I Said Don’t Come Down Unless It’s an Emergency

Andrea: [00:00:00] Are you bleeding? Oh, are you okay? Huh? 

Andrea's Kid: She bought pain, 

Andrea: pain paint. What kind of paint? The red kind. Wait, was it, was it from your kids from, was it, it's just like it's a non-toxic kind, right?

Theme: The classroom. 

Andrea: Hey, teacher bestie. I am so excited to share with you that my book. They never taught us. That is available for pre-order right now. It is everything in experience first year teachers need to manage the chaos of the modern classroom, including some anecdotes to make you feel a little bit better because if there is a way you can screw up, I have probably done it.

It also has advice on how to build trust with families, how to manage grading and lesson plans and IEPs and everything in between that they never went over in your teacher prep program. They never taught us. That is available everywhere right now for pre-order.[00:01:00] 

Hey, teacher besties. Welcome to How to Survive the Classroom. I'm Andrea Fork. 

Gerry: I'm Jerry Patoka. 

Andrea: And guys, guys, guys, guys, guess what happened yesterday? 

Gerry: What happened? 

Andrea: It was my birthday. And it was your 

Gerry: birthday. 

Andrea: Yeah. Stunning, stunning. Everyone. Shocking the world at large at, I did turn 39. Um, you, that's the point where you're like, no, Andrea, you look so much younger and so youthful.

Okay. All right. You know what, you know what? Um, no, I, okay, so I decided because I, I said because I'm having an existential crisis. I'm doing this, but actually I'm not, I actually don't want to be in my twenties, like being closer to my 40, like, like nearing the 40 landmark. I actually like, I don't care. I, I don't care, but I need content.

And so I was like, you know, what we're gonna do is we're gonna do a countdown 52 weeks [00:02:00] until I turn 40. Um, really just begging for people to tell me that I look way too young to be turning 40. And lemme tell you, the silence was about as deafening as when I said it to you. So, um, I think that's rude on behalf of the entire internet, number one, but also number two.

I need help because I was like, I'm gonna do something different for 52 weeks. Um, and then people came up with some, some good ideas on the internet, but also some ideas that I think were, uh, crimes and also, um, stupid, some of them. So like, uh, somebody um, said that I needed to learn how to do closeup magic.

Which I don't think is a terrible idea. I just, I, I think that I should probably choose things that I think are stupid just to prove to myself that maybe it's not stupid, you know? Like maybe it's actually pretty cool and I just need to give it a [00:03:00] chance. 

Gerry: I like that. That's the one you chose. 'cause I messaged you and say, Hey, I know a couple magic tricks.

Andrea: It does not surprise me that, you know, magic tricks I, that, that does not shock me. Um, I just, I don't know, man. Maybe when you're here this upcoming weekend, you can, you can show me how to perform a magic trick. 

Gerry: I will bring, get a deck of cards. I got two wood cards that I'll show you and anybody who's like, about around the ages of, like, between the ages of like five and eight, you'll fool them.

Yeah. 

Andrea: Yes. That's the age of my kids. Perfect. Yeah. So we can, we can fool my children. Wonderful. Yes. Um, but do you have any other ideas for me on how I can, uh, make these 52 weeks of content? Good and fun. 

Gerry: I think they've gotta be like absurd, like you gotta try like. Like, like, like lifting refrigerators with your bare hands or something, like, something you would've never thought to do before.

Andrea: I gotta say that is, yeah, that is definitely something. 'cause most everybody is, like, a lot of people are like wanting me to eat, pray, love my way through it. I'm like, I, [00:04:00] my life is actually like, good. Like I don't need to eat, pray, love. Do you know what that is? 

Gerry: I, I, I heard of it. 

Andrea: Gosh, Jerry. Okay, so 

Gerry: then, then there's three good things is eat brain and loving the three good things.

I think like though. If you like, just went out one week and wore like face paint, like just in general and just wore face 

Andrea: paint. 

Gerry: Just 

Andrea: interesting. Okay. I don't think I'm gonna do that. Um, but I, so like everyone, like there were a bunch of people that were like, no, you should just take like a solo vacation, travel somewhere on your own.

And I'm like, I do that kind of all the time anyways with, nah, my, my work, like I am not gonna try and pick up refrigerator. But I like where your mind's at. Like, I think I'm gonna try and do a, um, a cold plunge. Have you ever done a cold plunge before? 

Gerry: No, I don't fit in the tub. 

Andrea: I have a tub. You would definitely fit in.

I have a, like a, a sizable tub at my house. It's not like a kids tub. 

Gerry: I'm gonna take a bath at your house. 

Andrea: I don't know how much I love that idea. [00:05:00] Um, 

Gerry: I'm, I'm, I, I'm a bath girly and I just, while I get in the tub, it's like the water's trying to force me back out. It's like you ever, you ever take one of the, one of the pool floaties Uhhuh and like one of the ones that you lay on and just hold it down.

That's what's like, putting me in the bathtub. 

Andrea: Um, yeah, we, so our house was like built peak nineties. So, 

Gerry: so was I. 

Andrea: Well, the tub is made for you then. It's like, it's a corner tub. Yeah, but it takes up like the, the tub and then it also has like a, like a foot. To 14 inches of just like tub rim around it. And it, it takes up so much of my bathroom.

