Episode 20: What We Did Before Teaching (And Why It Actually Matters) | The Edu20/20 Podcast

Welcome to the Edu20/20 After Hours Podcast… where we’re nearing the end of the season by going all the way back to the beginning.

In this episode, we’re talking about who we were before education-- the random jobs, weird experiences, and moments that somehow shaped how we show up in classrooms today.

From running errands for executives (yes, including private jets) to Walmart snack bars, call centers, and first-year teaching chaos, this one is a mix of “how did that happen?” and “okay wait, that actually tracks.”

It’s not deep or structured, but it does explain a lot.

Chapters:
0:00 Why we’re going back before teaching
1:24 Favorite teaching years (and why they mattered)
5:37 The jobs that came before the classroom
9:22 The most random job stories (private jets included)
12:46 First-year teaching chaos (and quick exits 😅)
16:44 Jobs we would never do again

#TeacherLife #Education #TeacherOriginStories

https://www.edutwentytwenty.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Welcome back to the Edu2020 After Hours podcast. And uh if you don't know what that means, it just means that it's not so serious. Um my name is Courtney. I'm Shannon. And we're getting toward the end of the season. So we have like two more episodes for you. This is our second last episode. Shannon has fancy note cards for us this time. We look official. We look official. But for those of you who have never tuned in before, we collectively are part of a larger team known as Edu2020. Shameless plug right here. Uh, and we support educators in simplifying education, basically.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Simple as possible.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

But simple as always best. On the After Hours podcast, we don't really talk too much about education. We will talk a little bit about it. Um we have more fun than we do seriousness on this uh version of the episodes. So, Shannon, tell the people what are we going to be talking about today?

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Well, I in curious minds want to know, inquiring minds wanted to know who were you before you were a teacher? So let's talk about our top jobs that maybe that we had. Who before we were ever educators, who what made us who we are?

SPEAKER_00 1:17

What made us who we are? That's a very dangerous question. So we're talking about like before teaching. I do want to know what your favorite teaching job was. Oh, okay, okay. And then I feel like we need to backtrack from there. It's kind of like backwards by design. I want to know your favorite teaching job before Edu 2020, and then we'll go back to the That's really hard though. Uh-huh. Because I I had I think I have two. Because I I I go back and forth because sometimes your class, you know, that filters into it. And another like other times it's the people that you worked with that year. Because I had some fun years. See, you're right. So all right, start us off. Tell us so easiest teaching year was a year that I left my district. I will not name the districts for the safety of all involved, but it was a year I left my very, very intense district and went to another district, like um in September-ish. Yeah. So I didn't start the school year there. And I just felt like um I had a lot more freedom. And I worked with somebody who was a really, really great paraprofessional. Shout out to Loretta. I'll never forget you. Uh, she was amazing. That was the easiest teaching year just because it was it was a lot of it was lower pressure. Yeah. But my favorite. Yeah. What was your favorite? Oh, it's so hard. Um, I taught, I think it was when it was I I looped up with my kids a lot. So I taught fourth grade, and I had one of my very, very close friends was my SPED teacher, and then one of my very close friends was my student teacher. And when we I tell you, So it was a party every day. We used to break out in a song, we used to run around, dance. Like it was just those poor children, they might have been traumatized. But they loved it. I might have enjoyed it out every second of it. There's music videos out there still from that school year. It was just a really, really fun year. So I think if I had to choose one, it would be that one. Shout out to Emily Lambert and Michelle Savoy. We had a good time that year. So I think I would do that as my favorite.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

Yeah. Um, so one of the best years I ever had, I had the perfect co-teacher. I we I switched.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

But we I I was teaching sixth, seventh, and eighth um in one year. And then we decided to pull back and just have like a sixth grade team. So I taught ELA and science. That was a massive reprieve. You went from teaching three grade levels to one. Yeah. Yeah, but different subjects. So I had I had ELA, two sections of ELA, and two sections of science, and then other stuff. But um, which science is fun because fun fact, I was pre-med before I was ever in education. So I loved it. I I was hype about it. We'll have to hear more about that story. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That that might come out a little bit. But um, no, we had such a great dynamic and trying things together, and it was just I I don't even know how to explain it. Um, just do you have a story? No, I it like it was just the easy, I don't know why it made it so easy, but I I guess I would say it's because he was dependable.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Um, now the wild thing was my name was Shannon Smith at this at the time, and his last name was Smith.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

