From Bluetooth Speakers to Midnight Pedagogy with Ed Campos

What This Episode is About

This episode with Ed Campos is all about how joy, creativity, and authentic connection can transform teaching—and community. Ed shares stories that start with something as simple as a Bluetooth speaker and grow into moments of teacher rediscovery, student engagement, and even a global community born out of the chaos of the pandemic. You’ll hear how “creativity comes from brokenness,” and how leaning into play and risk-taking can spark innovation in the toughest of times. At its heart, this conversation is about remembering that when teachers take care of their own joy, everyone—students, colleagues, and communities—benefits.

Meet Our Guest

Ed Campos Jr. is a full-time education consultant and founder of both Ed Campos Jr Consulting and Campo Creativo, a nonprofit for youth & community creativity and STEAM. With 15+ years of experience teaching math and CS, he now leads workshops, speaks nationally, and co-directs the STEAM Leadership Certificate at the Krause Center for Innovation. Ed is passionate about joyful, equitable learning and always brings creativity, culture, and connection to his work.

🔗 https://linktr.ee/edcamposjr

🔗 www.edcamposjr.com

Key Takeaways

• Joy in teaching starts with the teacher—when educators take care of their own energy and happiness, students and colleagues feel it too.
• Ed’s Bluetooth speaker trick—turning nerves into music cues—sparked laughter, movement, and joy in classrooms and workshops.
• Use music, play, or small rituals to reset energy and bring fun into learning spaces. It’s as much for you as it is for your students.
• In moments of chaos or “brokenness,” community and creativity can carry us through. Mentorship, belonging, and shared joy create the fuel for lasting impact.

Resources & Mentions

• 🎶 Music Cues for the Classroom – the music cues Ed uses in class and workshops
• 🎶 Cate & Toutoule’s EDUSoundtrack – Cate’s version of music cues for teaching and PD
• 📚 Midnight Pedagogy – backstory and connections from the nightly Zoom sessions
• ✨ Campo Creativo – Ed’s nonprofit supporting student and teacher creativity grants
• 🍕 The Planing Mill Pizzeria – business partner in Redwood High School creativity grants
• 🤖 aiEDU Rural & Indigenous Community Catalyst Program

Transcript

Cate Tolnai (she/her): I am with one of, one of my dearest friends, ed Ed, welcome to the bridge. Thanks for agreeing to be on with us and sharing your story.

Ed Campos: Thank you Cate. it's an honor to be on here. I'm so excited about this project you got working on. It's always a joy to spend time with you.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Well, and I honestly can't think of anyone else in my like edgy circle that lives community quite like you. and you, when, when I first started thinking about a podcast that I would even wanna record, You came to mind because of the work that we've done over the last couple of years and just the fact that I've been in your orbit for so many moons and watched the magic of connection, like authentic connections with you and so many other people.

And so it's fun to do this. I think you would be my person if I was gonna do, if I was gonna go on the podcast with someone that like is my community, I would probably bring you. So this is really, this is really cool.

Ed Campos: I mean, I mean the feeling's mutual. You're my person too, [00:01:00] Cate. That's why, we do the playground together too. Right? So that's, who do I want to play with and build community with? Cate, you know?

Cate Tolnai (she/her): It. Yeah.

Ed Campos: Yep.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): So, I want to start with a story that I gotta hear, which is about a Bluetooth speaker and just joy. So just take us there. What is, what is the story?

Ed Campos: So, I, I liked that your que, I don't know what question you asked when it led me to this, remembering this. When I first started presenting, right, because when I would go to these CUE conferences and stuff, I was just attending CUE Rockstar, the tech, you know, iste and like, you know, gimme all the knowledge.

And then I, I never saw myself as a presenter, as a speaker, anything like that. And then until. People started saying, Hey, you should present, you should share stuff. It's like, nah, that's not me. And but you know, it's a such a great network of community, like you're talking about that's encouraging, supporting, which [00:02:00] is why you go back and you start, they start to see things in you that, you know, you don't see it.

So I started presenting. I was scared to death, terrified. So then, you know, that moment. When you're presenting and, and you're right after someone and they haven't wrapped up and unplugged their laptop and, and, you're like, dude, I'm on in like two minutes. You're, you're digging into my time. You know what I mean?

Like, I'm already stressed out. I don't do this. And then I was like, so I really, this is how I bought the Bluetooth speaker, this Bluetooth, it wasn't this one, but. No, I mean, we could say, let's just say yes, this Bluetooth speaker Exactly. That the, it's been a long time. Many Bluetooth speakers have come and gone.

I got this, I got the Bluetooth speaker so that I could start queuing up music so that it was like the Oscars music to cue them off, like wrap it up B, like, let's, that's two, two. [00:03:00] That and to calm my nerves so that while I'm plugging things in, I got a little rhythm getting, you know, the WD 40 and the, and the, and then, and I'm ready to go.

