The Advice Every New Teacher Needs

Andrea: [00:00:00] I didn't have insecurities about stuff until I started teaching, and then I started. Having insecurities of thing, like I didn't know I was lacking in certain ways, and then all of a sudden they let me know

Theme: classroom, 

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

Gerry: [00:01:00] And I'm Jerry pka. 

Andrea: And everyone at my house is dying of the plague, but me right now, I don't know if anybody else is dealing with the flu, but everyone in my house but me has been absolutely obliterated by flue. Um, and it, it was, it was real bad this last weekend, like, have you now, Jerry, have, have you gotten your, your flu shot?

I 

Gerry: have not. 

Andrea: Great, but you didn't get sick when my, when? When you were here? 

Gerry: Yeah. We talked about this last week. I'm batting a thousand on not getting the flu shot 

Andrea: I was and not getting the flu. People need to know. People need to know and check in with your health and make sure that you're still doing okay.

Because the rest of my family is not Steven Sweet. Steven, our husband, he is now completely sick. He is like horizontal. Um, and I felt, I've never felt worse in my life because. My son, an hour before Steven and I left to go to the shows this weekend in Philadelphia, in Washington [00:02:00] dc my son suddenly got a fever and I'm like, okay, because my babysitter had been with the kids the previous weekend, so I'm like, okay, she's already been exposed.

She got there. I was like, are you okay? Like we've got all the medicine, all that. She's like, no, no, no, it's fine. We are on the plane getting ready to take off, and we get a phone call from her that my daughter has started hacking and coughing so bad that she ended up like tripping her gag reflex and vomiting everywhere.

My son's fever was like at a hundred and we're like, 

Gerry: geez, 

Andrea: on the jet way. And my poor babysitter. I was like, I am so, so sorry. Like I had no idea it was gonna devolve like that. 'cause every like, my daughter was fine. My son just started to get a little bit of a fever and I'm like, you know what, like. It's been pretty mild for all of us.

This poor girl, by Saturday morning she had a fever. My son wet the bed the night before 'cause he slept so heavy because he was sick. My daughter was like hacking up a lung. And then my husband, um, like about halfway [00:03:00] through Saturday, started getting the chills and got super sick as well. So everyone's dying, but it's fine.

Everything's great. 

Gerry: So in the nicest way possible, that makes me feel a lot better because. I've had like a little stuffiness right here and I had like a little dryness in my chest and that's it. I don't think I've had fever, nothing, so I think I dodged it. Yeah, I think if I, it's been over a week. Well over a week, I think I'm good.

So sorry for your family, but. 

Andrea: I know, I know. But we were still 

Gerry: still bating thousand. 

Andrea: We were out doing the Lord's work though. It was so funny. So we were, we had a teacher's lounge show in Washington DC at the Howard Theater, which is a part, it's like a theater that belongs to, um, 

Gerry: Howard The Duck? 

Andrea: No, not, not Howard the Duck.

Um, Howard University, which is an HBCU. And it was pretty funny because we had a host that was, unfortunately it was not Jerry this time. Sorry, Jerry. No. 

Gerry: Could have been. 

Andrea: Sorry. Could have been. Sorry, [00:04:00] button. No. Um, not, not this go, not this go round. But it was really funny because the guy we had come hosts, he did make the comment that, 'cause our show was February 28th at the Howard Theater and he is like, I just wanna take a moment and say.

Happy Black History Month. You know, this is historically about college, historically black theater. Now, um, you know, on the last day of Black History Month, let's welcome our fourth white comedian that we're seeing here today, and then, then brought, brought Phil out. It was really, really funny. I could tell the crowd was like, not like, and he was nervous.

He is a younger comic and you could tell he was nervous to land that joke, but I was like, it's. It's pretty funny though. Like it is. It's a little funny, but Yeah, it was. That's 

Gerry: on y'all. Y'all. Y'all should have known where he was. 

Andrea: We did. Y'all should have 

Gerry: planned for that. 

Andrea: You know what? I don't wanna hear it.

It was, it was great. Um, and then we also did two shows in Philadelphia at the Philadelphia Helium, um, which was a delight, [00:05:00] but I, dude, I don't, I, here's the thing. We had a group of 40 that came right together. Together every, they came together. So I Oh, by no 

Gerry: 40 people, 

Andrea: uh, me neither. Um, and I show up like they we're, we're going around from, for the meet and greet for the first show, and as we're going through, we see this huge group of people and there's a lady standing there talking and giving instructions.

And so we do what we always do. We're like, oh, hey guys, thanks for coming. And they gave us like a weird look. And I was like, I don't, I don't know if they know. Of us at all. Um, and it was so funny because a group of 40 were all sitting together. We found out later it was a union group, like a teacher's union that was doing like a fun trip to, to go see comedy, but they were not familiar with any of us.

