Paul Revere is a Fraud!

Andrea: [00:00:00] Somebody sent me a message and we're like, "They are not gonna like your podcast intro then." And I was like, "Oh, yeah." Hey, teacher 

Theme: besties. 

Andrea: Hey, teacher besties. What are, what should I say? What up, young blood? I, 

Gerry: I, I don't wanna say, because I'm still employed, what I think would be funny to say. 

Andrea: There's plenty of things that would be funny, but we also- 

Gerry: Hey, mother, you know?

Andrea: No. Yeah, we can't go there. Oh, okay. We can't do that. That's not, that's not what we're, we're here for

Hey, teacher besties. I am so excited to share with you that my book, They Never Taught Us That, is available right now. It is everything an experienced or first-year teacher needs to manage the chaos of a modern classroom, including some anecdotes to make you feel a little bit better because if there is a way that you can screw up, I've probably done it.

It also has advice on how to build trust with families, how to manage grading and lesson plans and [00:01:00] IEPs and everything else that they never went over in your teacher prep program. They Never Taught Us That is available everywhere right now

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

Gerry: Hey, I'm Gerry Patoka. 

Andrea: And Molly this week is not with us. Last week we had to go without Gerry, and this week we're having to go without our dear sweet Molly. Um, and I have to tell you, I got a review for my book this week that was, um, mostly positive, but in it, it said I could do without all of the millennial humor and "Hey, besties" 10 times throughout the book.

And I was like, "That's a valid, that is a valid comment, honestly." That's fair. Yeah. I was like, "Uh, yeah. Yep. If you don't wanna see that in, in a professional development book, then my book's probably not for you," and that's okay. But- 

Gerry: Yeah, no, they can go buy a textbook or something. 

Andrea: Yeah. Go buy Harry Wong's book.

Have you read that? That's not a joke, by the way, Gerry. You know that this book [00:02:00] exists, right? Harry Wong It's not a joke. You're looking at me like it's a joke, like I made up Harry Wong. It's not. I did not. 

Gerry: Stop saying it, Randri. I 

Andrea: won't. 

Gerry: Stop saying it. 

Andrea: Because I think it's 

Gerry: incredible. I've heard of it. I've heard of it.

I- Once you hear it once, you won't forget it. 

Andrea: It's... Guys, guys, so the book is called, um, The First Days of School, and it's, was c- it came out in like 1991, and it's like landscape printed book. It's very long lengthwise. 

Gerry: Oh, like a coffee table book? 

Andrea: Like it's not like... Yeah, kind of. Like, it's not like my book is, I actually don't have one with me right now, but my book is like a normal book shape, and this one is like more long than it is tall.

And then the author's name is Harry Wong, and it just, it really, it's a gift to all early career teachers, honestly. Is 

Gerry: he aware that he has, like, his, his name's kind of unfortunate for it to be lying around schools? 

Andrea: He doesn't acknowledge it as far [00:03:00] as I know, but, 

Gerry: uh, he's def- 'Cause he's probably a real adult.

I mean, and, and kudos to you, Mr. Wong. I heard about you, and I don't even really be reading like that. Yeah, yeah. Like, now I got, I bought a Spider-Man comic book the other day, but like if I've heard of you and you wrote a book, you probably pretty important. But- 

Andrea: Yeah, he, I mean, it, it was like the definitive book on how to start out the school year.

It still is, by the way. Like, sometimes my book will jump above his on the Amazon list, and I get really hyped. And then pretty quickly he climbs his little way back up there. He is just, you know, he's been doing it. He's been out there for such a long time. So yeah, I, I did b- like, kinda laugh when I saw that someone's like, "You can't be saying hey bestie," and somebody sent me a message and were like, "They are not gonna like your podcast intro then."

And I was like, "Oh, yeah." Hey, teacher 

Theme: besties. 

Andrea: Hey, teacher besties. What are you, what should I say? What up, young blood? 

Gerry: I, I, I don't wanna say because I'm still employed what I think would be funny to say. 

Andrea: There's plenty of things that would be funny, but [00:04:00] we also- Hey, mother, you know? 

Gerry: No. 

Andrea: Yeah, we can't go there.

Oh, okay. We can't do that. That's not, that's not what we're, we're here for. Um, I have to tell you that I just got back from Boston And like any good educator in Boston, I decided I was gonna go on, like, a little historical tour of the city. I've already done the Tea Party Museum, which if, guys, if you've never done it, it's very fun.