And then, you know, taper down the music and then let's begin. And, you know, like just to watch people walk in like, oh, it's gonna be a cool session, and got a good jam going on, you know? so that's how it started. And really just to calm my anxiety, help. You know, cue the, the presenter before me for that.

but then I started like I took Matt v's. Workshop on music cues, changed my life. Like, you know, save your time, save your voice by having students do music cues. I was like, and I took it and ran with it and I was like, get up, stand up by Bob Marley to, and when my students were gonna get up and go to the wall.

when they moved two whiteboards over to look at each other's work, play Beyonce to the left, to the left. When they do a gallery walk, walk like an Egyptian or walk hard by [00:04:00] Johnny Cash or whatever, you know, just being silly with it. And I just started having fun and I have my, with my phone controlling Spotify for my phone.

I was like, DJ it, you know, untethered me. I, I got, I started having more fun and then the kids were loving it. And then I remember a teacher. I was doing this workshop and I was talking about the music cues, and I did this workshop in East Bay, and then I saw the teacher a week later and they were like, Hey, ed, just wanna let you know I went down and bought a Bluetooth speaker right after your session.

I'm like, cool. And she's like, you know, I know you talk about it's good for the kids, but I needed it for myself. And I'm like, yeah. Yeah. She goes, I needed to have more fun at work. I go, for sure. Because you're not having fun at work. No. Kids are having fun learning from you. You know? And so I just, I just love that because we, you know, we're all about students, but we gotta realize what takes, brings us [00:05:00] joy.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Ed Campos: And if it's just a Bluetooth speaker playing some jams, and then kids contribute and they add built to the playlist. So that's my, this is like my, my Linus blanket. You know how Linus has his blanket? This is like. My precious right here, my, my,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): precious.

Ed Campos: never, never leave home without it.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Okay. And how formative though? Those music cues, your music cues and Matt's session was just as formative for me and, and I think when I. The turning point for me. 'cause I, I knew I learned about Matt because I saw your session and you were having us, it was I think at CUE Bold in like Laguna Beach or something, and you had redesigned a classroom and you had helped this teacher, I think you made white walls in their classroom, whiteboard walls in their classroom.

And it was just this total reimagine of a learning space. I could be getting the location wrong, but anyways, And you were doing the music cues for us as participants, and I was [00:06:00] like, what is this? What is this musical magic like that is happening that we're all like laughing and moving and grooving?

And so I got to experience it as a learner first. And all I could think of was what you were saying, right? Like if, if as a professional developer. And a learn, a professional learning leader. If I'm not having fun, dude, those teachers aren't having fun. The kids aren't having fun. So anyways, you that, that story is so close to my heart too because that is totally, music cues are huge for me and I've since kind of developed my own playlist. so we'll have to put your playlist in the show notes for sure.

Ed Campos: Yes. And yours

Cate Tolnai (she/her): and mine.

Ed Campos: And Matt's and Matt's blog. Yeah. 'cause his, yes.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah. because I did, what I added to mine were like game show jingles,

Ed Campos: Yeah. I.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): for just transitions where I didn't need them to actually move or do anything more than just like, I wanted to set a one minute timer.

So I'll find a one minute jingle and it'll be like, I dream of Jeanie. [00:07:00] You know, like, do, do, do edit. Yeah. Okay. Anyways, we'll share it all.

Ed Campos: No, I love that. And then I always like to do a little raffle, spin a Flippity and have somebody win something, you know, like, and then, so I, I use, what's ti Spanish Fleet Bob, B Herb Albert, and the Tijuana Brass Spanish fleet.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yes.

Ed Campos: That that song is like, 'cause he used to make all, or he or they used to make all the theme show songs back in the day.

So it's totally that

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Ed Campos: and it's like, it's time to win something. It's just 70, it turns into 1970s, let's, somebody's gonna win something. It's like a, it's a whole vibe.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Oh my God. Okay, so let's keep going down this path of like joy and fun and, and authentic like connection. Because one of, one of, of the things I admire so much about you is, is that you have this, advocate heart and like you put your money where your mouth is. And, and when we were, when the world was [00:08:00] locked down, I still have shirts that I bought for fundraisers for, it your sister who's a nurse

Ed Campos: Cousin.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah. Was, yeah. And so we, so you, you had some t-shirts designed. People could buy the t-shirts and, and money would go to the nurses that were working, in the COVID wings and, which was just amazing. And and then you also started this side project called Midnight Pedagogy. It came outta COVID, right?

Midnight pedagogy.

Ed Campos: Yeah. I was just retelling that story to somebody and, I guess I actually think I wanna write a book about that. 'cause I think that, I think that is such a. It's just such a moment in time that is never gonna happen again. But the way people came together to build community, get through a tough time, what had happened was, you know, the shutdowns happened, NBA shutdown their season.

