Side Hustles & Podcast Management: a Conversation with Learning & Development Specialist, Ethan
Tuning in from Texas for this episode, Georgia & Christine chat with Ethan, Making the Grade’s podcast launch manager & fellow educator. Ethan truly embodies the essence of a teacher - encouraging, knowledgeable, and always honing his skills. A self-described lifelong learner, Ethan has transitioned out of his role as a middle school teacher and now works in learning and development as well as podcast management. He is still connecting with the education community by raising teachers’ voices in spreading their messages via podcasting.
Calling it “one of the hardest decisions he has ever had to make”, Ethan describes his transition leaving the classroom and the realities teachers face in finding a balance of livelihood and passion. This episode covers the financial realities of side hustles, his own journey to podcast management (which began in his OWN classroom!), and recommendations for education reform. Ethan speaks about the importance of bringing passions into the classroom as a source of motivation.
A huge influence in Making the Grade coming to life, Ethan shares the behind the scenes of how 2 teachers in Boston connected with a podcast manager in TX to bring an idea to life. “Is our millennial showing?” - Ethan dishes about his preferred methods of contact (hint: it’s not a phone call) & you will definitely want to hear his favorite movies and show from the 90’s. Ethan’s wisdom and one-liners will leave you feeling inspired to spend time on what sets your soul on fire - and if you’re like Christine and Georgia, maybe SO inspired that you just start your own podcast.
Ethan’s Podcast Management Business:
Instagram: @Mr_SilvaLinin @thepodguild
Website: www.thepodguild.com
Email: ethan@thepodguild.com
Christine
Welcome to Making the Grade An Education podcast for current and former teachers to share notes, define success, and assess their own happiness in the classroom and beyond where your hosts, Christine, in Georgia.
Georgia
The problems in education may seem endless, but so are the possibilities. Listen, laugh, and leave our episodes empowered to define your own success as an educator and an individual.
Georgia
Hello fellow educators and welcome to Making the Great podcast. We are your host, Christina Georgia, and we are so excited you're tuning in to share your teacher voice. Today we will be talking with our guest, Ethan, about making ends meet while teaching, and the two things he believes are necessary to thrive in life. Ethan is a lifelong learner and proud former middle school teacher. He now works professionally in the learning and development area in corporate America and still maintains his side hustle as a podcast manager. Before leaving the classroom, Ethan taught for the same district he graduated from Stick around to learn the two things Ethan suggests to do so that even the darkest moments in your career are not pitch black
Christine
Teachers. The hustle is real. It is an unfortunate reality that most teachers, especially single ones, have to have some sort of secondary income to make ends meet outside of the classroom. And working more jobs after an exhausting day teaching can often feel impossible. We get it and we think Ethan's outlook on hustling and chasing your passions will not leave you feeling depleted, but rather energized and inspired.
Georgia
We are so excited that Ethan's here. Yes, for anyone who doesn't know Ethan was a big reason why we started our podcast and we couldn't have launched it without him, at least, definitely not as seamlessly as we did. He was such a big help. If you ever wanna start a podcast, his information will be in the show notes. But thanks for being here today, Ethan.
Ethan
Yeah, Christine, Georgia. Thank you so much for having me. I'm, I'm excited to, to get into the conversation today and really excited and proud of, of what this podcast has become for y'all. So excited for y'all.
Georgia
Thank you so much. Thank you. It's so cool to have you on the show and feels it's full circle. I guess
Christine
It feels like teacher and student. Like we're, we're teaching our teacher now we're the students. And now full circle. I'm
Ethan
A little bit nervous. No, it's super fun. Well, we always like to play a little game with our guests and maybe one day we'll switch up our game, but for now, we're pretty into our Would you rathers, they just haven't gotten old yet, but have you ever played? Would you rather Ethan, are you up for a little game?
Ethan
I have. It's classic. Let's, let's do it.
Ethan
All right, let's do it.
Christine
All right. Start off easy. Would you rather call or text?
Ethan
Oh, I feel like any millennial, I'm the, like a classic millennial like me. I'm gonna say text like Yeah, text solid choice.
Christine
I was gonna say, it's gonna be very telling of, of how old we are, maybe by our answer, but I, I'm kind of opposite actually. I would rather for the most part have a conversation, but I think also kind of stage of life I'm in, I don't always have my hands free. So talking is usually easier. But What about you, Georgia?
