:28,720
And so compliance might be that door that was opened up to allow us to get in there.

325
00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:34,640
But then the conversations around that really help elevate the voices of other students,

326
00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:36,800
of other families, of other educators.

327
00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:40,400
And so I first of all, just want to come from a place of gratitude and say thank you because

328
00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:44,480
you've allowed me to be a better person and a better educator to impact the lives of other people.

329
00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:47,680
And I so thank you for that.

330
00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:52,000
Yeah, it's a blessing to be able to help people.

331
00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:58,560
Definitely, I feel like I'm grateful that I can be a conduit to do those types of things.

332
00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:04,560
As I said before, I don't feel like I'm an expert per se, but I do know a lot of people.

333
00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:08,560
I like helping good people connect with good people.

334
00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:14,400
And I'm happy to continue to do that for you and others to help really emphasize the importance

335
00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:22,080
of equity and culture and language, multilingual America, which I think is really important.

336
00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:26,480
I really believe that is through our diversity that we really find so much more unity.

337
00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:32,000
You know, but man, it's just really exciting to be thinking about everything that you've done

338
00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:36,000
and the big impact that you've made in the state of Oklahoma and across the entire nation.

339
00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:40,320
And obviously 20 plus different countries at the same time.

340
00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:45,440
But truly, the work that you do has just changed the whole conversation in other

341
00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:47,200
districts where I've been able to work.

342
00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:52,560
And so the work that everything that was happening before until now was all happening for you and

343
00:33:52,560 --> 00:33:57,040
not to you because it's now created a whole path for other people to do incredible things that

344
00:33:57,040 --> 00:33:58,960
were not even accessible before.

345
00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:03,360
And so this is why I really wanted to be able to talk with you on this very first podcast session

346
00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:05,600
is to say thank you to Edgeskills and thank you to you.

347
00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:09,680
But you've changed my life and I know that therefore you've changed the lives of other

348
00:34:09,680 --> 00:34:10,320
people.

349
00:34:10,320 --> 00:34:13,920
And if that's what we're meant to do on this great earth is to leave a legacy,

350
00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:18,000
well, then you're definitely an exemplary model for that.

351
00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:19,040
Thank you.

352
00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:20,160
Very kind statements.

353
00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:21,840
It's all true.

354
00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:23,760
I don't even know how to.

355
00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:24,720
You made it up.

356
00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:31,680
But with that, so like my kind of final wrap up question with this is based on everything

357
00:34:31,680 --> 00:34:35,120
that we've talked about right now and we're able to be in this incredible space.

358
00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:38,080
And again, thank you to our sponsor, Edgeskills for this.

359
00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:40,160
But we're able to have these conversations.

360
00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:43,120
We're going to have more conversations, many more people that we're going to interview

361
00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:46,400
from very, very different backgrounds.

362
00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:47,840
We're going to learn from all of them.

363
00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:49,200
But I want to hear from you.

364
00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:52,080
What is your hope and what is your dream for this podcast?

365
00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:53,920
This is really a special moment.

366
00:34:53,920 --> 00:34:58,480
I feel like in my personal journey and my professional journey and then as well with

367
00:34:58,480 --> 00:35:02,000
both of you here today with Mike and with Taylor.

368
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:04,800
But truly, what is your dream for this?

369
00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:05,920
What's your hope?

370
00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:07,200
Reaching for the stars.

371
00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:10,240
What's the biggest hope that you have for this podcast?

372
00:35:10,240 --> 00:35:10,740
Yeah.

373
00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:20,480
I hope to inspire others to get out there and to really start to understand kind of

374
00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:25,600
what we started out at the beginning discussing not only their own backgrounds,

375
00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:31,360
but the backgrounds of other and being being vulnerable and willing to listen to people

376
00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:37,520
that have different views that might be from other countries that speak other languages.

377
00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:48,720
Unfortunately, in this country, we've created a monolingual, monocultural society and too

378
00:35:48,720 --> 00:35:55,920
often close ourselves off to things that could really benefit us and benefit the nation as well.