Everybody was like, oh, this is real. Right? I mean, that's what really made it, it wasn't until the [00:09:00] NBA shut down the season and then, and then, someone's like, well, we gotta do the zoom thing and then. How do you engage people on Zoom? What's a breakout room? And I'm like, I don't know what a breakout room is.

You know, if you can remember back when you didn't know what that was. So I threw out, you know, the bat signal on Facebook, Instagram, other Twitter, and was like, Hey, anybody wanna jump into a zoom so we can figure out breakout rooms? My buddy, Paul Gordon. Down in, near Palm Springs, it's like, oh, I'll jump in.

So he jumped in. A couple other people jumped in. We did it. Okay, that's cool. We could do it. And then I jumped off and then the posts were still up. So a lot of people kept saying, oh, is, are you guys off? Can I jump in? And I'm like, oh, jump back in. So like that whole night I kept jumping back in and it ended up staying.

And then we're like, Hey, so hard things going with you. Oh yeah, this and that. And so we did the breakout rooms and then we're like, we should do this again tomorrow. So then we did it again tomorrow. We ended up doing it [00:10:00] every day, every night for a year, like a year and a half.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): What?

Ed Campos: Like,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): I didn't know that.

Ed Campos: oh, you know, and that's not an exaggeration, Cate.

It was every night because what else were we doing? Like we, we were trying to like follow the rules. And it was like a lot of ed tech folks that were tech leaders trying to support. So it became this like community, like almost like a unconference, Hey, what are you doing here? What are you doing? We ended up, it was a support group for sure.

It was like a little sandbox to test out new technologies virtually, Hey, jump into this, Jamboard, jump into this, you know, whatever. And. We started doing PD for each other on Friday. Let's have some contests. We actually did like giveaways on Friday, so we call it, we did 10 to midnight every day for a year.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Oh

Ed Campos: It was crazy.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Did you

Ed Campos: That's.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): for the [00:11:00] giveaways?

Ed Campos: Yes, Wipebook gave us sponsors. We got Nearpod, we did some Nearpod stuff, Pear Deck. We got a couple of different, you know, companies and we were just like, Hey, what else are we gonna do? and then we would raffle off

Cate Tolnai (she/her): then we would

Ed Campos: a pizza,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): A pizza

Ed Campos: and then

Cate Tolnai (she/her): and

Ed Campos: someone would win a pizza that we would deliver to the house the next Friday, we would DoorDash it to them.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Stop.

Ed Campos: Yeah, we were like,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): throw money at this? Like were people like here I'll just start like for pizza or did you get that donated too?

Ed Campos: nah. I was just, I was like, I,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah,

Ed Campos: just buy pizza. Like, you know what I mean? I was saving money on gas, wasn't driving nowhere. So we, we were just, but the cool thing is like we bonded and we're like, this is some amazing people I met, you know, I just saw my friend Rita out in Dos Palos last week. She came over, gave me one of those, you know.

Soul giving hugs, and I'm like, oh yeah, like [00:12:00] Rita was one of the Midnight Pedagogy, you know what I mean? We didn't meet each other in person till for a year and a half, two years until the one of the first CUE conferences back in Palm Springs. But like, that's gonna be the crew that you're bonded with forever.

You know, we got ourselves through, some crazy times. I mean, we did, we ended up doing like a. We're just having silliness, you know what I mean? Like

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Mm-hmm.

Ed Campos: deal, we're going crazy, stir crazy for sure. We're going stir crazy together. So we would come up with these like really like just dumb challenges to do, to bring some joy and levity into it.

Like, do create your Bitmoji classroom, make it, you know, give it this thing. You know, remember all that stuff, you know?

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Bitmoji classrooms?

Ed Campos: And then people were doing all these virtual events and then they started hiring us. To do like some levity team building stuff. We were just like, we and

Cate Tolnai (she/her): I didn't.

Ed Campos: oh yeah, we did like, a whole lip dub.[00:13:00]

Eddie Gonzalez did like a don't stop Believing that happened impromptu at one of the CUE Bold virtual sessions that we got everybody to come on and grab like some kind of, instrument and play it along to Don't Stop Believing It's on YouTube. Like I'll drop that in the show notes too. So. And everybody's like just lip syncing.

And Eddie Gonzalez had it in gallery view and he was recording it live, just going spotlighting different people based on what they were doing. we did a silent disco virtually. That was a huge hit. So we started like, that's one of my most creative, projects I've ever. My most ambitious and creative projects I've ever done.

