The Teacher With a Degree in Vibes with Gerry Potoka

Gerry: [00:00:00] Maybe pooping and stuff, sneezing. If I wanted to get sneezed on, I'd go to the hospital and just hang out by the door. That'd be a really weird move to just go Andrea: and hang out by the hospital. Gerry: That's what I'm saying. That's why I'm not doing it. Theme: How to the classroom. Andrea: Hey, teacher bestie. I am. So excited to share with you that my book, they never Taught us, that is available for pre-order right now. It is everything in experience first year teachers need to manage the chaos of the modern classroom, including some anecdotes to make you feel a little bit better because if there's a way you can screw up, I have probably done it. It also has advice on how to build trust with families, how to manage grading and lesson plans, and IE. Everything in between that they never went over in your teacher prep program, they never taught us. That is available everywhere right now for pre-order. Hey, teacher besties. [00:01:00] Welcome to How to Survive the Classroom. I am beyond excited because today I have the very funny Jerry pka with me as my guest. Hi Jerry. Gerry: Hi. How are you? You Andrea: really? You you. He took that moment to, to drink out of his beverage as I was like doing the runup to introduce him. Oh, is that your Stanley? The small Wicked Gerry: Stanley. His Andrea: wicked Stanley. We could do the, it's so, it's so beautiful. I know. It's very, I don't know what to call that color. It's like color changing. It's like green. I iridescent, iridescent. Iridescent, iridescent. That's, I was, that's why I was staying Gerry: up here. Andrea: Yeah. I wanted to introduce you properly, but the notes you gave to my producer said you were finalist and new North Carolina's funniest, but there's no, like, what's the end of that? You were finalist in North Carolina's. Funniest what? Gerry: So he, no, so that's their. Helium Comedy does a contest across all the clubs and, well, not across all the clubs. All the clubs do it. And for like Austin is Cap City. I think they do. Austin's funniest, [00:02:00] um, Indiana, Indianapolis is, Indianapolis is funniest, but Raleigh's is North. Carolina's funniest. 'cause Goodnights used to do that before Helium ever bought 'em. And I was Gotcha. And I lost that this year. Aw. Andrea: Well, what you, you said you were a finalist though. How close did you get to the, to number one? I don't know. Gerry: I, I, I was in the top nine and there were like 140 when we started. Andrea: You were like, I was top nine. There was 11 of us. Yeah. So this was really, yeah, I was top nine Gerry: out of about like nine. Andrea: Um, so for my listeners, if you guys have not caught on yet, I have talked a lot about Jerry on the podcast because he was our opener in North Carolina when and and Richmond. 'cause he came up to Richmond, um, and Gasper. Phil and I just immediately fell in love with all that is Jerry, because you are so funny. You're working the comedy scene and you are still teaching and. In the episode where I talked about you, and still to this moment, I'm not [00:03:00] actually sure what you teach Jerry. What, what is it that you are instructing the Youth of America on? Exactly. Because I know you're middle school. Gerry: We, we be in here, you know, like we be in here. There's just, there's just so much to learn and there's some of it we learn here, some of it we don't. Some of it they learn, they, they learn out there. But we, we be, we be learning something in here. Andrea: Oh my gosh, Jerry, it is. So what is it there? You've got a license, right? Do you have a teaching license and what is it in? No, the way he just looked nervous. Gerry: Uh, Sherry, I'm on my last year of a temporary license and I'm finishing getting my like official license. So when I started I was teaching PE and our numbers went down a lot and they were like, okay. You had mentioned being open to teaching business and teaching social studies and [00:04:00] business is what ended up opening up. Um, so I've taught business with CT e CTE's, career technical Education, and I've taught economics. I've taught, um, keyboarding and basic word processing. Now I teach exploring personal character and careers. We do like personality tests. Learn about your learning styles and how all that applies to careers that they want. Seventh grade, I teach 'em how to use Google Drives. Like Google Docs. Google Sheets. Google Slides. Now you know why I would never tell you I done shaving your all my life telling you why I teach. Andrea: I you're pressure up. The less I feel, the more you describe what you teach now, the more confused I'm, there's a whole class about teaching how to learn. Like Google, Google Drive. Gerry: Yeah. I'll be doing it. And that's what you teach? Mm-hmm. I'll be in here Andrea: and, and the [00:05:00] license that you're getting is going to be in CTE? Gerry: It'll be in CTE and PE 'cause I had to pass both the practices to be able to do 'em and Gotcha. So, I don't know, the PE practice is apparently really hard 'cause it deals you wouldn't think it is. But you're dealing with like PE and health, so I'm having to deal with all the health side stuff and they ask you about different legislatures and stuff on there. And I passed the first time with