Um, and I don't know that they were necessarily standup comedy fans. Um, and it was just so clear that like there was like a part [00:06:00] of the audience that like didn't. Really understand what was happening in the same way as everyone else. And it threw me so much. 'cause I was like, what is with that? Like, you get that many people together, but they didn't know who we were.

So I guess that's on 

Gerry: us. Googled it. 

Andrea: I, you know, I don't know, maybe they just read teacher's lounge and they were like, cool that 

Gerry: we'll be there. What would be funny is if they were, if they, if they weren't even trying to see the comedy show, they were in the totally wrong place or like on the wrong day and they're like, what the hell, Sandra?

I thought we were going see Hamilton or something like that. Like, well, I thought we were going to see Wicked. What's this? 

Andrea: Oh, 

Gerry: what's that? Gosh, six, seven guy up there doing 

Andrea: I, yeah, no, exactly. I will also update on that. My son last night, he's five years old, guys, he said six, seven for the first time. He has not said it a single time before, and it was like something in me died.

I was like, what did you just say? And he's like, six, seven. And I was like, what does that mean, buddy? And he's like. I don't know. It's just a thing we say. And I was like, well, he's [00:07:00] got it. He's, he's got the understanding of it. Basically. 

Gerry: He's late to the game too. 

Andrea: He's five Jerry. Yeah. He's late to the game.

We've protected him from brain rott. He's also not on the internet. Nope. 

Gerry: You gotta quit protecting that boy. You gotta let him live life, 

Andrea: right? Yeah. Just put him on the internet. Let him just out there. Yeah. Put him out here on the streets. 

Gerry: My wife, uh, wife trained him up. 

Andrea: Mm mm. Um, the other thing we did this weekend, and I don't know if, have you been to Philadelphia before?

Gerry: Yeah. 

Andrea: We offer cheesecakes. I'm 

Gerry: wearing a Philadelphia hat right now. 

Andrea: Are you? I can't see it because it's backwards. Oh. So I'll just trust you the best way. You just gonna turn around, 

Gerry: you see it 

Andrea: that I do. Yep, I see it. It's great. 

Gerry: Yeah. That's what that p means. It's Philadelphia. Okay. That's the, that's P'S actually the first ledger in Philadelphia.

But you can keep going. 

Andrea: You're so smart and so 

Gerry: pretty. I'm, I'm a genius. Thank you. Thank you. We're can, can we clip that for Denver? Okay. Thank you. 

Andrea: Um, okay. That question, is that [00:08:00] for a sports team or is it just like Philly, the city. It's Phil. Like the Eagles, aren't they? Isn't that the wrong grew color? 

Gerry: My, no, it's for the Phillies, the baseball team.

My dad was a Philadelphia sports fan, so I got it from him. So I'm a Philadelphia sports fan. 

Andrea: All right. Got it. Got it. I will say, I don't know if, if anybody has, has been to like Philadelphia anytime recently. The Phil cheese steaks genuinely are so good in, in like a spiritual level. Like you, you ascend to a spiritual plane when you have a Philly cheese steak.

I just, I insisted it was like, because we had some stuff we were doing earlier in the morning. I was like, no, I. We're, we're not gonna have time after the show. I have to get a Philly cheese stick while we're here. Then we, we walked like four blocks over and found a spot and it was, um, the best meal of my life.

Gerry: Where'd 

Andrea: you go? A place called Cleavers. 

Gerry: Okay. In 

Andrea: Philadelphia. 

Gerry: That sounds funny. 

Andrea: And it 

Gerry: was incredible. Of course. I sent, uh, who's six [00:09:00] seven, Phil. I sent Phil. I couldn't remember my best. I sent Phil a, uh, a, a recommendation for a spot. I'm like, I could have sent this to any of 'em and they would've gotten it by sending it to Phil and I'm gonna hear back like the end of next week.

He's like, my bad man, we're not in Philly anymore. I'm like, yeah, Phil. I know. I messaged him. Y'all were walking to get cheese steaks. And I said, Jim's on South Street. 

Andrea: Yeah. I have no idea where we were in Philly other than by the Philadelphia Helium And. We were there early because we were doing, um, an interview with a, b, C at the club before the show because Lisa Ann Walter is the redheaded teacher on Abbott Elementary.

Okay. She is coming out with her comedy special and they filmed it in the Philadelphia Helium. And so they're, they did like a whole promo thing. They filmed our show and had a bunch of people coming in and it was [00:10:00] really, really cool and talked to us a little bit about like what it's like being teachers and comics and you know, how big of a fan we are of Lisa Ann Walter and all of that kind of stuff.

And so it was, it was super, super cool. And it's, it's coming out May 15th I think. So you guys have to keep your eyes peeled for that 'cause also, let's 

get 

Gerry: our teachers, lets own podcast. 