Um, and we, we wanna replace it just because it does take up so much square footage, but it is a massive tub, which is another re like it takes up all our hot water if we wanna like, actually put a bath in there. Um, so yeah, as, [00:06:00] as long as we figure out a time, we can schedule a time for you to use our tub so you can be a, a bath girly.

Yeah, 

Gerry: I'm gonna put Rose PEs in there. Like some candles. 

Andrea: Yeah. You and Steven. Honestly, 

Gerry: I'm gonna put my feet up. I'm gonna read a book. 

Andrea: That sounds lovely. That sounds magicals. 

Gerry: It pictures. 

Andrea: Okay. So, um, pick up a refrigerator. Anything else we're gonna add to my, my list of things? 

Gerry: I mean, I think you could like carry around like a bowling bag.

Andrea: A bowling bag? 

Gerry: Yeah. It made people think you bowl for real? 

Andrea: Oh. Like just build up lore about myself? 

Gerry: Yeah, just like, yeah. 

Andrea: Interesting. 

Gerry: Like, just, okay. Yeah. Just like you could like go, go buy like, like clothes that you would never wear. Like go buy like thrifted clothes and carry around a bowling bag and make people think, nah, like you going through this big Lebowski phase or something.

Andrea: Okay. So when you said clothes I would never wear, I immediately thought of like old timey, like Ren fa garb for some reason. 

Gerry: Maybe not that, 

Andrea: [00:07:00] which. Maybe that is something I should, 

Gerry: but No, no. Mary Poppins. 

Andrea: No, 

Gerry: we're not doing all this extra. 

Andrea: That's a carpet bag, right? That she would use is like a a, but kind of looked like a bowling bag.

Maybe that's what I should do, is like I should attend a festival or fair of some sort. 

Gerry: You should use an umbrella in the daytime to cover the sun and see what that's all that's about. 

Andrea: Interesting. There were always tourists that did that. I, one of my first jobs was at Legoland. Did you know this about me?

Gerry: I think you did tell me 'cause we was at the Legoland 

Andrea: That's that's 

Gerry: in Columbus. That's 

Andrea: right. 

Gerry: I was yo's. 

Andrea: Right. 

Gerry: Why are y'all talking about gonna ride this mechanical bull, dig out Lego land right there in the mall? 

Andrea: Yeah. Yeah. There was a giant Lego store there. And so I did drop that lore that I used to work at Legoland and it, it always was tourists from other countries that would have umbrellas that they would walk around with.

Um, and you know, they probably. Didn't have the sun damage that I, that I have now. So maybe that's, there's 

Gerry: something 

too. 

Andrea: That's the move. Yeah, [00:08:00] absolutely. Okay. So building lore about myself. I like that idea. I think that's interesting. Anything else that I should be doing? 

Gerry: I'm trying to think. Well, you could just start like writing stuff down.

Andrea: Well, people, like there were some actually really heartfelt ideas. Like somebody said I should write like five messages. In the first month, like write letters, like physical letters to people who made an impact on me. Look at you. You're immediately like, absolutely. That's too 

Gerry: much. 

Andrea: I like letters though.

I'm, I'm someone who will send like a physical thank you card to somebody. 

Gerry: You should write letters to the people who made you mad 

Andrea: Petty letters. Petty male. 

Gerry: Yeah. Like, like, like, like, like, Hey little Susie. I remember when I was in the eighth grade and you threw up. My shoes or something and be like, I'm still mad about that.

Andrea: Just go straight back. I, that's not a terrible idea. Hold 

Gerry: on. And then be like, where, where, where do you live now? 'cause I'm gonna come and I'm gonna fight you or something like that. 

Andrea: Hold on one second. Is this an emergency? [00:09:00] No. No. 

Andrea's Kid: It's this today. 

Andrea: No, we cannot. 

Andrea's Kid: Why? 

Andrea: Because I'm working right now and I told you not to come down unless it's an emergency young man.

Andrea's Kid: Can we 

Andrea: go? I'm not answering because you were coming down asking a question that it's not an emergency. 

Gerry: Can we leave this in? 

Andrea: We can leave it in. That's fine. Let let the people see. What I deal with by, uh, recording in my basement is my son coming down. I, he has this, uh, little book of different science experiments that are food-based, um, which is really cute.

He got it at the book fair. He was really excited about it. But when he decides that he wants to make something from it, like nothing else matters. And so that's why he had to come in and ask me if we could make something from his science experiment, food book. Um, maybe that I'll, I'll add that to my list of things I'm gonna do this year is make some some of those recipes with him.

'cause he does get really excited. But 

Gerry: that could be a bit, we could be making those 

Andrea: science experiment for with like food stuff. [00:10:00] 

Gerry: Yeah. I remember one time when I was in the third grade, and I can't remember why we was doing this, but it sounded like some third graders would do. We was just making, you were supposed to make the nastiest sandwich that you could and bring it to school, and we had a time.

We, I, I promise you this is real. Okay. I'm not making the stuff right now. Okay. And you were supposed to eat the sandwich. So I took two pieces of bread, you know, as most sandwiches do, and I put Chex Mix and chocolate. Uh, what you call the chocolate, like sundae, fudge, not fudge chocolate syrup. 