little to no studying and all my you no. You studied a lot. Don't. No, I really didn't. I probably could totaled up to maybe two hours if I'm being generous. Total that I studied and I've met people pe, other PE teachers, some of them have taken it like. Four times. Some of them had to study for months building up to it. And I kind of just walked in there and, and, and got buckets on 'em. I was like, yeah, I'm gonna go pass. I'm gonna just pass the test. [00:06:00] And I did the same thing for business. I didn't study at all. I just passed. You Andrea: are. Savant. You are obviously a genius Renaissance man. Yeah, I'm a pro genius. Having the business, yes. The business side and obviously the PE side, and I mean this with the utmost respect to PE teachers who might be listening, but do you think that it's, that the test is that hard or that the people taking it are not as academic? Gerry: It was hard. I ain't gonna lie to you. I like, I remember it like, and on the test they'd be like, they'd be like, what Bill? And I'm like, bill. Who's Bill? Did he coach basketball? Who's Bill? I'm like, what are we doing? There'd be stuff on there like about legislature and in 1967. Mm-hmm. I'm like in 1967, I don't even know if we was teaching PE yet. I think we was just out there because they was walking everywhere. Like, 'cause the cars were expensive, I thought. But Andrea: so your basis on what the bill was that was passed in 1967 was like, we probably weren't actually even doing, I mean, whatever approach you [00:07:00] took, it worked. Gerry: Yeah. I mean, no, I, I. I'm bad at that. Like, not bad. I'm bad at it. I'm bad about, like, stuff just goes my way. Like, things be working. You fail up. Things be working out for me, like Andrea: the, I, I do, I do wanna know what is written behind you guys though. If you guys can't see Jerry right now, he is behind this beautifully. What looks like a painted mural. What are the words that are behind you on the little snowy landscape? Gerry: So it says. Andrea: It's the other way where you go. There you go. Gerry: I feel poetic. Uh, you to us. Oh, I'm talking my, my show, my podcast, my show now. No, my show. Now you, I can't, I can't stop laughing long enough to read it, because it feels Korney. I didn't put it there. You'll, you'll move mountains. Today is your day. Your mountain is waiting. So get on your [00:08:00] way. Aw, none of these of kids climbing mountains. Andrea: Isn't that Dr. Seuss? It felt, it felt like it had the energy. I didn't know Dr. Seus. I Gerry: dunno. Andrea: You did the famous educational theorist, Dr. Seuss, you're not as familiar, as familiar with him. Okay. Are you at your desk right now? Yeah, I'm at work Gerry: still. Andrea: I would actually love to see a desk tour if you wanna like bring out some highlights. What they No, I clean it still Gerry: looks Andrea: bad. Oh. Gerry: But I got, that's, oh, I, I'll pick stuff up. This is a picture of me, that one of the kids color. Andrea: Yeah. Because you have coloring pages of yourself, right? I do. Gerry: As, as soon as Amazon quits playing, I'll have a coloring book. Andrea: That's amazing. We love to see it. I got, what are you looking for right now? Gerry: The coloring pages. Andrea: Oh, got it, got it, got it. Yeah. So are you gonna start giving those out at shows? Gerry: I wanna sell the coloring books. Like I finished, I got like 30 of these. That's me. [00:09:00] Who, Andrea: who made these? You guys, you can't see 'cause this is, this is an audio platform. Oh. But he just, he like this did like a, a secret sh finger to his, his mouth. About who, who made those? I may Gerry: have had some digital assistance. Andrea: Oh, got it. Got it. Got perfectly within the Gerry: law. Andrea: And within the law. Naturally. Yeah. Gerry: I had, I don't know the name of this painting for the people who can't see, but you know, the painting where it's the two farmers and they're married, I guess. They stand next to each other once holding a pitchfork? Well, yes, it's one of those, but they're both me. Andrea: It's very famous. It, Gerry: yeah, it is very famous. I love it. It's probably, if you go like Cracker Barrel or something, they probably got it. And then there's one of me is the Mona Lisa. Andrea: Wow. That's beautiful. Yeah. That's guys, these are, these are absolute, they've been me the whole time. Works of art. And in fact, I'm gonna be moving my studio space soon, so I'm gonna have to get you to send me some [00:10:00] of those. And once they're on Amazon, I'll buy 'em and then I'll, I'll have it, Gerry: this is me, it's Julius Caesar. Andrea: Okay. But we should send that to Gasper so we can put it up in his classroom, obviously. Obviously. Oh, I stood. So, so Jerry, you have taught so many different things over how many years? How long have you been teaching now? Gerry: This is my fourth year teaching my fifth school year here. So I was a, um, a ta in a special ed classroom my first year. Andrea: Okay, gotcha. And what made you want to become a teacher? Gerry: I thought I was gonna be good at it. I, I, I wish I was lying to you. I remember I didn't know what I wanted to do. I was like, I think I could do that. Like, I, I think I could, yeah. Talk in front of people all day. I think I could do that. Andrea: I mean, that tracks