Smart People Can Be Terrible Teachers

Andrea: [00:00:00] They're garbage teachers. They're brilliant. They're very, very smart and they know their subject, but they're garbage educators.

Have you ever wondered what I would say if. My mother and my 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@educatorandrea.com slash tickets.

Hey, teacher besties. Welcome to How to Survive the Classroom. Um, I feel like right now though, what I'm having to survive is my own home with my child, uh, my son. And guys, here's the thing, like with kids. When they hit like around the age of five, I feel like, and a little bit before then they just start asking questions about their bodies, right?

Like, what is this? Is this a [00:01:00] nipple? Is this like, what is happening on my body? My son comes out and, uh, I guess content warning, um, we're gonna use some bathroom words. So if you have your children and you don't wanna have to explain things, maybe uh, skip forward a couple minutes. But my, my son comes out from his bath.

And he's five and he is like grabbing his balls. And I'm like, he is like, what is this? And I was like, oh, okay. Um, well those are your testicles. And he's like. What is it? What is it though? And I was like, um, Hey babe, like called, tapped in my husband. I was like, I don't, like, I can explain this, but I feel like, you know, my husband is, uh, in the medical field, he can probably do a better job.

So he goes over there and I am not a part of this conversation. I'm like trying to get my daughter ready for bed. We're like doing all these things, right? And so I hear from the other room, um, my husband just like, like wheezing with laughter after my son walks out like. Walking with the [00:02:00] confidence of a young man who has learned some things, right.

So I go in there, I was like, what did you tell him? And he is like, well, I, I told him those are his testicles. And he asked what they're for, and I told him that they make semen. And I was like, okay, that's more than I probably would have jumped into, but okay. Um, and he's like, and he is like, well, what is the semen for?

And he is like, well, you give it to, to mommies to make babies. And my, my son's like, well then why do I have it if like, mom needs it? He's like, no, no. Like one day you're, you know, gonna find a lady and you'll, you'll give it to her and then she'll make a baby with it. And I was like, did he ask any follow-up questions?

Because I feel like that for raising, although very age appropriate, does lend itself to potentially. Further questions down the line. So I don't know if I would've gone into this level of detail. And normally I'm the one that's like, let's talk about the science, right? Like, let's break down the [00:03:00] science of what's happening.

Um, but my husband and, and my husband's always like, I, he's gonna say this stuff when you're not around, and I'm, people are gonna look at me like I'm the freak, right? And so I was like, well, I was like, did he have any follow up questions? He's like, no, he did not. And I was like, okay, great. So I'm like, all right, well.

Now, now is the time I feel like I need to have a conversation with him about what we do and do not talk about, once again, have another conversation about what we should not be sharing with other people at school. Right. Because although we are comfortable with having him having that level of knowledge, he has a kindergarten teacher that's, it's her first year teaching kindergarten.

So, um, I went up to him and I was like, Hey bud. Sweet boy. Um, just, just a reminder. That we don't talk about our private parts at school. Okay? Like, it's okay that you know about that. Um, but that's not something we need to be sharing with everybody else. And he looked at me like I was so dumb and was like, yeah, mom, I don't talk about [00:04:00] that stuff at school.

I,

those of you who have seen my stand. Those of you who have been following this podcast for any period of time, know that that is a blatantly untrue fact. That it is almost as sure as the sun rises in the morning, that my sun is gonna be educating some people. About semen and testicles at some point this school year.

But I did my due diligence. You know, I had the conversation like, Hey bud, not something you need, um, to be sharing with people at all. So thoughts and prayers for his teacher? I did. I, 'cause I'm good friends with his preschool teacher who he had last year. I did text her and I was like, we, we gotta be thinking for thinking about his, uh, kindergarten teacher.

'cause she might, she might have some hurdles. Because he did learn some things. We did talk to him, told him not to share it. And she's like, that's a big thing to not share. And I was like, hopefully not. Hopefully we didn't make it like a big thing. So he feels like it's a big [00:05:00] secret. Um, but it's hard, man.