Georgia
Well, I don't know if this is an answer to that question, but like, I really like voice memos.
Christine
I thought you were gonna say that.
Georgia
Yeah, I feel like, I mean, okay, if I, if it depends on the scenario, like if I wanna catch up with Christine, I'm gonna wanna talk to her on the phone, not text her. But if it's in terms of like, we're both busy trying to just talk and catch up, like that's such an easy way to really say everything you wanna say. You don't have to think about, you know, texting properly or getting all your thoughts out. You can just kind of verbally vomit into your phone and hope that your friend is not annoyed by that. But I do like voice memos a lot.
Ethan
I like a good voice memo.
Ethan
It really depends.
Christine
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good question. Yeah. All right. That makes sense. What about a little trickier? Would you rather get to know someone over a coffee date or a cocktail date?
Ethan
Ooh, coffee. I like, it's really telling. I will go to Starbucks and they're, they're like, oh, Ethan's here. Like, is his order ready? Like, yeah, I'm, I'm that person. Just gimme a good iced a vinti iced coffee with two pumps of classic and cream and I'm good to go.
Christine
Sounds good.
Georgia
That sounds delicious. I don't want that right now.
Christine
I know.
Georgia
Okay. Those were too easy for you. So here is a school one, but hopefully is a little bit challenging. You taught middle school when you were in the classroom, so I did, yes. Would you rather chaperone a school dance or chaperone an overnight field trip?
Ethan
Oh, I'm gonna go with school dance. Like anything middle school overnight. That's, no, that's, that's not my jam. Yeah, that's
Ethan
Terrible actually. But I feel like school dances are so awkward too. Like, just thinking about like, I don't know, I
Ethan
Dunno. Well, you know, that's, that's part of it. You know, you find your, you find your teacher, your teacher group, and I mean, you, you find ways to make the, the night enjoyable, you know? And if that comes at the expense of students sometimes, hey, it's, it's okay because middle school students can dish it right back to you. So true. It's, yeah, that's one thing that's a perk of being a middle school teacher.
Christine
I used to love.
Georgia
You don't have to decide that right now cause you're not there. So true.
Ethan
Yeah,
Christine
I was gonna say, I used to love chaperoning prom when I was with high school students or thought that was like, you used to see them all like dressed up and, I don't know, just totally out of their element. It was kind of unique but nice. Yes.
Georgia
I never, I guess I never experienced it cause I taught little, little kids, so I never, but at the school that I was at real quick, cause side note, I, it was a pre-K through eighth grade school, so I, I interacted with middle schoolers all the time, like in the hallways and like, I was always so intimidated by them. They were all, they were mostly taller than me. They wore more makeup, they wore cooler clothes and I was just like, I just, I can't imagine chaing one of their dances. I would've been too scared.
Ethan
Oh no. I mean for, especially like the middle school I worked at was seventh and eighth grade, and so seventh grade is their first year at middle school. And so they're incredibly awkward, right? Like they, they don't know what to do at their first dance. And so they're just like, you know, especially the, the boys, they're like kicking the floor with their shoe all bashful and it's, it's, it's cool to see. And then finally by the nights, by the night's end, everyone's kind of mingling somewhat, you know? But yeah, it's, it, it's a lot of fun.
Christine
I do agree though. I feel like middle schoolers now specifically are just so much cooler than we were growing up. Like I feel like they don't go through an awkward phase and I don't know if that's cuz of like Instagram and photos and all of the things that they can do with that, but yeah, it seems like they're much cooler than I'll ever be. So
Georgia
Not true. You're, you're a podcast now, you're really cool.
Christine
True. Yeah. But, all right, so, well that was fun. Good job. But just to be clear for our listeners, so you are no longer teaching, you left the classroom to pursue a different career and continue focusing on your side hustle and passion of podcast management. So before we get into what your life looks like right now, something that really resonated with us and working with you and talking with you over the last few months is how taking this chance of pursuing your passion was not all, you know, butterflies and rainbows. It came with compromises. Can you talk about your journey a little bit?