And you, so you chose obviously the, the moneymaking way of talking in front of people all day and became a, a teacher. Yeah. I Gerry: couldn't think of nothing better. Andrea: I mean, [00:11:00] Gerry: my mind, so my mind became a teacher, like while I was in college and I really, and yeah, she was like, Hey. Are you sure? Like, like you could, you could, there's like a lot of other stuff I could do. Andrea: And are there any teachers that you had when you were like in school yourself that were like an inspiration to you at all? Gerry: I had lots of good teachers. The first one I really remember, and this didn't say I didn't have good teachers before that, but I think it might have been my first male teacher for a subject that wasn't pe and his name is Mr. Lancaster. He taught social studies and that social studies was like the only core instruction class I liked when I was in school. Like I wasn't good math. Um, I didn't like science. And then before that I didn't like social studies. At one time, I did a assignment on latitude and longitude, and I made a five. I'm like, I don't know where nothing is. Andrea: You, you got a [00:12:00] five? Gerry: Yeah. Andrea: Out of out of what? Gerry: A hundred. Andrea: Oh, no. That's pretty brutal. That was, that was a map test? Gerry: No, we were supposed to do something with latitude and longitude and See, I still don't know what the assignment was, so maybe it wasn't my fault. Andrea: I'm pretty sure that latitude and longitude is usually map related. Right. I got five. Andrea, you tell me. Let me, obviously Gerry: I had no, I didn't know. Andrea: Yep, yep. That tracks. What kind of a student were you in school? Gerry: I was always quiet, uh, through like middle school and around ninth grade was when I, like, I started talking to more people and by the time I got like 10th grade, I kind of just, I did whatever I wanted. Like I wasn't, I wasn't being bad. Every, everybody liked me so I could get away with doing goofy stuff, so I wasn't a good student at all. 'cause I wouldn't do the work. I, I couldn't sit right. [00:13:00] Probably in hindsight, I had like real bad A DHD. Mm-hmm. And I wasn't doing like, I just wasn't doing anything. I would say, Hey, can I go sit in the hall and do my work? But I would just go sit in the hall and talk to my friends and at the end of the quarter I was like, yo, I have a 14. I gotta do some work. And I would try and do all of it and my teachers would try and like help me out. Andrea: Yeah. Because they liked you because you were like the personality hire of the classroom. Gerry: Right. One time I had a teacher, I'm not gonna say their name 'cause this was probably like not okay, but they made me do a wall, sit in class and put the textbooks on my wax. I kept, I kept talking trash. I was like, this is easy. I can do all this. Andrea: I feel like I had to do some wall sits in my day too, like, and I'm so much older. You just, yeah. You can be my mom Gerry: probably. Andrea: I sh Oh my gosh. No, I don't think so. Technically. Well, team mom. You're, I would've been 12. You're 26, right? Gerry: 27. Andrea: You're [00:14:00] 27, so I would've been 11, so no, I could not have been your mom. But I do feel like I, the teachers definitely got away with doing stuff like wall sits and stuff, which, uh, should we bring that back? Maybe. I feel like maybe that would do something. 'cause I do get really jealous of PE teachers, who, by the way, I really wanna apologize for coming at them and saying that the test was hard because they're not. Academically focused. There was no reason to come for them like that. But it is hard. But that's, I Gerry: sorry, I'm interrupting you, but I do have a theory now. You say, I think they make the test hard. 'cause like if you really PE teacher ain't never gonna be hard again. Like if you, if that's true, if you go pull like a math teacher out and put her in PE it's go, she's cooked. But if you got somebody that's like, they, they are a PE teacher. Andrea: Yeah. Gerry: SPO sail. Wait. Andrea: Hold on, hold on a, a whole timeout. You're saying that a PE teacher could run a PE class just fine, but if you pulled someone from a different subject, like English or math and put them [00:15:00] in to be a PE teacher, they couldn't run a PE classroom. I, I Gerry: think it would be much tougher. Because you're, you're thinking of like, but it'd be like, you couldn't put me in the no class math classroom. Andrea: No, because math is hard. PE is not hard. Gerry: You'd be surprised we, we, because also PE class sizes, at least as I've known it, are always much bigger. We're like sometimes twice as big as a normal classroom and they're running around the gym. There's only one a u if you walk across the gym to tend to something, they could all start trying to go out the door. So it's like different. Like that makes me better in classroom management because it's like, yo, I gotta manage. It's me and another adult for 90 kids. Andrea: Yeah, that is true. It, it is. A lot of kids, I just like, I know I could never step into like a science classroom or a math classroom 'cause those subjects make me cry. Um, but I do feel confident that, I feel like I could do a PE classroom, could never do music. [00:16:00] Not ever. Um, but I, I could prob I feel like I could do