.jpg)
PBIS Journey to Genius
Are you in the process of developing your PBIS Framework? Are you wondering where to start? You are in the right place. Join Dianne Ferrell and Diane Ruff as they share the ups and downs of creating and implementing a top-notch PBIS framework that has empowered their school to achieve Ohio recognition as a PBIS Gold School for 4 years. They will also share current issues in behavior management and how PBIS can help with those ongoing struggles. We would love to hear from you! Email us
@ pbisjourneytogenius@gmail.com
PBIS Journey to Genius
Episode 20 Celebrating the Legacy of Phil Heflin: PBIS and the Art of Inspiration in High School Education
Embark on an educational odyssey with the wisdom of Phil Heflin, a retired educator whose 37-year legacy is marked by transforming lives within the classroom walls. Our latest episode captures the heartwarming tales of a man whose journey from academic hardship to beloved teacher and administrator embodies the spirit of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS). Phil's stories resonate with the power of personal connections, the moments that spark a student's passion, and the gentle art of acknowledgment that can turn an ordinary classroom into a haven of inspiration.
High school may seem like a tough nut to crack with PBIS, but Phil breaks down these barriers, sharing innovative tactics that ditch the textbook for the human touch. His exciting recount of 'Why We Love Wednesday,' the laughter behind crazy pants Fridays, and the simple joy of a sticker or a cookie remind us that adolescence is still a time for fun, discovery, and yes, a little bit of sweetness. Teachers and students alike bask in the culture of recognition that Phil fostered, proving that encouragement doesn't just belong to the young but thrives at any age, in any educational stage.
As our conversation comes to an end, Phil leaves us not just with anecdotes but with actionable insights into crafting a high school environment where every student feels valued. Understanding the subtle mechanics of PBIS at the high school level empowers us to perceive the potential in every student. So join us for a heartfelt episode that celebrates the ingenuity and dedication of one man's mission to nurture the genius in every student, and stay tuned for more enlightening discussions that promise to transform the way we approach education.
Welcome to PBIS. Journey to Genius. Are you in the process of implementing PBIS? Are you wondering where to start? You are in the right place. We are here to support you. Stay tuned.
Speaker 2:Welcome back everybody. This is PBIS Journey to Genius. I'm Diane Farrell, I'm Diane Ruff and we do a weekly podcast about PBIS positive behaviors, interventions and supports and we've been going all over talking to different schools and their take on that. We've had a couple high schools, but mostly a lot of elementaries and we wanted to get into that high school world a little bit more. So I've asked my friend, mr Phil Heflin, and he's on with us today and he's going to introduce himself and where he's from and the school that he's representing and he's going to talk a little PBIS with us today. Hey, phil, what's up?
Speaker 3:Hey how you doing today. Ladies, thanks for having me on here today. I'm calling in from beautiful Bethel, ohio, 45106. And in the state of Ohio, which is down by Cincinnati, in the land of Houdet baby.
Speaker 1:Ooh, okay.
Speaker 2:We know Phil's a big Bengals fan, so okay.
Speaker 3:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:So what's your school, Phil? What's your school?
Speaker 3:This is Grant Career Center. I just retired last June, did 37 years in education. I did 23 in the classroom as a physical education and health teacher than I did the last 14 as an administrator. Oh, wow, awesome, I know I know, people say 37 years, but they say my God, you're only 37. You look like you're 37. Shut your mouth, people. Why are you lying to me like that?
Speaker 1:Oh gosh, so why did you go into education in the first place?
Speaker 3:You know I'm going to give you the quick synopsis because I know we only have 20 minutes and Lord knows I can talk. You know, I went in. My sister, my oldest sister, was an English teacher at Carrollton and Mrs Farrell was in her first class.
Speaker 2:I know I was going to say that His sister's Kim, and she was my teacher, okay, she taught her English.
Speaker 3:So I started off and I graduated high school in the year of our Lord, 1980. And I went to school for a year and I came out with a 1.2 grade point average and my parents said you are done, go get a job. So I worked for a couple of years. Work got laid off, work got laid off and then I finally told my parents I said, man, I want to go back to school. I do not want to get laid off and have to work like this the rest of my life. So I ended up going back. They paid for the first semester back.
