Teachers

Somebody emails you out of the blue and says, “We’d like you to apply.” Sounds flattering, right? We start there with a real Wordle game show casting invite, then take a sharp turn into the kind of everyday stories that make you laugh and cringe at the same time: a frog surviving inside a bag of lettuce, a woman who literally breaks into a house to clean it and leaves a $75 note, and the Swatch collaboration release so chaotic people end up getting pepper sprayed at the mall.

After the snack break and cookie ranking debate, we shift into the heart of the conversation: teachers. Teacher appreciation is nice, but we want to talk about what the job actually requires and why so many educators are exhausted by the end of the day. We trade stories about the teachers who stuck with us, from feisty nuns to legendary high school English teachers, and we dig into what’s hardest now: classroom management, constant emails with parents and students, standardized testing pressure, and trying to reach kids who arrive at wildly different learning levels.

We also pull in the bigger education picture with teacher workload and burnout stats, plus the reality of shorter attention spans and why “brain breaks” are not a trendy extra, they’re a practical tool. If you care about education, school culture, student learning, and supporting teachers, this one is for you. Subscribe, share this with a teacher you love, and leave a review with the name of a teacher who changed your life.

Transcript

Welcome And A Book Shoutout

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Hi, thanks for joining us today. It's Nora.

SPEAKER_02 0:09

And Nora. Five years in, and I still botched the opening. Don't botch it. I did. It was just a little hicca. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Be kind to yourself. It's okay. Okay. Well, to those of you who have just stumbled upon us, and to those of you who join us week after week, we're sure grateful you chose to tune in today.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

We are welcome, welcome, happy you're here. I'm happy to be here.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

I'm happy to be here with you as well. And gosh, can we just take a moment to talk about how fantastic your brother's book is going to be and how wonderful he was? He was great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

He has a great voice. He does. Doesn't he? He does. Yeah. No, Sean is fantastic. And I was saying to my sister that it was nice to just talk to him about his book, just sitting down to talk about it. I feel like when we're together as a family, there's so many other things going on that sometimes it's hard to just focus on on one thing. Yeah, no, I hear you. So it was, it was really a it was a treat. Like it was, it was a real treat to sit down and talk to my brother about his book. And I really hope people out there or pre-ordered their copy of Xana and Mr. Tuxedo, because it really is a good book. July 7th. And in the meantime, he's set up his Instagram. He did. Exclusively for the book. So go check that out. You can follow him on that. And there's a website,

Invited To A Wordle Game Show

SPEAKER_02 1:32

all the information. Yeah, what else is going on? I got an email from the New York Times games people, Nora.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Wait, I there are New York Times games people that send emails?

SPEAKER_02 1:41

They do. They send me an email and they said, maybe you've heard, but there's gonna be a wordle game show, and we would like you to apply to be on it. Stop. How because they're following your progress? They're like one of you, they're like, you're one of our top wordle people. What a nerd I am. But I was very excited, and at first I was like, oh my God, I'm not like this is so weird. And then I thought, you know what? I'll apply. It's no stranger than us seeking out Wheel of Fortune. That's true. They asked you, they want you. So I filled out the paperwork. I had to write like a little essay and share a couple things, and then I had to share my wordle stats. And then Oh, their stats for Wordle? Yeah, they eat their stats. And then I had to send in a video. And so I did that. And so we'll see what happens. Wonderful. When do we hear more? I don't know. There was nothing. I mean, what's typical typical of castings? They never tell you when you're gonna hear back. Oh. It's just like you audition and then you just assume you didn't get it. You would be outstanding on this show. I don't well, I don't know how we'd be in front of people. I love doing it. I mean, it's the You're great in front of people. What do you mean? Well doing the game. Because I do it, just close your eyes. Yeah. To see the letters. Oh. My eyes have TV open. But so we'll see what happens. I don't know. I'll keep I'll keep you posted. But I think they're it's filming in New York. So it'd be fun to go to New York at least and stay in a hotel and maybe they'll win a prize. Maybe you'll win a million dollars. Oh, that would be great for Wordle. I don't know. I don't know what the going rate for game show prices is those days. But anyways, so that was my my real big excitement. It

Soccer Wins And Aurora Nostalgia

SPEAKER_02 3:26

is exciting. Other than cleaning out my closet. Yeah, I didn't have too much excitement this week. John won his soccer tournament, so that was exciting. Was this one of his first wins for his team, or do they win mostly all the time?