Andrea: Yeah, Lisa and Walter, come on. Come on by. I would love, love, love to have her on. She's so funny and is like a, a Philadelphia girl, so I'm I would love that.

I'll have to reach out. 

Gerry: Oh, this, uh, by the end of the week. 

Andrea: Yeah, I bet you will. I will for sure. Jerry's got all the connections. Um, how's teaching life? 

Gerry: We here, 

Andrea: we out here, 

Gerry: we outside for real. 

Andrea: Jerry's favorite response to how is teaching, how we, we are, we are out here. 

Gerry: Yeah. People are really breathing down my neck about this.

edTPA a thing. 

Andrea: Yeah. You should get it done. You should absolutely get it done. I'm a little concerned. In fact, everyone should write in [00:11:00] and actually like just starts DMing Jerry advice on his edTPA. 

Gerry: Yeah. Here's what we should do. You should follow me on Instagram. 

Andrea: Yeah. 

Gerry: And DM me encouragement. 

Andrea: Mm-hmm.

Gerry: Denver to do 

your 

Andrea: stuff. 

Gerry: You, you, you could help me. Um, 

Andrea: yeah. She could tutor you. 

Gerry: Yeah. Li Lisa. Uh, Lisa 

Andrea: Ann Walter. 

Gerry: Lisa Ann Walter. I knew it wasn't Lisa Marie Presley. 

Andrea: She's not actually 

Gerry: a teacher. Lisa Walter. Yeah. But her support means the world, you know, we can get whoever we can get and they can follow me on Instagram.

That's the key part here. Right. And DME encouragement and we'll see. 

Andrea: Yeah, I did find out. However, guys, we are gonna get Denver on the pod. I asked her this last week to come on, although, um, the advice she's gonna provide is unfortunately not going to be about the EDT PA because I found out she didn't do it because she got licensed in Hawaii.

So, sorry, 

Gerry: Denver lives Hawaii. 

Andrea: She did? Yeah. Dang 

Gerry: that. That's where I was gonna take on her honeymoon too. 

Andrea: Mm. 

Gerry: But she's 

Andrea: buying, she she [00:12:00] liked twice 

Gerry: there. 

Andrea: She, yeah. 

Gerry: She ever been to Myrle Beach? 

Andrea: I dunno man. You're gonna have to ask her when she comes on. We 

Gerry: her to Myrle Beach. 

Andrea: As if that's an equivalent to going to Hawaii.

Is Myrtle Beach? 

Gerry: You ever been to Myrtle Beach? 

Andrea: I have Hawaii. I got spent my fish in Hawaii. Yeah. 

Gerry: Okay. Didn't think this was gonna get debunked that easy, 

Andrea: but not, not, not the same. 

Gerry: And this was gonna go down like this. My bad. 

Andrea: Oh my gosh. Yeah. Um, I'm trying to think if there was anything insane that happened so far with, uh, my students just started their field experience.

And they got advice from one of the administrators who is like my favorite, one of my favorite administrators that I work with. And I think it's actually really solid advice. And basically he's, he started off by saying to my students who are for the first time are about to start working with middle schoolers.

And he said, I want you to think about the meanest thing that someone can say to you, the, the most hurtful, the most triggering, like the worst thing that someone could say to you. [00:13:00] I want you to accept that at some point a student is going to say that to your face and I want you to practice in your brain how you can respond in a professional way.

And that's so wild for like any other profession to think of doing that. But that's actually such good advice. 'cause he's like, he's I think like five, seven or something. He's like, I just immediately knew someone was gonna make comments about my height, about my kids. If you've got pictures of your family, they're gonna make comments about that, like.

I think that's actually really, really good advice to tell students that like, Hey, if you're sensitive about whatever it is, they're gonna find out and they're gonna use that to ruin your life. But it's, 

Gerry: they're gonna gonna find something worse. Like you're gonna think, you know, the worst thing. 

Andrea: Yeah. 

Gerry: And then they're gonna hit you with some worse than that.

Andrea: Yeah, that is true. I didn't have insecurities about stuff until I started teaching, and then I started having insecurities of thing, like I didn't know I was lacking in certain ways. And then all of a sudden they let me know they. Kids do that. 

Gerry: Yeah. They, they've [00:14:00] gotten in a habit recently of like, of like drive by in my room and yelling Mr.

Noeck into the room. I'm like, what? Like, I can't even get you back. I don't know who you are. Like, it's like, I'm pretty sure it's the same group of kids like Mr. Noeck. And I'm like, I'm like, man, y'all, I, I wish I could just talk my talk. I wish I could, could go crazy. I know. 

Andrea: That's the problem is they, they, and in life at some point.

They're gonna say something like that to the wrong person. They're gonna get punched in the face and they will have learned a lesson that we cannot teach them. We're limited as teachers. We can only do so much because of jail. 

