What About This?: with Andrea and Melissa (Episode 3)

Melissa Milner and Andrea discuss their recent activities and upcoming plans. Andrea shared her experience serving on a grand jury in Bristol County, which involved hearing cases for three months. She also took a cruise with MSC Cruises, highlighting the ship's unique features like mozzarella cheese making. Melissa visited the Grand Canyon, Iceland, and Paris integrating her travel experiences into her teaching. They also discussed the Massachusetts Computer Using Educators (MassCUE) fall conference at Gillette Stadium on October 14-15, 2026, and a mini-conference on August 4, 2026, focusing on learner variability in AI. Andrea also talked about her many years working with interns. 

Major Choice is a career mentorship program for students with and without disabilities. The program emphasizes personalized mentorship, self-exploration, and career exploration, aiming to help students find fulfilling careers. Educators and professionals are encouraged to become mentors or volunteers. https://www.majorchoice.com/home-page5pdqllzu62926234

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Welcome to the Teacher Ads Podcast. I'm your host, Melissa Milner, a teacher who is painfully curious and very easily inspired. This podcast is ever-changing, and I hope with each season you find episodes that speak to you in your work as an educator. This is the seventh season of the Teacher Ads, and it's exciting to see the growth in how many educators are listening. Episodes are released every other week. If you enjoyed the Teacher Ads, please rate it on Apple Podcasts and leave a review. It helps the podcast reach more educators. I'm happy to share that the career mentorship program Major Choice is now sponsoring the Teacher Ads Podcast. I'm thrilled about the partnership. You can learn more about becoming a mentor at majorchoice.com/slash mentor. Thanks for listening. Here we are, back with another What About This episode. It has been a minute. Uh Andrea has been a little busy with something, so we have not been able to record. I think we were our goal in the fall was to get four episodes in, and we're only getting in three, if I'm correct. Yes, I think that's there was another there was a whole like bunch of months that Andrea was not available. So Andrea, I think we should start with that. You can't give us super details, but Andrea, what have you been doing?

SPEAKER_01 1:29

So on January 5th, I was selected to be part of grand jury for Bristol County. And that means that for three months I had to go to Fall River and go to the court for two days a week to hear cases before they go to trial. So some days you would hear two cases and you would, you know, decide if the evidence was enough to push it um to trial, or some days you would hear about seven cases and you heard little bits and pieces because it would be building it up. Um so for the past um, you know, three months give or take um an extra two weeks because of um snow days. Because court court will give you, you know, much like school, where you have to make up your snow days, you might have to make up your court days. Um so yeah, we had it was an adventure. It was an adventure being part of the judicial system. I will just leave it at that. But that was my three months. Wow. And then you went on a cruise. And then I went on a cruise because I needed something to look forward to to have my brain just not be in the courtroom. Um, so we tried, as you know, my husband and I are very big cruisers. We usually do carnival cruises. Last carnival cruise was a little eh. So we tried an MSc cruise. What's that? Exactly. So apparently MSC stands for some it's like a shipping container place. Okay, we were not on a shipping container ship, but that's what they got their background. Like they did shipping, and I they've been around for like I don't know, 200 years, a long, long time. Stop. I've never even heard of them. And they do a lot of cruises overseas, like in Europe. Okay, and they'll do a lot of like transatlantic cruises.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

So we wanted to see what the ship was going to be like before we booked a cruise, possibly from Florida to Spain next year.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

Right. Right.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Um, because I don't want to get stuck on a ship and be like, I hate this. Yeah. So we did a cruise out of Florida, we did the Caribbean, and it was lovely. And the ship was beautiful. They make their own mozzarella cheese on the ship. Yeah, okay. There is a machine that you can watch that make the mozzarella cheese. They're very proud of this. It's an Italian cruise line. So uh I ate a lot of cheese, freshly made mozzarella cheese. Wow. Read three books. Nice, sat on the beach. It was the perfect way to decompress from having grand jury. Yes. Yeah, so that's wow.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