Andrea: Okay. 

Gerry: I put on a sandwich and that was my sandwich and I don't remember why we was doing this with the bad sandwich.

It was public school in North Carolina in the mid two thousands. 

Andrea: Yeah, that tracks I, so I will say no child 

Gerry: left behind, baby. 

Andrea: We were leaving all the children behind all of 

Gerry: them. No, we was eating everything. You were supposed to finish it. I, I couldn't finish my. I'm like my love bread, chocolate syrup and Chex mix and just didn't, 

Andrea: it doesn't sound bad actually.

Like that's not it bad. Was it? Oh, 

Gerry: it bad in third grade. I, well, I was about to say, I eat [00:11:00] about anything that's not true. That was actually the problem with me when I was in third grade is I wouldn't eat about anything. 

Andrea: Yeah. But 

Gerry: I remember I lost, it was like a contest and I'm like, what kind of weird Olympic sport is this?

Andrea: Yeah. 

Gerry: That they have us doing. 

Andrea: Hmm. I, so I actually, probably one of the proudest moments of my life or the moment that I've felt. The coolest in my life. Okay. So it, like, I've done some cool stuff that I'm really proud of. You know, I've, I have run a marathon before I got my PhD. I like have two children.

Like I, I've done some cool stuff, but when I was like 20, I was one of the middle school camp counselors at this summer camp and. You know, at summer camp, a lot of times after everybody finishes eating, they'll just kinda like dump everything into like the water vase a lot of times. Um, and I, I can't remember exactly [00:12:00] what got put into this water vase, but I mean, kids had been eating stuff and they would just like chunk like, hold on now, you know, let's keep this one in two, because now it's my other child.

Yes. 

Andrea's Kid: Number one. Do you like 

Andrea: it? I love it. 

Andrea's Kid: This is for Ms. Marshall. 

Andrea: Oh, it's beautiful. 

Andrea's Kid: And number two, may we get ready, finish, finish, play. 

Andrea: No, not right now. And this is not an emergency. Go. It's beautiful. I love that art. She will love it. 

Gerry: You like that one more? You were not as mean to that kid as you were the first one.

The first one you were like, I will punch you in the throat. And that one you're like, oh sweetie, well it's okay. And like, nah, 

Andrea: you know what it is? It's not a favoritism thing. She just came in because she had just drawn a picture for her former kindergarten teacher that she wants to mail. And also my daughter had a really rough day.

She, when she got in the car, she was like in tears. My son is an absolute animal. He probably left people in tears today. So. [00:13:00] I love them equally. But you know, that's the thing. And I never believed my parents when they told me this, that it's not that I have favorites, but that you have to parent different children differently because some of 'em are just gangsters.

And my son is a gangster. Like he is a straight up thug. And he will wreck you. He will wreck you. You'll, you'll see you're gonna be hanging out with him this weekend and you'll see, you'll see. I can't remember what I was talking about before I was interrupted, 

Gerry: Andrew. I'm stooped to his level. I don't. 

Andrea: You dueling wits with my five-year-old is gonna be better than the show anyways.

Oh my best moment of my life. So all of these middle schoolers have like thrown all of these food items and drinks and like everything into a vase. And then they started saying like, we need to get somebody to drink this, right? And then they were like, no, we need to get one of the chaperones to drink it.

And it was like me and the, all the other chaperones were like all dudes, other than there was like one other [00:14:00] girl group. So there was only like two female chaperones. And, um, and I, I drank it. I drank the whole thing. I was in a cafeteria of middle schoolers. Oh, chanting, go, go, go. And I chugged the entire thing.

And when I finished it, everybody like lost their, the, the crowd went so wild. And I have been chasing that high ever since. It was probably my proudest moment. I've never felt cooler or more nauseous. 

Gerry: I'm glad that one was actually cool. 'cause you said some other ones, like being a parent stuff. I was like, nah, I, I, I fell off the hood of a moving car one time.

I went to swag. 

Andrea: What, um, why were you on a move hood of a moving car? 

Gerry: Uh, we weren't going far. 

Andrea: That's okay. 

Gerry: I didn't wanna get in the back. I was like, Hey, I'll just sell him the hood and let's just be careful, man. He turned, I, I fell off. I mean, I, um, I pounded a Diet Coke one time that I busted it open on my head.

Andrea: Mm-hmm. You wait, [00:15:00] did you, did you crush the soda can on your head after you drank it out and moves empty? No. Oh, it was full. 

Gerry: That's how, and then shotgunned it. 

Andrea: I don't the 

Gerry: Diet Coke. 

Andrea: I don't really, um, believe you. So I'm gonna need you to do that again this weekend at the show. 

Gerry: I probably could. 

Andrea: You should.

You absolutely gotta 

Gerry: you lock in though. 'cause if you pull back it just hurts. You gotta like bow, you 

Andrea: gonna tear 

Gerry: it up. Gonna, 

Andrea: we're gonna film this, um, and, and see if it can actually, actually happen because I, I find that, do you know what 

Gerry: we do on stage or you think it'll be mad at me? 