I was like, man, I love a silent disco. I wonder what that would look like virtually. And we pulled it off because Paul Gordon had the sound mixing skills. Eddie Gonzalez, had that Spanish DJ flavor. Then we ended up with Jason Smith from Nevada, who's an actual DJ in like killed us all. [00:14:00] But like we just had a lot of fun doing a silent disco in Zoom.

We had a whole websites for people and everybody's muted. You change your back. Did you not know about that either?

Cate Tolnai (she/her): I didn't, were people just like listening and dancing on Zoom?

Ed Campos: Yeah. You, you, you've been to a real silent disco,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah. I.

Ed Campos: I was like, how, I wonder we can make that happen. And Paul Gordon's like, oh yeah, we could have three different streams, live stream's going and like what's that gamer, that gamer profile.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): mm-hmm.

Ed Campos: First Twitch. Twitch or,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Twitch.

Ed Campos: yeah, so he was like, we could do it on Twitch or we could do it on Periscope.

Actually, I think we started on Periscope first with three Periscope channels. I was the dj and then we had a whole website

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Oh

Ed Campos: set where you had to download the three background colors. I was blue, was purple. Paul was orange. It was a whole Google site that we created. Download these. You're gonna [00:15:00] get in.

Everybody's muted. You can't unmute yourself and whichever one you're listening, we just tell, we just, ask that you change your color, background color to the DJ that you're listening to so that we know who you're listening to. And people were just coming in, in the chat. People had kids dancing with their kids, like people were the next day.

People were like, that was so much fun. I was so sore. I fell outta my bed with a cramp. I haven't moved my, you know what I mean? Like. And I was like, dude, it was like we were into it, man, going crazy. We basically had like a club going on on Zoom.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): I'm shook right now. Like, like as somebody who thought I was like, like this is a different level of connection of you are like bringing, oh my God. You, it is like, you guys really did go to battle together.

Ed Campos: Oh.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): this group.

Ed Campos: And we swung for the fences creatively. Like that was, so this is what, you know, like. I've heard this phrase by Issa Rae. Creativity comes from Brokeness. I love Issa Ra. She's such an inspiration [00:16:00] and she talks about like, you don't got a lot need, you don't need a lot of money to be creative, right?

And if you think about it, if you've ever been poor, if you've ever not had money, what are you gonna do? Right? You just survive. And that's where the C creek, when you're not a little too comfortable, when you're outside, you know, in your, in that. Pushed outside of your comfort zone and your backs up against the wall, like, what are you gonna do?

And I take that phrase, creativity comes from brokenness, but I think that's like brokenness of money, brokeness of spirit

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yep.

Ed Campos: you know what I mean? Like when you're

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Lonely.

Ed Campos: down lonely.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Hmm.

Ed Campos: And you don't have that connection, what are you gonna do? So we forced that connect. We are, it's some of the most cre creativity I've ever been around.

And it was a perfect mix of skillset with me, Dr. Rito Gonzalez, and Paul. And it's like we all just needed each other. And it's funny 'cause I would see people down in these conferences, they're like, I just want to thank you. Me and my wife would pop into those midnight pedago and I, I wouldn't recognize them.

I [00:17:00] felt bad, but they were like, we would pop in there. It was so awesome. It was funny and like it just gave us. a lot of joy and we learned a lot too. I'm like, oh, I don't remember half of that stuff. It was like, you know what I mean?

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah,

Ed Campos: It was, but,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): like, thank you for thanking me.

Ed Campos: but when you have, like, I think that's a perfect example of when you have a community, you re, you take risks

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Mm-hmm.

Ed Campos: you're like, I mean, we were doing that.

One of those times my mic wasn't working. They're like, you sound like a robot, dude. All your music sounds like. Robotic and I was like, I'm and everybody's dj. We did it like four or five times the silent disco and I was like, I think I gotta tap out guys. My mic's not working. The tech gods are not with me.

And I just tapped out and I went to the other two DJs, you know what I mean? But like, and then we figured out what it was, iterate on it. It was so technical

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Ed Campos: not doing it in the same room was a whole [00:18:00] different.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Right.

Ed Campos: Way of communicating back channel, Hey, this is going on. You know, it was awesome.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): I mean, it, it's, it, it makes me think about. the chaos that you're describing and the, and the community that came together. Like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna stretch this out, but like, thinking about other educators that are in their spaces feeling chaos now. It's not like ca it's not COVID chaos, right?

But like, it's chaos like, how did you, first of all, how did you guys find each other, the three of you, and then how did you guys like. Make decisions on what to do together or like figure, how did you figure it out? How'd you find each other? How'd you figure out how it all works?

Ed Campos: I mean, we kind of knew each other before. I didn't know Paul Gordon as well before I had seen him at some CUE Events. Actually, let me take that back. [00:19:00] We had done a version of Midnight Pedagogy when we would go to the LDI - CUE LDI. Because

Cate Tolnai (she/her): we first met at

Ed Campos: where we first met, there's the connection right there. So the late night after, hey, the LDI Con conference is done.