379
00:35:55,920 --> 00:36:00,560
Again, I'm just really believe firmly in the importance of diversity of thought

380
00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:07,360
and that that makes us better, not worse from all spectrums, right, left, in the middle.

381
00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:14,240
And so I'm hoping that this podcast kind of is able to highlight those multiple views,

382
00:36:14,240 --> 00:36:21,520
not just the views that we might have, but views all across the spectrum from multiple

383
00:36:21,520 --> 00:36:28,560
cultures, religions, language, and a space where we can learn from each other and learn to respect

384
00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:33,440
one another for our differences and try to grow together.

385
00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:42,160
So that's kind of the general goal and hope is hope that we'll be able to kind of bring a voice

386
00:36:42,160 --> 00:36:49,840
and opportunity for people to kind of share their experience and backgrounds in a way that

387
00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:57,200
can be broadcast all over instead of just a conversation at a coffee shop like other people

388
00:36:57,200 --> 00:37:05,600
are able to hear this all across the world and connect each other. I love connecting good people

389
00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:09,520
to good people, as I said, and I think through this experience, we're going to be able to

390
00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:14,800
get the word out in ways that we never have before and make a difference in communities that

391
00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:22,000
we would not even think possible today. So that's the real goal is just, you know, in the name,

392
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:28,240
cultural connections, trying to bring cultures together, to learn from one another so that we

393
00:37:28,240 --> 00:37:35,120
can advance society and move forward together, not only in the education space, but just day-to-day

394
00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:42,080
life in general, just help bring an appreciation for language and culture and diversity in the

395
00:37:42,080 --> 00:37:46,800
United States and across the globe. I'm really excited about this because I cannot wait until

396
00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:51,760
we interview some people and have some really like pinpointed hard conversations. I can't wait to be

397
00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:56,480
pushed myself, you know, out of my thinking and just always coming back and remembering that we're

398
00:37:56,480 --> 00:38:02,720
all on this journey. We're all just trying to be the best that we can be and if you're not, well,

399
00:38:02,720 --> 00:38:08,400
I'll tell you, that was try harder. But truly, this is a journey.

400
00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:18,560
Yeah, all in respect for one another. Yeah, truly. And whenever we've lost that respect, I feel like a lot in this country, like we're pitting one thought against another and we're not learning from each other.

401
00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:36,400
Yeah, I think a lot of that rhetoric gets in the way of empathy, of compassion, and of understanding. And I appreciate that you set a respect. Whenever I first got into the field of education, I taught a classroom that represented seven countries in eight different languages, and I only spoke English and Spanish. And so I got to know a lot of people

402
00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:52,400
who spoke English and Spanish and so I could communicate to some of the students through the mode of Spanish, but the other students I couldn't so you had to find many other ways through, you know, translation, family pictures, gestures, you know, whatever it took to communicate with them.

403
00:38:52,400 --> 00:39:05,400
But with that, though, we had with the seven different countries, a lot of different religious backgrounds as well and so we just had one one expectation, and our number one rule was just respect, and we knew if we could just respect each other, everything else would fall into place.

404
00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:17,400
And so whenever I saw that happen with 27 middle school students sixth through eighth grade, then to me that means there's no excuse for adults to be able to do the exact same thing.

405
00:39:17,400 --> 00:39:22,400
So, take it from the kids right. Any last closing thoughts that you all have for today.

406
00:39:22,400 --> 00:39:34,400
No, I think if you've made it this far listening. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you guys. Thank you everybody out there. Thank you, Kelly for everything you do, and for your commitment to being the host of the podcast.

407
00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:48,400
I'm really excited about what's coming over the next few months and upcoming years. This is truly a huge honor. Thank you to everyone who is watching. Thank you to our guest today Dr. Jeffrey Taylor Trible, and we appreciate you so much.

408
00:39:48,400 --> 00:40:12,400
Kelly Forbes here finding out we appreciate it. You connected to. Thank you so much for the opportunity.