art or pe not to insult art for pe. I, like, I just, I feel like maybe I have a natural inclination for that kind of stuff. Gerry: Oh, I couldn't do art. Andrea: You couldn't do art. Gerry: No. There'd be no way. Andrea: But you have. But what about the mural and your coloring book? Gerry: Man, this was up here when I got here. This is, this was in, I love it. This is inherited. Andrea: You can never lose that. Now I need you to put that on a shirt. I wanna pay over it. Don't with what? With what? Our skills. I was, Jerry, Gerry: I was just gonna make a one solid color. Do like the school's colors or I could pay somebody. Andrea: Okay, so. Um, one of the things we do on my podcast, I don't know if you're aware of this 'cause you definitely haven't sent in a voice memo yourself before. Um, but we listen to voice memos of insane things and stories that teachers are dealing with and then we respond to it. And if, like, if need be, we give anecdotes or advice of our own. Um, so we are [00:17:00] going to listen to a voice memo that somebody sent in this week, so Gerry: I genuinely cannot wait. If I hear my voice come over back. No, no. We listened your last week. Andrea: It's my story. Gerry: Y'all listened to our last week? Andrea: We did, yeah. It hasn't come out yet, but yeah. Gerry: Can I say something about it? Sure. That is a true story. Andrea: That's insane. That did not happen to me. Gerry: It didn't happen to me. Andrea: Well, so guys, if you don't remember, um, last week there was this story about the student who walked in poop and like got poop everywhere in the room. Um, so that was the story that, that Jerry had, uh, submitted. And I was like, you know what? Why are we listening to stories from him that way when we can just bring him on and hang out? So, alright, let's listen to the voice memo for this week. Voicemail: Hi, first year teacher here. I. If, well, I do this really, really weird thing. I tell my students that I have favorites and I will tell my [00:18:00] students. My favorite students are the students who have their books out. My favorite students are the students who have their notes out, and so it's really easy to be my favorite, and typically that'll prompt them to mute. To be my favorite, um, by getting their notes out and stuff. Just how controversial is this method of having favorites because I'm considering next year by having my current students, telling my previous students how to be my favorite student by like telling them to be prepared and have their books out and things like that and be, you know, ready to learn. Um. Can I read that? I feel like that might not be the most ethical. Gerald, what's your take? Gerry: Hey, look, she's still happy. Andrea: She, she does sound [00:19:00] very happy. She sounded like very sweet. Yeah. Gerry: Hey, sweet. Come back in five years. You gonna sound like me. You wanna sound real worn out. Andrea: Do you? Do you have favorites? Gerry: So she made me think of something that I saw. I saw this Facebook video. Jamis Winston is the backup quarterback for the New York Giants, and he's talking to a kid and he says, the kid asked Jamis like, oh, who's your favorite teammate? He says, my favorite teammate is somebody who shows up on time, works hard, somebody who empties the tank and kind of gives those vibes. But like I tell the students like. They'll be like, Mr. Patoka, am I your favorite stew? I'm like, no. I'm like, nah, I dislike all you equally. Like, Andrea: that's what I tell 'em too. I'm like, I actually hate you all. Yeah, so much. Yeah. I hate Gerry: Ollie. So, and they know I don't, they know, I don't, you know how popular these were today? Like these coloring shit. I bet I got, [00:20:00] I got like seven of them on the board right now. Andrea: I love it. That's so funny. Yeah, I, I dunno, I don't think it's controversial to use, like, to say like, oh. If you wanna be my favorite, get your book out. I think if it was something where they genuinely thought the only kids who were your favorite were the well-behaved ones all the time, and that's actually what they thought. Instead of it being like kind of a jokey thing, then I could see students, um, like myself and like Jerry when he was in school, being really discouraged by that. 'cause I'm like, that's never gonna be me. So unfortunately I will live with not being your favorite. Um, but I also feel like. Kids that kind of pop off in class a lot of times are the ones that would come in early and stay late and be like, Hey, it's your favorite student. And I'm like, the student I will remember forever because I've had to say your name 75 times today. Gerry: I also think that's not sustainable. You gonna get tired of bringing them kids back and say, oh, my favorite students, you are not gonna keep doing that. [00:21:00] I, that is true. Yeah. I barely even like we, we do, what do they call 'em? Like social contracts. Andrea: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Gerry: yeah. Well, you, like, you let the classroom decide how you're gonna treat everybody. Quit doing them too. I be, I I'll, I'm always like, Hey, we'll talk about it. We, we got beef. We'll talk about it. But Andrea: yeah. There is like that idea of like, oh, we'll all just agree on what is the right behavior because they assume that kids are