SPEAKER_01 3:38

They don't win tournaments mostly all the time. So no, this was fun for him.

SPEAKER_02 3:42

Oh, because that's a big deal to win a tournament versus a game. Yes, yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Well, that's exciting. The other exciting thing was Ryan went to all the games. Ryan went to Aurora all weekend long. Back and forth and back and forth.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

When you hear Aurora, do you ever want to make Wayne's World references? Is that just my family? I just want to sing Aurora, Aurora, that Hollywood town. It's oh from the from the 90s? From their casino commercials. Do you remember that? I do now. It might have even been the 80s. They took Chicago and Aurora. Yes. I always think of Wayne's World. And when someone's like, oh yeah, I had to go to Aurora, I want to say, way, and like, no way, like from the Waynes World scatters and us and all. But I feel like most people don't get that reference, so I have to push it down. Unless I'm with my family, they would know. I don't usually sing that jingle. Isn't that how it went? It was a lot of like b-roll of roulette tables and like coins coming out of the machine. Yeah. I bet you can find that online. I'll do that after the sh after we finish recording. In other

The Frog Hidden In Lettuce

SPEAKER_02 4:56

news, I was reading a story about this guy. His name is Rye Smoker. Oh. Which has nothing to do with the actual story. Yeah. Okay. He sounds like an SNL character, doesn't he? Yes. But he was making dinner and opened the bag of lettuce and a frog was inside. Stop it. This was in Australia. He was with a group of bodies. Did he say crikey? No, he said his friends said something to the effect of like, oh, you're taking the mick. Yeah. Which is pulling my leg. Yeah. Yeah. A frog jumped out. Do you imagine if you were please pause? I know I saw Gillan and her son walking to school. Is that a lead star? Okay. Personal lead star. Okay. Could you imagine?

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Could you imagine fixing dinner and opening a bag of lettuce and an animal jumping out?

SPEAKER_02 5:48

No. But I'm but I'm shocked that that frog was still alive. That lettuce must have been pretty fresh. I mean, you think about how like how did that happen? Because you think the lettuce, I would assume it was torn apart. It wasn't a MS. So it had to be shredded or cut apart some way and then put in a bag and sealed. So where was the frog? I want to know where how it was small.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

Yeah, it was very small. I want to know how we got into the plant.

unknown 6:17

Right.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

Not in the plant of lettuce. Like the facility.

SPEAKER_02 6:20

Yes, the processing plant. Yeah. So he must have been like dodging all the blades. Some crafty little frog. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

Agile. You will. Nimble. But then they released it out into the pond. Oh, good.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

Happy. Can you imagine that frog with the rest of the frogs? He's like, you will not believe the week I had. Oh my God. It's like a cricket meal. You must have had a lot of good food. Yeah. Well fed, but scared. And extremely anxious from here on out. Poor little froggy.

Breaking And Sweeping Gone Wrong

SPEAKER_02 6:52

Speaking of anxious, Nora, how would you feel if you woke up in the morning and you thought, huh, something is different about my house? It looks like it's been cleaned overnight. I would feel joyful. And then you saw a note saying, Hello, I came in and cleaned your house while you were sleeping. You owe me $75. Well, do I know this person? No. Does it creep? So it's called Breaking and Sweeping. That's the title of this article. And so this woman, her name is Susan Warren. She is a cleaning lady, and she was a little light on customers. And she broke into someone's house and she cleaned their house. She did a little some dishes, trash, tidied up, and then left a note saying that they owed her $75. Sounds like a good deal. For her services. And Susan ended up getting arrested. Oh, this was in Ohio. And she, oh yeah, she's caught on camera. She's just doing it. And she spent she spent two weeks in jail, one year of probation, and 20 hours of community service. Did was it like a neighbor or who who was this? She was just dragging by and was like, oh my god. It was like that looks like a messy house. I can clean that. What the heck? But I'm a little bothered because now that I've done a Google, oh, she's out of jail now. But oh, this is two days ago. So two days ago, I read this story, but this happened in 2012. Oh. Come on, newsletter. Yeah, right? Oh.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

Did she turn her life around? Does she own a cleaning company now?