And so that's Mary.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Yeah, that got confusing, but uh no, just a great human. Um, and it's just like we were always in sync, and it was always, should we do this? Let's try it out. But it was the dependability factor. Now that I'm thinking back on it, like I always knew that that person was gonna be there. Qualities of a co-teacher. That could be a whole episode. Yeah, and that could be a fun episode. But then one of the best times I had in my life was I um looped up and went to high school and I taught ninth and eleventh grade high school. And a lot of people are like, why would you do that? I'm telling you, there was something about those kids.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

But it was that group of kids you looped up with, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Well, I'd had them in sixth grade, and then I ended up having them again in ninth grade, but then my 11th graders like, I don't know. I can't tell you, there's just something about working with kids that they still have the hope for potential. They still see potential in the world.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

And they're way more open to ideas. And don't get me wrong, teaching teenagers is really freaking hard. But I just think of the smells, like that alone. I mean, middle school seemed worse to me. But no, it was just really fun. But before you were an ever an educator, what were you before you taught?

SPEAKER_00 5:37

So many things. But can I go back for a second? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, I I was thinking about that group, the the people that I co-taught with, and one we used to make like videos for vocabulary because that was back in the day where you taught the vocabulary and the kids had to memorize the vocabulary word. And so instead of just memorizing, we would act them out. But we made an entire film and it was like a mystery film. It was called The Mystery of the Stolen Cart. Someone stole the janitor's cart, and it was like a four-minute video that just focused on vocabulary, but we got like the whole staff involved, and so I distinctively remember that. Um and it was just hilarious because we brought it really brought the school together. But anyway, let's go back. Let's go back in time now that we know kind of what was our favorite teaching um job. I'm gonna go back to am I saying my favorite job before teaching, or am I just like listing the jobs I had before teaching?

SPEAKER_01 6:26

It's up to you, whatever you want to do.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Um, so I had a really, really cool job in college, and everyone I tell this story to gets really jealous. So I'm gonna make sure I tell it to all of the folks out there. Shout out, by the way, to our listeners. We have people listening from all over the country. We had someone actually comment from a different country the other day. So thank y'all for listening. Keep tuning into the madness. Um so in college, I got a job at a large corporation. It was like back in the day where there was a lot of money back in the day in businesses. And this business in particular, it was a construction company, I want to say, type vibe. They basically did everything. That's why they had so much money. Um, but I got hired on as a mailroom worker slash runner.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

That does not sound funny.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

It does not sound funny. It doesn't sound funny because you had to deal with mail. So, yes, we did sort the mail, but we also had to do, we ran errands for all of the executives. And this is when they had like eight executives and they had like tons of money. And so if you're C suite, all the money there, they had executive assistants, and so they would, um, if they needed their cars washed, they were like, here's the keys to my BMW, go wash my car. And I'd be like, say less. So I got to drive the rich car around. I'm I mean, I'm a college kid, I'm like 20 years old driving around these BMWs, which I would not have money for, and I was in education, so you knew I was never gonna see that kind of money. Um, so I got to drive around the car. I would take them to the car wash. At one point, like I had to bring takeout food to their airport hangar where they kept their private jet and load the food onto the hangar. I'm not gonna name the company. Um, somebody, a lot of them um had deals with LSU and they would get like it was back when Nick Saban, um, the former LSU GOAT, uh, not gonna mention the other team he played for, I mean he coached for, but it was back when he was uh really famous and we were winning all kinds of championships. And so uh we used to, I used to have to go drive and get his autograph. So like I would go into his office and I would bring memorabilia for him to sign. And then of course, I'm gonna tell you a behind-the-scenes story. One time I went in, I don't know if this is gonna get me in trouble, but it probably will, it's fine. One time I went in and his secretary took like one of the footballs, and she looked at me and she goes, Shh, she signed his name and handed it to me. So she had his signature memorized, but I got to do all kinds of just random errands, and of course I had to sort mail when I wasn't doing errands, but most of the time we had errands to do, and it was not even important. Errands, it was like, bring a binder over here, drive this to New Orleans. And I got to work with Simone Augustus um back in the day. Yeah, because they they hired a lot of LSU athletes, so she was in the mail room with us for a summer. But the best trip I ever had to take, the best errand I had ever had to run was the CEO. One time he brought his family up to his house, his other house in North Carolina, and he just didn't feel like driving back. So he decided to fly me up on his private jet to drive his car back down to Louisiana. And they were like, look, you don't have to go by yourself. We'll let you take someone and we'll give you some spending money for food. And long story medium. Who'd you take? My dad. I love it. Me and my dad might have two heads for the wind. My dad even had his camcorder out, you know, back in the day when you held it and my dad videoed the trip, and he was so excited because he'd never ridden on a parking lot.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

What a cool memory.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

So we got to fly up. I mean, I haven't either. I haven't since. But we got to fly up there and we got to drive back the Lexus SUV cross country, uh, not cross-country, but I mean quite quite a while, and we had a blast. So that was one of the coolest jobs. I don't think I will ever. I mean, our job's pretty cool, what we do now. Yeah, but that one was just so random, especially for a college kid.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

So now tell me what was your favorite job for a teacher?