always gonna be like, yes, because we all made this decision. None of us is gonna be horrible to anyone else. And I, I don't know, I think it works like for a, a day and then it just, kids are kids and they go back to doing the same thing they're always doing. Gerry: Yeah. And there's gonna be some kid who takes that real serious, they're, and they're having a bad day, and then they're gonna come back after that bad day and be like, oh, I'm not. First year teacher's favorite anymore because, uh, yesterday I paled in, didn't do my, [00:22:00] I don't know, coloring. I don't know. Andrea: Yeah. Yeah. It did feel like maybe upper elementary was that teacher's speed. I would be surprised if it was like a middle school or high school teacher. She didn't say what grade she taught, so I'm assuming probably. Somewhere in the elementary world, which honestly is a little scarier to say like, if you wanna be my favorite, blah, blah, blah, because kids are, have a harder time with nuance at that age. And I know my daughter would be like. Really intense. 'cause she really loves, like to hear that she's doing a good job. So if she felt like, oh, I'm not currently her favorite, she would take that to heart and she would lose sleep. Gerry: Yeah. Andrea: And so I feel, I feel like elementary kids have a hard, a harder time with, with stuff like that. But we are gonna play a game, uh, in a couple minutes, but we are gonna take a break first. So 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. [00:23:00] Hey, teacher besties, welcome back. So we are gonna play a game. Uh, it's would you rather, but it's gonna be like a teacher version of would You Rather? Because for me. I always taught high school. And you've only taught middle school, is that right? Right. And we still dunno what you teach, but you've taught a lot of things. You, you teach the things, you know, you be out there teaching the things. Yeah. Every year. Gerry: So most, most of the time. Andrea: Right. Okay. So would you rather supervise a middle school dance or a kindergarten field trip? Gerry: Middle school dance. Really? I've done 'em. I've done it. Andrea: I've been apart. Yeah. That's why I wouldn't, that's why I wouldn't, I don't even wanna Gerry: supervise kindergartners in a kindergarten classroom. Andrea: Why? Gerry: They'd be pooping and stuff sneezing. If I wanted to get sneezed on, I'd go to the hospital and just hang out by the [00:24:00] door. That'd be a really weird move to just Andrea: go and hang out by the hospital. That's what I'm saying. That's why I'm not doing Gerry: it. Andrea: That's why. Right. That makes sense. I actually think I'd rather do the kindergarten field trip, and I think that's only because I currently have a kindergartner at home and so I'm already getting sneezed on all the time. And it's already like we're already getting all the germs. I did, by the way, I went to a kid's birthday party, uh, this, this last weekend, and the person who hosted. The party. She kept her kid home on Friday because there's been a stomach bug going around the school so bad that like all the kids are just pooping and puking their guts out all week and a bunch of the teachers have been out, right? And so I get to this party and so she knows that there's been this illness going around. I get to this party, there's a massive charcuterie board laid out. How do we feel about that? Would you eat some of the food off the charcuterie board knowing that every kid there. Has [00:25:00] recently had some kind of GI issue and was super, super sick. 'cause I don't feel like I'm a germophobe at all. Like I, a lot of stuff occurred to me for the first time during COVID. I was like, oh, I guess it is kind of weird to blow on a birthday cake, but we're gonna continue doing it and stuff like that. But like, what do you, what would you have eaten off the charcuterie board? Gerry: Well, like what was on it like, like ham and stuff. You're like, what? Put on the. Like cheese. I'm not eating the little cheese balls. I think that's weird. I don't know why people eating balls of cheese or square, not not balls. What's the balls? But like with the corners, the cubes, cubes of cheese. That's cube. I don't be, nah, I think I always thought I was weird. Like what? My mouse, I'm not doing that, but they got like a little ham. I make one of them adult Lunchable sandwiches. You know what I'm saying? Andrea: Do you, do you know what a charcuterie board is like, Don, you don't, DT people put different things on ' Gerry: em? Or is there like a standard? Yes, yes, Andrea: they did. Yeah. No, I think, I think generally that, like you [00:26:00] usually have like a, some sort of cracker up there so you could, you could make yourself like an adult lunch bowl. That's essentially what it is. I'm gonna put bacon bits on online. Put Jerry, I would love to see a charcuterie board, a little cheeseburger slide put together. I don't think that's a charcuterie board. You can't put cheeseburgers on. There is my char charcuterie Gerry: board. I'll put whatever I want it. I'm gonna have some, some, some french fries and some, some Hawaiian roll cheeseburger, sliders and some, some pigs. And a blanket. Andrea: I wait pigs and a blanket. Pigs. And a blanket. In a blanket. Okay, got it. Yeah, I'll, I'll have pigs. And the