SPEAKER_02 8:41

And then, oh, when she got out of jail, she started a snow shoveling business. She was just shoveling driveways and then was like, driveway. I need money. Yeah. But she made a thousand dollars.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

She should ask.

SPEAKER_02 8:54

She should just ask. They probably would say yes.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:57

I know. But anyway, so I was like, oh no. No, thank you. No. Equally

The Naked Dress Debate

SPEAKER_02 9:02

as startling is that uh naked dress trend that stuff that you've adopted is going. That I'm like.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

So they actually said that 2025 was the year of the naked dress.

SPEAKER_02 9:16

That's like a negligee. Yeah. And then it turned into 2026 being the year of the naked dress. But this article shares that really there's always been the naked dress. There's always been a naked dressing dress with the old Hollywood and Marilyn Monroe. Mm-hmm. It was naked-ish. But this the do you know Jane Birken? Birkenbeck. Is she Birkenbeck? Mm-hmm. Okay. So she in the 70s rocked this little number. That's why she needed a big purse to come.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

But really, they've always kind of been around.

SPEAKER_02 9:48

I remember that. I remember, is that Rose McGovern? Yeah, this I just didn't realize how much Nake Pie was going on. I remember the Beyonce one. And how about Jennifer Lopez, I think, too? Yeah, they mentioned Chapel Rowan most recently with that situation we talked about. Eh gads. But the whole premise of this was like it's not to be eye candy, but it's like expression.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

And I thought, these women, can't they express themselves some other way?

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Why do we have to see all this? No, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

On one hand, I'm like, good for you, because I would never have it in me to dress that way or have the confidence or the body to do that. So I'm like, if that's what you want to do, that's fine. But then on the other hand, I'm like, I don't know where to look and I'm just seeing a photo. Also, like save it for the beach. Like just barrel at the beach. I thought you were gonna say save it for the bed. And I was like, hi, Nora. Save it for the beach. Like, if you want to bear all your parts, wear a sexy bikini. I just feel like, especially to those events, those award shows, that you're sitting down for so long, and that's such a long day of like getting ready that you would, I would think you would want to be more comfortable. And also when I sit down, you're sitting like like C3PO, like for the whole night, because you're like, I can't let my belly I can't breathe. Yes, I it just doesn't look comfortable to me. I also love clothes and dresses, and I just think I would want more of it on me. Yeah, I mean so many options, right? Or what if you're sweating in your naked dress? Do you see like drips of sweat? Like, ooh, your netting is wet. We had a wet net. No sick gross. Oh my

Swatch Release Madness At The Mall

SPEAKER_02 11:48

gosh. There was also a hubbub at the swatch store. Have you? Oh yes. So the tell our listeners about this. The crazy thing is, on Saturday, I had to run a ton of errands, one of which was to get my son a new battery in his watch, which is from Swatch. Oh, it is a Swatch watch. Yes. And so I went, I was at the mall doing other things, and the swatch store had barricades in front of it, and then a sign that said the store will be closed on the 15th. And I was like, what luck? And I was like, oh, maybe the employees didn't show up or something like that. I had no clue. And then on Monday or Tuesday, I saw a video of the mall by my in-laws on Long Island where people were getting pepper sprayed. Yeah. Trying to get the new swatch collaboration. I didn't realize it was such a thing. No, me neither. I'm not a big watch head. Is that what they call watch? I mean, I like watches, but I'm not watching. It's not fiend watch.

SPEAKER_03 12:49

A watch.