That was my adventures. What about you, Melissa? Oh man. So um, yeah, I was not on a grand jury. Thank goodness. Uh, I had some fun. February, I went to Arizona and finally saw the Grand Canyon at 56 years old. It was snowing, it was insane, it was beautiful. I cried, it was awesome. Um, yeah, I highly recommend it. And of course, my curriculum, we we learn about uh, first of all, we learn about states, you know, the regions of the United States. So that was huge. I brought a whole bunch of stuff for the kids. That's the thing. When your teacher travel, like you always like end up bringing stuff to show your kids or teach your kids. And then the other thing was we also learn about the changing earth and plate tectonics and weathering and erosion. And so, I mean, that's like the whole Grand Canyon is basically because you know the river was kind of mean um and uh broke everything down. So that was really cool. And then April, it was I never traveled this much, everybody. I just want everybody to know that. Like, this is like crazy. Uh, and then we did um in April, we did Iceland and Paris. We were going to Paris, yeah. And then we found really decent priced airline tickets with Iceland Air. And there was a stop at Iceland, and we're like, we're going to stay over and do something. So we ended up doing an eight-hour tour around the golden circle. It was unbelievable. Oh, wow. Waterfalls and geysers, and like literally, you're standing and looking, and here's one Eurasian plate, and here's the other, like the whatchamacallit plate, American plate. Like you're looking at the two plates. Oh my gosh. And they're moving away from each other. So that's what causes the volcanoes, and I uh it's unbelievable. So yeah, that's that's what I was doing, along with teaching my wonderful fourth graders and getting them ready for MCAS. No, I was teaching them, and that there happens to be MCAS because we don't, you know, I don't I give it a grain of salt, but we do prepare them and make sure that they are familiar with the test and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

So that's that. And I would like to know, because you're like Miss MasQ. Yes. Oh my gosh. Tell us Mass Q updates. When's the when is the fall mass Q? You said there's something going on this summer. Talk.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Yep. So just to refresh people, um, Mass Q stands for Massachusetts Computer Using Educators. And we're a nonprofit network of um, you know, membership network of educators across the state that are really focused on using technology in the classroom. Um, so our big fall conference held at Gillette Stadium will be October 14th and 15th this year. Um, and it is going to be better than ever. Um, my opinion, better than ever. We have a lot of really cool stations that are being set up. Um, one that's focused on digital wellness and digital health and like mental health, and then another area that's just for librarians. Um, we had it last year, but we're making it even bigger. Um, and then a lot of we're working to get this immersive experience. So, like walking into a room that's all project, like everything's projected on there, and what can how can you use that for learning? Um, so there's gonna be some really cool pieces that are um coming this year. Um, and we are, let's see, registration opens August 1st. So that is one of those fun little things I get to do for MassQ is making sure that the fall conference goes off without a hitch. And it is, um, everything's coming together really nicely. Um, and we've had some awesome um speakers submitting proposals. I get to, I get a sneak peek at all of them as they start coming through. Nice. And there's many presenters where I'm just like, oh my gosh, like if I could just not have to take pictures and manage things and just sit and listen to this proposal, like this presenter, I'd be thrilled. Um, so we have that coming up. And then this summer on the CAPE, we're doing an event called it's a mini conference on August 4th. And it's called Designing for Learner Variability in the Age of AI. So it's, you know, working on your classroom and your learning interventions and the way that you work with your students and set up things for all students to learn. Um, so it's designing for learner variability, and we did on Friday before once this is announced um or this podcast is released, um, the schedule and the presenters will be up. We just finalized all of them. Um we have a really nice, um a really nice collection of presenters at different levels, which is good because a lot of people are just like, Well, what does this mean? How do I get started? We have a lot of getting started um um pieces.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

So yeah, very cool. So that's where we're up to. Nice. I'm just not even in that zone to be able to get a proposal in. I yeah, I'm skipping it. I'm scared. I'm I'm I'm in some, you know, some mindset of I just need my summer and I don't want to be thinking and planning all this during the summer. I so I feel yeah, I feel ya.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

But you'll be at the conference. I should be.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