Ethan
Yeah, yeah. So when I first started in the education realm, I was an an aide in a behavior skills classroom and I worked one-on-one with a student with, that was high functioning on the autistic spectrum. So that, that was my introduction. And then the next year I became, you know, a teacher for general education and that looks like, you know, I taught math science and then I also taught a section of ELA inclusion, so English language arts inclusion, where I was the sped teacher for that one section of class. And so it was a co-teach method. And in that, you know, I really saw with three different preps, you know, e l a, science, math, I really saw how busy a teacher's life was. And that was just my first year in teaching. Right. And so that's a lot. I, yeah,
Christine
That's a lot of prep. Like my head was spinning just thinking about all those subjects at that level. That's a
Ethan
Lot. Yeah. I felt like the, oh, he's the new guy, you know, give him the three preps. Yeah.
Ethan
But yeah, it was, it was kind of eye-opening and it was a really good first year to get that experience and to really learn what it is, you know, that teachers do. You know, you have to grade papers and you have parent teacher conferences, then you have your, your meetings that are always during your planning period. So like what planning period? Planning period who like, no, not here. So, and then when you do have a planning period and you have to make copies, the copiers jammed. And so all of that, you know, is just a, a day in the life, right? So unfortunately, you know, I think it's too common that the term side hustle is really well known by teachers. I feel like teachers pick up that, that big mantle of, you know, creating that side hustle.
Ethan
So much so that I think people hear side hustle, or at least teachers do. And they kind of cringe almost like, ugh, it's just more work that I have to do. But that, that was the kind of compromise that I had. You know, I was putting all of these hours in the classroom and then just to make ends meet. I was also af after I, you know, after the dismissal bell, I became podcast manager. And so as soon as I went home it was, you know, there was never any kind of separation of work where I got to have like a, a social life, so to speak, you know, until I got really good or not really good, but at least gained a good enough sense and familiarity with podcast management to where I could almost have automated. Right. You
Christine
Are really good at it, by the way. Well, thank you.
Ethan
But it, it took a while. It took a while to get to that point. And so it, I knew going into it that if I'm going to do something extra, like the side hustle, that it needs to be something that I'm passionate about. And that's where podcast management kind of fell into place and I'm, and I'm really happy it did because even after leaving the classroom, it's still something that I enjoyed to do quite a bit.
Georgia
Cool. That got me thinking about like, the word hustle and you know, we side hustle I guess that has different connotations depending on who you are. I don't know maybe what yours is, but yeah, like the word hustle isn't really a good word. It's like hustle, be fast. Like, so I can see why, you know, having one is beneficial cuz it's like something you can be passionate about on the side and work towards to kind of get your mind off of the classroom when you're teaching. But also it's really hard to think why am I gonna hustle for something else when like, I'm already putting so much energy into this, into the classroom. What would you say, how did you realize that you were passionate about podcasts and that you wanted to maybe take it further than just listening to them or having it be a small passion on your side?
Ethan
Yeah, that's such a great question. When, when I was still in the classroom, I, I've always had this kind of passion for learning, you know, being a teacher, I think it's kind of required by the job that you need to need to enjoy learning or else we're really doing our students a disservice. So while doing that, I discovered that a great way to learn for teachers is to listen to podcasts. And so I've discovered, you know, I remember when podcasts first came out, you know, and it was kind of like really, really educational and it kind of seemed boring. I was like, I don't, and then someone told me that I really look up to in the education world, she was like, you should just listen to this podcast. I was like, a podcast I what? No, like those, those are boring and you know, like, no. And so, but I, I did, I listened to, I think the first one I listened to was start, start at up. It's, it started up, but the ed is, you know, capitalized cuz it's education and education loves acronyms. So I was thinking I
Christine
Love that as you were talking about it, how Clever
Ethan
By Don Webrick and it was centered around this idea of passion-based learning where, you know, kids get to work on whatever they want to work on 20% of their time in the, in the school week. You know, so may that that turns out to be like, you know, a Friday or a Monday whenever you wanna, whenever you wanna schedule it, that works for your classroom. But it's this idea of 20% time where that day that student gets to work on their passion project. And I was like, that's really cool. And so I was like, if I like this one, I'm sure I'm gonna like some other podcasts. And that's when I found well played by Michael Metier, which is all about gamification in the classroom. And that's where I really start. I was like, oh, I dove into that one cuz I'm, you know, I'm, I'm a nerd and I love the games and, but yeah, I found a lot of good podcasts and that's where, you know, the, the fascination kind of grew. And then when it started to come towards a side hustle, I had listened to another podcast and one of their guests that they had on was a podcast manager. I was like, hold the phone, you mean to tell me that podcast management is a thing? Like, I didn't even know what was a thing that sounds amazing. I need to find out more about that. And so I did. And you know, one thing led to another and the rest is history.
