Bullying Beware: An Educator's Playbook for Empowering Students | Episode 88

Dana Fikes, a veteran educator and author, shared her journey from teaching two-year-olds at her aunt's school in Pasadena to working at JPL and NASA, and later at PAC Bell and Head Start. She discussed her book, "The Pirate Who Loved Flip Flops," which addresses bullying and promotes individuality. Dana emphasized the importance of creating a supportive learning environment and shared her experiences with bullying. She also highlighted her nonprofit, the Charles Fikes Foundation, which focuses on youth with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and her work integrating yoga and mindfulness in schools. 

Dana's contact information and resources:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-pirate-who-loved-flip-flops-dana-macc-fikes/1138811704

Social media handles:
Instagram @danamacc
Facebook @danamacc
YouTube @danamacc

Wellness and Yoga sites:
www.danamacc.com
www.seeingrealsuccess.com

Non-profit website & information:
www.thecharlesfikesfoundation.org
Instagram: @charlesfikesfoundation
https://www.acesaware.org/
https://numberstory.org/

Chapters

• 3:28 Dana Fikes shares how she started working at her aunt's all-black school in Pasadena at the age of 18
• 7:55 Dana explains what the ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) dollars were and how they helped her expand Early Head Start sites.
• 13:07 TD Flenaugh and Dana discuss the changes in educational practices over the years, with increased safety concerns limiting hands-on learning experiences.
• 22:24 Dana discusses the key message of her book "The Pirate Who Loved Flip Flops" and the importance of empowering kids to embrace their individuality.
• 34:38 Dana provides advice for parents and educators on addressing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and the importance of social-emotional learning.

Transcript

TD Flenaugh: 0:01

Has your child experienced bullying? If so, you want to stick around for this episode, because our guest today has written a book about it, and we're going to get all the details for how to protect your child in this type of issue. Hi. Thank you so much for joining the Falling for Learning Podcast. We have this podcast to help parents and caregivers with having the resources, strategies and tools needed to make sure that their children are on track for learning and to stay on track for success. Thanks so much for joining us. Dana Fikes, how are you doing today?

Dana Fikes: 0:43

I am well. Thank you for having me excited to be here.

TD Flenaugh: 0:53

Okay, so tell us well. First of all, you should know about Dana as that she is a veteran educator, and she is an author as well, and she's also an entrepreneur in other areas. So can you tell us a little bit about what you do?

Dana Fikes: 1:18

Thank you. Thank you. So first and foremost, yes, I am an educator. I have worked in the field of education, starting when I was 18 years old. I have an aunt who had an all black school in Pasadena. I'm born and raised in Pasadena, Pasadena area, sending much love and positive energy to all of my family who's lost their homes and those who've been affected by the fires. So I want to get that out. I grew up in Pasadena, so my aunt had a school that she started with her friends, and when I became of age, I was the teacher in the two year old classroom. So I had two year olds, and at that time, I had my own son, so he was in the class too, and he was one. So that began my journey. I worked at Pasadena Unified, starting out as an instructional aid in the after school program, and fresh out of high school, went to Pasadena High School, went to Cal State, LA, and at that point, didn't know what I really wanted to do. Was unsure, like most young people. And from there, I dropped out. It's like, you know, just having fun and partying and having a good time, and then eventually, working with Pasadena Unified, I was like, You need to figure out what you want to do with your life. And I remember we were talking earlier, and when you want to be the parent that supports your child's dream. So if I would have done anything else, other than being an educator, I would have been an actress, and that's what I wanted to do. My family was like, No, you can't do that, you know, you need to go somewhere, make some money. So that was put on the back burner. So while I was working at passing unified, I was learning from, you know, my co workers, and then administrators going to school, and then you can, you know, kind of get yourself higher up on the pay scale. So I went to PCC, where I started learning about early childhood education and just moving through, like the passing unified system. And then eventually I decided, yeah, I think I do want to be a teacher.

TD Flenaugh: 3:28

Okay,and so one second you were yes, that you worked with your aunt when you were of age. Tell us what that age was, because it sounds like you were really young.