I should be. I should be at the conference. Yes, because I love, love learning about and it's so funny because it's overwhelming. But what I do is I take my notes and then I just circle the stuff that I want to try in the next month. Yeah. And it's usually three or four things. I don't try to do everything, just three or four things that I can try and incorporate. I already have done a lot. Um yeah, I've done a lot from last year's mass queue. I've I've done uh things, productivity, like teacher productivity, and just helping me get more streamlined with what I'm doing. And, you know, I'm actually, I mean, I'm assuming the mass update was sort of like what you're like, what's in your brain right now, what what you're focused on.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Right. But we're doing so much more outside of that. These are just our events. Um MassQ also, like we have very active committees that, you know, get together and meet to figure out um, you know, how can we help educators across the state and not just across the state, across New England, and creating those networks and that community. Um, so it's really cool to see in and to be places and say, like, oh, I know you're from Mass Q. And you're also at CS4MA. Oh, I know you're from Mass Q, but you're also at, you know, the Library Association. Like everyone has these like pieces that come together. Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Very, very cool.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

I um I it sounds like a lot of work. The prep that you're doing to get the fall conference together. I just all the pieces and keeping them all up and not dropping the ball on any yikes.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

Yeah, that's one of my superpowers, though. I hate I don't mean to brag about that, but it is one of those, like, I don't know how I do it. And one day I know I won't be able to do it. But for right now, I can. And keeping track of the little details, I blame my grandmother. She taught me how to do it. I blame my grandmother. We thank your grandmother. We thank my grandma for making me too hard of a worker. I love it. I love it, I love it. So, so what about you? I heard you had a really good, you know, guest on your podcast. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 12:09

So we she'll be uh by the time this comes out, obviously it'll already be out. Um, her name is Feya Creed. Okay, and she came to our school to present as an author visit. And she was so funny. Like the second she started talking, I'm like, what is up with her? She's like an actress or something. She's so funny.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

So at the end, she shared her book. I'll tell you about that in a minute. But at the end, I went up to her and I said, You have to be on my podcast. You're awesome. So we started talking on the podcast. She brings up lightly that she was in UBC. She was in upright citizens for grade. I'm like, oh my gosh, that's what I that's what I honed in on. I knew it. So for people who don't know, that's a like very, very prestigious, hysterical, um, improv skit group. And many famous people, famous comedians have come out of Upright Citizens Brigade. Yeah. So the fact that she had been in that, it was like, okay, got it. And she was a stand-up and all that. Anyway, we had a great talk, but there were some really cool takeaways about writing and about how to organize your thoughts and do lists before you even do the graphic organizer, you know, before you like decide your beginning, middle, and end problem solution, all that. Just make lists on your topics, like in kind of how do they connect and just get your brain opened up. And then so it was just go listen to it. Go listen to it. I'm not doing it, I'm not doing it justice. But it started me thinking about all the amazing published authors I've had on the teacher as.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:00

And how they all have different gems to share. And I'm like, you know what? Maybe I need to do a book. Yes. The Teacher As Inspiring Writers, right? Whatever. Yeah. And just take out, I had the transcripts for all of them, just take out the gems. I could do a you know, a foreword or an introduction and whatever. And just take out the gems and yeah. So I might be working on that this summer because it got me super inspired. I kind of love that.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

And if you need someone to help with the design of it, you know who to call on. I do. Because I have helped many people design their books. That is good to know. Uh-huh. So you design, are you talking about like the text? Yeah, the text, the way you want it laid out. Like if you want to publish this, like do it as a Kindle book and like do the self-published route first. I have I know how to do that. I don't. I do. This is why we connect. Right? See? We connect. These are the conversations.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

And and this is the way it is, is I've always been like the idea person, the overview person. Yeah. And I've always needed to partner with the detail person. Yep. So way back when, two years, four or five years ago, um, I was co-teaching with someone, uh Trisha Piacentini. And we on this podcast, you can go back in history, go to the old episodes. We did adventures and um co-teaching. And it was just that. It was, I get these great ideas, and she's like, okay. So bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. And then that's just to get to this. Then bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. Like, okay. I need someone to rein me in and like explain. So you're my you're my detail. Yeah. Love it. I can definitely help with that. Okay, cool. 100%. Oh, by the way, yes.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