SPEAKER_01 10:13

Don't really, because you know my past history. So did you have an experience? I went straight from high school to the cult decult. Go see the other episodes, you'll find out more about it. So, but while I was there, I did work back in the day when Walmart had a snack bar before they had like what snack bar had the best chicken fries.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

Shout out to to Sam Walton for the chicken fries because those were so good. Did you make chicken fries?

SPEAKER_01 10:38

No, that was even before the chicken fries came out. But um, no, I mean, like we we made real food and stuff, and it was a poppin' place. Yeah, it was loved the Walmart. I mean, we had a little elderly morning coffee meetup, and so I knew all the gossip. I bet you knew about yeah, oh my goodness. Um, Pearl and her husband Leonard. Oh my gosh, they came in early. Okay, Pearl. So they because you better not take their seats. Um, I knew all the gossip of who was in trouble and who was mad at who, and that was funny. But the funniest story was one night I I was leaving a really late shift. This was like, I think 10 o'clock at night. And this Walmart was in a strip mall, and right next to it was a pet store. And I'm going to get in the car, and all of a sudden I look in the window. The there's kind of a like some heat lamps on, I guess, for the reptiles. I see this massive boa coming up. It was out of the cage. It was escaped, and it was like sliding up the front window. And I was like, I don't think it's supposed to be doing that. So I got a little closer. Sure enough, it was escaping. And I looked for the phone number, and this was, I didn't have a cell phone back then because Colt and a little bit right before they were that you had a beeper. No, no, I wasn't allowed to communicate. Um, no. So um I went back in the store, I think, and I got I remember I had to call 911 because all I could think about was there were bunnies and guinea pigs in that pet store. Um, and I was like, they're gonna it's gonna go on a rampage.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

I'd like to report a missing snake who an escape snake. There's a there's a first degree murder in the pet shop by a book.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

No, all I can imagine was those poor little animals like getting destroyed. So I think I saved them.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

They were like, okay, we're gonna figure out who the pet owner is. And sure enough, I went like the next shift that I worked, and yes, somebody had come to intervene and they wrangled the snake. So I saved some animals that day. Mice lives were saved. But um I did fast forward through that. Um, I I do want to tell you about when I first got into teaching, one job that I had that was a little bit scary, I taught first grade for six months.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

How'd that go? Well, I feel like the more important question is how did you get out of it? Because you said only six months.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

So it was actually one of those um maternity leave positions that opened up um in December. And so I went into December into the but also I went in the principal's office and cried every single day. That'll do it because I was scared. They they did offer me a full-time job, but I was like, please stop first grade. Because the first time that one of the students hollered from the bathroom, Teacher, I need help wiping. I was like, I'm out, out, never again. Nope. Um, and so yeah, I cried every day in the principal's office.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

I'm like, I'm just not cut out for first grade. Like your strategy.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

Yeah, it was a scary time. I learned the hard way not to tie wet shoelaces. So from then on, I'm like, find a friend or learn to tie your shoe. Let's just tuck those into your shoe, please. Yeah, I saw some things. I feel like I did real time by doing that's fine. So shout out to kindergarten and first grade teachers, superhero status.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

So when you started teaching, you started out with a uh maternity leave sub?

SPEAKER_01 13:58

No, I started out with a PE maternity leave.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

Shut up.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

Frank taught for a couple like till December.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

And then you took kindergarten or first grade?

SPEAKER_01 14:08

First grade, yeah. Yep, straight from PE.

SPEAKER_00 14:10

That's how you got in.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

And I had to do it, but it was a split position between two schools because I was in a very rural district, and so they were like 30 minutes apart. So one day I would be at one school and another day I'd be at another school, and we had to alternate. Trying PE teacher. Yeah, traveling PE teacher.

SPEAKER_00 14:25

What was your favorite sport to teach the children?