Andrea: If you make a huge, as long as it's Diet Coke and we clean up afterwards, I think it'll be fine, but.

I'm trying to con, I'm trying to think about how we could make that part of the, uh, the performance. Um, you just never know what you're gonna get when you come to one of my shows, honestly. Like there might be some of that. Jerry's been reaching out to all the people, um, Caitlin Clark. 

Gerry: Mm-hmm. 

Andrea: And who [00:16:00] else did you reach out 

Gerry: to?

Uh, nobody. I said I was gonna reach out to John Green. Yeah. 

Andrea: Yeah, 

Gerry: but I forgot. Um, I hit him up about trying to get him on the podcast. I'm like, man, how many times can you really message John Green before? It's weird. 

Andrea: Which guys in In case, in case you didn't know, 

Gerry: this is the fault of All Stars. 

Andrea: Yeah. Like, yeah.

Jerry's favorite book, the Fault In Our Stars, but also he, like, he's local, like he is actually, he lives in Indianapolis and so that it wouldn't be the craziest thing for us to get him on the podcast. It would be very cool. 

Gerry: Or Caitlin Clark. 

Andrea: Yeah. Yeah. There's, I mean, CA Come on, Caitlin. I know you're listening.

You must be. We should 

Gerry: get the guy who drove the car that I fell off the hood of. 

Andrea: Huh? Should 

Gerry: be, no, let's not do that. But that would be funny though. It'd be a short one. It'd be like, what kind of car was, and it's like, yeah, it was a, it was a Mustang. 

Andrea: That it would be, it would be a choice. 

Gerry: That's why I get in.

It's a Mustang. I didn't wanna go all the way in the back.[00:17:00] 

I just held on 

Andrea: the 

Gerry: wipers. 

Andrea: Okay, guys, don't do that. Okay. Just like, um, don't, don't. Don't do that. Um, okay. Before we go to break, do you have any other wise ideas of what I should do? Because we've got, like, I 

Gerry: get you some sunglasses, like this 

Andrea: LO building. Those are some sunglasses. I don't, Hmm. I don't know about those.

Those are kind of get 

Gerry: you some windshields for your face. 

Andrea: I, you need to 

Gerry: get you some Crocs. The guy headlights on them. Do you own Crocs? 

Andrea: I hate Crocs. So That's right. We've 

Gerry: had this discussion 

Andrea: before. So much. I think I bullied you for your Crocs and your, what are they called? Wiglets. What are they? What are the things?

Bbt. 

Gerry: Gits. I have a Crocs book bag. 

Andrea: I know. And you had your Gibbs on your crock book bag. Uh, and I bullied you for it. Mm-hmm. And I stand by by that. 

Gerry: That should be one of the things before you turn 40. As you get some, 

Andrea: get some Crocs. 

Gerry: You get some Crocs. 

Andrea: I still have my dignity regret. Definitely would. 'cause I've talked so much smack now, you know it's, it's one of those things like if you have hated something [00:18:00] so much your entire life and then you go back and you start being a part of like whatever that group or community or trend is, that is embarrassing.

You can't do it. 

Gerry: Yeah. I used to hate steak. 

Andrea: I don't think that's the same thing, Jerry. 

Gerry: It is the same because I'll tear up a steak now. And you might tear up some Crocs. 

Andrea: I really don't believe that. I will though. I just, in my heart of hearts, I don't know if 

it's 

Gerry: the 

Andrea: move, 

Gerry: but they, they got like a croc high heels.

They got like, you can get Crocs for your dogs. 

Andrea: Wow. 

Gerry: You can get like windshield wipers on them. 

Andrea: Yeah. 

Gerry: Just 

in 

Gerry: case. 

Andrea: Mm. It's a thought. Yeah. I'll take it under advisement. How's that? 

Gerry: I don't believe you. 

Andrea: Alright. On that note, uh, we're gonna take a quick break and when we get back we have some questions that we are going to do.

So be right back.

Have you ever wondered what I would say if my mother and my administrators weren't watching every single [00:19:00] thing I do on social media? Well, that's exactly what my standup show is, and I'm gonna be coming to a town near you super soon. You can get tickets@educatorandrea.com slash tickets. Welcome back, teacher besties.

So we got a voice memo sent to us, so we are going to listen to that and see if, I actually dunno if it's a question or a story this time. So let's check it out. 

Voicemail: Good morning. Um, love the podcast. I actually, you're one of the reasons I looked at getting into the whole school space. I just, um, had a question though about burnout.

I'm currently back in school trying to get my degree to start this process and it's been. Really hard recently. It's been hard to actually go through it, and I actually got a couple questions from people I've told about this and asking how I'd handle situations. Kinda like in your most recent podcast you talked about the whole whole ice issue, and I've gotten people in my life asking me questions how I would handle it, and I've really [00:20:00] known what to say.

But I guess my overall question, I guess, is just how would you handle burnout in the process of trying. To get into the school space when you're feeling overwhelmed, like what advice do you have that would try and get someone over the hump of all this? Again, love the podcast. Keep it up. We'll go on one of your shows in the future.

Bye. 