Georgia
I love that. I I love that 20% thing. Yeah, it's so cool. In preschool we did a lot of project-based learning and tried to, you know, base our days around what the kids were interested in. But I think for like older students and even adults, I think we should have full-time workers should have a day where they can focus on their passions and everyone would be so much happier.
Ethan
Yeah, it's, I, I saw some really good work come out as students with that, you know, cuz a lot of the times when you hear that kind of, and this is a complete side topic, but you hear passion-based learning and you might automatically assume, well, oh, that's for my G e t kids, my gifted and talented. Like that's, you know, that's something that they, that they can do as, you know, enrichment after they finish with their assignment, they can just do that. And really that's not the case. Some of the best projects I saw were from my SPED students and it's because they had never been given that opportunity before to actually like really pursue what they were passionate about. And I saw some really great projects like this one, one of my students built his own race car because, because he was so excited about it and he just went with it. And had he not been given that opportunity, I don't know if I ever would've seen a personality come out of him in that school year. So it was really cool to see.
Christine
That's awesome. And I love how as the teacher you kind of emulated that yourself and took that 20% piece outside of the classroom and are now doing this.
Ethan
I never thought about it that way, so thank you.
Christine
Full circle. Yeah. Well, we're very grateful that you did. I I was just gonna say we're, yeah, it's, it's so evident how passionate you are about what you're doing. I mean, we felt it when we were launching our podcast and working with you and connecting and how you answered every silly little question that we had and never made us feel like it was a silly question. But I think that attitude definitely goes a long way in pursuing something, you know, outside of your, of your day job, I guess. But can you speak a little bit more to, so pursuing your passions outside of the classroom, did you have any mixed emotions about leaving the classroom? What was that transition like for you to step outside and kind of pursue this in, you know, not necessarily I guess full, you're not full-time with it, but it's, it's taking up a, a lot of your time and interests and, but yeah, I guess what does that look like for you when you had left the classroom?
Ethan
Yeah, you know, I have to say, and I, I know like a lot of teachers that have left the classroom or even contemplating leaving the classroom can really resonate with this, but leaving the classroom was one of the hardest decisions I had ever had to make. And I, it was just, it was really difficult. First when I was teaching, the first district I worked for was the district that I graduated from and I was there for the bulk of my teaching career. The last two years of my teaching career. I moved to be closer to family. And what kind of triggered that was, you know, the pandemic, that was the, that was the year the pandemic hit. And so yeah, leaving the classroom was a very difficult decision.
Ethan
But what kind of made it a, an easier transition was knowing that I still had something like this, this podcast management to kind of lean on because I, because I am passionate about it and I do enjoy it. And I knew too that if I left the classroom, I would still very much want to be plugged into the educational world. And so that's how I decided that educators would be the audience that I would, that I would serve. Because everyone in the country right now needs to hear what teachers have to say they, and that's just the truth of the matter. Like, people need to listen because education just needs, needs a change. And so that's, that's, that was a secondary reason of why I wanted educators to be, you know, my main audience that I serve. And so, yeah, that, that's what made the transition out of the classroom a little, a little easier.