It's hard to figure out like when kids have questions, like you don't wanna not answer because then they're gonna get definitions a lot of times. From other kids that are gonna be wrong. And so you, you do have to do that balance, especially when they're that little where it's like five and they don't need all the details.

Um, but you also don't want them to just be like finding, you know, finding stuff out by their friends who definitely don't also know or unfortunately might, um. But yeah, so that was what I was surviving this week, but I am having the absolute best time touring these classrooms right now. My, my middle school teachers that I'm working with, um, are currently with anywhere from sixth to eighth grade.

And Wow, what a, what a span. What guys, what, what a change that happens. When I go into those sixth grade classrooms, it's very much like an elementary school classroom. There's mo, I would say 80 to 90% of the kids in the sixth [00:06:00] grade classroom. They are teeny tiny. Like they, and, and especially right now, it's fall.

So they're tiny. They're still very much kids. Um, and they're, they're getting a little bit wilder, but they look like little babies. And then I go into the seventh grade classrooms and that they're just, they're in heat. They're so deep in puberty and it is taken over their bodies in a way that is.

Steeply horrifying. Um, and they just, you know, there's a, this level of like weird zoo chaos and zoo smell that you get when you're in the seventh grade classrooms. And then I go into the eighth grade classrooms and it's mostly just like, everyone feels very mean there, you know? Um, but they are. You know, notoriously the eighth graders tend to be the easiest ones to teach because they're the oldest.

They're starting to like become humans, you know? Um, and in seventh grade is like very notoriously the most, the hardest grade to teach because it's just, it's animal kingdom out there. Um. And so I'm going through all these [00:07:00] classrooms and stuff, and it was so funny because I came into one of the classrooms and they were having library day.

I just did a video on it because it was absolutely so typical of what I saw. Even when I taught high school where they took all the kids to the library because this is, this is research based, right? Like everything we're trying to do right now, nationwide, everyone's trying to figure out how to. Improve literacy, right?

Because literacy, like, that's the foundation of education. If they can't read about the other subjects, then they're gonna like, they're screwed. Right? So Indiana, all of these places are starting to push out science-based reading, um, processes, phonics, all that stuff, right? And so one of the things you're supposed to do is you're supposed to encourage students to read.

For fun, like out of like a, a sense of joy. Um, but a lot of kids, especially once they hit middle school, high school, they've had a lot of years of, of bad experiences with reading and so it's an uphill battle. So I come into the library to check on my students and her. [00:08:00] Seventh grade students are like sprawled all over the library floor on beanbag chairs, stuff like that.

Um, just yapping, right? Like they're s it's, they're supposed to be reading, it's silent reading time for 15 minutes, and they're not even pretending to read. Like one kid has like the, the book on their lap, like not opened. Another kid had the book over his face and was like, fully passed out. And so my student goes over and she's like, Hey, bud, like you gotta actually read.

And he's like, I'm reading. And I was like. Foley like, like the book was like on his face. Like he was absolutely not reading, but like it's that kind of gaslighting that you get when you're teaching middle school all the time, which is like, oh, I'm, and it's just the absolute ridiculousness of that. And then that kid starts talking about how he's just so tired.

He was up all night and they're like, okay, why? Why were you up all night? And he's like, Ugh, because I'm a blue collar man. And we're like. What, [00:09:00] first of all, blue collar workers, usually in, in my mentality of blue collar workers, it's like you clock in and you clock out, you're working a nine to five or you're working a, a shift, all of that, like generally speaking, it's like you're working hard, but you're, you're working shift work, right?

It's generally not salaried positions in, in my mind of it, and he's like, no, I'm, I'm a blue collar worker. We're like, okay, sure. You're. You need to read. And he is like, uh, and he is like eating like hot talkies. It's like eight 30 in the morning and he's just like screwing around and so full of shenanigans.

And he is like, you don't even know what blue collar is, do you? And I'm like, do you know? And he is like, nah. I was like, okay. Like, it's just, it's so funny to me interacting with middle and high schoolers because they're so chaotic. And I will say, I think this is one of the things that every show and every movie that is about teaching and about [00:10:00] education.