We'll see y'all later. We're gonna go, like, just like the first time I met you. And then we played game, went back to the hotel room, played some games, had some, Pizza, beverages, snacks, whatever the, the

Cate Tolnai (she/her): a

Ed Campos: Chica

Cate Tolnai (she/her): so

Ed Campos: chicanery. So the same thing happened down south, Paul Gordon and some other folks from that area.

We ended up late going to some pizza place. And then, so it became a thing, like that's actually where it started. And we're like, oh yeah, we're gonna do another midnight pedagogy. So the, the term was there and we started to know each other a little bit there. 'cause it was fun. We just, we did, we were the people that didn't want to go to sleep early and we're like, Hey.

And, [00:20:00] and then when it happened again, it's like, oh, it's like that, but virtually and we really don't want to go back because there's, we can't do anything. We're, you know, stuck in our home. So.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Mm-hmm.

Ed Campos: Eddie Gonzalez, I had, even though he's from the Central Valley and like Bakersfield, I had known a little bit but got getting to know him.

It was really through midnight pedagogy and like, yeah. And now he's one of my,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): I was gonna say, that's blossomed into like really cool partnerships with him.

Ed Campos: yeah, for sure. Yeah, I mean that guy I would say is like one of the most inspirational people I know and like, you know, I would say. As much a a, there's not a lot of like Mexican Chicano folks that I'm looking up to that like are doing things big and he's one of them, he might say the same thing about me.

So it's like, you know, when you hit a glass ceiling type of thing, you're like, where are my mentors at? Where am I? Like, well, we got each other right now. Let's keep pushing and, you know, keep inspiring. So yeah, [00:21:00] it's a fun group.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): we'll, we'll put his contact information in the show notes too

Ed Campos: I.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): people can find him.

Ed Campos: He's got a book coming out pretty soon too. He's Yeah, yeah,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Dang. Oh, well then he should probably be on this podcast.

Ed Campos: yeah, for sure.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): That's fine. okay, let's, let's transition to stickers

Ed Campos: Yeah.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): because Okay. Something as simple as a sticky piece of paper that's in a cute shape that has an, a sick little image on it.

And, and a cool phrase has actually been this glue that I feel like has connected so many people to you. and I have a, a fondness for stickers myself. When I was, when I was little, I had. One of these things called a little sticker factory, and it was this plastic box that had circle stickers and I had these little, plastic coins that had images and I could take crayons and kind of rub over the coin and I could make my own stickers.

And I was hooked. I mean, this is like, this is in the eighties, so Lisa Frank and my sticker book, and I was. [00:22:00] I'm all about the stickers. And to find an a another sticker heart out there is special, you take it to a totally different level. So, so first of all, show us what you got and then, I don't know, select, tell us the story of a couple of them.

'cause I know each one has a deep meaning. I,

Ed Campos: So I have a couple of these, tackle boxes that I have had for a while. This one, it's not super full.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): because you give

Ed Campos: But I give 'em away. I give a lot away. So, there's, there's like some really cool ones in here. This one is, for my nonprofit. I like that one.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Which

Ed Campos: Mm-hmm. This one is Creative Hustle Retreat, which you've been on also.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Very cool.

Ed Campos: bottle of Dreams, which I like.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): that's,

that's a good story too.

Ed Campos: And then, the playground. And we've got the playground one right there. So that's a big one.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): ones. Those are good ones.

Ed Campos: Yeah. Oh, and then I got a, here's a holographic, [00:23:00] holographic, one of the TiVo graphic. But,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): sick,

Ed Campos: and what's funny is I don't think I was into stickers when I was younger. Like it was a, you know, I mean, I know people, I know the, the name that you mentioned, the Lisa.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Lisa Frank. Mm-hmm.

Ed Campos: Lisa Frank, I've heard that, but what, how I started with stickers is, one of my students, I was, I had just watched the, the movies, straight Outta Compton, the movie about NWA with ice cube Sun, and.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Ed Campos: And I was like, man, that movie was awesome. I actually went with my middle school buddies that I grew up with to go watch it.

That when we used to listen to NWA, so, so the next day I was like, still like on this beaming of like, man, that was such a great movie. And I was talking to it, talking about the movie with, with, some of my high school students. And then they were like, man, that's cool. You watched that movie Mr. Campos?

I'm like, yeah. They're like, that's cool. Our, our [00:24:00] math teacher like listens to NWA. I'm like, I mean, I grew up on that stuff, you know what I mean? Like, we're not gonna play it in class, but we could talk about the themes and the, you know what I mean, the artistry. and then one of the kids, they're like, oh, you're like straight at a compost.