Dana Fikes: 3:37

I was 18. Okay, so you were 18. I was 18. You were there, yeah. I was 18, 1819, working with the two year olds. And so her school focused on all black children. The Swahili. Name is amawale Ujamaa. She and a couple of her friends were the founders back in the early 70s, and they were Pan Africanists who focused on the teachings of Marcus, Garvey, Malcolm X and so they are a pillar in the Pasadena Community. She's no longer there. She had transitioned to a charter school, maybe in the late, early 2000s and now she's currently retired. But that's where I started. And so all of my you know, cousins, her children. And then my brother went, my son went. I never went there, but because that's my aunt, my mother's oldest sister, the family was very much a part of the school, including my grandmother, who cooked all the nutritious meals, and she's where I learned about being vegetarian, although 80% vegan now, but before it was like this thing for people to do now, like she was already on that trajectory with her friends. All they fed, you were nutritious foods and things of that nature. So I've always been around education. That's just something that my family is, you know, into there's a lot of teachers in my family, so once I got back on board. Work with what I was going to do in my life. I was at passing unified, and I left at one one summer, we had a guest come in from jpl nasa to talk about science with our students, and I asked the lady that came, could she tell me how I could get in to the lab? And she told me how. And so I left the district, and I went to work for JPL and NASA, wow. And so what I did, yeah, what I did was our mission looked at Black Holes in outer space through a technology called Space VLBI. And our mission, it was a million dollar mission. So the reason why I had to leave, although my project manager, he found me something else on the lab, but I wasn't, you know, really like, sure, like, is this gonna like, if this one ends, how can maybe another one will end too? So, but the time that I was with there, I worked with the engineers and the scientists, and we had a collaboration with Russia and Japan, and they would travel. So I would travel with them, and we would do like symposiums for the youth or schools, and so I would have to teach them, you know, what I knew. And then we would do like arts and crafts that were mimicking like what our spacecraft called hauka looked like. And so the children would get to make those things like that. And it was fun. It was fun traveling and hanging out with a scientist and then working on the lab, which was one of the most magnificent experiences I've ever had part of my education journey. And so from there, right, from there, I went to work for PAC Bell, and didn't pan out. And I remember one day I was outside on my break, and there were these group of students on a field trip. They had to be like, kindergarten, and I remember everybody's outside on their break, you know, but the kids were walking by with a teacher, and they're all like, waving at me, like, hi, hi. And I took that as a sign. And so from there, I was like, I need to get back into the classroom. So I went to Head Start in Pasadena, and I was teacher. Then I progressed up to teacher supervisor, and then I became a site director, where I had sites in Glendale and in Pasadena, I was the early Head site director. And then at that time, we got our dollars from Obama, when he was president, so I was able to open up early Head Start early Head Start Sites, although we already had some with the agency that I worked with, but we opened up additional ones. And when we lost those our dollars, I was like, Hmm, maybe I need to go back to the Head Start side, just in case. Like,

TD Flenaugh: 7:55

Can I stop you for a moment, what are ARA dollars?

Dana Fikes: 7:59

ARRA so it was something that Obama did. So the R dollars, it was a R, R A, so he did things like fix the freeways or whatever, you know, and you could tap into that. So we use the ARRA dollars that we received to open up more Early Head Start Sites. Okay, so that's how I was able to come on from teacher supervisor to Early Head Start site director, because we received the Ara Ara. And I can't even tell you what the acronyms for at this point in time, but it was the R dollars. And so when those R dollars start to diminish, I was like money to go back to the early Head Start side, I mean to the Head Start side. So I did that. And so from there, I was working on my master's degree, and I had to leave there anyway, because you have to teach all your degree. So I have two credentials. I have a general ed credential, which I got first, and I have a master's degree and an early childhood special ed credential.

