I had the great opportunity to interview Michael Santos this week. He is a former convict who spent 26 years in prison for running drugs. He says he never touched the drugs, but organized other people to do it. Pretty amazing story.

Michael has a podcast out, now as well. He pipes it into the prison system to help people learn to change. You can learn a little bit more about Michael here: • PBS NewsHour (7-minute profile) • NBC Bay Area Proud (5-minute profile) • San Francisco Chronicle (Front-page profile)

We talk about the following:

• How Michael became incarcerated.
• How he had a change of heart.
• Philosophy and Socrates.
• Tweet: I needed a string to lead me out of the labyrinth. via @MichaelGSantos @TrnFrmPrincipal http://ctt.ec/B0z64+
• Our system of corrections is designed to extinguish hope.
• Michael’s 3 pronged plan:
  • Educate myself
  • Contribute to Society
  • Build a Support Network
• Tweet: Every human being has the potential to become something amazing.
• Students may see you and tune out the message because you are an authority figure.
• Tweet: People thought they were insulting me by saying I wasn’t hard enough.
• Using the socratic method.
• Define the values students need.
• Tweet: If they can define success, we can ask what we do to get you there.
• There’s a path to a better life and it doesn’t happen by accident. Click to Tweet
• Establishing values vs. defining values
• Straight A Guide: Attitude, Aspiration, Action, Accountability, Awareness, Achievement, Appreciation
• When people feel like they have no control, they are less likely to become the best they can be.
• The Scandinavian system provides a panel to help acclimate the offender to society after a prison sentence.
• We need an innovative disruptive approach to change things.
• People want a better life, but don’t know how to get there.

We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.