That's funny. And I go, that's funny. And they go. They go, yeah, you know, there's a website, beats by Dre has a website. You can straight it@anywhere.com at the time, and you could put in your city and it would make it. And they were like, you should make one. Print it out, put it up on the door. I'm like, so I, they went, made it, I printed it, I put it out and they were like, you should make stickers.

I was like, what would I do with the stickers? They were like, you should give 'em to us. I go, you want a sticker with your math teacher's name on it? Like,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): I

Ed Campos: are some weird,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): right?

Ed Campos: I mean, at first I was like. One part, y'all are some weird kids. Another part that's flattering, I must be doing something right.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Ed Campos: so that's kind of one of the things that started it.

And then at the same time I was [00:25:00] presenting and then I was like, I would see learning from CUE people, like gotta have a catchy title to the name, you know? Will Kimbly. Rest in peace had this one may, the, for May the forms be with you.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Uhhuh.

Ed Campos: did a Google form session. I, and like that was just gold. And he would pack the house with it.

And, and I'm like, that's cool. That's conjuring up imagery. We know what you're talking about. That word play. I love word play. And then so I came up and I was like, and I go, but if you had stickers, then may the forms be with you with that style. So like I was having this Game of Thrones, I mean, yeah, get.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Gave me a throne.

Ed Campos: Game of Thrones. Watch party.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Ed Campos: Yeah. Game of Thrones. Watch party at my house. 'cause my friends will come to my house and we'll watch the episodes when they would get released on Sunday. And then we're having a couple beers, one of my friend's graphic design artists, and I'm like, I go, you know what? I want to [00:26:00] do this session on like Chrome extensions, game of Chrome's, where it's, it's like Joffrey sitting on the throne.

Which is scrawny body, but a big old Chrome logo head and a tilted crown. And my buddy's like, that sounds cool. My buddy just starts sketching it. And I'm like, that's fire dude. Can you do that? And I'll pay you. So I like shelled out a hundred bucks to him. Got a sick design and then that was my, and then that got me on like, oh, I can bribe people to come to my sessions with like a cool sticker.

So even if you don't like pack the house, like Will Kimberly or whatever. So then it became like. My, my, my baiting ticket come to my, session and you will get, at least you'll get stickers, you know?

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Alicia. Those are like surprise possessions though. Like if you have a game of Chrome's, like sticker, that speaks volume. That's, it's it real, it like represents that you were a part of like a chapter, you know

Ed Campos: Yeah.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): there was that chapter where we were all like googly bursting with Googles, and that was such like a, a token, like,

Ed Campos: Yeah.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): this.[00:27:00]

Ed Campos: Yep. And I don't know if you can see right here, but I have all my laptop cases with, the stickers on them, so that's like a little snapshot, little time capsule yearbook. So I can go back and pro find the game of Chromes on the top right. That's the oldest one with the straight and a compost actually in the middle on the very top.

Yeah.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): but those aren't all your stickers, those that because

Ed Campos: Oh,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): exchanges turned into a thing.

Ed Campos: for sure. Yeah.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): I feel like you were at the, at the beginning of it though. I mean, I feel like people got a taste of some of those stickers and then they were like, well, I could do that maybe. And then we were all making stickers and the next thing you know, we were like, oh my God.

We were just having, and now Jody runs the sticker, like at the, Jody Green

Ed Campos: Yeah.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): session where she teaches people how to do stickers. It's great.

Ed Campos: The sticker swap. Yeah.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): of community, you know, and connection and, I think, I think at least that, that [00:28:00] have collected some of my stickers, like they're like, if I ever get to see one of my stickers in the wild, I'm like, oh, we are connected.

You know,

Ed Campos: Here you up.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): gone through something together. That's really cool. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. And, and thank you for giving that to so many of us. And your wordplay is fire. So keep I know, I know you're not ever gonna stop with that, but it's so fun to work with you and to see like what your brain turns into and where it all goes, because now I know that you're deep in work with, you launched a nonprofit and you're now super focused in different ways on community.

So maybe take a few minutes to, to like give us an update, like what's going on with you and Campo Creativo, and what, what is this?

Ed Campos: Yeah. So, ever since I left the classroom, I didn't, I didn't want to leave the classroom, you know, I loved where I was at the class. I had this beautiful space to play in, had, you know, transformed this classroom through this, [00:29:00] 21st century learning grant that we had. And I've always wanted to try and give back to teachers and then give back to students, right?

And. one of my students at the, the independent study high school that I was at in that classroom that I had with the whiteboard walls everywhere, the TVs, the turntables, like, one of my students, Adia Aguilar, she was a freshman, sophomore at the time. I think she had been homeschooled most of her career.

And that was like her first school she went to. And then I would see her. doing art and she would, like, I caught her doodling, drawing pictures of me one time. I was like, oh, wow, that's pretty good. I was like, if you just shave some pounds off of the belly, don't make it so realistic. I'll pay you for that.