Something they met, they miss every time, including by the way, Abbott Elementary, which I love. Abbott Elementary. I'm a huge fan of that show. I love the characters they build out for, for the teachers. What every single one of these shows misses. Is that the funniest things that happen in your day? 99% of the time come out of the mouth of a student.

And when we follow like these teacher stories and stuff, they always forget that part. Like the, the, the joy that teachers get out of interacting with a kid who's literally got like a book laying on his face talking about how he's a blue collar worker. 'cause he was up until 2:00 AM playing Roblox. The funniness and the absurdity of these kids is what makes teaching so fun.

Like, if you can't enjoy the silliness of that and the absurdity of that, then like, teaching is probably not the profession for you. Um, and I mean, within reason, right? Like they still gotta do their job, their work and all of that kind of stuff. But [00:11:00] I, I was thinking about that 'cause I'm like, you know, I love Appt Elementary.

I love all of these shows, but I feel like they're missing. The, the, the part that is most of a teacher's day, which is the shenanigans that you're dealing with when you're dealing with students all day, every day, um, and. I just, I also kept on, when I was like popping from classroom to classroom, I'm seeing a lot of teachers do popcorn reading.

Um, and for those of you guys who are not in education, popcorn reading is like the old school. This is what I did when I was in high school where you'd be sitting there and they'd be like, okay guys, um, Sally, you're gonna read the first paragraph and then you popcorn to somebody else. And so Sally would read the first paragraph and she'd be like, popcorn to Jimmy.

And Jimmy's like, falling asleep. And then Jimmy's like, oh, what, Jeff, what, what paragraph are we on? And then Jimmy reads probably badly and like, and it's research has shown it's not great. Um. And that most of the time kids are either A, worried that they're gonna get called on B, thinking about how badly someone is reading or looking ahead to [00:12:00] see if they need to practice reading any of the words or if there's any words.

So they're not listening to the content ever. And so I. I am really surprised that people are still using popcorn reading. I stopped doing it years before I left the classroom, but I wanna hear from you if you are still using popcorn reading and you stand by that, I wanna hear about it because I wanna hear some alternate perspectives because I, it was never effective in my classroom.

On the research side, most of the research that I've seen, all of the research I've seen has said it's not effective. So if you're still using in your classroom, I wanna know how you're doing it because I am critical and I want to be proved wrong. So prove me wrong, please. Um, without, uh, further yapping about all of the fun adventures I've been having in the classroom, I wanna hear about the fun adventures you guys are having in your classrooms.

So we are going to listen to the first voice memo that was sent in this week. 

Voicemail: At the end of the day, I was on my prep period and I heard a kid yelling from the hall as he walked out [00:13:00] three minutes before the bell rang. I'm not going home. I'm just said I'm leaving This school. School sucks. Six, seven. The worst.

Andrea: I love it so much because stuff like that, right? Where like someone's like real big, right? Like, they're like, I'm not going home, I'm just leaving. I'm outta here. Right? Like, I'm tough and I'm long. And it's like they, they needed something, they needed a button for that statement. They're just like six, seven.

It's guys, it's such a weird compulsion that people have. To say six, seven. It's so weird. I think it's like, you know, I think we, we already talked about it on here where it's like the, um. It's like the WhatsApp or it's like one of those that we used to have as millennials back in the day. But it's so bad that like when I do my teacher's lounge shows with Phil and Gasper and Phil especially because his whole bit online is like [00:14:00] defining gen alpha, gen Z slang and doing these terms and explaining what they are.

And he's had so many people, like so many news organizations will have him come on and explain the definitions of all of these terms and so. It's so funny to watch how many people will approach him and say six, seven, and these are not kids, these are adults at our meet and greets teachers because we are so inundated with it now that like we start to pick it up, you know?

And I, this is something Okay guys, this is something I've been thinking about a lot 'cause I'm trying to work on a, on a bit for my standup. I'm trying to figure out how to get there because I think I am someone who, and I'm figuring out how to couch it. So guys, this is little, little behind the music.