Gerry: blankets too. We can have do 'em. You put the pig in the blanket yourself. Some people like to be talked in different, I don't know. Andrea: So given, given that there was in fact normal cheese, not the circle with corner cheese. Gerry: Yeah, my bad. Andrea: There was, there was like normal cheese and normal like lunch meat stuff and crackers. You would have partaken from the influenza board of death. Gerry: I mean probably if [00:27:00] the, as long as they're not like baby burden it to me or something. I'll see what the problem I'm. Now if they try and feed it to me, I'd be like, nah. Like, get the outta here. Andrea: Yeah. But okay. Yeah, that's fair. I'll pick off of it. I I did not. Yeah, I did not. Um, just because I, I was like, I feel like somebody's gonna get sick. My daughter and my son both ate off of it, and that night my daughter puked everywhere and I'm like, did you get it at the charcuterie board or were you the one getting everyone else sick? Who's to say we don't know? Gerry: Oh, so wait, they got would wait. They got sick. They were all sick before the charcuterie board. Andrea: My daughter wasn't sick until that night, but everyone the previous week had been like out from school. So she could've been the one getting them Gerry: sick then? Andrea: No, not my daughter. But then like she might've gotten sick from the charcuterie board 'cause other kids are just like already infectious, you know? Gerry: Okay. Andrea: I think I get what you're saying. Yeah. Yeah, the, I I do think to bring it [00:28:00] back to the, the, would you rather, I would probably do the kindergarten field trip because they're very cute, but I would be stressed the entire time about losing one because they, they are wanderers. Could they just like, are, you know, they'll follow a butterfly. My son is trying to get kidnapped all the time. Gerry: You can get one them things that they hold onto, like the little ropes and they hold the ring. Oh, yeah, Andrea: yeah, yeah. I Did they do that in kindergarten? Gerry: No, I mean, you, they can really do it any age if you tell 'em to. Andrea: It's very true. You could do it in a middle school dance too if you really need to. Yeah. Like, Gerry: Hey y'all, y'all, y'all, hold on because I just did that like two weeks ago. Andrea: For what? What do you mean? We had Gerry: middle, middle school dance and I had to go, Andrea: oh, I thought you meant, you had like the rope like two weeks ago when you guys were doing some sort of, they don't need that when they were learning Google Drive, I guess so. That makes sense. Gerry: No, that I don't, I'm trying not let 'em be able move around the room. They have learned though, if they come up to my desk and like they send one or two of 'em to distract me, that they can start talking and I won't catch it. 'cause these two are up [00:29:00] here talking to me. I'm like, y'all are plotting against me. I know what you're doing. Andrea: Yeah, they kids are really good at getting you off topic. Um, alright, the next one, the next, would you rather, uh, would you rather have your principal show up in a moment when your class is feral or in the moment that you are feral? In this context, it just means acting crazy. Gerry: Okay. Acting crazy. Like I'm crashing out on them or, Andrea: yeah. Yeah. So like either you're crashing out on them or you're doing something super weird that you know is gonna take a lot of explanation to your administrator afterwards. Gerry: Probably me. Andrea: I agree. I think it's easier to explain away like something you're doing and you can shift really quickly if you're like doing something, like, let's say you're trying, like, I don't even know. Threw a, a trash can across the room and that's the moment your admin showed up. Then you could be like, and that's why we control our temper. Did you see that that was ins like, try and do something to like, play it off? Like it [00:30:00] was a teachable moment and not that you were actually crashing out. Whereas if the students are, then it's, it's hard to pull up from that. Gerry: So like, I, I believe my admin knows, like classroom management is probably where I'm best at. Like the, the kids are not. Most of the time they're, they're fine. They ain't doing nothing crazy. They're not going in and outta my room. They're not, they're not pushing me. So like if he, if they came in and I'm crashing out, I, they're probably like some, something happened and he's handling it like he's doing his thing. Now I've had times, like I got observed one time and we were watching Shark Tank and I'm like, this is. Doesn't look good on me, but I use Shark Tank 'cause part of that careers class is entrepreneurship. And eighth graders, I teach marketing. So it's like there's a place for it, but it's like, man, y'all come in here one day and we watching Shark Tank. Y'all couldn't come in here when I was sweating through guided notes, y'all [00:31:00] couldn't come in here every time. Y'all couldn't come in here. When I was cooking up on, right up on the PowerPoint, like. No, they never do. And I think, and even I think if they came in here and the kids was active peril, they're like, oh, he let them do that. That we, we, we, we know that he is got enough of a grip if I want him moving around stuff. Yeah, that's fine. Because the second they step outta pocket, it's like, all right, y'all are done. I got, I have a stick I use to hit the wall to get their attention. I just bought this whistle. I got, Andrea: oh, Gerry: they gonna hear me. Andrea: You got all the tools. I feel like I always struggled with classroom management as far as like. And I don't know if it was necessarily me or the fact that I, there were classes I had that had like 43 freshmen, sixth period. And 27 of them were guys. And so I was, it was just like a lot of freshman boys at the end of the day. And then, like, it was just very hard to manage. I'm sure there were teachers out there that could have managed it, so it probably was a little bit me. Um, [00:32:00] but I, yeah, I for sure would rather have it be me. 