Speaker 1:And then I ended up paying.
Speaker 3:Of course, this is back in the early eighties, where you're going to afford to go to college and pay it off. And then I got into, I started taking. I'd always enjoyed being around kids, I enjoyed sports. So I thought, ah, you know what, I see what my sister does, I think I'd like to get into education. So I started taking education classes. Um, and then, and then you have to sort of make you come to the fork in the road and you have to figure out where you want to go and I thought, ah, phys ed would be a good one, and health, and so that's how I got to where I was.
Speaker 1:That's great, I love it.
Speaker 2:And I can see that because Phil's a big kid himself always has been.
Speaker 3:I've known Phil since high school, so probably 40 years of knowing Mr Heflin so yes, yes a lot of a lot of kid himself kidding well, I started off at UC and I got homes that came back. Most people don't know. I graduated from UCLA, which is Upper Carroll, lower Akron. I graduated from UCLA because it seemed like everybody from Carroll went to Akron, so that's, that's where. That's where it was.
Speaker 2:Yeah, UCLA, Upper Carroll and Lower Akron.
Speaker 3:That's where I went to school. Yes, UCLA.
Speaker 2:I was not a.
Speaker 3:Bruin. I was a Zip.
Speaker 1:What keeps you coming back Like what's your aha moment over there? Is there one particular aha or just you know?
Speaker 3:You know what Throughout the years, and I sort of divide my aha moments into when I was teaching in the classroom or teaching in the gym, or teaching, or when I became a principal. So, throughout the years, making relations, I'm going to tell you right now the main key to any education is relationships. I mean I can make relationships with people. I like talking to people. My wife and my son don't like going to the grocery store with me, because what would take a normal person a half hour takes me three hours, because I stop and talk to people and but the one thing is the aha moment. You know I'll go to the store and I'll see these kids 20 years later.
Speaker 3:And I'm big at giving out nicknames. I love giving out nicknames I've been bestowed upon them. And then I like to stop and just talk to them and say, hey, how's your life going? They tell me about their kids, they tell me this, they tell me that, and I just I enjoy building that relationship and then seeing the kids out afterwards and and knowing that I made a difference with them.
Speaker 2:And I attest to that. I think that's why Phil's made such a good assistant principal, because that assistant principal is the ones working with that behavior. They're working with those parents. They're Phil. That's like his number one thing is relationship building, so, and that's a good assistant principal.
Speaker 3:And especially when I got into administration, you know when you're in the classroom, you you have well when you're. So I taught elementary phys ed. I taught middle school phys ed and health, then I taught high school phys ed. So a lot of the kids I had in elementary, I followed them and I had them again in high school. But you know, the big thing was once, once you become an administrator, you have that ability to reach out to and touch different kids and the whole thing. And you know, one thing is and I don't know if it makes them mad or whatever if I'm going down the hallway and you know how awkward that is sometimes when you're walking down the hallway, just you and a student I always say something to them, pat them on the back, say, hey, what's up, dog, good to see you today. Blah, blah, blah. To this day I still do that. I'm actually at work right now, even though I'm retired, I'm still subbing.
Speaker 2:You couldn't get away, I'm actually at work right now, Even though I'm retired.
Speaker 3:I'm still subbing, so I'm in subbing today.
Speaker 2:You couldn't get away from it. You're still.
Speaker 3:No, I just want to make as much as those Minerva teachers make. Oh okay, all right, that's my goal in life All right, take us to PBIS land now.
Speaker 2:And what's some things that you pull away now? Because you know, you and I talked a lot about PBIS whenever I was big into it and you were like, we're going to do these things in my high school. We're going to do these things, so let's take us down that road. What were things you put in at the high school that you are most proud of? You thought were good things that worked and kids enjoyed, even at the high school level? Because a lot of people say PBIS is just for elementary, it doesn't work at the high school, but it is not.