SPEAKER_02 12:50

Watch watchdog. I like a watch house. So I was shocked. But it happened all over the country. I didn't realize it was all over the country. Dying for this watch. What's the It's a Swiss collabor Swiss, a swatch collaboration with this company. For short, it's called AP, but I don't really know how to pronounce it. It's Aldemar's Puget, I believe. Oh, sure. Oh, yeah. Oh, you have a couple. Of course. And it's Swatch had a watch back. Swatch had a watch in the 80s that was the pop watch. And you could pop out the little circle part and put it into different like bands or like a pocket watch or on a lanyard or keychain or whatever. So they did the royal pop, which the royal part comes from AP, and then the pop part is from Swatch. And they're super cute. But it's not a wristwatch. It is more of a pocket watch or a lanyard kind of a situation. So they're very cute. But I don't What do they run? That is something I don't know. They're being resold for thousands of dollars. But if you were to, if you were lucky enough to not get pepper sprayed and buy one in the store, that I don't know. Huh. Discover, but I just couldn't believe it. I did not hear about this at all. Oh, 45. Oh, wait. The strap is $45. But how much is the watch? The Pop it part? The pop the pop it? I don't know. Oh, Royal Pop. I keep thinking of the in sync song. Dirty Pop. Do you know that song? Um cut that part out. Oh, it's $400. Oh. So it's all right. It's not, I mean, it's not cheap. It's not cheap. But it's not a thousand dollars, which is what it's being resold for. So it's kind of fun. It is fun. I mean, I wouldn't pepper spray somebody for it, but no, nor would I spend $400 on it. But if somebody gave it to me. Yeah. I appreciate it. You put it in your pocket? I'd put it in my pocket. Oh, this would be like a delightful treat.

Store-Bought Cookie Rankings Tested

SPEAKER_02 15:05

See you eyeing something on our recording table.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

They look did you did you bake? No, I didn't bake, but I happened upon an article that ranked chocolate chip store-bought cookies. Oh.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

And I wondered where you fell on these rankings. So Chip Safoi, the original chocolate chip cookie.

SPEAKER_00 15:23

I'm meh. Ugh I'm like a zero on those in the blue bag.

SPEAKER_02 15:27

No thanks.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

The Tate's Bake Shop chocolate chip cookie.

SPEAKER_02 15:30

I love those. I love Tates. A crisp little treat. That we go to the bakery every summer. Yes. So the Chips Ahoy got a 7.5 out of 10. No. And Tate's only got a 4.5. Oh, that's baloney. It's straight. You know who did the survey? Chips Ahoy. The Trader Joe's crispy crunch chocolate chip cookies only got a two.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

I've never had those.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

I haven't had those either. And then the famous Amos. Football boys love those.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

So they don't love those.

SPEAKER_02 15:58

Okay. They're thick in your crunch. They they had bags. We had, I don't know, somebody had brought food in and there were bags of famous Amos. And I was like, these are the best worst cookies. Because like I they just are nostalgic, but they're like very dry. Yes, I know. Like even just talking about them, I feel like I need a drink of water. Yeah, they've had a six out of ten. I don't, I don't they're definitely not better than Tate's. No, absolutely. I'm sure there's tons of chemicals in those.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

And the Costco chocolate chunk got a seven out of ten. Those are good. Those are fine. Uh, Mrs. Fields Soft Bakes only got a four. I haven't had one of those in ages.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

I love Mrs. Fields, like from the shop. Yes. Do they still have one in Oak Brook? No, they have it at Yorktown.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

Pepperidge Farm makes the cookies in the white bag. Yeah, I think those are too dry as well. They have a soft bake Newport dark chocolate chip with sea salt, which sounds good. And it only got a four.

SPEAKER_03 16:57

Whoa.

SPEAKER_02 16:58

And the Kebler soft baked deluxe chocolate chip. I know I can't picture that. I just picture elves. And the last one was the Whole Foods Bakery brown butter chocolate chunk. And it got a nine out of ten. Whoa. And that's what these are.

unknown 17:14

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 17:14

And those come in a package? Those come in a package. You can get the small, like these are the minis, or you can get like the ones that come in like a four-pack. So I got these little guys for us. May I try one? To see what you thought. Thank you. It's a beautiful display. Oh well. You know. Only the best for the best. Alright, let's see. Oh, it's soft. I like that. That's nice. Tons of chocolate chips. Mm-hmm. I think it's good. You know what these taste like? Entomens. Remember the little mini entemins cookies? Were they really soft? Really soft, really small, and they would like stick together in the box.

unknown 17:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 17:54

You always get you kind of peel them. I think they're good too. 90 calories for each little cookie. Okay. So that's not bad for a cookie. You know, I just my I really do like those tates. It's a different kind of cookie. Yeah, but they're because I prefer a soft cookie. So do I. But the taits I like.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

Yeah, so listeners, if you're looking for a sweet little treat, go with the Whole Foods, soft bake, brown butter, chocolate chip.