SPEAKER_01 14:28

Well, I'd like to say dodgeball for the middle schoolers. Oh, Doyle rules. I can see you like taking out a first grader. But no, back then they actually had like presidential physical fitness awards.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

I'm reaching always kept me. I was like the most fit child. I played every sport. You're still very fit, but you cannot touch your toes to save your life. And that was the gatekeeper. I never got the presidential fitness award. I'm still salty about that. Tell the president I need a presidential fitness award. Well, I learned I learned tag the president.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

I send this up to the Oval Office, please. I mean I learned the hard way that it was better to keep them very occupied and to have a plan, to have a clear plan because on those free play days, that's when chaos happened. Absolutely. And I learned from my very first moments in public school, like, have a clear plan and have something ready for them to do. Because otherwise, chaos. So we did a lot of the presidential physical fitness.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

And I was still traumatized by the fact that I did not get the sit and reach. And I probably still to this day could not get the sit and reach a good yoga teacher. That's all it is. I had the heart, like I could do the pull-up. I'm just a little salty about this. Sorry, guys. Um, just a little bit salty. But yeah, I got into teaching um the regular, you know, the general way that people normally do. You know, I graduated with that degree from LSU, shout-out go tigers. Uh, but when I my first year teaching, I taught at a magnet school. And then I left and I wanted to get into the really intense district, the really high-ranking district that I spent most of my time, my most of my career in. And the the only way you could at that time, it was so competitive. Remember, remember those days? Right. It was so competitive to teach in that uh district that you had to get in on maternity leave. So I actually started my teaching. Did you? Look at that. Had no idea. Technically, yes. Uh, I never wanted to be an elementary school teacher, and I did a maternity leave in third grade, and that was like one of my favorite It was magic to teach. Well, fourth grade, end of third grade, beginning of fourth grade. So that's wild. Um, I did not know that about you, traveling PE teacher. I learned something new about Shannon today.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

That's wild.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

That's awesome. Uh, besides that, any other interesting job that you had? I'll tell you one I don't ever want to do again, God willing. What is it? Waitressing. Ever. So every upgrade from the Walmart snack bar to waitressing. Is that how that went down?

SPEAKER_01 16:48

No, I just did a brief stint. You know how teachers sometimes do, they need summer work. And I just needed summer work, and my family happened to have a little business where I went in and did some waitressing and uh and not for me. So shout out to waitresses and waiters everywhere in the food service industry. Especially right now. Because people are real special.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

What was your favorite thing to cook at the Walmart snack bar if it wasn't chicken fries? Um, I learned to cut up a mean salad. Okay. Yeah. Good to know. Keep that in my back pocket. Yeah. Well, besides the the runner job in college, I You know what was the worst food?

SPEAKER_01 17:25

What? That was hot dogs on rollers. Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

That was the worst. I can't stand that smell to this day. Not not a hot dog. What about the runner? Um, besides a runner, the other job I had was I was uh the uh um cashier at the small animal vet clinic at LSU. And so I got to see the animals and like hear the rescue stories, also hear the depressing stories of like the dogs that had cancer. People would spend $12,000 on giving their their dogs and cats radiation to save them from cancer.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

You know what? I let my cat represent me in court. I let my cat drive my car.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

So I'd spend that money on Cats Be Fitzgerald too. It was it was a pretty cool job, but that nothing's ever gonna beat the runner job. That one was awesome.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

I did remember one more. Do I have time? Yeah. Tell one more.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

Yeah, you're good.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

Okay, be super fast. I feel like no, I worked at a call center for a di uh clothing designer where they would have private consultants go to these rich ladies' houses and it take samples and then they could give their measurements and special order the clothes. So were you like a robocaller? And so, no, I was the call center where they would call in because this was again before the internet's um and that these consultants would give me their orders, and I got so fast on the keypad from punching in. My students would watch me enter grades and I could do it like a bank teller on those machines. I'm so fast with entering grades, and they were like, How do you do that? So that was a cool job. Skill building that was fun. Skill building. Um, I had to go through training from somebody called the telephone doctor. It was this series that you learned customer service skills from. Oh, yeah.

unknown 19:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

I could talk to anybody on the phone.

SPEAKER_00 19:05

Not that I want to. Last question, because I know we need to wrap up. Last question. Did you have to wear a hairnet at the Walmart snack bar?

SPEAKER_01 19:12

No, I had to wear a visor that kept my hair back.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

I really wanted to picture you or find a picture of you in a hairnet. It was in a vi a visor. A visor. You're so cool. I was so cool. Walmart visor. Anyway, fun facts about us today. Yes, yes. Well, thank you for joining us for yet another insanity uh filled episode of Edu2020 Podcast After Hours. If you have not done so, go ahead, subscribe, like, do all the things. And if there's something you want to hear us talk more about or an idea you have for us to chat about, because I know this season's winding down, but we got a whole new season coming at you soon. Leave it in the comments. Shoot some a message to us on social media. We'd love to hear from you. And until next time, thank y'all for joining us. Take care.