'cause I feel like I could play it off and be like, oh no, it's not normally like that. Normally everything's super cool as opposed to when students are acting just insane. Um, okay. I have one more. Would you rather. Eat in the cafeteria with your students every day, or answer all parent emails in front of a live audience and it can't be a comedy audience. 'cause I feel like that would just be a good bit. Gerry: Answer all the parent emails in front of a live audience. Really? Yeah. So in college I studied communication and most of that I was a PR major. I could handle stuff. Wow. I like, I see something, it's like. No, and I, I do like, I, I'm, I write lengthy emails because I'm like, there's nothing you, there are already gonna be no follow up questions. Uh, you're, you're gonna know all the info when I'm done talking to you, and I love it. And that's about it. [00:33:00] Like, I, I, I don't mind doing that in front of people. If anything, to me, it's gonna boost my head up. So I'm gonna be like, y'all are, y'all aren't gonna know. I knew this many words. And I'm gonna ring it up. I'm gonna, I'm gonna send that back. The best email ever. Wow. And, and it's gonna be impressive and we gonna be fine. Whereas if I had to sit in the, in the, in the cafeteria. Yeah. Like, I don't even like walking through there. 'cause I don't have to take any kids to lunch. They just come to me. Between all their lunches. I'm like, yeah, I'm not going in there. Andrea: Yeah, no, same. Same. I think I would rather as well, especially, 'cause most of the parent emails tend to be fairly positive. I don't usually get anything or didn't get anything that was too crazy. Now I, I legally can't respond to parent emails 'cause that's a violation of ferpa. 'cause everyone I teach is an adult. So all of mine would just be hitting delete when a parent emails me 'cause I can't legally talk about their kid with them. So, makes my life a lot easier. Um, okay. Now one of the things we also [00:34:00] do is we choose a hill to die on. Like some sort of kind of hot take or something that you think of that you're like, this is a hill I would die on. Or A very strong opinion you have about something. Um, do you have a hill that you would die on that you wanna share with us? Gerry: So I don't think I have one anymore. And the one I had, I, they got me, I, I died on that hill 'cause I thought. I used to write my lowercase K is weird. Andrea: How so? I thought, let me, are you gonna give us a visual? Yeah. Of the lowercase K. So this is what most Gerry: of 'em look alike, right? It's like this. Andrea: Correct. Uh, for my listeners it is a normal lowercase K but he's demonstrated for me. Yes. That looks like a K Gerry: and I forgot it is a podcast, but you, y'all, y'all, I mean y'all. It's okay y'all. I mean, most of your listeners can probably read, so they've probably seen KS before Andrea: they've seen Yeah, they've probably seen [00:35:00] a lowercase K once a twice. And this Gerry: is how I used to and still sometimes write them is the other one. Andrea: That's a cursive. K. Gerry: Yeah, but I didn't know that. I thought it was a regular one. I thought it was authentic. Little lowercase k. And it's a cursive K. Mm-hmm. But that's how I always wrote it. Yes. And I wrote for the students and they're like, that's a R. And I'm like, yo, when did we change how we were writing lowercase K. So I spent afternoon going to all my coworkers. I went to the secretary. I went to the principal. I think I went to all of the admin. I went to every teacher I could find and said, how said, how do you write your lowercase case? And no one else did the same as me. They're like, no, it's an R. That's an R. And I was like, they was like, that's an R with a little hair on top. And I'm like, what are you talking about? That's a K. Andrea: Wow. Yeah, so, so the hill that you would have died on. That day, was that lowercase case or always cursive, lowercase case? Gerry: I also don't think that many people know where Alaska is. Andrea: Um, do you [00:36:00] know the lat long of Alaska? Because that would actually tell us where Alaska is. Gerry: No, I just learned where Alaska was because I thought, you know how like the map they put in the little box in the corner? I knew it wasn't down there, but like I was trying to figure it out and on Google Maps it comes up and it doesn't point to like Alaska. It points to like a little island real far away from Alaska. That's still part of Alaska and I'll show all my coworkers. I was like, no, that can't be