It's very interactive. You get to, like, throw barrels of tea overboard. Very fun. Um, but this time I went to Paul Revere's Museum. Do you remember who Paul Revere is, Gerry? 

Gerry: Yeah. 

Andrea: Yeah. I don't know- 

Gerry: The British are coming. Yeah. That guy, right? 

Andrea: Yeah. Um, that's- All right ... correct, yes. So he's the one who, like, told...

Him and another guy who just got forgotten by history, um, were both equally in charge of, like, spreading the word that the British were moving in. Um, and one thing I found out that I feel cheated by was that he, he never said, [00:05:00] "The British are coming." 

Gerry: Um- No, I've heard that before. 

Andrea: Yeah. Like, which does make sense because I guess they all were technically British at the time, so they'd be, he'd be like, "The British are coming," and they're like- 

Gerry: The other British are coming.

Andrea: Right. So- 

Gerry: The other British people are coming. 

Andrea: Right. So it wouldn't have made sense, which I get, but I did feel a little bit betrayed, um, that that was in fact not something he said. But I guess they would've said, like, lobsterbacks. I guess that was, like, their slur-ish. 

Gerry: That sounds bad. 

Andrea: It does sound bad, doesn't it?

Like, it does sound slur-ish, but that's apparently more likely what they said or, like, the, I don't know, whatever else they called them. Um, so I thought that was, like, a fun fact. I also found out Paul Revere, if you look through and you're at the museum, they have, like, a timeline of the jobs that he's done, and it goes from, like, like, silversmithing type stuff, like, hardcore metalworking, making bells, dentistry, and then back to hardcore [00:06:00] metalworking and stuff like that, which I found to be deeply horrifying that, like, he sprinkled in some dentistry in between creating bells and whatnot.

But 

Gerry: then they weren't really rocking with teeth back then, though. Like, didn't- Like, didn't George Washington have some wood ones or something? 

Andrea: I think, I've heard that he had wooden teeth and also teeth from enslaved people and also, like, animal teeth possibly. Wait, so he 

Gerry: was getting other people's teeth?

Andrea: That's what I heard. I don't know if that's accurate You can do that? I mean, it's not advised, certainly not these days But you, 

Gerry: you just like, you take a hammer and tap it in there like a nail? 

Andrea: I don't know, man. I don't know how they did it. I 

Gerry: don't know if it was like a dentist set That's what I'm saying.

I feel like being a dentist and a doctor and stuff was easy back then. 

Andrea: Yeah. '

Gerry: Cause I feel like if you were a doctor and, uh, and like you get in there and you didn't know right away, like I know how to handle you, you'd just be like, "You know what? You better start wrapping things up, buddy." Like, I feel like it's all doctors...

Th- there's no treatment. You're not trying nothing. You're just like, "Look, look man, you've, you [00:07:00] got a paper cut and it, it's got a little dirt on it." 

Andrea: Yeah 

Gerry: I'd, I'd, I'd write your mother, you know? 

Andrea: Right. Yeah. It, it did seem like you just found a dying hole to die in back in those days. Yeah. And I was talking, uh, to Steven about this because obviously he is in the medical profession, and I was horrified that that's what they would do, is that like you could just be, you know, the silversmith down the road, and today you're gonna be a dentist.

And you're just gonna have people roll up and just yank teeth out of their mouths. Um, and he said that it was just so normal back then for people to like, do surgery on each other. Like he said if you were a, um... Like if you did haircuts generally, like if you were a barber, it was known that you could also go there for other surgical needs.

So I don't know what those surgical needs would be, but that it was pretty common even 

Gerry: amongst barbers Like you could get you a, you could get you a fade then get an ingrown toenail cut out or something. 

Andrea: No, exactly. I think that's exact- I guess because they had sharp [00:08:00] knives. I don't know, man. When- I'm just- 

Gerry: When do you think they started doing like, legit surgeries and stuff?

Why you think just somebody was like, like, "Hold on. Something's wrong with your brain? Well, let me see what's up with it." Like, you think- ... just somebody was like, "Hold on. What, what if we try putting y'all to sleep first?" 

Andrea: What if that- What if, what if instead of you being awake the entire time we just, we mess around and let you sleep through it?

Um, I don't know because there is another museum in Boston that we did not go to that was like the Museum of Surgery or something like that. And so I would've actually loved to go to that one. We just didn't have the time this time. But yeah, I don't know. So Bostonians, let me know when surgery started being less done by random ironworkers and done by medical professionals, 'cause I would love to know.