TD Flenaugh: 8:57

Okay, and can I give you a positive just for one moment, because, yes, one of the main things about the falling for learning podcast is talking to guests about what really made them fall in love with learning. So what? Yes, obviously, when you were working with kids in schools, and you have been, you know, you have an extensive amount of education yourself. When you were young, what was that thing that really drew you into learning and make you love learning. I,

Dana Fikes: 9:23

like I said, before I grew up in Pasadena, and I remember talking about this with some of my friends, I was like, I've never had a bad experience, maybe one or two in my education, educational career, so in elementary school. So I was a head start child as well. Even I'm telling you that I worked at Head Start, I was a Head Start student. And then from there, I went to a school called Sierra Madre, elementary school, kindergarten there, and then first, second, third, and most of my teachers, I counted one day as I was an adult or black women. They're black women, and in these classrooms, I just had these wonderful experiences with learning. One teacher that stands out in particular, who I still know to this day. Shout out to miss West. Miss Juanita West, and she was the sweetest, kindest loving, nicest, but firm. She could be firm like that wasn't her thing. She wasn't just a firm teacher, but if it had to come out like, Yeah, but in her classroom, the learning environment, the ecology in the classroom, was very relaxed, and the learning that took place was from a comfortable, calm space where it was okay to fail. And I say that because learning should be messy for kids. Yeah. And so while learning is messy, you also want to feel like, if you aren't successful, that you still have the opportunity to be supported and uplifted in that environment. And so she did that seamlessly and effortlessly. And so I had her for second and third grade, and she's just a remarkable individual. She's a remarkable individual. So if I was to pinpoint any person other than being in Wisconsin, my aunt's environment with school, it would be Miss West, because she was the type of teacher that made you want to you might not have thought you wanted around her. You will be teaching, but on that campus, Sarah madre, so it's close to where the Eden fires started, right? So in that area, there were a lot of nature enthusiasts, and we were, we were structured, and we sat close to the mountain, and there was this ravine, kind of like eating, called Bailey Canyon. So we would go on impromptu field trips, like up into the mountain to go hiking. And we had a room on the campus called the discovery room, so it's like a science center exploration and, yeah, this was a time where, you know, everyone wasn't hyper vigilant whether or not kids were going to be injured and hurt. So we would make candles. We would make candles. I remember dipping the little and we will make candles. There was guinea pigs in there. We would experiment with, like, batteries and electricity. We will make cinnamon rolls in there, like, so it was like, maybe you would go once a week from your classroom right to the discovery room or whatever. And so my experiences were that we had a noon aide, Miss Phillips, older Caucasian woman. She had a pool. So after, like summer, getting close to, like June, she would invite you to go to her house to go swimming. And so the experiences, and then the where the school is is, like, nestled against the mountain. So

TD Flenaugh: 13:07

Can I just like to say, like, you're so right, right now, like a lot of these things are very much frowned upon, right? And so people who don't know like, we teach in California, and I don't know if your district or if you're like this, but for us, if it drizzles a little bit, our kids have to be in for recess. It's crazy

Dana Fikes: 13:29

Inclement weather time!

TD Flenaugh: 13:30

yes, it's like, okay, the kids might slip, they might run, and they'll even say, Okay, this is a walking recess. You could go outside, but you gotta walk because you might slip or trip or something on the concrete. So it's crazy, like they're hyper vigilant about it. And I don't know wherever you are listening or watching from, if it's like that for you, but it does you guys tamper down on some of those fun learning experiences. And of course, right falling for learning is all about like, how could you have fun with learning, and what were those experiences that you had as a kid? But some of that is

Dana Fikes: 14:09

and so very much so

TD Flenaugh: 14:10

litigious you know, yes, yeah.