Andrea: Thank you so much. Um, so, okay, I, I get this question kind of a lot because burnout is one of the things that I think most, especially this time of year, like January, February timeframe, for those who are on like a traditional calendar, um, I feel like this is when you really start to feel it because you hit this stretch between Christmas break and spring break that feels endless.

Um. And especially for those of you guys who are just now getting your teaching license because, um, as Jerry is discovering, a lot of times you have other things that require, are required by the [00:21:00] state for licensure. Um, and so depending on what state you're in and what school you're teaching at, those can take up an insane amount of time.

And I work with the transition to teaching program in Indiana where students. Are already teaching their first year. And then they're also having to take licensure courses from me that are graduate level, which also means they have to be more rigorous than undergrad level. Uh, and it also means that they have to meet all of these different state requirements while they're drowning at work.

And I will tell you some of the things that I tell all of my students, and that is. Um, to beg, borrow and steal whatever you can, wherever you can from colleagues that have more experience than you. There will be a time that you can put your special razzle dazzle on your activities and assignments, but you will kill yourself working over time if you are trying to do that right now while you're just trying to figure out like the most basic parts of teaching.

So that's number one. [00:22:00] Like don't, don't destroy yourself because you're trying to make every single class be. A dead poet society level moving experience for your students like you. It's, it's not possible. Um, so that's, that's I think one of the biggest things. Um, don't grade everything. Do not grade everything.

And you don't need to give an explanation to your students for every single assignment that they've turned into you. Because a lot of times I'll go around, do spot checks and be like, okay, I read what they said, that tells me what I need to know for the next lesson. Um, so don't grade everything. And, um, you know, pick, pick the ones that really matter that are gonna be assessed in the final assessments.

But do not destroy yourself with every single exit ticket getting like feedback from you. 'cause they're, most of the time not gonna read it anyways. So focus on the important parts and let the rest kind of go. Um, and find a group of teachers that you can vent to, ideally at your own school. And if not at your own school, then you know, you might be able to find some community online and stuff like that.[00:23:00] 

With my dissertation, the thing that I found is that teachers who have people to vent to and eat lunch with on a regular basis tend to feel less stressed out because they have like a support system in place that makes them feel a little less crazy. So, and Jerry, I feel like your perspective is gonna be really helpful as well.

'cause you're in the midst of this, like you're working on, um, what is it called? The, uh. 

Gerry: edTPA A, 

Andrea: you were like, I don't even know. You're working on the edTPA right now. Um, and you're still in your first few years teaching, so are you about to say that you finished it already? Did you PTO it? 

Gerry: No, I was about, say I've been, I've been, uh, I I'm aware there's an edTPA a coming up.

Andrea: So what, what have you done, Jerry, to keep yourself from burning out because you're. Although you're working on your edTPA right now, you're in your third or fourth year teaching. 

Gerry: So it's my fourth year teaching. I was a teacher assistant before that, so it's really like my fifth year in the classroom. Um, [00:24:00] I, I'll see people with me.

I, y'all's doing the most like, and I've been able to beg, bar and steal, I'll beg bar and I, I don't care. I got, I got PowerPoints that have bitmojis on 'em. Of the person who made 'em, I ain't even changed the bitmoji. I'm like, look, y'all don't care about this. I'm gonna, I'm gonna just teach it. I'm gonna teach it.

We gonna do it. Let them teach each other. 

Andrea: Yeah. 

Gerry: Be like, you don't get it. All right. You, you show 'em how to do this. It's like, I gotta do this other thing. You, you teach them, you know, you know what you're doing. Y'all know what you're doing better than I do. 

Andrea: That's actually really good advice though, Jerry, is to like, because there have been times where I taught kids that were absolutely smarter than me.

I taught an AP language class. And we were reading Scarlet Letter, and it's one of my least favorite books to teach. And they would bring up these things that were just so insightful and all of that, and I was like, Y you know what? For good reasons. Now we're gonna sit around and we're actually going to, um, discuss our [00:25:00] findings and you guys are gonna teach each other.

Um, and, uh, it, it is research back to put it on them and have them do the work. 'cause that's the other thing, is figuring out how to help students navigate. Whatever the topic is, but making sure that they are doing more work than you are as the teacher, I think is also really key. Like you shouldn't be doing all the mental work in the classroom, like it should be the students that are having to do the mental work of learning 

Gerry: that.

That's like a proven way that some people learn. Mm-hmm. Is by. Like, I've had curriculums where I found out like, I'm like, yo, I didn't know I was gonna be teaching this. And I've learned it by teaching it. I'm like, it doesn't make sense. Yeah, I got this unlocked. We going to get burned out. Don't be a, like, I don't get people, like won't take time for themselves.

I'll take a day off. I'll be respectful and take like a Wednesday off, a day off. People aren't gonna be off. I've taken days off before and just like sat at the house or I've [00:26:00] gone. And drove Uber or something just to make a few dollars, eased my money about any financial burdens. Obviously I've taken day, I've gone to the movie.

I don't do it all the time, but i's like, you gotta take time for yourself. Like don't put, yeah. Like you said, you don't gotta be dead. Poet, society, school, rock that joker a couple of times. Yeah, yeah. Like stand up on them. Just do what you want. Like, 

Andrea: yeah. 