I could probably Google it, but that, that seems like a lot. Um, so yeah. So Gerry, how has your past couple of weeks gone? You g- Are you like in the rhythm now of [00:09:00] school? 

Gerry: Yeah, I know some of their names and I feel- I have meet the teacher tomorrow. In one of my classes, the class name throws me off 'cause it's not what I thought I was teaching.

And then I showed up, I was like, "Oh, this ain't what I thought I was doing," but it's, like, almost the same thing. 

Andrea: Say more. What does that mean? So you thought... What did you think you were teaching? 

Gerry: Marketing. 

Andrea: And what is 

Gerry: it? And it's like business disciplines and entrepreneurship or something. I'm like, "All right, I'ma just teach marketing."

Like marketing- I was gonna say ... I can do this. 

Andrea: Yeah, that 

Gerry: sounds pretty close I'm like, "Yeah, let's just roll with it." I'm like, "Yeah, the marketing stuff's fine. I don't even know what this other stuff is." 

Andrea: Yeah. That, I mean, business and marketing and all of that, that actually is pretty, I feel 

Gerry: like there's no crossover Yeah, and I have to explain to parents tomorrow.

They're, they're like, "What do you teach?" I'm like, "Look, we just at, we just, we vibe." We be 

Andrea: out here. 

Gerry: We be out here. We, we really show up sometimes, and we really just, you know, we, they, they really good at turning the computer on and off. Like it's, it's beautiful. It's really a sight to see. 

Andrea: Wow. I love that for you.

And it's crazy. And I love that for all the [00:10:00] parents that are gonna come and see you. Also, I do think we need to acknowledge the fact that now as we are recording this, the clip from the episode where we discuss the fact that you take off all of your clothes- Yeah ... when you poop has gone out there, and it, that clip has performed spectacularly well, probably one of our best performing clips ever.

Gerry: It's our second best. 

Andrea: Yeah. 

Gerry: I'm giving up. 

Andrea: Are you? Okay. 

Gerry: Yeah. 

Andrea: I think, I think we need to acknowledge- 

Gerry: You know what the first one was? When you and Molly lied to me about what hysterectomy or whatever it was, when y'all made that stuff up. Every time a clip does well, a- any clip that doesn't do well, the only attention it gets is people dogging me in the comments.

Andrea: Uh- 

Gerry: They just clowning me. But any clip that does really well, it's people jumping to my defense. 

Andrea: I was gonna say, this, the amount of people that were like, "Gerry's cooking with this one," blew my mind. 

Gerry: I told you. 

Andrea: Blew my... Guys, people, I, I just need everyone to understand the amount of [00:11:00] comments we're getting on this where people are like, "Of course I take off my shirt to poop.

Of course I do," astronomical. Not just men either. We have women in there saying it. There are so many people that are like, "Yeah. Yeah, we do." 

Gerry: Did you see somebody threatened me? 

Andrea: I, I vaguely saw. What did it say? 

Gerry: Somebody s- somebody said, uh, they said, um, like, "Oh, you think you can use the handicap bathroom?

Well, this is the all call to come and make you handicapped." And I was like, "Is this a threat?" And they were like something like, like, "Yeah." I'm like, "All right, big dog." Like- 

Andrea: That's crazy. Yeah. 

Gerry: Yeah, play- 

Andrea: People are, people are 

Gerry: out- Yeah, play with- ... out there ... play with me. I'll curb stomp you. Don't... 

Andrea: No, we're not curb stomping people.

Of course we're not. That's- 

Gerry: If, if they come at me, li- listen guys, I only curb stomp- Self-defense ... out of self-defense, but you put your hands on me, whatever- Ba-bow. Yeah, whatever you get back- ... that's on you, big dog. You see all these Spider-Man I got? I got skills, man. I've seen Spider-Man three times in theaters now.

I'll- Web you [00:12:00] up 

Andrea: God, I just, the, the motion, guys, he just did like the, the web motion with his hands Yeah. I- 

Gerry: That was not a gun, that was web shooters 

Andrea: That was webs Much 

Gerry: more lethal 

Andrea: To be- Much, much more lethal ... yeah, to be clear. And I would pay so much money to see some sort of situation where it seems like you're gonna get in a bar fight, and instead of throwing a punch, you just like crouch down like Spider-Man and start making with your spider sounds.