Dana Fikes: 14:12

And so very much so this was a nowadays, they probably would call it a lab school, you know. And it truly had a socio constructivist approach. Um, totally Vygotsky, like you're gonna be hands on in this learning. And like I said, we could go to Bailey Canyon. It could be, it would be like a walking field trip where your parents have already signed. So it wasn't like you gotta wait till tomorrow. Like we could go at the drop of a hat right off the back of the school, and then walking up into the canyon. And so those experiences, and seeing that from because I was at that school, from kindergarten, first, second, third and fourth grade. So that's five years second and third. Miss West, who that she inspired. Me to want to teach. And then in fourth grade, I had Miss Nassif, and she was into theater and vinyl. And so we would listen to Annie. That was the first time I had ever listened. And so when you're listening, you definitely have to engage your imagination. And then when she would read, so two of my favorite books and now movies, which was Charlie the Chocolate Factory. And then Willie walk in the Chocolate Factory, because after her reading it, and then you seen it on TV like that was a big deal, like, where they have books to go to, you know, theater now, or TV, like, it's just commonplace, but back then, you're like, Oh my God, my teacher was reading this book, and now it's on TV. And as a kid, you don't know the process that that took, or whatever. And so to this day, even for my son and my grandchildren, Willie walked in on the Chocolate Factory is their favorite movie too. And Annie one of my favorites because she would play that on vinyl. She also introduced us to the Wizard of Oz. And again, being with my grandma on, like, a Friday night, and on CBS, it comes on like, oh my goodness, we were reading this in school, and so to now match the characters with what was being read. It was just an amazing experience. And so that began my love of wanting to read books and adventure like movies that had, like an idea of adventure about them, and so I would say being at Sierra Madre would be the beginning of my love and how I, you know, fell into learning and why I decided that I would want to be an educator slash actor.

TD Flenaugh: 17:05

The R.E.W.R.I.T.E. Method and The R.E.W.R.I.T.E. Method Workbook are your go to resource for helping kids to learn to fall in love with writing. It has the tips, tools, resources, strategies and skill building activities to help kids fall out of writing heat and into loving to write. Get your book set today. That is very awesome. Wow. So many like gems in there, like, just that exploration, you know, bringing, you know, connecting what you're reading to what your what you know, what you see on TV or even listening experience like, those are some great things that I think you know. We as educators, or parents need to remember or thinking about making learning fun for our kids. Absolutely. Yeah. So can you tell us? You know, what do you like? I know that you have your book. Can you tell us about your book?

Dana Fikes: 18:27

Okay, so I have it here. It's the the pirate who loved flip flops. So

TD Flenaugh: 18:34

the pirates flip flops, okay, yes,

Dana Fikes: 18:37

she loved flip flops. And so this came about. So starting back where I was telling you, being at Sierra Madre, and we read, and they read to us, and reading was a big thing and a big deal, and it mattered. So I've read books like Pippi, long stocking and then Annie and, you know, fudge and super fudge and things that to me, had an air adventure. So I love pirates. I love flip flops. And I I'm sure my love of pirates came from being at going to Disneyland and experiencing the Pirates of the Caribbean, and then Pippy long stocking and her father being a pirate. So from that, my imagination has always, you know, been in the realm of, what if I was to write a book or create a story, and what would that sound or look like? And so what I did was I took my love of flip flops, I took my love of pirates and my love of my dog there. There he is. It's Kodak right there. I took my love of Kodak the right and I came up with this story. And it's the pirate who love flip flops. So the premises, Mackenzie. Here, that's her, see, there, her there, she's reading a book. And so she wasn't so much into, you know, toys and things of that nature, other than her baby burp up doll. And so she loved, you know, the swash buckling Adventures of being a pirate. And so in this adventure, she fills out an application because she wants to go to pirate con. And pirate con is a convention where all the pirates get together and they display their treasure, and then they, you know, judges go around and they vote on it and see who has the best treasure. And it just so happens, her treasure was something that was near and dear to her heart, which are flip flops. And so she gets talked about and demeaned and bullied by these pirates at pirate con, but she remembers that because she is the captain of our own ship. She gets to make new rules, so she gets their attention and gets the pirate code, and she goes to work, and she notes that whatever your heart desires, whatever the things that you are into, it is okay to be unique. It is okay to be different, and our similarities and differences are things that we have to relish and respect. And just because she liked flip flops doesn't make her an anomaly. She can like flip flops, and she still can be a part of the pirate society. And she made a new rule, and she admonished them for the bullying. And just so happens that other pirates come forth and they talk about the things other than treasure that they are into and love, but were afraid to come forward to talk about because they didn't want to be bullied, and they didn't want to feel feel like that they were different and not accepting in this pirate society. And then she, you know, goes on to encourage them and all the readers as well, to always, always go after the desires of your heart. And if you want to know more, you gotta go get the book