SPEAKER_02 18:28

This is delicious. And why don't you listen to a word from our sponsor while we enjoy these cookies?

Sponsor Break

SPEAKER_02 18:33

Nora, have you heard about the Buick S-U-V sale? S-U-V sale? I've heard of the S-U-V sale. Oh no, it's S-Y-O-U-V because they want you in an SUV.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

Well, one thing I do know is Buick makes an incredible SUV. Mm-hmm. Or as you say it. S- S-U-V-U-V.

SPEAKER_02 18:57

And right now there's fantastic deals at Mike Haggerty Buick GMC. Oh, would they have an SUV though that's going to fit my family of six?

SPEAKER_01 19:05

The Buick Enclave probably has just what you need. And all Buick models are 0.9% APR for 36 months, bonus cash, or a CCR component. Oh wow, what a deal. And you can build these things just how you like them. Customize your own Buick SUV at 93rd.

SPEAKER_02 19:23

It really is for you.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

It really is just for you.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

Head on down to 93rd and Cicero or check them out at highgritycars.com. I sure will. I'll see you later. And now back to the show.

Why Teachers Hit The Wall

SPEAKER_02 19:37

Our topic today is teachers. Teachers. Yeah, after all that teacher appreciation that went down, we thought, well, hey, let's talk about these people. Yeah. God bless them. I know. Especially this time of year. Oh, man. Crawl into the finish line. Like one of my kids, I think it was my fifth grader, he was like, I just want it to be summer vacation. And I said to him, you know who wants it to be summer vacation more than you? And he was like, nobody. I was like, every teacher in that building. I'm like, can you imagine being a teacher right now? And he was kind of like, oh yeah, maybe yeah, that's kind of tough. Oh, you jamoks.

Our Most Memorable School Teachers

SPEAKER_02 20:20

Speaking of childhood teachers, do you have any that stand out to you? Yes. Yes. Yes. Definitely Sister Patricia from second grade. She called you annoying. Annoying? Yeah. But we it started off bumpy, but then we became pals. Oh, it has a happy ending. Yeah. I mean, I picked my confirmation name after her. Like, well, because I am Patricia. That's my middle name. And her she was Sister Patricia Marie. So you're Patricia Patricia? No, I'm Patricia Nora Patricia Marie. Oh. Would that be funny? Oh, you won't. If I was Patricia Patricia. But she was great. She was kind of feisty, obviously, but a really good teacher. How about you? My well, I have a lot of memories of teachers. Like my first teacher, my first great teacher, Kitty Schatz was her name. Wow. And she was a spy. She was a little firecrack. Yes. Kitty Shot.

unknown 21:14

Pew pew.

SPEAKER_02 21:15

Kitty Shots. Pew pew. Pew. Pew. We used to do that in reading club. Yeah. No. Pew-Pew. Whenever you finished your assignment. So you got our attention. We just brought cap guns. It was no big difference. Perfect. Um, but I did have sister Julia in the third grade, and she was an old school nun. Yeah. Like clapping the erasers, like oh, all the things that you think about. I loved cleaning the erasers. When you think about like an old fashioned nun, yeah. That was Sister Julia. And it was a stark difference the following year because we moved to Arizona. Oh. And my fourth grade teacher was a man. I had never had a male teacher. He wore MC hammer pants. Amazing. Mr. O. Perfect. Was he that for? Oh, oh. Oh. Oh, oh, I can't touch this. No, that was it. And Mr. Obermeyer had like the original whiteboard because he took giant sheets of butcher paper and he laminated them and he like glued them or taped them or somehow adhered them to his whiteboard and he'd use expo dry erase markers. Oh and then take away crafty. Yeah. There was also a job in his classroom. The laminator? I have no idea what you're gonna say. Maybe he was allergic to chop. No, I think he was just like really like ahead of his time. Yeah, cool. But you know, like the paper passer, the pencil sharpener, the shoulder massager. Oh no. So when we'd come back from lunch, somebody would massage his shoulders and he'd and we'd he'd read aloud and we'd all sit on this like giant damn quilt. Isn't that crazy? Yes. That's totally crazy. Was everyone like, sweet, I'm the massager this week? I think it was a coveted job. Oh boy, I know, but he was arrested now. Yeah, he was a really cool teacher. Like I still I hope he got a real whiteboard someday. Yeah. And you know what? When I student taught in the third grade, yeah at the school that I went to in Scottsdale, the teacher who I student taught under was a good friend of mine, like my very best friend's mom. So that was fun. But he had just retired the year before. Oh I just missed him. Wouldn't that have been fun? That would have been fun. Yeah. Oh my gosh.