Ethan
It was still very difficult. And I would say to those that are, to those of the teachers that are still contemplating, like they're on one side of the fence. Like, I, I, I know I need to leave or I really want stay in the classroom. If you're staying in the classroom, you know, that's fantastic. You know, that is your choice. You are empowered to make that choice. If you need something to make your time in the classroom, you know, maybe to refresh it or revitalize it, you know, find, find your passion, you know, passion. Well, Ethan, my passion is teaching well, of course it is. But you know, maybe you can add something to that that will kind of, you know, refresh what teaching used to be for you, you know,
Ethan
What you're saying reminds me a bit about other guests that we've had. And I feel like this happens every episode we have where we're noticing so many parallels in things that teachers are saying. And I love that because it shows like, we all have such different stories, but we're all in the same boat and it's so cool that we can all be, have a platform to share what we're going through and feel heard and seen and resonate with others. And we had a, a guest recently who kind of did what you said, and her passion was interior design and she took that back into the classroom to kind of make being in the classroom a little bit easier for her. And then we had another guest I love that talked about Yeah. And, and another guest talked about taking safe risks and I feel like for you it was so scary to leave the field and I totally resonate with that, but having something to lean on, like you said, makes it a little bit of a safer risk and
Georgia
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. I resonate with that Yeah.
Ethan
Story. Yeah.
Christine
And knowing that you wanted education to be part of the next step of your journey, I feel like kind of reassured you in a way. Like, I'm not stepping too far outside of this, this is still, you know, the drive in what I wanna be doing and this is where I wanna affect change. And something really interesting that we're learning and talking to everyone is anyone who has left the classroom has said something to that effect of, I could no longer affect change in the classroom in the way that was meaningful for myself or my students. And that's a really interesting message too, that you, you kind of had to, you know, just what you were saying about everyone needs to be listening to teachers right now in our country, there's a huge, a huge thing going on that we need to be paying attention to tune into hearing what they have to say so that we can make the changes that need to happen at local and national levels.
Ethan
Yes, totally agree.
Christine
Yeah, very.
Georgia
And know it's funny that, I think we told you this story, Ethan, but we can let our listeners know that the way that we found you was like through Instagram, it was like the weirdest thing where Christina and I had talked to each other about kind of similar things where we wanted to kind of talk more about education, share people's stories. We knew the country was in shambles and needed to hear teachers stories. And, and like a couple days later you followed me on Instagram and I don't, I still don't even know, I must have just been suggested to you or something, but I look at your profile and it's like podcast manager for educators and I totally believe it. And
Christine
That's why we exist now.
Georgia
Is a sign from the universe if I've ever seen one, that we are meant to like, to share our story, to share other stories, to still make a difference in education through you and through this podcast. So, you know,
Christine
In your mission, mission. To still help education is, you're successful at that for sure.
Ethan
Yeah. Yeah. That's cool. I had forgotten that story, but yeah, that's, that's really cool. Things definitely happen for a reason, so, oh
Ethan
Yes,
Christine
Definitely. Yeah. That leads us well into our next question. So what do you think would make education a better place right now? Is there any smaller big changes?
Ethan
Ooh, okay.
Christine
Yeah, just think about it for a second.
Ethan
Yeah, I think, I think I say this quite, quite a bit, but everything in education, and it's not just an education, right? It, it can be across the board, but everything is reactive rather than proactive right now. And I mean, we see that in schools across America. You know, if you're a, if you're on teacher talk, you know, on TikTok you're seeing story after story of teachers leaving the classroom and it's all because of this reactive, just this reactive culture that that education has, has garnered. And so what I think as perfect world scenario as this may be, but education really just needs a hard pause. Like it needs a pause and it needs to be reevaluated. And the stakeholders that are in the education game, if they are in it for any other reason than for the education of our kids and the support of our teachers and, you know, administration, upper administration, if they are in it for any other reason than supporting those people, then they need to be out. You know, there needs to be no monetary incentive for someone to be making educational policies. And anyone that is making educational policies that has not been in the classroom has no business making education policy. And that is just my opinion.
Christine
Preach. But,
Ethan
But that's, I I really do, you know, that's
Christine
Seriously,
Ethan
Yeah. That's a, that is a perfect world scenario. I don't see it happening, but I do think that is what education does need.
Christine
Definitely. Yeah. Instead of putting out fires, definitely preventing them.
Ethan
Yes. Yeah, exactly.
Ethan
I know you said that's your opinion, however, I think a lot of people would consider that opinion to be truth. Two of 'em are sitting right here, but Yeah, and it's, it's interesting. It just seems like, you know, yeah, on a national level, the wrong people are making decisions and putting bandaids on things that need, you know, complete to be completely changed. And, you know, we see that also on a smaller level in schools where, you know, we've talked about this on other episodes where you're having an issue with the student or advocating for some type of change and you're being handed a little quick fixes rather than, oh, let's really unpack this and get to the root of it and affect actual change.