Speaker 3:I was one of those naysayers when you and I were sitting in Punta Canta in the Dominican Republic that we sat there and we talked about this and I'm like I don't know if this is going to work for the high school, but at the end of the day, high school kids are still kids. They're just big kids. They still like to have fun. So I would say a couple, and I still get this. I instituted a thing called why we Love Wednesday. So I would take a teacher and I'm going to read you one, if I may. So, being at a career technical school, we have different programs. Well, this one I wrote, and I wrote about each teacher every week. So I would say why we love Wednesday.
Speaker 3:We love Wednesday because of Mr Dyer, the criminal justice program instructor. The students in his class wear their pride like a badge of honor and will share if they need to. Mr Dyer is a sharp dresser because his pants always have cuffs. If his classes ever make cookie batter, they will never use a half stir because they always prefer a whole stir, because they always prefer a holster. After his students do PT, he has them lay down and he reads them nursery crimes while they are arresting. So everyone, put your hands up and give Mr Dyer a high five and bring law and order to our criminal justice program.
Speaker 3:So I would do that every Wednesday and I would do that and I wrote one for the whole school when I retired last year. I used every teacher. But I'm not going to read that one because it would take too long. But then what I would do on why we love Wednesday is that I would take stickers and I would put stickers under kids' trays and if you got a sticker then you get to. You came to me and I gave you two cookies. So it was all random and the kids were always they're walking, they're almost dumping their trays.
Speaker 1:I love that.
Speaker 3:Because they're looking for that, and then we would do teachers of the week and then we would also have some drawings where teachers we get to a certain part, Because it's important for the kids. But also PBIS needs to extend out to the teachers.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:Because you know we don't want them to be forgotten, because they're the ones that drive the chariot On Friday. I wear crazy pants. I didn't wear crazy pants today, but I've got a bunch of golf pants, you know, zebra printed, ohio State, different ones that I would always wear on Fridays. And it's just a thing where kids would say, hey, mr Ethel, I like your pants, and that would be a conversation started with the kid and all that matters is just getting that first word. And I really enjoy talking to kids that don't like to talk, because I try to get them out of their shell and I say you can sit there and not talk to me, but I'm going to talk to you because we need to make that connection, and they end up doing that. So I have candy out for the students. So I got a pocket full of candy right now. When I was at New Richmond years ago, I would always have fireballs not the candy you drink, but the fireballs. And these kids still talk about that today because they'd eat one and they go oh, let's see how long we can keep this in our mouth without having to go get a drink of water. So they still talk about that today, but I still have candy. So I'll walk down the hallway and I'll see a kid and I'll throw him a piece of candy. I'll say, hey, have a good day. And just that little gesture makes a big difference, have a good day. And just that little gesture makes a big difference.
Speaker 3:And then we would also, each day when I was at Grant, I would pull a kid out. I'd go to a different program, pull a kid out and I'd have them say the pledge for me or with me, just so they can get on there. And then I would give them a shout out hey, Diane Farrell, out of the Allied Health Program, thank you for helping us. They are a pleasure today. And then also I would do birthdays. So I would play music on their birthdays. I'd read every kid's birthday in the morning, give them that. Then on Friday I did the Friday trifecta, where I would play songs like three and henceforth the name trifecta. And then we would give gift cards. So the kid would come down and they'd fill out what songs they were and they got a chance to draw for gift cards and bracelets like this. I still wear them. I still wear these bracelets.
Speaker 1:That's a lot of acknowledging. Oh, yes, this because I still wear them.
Speaker 2:I still wear these braces acknowledging oh yeah, you are. You are like pbis, stage one, tier one, like overload here well, I went to the diane farrell school of pbis it was a long week in punta cana it was it was because her husband was sick, so we had to.
Speaker 3:We hadn't talked PBIS.
Speaker 2:We did, and but you know what, even though Phil, who's a big jokester, you know, was kind of riding me about PBIS back then because that was years and years ago, what was that like six or seven years ago, I mean?
Speaker 3:that's a lot. No, it's been before that. It's probably been a better part of 10.
Speaker 2:It might have been, and you part of 10. It might have been, and, uh, you were riding me about that being an elementary thing, and then you come back and took all these things. Now what I say, phil, is did you ever look at any like? Do you think all of that tier one acknowledged made those kids change in wanting to come to school?