What Makes Teaching So Hard

SPEAKER_02 23:43

And you are a teacher. I am a teacher. So do you feel did you feel appreciated? Oh, I always feel appreciated. What do you think the hardest part of being a teacher is? I think the hardest part of being a teacher is managing all the things that people don't see. Like the emails with teachers or with parents and the getting kids ready for like standardized tests and jumping through those hoops and classroom management. The teaching part I think is the easy part. Is it like physics when you're like, if I could teach in a vacuum? It's like, well, I don't mind teaching math. It's so black and white. But I think classroom management. Yeah. And I think nowadays it's also tricky because you get kids, well, it always like you get kids at all different levels and you need to get them from point A to point B. But sometimes they don't all come in at A. Yeah, right. So like just getting them to where they need to be is a challenge. So Yeah, because I would imagine, especially if you're teaching in the lower levels, you know, like first, second, third grade. Yeah. You're like, oh, not everybody's at this point in spelling or this point in social or even like in kindergarten when they come in, some kids had never been to preschool. Oh Lord. So just a level playing field. Oh my goodness. But I was also thinking about professors.

Professors Who Changed Our Lives

SPEAKER_02 25:09

Oh, I had the best. You did? Yes. Daryl Anderson at the University of Dayton was the best. What did he teach? He was the head of the theater department. And he also taught light design and stagecraft and set design. And because when I went to Dayton, I was like, I'm done with theater. I'm not doing theater. I'm never doing theater again. Oh. Mm-hmm. I was gonna be a teacher and I was gonna do student government. And my dad forced me to audition for a sh for a play. And I did, and I made it. And I was like, don't shoot. And then I was helping out with a different show. And then Daryl was like, Do you want a job in the theater department? That's how I got my job. Then I would, he was my advisor. He was just the nicest, kindest man. And I it was it was huge for me because I had never seen anybody, an adult, like a professional in theater, who was calm. Every all my experience with theater previously had been like fire drill, panic, like and this, he was so normal and so chill. And I was like, oh, you can do this and be a regular human being. And that's why you stuck with it. And that's why I stuck with it. Because I was like, well, Daryl's normal and chill and cool. And so what a gift he was. He really was. He was a really lovely man. And we stayed in touch. He passed away when I was pregnant with Rose. Well, he had he had like a couple battles with cancer, bless his heart. But he was just a really nice man, so talented. Really good man. So, yeah, how about you?

SPEAKER_01 26:52

Well, mine isn't nearly as touching because I had a crush on my professor.

SPEAKER_02 26:56

Religion teacher.

SPEAKER_01 26:57

Yeah, my religious studies teacher, Alex Nava.