Gerry: I mean, and I think the kids appreciate that more when it's like you with them, you're like, look.

I'll tell my kids sometimes this and this. I'm like, look, I know y'all don't care about this and I get it, but sometimes we gotta do it and sometimes, and this is stuff you going to use, so let's just do it. Like why? When we sit around complaining about it and being upset about it and moping about it, we're all gonna stress ourselves out.

So let's just lock in and do the thing. 

Andrea: Before when I had a book that I had to teach that I absolutely hated, I, we got together and we like created [00:27:00] almost like a burn book about all the things we hated. And it sounds crazy, but like it's, it's super effective analysis. Like, oh, why do you hate this character or this part of the book?

Well, because they did this, this, and this, and they're a misogynist and this is absolutely like such a dated theme and blah, blah, blah. All of those things, like, it sounds crazy, but it, they're still analyzing the text. They're doing all of the things that we want them to do, but then it's a little bit more fun and it's honest.

Like you said, like some, we don't love everything that we teach every time, and so it does allow us to have a little bit more fun. Um, and I think the thing I had to really learn is to. Not hold myself to this, a standard that I would not hold anyone else to. Like, I would be so much harder on myself than I would ever be on anyone else.

Like if I would be staying at the school until 7:00 PM I would be stressing out, taking all this grading home, like doing all of that. And then I finally realized like, oh, number one, like I'm burning out number two, my [00:28:00] administrator was literally telling me like, you're doing too much. You need to stop.

And I'm like, okay, well, like. Why? Why for what? Like who, who am I trying to prove and what am I trying to prove this to? Like why? And I, I think that's a huge part of, especially teachers who are type A, which I'm not, I'm a type B teacher very much, but like I did have to learn that like sometimes the only person putting that pressure on me was me.

And so if there are things that you are holding yourself to that isn't part of your expectations, is not part of your actual job. Just let it be chill. Hey, no one actually cares if your bulletin boards are changed monthly or seasonally. I, one of my last years teaching, I had the August calendar up the entire school year, like the whole school year.

You know what? Nobody cared. They roasted me for it, but I'm like, I, it's not the biggest thing right now. Like I have other things I'm trying to get done in this classroom. I don't care that it says that it's August 12th. Like it doesn't matter. 'cause that was the last time I had enough [00:29:00] energy to have the creative inspiration to change that stupid bulletin board.

Gerry: I will leave questions written on my board for weeks. Yeah. 

Andrea: Yeah. Because sometimes you're too busy just putting fires out in what is like directly in front of you. And I, I do think that's partially why people who have a DHD tend to not burn out as much as teachers, um, because we are so like. Driven by the stimulant of seeing something directly in front of our face and we're able to compartmentalize, um, and not be stressed about those other things.

'cause we genuinely, at least for me, I forget them. Um, which is why I have to have like really specific checklists. So, um, yeah. But hopefully that answers your question. I know that was a very long answer from both of us, but hopefully that was helpful. Um, Jerry, did you have a question that you brought in today?

Gerry: Yeah. So what. Student behavior would end most corporate jobs immediately. 

Andrea: I mean, [00:30:00] I literally have caught students jerking off at their desks. So that feels like a top tier reason that you would pro not just lose your job. Like you're, 

Gerry: that, that, that gonna 

Andrea: jail. 

Gerry: That'll it. 

Andrea: Yeah. That, that was right. Yeah.

Gerry: That'll get you locked up. 

Andrea: That will every single time. I mean that like, I feel like, ugh. You know, there, there's so many, many things that kids are allowed to get away with. And then, and, and to be fair, like. School is not your job, I guess, but I, I do feel like we should be helping prepare them in every way possible for the reality of when you get out there in real life, you can't talk to people like this.

It's not going to go well. And 

Gerry: if I go get my taxes done and the accountant comes in with some pajama pants on. And the hood and in one AirPod, and I'm like, yo, can I get somebody else? I'm 

Andrea: done. I'm done. I'm leaving. That, that is really interesting too, how like we, I feel like as a society have kind of said like, you know what, who cares about dress code?

Like wear what you [00:31:00] want. 'cause when I was in school, it was like you should, you had to wear jeans and it was iffy on whether or not you could have holes in your jeans. Um, yes.

She's got pain in her mouth. Is she bleeding? Are you bleeding? Oh, are you okay? Huh? 

Andrea's Kid: She got pain, 

Andrea: pain, 

Andrea's Kid: pain, 

Andrea: paint. What kind of paint? The red kind. Wait, was it, was it from your kids from, was it, it's just like it's a non-toxic kind. Right? It's from the arts side. Okay. Then it's fine. No, you can't, you can't be on camera.

Go. It's from the tube. Okay. You're fine. No. Okay. Go, go, go, go. Listen. It's okay, Evelyn. It's, it's non No go. You're fine. You're not gonna die. Just go. You just go rinse your mouth out a few times. Okay. If you start feeling like you got a stomach ache, we'll call poison control, but I think you'll be just fine.

My kids are eating paint. 

Gerry: You, you, you had actual emergency at [00:32:00] time? 

Andrea: It was an actual emergency. Yeah. 

Gerry: I farted. 

Andrea: She's fine. 