It's Hondo P. Oh gosh. Have you heard that? No. Okay. So I know I have shared before. I'm an old person. And my husband older than you, stop it. Yeah, but you're around the younger people. I am. So my husband is also around the younger people because he does HEMA, like historical European martial arts. And they're they're all it's long sword fencing. And so they're all young. And he comes home and he just starts saying words. I was like, I don't think you're saying sentences. He's like, he's like, no, this is how the kids talk.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

It's unbelievable. But I did not hear that from a kid. Oh no, okay. I actually heard that from Jason Bateman and Will Arnett and Sean Hayes on Smartless.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

Okay. That makes more sense. Hundo P. Hundo P Hundo P.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

I'm sure they're hate. I think it was Will Arnett's son, he heard it. Yeah. Probably. I'm not sure, but Hundo P.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

Yeah. There's so many things. Like every time I get I have two new interns starting this summer. Oh, great. And I'm like, okay, I now I have to prepare to learn new lingo. That yeah. Yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

Well, it's um queen. Yes, queen. Yep. Right. And um, what was the other one that I was laughing so hard? Oh, sleigh. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 17:25

I'm just gonna be like, okay, whatever. Oh, Slay. But you know, as soon as I learn it and start using it, it's not gonna change. Yeah, it's not gonna be cool anymore, and everyone will just look at me.

SPEAKER_00 17:36

Yeah, and I mean 6'7 is out already, so don't even worry about it. So oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

My husband drives home, like one of the people in his HEMA club. Um, he's 19, he he goes to school at Brown University, and so he drives him home after HEMA.

SPEAKER_00 17:54

Oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

And and the kid is like, they were driving home in Mr. Brightside, you know the song Mr. Brightside for the Killer comes on? Yeah, and the kid's like, What is this? And Mike's like, it's Mr. Brightside by the Killers, and he's like, Okay. And so the next week he's driving him home and the song comes on again because we're old people and we have a playlist and we listen to it all the time.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

And the kid's like, you know, this is the second time I've heard this song, and only in your car. He's like, No one else listens to this. And then he's and then Mike's like, you know, I'm not up to speed on a lot of the, you know, the young, cool things. And the kid's like, Do you know what six seven is?

SPEAKER_00 18:32

Oh gosh. That's like the meter.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

Do you know what six seven is? And Mike's like, Yes, I know what six seven is. Oh my gosh. So I'm just getting prepared for a new batch of interns to make me feel old. Yeah. But that's okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

I mean, interns, I mean, are they like still in college? Interns still in college. Oh, okay. So like young young.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

Yep. Yep, 20. I'm like, I know. My babies, they'll come on through. It'll be good.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

So this is helping you with all the mass Q tasks.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

Yes. Yep. One of them is focused on um, it's fun because Mass Q has a podcast called GitAQ, and it's kind of been dormant for a bit, and we're reviving it. And so we have one intern that's focused on podcasting and also graphic, like moving arts. So, like I'm gonna give her a logo and have her animate it so with then we can use it for things. So she's focused on the art. The other one is focused, and she is a very talented writer, and then I have another one that is focused on graphic design. So we're gonna pair the two and help lessen my load. How cool is that? Yeah, that's so I love now.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

Were you able? Like, do you put out we need this many and they need to be able to do this stuff? Or they come to you and it's just kismet? Like, how does this work?