You know, 'cause the bitmojis don't look like me. So I ended up asking her parents if I could hire her, commission her to make the emojis for me for when I was presenting and doing keynotes. And so I've hired her over the years [00:30:00] and then I found out she was doing. All of this art, with like this app called Sketch Club and her finger.

I'm like, wow, you don't even have an iPad or Apple pencil.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): she was drawing you like an avatar view with her finger on a phone.

Ed Campos: Yeah. And just zooming in to get a detail. And I'm like, and it was so good, like all of her art. I'm like, you did that with your, you know, I found out that she, the tools that she was using, right. But creativity comes from, bro, you don't got a lot of stuff.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Yeah.

Ed Campos: I was about to buy a new iPad, so I'm like. I asked her parents, Hey, is it okay if I give Adia my old iPad and Apple pencil?

I think that could help take her art to another level. They were like, yeah. So I gave that to her.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Hmm.

Ed Campos: I really wanted to see her succeed. I think she's so talented. And so I got a new MacBook, gave her my old MacBook with, you know, with Adobe on there, trying to get her into like Illustrator and, you know, and I have a lot of graphic design friends, so I was trying to connect her with them.

[00:31:00] Mentorship. she's now on my board and I, we talk about this all the time. It's kind of one of the origin stories of camp, of our student creativity grants at least, because, I want to, there's a lot of ideas out there that they, if they're so brilliant and whether you're in the math class, you recognize them, we need to give these kids the tool, give them opportunity to apply for these, for a contest, for these tools.

so we have student creativity grants that we're giving out. to talented kids. They need a microphone, they need some software, they need some paints. they need to take a class, you know, that's what we want to help. And so they apply. We gave out two teacher grants. 'cause I just, my own knowing what I want to do and knowing my and my friends and the creative ideas that, my friends have when they didn't have resources.

I didn't have resources for a long time up until I got that grant. And then it was like, boom, all these ideas were swimming. I was like, go, but you don't need all that money. You can do a lot with a minimum. So then, [00:32:00] we've been partnering with, different businesses to match funds for teacher creativity grants and which is what we're gonna do, we're gonna partner with

Cate Tolnai (she/her): These are local

Ed Campos: here in, here in the Central Valley, Visalia.

So the first one we did was partner with the Planning Mill Pizzeria. My friend Tim Lewis and his wife Alicia Lewis, they own it. I used to work with Alicia at, Visalia Charter Independent study. I love going there. we have our meetings there in their lounge in the back, so it only makes sense. So I was like, we said, well, what, what's a school you would love to give a teacher creativity grant to, and open up a contest.

And Alicia went to Redwood. Their kids go to Redwood. So we opened it up at Redwood High School and. gave $2,000 grants, one to a Spanish teacher who's gonna have a schoolwide los celebration. So it's gonna help pay for all of the caveras, the activities, the operanda and just, [00:33:00] and we're gonna help too, which is awesome.

So, which our board, just like we're in, let us know how we can help and make this even bigger. The other grant. Went to, a special ed teacher that teaches a special day class for them to have, they call 'em the Mighty, mighty Power Rangers. 'cause they're rangers, the Redwood Rangers. And their special day class is gonna be, they are gonna create art projects that they then teach to the, general population.

So,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Wow.

Ed Campos: so I'm like, how are we not gonna fund that? Right? So

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Oh

Ed Campos: his. Those kids are gonna create art projects and lead general Popul, general stu, the, all the rest of the campus to come in and participate in that. So they can connect, tell their stories. Some of the kids, you know, that's the only way they can express themselves is through the art.

'cause they might not ex express themselves auditorily as well as others, but what a beautiful way to like. Just connect more people through that. So we funded those two. we [00:34:00] just got, I, it's not fully announced yet, but I have a good, grant working on, well. I have a, I have a contract with UCLA right now that we're gonna do some, do some cool stuff.

So that's gonna allow us to do some more things locally. and then, working, we have something with the KCI - Krause Center for Innovation that we have contracted with. well, I'm just gonna say, 'cause it's probably gonna be announced by the time of this. Yeah. so it's, aiEDU, launched a rural and indigenous, AI literacy grants to help increase AI literacy in rural and indigenous communities.

And so, KCI applied, I was like subcontracted as part of that plan. So, because I live in a rural area and I do a lot of work with the KCI, and I have a connection with Hitachi Yoki, on, on the reservation here in the Santa Rosa Rancheria. So I'm gonna be. I'm a part of that grant. One of the [00:35:00] two big pieces of

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Did it? Did it get approved?

Ed Campos: Yep.

It got approved. So it's gonna be launching. We're actually

Cate Tolnai (she/her): of, what are, how are we? Wait, wait, what? Like what? Like I'm doing

Ed Campos: Yep,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): effects now. Like what? This is amazing.