Gerry: That made me laugh. So I farted,

Andrea: no, my daughter did consume a little bit of paint, but it's non-toxic paint, like art sets that she got, uh, who don't, you know, for Christmas, I mean, who mon us has not eaten a few crayons, drank a couple liters of paint. Um, 

Gerry: I used to like eat playdoh in my mouth. 

Andrea: Yep. So did my kids, my son, especially 

Gerry: back in the early twenties.

Andrea: You're, 

Gerry: no, I'm playing. I playing. I was, uh, I was, I was a, I was a young boy. I was a young baby child and I was just eating boogers and playdoh. 

Andrea: Mm. Delicious. Sounds lovely. That those are also things that if my tax accountant started doing, I would, I would probably not hang out there very long. I would say, no thank you to that, but 

Gerry: he pulled out a little Play-Doh and he just.

I'm like, nah bro. 

Andrea: Mm-hmm. 

Gerry: I gotta get somebody else, bro. If I go, he 

Andrea: like SVEs it, 

Gerry: like I get my taxes done, he's eating blue Taki on his desk. I'm be like, yo, can I get somebody else? 

Andrea: Oh, what a world we're gonna be in soon is that kids are gonna be like the, the kids of our classrooms are one day going to be [00:33:00] accountants and we're gonna roll up and they'll be drinking Monster energy drinks and eating blue Takis at 8:00 AM right before doing our taxes.

How do we feel about that? People? I don't know how I feel about that. 

Voicemail: That's crazy. They get, they can't, they can't freaking 

Gerry: we have that now. That might be an answer to one of these other ques, like some of these can, people can't teach your kids unless they have a cotton candy Alani in the morning. So I'm like, what?

Five? 

Andrea: That is true. That is crazy. You know what is, would be really funny, I think we'll have to do this next episode, um, is what are the, its we have for. Like behaviors that we see in professionals that we see with our students all the time. But like if I saw a grown adult eating talkies at 8:00 AM like in any profession, like a, a medical doctor, if I went to the medical, like to go to see a nurse and they're about to tell me anything and they have blue talkie dust on their fingers immediately, no, I can't do it.

Gerry: Secret time 

Andrea: I [00:34:00] what, what? Do you have blue TA right now? 

Gerry: No. I got into some Takis one day at work, like probably like 10 in the morning. I had two bags of it. 

Andrea: Hmm. 

Gerry: And I pooped my pants at my desk. 

Andrea: Jerry, how did we get this far into the episode? And you are just now telling me that you pooped your pants.

Gerry: This wasn't today. 

Andrea: When was it? You pooped your pants a couple years 

Gerry: ago. 

Andrea: How did you, the lore that you bury, like it is not something that needs to immediately be disclosed. How much did you poop your pants, man? 

Gerry: Um, 

Andrea: it was like, I hate, you're having to think this hard. You shouldn't have to think this hard with that 

Gerry: question.

So I, you, I farted and it was like, you ever sneezed in the snot comes out. That's what happened when I pooped my pants and I met my, I knew what happened. [00:35:00] I, I could feel it like, like, like my seat got hot and I stood up and I'm like, yo, I just pooped my pants at my desk, man. And I, I, I call and I get coverage and I sneak out with my back to the board and went down the hallway and was like, I, I, yeah, I, I, I pooped my pants.

I, I, I cleaned out as best I, I went back to the room. When that class went to lunch, I went to the office and said, Hey. My stomach hurts. I'm sick. And I went home. 

Andrea: What kind of pants were you wearing? 

Gerry: Um, 

Andrea: were they like khakis? 

Gerry: So I don't wear real pants. I wear like these athletic thin pants. 

Andrea: Oh, that's a choice.

Gerry: That are, that look like khakis. But they tie with a drawstring. 'cause I don't wear belt like gasper. Gasper doesn't wear belts. Does he? Hasn't he have this conversation? 

Andrea: I don't, I don't think he does. 

Gerry: Yeah. This is a, this is a conversation i, I should have with him, but I don't wear, I don't wear belts. 

Andrea: Okay.

Gerry: Because I [00:36:00] don't like when my stomach gets stuck to the belt buckle, so I just don't wear 'em. Okay. I wear pants and drawstring and, and, and Dick's Sporting Goods makes these little thing pants. This isn't an ad by the way, but if they wanna hit us up, they can. 

Andrea: I don't think, I don't think Dick's Sporting Goods is gonna be jumping at the opportunity to hear about how you Shit one of their pants, I think for saying, 

Gerry: and, and, and, and Andrea.

In all honesty, these might be the exact same pants. 

Andrea: Oh, thank God they're not retired. What a gift for all of us. Um, 

Gerry: no. And yeah, but nah. And 

Andrea: and that was because of the blue talkies? Is that what we're saying? 

Gerry: I was doo do up. That's why I wear these long shirts and stuff now in case I, in case I doy, it's covered.

Andrea: Did we learn her a lesson? 

Gerry: Nah, them Takis is good man. I know why the kids are eating them. This is not an endorsement for talkies, by the way. Again, but 

Andrea: again, 

Gerry: they wanna hit us up. I, I don't think this is the worst Taki commercial is Dick's Sporting goods pants commercial? 