You would baffle them into compliance, I think. If you did that, I don't think anyone's gonna actually throw a punch. They're gonna be like, "You know what? This guy's all right." I also have seen the new Spider-Man movie. I think maybe we can just hang out and be cool now 

Gerry: You 

Andrea: saw it? I don't think it... No, I didn't.

I'm saying in this situation Oh. Other bar fighting guys probably have also seen Spider-Man. I- 

Gerry: Are you 

Andrea: gonna see it? I would love to, but I'm gonna wait until it comes out. Uh, the only movies that I see in theaters right now are children's movies. So 

Gerry: Bring, take the kids 

Andrea: I probably could. Yeah, my kids would probably love it.

Yeah. But I'm taking them to see Paw Patrol first, so. 

Gerry: That's stupid. 

Andrea: Sorry. If 

Gerry: that's what they 

Andrea: wanna [00:13:00] see. I might 

Gerry: see Spi- I have a number in my head for how many times I think I'll see Spider-Man 

Andrea: in theaters. What's the number? 

Gerry: Five. 

Andrea: Five? I believe 

Gerry: that. I'm at three, but I don't know when the next two are.

Like, I'm like, 

Theme: eh, 

Gerry: we'll see. 

Andrea: Yeah. So I officially started my classes today, and I have talked on here about how I have my coworker who retired and abandoned me and all of that. And she, because I asked her to, blessed me with coming to class today to get us started on the same exact way that she always would start the class.

Um, so she already gave me her curriculum. She gave me the, the course, like, calendar, all of that kind of stuff, and I basically was like, I, if, like, if you want to, and she was delighted to do it. So she came in and she was working with me and all of these students, and so I could just tell the students were relieved to see her there because so many of them, um, were really looking forward to having her.

And [00:14:00] so I think she's probably gonna come in, like, once a week and co-teach with me, um, throughout the semester, and it went really, really well. Why are you making that face? What's that face? What's 

Gerry: the point in retiring if she's gonna come back once a week? 

Andrea: I don't 

Gerry: think she- For free ... it- She could've stayed there once a week, got paid.

Andrea: I know. 

Gerry: What's her email? I know. I'm gonna solve this. You, it's, it, listen, Andrew, you, you have a whole book. You're a doctor. You gotta spread your wings and fly. You don't need this lady. 

Andrea: No, 

Gerry: no, I do need her. 

Andrea: Now, I'm sure she was great. No, I do need her. I'm sure she was great. I, I told her this too. Ain't you a doctor?

I, uh, she's been doing it for 40 years, and so I'm also telling the students, and this is something for all new teachers, is that when good, helpful support is offered, take it as long as you need it. And I am just ab- A- and the other thing is, is, like, how many of us have inherited class materials? And we don't even know what to do with these class materials because that teacher is long gone.

Like, they're over it, they're done, they're retired, they're never gonna explain to you what this activity was, and the activity [00:15:00] could've been great. Um, and so what is happening right now is, like, in the first couple weeks, she's doing more with me, and then she'll, she'll be s- like, coming in if I am, like, at a conference or traveling for Teachers' Lounge stuff or whatever.

But yeah, I just wanted to follow up on that because I was so worried about the first day, and then it was a delight and wonderful. And yeah, so you know, thanks to all those teachers out there who are, uh, imparting their wisdom to the young teachers or younger teachers 'cause we need, we need that. We need it big 

Gerry: time.

But then she won't be there next time, and you're gonna be freaked out again. 

Andrea: No, I think I'll be better because at least then I've taught the class before, because that's why I'm freaked out. I, and I feel like this is how I felt when I first started teaching, and unfortunately, when we have all of these teachers that leave the classroom, and they take all of this experience and knowledge with them- We then are missing out on, a lot of times, all of like the, like the, um, what's, what's the phrase?

My brain is, like, not [00:16:00] working. The trial and error. Series. No. Oh. The trial and error that they spent four decades or two decades or whatever it is figuring out, and then they leave, and a new teacher comes in and sometimes only gets course curriculum or whatever. And so then they have to start over at square one, and the students are the ones that suffer and have to go through that first year teaching with a teacher who is trying to trial and error their way through.

Um, and I think that it would be really, really cool if there was a system in place where first year teachers have an opportunity to work with somebody more closely, m- somebody who's not... Like, 'cause student teaching is kind of that, or that's what it's supposed to be. But usually, you know, the host teacher is already drowning.

So maybe if it was somebody who was, like, sorta retired and came in once a week, that would be more helpful. But I don't know. I'm thankful because I'm now able to model for my students, no, no, you do not need to reinvent the wheel. Even if you're a good teacher and you're confident in your skills, if someone has resources, take the resources every single [00:17:00] time.