right. I'm thinking, y'all known it wasn't right. If you knew where Alaska was and they was all clowning men, they ain't know either. You know how, you know why? I learned when I learned they didn't know where Alaska was. I don't have a good grip on where Hawaii is either, but I found it. How did you find it? The map? Google Maps. Andrea: Okay. So I think the hill we need [00:37:00] to die on today because I also, as much as I am giving you crap about not knowing lat long, I, the only DI received in my entire college career was in fact in geography. So I think that maybe the hill we need to die on today is that geography needs to be studied a little bit more fiercely in, in at least middle and high school. At least for the teachers. That is, Gerry: you only got 1D That's a flex. Andrea: Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, I worked really hard. I was, uh, working full-time and going to school full-time and all of my classes I did super well. It was only Gerry: geography. What college you go to? Andrea: Uh, university of Mary Washington in Virginia. Gerry: You made that shit up. Andrea: No, I didn't. It's the Yes. What? Why would I make that up? No, it's a real, it's a real university. It's like the sister college of UVA. Because UVA used to be only men and so they had a women's college and it was Yes. [00:38:00] And it was uh, university of Mary Washington and it's in Fredericksburg, Virginia. And that's where I went. I didn't know they used Gerry: make it all men's colleges. Andrea: Yeah, for a while they, that's pretty much all they did. So, you know, there you go. I we're learning all sorts of things today, I guess. I Gerry: guess that's true. That's not one of the things we be learning in here. We don't know nothing about. That's, I do have a women of stem wall. Andrea: You do? Yeah, I, well, I Gerry: ain't put it there Andrea: but you, I mean, I would have, take credit. I would have. Okay. I left it there. Right? Yeah. I could Gerry: have came in and cleaned house and I didn't, I left this room exactly how I found it. I put some pictures up over there. Andrea: Yeah, because you're a feminist. Gerry: Yeah, I'm a fem. I'm a feminist. Andrea: Gerald, before we let you go, is there any, anything going on, any shows, anything like that that you have coming up that you wanna tell everybody about? Gerry: Um, I'm gonna be featuring for, uh, Shelly Belly at Greens in Greensboro at the Comedy [00:39:00] Zone. I'll be featuring for Gasper at, um, comedy Club at Duckworth in Charlotte on January 31st, and then at Goodnight's Comedy Club on February 1st. Andrea: Awesome. Gerry: Of next year because our fa this February's already gone. We got rid of it, but we got the other February coming up. Andrea: Right. That, yes, that is how calendars work. Gerry: Yeah, I knew that. Andrea: Um, is and how, how can people find you online? Gerry: I am Andrea: at Gerry: comedy by GP on everything. Um, do you think I should change my Instagram name to chat gp? No. I thought I was tough. I thought that earlier I was last tough. Andrea: No, you should just keep it because people are gonna look up comedy and they're gonna wanna find you. And that way that's true. Fix it. Gerry: But Andrea: yeah, it's better for the Gerry: algorithm. So my Instagram and TikTok is at Comedy gp. I think Facebook and YouTube's just Jerry Patoka. Uh, you'll know 'cause it is a guy that looks like me and has a microphone, which is something I do. [00:40:00] Um, and yeah, I'm the only one who look like this. Andrea: One of a kind. Gerry: Yeah. I'm one of a kind. I, I'll be out here. That's Andrea: right. Amazing. I love it. You'll be out here teaching those kids? I'll, Gerry: I'll be. Andrea: I love it. Alright, well thank you Jerry so much for coming on and we are gonna take a quick break and we will be right back. Hey teacher Busies. I hope you guys had fun hanging out with Jerry. Man, it just, it's so fun when you are doing these shows and you have somebody that's just like a good hang that you can hang out with and is. Super fun and hilarious to be around, and I still am not a hundred percent sure uh, what his teaching license is gonna be in or what he actually teaches. So, um, if you have thoughts about what we talked about today, there are a ton of ways to hit us up. You can email us, andrea@human-content.com. Um, you can also contact me at Educator Andrea, or you can contact the Whole Human Podcast family at Human Content Pod. [00:41:00] And thank you so much. Those of you guys who have left reviews, if you've not yet done so, please do. Um, and you can catch this full video episodes up every week so that way you could see all of the visual things that, uh, Jerry was providing for the audience. That was almost entirely audio. Um, thank you so much for listening. I am your host, Andrea Forche. Our guest today was Jerry Patoka. Our executive producers are Andrea for Aron Korney, Rob Goldman and Shanti Brook. Our editor is Andrew Sims. Our engineer is Jason Portizo. Our music is by Omer Ben-Zvi. Our recording location is the Indiana State by College of Education. To learn more about our 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 [00:42:00] episodes right now. Just click on that little box over there, you see it, and if you haven't yet, please subscribe. Okay, bye.