Andrea: I think it's better for the pants.

'cause you're still wearing [00:37:00] 'em even after Yeah. You, you done shadow 'em 

Gerry: longevity of these pants. No way. Amen. 

Andrea: What a gift. I mean, who amongst us has not pooped our pants. Sitting at our desk after eating chips for breakfast. 

Gerry: So, so if the burnout guy's still listening, look brother, sometimes you can poop your debt.

You could be pooping your pants amongst all this. It does get better, bro. 

Andrea: It gets better. It 

Gerry: gets, it gets better. That, that's, that's the motto. We need to, that needs to be our motto is whatever you're going through, you could poop your pants in the middle of it. I can make 

Andrea: it a whole lot worse. That feels like a lot.

That feels like a lot. No. What, what Steven and I always will say to each other, um, after we have a really bad day, it be like, it was the worst day of your life so far. Things can always be worse. 

Gerry: I don't like that. I like that Things can always be worse. I don't like that. It's the worst day of your life So far.

I don't So have no more of these. Like, I'm like, I I won't put them on my mind. Yeah, but what? Yeah. Nah, I put my pants at a target one time. It's, it can be a problem now. 

Andrea: Wow. We're gonna have to revisit that next [00:38:00] episode. Um, we 

Gerry: could do a whole episode on times. My pants. I, I, yeah. I've only, I got an another story, but I'm gonna save it.

Andrea: Okay, Jerry? I'm concerned. All right. Um, it feels very strange to put a hit. I don't know that there's any hill that you're gonna die on that people are gonna trust as much as you trust talkies. I mean, I. 

Gerry: I could think of, I, I could probably think of one now. 

Andrea: Yeah. Let's hear the hill that you're gonna die on.

Gerry: I think we should quit judging people when they are very open about poop in their pants. Like it don't be happening. 

Andrea: Mm. I, 

Gerry: because I tell people these stories, they're like, why'd you do that? That's so gross. I'm like, okay. And. Ever happen? Nobody else. It's just me. It's just Jerry out here dodo on himself.

No other people doo on themself. They do it all the time. They don't get no slack. Your kid just came down here and told you he ate paint. I, I've seen some adults that like my tummy hurt. I'll be like, yo, my summer I'm gonna do on myself. Now I will. I'll be like, look, I still on business gang. 

Andrea: Okay. 

Gerry: I said I was gonna put my pants and I [00:39:00] did.

And I'm like, I don't get why people would be so mad about it. But it happens. Life happens. 

Andrea: Wow. 

Gerry: Sh exclamation mark T happens. It be happening, 

Andrea: it 

Gerry: lean into it. 

Andrea: It do be happening. I think the hill I'm gonna die on is that you should never trust a fart. As a grown adult, 

Gerry: I don't be When you, when I told you a minute ago, I don't know if it's gonna make the podcast.

I one you told me a minute ago that I laughed so hard, I farted. Mm-hmm. I almost laughed so hard that we had to cut the episode short.

Andrea: Wow. Well, I can't wait for next episode when we can talk about more of the times that you. Poops your literal pants, and I can't wait for your students to hear this episode. Um, oh, 

Gerry: they know. I, I, I started telling 'em, I'm glad I pooped my pants. They think I'm lying. 

Andrea: I, mm, guys, he's not. I, I fear and now I'm concerned about you using my tub.

All right. Um, if you guys have thoughts about what we chatted about today, which I'm sure you do, or if you have a story that's gonna make Jerry feel better about pooping his pants at work, please send it in. We would love to [00:40:00] hear it. Um, you can go to podcast or andrea.com, or you can email us, andrea@humancontent.com.

Or you can contact me at Educator Andrea, and you can contact Jerry at 

Gerry: at com by GP on Instagram and TikTok. 

Andrea: That was so smooth. It was so good that time. Um, and you can contact the whole Human Content Podcast family on Instagram and TikTok at Human Content Pods. And thank you so much for those of you guys who have left reviews.

If you haven't yet, that is your homework, go give us a review. But like a nice one. Tell us how wonderful it is to hear about Jerry's gastrointestinal distress. And teaching advice because apparently that's, that's where we are now. Um, oh, 

Gerry: I can't even pronounce gastrointestinal. Oh, 

Andrea: you did? 

Gerry: Nevermind. You did.

Andrea: That was really good. 

Gerry: Did I go live? Didn't have a good grip on that one when I started talking. All right. 

Andrea: So proud of you. Um, and you can catch our full video episodes up every single week on YouTube at Educator. Andrea, thank you so much for listening. I'm your host, Andrea Ham. Our executive producers are Andrea Ham, Aron Korney, Rob Goldman, and Shahnti [00:41:00] Brook.

Our editor is Andrew Sims. Our engineer is Jason Pizzo. Our music is by Omer Ben-Zvi. To learn more about how to survive the classroom's program disclaimer and ethics policy and submission verification and licensing terms, you can go to podcaster andrea.com. How to Survive the Classroom is a human content production.

Theme: How?

Andrea: Thank you so much for watching. Want more of how to Survive the classroom? You can watch more episodes right now. Just click on that little box over there. You see it, and if you haven't yet, please subscribe. Okay, bye.