Ed Campos: yep. I'm actually meeting with them right after this, like in six minutes I'm meeting with them. So, yeah. So it's got approved. It's approved. Yep.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): gosh.

Ed Campos: Yep. So I get to work.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Oh

Ed Campos: I get to go work with, my buddy Kenny Barrios, who's the youth liaison there. for the, for the Tachi Yoka, its Danny Yamas, who's director of the student, education Center.

And we're gonna do, you know, they're gonna be going through the AI literacy courses, the capstone project that KCIs created. I'm gonna be the in-person support there as three of their, members take. So it's gonna be awesome, you know, I'm really excited about it.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): my gosh. and I know how, how long you've worked on this and how much work has gone into it from both KCI and your side. And this is such a big deal and [00:36:00] just, I, I keep coming back to, you have done this, you have helped so many human children by helping educators and helping community, and it's just. It's so exciting to see your creativity turn into something like a formal nonprofit that is now reaching, many communities that desperately need support right now, that are close and near and dear to your heart. And my heart, and I'm so excited. That is

Ed Campos: Yeah.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): news. I love that we got to, you know, we got to share it here.

It was awesome.

Ed Campos: And then the oth the other one. Can I share about the other one real quick? 'cause I might as well 'cause the contract is signed, so UCLA we're work working with UCLA Center X.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Okay. This

Ed Campos: in the, in the education departments came through, signed that contract. I am helping them create a web series on that's inspired by the show Hot Ones, the chicken wing show.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): of course.

Ed Campos: [00:37:00] it's about computer spicy questions in computer science called Hot Ones and Zeros. And

Cate Tolnai (she/her): God.

Ed Campos: we're gonna be doing interviews, with computer science education leaders up and down the state, talking about, spicy, spicy questions when it comes to like ethics, algorithmic bias, equity and inequity.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): topics,

Ed Campos: And,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): spicy,

Ed Campos: All of the, you know, the gatekeeping,

Cate Tolnai (she/her): oh

Ed Campos: it's gonna be, yeah, I'm really excited about it. It's, it's just gonna be creative. Like, we're gonna do it in a, in a, we're gonna tackle spicy questions, but in a, in a fun way, you know, and keep it levity. We're gonna have some, some chips that we're gonna have some, instead of chicken wings, we're gonna have chips and dips.

Where the chip is, the hardware, the dip is the software and like ette. Like Retta Hammond says, the software is our culture. So I'm gonna bring some [00:38:00] orange sauce and we're gonna have a little charcuterie board of bread chips and dips breads and spreads for us to ask these questions through right there.

So, I mean, tell me that

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Oh

Ed Campos: on point.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): That's, that's already like all sign me up already. Okay.

Ed Campos: Yep.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): I'm dying. I, I feel like we could go on and on. didn't even get to talk about AI playground, but, but we, we will drop information in there that's. You know, just another joyful opportunity that Ed came up with that he and I have been able to partner with over the last year.

And just creating like fun entry points for people to come and have conversations about AI. Get to play with it, get to get their hands dirty. 'cause we don't give anybody enough time to learn this stuff. so we'll

Ed Campos: For sure.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): and, oh my God, these announcements for Campo Creativo are amazing. And the work that you've done, just 'cause it's only been around like a year and a half, like, like

Ed Campos: A year and a half. Yeah, it'd be two years in October, two years in November or something like that.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): It's just

Ed Campos: Yeah.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): It's [00:39:00] incredible. so we'll make sure to put all your contact information and all of those links in the show notes. just wanna end with one last question, which is, if you could give a tip or a trick, I feel like you may have already done this, but just if you could summarize like a tip or a trick or I don't know, a mantra, something that you would tell the next generation of educators, what would it be?

Ed Campos: I don't know. I think like, I would just say just trust your instincts and don't overthink it. You know what I mean? Like I've spent. I spent a lot of time like doubting myself early on, having that imposter syndrome, but it was really because I was trying to be a, play, a different role as a teacher. And it's like once I started like fully believing like that I have good ideas and that I, I add value.

That I can just comfortably, comfortably be who I am. I think that's when things started to happen, you know, and not [00:40:00] worrying about small things. but yeah, just, you know, don't, don't overthink it. Trust yourself. You know, you know what's good. You know what you need to do, you know what feels good and take care of yourself, you know?

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Thanks Eddie. It's always fun to hang out and all these updates. My god, I got to turn so many pages in your storybook today. This is amazing. and we appreciate you and good luck

Ed Campos: It's gonna be a fun year.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): It's

Ed Campos: Yeah. Thank you.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Thank you my friend.

Ed Campos: right. See you on the playground in September. I.

Cate Tolnai (she/her): Okay.