So yeah. And, uh, extra benefit for me, I don't have to go to any kind of meet the teacher events because I can't meet any of my students' parents because that is a FERPA violation. So you have fun. 

Gerry: Swag. 

Andrea: Yeah. It's actually illegal for me to talk to my students' parents, which is awesome. Really? Yeah. If a parent calls me and they're like, "Tell me about little Billy's grade," and I will say, "Absolutely not.

They are an adult. Thank you so much. Bye." So fun fact. 

Gerry: Do you have a student named little Billy? 

Andrea: I do not, no. 

Gerry: That'd be funny if you did. 

Andrea: Yeah, Billy? I don't think that there's been any Bills that are, like, under the age of 50, I would guess. Do you know any Bills? I know some Williams, but Bill? No. My dad's name is Bill.

Hi, Dad. And he's not under the age of 50. I mean, we could probably find 

Gerry: a few more Billys out there. 

Andrea: All right. Yeah. Maybe you should name your, your future- What? ... unborn child Bill. Bring it back. 

Gerry: Okay. 

Andrea: Great. All right, guys. We are- 

Gerry: They gonna be like, "What's it short for?" I'm 

Andrea: gonna be like, "Billiam." Yeah. I like [00:18:00] that.

That's unique. I'ma 

Gerry: name him Billiam. 

Andrea: Billiam? Billiam or 

Gerry: Billiam, one or the other. 

Andrea: Wow. That, that would be a choice, wouldn't it? Billiam, 

Gerry: Billiam. I think that'd be good. 

Andrea: Incredible. All right. We do have some questions that people have sent in, but before we get to those, we are gonna take a very quick break, break, so be right back.

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The vocab games are customizable and actually super fun. And if you're starting a brand new unit and you want some ideas of terms that you think that your students might need to [00:19:00] know, then you can use their AI generator to build a vocab pack. And if you want your students to get off of the computer, you can also print out the vocab worksheets.

I love it for some quick review or as a fun way to gauge my students' knowledge. KnowWord is an online tool for creating fun vocab games. Visit knowword.com to see how it fits into your classroom. Again, that's K-N-O-W-O-R-D.com.

Have you ever wondered what I would say if my mother and my 

Gerry: administrators weren't watching every single 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 at educatorandrea.com/tickets

Andrea: Welcome back. All right. So this question I love because I'm also kind of curious, um, what you have done for this in the past. So somebody wrote in and asked, "What are the best side [00:20:00] hustles for teachers, and what were some of the side hustles that you have done?" So I was a technical writer before I became a teacher, and so after I became a teacher, I did that again for a summer.

Um, and then after that, I did some summer school, and it was mostly over the summers. Um, and then I started doing, like, the social media thing eventually. Like, 2021 is when I started all of that. Um, so that was what I have, have done. Um, Gerry, what about you? 

Gerry: I didn't have like, so the whole time I've been teaching it's been year round.

So I get like three weeks off, so I didn't like have a summer where I needed to go find something. I've done Uber driving, like Uber, Lyft driving. The stand up is nice. 

Andrea: Yeah. 

Gerry: Little money. I've edited stand up clips for people. I've edited flyers, stuff like that. 

Andrea: It's [00:21:00] especially difficult if you're like doing year-round school, I think, to be able to, like, have something that you could consistently do.

I know a lot of teachers who bartend, um, because the hours- Yeah ... kind of work with the teacher's schedule, where you're working weekends, you're working later at night. Um, that's obviously exhausting, and it doesn't work super well if you have kids. Um, I've also heard of quite a few teachers that will do online tutoring.

Um, I never wanted to tutor for extra money though, uh, because I always felt like if I was ending my day teaching, the thought of then having to go in and do, like, one-on-one tutoring with somebody just sounded like torture to me. I don't know. I had, like, zero energy for it, couldn't do it. Um, summer camps I always like.

Like, over summer I could think about adding more stuff to my plate, but during the school year, the thought of, like, working all day and then going and tutoring was like, no, no. Do you know of any other, [00:22:00] like, good side gigs that, like, your coworkers are doing? 

Gerry: I've done, like... I've, I coached. I don't know if that count, and sometimes coaches do private lessons.

I don't do private lessons. I don't know if I want to do private lessons for me. But, uh, like, it's like coaching after school and just gets built into your check, um, stuff like... I'm trying to think. Well, some of them, like, make stuff and sell it on, like, Etsy. 