Okay? This is how we're, we're working on it. I know there's a funny in here and I'm trying to get to it without getting myself canceled, or, you [00:15:00] know, something like that. Okay. So. I'm so white, right? Like that, like well established, right? Um, that I, I am very white, but I'm like so white that it's like, I'm like the absorbent kind that like, just because of my whiteness, when I spend a lot of time around other cultures.

I unintentionally start absorbing whatever cultural influences are around me in an appreciation standpoint, right? Like I'm not trying to make it something where like I'm presenting it as my own, but because of the fact that I just like absorb all the cultures around me, I do get a little nervous sometimes that like.

I start to use phrasing and terminology, which can get you in trouble as a teacher, where if you start using the terms and you're like absorbing the culture of the kids around you all the time, and you start just like, I, I spent all this time with these seventh graders and now I'm gonna start talking like a seventh grader that can get you.

Into quite a bit of trouble. In the same way that if you're using terminology that are like niche to a specific group that you're not a part of, you're [00:16:00] gonna get yourself in a lot of trouble as well. Right. And so I, I think that we all to some extent, um, like feel that, because it's so funny to me how many teachers, middle school teachers, high school teachers are like.

Like, not even meaning to say it. It's so, it's like this moment when they see Phil and they associate him with these terms. They have to like, they have to say it, you know, it's like this like compulsion where they're just like, ah, six, seven, or like any number of the different like terms. And it is very entertaining to watch.

Um, when I do get that standup bit developed though, guys, it's gonna be great. I can feel it in my gut. But it's gonna have to be bad a few times before it's great. So I might have to put that in one of my longer sets while I'm still working on it. Um, that way I can bounce back and get people to not hate me.

Um, because that is also one of the things that happens with standup while you're working on a bit. Like if you're gonna be there for an hour, you got time to come back. But at my [00:17:00] teacher's lounge shows you're only getting the top tier material 'cause I'm only up there for 20 minutes and then we're all up there together.

So, um, alright, let's listen to the second voice memo that was sent in this week. 

Voicemail: At the beginning of the year, about two weeks into school, I finally got our routine started and it was lawn mowing day. So the ride-on lawnmowers were going outside of my classroom window, um, on along our whole hallway and.

About 20 minutes into class, about halfway through the period we hear the loudest pop, almost like a gunshot, because the ride along lawnmower had flung a solid rock, probably at least two inches in diameter at my classroom window. It started all of us. It scared all of us. Oh my gosh. It was the scariest thing ever.

But not only that, about 10 minutes later, such a delayed reaction. The entire window shatters [00:18:00] during class, so I had an open classroom for the rest of the day, such as warm smelling summer afternoon with all the FreshCo grass that makes everybody's allergies aggravated. Started with a bang, ended with a shatter, and all of our eyes are itchy.

Andrea: See, these are the things that when I talk to people about how to prepare to become a teacher and they're like. Like, no one prepared me for that. Like how can you get prepared for that where you're just, you're doing your thing, you hear a crazy pop, and then like once that window shatters like no education is happening.

I don't care what grade that is. I don't care what you're teaching. Like there's no way you're coming back from that, that day even. Even after the glass is cleaned up, even after like. If you are in secondary and you have like different groups of students coming in and out, then the fact that you have a giant hole in your wall is going to be [00:19:00] so incredibly disruptive.

You're gonna hear every noise outside, every critter, everything. Oh my gosh. I feel that. I feel that I, I'm trying to think if I've ever had a broken window. I don't think I have, but I will say that one of the first times I saw Gaspers social media, okay, so this would've been. Probably 2021. So Gasper Hass been doing standup for I wanna say six or seven years.

Um, I'm not gonna do it guys. I'm not gonna do it.