TD Flenaugh: 22:24

and really support this book. And these... Such a strong message for students, right for kids out there that, you know, we do often want to, you know, not stand out, to do the things that everybody else is doing what other everybody else thinks is cool or interesting. And part of developing that self identity is being okay with being different and speaking up for the things that you like, no matter if other people like it or not, or enjoy it or not. And you know, that's, that's really, you know, that special sauce that we all have right that individuality so would agree.

Dana Fikes: 23:03

And in the pages of the book, I the last page of the book, I do a call to action for parents, teachers, stakeholders, anyone who is in a child's world to help them understand what they can do if they are faced with bullying. October is National anti bullying month, and they have a website, and there's a plethora of information on there at my school site, we even did a school wide anti bullying assembly, and what we did in collaboration with me, our school librarian at the time, and other teachers was I came up with the idea of them signing a anti bullying contract. So we had a big piece of construction paper, the butcher paper, and we had our anti bullying sign. And after each assembly, and I talked about it, we encourage them to pick up a marker and sign their name to the contract that they would be upstanders and not bystanders, if they are, you know, witnessing bullying of a friend and what they can do so that they feel empowered. And one of the things I didn't mention at Sierra Madre, I was bullied. I was bullied, and I remember being on the steps and a young guy, Scotty, in my classroom. I remember he pushed me down the stairs, and this was in second grade and it chipped my tooth. I had a chipped out to go to the doctor and everything, and it didn't feel good at all. And that stuck with me, and even when I got to so at that time, they didn't have sixth grade in middle school. I. Okay, so once I left Sierra Madre, I went to field Elementary, which is even closer look, further down the hill, but closer still to the Eden fire area. And fifth grade had a similar experience. And so you might not know, but at your child's school, they're definitely going to be bullies, and your child may be being bullied and not know how to tell you that. I never told my mom. I know what to say. You know. How do you say that? And then you have maybe older cousins or aunts or whoever's in your family who may have experienced similar but telling you how you have to stand up for yourself, or you know what to do, maybe you gotta fight, or whatever, and you're like, Well, what if I'm not a fighter? What if I'm not a fighter. So how do I navigate that space? Right? So this book is definitely based upon some personal experiences, where it wasn't until I got to high school and I was telling a friend of mine, probably, we spoke like two weeks ago, that the one day that I remember I stood up for myself in high school, right? And it was with my own group of friends that I hang out with that they said a couple of them thought that I did something, I didn't do it, and I don't operate that way. And I was probably like, No, I have to speak up, because if I don't, then this is either going to continue and it doesn't feel good at all, so I have to speak up. And many times I'll say this to parents, and if you know sharing this with your children, that when they feel empowered and maybe you do like what we call a social story with them, or act it out. That strength and that empowerment that comes from the first time that they implement this is going to help them for the rest of their lives, honestly, because then you feel like, oh, wow, very powerful, like they feel as if I was able to try that in a safe space, and now they feel like, okay, now I've got my parents, they got my back, or my mom, or my caregiver, or whoever my guardian. I'm gonna try this out. And trust me, they will get an opportunity to try it out. And what I will say is, when they do come to you and talk about it and speak about it. Support them. You know, support them. And even if they end up with the one with the referral, hear them out. You Always Want to Hear them out first, so that they will know this is still a safe haven for me and I can talk to you whether I was in the wrong or not, so that you keep that dialog going, because as they get older, we know, because we were all, you know, teenagers, and you've at some point that that conversation, depending on that dynamic of the parent, caregiver and child, it will start to lessen. And in that then you their peers again, you already know that is the first influence for them. So you want to still be in the ballpark. Yeah, of this realm of influence, you want to be in the ballpark. So for me, it was personal, but my love of it of adventure. I'm a Star Wars fan. You know, I consider myself definitely a Jedi, like I said, I love all all the pirate films, Pirate Caribbean. I love Johnny Depp. So all of those, I even dress up when I go to some of the schools I've been to, many schools within LA Unified that I go and even on some weekends, dressing up as a pirate with my parrot on the side. The only one who can't go is my dog, because I think that would be a little scary for some kids. So although they really want to see him,