Andrea: Yeah. 

Gerry: Like, so if you know how- Yeah, yeah, yeah ... to make stuff, like, like pillows or, like, like, uh, other types of pillows, just something like that.

I don't know. 

Andrea: Pillows, other pillows. Um- Yeah, 

Gerry: pil- just a bunch of pillows. 

Andrea: Yeah. One of the cool things that I've seen, um, just when we do shows and stuff, sometimes we'll bring, people will bring us stuff from their Etsy shop, especially if it's, like, teacher related. So I have a pair of earrings that I wear, um, usually on, like, the first day of school or, like, I wore them for my teacher conference, that are, like, these really cute clay earrings that have, like, a little tiny notebook paper on it and a pencil and an apple.

Um, and that was actually something that was given to [00:23:00] me by somebody who has, like, a cute little Etsy shop where she makes, like, clay jewelry. Um, so I know a lot of people who do that, and, uh, I feel like that's a, a good option, although I think that one of the best ways is, and it takes a while to actually start making money, but if you are teaching and you're creating resources for your class, putting stuff up on Teachers Pay Teachers Is very, very smart.

Like, if you just made it part of your pattern of, of, like, what you do where you create something, you put it on Teachers Pay Teachers and then you forget about it. I know some people who have made a lot of money on that. Like, I personally, like, that's not really my niche where I'm not out there going and, like, creating a bunch of stuff to put up there.

Um, I have a few resources, but I mean, there's a girl I know who has, like, over 200 resources and they're really good. And so she makes, like, thousands of dollars every single month with her digital resources. That's crazy. And now, yeah, like, now with AI, [00:24:00] like, if you were comfortable using that to generate some stuff and generate some, uh, resources, it could take a lot less time, which I would think would mean people are buying it less, but a lot of times people just want a unit on Shakespeare and so they'll go to Teachers Pay Teachers first and type in unit on Shakespeare.

Gerry: It's, Teachers Pay Teachers, like, on the, our school network is blocked. 

Andrea: Okay. That, you know what, that's gonna be my hill to die on tonight. I cannot, with districts that block Teachers Pay Teachers, I think that that is absolutely absurd because a lot of times I feel like schools, schools will do that but then also not provide adequate resources for their teachers to support them, and I think that's not acceptable.

I 

Gerry: mean, I th- I, I think they do it more so 'cause it's, it, like, and the, just to entirely prevent there being a safety issue 'cause there have been people who get hacked with something they bought off Teachers Pay Teachers. 

Andrea: Really? 

Gerry: Yeah. So that, [00:25:00] that's why, because I thought the same thing. I was like, "It's stupid why they block it."

Yeah. And then they was like, "No, it's a safety thing," because people have gotten hacked by stuff they've bought and open, like, people sell malicious stuff on there. 

Andrea: Really? I had 

Gerry: no idea. And so, like, they say you can do, buy on your phone on the network and then email it to yourself. You can buy it at home.

Okay. It's not they don't want you to use it, it's that they don't want you buying- Interesting ... at your school and you're risking it. I, like, it took 30 seconds for you to die on that hill. Like, you- I know ... I ki- I kicked your ass back down the hill. You rolled- No ... 

Andrea: you like, 

Gerry: you were like, "Oh my gosh." I 

Andrea: mean, that is kind of a valid reason.

That's a valid reason. Uh, well, uh, because to me there's a very big difference with you can't do it on our Wi-Fi because we don't wanna get hacked as opposed to you cannot buy things off of Teachers Pay Teachers for use in your classroom. Um, because I have had school districts say that before where they're like, "You cannot use anything from Teachers Pay Teachers.

You have to use something you created or the [00:26:00] district gave you." Um, which is insane to me because why in the world would we not use the resources available to us? And a lot of times people will just find free stuff online, um, or now they'll generate it using whatever AI software is out there which You know, it can be kind of hit or miss on what's good and what's not good Some 

Gerry: of it's trash 

Andrea: Yeah, some of it's really, really bad.

Gerry: And 

Andrea: I- And 

Gerry: people are starting to, like, hate the AI more and 

Andrea: more I know. Yes. I have been really interested in this kind of a turn, and I don't know about you or our listeners, but, like, I have been starting to get really a- annoyed when I see, like, the very typical ChatGPT-created graphics out there. Um, I've been

Like, the ones that will be like, "Here are five tips to start out your school year," but it's like a really obviously AI-created graphic, and it looks ... I don't know. Like, [00:27:00] it just, it gives me the ick a little bit. Um, and I feel like a lot of people are starting to feel that way, where I'll be scrolling through and I will see that there's a graphic or an announcement or, like, a, a poster or something like that, and people aren't even reacting to the content.

