What Teachers Know

You can do the job with very little work, poorly. But if you're going to do it better than poorly, it takes an enormous amount of work. Everybody thinks they can paint. Very few people paint well, because they skip the prep.

I come from a family of educators. Students were always coming to our house to talk to my father. When he passed away suddenly, students came. That made a big impression on me at 16. Teaching was a way to make a difference in people's lives.

I remember my first year. Every night after work I was at school until I had to get kicked out. Three of the four teachers on our team were brand new, so we were all calling on each other as best we could.

People who make laws for teachers have never spent a day in the classroom as a teacher, but they think they know because they were students. It burns my biscuits.

I was in New York working retail, not able to pay rent. My mom messaged me: the English position at your old school is open. You were good at it when you subbed. Give it a shot, you may actually like it. That was 11 years ago

The incredible power that technology could have, for good or bad. We could be using technology unwisely and make kids much less of a critical thinker, or we could be using it to make kids a much stronger thinker. I don't think people think about that.

[Who/What best taught me to teach] was a combination. In high school I had an independent study where I went every morning and worked in the elementary school. Then summer camps. It was experiences I had, and examples that were set for me.

In the online world (teaching virtually) it's so easy to stay and work and not leave. Setting those boundaries and stepping away when it's time to step away. Easier said than done.

There are really good intentions with a lot of these [policies, tools]. But because these people have never been in the classroom day in and day out with kids, in practice it doesn't work. So teachers find ways to make it work for them, and then the company runs its usage reports and wonders why it's not being used the way the district promised.

I took almost triple the pay going to public school [from private school]. But parent involvement went to next to none. Maybe five percent of my kids have a parent involved or in the home.

People look at all that technology and think teaching is easier now. Actually, using technology is more work in many ways than not having it. Throw a kid on there to play games, that's no work. But that's not correct.

It's very intense when you're in a room with 20 little children who are used to having their needs met immediately. You're pulled in a lot of different directions all the time. Every child has some kind of issue you have to take care of and reassure. And that's just the classroom.

My only worry going virtual was the relationships. That was so important to me. And I was pleasantly surprised. You really can build them. It's not the same as being in front of them, but it's not what I was afraid of.

You hired me to teach this class. You assigned it to me because you wanted it taught. I'm not the teacher who follows a script. I've never been that student either.

It's 2026 and we still have students graduating who are the first in their family to get a high school diploma. Sometimes the win is just: finish. You can help them do that.

My dad said: college gives you the piece of paper. You'll learn how to be a teacher in the classroom. I said nah. He was right.

First grade is one of the most rewarding grades. They come in babies. By the time they leave, they're reading, writing, independent, they've formed friendships, they have confidence.

All the behind-the-scenes stuff. Your kid goes to school and you hear bits and pieces, but you don't know everything happening to make sure your kid is successful. Or the things we don't enjoy doing but have to do, like state testing.

First day, I asked them: what's one area you want to work on? Write it on a post-it, put your name on it, because you have to tell middle schoolers that. Most said things like 'I want to have fun reading again' or 'writing feels like punishment.' One girl wrote: I want 12 out of 12 on my writing. I've always gotten 9 or 10. I pulled her aside and asked: are you okay with me ripping your papers apart? There's going to be a lot of green, because I don't grade in red. She said go hard. Other teachers probably would've given her a 10 out of 10 and moved on. I shredded them, because that's what was going to get her the most bang for her buck. She got the 12. I said, I knew you could do it. You allowed yourself to grow. That's the most important thing.

A 17-year-old asked me, what's a political party? Our coach was in the room observing. I didn't even know how to answer. So I ran with it. Pulled up a political cartoon with a platform and planks, broke it all down. He said, huh, okay. I said: you can vote in the next election and you had no idea what you were looking at. This is why I do what I do.