It is hard. I will, it's all right. All um. But in 20 21, 20 22 timeframe is when I came across, uh, one of asked for his first videos, uh, that I saw, and he was talking about the windows in his classroom, and it was like for his New York City school. And I don't know that it's actually his classroom, [00:20:00] you know, um, but he had like this, like rusty hinge that he was pointing out, and he like went to some.

Some kind of like pipe room in his, his classroom in his school and was like saying like, this is my, my. Billboard that I, or my, um, bulletin board that I use for my classroom, all of that, like really, really, really like selling it because especially, I don't know if you guys remember this, but in like 21, 22, every, like, I felt like everything I saw online was very aesthetic, right?

We were coming kind of like transitioning from the Pinterest Instagram aesthetic of everyone's classroom is cute. Everyone's house is cute. Everybody has this aesthetic of aspirational content that was like just everywhere, and it was in that void that I was immediately attracted to Jasper's content because it was the opposite of that.

In the same way that I'm sure that's why he liked my content, because when I assume he liked my content, he's actually never said that. I'm just [00:21:00] gonna make the assumption that he's a big fan of my content. Um, but it was like this reality check of like honesty of what actually was going on. Because when I started making my content, I looked around and I saw all of these videos from almost exclusively elementary teachers.

Um. Talking about all of these beautiful things they're doing in their classroom, how great their kids are, how, you know, fill in the blank, whatever. And I also realized that like they're all worried about getting fired too. Um, and so I think that's partially why we saw so much of the aspirational content, because no one wants to be in trouble.

No one wants to make anyone feel like their kids are not loved at school, anything like that. And so when I started doing my videos. I feel like it was very few of us that, number one, had a district where they could comfortably talk about some of the silliness, um, and celebrate some of the silliness in their districts.

Um, but then on top of it, like had the like [00:22:00] consistency to keep creating. And those are the people that I've like most enjoyed following. Um, I know that there's my teacher face, uh, who has been on the podcast before. I absolutely adore. She's retired now, but like her content was very much resonated in that same kind of very real way.

Um, and I just, I love honesty in, in content like that, and I think that that's really what kind of brought me and Gasper and Phil together is just like the honesty and the genuine enjoyment of what it is to be an educator. Um, that, that makes it so much fun and so chaotic. Like, what else are you gonna do when your window shatters and all of that?

Like, you, you're gonna cry about it. No, like just, you know, you shrug, you shrug and you go, well that happened today and now we all have allergies. Like, what are you gonna do? Um, yeah. And I also, okay, so this past week. Um, I, when I was in one of the classrooms, we were talking about helping these, these students, uh, [00:23:00] and getting them caught up because there's still, you know, students trying to catch up and trying to bring literacy and reading levels up and stuff.

And when I did that, I was talking to one of the teachers at the middle school and she was saying that there were like no resources for that. It reminded me of the resource I'm gonna share with you guys today. So, um, I will do that right after this quick break.

All right. Welcome back, teacher Besties. So the resource I'm gonna share with you guys is something that I used a ton when I was teaching both at the private school and the large public school. The second I came across it immediately, I was like, yes, sign me up for this. Um, it's called Quill, Q-U-I-L-L quill.org.

Um, and there's a couple things I love about it. Number one, it is free for teachers and students forever. So that's huge that it is. Um, I think it's like a freemium model, you know, where they have like some premium options, stuff like that. You can sign up [00:24:00] as a student, as a K 12 teacher, administrator, all of that kind of stuff.

And then you can create classes within the Quill platform. And then after you've created those classes, then you can like. Also attach it to your Google classroom. So it's part of like the Google suite. So if you have a Google classroom, it will automatically import all of your students into there, and then you can give them a pre-assessment.

So it'll say like, Hey, um, write, write a paragraph, and then the AI will analyze the paragraph. Then it will make recommendations on what your class needs based on the number of students that missed specific things in their grammar based on like commonly missed rules. All of that, and it will create personalized for each and every student activities that they need.

So the kind of differentiation that we would normally have to work really, really, really hard to get [00:25:00] to. It does for you. And then it has like a master thing where you can see how your students are doing. It also will flag it if your students work way too quickly and are just like running through it super, super fast.