SPEAKER_02 27:00

If you're listening, hey, hey, hey, hey, yeah. Yeah, he taught one class. It was like God and hip hop that I took. Oh my gosh. Yeah. He's written a couple books on it. Wow. And so then after that, I was like, he's cool. This class was cool. I love hip-hop. And so I went for a religious studies minor. That is amazing. He did some work at University of Chicago. Cool. He did some work at San Xavier's on the South Side. And then is still at UV. That's amazing. I know. Wouldn't that be cool if your kids went there and you took it? Oh my gosh, yes. We watched him on a TED talk yesterday. Because the kids saw me doing my show notes. Yeah. And we were just laughing. I was also thinking, well, I had a group some great teachers in high school as well. My teacher. Oh yeah, we kind of jumped in. Yeah, I know. We went to college, but Miss Paliaka, who was still at Nazareth, was one of my favorite favorites. Do any of your kids have her stuff? Mm-hmm. Aidan had her for two classes in the fall. And it was neat because then her daughters were at Nazareth when I was working at the theater department. So I got to work with her daughters. Now she's working with my kids. Oh man, that's whole circle, isn't it? And then I had a really great, another great English teacher, Miss Sullivan, who was just like sunshine. And she was on Prices Right.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

She was? Oh my gosh. I hope she won more than $100 on a cordless phone.

SPEAKER_02 28:25

I can't remember, but she brought the tape in and we got to watch it. This is so good.

SPEAKER_01 28:29

Yeah, my high school teachers don't really stand out, with the exception of my English teacher.

SPEAKER_02 28:36

Her name was Toy Keller. You had the best names. Teachers. Where did it go? We called her Mrs. Keller, but she we called her Killer Keller because she was so strict. Okay. And she's probably the best teacher I've ever had. Her class was so difficult and so demanding. And then we wrote a research paper in a group and we had one free pass where we could call her once for like a phone a friend. Yeah. And then on the last day of school, she played on a tape recorder, Forever Young.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

Oh. Yeah. And she turned out to be really kind. I mean, she was not.

SPEAKER_02 29:14

I have to say, I had so many, and like now that I'm, I was like, gosh, what am I talking about? I had amazing teachers at Nazareth, and they were all very like energetic. And I just remember, like, we had the best gym teacher, Mr. Dinko. I had a lovely, like all my religion teachers were really kind, like great scripture. It's funny, I had nuns for religion except for when I did scripture. I had Mrs. Coleman. She was great. And even my science teachers were good. Yeah. It was, and like even the other staff, Sister Freddie, who was in the library. I mean, she's like a legend. Yeah. Freddie fanatics. You really did have a good run. I had a good run. Yeah, they did.

Workload, Burnout, And Brain Breaks

SPEAKER_01 29:53

I read that 77% of teachers are female. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 29:57

That probably that I believe. That pretty much tracks.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

Some of my closest friends and greatest memories are from teaching with other women at HoCom, which was where I spent the majority of my teaching career.

SPEAKER_02 30:08

Yeah. And it was like a little family. Nice bonds that we made. And, you know, you get a good group of people together, all focused on what's best for kids, and you're cooking with gas.

SPEAKER_00 30:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:20

So I do, I miss that. Yeah. They say the average workload for teachers is 52 hours a week.

SPEAKER_02 30:27

Yeah. I but do you think that's true? Yeah, I think depending on the teacher you are. If you think you have to get in early, you probably stay late. You're preparing.

SPEAKER_00 30:36

I think the and like the longer you do it, I think sometimes kind of burn out and do more of the basics. Whereas like the young dynamic.

SPEAKER_02 30:50

Yeah, God, yeah. Where you're like, I know my kids email their teachers like when they get home, and I'm like Yeah. It's a lot. Well, 81% of them report being emotionally drained by the end of the day. Oh, I'm sure. It's like hosting a birthday party every day. But it has to be, but you're supposed to expect the kids are expected to learn certain things. Yeah. An educational birthday party. Yes. And then I was I read a stat too that said 88% of teachers say the attention spans of children are shorter. There was an article, I think it was in the New York Times, about brain breaks and how brain breaks are like these are essential and necessary. And they pointed this out too. They're like, an adult doesn't sit down and work for six hours straight. Like it's, I think sometimes we forget that I think more so now than when we were in school, that they're way more forgiving with brain breaks and water breaks and water.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

What I mean, I went to school in Arizona and we didn't bring a water bottle.

SPEAKER_02 31:53

Like it was 110 degrees outside and no water bottle. Like fine, all your little faces after recess. Yep.