Gerry: We just have to be mad. We just have to be mad. Mad. 

Andrea: Do we just have to take it and like bury it down in our hearts?

Gerry: Yeah. Be like, I do got neck. It's under there. Like, like just be 

Andrea: mad about it. I usually, I, they would make comments about, um, my forehead. Which I didn't think I had a big forehead. And then I started on social media. And that's usually the comment I get there too, is that I've got a big forehead and I'm like, you're not even [00:15:00] hitting.

Gerry: It's, they tell 

Andrea: me. I was like 

Gerry: a thumb. 

Andrea: A thumb. A thumb. 

Gerry: Like one of the ones from PY Kids. 

Andrea: Okay. It's not nice. Who? The internet or students or both? 

Gerry: Uh, both. 

Andrea: Okay. Kids are the worst. Um, yeah. We have some wonderful questions for us, though. Uh, but before we get to those, we are gonna take a quick break and we will be right back.

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. Welcome back, teacher besties.

So one of the questions that we received, and I love it so much because I feel like the longer I teach, the better I get at using [00:16:00] these, um, and it is, what are some passive aggressive phrases that you or your teacher friends use with students and like, I don't know if, like some of these that I wrote down, I'm not sure really count as passive aggressive.

I don't. I don't consider myself passive aggressive. I think I'm pretty direct. 

Gerry: I got 

Andrea: what? But I'm very sarcastic, so yes. Okay. Let me hear. 

Gerry: I like to do the thing where the kids will just blur out. Mr. Pga, I left my notebook in such and such is class. And I'll be like, who? And they'll be like, I left mine and I go Asked.

And they're like that. I don't know if that fits the mold, what you were saying, but that's what I thought. I do it all the time. 

Andrea: I like that. Yeah, I think that fits. I think that both of us probably would more likely to fall under the category of sarcastic than passive aggressive. I don't know if those are, if there's like a Venn diagram of that, if that like necessarily is, but I, [00:17:00] I think that telling someone your turn when they interrupt you is debilitating.

Like someone like, oh, your turn. Your turn and like. Have them have to finish what they were saying. Um, that works sometimes because it depends on the age of the student. 'cause they'll be like, yeah, it is my turn. Obviously it's my turn. I was speaking so 

Gerry: I can see you doing that. 

Andrea: Yeah. 'cause I'm mean, um, I like the 

Gerry: one where like, oh, the middle of my sentence in row, the beginning, yours.

I 

Andrea: that somewhere. That's such good one. 

Gerry: I thought it made me laugh. 

Andrea: I love it. Um, that's a choice. I say that a lot. I'll, someone will be like, oh, I'm gonna go and, I don't know, get a face tattoo this weekend. Be like, oh, that's a choice that you are making. 

Gerry: I got one. Yeah. Play stupid games. Win stupid prizes.

That's my favorite one. 

Andrea: Is that how you provide empathy to your students? You model empathy 

Gerry: when, when they start, when they, when they're on one. I tell 'em, be quiet. I'm like, all right. Yeah, I was gonna let y'all [00:18:00] talk. Play stupid games. Won stupid prizes. Sit there in silence. 

Andrea: I like that one. Um. A lot of times I'll say, well, wow, well if it isn't the consequences of our choices and let them just like kind of sit in that for moment.

You're very a moment. You're very 

Gerry: Shakespearean with yours. 

Andrea: Well, I'm an English teacher, so I have to be 

Gerry: That's fair. 

Andrea: Yeah. And 

Gerry: we all know why I teach so I be happen. 

Andrea: We don't, no, you literally, I'm not that convinced that you know what you teach Jerry. 

Gerry: No, I, nah. You wanna know a good one. This isn't really sarcasm or.

Passive aggressive. But I read it in a TikTok comment on ways they correct behaviors. And this one person said, yeah, when the kids were acting up in the middle class, I don't make them call their mom. I make them call my mom. 

Andrea: That's so 

Gerry: funny. And I would hundred percent make a kid, call my mom 

Andrea: and say, why I'm gonna 

Gerry: a kid call you?

Andrea: You should, as long as they [00:19:00] don't know who I am, I don't want them to be excited about it. Like be like, oh, call. Educator, Andrea, because what am I gonna do? I'm just gonna be like, listen, they're, listen to Mr. Say who, 

Gerry: who's educator? Andrea. 

Andrea: That's what they're a thousand percents. What? Or they'll be like, oh, I think my mom follows her.

I get that mostly from, from younger students and stuff. They're like, well, I think I've seen you on like my mom, my, like, my mom sent me your videos and stuff. I'm like, oh, well that's fine. I'm old. So, um, okay. The next question that we have, uh.