Um, and it also has like a live teaching option for you. So when you're teaching a, like a specific topic that you need the whole class to go over, you can project it. Students will be able to practice on their computers and then you'll be able to go over it together. People are able to answer and have like a live interaction and live feedback.

So, um, again, like this one is not sponsored, nothing like that. It's simply a matter of like, this is a resource that when I was teaching English, I loved because I hated teaching grammar. Um, and I think because it is so detail oriented and it is something that. I know all the rules. Okay? Like I, I genuinely do, I was a technical writer.

I have a master's screen, English, I have, you know, all those things, right? [00:26:00] I still, when I'm typing quickly, will miss very, very simple things, like I'll use the wrong there. Or I'll use the wrong affect or effect, like all of these things that I know, but when I'm typing quickly, I don't notice. And so I hate grammar because I don't wanna play like the get the gotcha game and everything.

And so this is a way that it feels less personal. It's very like it's data driven. You're like going through, you're looking and you give a pre-test, and then they have a test at the end. So you can have, you can like have data to show like, Hey, they're improving and here's what they're improving. Um. It's, it's an easy, quick thing you could do for the first five minutes of class.

So, um, that's my, my recommendation, especially for folks who are moving into a greater focus on, um, grammar and all of that kind of stuff. quill.org is fantastic. So highly recommend that. Um, alright, now we're gonna move in to the hill that I am going to die on. And I, I dunno if I've talked about this before, but I've been feeling some type [00:27:00] of way about it.

College professors should have to take a teaching practicum. College professors should have to be trained to teach the facts that they aren't is the most hypocritical crap I have ever heard. Because at every single university that has a teaching program, they will require and demand that for the teaching licensure program.

That teachers that are going into K 12 classrooms absolutely need to have this bare minimum number of credits in order to be able to become a classroom teacher. Because teaching is hard. It's a skill, it's a process. It's all blah, blah, blah. Right at that exact same school, go to any department, any of them, and ask the professors how long they tr were trained to teach.

You will probably find that, I would say easily 90% of the professors at any given university have probably taken, [00:28:00] taken next to no training. Or if they did, then it was something that was done like as part of the HR work. Like when I started at the university, there was one afternoon where they talked about lesson planning, and it was at that moment that I realized that everyone else who I was hired with that like I had been the only one who's ever been trained to teach before.

Because they're experts in their field. They're experts in engineering, technology, medicine, all of that. They are not experts in teaching. They are just gonna go and do whatever's easiest, which is why we have so many college professors that cannot teach at all. They're garbage teachers. They're brilliant.

They're very, very smart and they know their subject, but they're garbage educators. Um, and I think that if any university wants to actually stay with their full chest, that educators and teachers are valuable, and the educators and teachers need to be trained properly, then they need to stand on that.

And they need to actually train their [00:29:00] staff, their professors to teach, especially if they consider themselves a teaching university. That's the hell I'm gonna die on. All right, guys. That's, that's all I like. I gosh. It feels, it's like therapeutic, you know, for me to do the hills I'm gonna die on. 'cause I just, whew, I'm able to get stuff off my chest and it's, it feels good.

It feels good. Um, if you have thoughts about what we chatted about today, you can e email us at andrea@humancontent.com, or you can contact me at educator Andrea on Instagram and TikTok, or you can contact the whole Human Content Podcast family at human Content pods and thank you. So much to those of you guys who left reviews.

If you haven't yet done that, please do. Um, and if you wanna catch the full video episodes, they're up every week on YouTube. Thank you so much for listening. I am your host, Andrea. For our executive producers are Andrea Forche. Rob. Goldman Aaron Corny and Shanti Brook. Our editor is Andrew Sims. Our engineer is Jason Portizo.

Our music is by Omer [00:30:00] Ben-Zvi. Our recording location is Indiana State by College of Education. To learn more about how to survive the classrooms program, disclaimer and ethics, policy and submission verification and licensing terms, you can go to podcast or andrea.com. How to survive the classroom is a human content production.

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.