They're just like, "Oh, look at this AI swell." Um, which I think is a really- The AI 

Gerry: slop 

Andrea: Yeah. Like, I think it's an interesting turn, and especially on Threads. If anyone is on Threads, it is a very entertaining place to be on the internet. Um, but if ever anybody draws a ... Like, put- posts a picture of an area in their house they're trying to figure out what to do with and asks for feedback, a lot of times the first couple responses will be, like, someone used AI to superimpose something over the picture.

Um, and then the rest of them are people, like, absolutely destroying the people who used AI for that Or they are pictures that have been, like, drawn on with, like, MS Paint kind of a thing. And it's [00:28:00] crazy. It's absolutely crazy. Are you guys using AI at your school? 

Gerry: I don't know what they're doing. 

Andrea: Are you using it in your class?

Gerry: Yeah. Yeah. 

Andrea: Yeah. Yeah. I just, I don't know, man, because I've, I've, I hear people, and I understand some of the concerns. It's not that I don't. Um, but I also feel like I'm preparing future teachers, and so I feel like I don't have a lot of freedom to not prepare them with, uh, familiarizing them with all of these things, you know?

Gerry: I use it, like, sparingly. Like, I do try and be more mindful when I use it, but it's like, I think about it, like, at some point, people are gonna quit sweating this. I get maybe these data centers are bad. I don't know. I don't be knowing what's going on. And people were like, "Oh, it looks like it's not..." Yeah, people are gonna figure out, though, how to use it.

I think there's an efficient way to use it. And I think, like, like, pe- the people who were, who were commenting this stuff on Facebook and Threads and [00:29:00] whatnot, it's like, what you think Facebook and Threads are using? Yeah. That is really true. You know, you mad. 

Andrea: I didn't 

Gerry: even think about that. Now you mad 'cause it's a, it's a little tough and scary, but it's like, yeah, man, look, it, it's a resource.

Uh, pe- people didn't like the internet when it came out. People I'm sure didn't like color television. People didn't like smartphones, and now y'all can't live without them. Yeah. So it's like you hate this AI right now 'cause it's new. Wait 10 years when people got it down. Mm-hmm. Um, now there is some scary stuff to it, and I don't doubt there's problems with it, but there's problems with everything.

It's like, man, this, this, I... It made me look like Spider-Man the other day. I'm like, "This is sick. I'm gonna put this on a shirt." 

Andrea: Yeah. This is dope. Should we talk about Spider-Man and your, your graphic that, that you sent that you were trying to say you should use as a, a dating profile pic? 

Gerry: No, I was not trying to use it as a dating profile pic.

Andrea: Oh, 

Gerry: okay. I was trying to use it as my Instagram profile pic. 

Andrea: Okay. 

Gerry: But I did. All 

Andrea: right. Mm-hmm. 

Gerry: And I wanted to use it- Self-control ... as, as part of a show flyer, 'cause I had a little caption written that [00:30:00] related to it, and it- 

Andrea: Mm-hmm ... 

Gerry: and then y'all shot it down. And then everybody I talked to- Sorry ... shot it down.

But I'm like, "Man, I'm putting this on a T-shirt or something." I said, "It made me look just like Spider-Man." 

Andrea: It did. Uh, guys, he sent me the, he sent a graphic that was like an, a- an AI, like it took him and m- like made him look like the, the Spider-Man picture. I wanna be clear, it was a cool picture. You just shouldn't use it for any of that.

But if you wanna put it on a shirt, and then, you know, I guess sell it as merch at one of your shows, you probably could do that. I don't know if it's a trademark infringement, but you could give it a shot. 

Gerry: Yeah, I mean, I- Do you- N- nah, that's, that's just, that's for daddy. I'ma just wear that. 

Andrea: You're just 

Gerry: gonna wear it around.

I'ma wear it around town, so yeah. 

Andrea: You're gonna wear your own face on your shirt. Yeah. 

Gerry: Okay, great. It's like I get where people don't like it. I, I don't know. Like, I understand that I try and be respectful of it. I just think there's so much, like if we're gonna look at one thing, we gotta look at the whole thing.