Gerry: Why are you laughing? It's make a me, don't 

Andrea: do that. 'cause I 

Gerry: don't do me like that. I gotta 

Andrea: giggles. I just know, I feel like I have to do this all the time. And I feel like I hear this a lot. Now as a parent, what are the phrases that you use that are like the, the go-to phrases when you're talking to a parent of a student who is super difficult.

So for example, if a kid is like a complete jerk to everyone else in class. How would you describe that [00:20:00] behavior to the parent? Because we can't say that, right? Like your kid is a jerk. 

Gerry: Very, very, very social. Very social. 

Andrea: Yeah. Billy is, he's social, you know, and he's a leader in class and I appreciate that.

Um, you know, his attitude really can shift the tone of a classroom, and that's a really powerful thing. 

Gerry: I've never called a kid a leader in my classroom. 

Andrea: You haven't. 

Gerry: I have had times where I think maybe one time I said people tend, I think I told the kid, Hey, people respond and listen to you. I ain't call a kid leader.

I'm the leader. You don't want, no, 

you 

Andrea: don't want 

Gerry: them to think that they have like, 

Andrea: I'm not, 

Gerry: no, I'm not relinquishing control any of them. This is a dictatorship I run. I actually very often back to the passive aggressive thing when they're act up, I say, go outside and look above the door and tell me what it says.

Tell me whose name is above the door and then come back and sit down. 

Andrea: Does that work? 

Gerry: Yes, except one time they called me on [00:21:00] my bluff. 

Andrea: Did it actually not have your name above the 

Gerry: door? No. I think they went out there and like read it or they just laughed off and I'm like, nah. Normally that goes hard. Like normally I feel you're like, 

Andrea: you should be.

Destroyed by this. 

Gerry: Normally I feel like gangster when I say that. And then, and then they're like, I was mad. 

Andrea: It is the worst when you're trying to be tough and they literally look at you like you're the dumbest person alive. You're like, 

Gerry: yeah. 

Andrea: Are you, are you scary though? Are you tough? I, I 

Gerry: think about something like, I'm like, I'm gonna have to flip the desk one day.

Andrea: I don't think you should do that. I'm gonna be honest, I've sat 

Gerry: at my desk before and like kind of touched him, like, if I had to in a fit of rage to make a point, could I flip this desk and make a, make a mess and then be like, my bad, and just let them know like, OPA toga's crazy. 

Andrea: The admin's gonna show up and give you snacks and make you sit in a calm down corner.

If you do, that might not be the worst thing. I don't know if it works the same for teachers though. They, [00:22:00] they might, you might actually get in trouble if you flip a desk. 

Gerry: Yeah, no, I think I would get in trouble. 

Andrea: You think? 

Gerry: Honestly, probably. Honestly my desk kind of heavy. 

Andrea: Not really worth it. 

That 

Gerry: sounds like, I don't think this is an option.

I think I'd have to go flip their desk. Their desk is a little 

Andrea: lighter. Yeah, their desks are usually pretty light. 

Gerry: Yeah. This desk 

Andrea: is 

Gerry: kind of heavy. 

Andrea: Maybe like take a book and like slam it on a table. We could probably get away with that, 

Gerry: but 

Andrea: even not, 

Gerry: my admin went to an admin meeting this week. They have every other week for all the admin in the county.

Mm-hmm. And he said administrator came up to him and said. We saw this guy at your school's videos. 

Andrea: Which video? 

Gerry: Um, I can't remember. Oh. Oh, that's amazing. I can't remember. I saw you're very famous. It was me saying, um, I filmed it on the way back from Indiana and it was me trying to find. It was like admin trying to find anything to do to avoid hallway transitions.

I'm in there, unzipping the pillow and fluffing, and I'm like, and [00:23:00] wiping on the wall. And my a my principal comes out that Friday, you're in the hallway transition. He is carrying an empty pizza box and some stuff. He is like, oh yeah, I'm just trying to find something to do to avoid hallway transitions.

And I go, what? 

Theme: Oops. 

Gerry: You're like, I'm just trying to avoid the hallway transitions. I'm like, who's snitched? And that's when I found out like, yeah, he was, they were talking about in this big meeting that morning, laughing and apparently a administrators were coming up to him at the, uh, meeting and I'm like, I, this is getting a little outta hand.

I kinda, I did and that was kind how I found out. He didn't know I was posting stuff online. I was like, I thought you knew that brother. My bad. 

Andrea: Oh yeah. I, I kind of treated my social media like a don't ask, don't tell situation with my admin when I was teaching high school. 'cause if they knew, if they, if it was documented that they knew or I straight up told them that it was out there, I was [00:24:00] worried that they would feel like they were duty bound to like monitor it and be held responsible also for it.

If they have some plausible deniability, they can at least kind of look the other way with some of that stuff. So I really avoided like. Ever having, but I worked at a huge school in a huge district at the time, and so it was easy enough to be like, no, I don't know. Hmm. It's crazy, right? Like internet's a crazy place.