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely. I think it's important because you know the education that we live in now. You know, with the pandemic in 2020, yada, yada, yada, attendance is crazy. You know you have to give the kids a reason to want to be at school and you know it's just as easy, like I say, if I see a kid just sitting by themselves, I'm going to sit down, I'm going to talk to them because they have to want to be here. You know it's important that if you don't make those connections and really PBIS tier one is all about making those connections and making the making, the relationship building. And once again, I know people are going to say my god, he's had relationship a thousand times.
Speaker 2:Well, I can, I can say the thousand one, because it's important that that's the main thing, absolutely if kids don't like, you know you sitting down by that one kid or you know your candy fireballs or you know your wacky wednesdays or whatever you. But if they feel like if they're sitting at home they're missing that we know as well as I do kids who miss school. It's harder to go back to school Like it's hard because now you've got all the things you missed and all the things that make you anxious about not going because you missed all this stuff. So your relationship piece and that whole attendance piece is huge, especially at high school and at Clearsburg.
Speaker 3:And I, you know I had to be in the assistant principal because I was here for three years and I was at New Richmond for the other 11. You know the attendance. You get to get the kids in here and I would work with juvenile court and we would try to make sure that the kids were getting here. You know I never yelled at them so on and so forth, but I told them why it's important to be here. You know I would sit there and I've suspended kids, a lot of kids in my lifetime, but nine times out of 10, I would sit there and we would have a conversation, we would talk about what we need to do to improve our behavior, what we need to do to fix this problem, and then when they come back, we're going to put in our rear view mirror.
Speaker 3:We're not going to look back and we're going to move forward and I would tell the kids, you know, at the end of the day hey, you know what I say, do you think I like you? And they'd say I don't know, maybe. I said no, I don't like you at all. I said I love you and I said I do love you and I said I want you when you come back, and nine times out of 10, or even the parents would say, hey, thank you, I appreciate that. And when they came back, I wouldn't sit there and shun them. I would sit there and say, hey, I'm glad to have you back today. Now let's get this thing going and then, boom, we'd be fine not saying come on.
Speaker 2:So now let's think in the lens of schools that want to do this, but there is resistance, especially at the high school, though, like we don't have time for this. You know, we don't have time for this. What's your what? What? What would you say to school? Like, because you were that don't have time for this, going to suspend somebody when they're back. You know, what would you say to schools? What's your advice?
Speaker 3:Well, my advice would be in today's educational climate, it's just another tool in the toolbox. It's important. You need to have something and you know you don't have to. Like I say, we started out tier one. We were tier one a couple of years. We're at it now. Before I left last year, we put some tier two and tier three pieces in place, which they are doing now. But you know what I would tell whoever's thinking about it you need to do it, you really need to do it, and I think it's all. Is it not state mandated now that yes.
Speaker 3:Okay, and if you're and I'm a I'm a firm believer if you're going to do anything, do it with validity and make sure that you do it and do it right, cause if you don't do it, and you do it half-assed, excuse me out there in PBIS land If you do that and you don't go all in and it doesn't have to be it could start out small.
Speaker 2:That's what I was saying how would you start, like, how did you go back after that Punta Cana trip and start it? What did you start?
Speaker 3:thinking that wasn't overwhelming your step. Well, the relationship part has always been there for me and you know I I've I've told teachers that that have worked for me. You know, build relationship with the kids, which the teachers here at grant are great at building relationships with the kids, but they need to make here's's what I've said a thousand times. I have spoken to a non-million parents, but I'm talking to a crap load of parents and if you can talk to the parents and their parents know that you have a vested interest in their child, that parent will walk through fire for you and it's just a matter of making a phone call, not an email. It's more personal to make that phone call. But to go back to your question, you know when I got started? I don't know. You know I'm 61 years old but I've got a mindset of a 12-year-old, I think At least my wife tells me that yeah.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 3:Diane tells me that too all the time. The thing is I just started like the why we Love Wednesdays in the pants and the Friday. These are just things I thought up how to get more kids involved. And then also he gives a shout out to the teachers yeah, you get to have sit there and have that for the teachers, which they appreciate it too, because they always say, hey, can I get a copy? So I got to make a copy of it and they hang them up in a room, say where it is a badge of honor too. So yes, and I would just say, you know, start out small and then, just, you know, not everything's going to work. Some kids may look at it and say it's cheesy, but I was just talking to some students today and we were talking about why we love Wednesday and they said why don't you bring that back? We want to hear that again. We want why we love Wednesdays. And I said why don't you bring that back?