Ethan
Yes. Root cause of a problem is something that is not spoken about in education.
Like we don't, we see what's on the surface rather than actually diving in deeper to what is the actual cause of this problem. And so yeah, that's, and the result is what you see today in, in education
Georgia
For sure. Well, when you speak about what you're doing now and your journey seems like you're happy and, you know, you, you have a career that makes it maybe a little bit easier for you to focus on this passion project and grow it and have success with it. That's what it looks like from the outside. But we'd love to hear a little more from you and how you would say your definition of success has changed from when you were starting your career in the classroom and where you're at now. How does, how does make, what does making the grade mean to you right now versus then?
Ethan
Oh, I love that question. Success. When I first started, I was such a, was such a nerd. The summer before I started my first day as a teacher, I watched every like strong, inspirational, motivational teacher movie I can think of, right? I watched Freedom Writers with Hillary Swank, the Ron Clark story with Matthew Perry, you know, stand and Deliver. I, I watched them all and just was like, yeah, I can do that. Got pumped up. Yeah. Those kids won't even know. Like, I'm, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do
this. And then so success quickly changed on that first day of school and then I was like, oh, this is reality. Okay. And not to say that, you know, those things can't happen cuz they certainly can, but you're, as a first year teacher, you're, you're up against a lot, right? You have a lot of personalities that you're having to, to learn how to work with.
Ethan
You have different, you know, different learning styles that the kids like to go, that the kids learn the best. So success quickly changed for me. And if I could, I was, I
was thinking to myself the other day, I was like, what really was success to me in the classroom? And it was the idea that if I, to be able to care about my students and to know that I cared about them, for them to know that I cared about them, and that served as the foundation for them being able to learn that was success. Like the, the relationship between the student and the teacher, the reporter. Like, that's, that's hard to develop sometimes, you know? And some kids will do everything they can in their power to not have that with you, but you just gotta keep working at it. And I, I would like to think that's something that I made sure that I had with every one of my students before the, the school year was over and it made teaching so much, so much fun.
Ethan
And I think it was a big reason for why it was so hard to leave the classroom. But yeah, that, that was success to me in the classroom. Like I wanted to be Mr. Feeney from Boy Meets World. Like, that's, that's what I wanted. And so success now that
I've left the classroom, how I make the grade is still having that sense of, of wanting to learn, right? I, I never want that, that thirst for learning or the thirst for knowledge. If I wanna sound like super studious, you know, I never want that to, to go out. I always want to be in burning and to enjoy what I learn and to actually make use of the knowledge that I gain that's making me great to me outside of the classroom.
Ethan
Hmm. Good answer.
Christine
That's awesome. Love
Ethan
It. I love hearing how people, I think that's my favorite part of the show is like hearing how people define success right now in their lives and they're
Christine
Just, I'm picturing little Ethan watching Boy Meets World at Home. How do I be like, Mr. Panini
Ethan
Boy Meets World such a good show.
Georgia
Oh yes. I love that show.
Christine
I love it. No, but you're right. I think building rapport at the center of everything you do, and you were saying that a lot of, a lot of students would make it their mission to not do that, and those were always the ones that needed it the most. So Yes. Yeah. Agreed.
Ethan
It was always the most rewarding when you did breakthrough and that connection with them. Yes, I did.
Christine
Yeah. No, I, my, my classroom over the years would be like frequent flyer miles for a lot of students that struggled with outbursts in the classroom or, you know, needing a walk or a break. And we'd find like an excuse to head by my room, oh, here's a note. Or, you know, like, what do you need today? Or, oh, we're doing an activity, come on in. And, but I, I secretly loved it. I was like, ah, you wanna come here? I love it. But speaking of students, what were some of your favorite moments from the classroom? My gosh. Or, gosh, a favorite?
Ethan
Well, I mean, you said favorites first. So I have two, I mean, one is kind of just a teaching moment, right? Like when I made the switch to only teach English language arts, I, you know, I was looking for that, that novel to, to teach with my kids, right? And I taught, I taught the Giver and I had never read the Giver before, right? So I was like, okay, I need to read this first beforehand. And I read it on my own and I really enjoyed it, but I didn't really enjoy it until I started teaching it to my kids. And I saw them really, like, their eyes started to light up, like, what, what is this? And they started to ask like, really insightful questions about, you know, just like this, this dystopian world and, you know, well, you know, that's not fair or Well, that would be cool if we could do that.