Lots of videos, like 

Gerry: I get stuff co-signed on sometimes, like not necessarily by administrators. I have a different people I go to like, Hey, would this get me in trouble? You've been one of 'em. I sent you a message like, Hey, could this be taken this way? And I think I, I try and tie up any loose ends. 

Andrea: Yeah, that's smart.

I, because I've been at like several different things at like a high school when they were bringing in a new set of student teachers and the admin at that school told the student teachers, essentially, you cannot have a social media. Page, like you need to make [00:25:00] it private before you start doing your teacher, like your student teaching at the school, which I don't even know if that's legal, but that's what they, that's where like they stood on.

All of that is basically like do not exist outside of these four walls. 

Gerry: Oh no. I got, I started getting a little familiar with it. 

Andrea: Yeah. Well and 

Gerry: it's different too. 

Andrea: Found 

Gerry: that handbook I read that little book I read very specific. Did you? Oh, well not the whole thing. Spartan. 

Andrea: I skimmed it, you know? Yeah, I, well, and one of the issues that they were having also is that for the field experience, students that are in the school, a lot of times they're like 20, 21, right?

'cause they're like sophomores or juniors. And so they'll be in these schools and most of them are single and all of that. And if you're on dating apps, a lot of times there's an age range, right? And you would put down to like 18, well, some seniors in high school are 18 or 19. And so they also now have to say as part of [00:26:00] the little thing is like if you are on dating apps, we highly recommend.

That you up the age to like 20, 21, so that way you don't accidentally match with a student at the school that you're placed at because that is going to get you fired and probably on a list or two because you know like that. And that is the weird thing when you're like a young career teacher is like the age difference, like maturity level, way different.

But the age difference when you're 21 is sometimes like. Only three years. 

Gerry: Yeah. 

Andrea: And so where it would not be insane for someone who's like 18 or 19 to, to date someone who's 21. It is if they're your teacher. Like that is a whole different ethical thing. So yeah. Be careful out there guys. Careful on those dating apps.

Gerry: You know? It's crazy world know. It's a weird thing that, that made me think about That wasn't the problem. Even when I was in school. The like have, have you seen these RayBan meta glasses? 

Andrea: Yes. Yeah. They, they basically record [00:27:00] everything, right? 

Gerry: Yeah. 

Andrea: It. Don't flip a table with a kid who's got their glasses on hand.

Gerry: No. No. Mm-hmm. You 

Andrea: end up on the internet also. Where does that footage go? 

Gerry: The cloud and that where everything go. 

Andrea: Just the clouds just up there in the cloud. Yeah. I, I believe it. Yeah. Um, okay. Do you have a hill that you're going to die on this week? I always ask With such optimism.

Gerry: No, but something made me mad today. 

Andrea: What was it? 

Gerry: I've got beef, like most people do. I have beef with people who talk in movie theaters, like to no end. I, I get most people like throughout, probably don't like that throughout, but like even I get, if you have to whisper something to the person, like some people talk at full volume today.

So I went and saw Pulp Fiction today. I had never seen it before. Um, we had a, um. Uh, virtual workday. So I just took the day off and I was like, I'm [00:28:00] gonna go see this movie. Um, it's playing in theaters only for today and there's four people in the theater. Me, my friend who went with me and a couple of teenagers or young adults right behind us talking at full volume.

And I'm like, this is Pulp Fiction. And y'all are like 17, 18, 19 years old. And this yapping the whole time. So annoying. I don't know what the solu, I don't know if there should be like a phone app where you can just anonymously anonymous. 

Andrea: Almost there. 

Gerry: I don't 

Andrea: anonymously. 

Gerry: Thank you. You're welcome. Report, like people talk, talking.

I don't think I got that word down yet. Uh, report people talking in the movie theater or like, 'cause I don't like having to go get people to who, and I don't wanna be the, to like the workers, like, Hey, get these people out here. I don't wanna snitch. All the workers are like 

Andrea: 16 years old. Oh, 

Gerry: you don't wanna be the snitch.

I don't, don't wanna be snitch, but I'm like, yo, I paid money to go watch this movie and y'all sitting here yapping. I I don't wanna come here, watch y'all talk about [00:29:00] He said, she said, and TikTok and all that. Like, yeah, I won't watch the movie. And I, you know what, to something like scream like the new Scream movie.

It's out. Young people are gonna wanna go see it. Yo, this is called Fiction. This movie Older, older than you, and they're saying something like this movie old. I You ain't, that didn't have to 

Andrea: that straight the shots for no reason. I know no reason. Uh, you know what, here's the thing is like, now that I am so old, um, as a elder white woman, I feel like it's my culture.