TD Flenaugh: 28:51

hold on until you say you go on the weekend. Tell me more about that on

Dana Fikes: 28:56

the weekends, like some of the principals, if they want me to show up on a weekend to like, if they're doing at their site, some of them do literacy fairs, and they do events, and they'll, you know, reach out to me. Hey, I want you to come and you know, we're having this event. And are you interested? And yes, okay, well, I have you on the flyer. Let's do this. And so, yes, those things author reads all the time, passing the library. Shout out to again, Pasadena, the mayor is also someone who I went to school with. So end of 2020 Yeah, at the end of 2020 I did a read online for La pinaresca library, which was one of our libraries, and the mayor was on and again, Victor Gordo, he's a good friend who I, you know, matriculated through school with, and so that felt really good knowing that you know you can come back and then give to the community. And those roots, again, are instilled in me, because that's what my aunt and her friends did in the community from feed. Being, you know, the youth to science fairs to events at the Jackie Robinson or so. I come from that, and so it's like hard to move away.

TD Flenaugh: 30:13

Yeah, you're carrying on the legacy that's amazing, exactly, exactly.

Dana Fikes: 30:18

So it's just a part of who I am, and with that said, the other entrepreneurial things that I do have, I connect them with the educational piece, simply because it's easy to do that, considering I'm a 20 year practice or 25 plus years, I think it was 27 practitioner of yoga and meditation. And in my classroom, I noticed, you know, there were students that weren't even in my classroom who would come into my classroom just looking for respite and help, and particularly with some bullying. The reason why they will be connected with me is when they see you on campus as someone they can trust. How do they know that? Because you say hi to them, because you're smiling at them, and you see them, and I was at a small school at one point, and different assemblies, and some of them may have been in my classroom if they presented with an IEP at one time, they may have moved past that and no longer have an IEP, but they're going to remember me. The families remember me, and then I did a collaboration with my pre K students and third grade, following them through fourth grade, using surveys to see how the yoga and mindfulness program that I was implementing with them was helping them with their academic success and in their behaviors. And so I would track that, and we would have journals and things of that nature, so they knew it was a safe space in the first Yeah.

TD Flenaugh: 31:56

So awesome, wow. And just really tracking, you know, what is your results? Yeah,

Dana Fikes: 32:01

yeah. And then at one point we didn't have middle school, then we got Middle School. And so, you know, the middle school mentality. So I would see them sometimes again. These were some that I had, some that they just knew of me. So I was like, I need you to come back and write in your journal about, are you still using the practices? And, you know, because it was hard to get them to come in, not because it was me, but because how the principal decided she wanted to run her school so they didn't have that access to me as they would have liked. Or, you know, that to me should have been because relationship building and behavior, they go hand in hand, because you can't shape behavior if you don't have relationships, and that is in your household and even in the school. So I wrote a grant. There was a grant that we were privy to, and wrote it up, got the funds because I wanted to create a room called breathing space on the campus. Studies show that if you implement not just positive behavior interventions but meditation, mindfulness and yoga on your school campus as an alternative to corrective measures, again, you see a change in not only behavior but their academic scores. And so I got tired of seeing the kids walk by my classroom and going to the office, like, what are they going to do in the office once they're there, once they're they're just sitting there. But if you have a space, okay, that uses trauma informed strategies, if you have a space where you are actually seeing, not just seeing, but seeing the children, right? If you have a space that is focused on the type of learners that they are, right? So coming from a sensory background, be it visual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile, I put in the grant for all these different things, from yoga mats to pillows. I wanted even a TV because I wanted to be able to show them documentaries that reflected mindfulness with children and students, and even letting them see themselves as we filmed different things and kept track of what we were doing and your grand so all those things, the grant got me all those things, but what did not happen was it fully coming to fruition for whatever those reasons may be. But I know I did my part, and I did it in a big way.