SPEAKER_01 19:53

So, part of this is I've been in all of the places that I've worked, I have had a very strong hand in the internship program. Okay. Um, so I have relationships with different colleges that have and different professors will recommend interns to me. Okay. Um, so the ones that I the two that I have for this summer are Fitchburg State Interns. Okay. And they were recommended by their advisor who I've worked with now for 12 years. Yeah. 13 years. Um and they have to go through the whole application process. But other interns, I do have a thing on the website where people, you know, can see what we're looking for and they can apply. Okay. Um, but a lot of it is, you know, I'll be talking to somebody and they'll be like, oh, my my daughter or my son is interested in this, but they don't know where to go. I'm one of these people that I believe if the if the person wants to grow and wants to learn, I'll take them wherever they're at. So I will I have high school interns, I have college interns. Um, and it's one of the things that I've enjoyed in my career, I guess, to to nurture these students as they go through.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

I think that's amazing. We should probably do an episode just on, you know, if you're a business that's looking for interns, what do you do? If you're, you know, trying to get into this thing, what do you do? Like a like education about interns.

SPEAKER_01 21:15

Yeah. And also as somebody running a b an intern program, like make sure you're not giving them busy work. Like it's making sure that they're building their portfolio and growing, not just in their skill set, but in how they're communicating out with, you know, adults.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

Right. So it's the education and and the help you want if you have an intern. Yep. What are the things that like you could do, like a top five? Yeah. And we might need to do an internship episode. I think that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

I could even ask some of my past interns to come on. I have so like there's ones that are like they hold very special places in my heart. Yeah, we could do like a round. I'm so proud of them.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

We could definitely do, yeah. So we could do one. About that, and then do maybe do a round table with them. Oh, that'd be fun as a separate episode.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

That'd be fun. And they better be listening to this because they know that I'm gonna call them.

SPEAKER_00 22:08

That's right. So it'd be fun. No, that's I I think that let's keep that in mind for next time. But um, so is the next time gonna be when it's our separate podcast? I think it might be. Yeah, because my season is a gonzo. I yeah, I take the summer off. So yeah. I was gonna say, because we had it scheduled, the last episode was gonna be in May. So yeah.

unknown 22:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

All right. So over the summer we're gonna have to chat and get going on if we're, you know, st do you still want to do it?

SPEAKER_01 22:45

I think it's fun and it's a good, you know, way to connect with you and with our listeners.

SPEAKER_00 22:51

And it's not a huge it's not a huge time now. Uh the recording is not a huge time process. Maybe getting guests, you know, and making sure they can come on the certain dates. But I already do that. But yeah, you're you have a whole bunch of people you still want to have.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

Yeah. Yeah. We might retool the name though. Maybe. Probably. Yeah, we'll talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

We're giving some people some inside baseball here. Yeah. Drop your comments on what you want to see. That's right. Yes. So they actually, I mean, you can comment on the web, the teacher as website. That's right. That's right. Um, or if you know us, just text us or email us. Exactly. If you know, you know. All right. Wow. Um, anything else we want to talk about? I think this is I think this is it. Wrap it up. So these were our three trial episodes to see like how we want it to go and what feedback we get. Um, so we really would love some feedback. You know, what would you like to see in our first season uh topics? Like, we're definitely going to do some tech stuff. Yep. We're deck definitely gonna do what do you do when you get an intern. Yep. And maybe have a round table with interns. Yeah. To give feedback on like what was great, what would you know, what they'd love, what they think people should do when they get an intern. Yep. And so many topics. So many things. So yeah, cool. All right. Well, Andrea, I will be speaking to you soon. Yes. We have a we have a summer of work ahead of us. Yes. But it's not gonna be that hard. No, it'll be fun work. It's passion. It's our passion. Yes. So we're good. All right, and thanks for listening. And I hope you check out our new podcast called Blank. We're not sure yet. It might be called What About This, but we're not sure that's really gaining any traction. So we might have to come up with something better.

SPEAKER_01 24:58

Yeah. All right. Until next time.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

Until next time. Thanks for listening. Bye. Bye. For my blog, transcripts of this episode, and links to any resources mentioned, visit my website at www.teteachure.com. You can reach me on Twitter and Instagram at Melissa B. Milner, and I hope you check out the Teacher As Facebook page for episode updates. This podcast is sponsored by the Career Mentorship Program Major Choice. You can learn more about becoming a mentor at majorchoice.comslash mentor. Thanks for listening, and that's a wrap.