Mentors, Gratitude, And Support

SPEAKER_02 32:01

I was thinking too about people who have been teachers to me, but not a teacher. My first job out of college, I worked at the Theater League, and I was an assistant to the president of this organization, but I was like the junior assistant, and then Patty was his main assistant because apparently he was that big. He needed whatever. But she taught me so much working about life. Like she was like an angel. She was incredible. I'm grateful to her. My the teachers who I taught with were teachers to me.

SPEAKER_03 32:35

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 32:35

When I first jumped on board, there was no like judgment. Yeah. No, it is. Well, I would imagine for a new teacher, there's not, it's not like orientation.

unknown 32:44

Right.

SPEAKER_02 32:45

You know, they're like, I mean, a little bit of like, here's the teacher's lounge, here's how we do things, this is the systems, but you really are, it's like, okay, here's your class. I loved setting up my classroom. Oh, I bet your classroom was darling. And a tree with little birds on it. They were not you'd get one, two, three, then you'd take your bird off the tree, put it in the birdcage. Oh, I like that. It worked for kindergarten. That's so great. Oh. I started as an education major at Dayton and then I switched.

unknown 33:16

Now.

SPEAKER_02 33:16

And then I there was a time I thought about going back to get my teaching degree, but then it rose as really little and it's hard. It is. Yeah. It's very and not that it should be easy to be a teacher, but I was shocked at how difficult it was to even get a straight answer on what I needed.

SPEAKER_00 33:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 33:34

And I that's why I always keep my teaching certificate up to date. That's very smart. Because who knows? Because I have a sub-certificate, but I could never get hired up. We're going to work on that. But I am grateful to my kids' teachers. I mean, we have been very lucky with our kids' teachers, and I am I am grateful to all of them because with four children, I have four very different students.

SPEAKER_00 33:59

They are wonderful as teachers. They are wonderful as friends and as people. They are wonderful in the community. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:07

So thanks, teachers. Thank you, teachers. All

Highs, Lows, And Goodbye

SPEAKER_01 34:10

right.

SPEAKER_02 34:10

Before we sign off, should we jump into Highs and Loves? Yes, what's yours? Hope you get there. Oh, sorry. Your low is that I'm pressuring you for your low. Oh my gosh, my low is that my daughter ran for school treasurer on a Thursday. And because the speeches were so late in the day, they decided they weren't going to reveal the results until that Friday, Friday morning.

SPEAKER_00 34:42

But since the seventh grade class left on a field trip before class started, they didn't reveal it Friday morning.

SPEAKER_02 34:49

And since one of the buses got back late, they didn't reveal it Friday afternoon. So then we had to wait until Monday to find out. Oh my goodness. But thankfully. But that's my high. Thankfully, she was the winner of the treasurer for student counts. Yeah. So she'll be the student body treasurer. That's awesome. And yeah, it was great. But St. Francis was a similar situation. My niece ran for president and it was a similar timeline. I I still don't know if she's found out. Oh, like as of yesterday, my family, like my parents at least, didn't know if she had won. So I'm anxious to talk to my sister. Yeah. To find out that's a lot. Waiting's hard. Especially because they're they're not counting paper ballots. I know. Google form. Anything Google form. Oh, yeah, yeah. My law is my car is so dirty. Oh, that's a bad one. And I just haven't had time to go wash it. Every time I get in it, I'm like, oof. I love my muffin. She's filthy. So I'm hoping soon. Okay. But my high is that I cleaned out my closet in like three hours. Did you get rid of any sweaters? Yes, I did. I had some real tough cuts in there. Couple sweaters that I bought when we were living in London like 16 years ago. Yeah, it's time. And I was like, this is served its time. Also got rid of some shoes. That felt good. So I feel like although it's all piled up. What was the like criteria for getting rid of? Have I worn it? Like, can I remember when I wore this last? Oh. And then also, if I wore it, did I like how it looked in it? That's another thing. The answer was no, I can't remember, or no, I didn't really like how I looked in this. Bye. Bye-bye. So, but it's all piled up in my hallway because I haven't had a chance to bag it and get it out. Oh, I love that feeling. I gotta do that. So my closet looks great, but the hallway is a mess. Baby still. Well, you get back to your hallway, and listeners, thanks for joining us. We'll see you next week. Bye. Bye.