To yell at kids for doing dumb stuff in public. So I, and I can feel it coming like, like as I get closer to 40, I can feel more and more that like, I, I am likely to say something if, if some, and I wa like, I don't wanna get in a fight. I'm not gonna start anything. But I will be like, that's guys, Hey, you know what?

Gerry: That's 

Andrea: where I get super bad. Hey will absolutely snitch. I will go and I'll be like, yeah, there's a bunch of kids being loud. I paid good money to be here. I got a babysitter for this. Like, come, come get those [00:30:00] fools out of my theater. 

Gerry: I've snitched and I've been, I was super passive aggressive. Like I looked at my buddy and full volume said me, you can't go anywhere anymore.

Like, I'm just like, man, what is do? I kept turning around looking at him like I was. I love it. I was kind of being. I was, I, I can feel it. It's, it's coming from me where I'm going. It 

Andrea: does. 

Gerry: I'm gonna be the angry grandpa popping up and being like, 

Theme: what in the world? 

Andrea: I know. 

Gerry: That's why I'm like, they, they couldn't check y'all's tickets.

That's the other thing. So you can just buy the tickets on the apps. They don't know how old you are. That's people. People just see wherever they want. I remember I used to have to struggle. I wanted to go see some radar. 

Andrea: I worked at a movie theater when I was 16 and I used to have to ID people who were going to like rated R movies and get screamed at because they forgot their license or something like that.

I struggled through that, so that is not fair that people can just skip over that trauma 

Gerry: one time. So when my brother and sister-in-law are in town, we like to go to movies and I like going to the movies a lot. Anyways, I have Regal membership. I go [00:31:00] all the time, like I went twice yesterday. I went once today.

I go a lot. I'll go in spurts where I just go a lot. Well, I go with them and we were going to see some like Chick flick movie. I cannot even tell you what happened in it. It was some romance movie. Um, Tom Holland might even in it. I can't remember. Well, okay, we were all going. See, I was like, I heard it's good.

I I will go watch anything and don't, and I like romance movies. Don't get me wrong. I'm with it. Right. I, I'm like, but go and see with your brother and his wife. A little weird. But I'm like, I'll watch anything if it's gonna be good. And we go. This group of kids comes up and is like, Hey, we need somebody to buy us ticket.

Uh, help us buy us tickets. We'll pay you. We're trying, they were trying to go see some horror movie and the people at the theater were onto it and they told my, um, sis, they told my sister-in-law. They were like, are these you sure they're with you? And she's like, yeah. And she buys the tickets, goes in with 'em, sits down in the movie [00:32:00] theater with them.

Me and my brother go into this romance movie by ourselves and, and they had people going up and down the hallway making sure that my sister-in-law, um, 

Andrea: was actually with them. 

Gerry: Yeah. I just realized that's a stepsister at some point. 'cause I mix them two up and it's weird when you mix those up. I 

Andrea: don't think so.

Sister-in-law. Okay. Yeah. 

Gerry: Okay. I've been, I've been making that mistake. It's been my sister-in-law the whole time and my sister-in-law. They were like, had people scouting to see if she snuck them into the movies. And if they did, we were all gonna get banned. The kids and us. It's 

Andrea: never that serious. Like That's 

Gerry: insane.

Insane. They made it that serious. Oh my gosh. And every, every time I go to that theater, something happens or people talking real loud or something like that. I'm sorry, would go on this movie theater and my sister-in-law just watched the whole movie with these kids. 

Andrea: So you ended up. Watching a romance movie with your brother?

Yes. While your sister-in-law sat in a horror movie. [00:33:00] Yes. With a bunch of teenagers. 

Gerry: I don't remember what either of the movies were the whole time. Me and my brother are like, yo, we're we're gonna get in trouble. Like, why did she do this? And we're texting her and she's like, I don't know. I think we're stuck.

Andrea: That's so funny. And I would hate that. 'cause I don't, I hate horror movies. Like, I don't enjoy going to scary movies. 

Gerry: She left the theater with them. And we all just got in our cars and bounced. 

Andrea: Oh my gosh. Well, I hope she made good money off of that. Did they pay her? 

Gerry: No. 

Andrea: Oh, she just did it to be cool. To a bunch of sch like high schoolers.

Gerry: That's so late. Yeah. She's like, she, she, she's young. She's like 22. She care a little bit at that age. She, she's 21 or 22, then she's like 23 now. She's something. She's, she's, she's an adult. 

Andrea: She's 

Gerry: out there. Well, she'll look like an adult. She looks like a tiny little person. 

Andrea: Mm. Got it. 

Gerry: But yeah, some people look when they just got an adult [00:34:00] 

Andrea: young people, they 

Gerry: just picked you up.

Yeah. You 

Andrea: didn't though, probably. You've always looked 45. 

Gerry: No, I used to be hot. 

Andrea: You said that 

Gerry: when I was like a freshman in college. Stop 

Andrea: playing. You were, you were out there. Yeah. 