TD Flenaugh: 34:38

I really, I'm just so impressed with all of your things again. Yes, Dana bikes information is going to be in the show notes. And it sounds like you have, you know, you know, you go to school. So if people wanted to reach out to you, where would they find you?

Dana Fikes: 34:57

They could find me on I. My all of my channels are Dana Macc. My website is danamacc.com. I even have my health and wellness a separate wealth website. It's Seeing Real Success. So that's my company. That's my LLC for wellness coaching.

TD Flenaugh: 35:17

So say it when we treat them a little bit slower.

Dana Fikes: 35:20

So my first website is Dana D, a n, a Mac, M, a C, c.com, my health and wellness business is seeing like seeing, with your eyes, real success.com. So you can find me on those platforms and then on social media. You can find me at Dana Mac, on Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, and that's two C's, not ck, two C's. And so that's where you can definitely find me working on Book Two,

TD Flenaugh: 35:55

alright?

Dana Fikes: 35:56

In the series? Yes. And so our good friend is a stem student, and she will be traveling to help her friends in Ghana with her prize possession that she's created for the science fair and won and back on the show.

TD Flenaugh: 36:15

It sounds like we have so many things to share and so many resources and information. So are there any like last piece of like advice, or anything that you want to give?

Dana Fikes: 36:28

Absolutely, teachers, last piece. Yes, last piece of advice that I would give. I started a nonprofit in my father's name, the child Charles Fikes foundation that focuses on youth with ACES. Are adverse childhood experiences we had the first Surgeon General for California. Her name is Dr Nadine Burke, and she did not start this movement. She just picked up the work from the 1998 research that was done by the CDC. And I want to say, was it UCLA that they had done about ACEs? And there's 10 that they look at. There can be many more aces. But what I would say to you is, from a relationship base, Oprah has six aces, you might want to find out how many aces you have, and those are the things are going to encumber our children when they are in school from the academics and behaviors and things that you might see. Dr Nadine Burke has been championing the pediatric world, when you get all these different screenings and things done, you know, your child goes in for a checkup, she's put it in place through her website. She has a website, number, story.org, and then aces aware, where you can go in and check your own aces. You can see what your child is working with, because that information is going to be tantamount to the type of services that you may need for your child and how they are operating in the schools. You may not even know any of this. This might be the first time you heard it. So I would encourage you to, number one, ask your pediatrician about ACEs. It could be, you know, neglect. You might be a guardian who you know, or you've adopted a child, they may have had neglect. It could be a parent that was incarcerated. It could be a parent that is no longer in the family. It could be the events that we see happening right now that have become so, you know,

TD Flenaugh: 38:23

we have talked about this on our show before on our show before we know people, yeah, yeah. But it's something that we need to continue to talk about and share.

Dana Fikes: 38:30

We have to continue to talk about the aces. Oh, yeah. So that is the work that I do,

TD Flenaugh: 38:35

yes, yeah, yeah.

Dana Fikes: 38:37

That is the work that I do as far as my nonprofit, and then bringing in STEM and social emotional learning to help mitigate those effects and put them in spaces where they are undervalued and underserved, so that they know that they can be stem stars and they can regulate and learn what it means to co regulate, self regulate, from a Social emotional place,

TD Flenaugh: 38:59

okay, bringing in those positive childhood experiences. Oh, absolutely right. Yes. Again for joining us on the Falling for Learning Podcast, and all the parents and educators out there make sure you're doing something today that will give the children you serve the competitive advantage. Thanks again for supporting the falling for learning podcast, new episodes go live every Saturday at 5pm you can watch us on youtube.com/@fallingforlearning, or listen on all major podcast platforms, such as Apple, Google, Audible, Spotify and much more for more resources, visit, fallinginlovewithlearning.com we really appreciate you. Have a wonderful week.