Ethan
Or, and then just to those effects, like those, those comments that they would make and then they would come in the next day in the classroom, like, are we reading The Giver? That was always like my favorite question to hear, right? Like, yes, yes, we're reading, come on in. Yes, come on, let's get started. And then I always put like an end of year survey out to, to my middle schoolers that, that would just ask them, you know, how did I do? What was your favorite part of learning this year? What stuck out to you the most this year? And about 90% of them said that the giver was their favorite thing to learn that year. And that was just, ugh, that was so great.
Ethan
Now, my other favorite, it was just kind of like a funny, this is from my very first year of teaching, and it was in the class that I co-taught. And so I had this, this, these girls, I had them for science in the morning, then they stayed with me the next class, and I had math with them. I taught them math, and then I went with them to their third class of the day for their English class where I, you know, co-taught the English lessons. And there was a, an assignment and it was shape poetry. And so they were, it was a poetry unit, obviously. They were writing their poems in the different, in different shapes. And this one student, she had decided to write hers in the shape of a cross. It's like, great, you know, go, go for it. And so she's working hard and she's almost closing the cross, and she gets to, I could just see this confused look on her face.
Ethan
And I was like, what, what's wrong? And she was like, well, which one died on the cross, God or Jesus? And I was like, oh, okay. And so, you know, you control your, your facial, your facial expressions, right? And I was like, okay, Jesus, sweetie. Jesus died on the cross. And, and she's like, oh, okay. And so she starts writing again and, and confusion comes over her face again. And she's like, well, how do you spell Jesus? And her very best friend, without even skipping a beat next to her, her best friend said, girl, you need Jesus. And like, it was just, I couldn't even control my facial expressions at that point. I was like, okay, like that, that was just the timing of it all. I was like, okay. Yes. So funny.
Georgia
Perfect example of you can't make this stuff up.
Ethan
No, can't make it up.
Georgia
That's so funny. Thank you for sharing that. Alyssa needed a good laugh. Yeah, so cute. The wall. This has been so funny. Ethan, we would love for you to end on sharing those two pieces of advice that you have for teachers that are currently in the field. I know you've already given a little bit, but if you could sum it up into your two wisest wisdom that you have to offer.
Ethan
Yes. Let me, let me put my Mr. Mr. Feeney hat on, right? If I had to tell teachers currently in the classroom anything, it would be to find your people, right? Don't silo yourself off. Make those connections. Find your one person where you can have those hallway conversations with, right? Find your people and then clinging to your passions. So like Georgia you were saying for, for that one guest, it was interior design, right? For, for myself e when I was in the classroom, it was gamifying my instruction, right? Like I really loved doing that. Find your passion outside of teaching to bring it into teaching. Find your people. And then with those two things, like even your darkest moments can really, you can find light in them. So yeah, those tho that's my two, two pieces of advice.
Ethan
The two Ps, people and passions, the two Ps,
Ethan
People and passion,
Christine
I love it. Well, Ethan, this has been so fun. Thanks so much for being here and coming on and helping making the grade get started.
Ethan
Yeah, thanks for having me. It was a, it was good to talk to you today. I had a lot of fun.
Georgia
Thank you so much. Well, if any teachers listening or anyone listening wants to start a podcast, you know who to call, we'll have your contact info in the show notes. What is, do you wanna share your website and your Instagram handle at all right now?
Ethan
Sure. Yeah. So my website is www.thepodguild.com and most socials you can find me at Mr underscore Silva lining. Lovely. So yeah, those are my socials or at the pod guild. So,
Georgia
And if you're lucky, if you're meant to start a podcast, Ethan might find you and that's Yeah. Versus way of saying you're meant to start a podcast. Cool. Thank you so much.
Georgia
That wraps up our show for today. Remember to always listen to your teacher voice and measure success with your own ruler. Thanks so much for taking the time to listen. If you like what you heard today, share with a teacher who needs this in their life and don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe to our show. If you like what you heard.