Speaker 1:We want to hear that again, we want why we love Wednesdays because the kids enjoy it. Yeah.
Speaker 3:It is what it is.
Speaker 2:Your advice is to just start out small.
Speaker 3:Start out small.
Speaker 2:And then it'll snowball.
Speaker 3:Right, and and, once again, if you you have to have some sort of committee, you can't. It can't be. So we've had committees before. So we've had committees before. So we got a PBIS committee here at Grant, but you got to have people that are fun. You can't have sticks in the mud. You can't have people that that are just going to. You can't have a naysayer on there. You got to have people that are vested in it and want to make it prosperous.
Speaker 2:So do you like your committee? You have to say that because people might hear this.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I like my committee because I went out and I got them. I know who the fun people are. They want to work with FP Fun Phil and I'm like, hey, I love it.
Speaker 1:So you so really a lot of this is the acknowledgement system. When you were putting this together, did you guys come up with some big rules like the three big rules be safe, be responsible, be respectful, or something like that. So it's kind of universal in the they do.
Speaker 3:And you put me on the spot because we have one here at Grant and, like G stands for gratitude and we make sure that it's R's respect.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, you put me oh, that's OK, that's OK.
Speaker 3:But my point is yes, we follow them because we do also do the PPIS referral system. And so whenever a kid gets a referral and they would come to my office, I'd say well, let's look at the Grant logo, let's look at this, let's see where we didn't quite meet expectations and what can we do next time. To do that. And the teachers too are good about making sure that the kids are following the acronym for grant.
Speaker 1:So I was just wondering, because you know to get a school on board, you really kind of you need that, you need the matrix, you need the rules, just so everybody knows the expectations, the students and the teachers across the board. Right, you have put all of that in place.
Speaker 3:We have. We have expectations for the classroom, we got expectations for the cafeteria, we got expectations for labs, we got expectations for hall cafeteria, we got expectations for labs, we got expectations for hallways, bus blah, blah, blah. We've got all that, but once again, it ain't worth the paper it's written on if you don't follow through. And then henceforth? That's why it's important that the teachers understand that, which most of them, they understand that here. But you also have to have that support from administration. Because you don't have that support from administration, it can fall to the wayside very easily.
Speaker 2:It is true, phil and we've talked about that a lot that if you, you know you need your committee, you need your people on board, but you need that stamp of approval from the administration. You need them to go. This is what we want you all to do. This is so that your staff follows through on that.
Speaker 1:Even your walnuts. And you know, the other thing is, it's called a framework for a reason, it's a PBIS framework. You come across people who say just tell me what to do. Well, that doesn't work, because the framework is the guidelines and then each school puts their spin on it, and I love how you've put your spin on it. You know a lot of the acknowledgement. Yeah, you have other things in place, but for you the most important thing is the relationships and the acknowledgement Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Because kids happy kids who want to come to school will behave better they will Than kids who don't want to be there and aren't happy while they're there. So that's Well. I think our time is up, mr Heflin. We've had a great show.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh, I tell you what.
Speaker 2:Look how fast it went.
Speaker 3:What's that?
Speaker 2:Look how fast it went.
Speaker 3:You know what? Because Lord knows, I can talk. We can talk a little bit more if you want to go into overtime.
Speaker 2:Well, what we're going to do is we're going to zero down on this one, but we would love to have you back sometime.
Speaker 1:You have been listening to Phil Heflin giving us a perspective on the acknowledgement system at the high school level. Thank you for listening to PBIS Journey to Genius. Please reach out to us at PBISJourneytoGenius at gmailcom or look for us on Facebook and Instagram.