Gerry: Stop playing, 

Andrea: I'm sure. Oh, I was, I'm, I believe you. 

Gerry: I was a force to be reckoned with. I was a, I was a, I was a hunk. I was a, 

Andrea: I believe it.

Gerry: Yeah. I was a beautiful man. Now, 

Andrea: okay. I 

Gerry: bathed 

Andrea: glory. 

Gerry: My bad. 

Andrea: I actually do have a hill I'm gonna die on. Um, and that is that if they're making us go to school the day before a break. You're gonna do a half day, cancel it. You don't need to go to school that day. No academic work is happening. Stop making your teachers go in and teach a half day before a long break.

The kids are wild. No academic work is happening. Make it a teacher work day. Let the kids start their break. Like grow up. [00:35:00] Grow up, because it is absurd to think. That any academic work is happening the Friday before Christmas break, when you've already cut all of the classes. So they're like 30 minutes each.

Gerry: Okay, so let me debate you. 

Andrea: Oh boy, 

Gerry: wouldn't I, Mike? Don't do that. Don't degrade me. Don't do that. Wouldn't that? Let's 

hear 

Andrea: it. 

Gerry: Say it's a Friday, half day, not even full day. Yeah. S small day. 

Andrea: Yeah, 

Gerry: half. Half the size of a normal day wasn't then. That Thursday just be when the kids are hell, like they're just tearing loose.

Then they gotta do it for a full day. 

Andrea: No, 

Gerry: and then you gotta revisit the zone on that Friday. Like, oh, look at the pencils and paper everywhere. They're still gonna be crazy. 

Andrea: No, because it's a full day. I'm, I'm not saying the day before break. We should always cancel. I'm saying if it's a half day, if you're already phoning it in, just don't even bother.

Don't bother. 

Gerry: If it's a full day, it's a full day. The day before break, no matter what. We might as well make that day a full day. I mean a half day [00:36:00] because they, and where I'm at, they crazy the whole week before we bounce 

Andrea: it down. Yeah. 

Gerry: So it's like why would, why would I not, if they're gonna front, if they're gonna do it in one day, why not just make it a half day where there are no expectations?

There are no rules. And really, if it's a half day, kids probably aren't coming anyways. 

Andrea: So then why are we having them come and it count as 'cause then they're gonna be 

Theme: crazy all day on Thursday. 

Andrea: You know what? Damn Sherry wants us all to work on the Fridays before breaks is the lesson of this. And now we know your admin.

Well make Thursday half. 

Gerry: I don't. 

Andrea: Now we know your admins keeping track of this, so I hope that you have to work a half day every single time. Time. Well, you know 

Gerry: why? Hands? Because I influenced student learning. 

Andrea: Oh, 

Gerry: I, I care about the students. 

Andrea: Uhhuh. 

Gerry: What would Jasper say if he knew you were out here trying to cancel school?

Andrea: He would say great. 

Gerry: No, no, no, 

Andrea: no. He's an academic. 

Gerry: He's an academic. We are academics here. And educator. Andrea, what does she [00:37:00] care about? Not education. 

Andrea: Mm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, 

Gerry: I guess that's 

Andrea: what it's, I guess, um, okay. On that note. Where can people find you on the internet? 

Gerry: I'm on Instagram and TikTok at Comedy by gp.

Andrea: Amazing. And I am on the internet at Educator Andrea, and you can email me, andrea@humancontent.com. And you can contact the whole Human Content Podcast family at Human Content pods. And thank you so much to those of you guys who have left amazing reviews. If you haven't yet, that is your homework. Half day or full day.

I don't care. I want, I wanna see some reviews. Five stars, please. Not like, not four. Because if you, if you're good up at 40, you might as well just give us five. You know? 

Gerry: Yeah. If we tell you the lever of you and you're on there like two stars, go 

Andrea: rude. 

Gerry: Go, go touch grass, dude. 

Andrea: Go touch 

Gerry: up. Go, go play in the street, dog.

Like, don't, don't do that. If we tell you to leave of you and you got all the way to this [00:38:00] point in the episode and you're like two stars, you should have just left early. 

Andrea: That's true. Yeah, you have commitment issues and you should have just left. Thank you for that. Yeah, that's very true. Um, and if you wanna catch full video episodes, they're up every single week on YouTube at Educator.

Andrea, thank you so much for listening. I'm your host, Andrea Forche. 

Gerry: I'm Jerry pga. 

Andrea: And our executive producers are Andrew Ham, Aron Korney, Rob Goldman and Shanti Brook. Our editor is Andrew Sims. Our engineer is Jason Portizo. Our music is by Omer Ben-Zvi. And to learn more about how to survive the classrooms 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.

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, [00:39:00] and if you haven't yet, please subscribe. Okay, bye.