Like, i- if you worry about the clean wa- buy a Britta. Like I don't know what to tell you. That's probably me. I, y'all are g- this is gonna get me canceled. People are gonna get mad at something I... No, but- But like [00:31:00] look, people are using it. Like- 

Andrea: I, I think it is very ironic, like you said, that people are complaining about it on the platforms that they are using to complain on it.

Um, right, like they're on Threads, they're on TikTok, they're on Twitter, they're on Instagram, Facebook, all of these platforms that are constantly using AI. Whether or not you're asking it to, it is automatically, like AI is doing so much data analysis for every post that you do. Like as, as a creator, I get like a little thing on my feed that I haven't asked for, where it's like, "Here are some AI-created recommendations for your post."

Gerry: Yeah. 

Andrea: I didn't ask for that. And so I think that that should be maybe something that we pump the brakes on, is like if we haven't asked for it, don't automatically do it. And I feel like that would cut down so much of the AI use that's out there. 

Gerry: And we're talking about like a social media platform dependent on an algorithm.

What do you think's being used to determine that algorithm? There's not somebody [00:32:00] sitting there saying, "Hey, I'm gonna po- push Gerry more superhero content." 

Andrea: Yeah. 

Gerry: There's a AI algorithm. Like, I mean- Yeah ... it's not a physical being using this algorithm. The computer doesn't think for itself. It's using some sort of artificial intel.

It's just- 

Andrea: Yeah ... it's- That's true. All right, so Gerry's Hill was kind of the AI-based hill of, and I guess my hill kinda was the Teachers Pay Teachers piece, where we need to allow teachers to do what they gotta do and have the ability to access all the resources that they need for their classroom. 'Cause that's really the, what the crux of it is, is these teachers are doing the most, and then people are coming in from the side and saying like, "Actually, we don't think you should be able to access those Teachers Pay Teachers resources.

We don't think you should be able to use AI." And I think teachers should be treated like professionals and use the resources that they think are wise to use in their classrooms, so. 

Gerry: Can I add one more point about the AI thing that I forgot? Do 

Andrea: it. Yes. 

Gerry: I, I think it's also fair if, and [00:33:00] again, it, uh, I, I don't like seeing, like, the stereotypical-- Like, I don't mind if you use AI as a support.

If you're just getting AI do it for you, like on flyers or posters or whatever, I think that's kind of corny. Like, use it as a, a, for help, not to do it. But if you are someone who just hates the AI, and it's like where you said with someone using it to remodel their living room and whatnot, don't engage with it.

If you engage with it, this algorithm's gonna keep pushing that kind of stuff to you, and you keep engaging, it's gonna get pushed out, which is gonna show more people what it can do, and they're gonna wanna use it. You're helping AI by being publicly mad at it. You wanna- 

Andrea: Yeah ... 

Gerry: if you really genuinely hate it, just don't bother with it.

Don't engage with it. Yeah. You can unfollow if you want to. You can hide content like that You can do all that,

Andrea: but that- Yeah ... that's, that's all I got on it. I don't know the math. That is a great point. I love 

Gerry: r- I love hu- I love humans and I love robots. I'm a do whoever, I'm a do whatever, whatever's helpful, [00:34:00] whatever's productive. Yeah. 

Andrea: I mean, and, and that's kinda- Gang, gang ... that's how I kind of feel about it with, with teachers is they need to be ac- accessing whatever resources they possibly can.

Um, and I would love to hear from all of you about how you guys are handling AI in your classrooms. Um, you know, it is something that I think we've talked about a lot on the podcast, but with good reason, 'cause it's everywhere, all the time. Um, so if you have thoughts about what we talked about today, you can contact us, um, andrea@human-content.com, or you can contact me at Educator Andrea, and Gerry at @

Gerry: comedybygp.

Andrea: And you can contact the whole Human Content Podcast family on Instagram and TikTok at humancontentpods. And thank you so much to all the amazing listeners out there leaving wonderful feedback and awesome reviews. Um, please do continue to do that. Give us five stars, and if you wanna check out the full YouTube videos, they are up every week at Educator Andrea.

Thank you so much for listening. I'm your host, Andrea Forkham. 

Gerry: I'm Gerry Patoka. 

Andrea: And our executive producers are [00:35:00] Andrea Forkham, Aron Korney, Rob Goldman, and Shahnti Brooke. Our editor is Andrew Sims. Our engineer is Jason Portizo. 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 podcasterandrea.com.

How to Survive the Classroom is a Human Content production. 

Theme: How to Survive the Classroom

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.

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