12 Elementary Ed Teacher
What is it Like Being an Elementary Ed Teacher
On this episode of the Unboxing Careers Podcast, we unbox the career of an elementary ed teacher with Lauren Farrow.
Guest: Lauren Farrow is an elementary education teacher and founder of Teacher to Techie, an organization that bridges the gap between traditional teaching methods and modern technological advancements. With a concentration on AI Literacy, Lauren empowers educators to harness the latest in AI technology to enrich their teaching methods and engage students in innovative ways.
Connect with Lauren:
Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Amazon Music
What We Discuss:
Teaching at Different Grade Levels
Challenges of Teaching at Title I Schools
Creating a Safe and Effective Learning Environment
Impact of COVID-19 on Students' Social and Emotional Development
Importance of Effective Parent-Teacher Communication
Assigning Students to Classrooms: Considerations and Strategies
Transitioning from College to the Workforce in Education
Landing the First Teaching Job
Misconceptions About Being a Teacher
The Importance of Staying Informed in Education
The Rewards of Being a Teacher
The Role of AI in Education
The Need for Teachers to Stay Ahead of the Learning Curve
Exploring Alternative Careers for Teachers
Key Elementary Education Career Takeaways:
Teaching at different grade levels provides a wide range of experiences and challenges.
Title I schools face unique challenges related to student behaviors and lack of resources.
Classroom management is crucial for creating a safe and effective learning environment.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on students' social and emotional development.
Effective communication with parents is important for student success.
Teachers often work more than the standard 40-hour workweek, including weekends.
Balancing the needs of students from different backgrounds and abilities requires flexibility and differentiation.
Assigning students to classrooms takes into account their learning styles and potential conflicts.
High school students interested in teaching should gain experience in different grade levels and consider their own strengths and interests. High school students interested in teaching should pursue their passion and be willing to put in extra time and effort outside of regular working hours.
Being organized and having strong time management skills are crucial for teachers.
Teachers spend about 20% of their time on actual teaching, with the rest dedicated to problem-solving, planning, and adjusting to students' needs.
College students studying education should familiarize themselves with AI and stay up to date with legislation and societal changes in education.
To land their first teaching job, new graduates should network with school administrators, consider substitute teaching, and be flexible with grade level assignments.
Misconceptions about teaching include the belief that it is always rewarding and that teachers need to be super organized.
Teachers should be aware of the societal and cultural issues that impact students and their families, and stay informed about the current state of education.
The most rewarding part of being a teacher is witnessing students' growth and seeing their light bulb moments.
Teachers can transition to other careers that leverage their skills, such as entrepreneurship or working in education-related businesses.
AI can be a valuable tool in education, but teachers need to stay ahead of the learning curve and use it responsibly.
Greg
Welcome everyone to the Unboxing Careers podcast where we shed light on what different careers are really like so you can choose a career you'll really love. Today we are unboxing the career of an elementary education teacher with Lauren Farrow,
But before we do, let’s talk briefly about unboxing thoughtful gifts. At ThoughtfulCollection.com you can shop from a wide selection of curated products you can feel good about, helping you express friendship, gratitude, and love.
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Greg
I'd like to welcome to show elementary education teacher Lauren Farrow. Lauren, welcome to the Unboxing Careers Podcast. Thanks for being here.
Lauren Farrow
Thank you for having me, Greg
Greg
Always a pleasure to have guests. We're talking offline, elementary education. My initial career going into college initially was exactly this. And then I bailed, which is the genesis of this program here. So let's start with this. Elementary teacher, we'll talk about teacher for techie in a little bit as well. Talk about what that's like and why that fits into the ecosystem and why it's so important to talk about today.
What grades did you teach? you currently, as you mentioned, you're a substitute, so I'll spill the beans forever one, but what grades are those in? Or are those the desired grades that you wanted to get when you went into elementary?
Lauren Farrow
So my undergrad education experience was a little bit unique and I got the opportunity to teach at Peds Academy at Nemours Children's Hospital. That was one of my first experiences with teaching with children while I was interning with UCF. I would say that was the highlight of my undergrad experience. I didn't know that hospitals had an education program.
And I was teaching students who were either at long -term care at the hospital or were in and out based on their medical history. And so that was an amazing experience. I also had the opportunity to teach at a Title I school, downtown Orlando. Title I school is where the population is majority and within below the poverty line. So I was exposed to the Title I students, their families, and how that school
would operate with their academics and their aftercare afterschool programs. And then I also had the opportunity to teach at some, you know, wealthier schools over in Winter Park, Florida, with I was teaching fifth grade and then second grade. So kind of a wide range of experience that I have with different grade levels. And of course, a substitute teaching, you get to choose where your placement is. So you could teach kindergarten up to 12th grade.
So it will really depend on the subject you choose with substitute teaching and you get to choose your schedule a lot there. So the year that I had the most experience with is second grade. So I was teaching seven year old, eight year old. That was the age range that I was with. And yeah.
Greg
I love that age group. don't know how was it for you.
Lauren Farrow
it was great. my gosh. They are so fun. They're so funny. There were so many times that I was laughing myself, genuinely laughing. A lot of these kids actually have social media and phones and access to all of those platforms. So they would be telling me jokes that I've heard from my friends the week before, just from memes and things that they would see, which is really funny, but also a conversation in and of itself, social media and young kids.
But yeah, they were delightful. It was a great experience.
Greg
So I've got a couple of questions here. I did not know until just now that hospitals had, I want to say education wings, but they had education departments with them, which I guess makes sense. I just never really thought about that. Was that also a elementary age group or did that kind of span all the way through like K through 12?
Lauren Farrow
It was majority elementary age range. you know, kindergarten to fifth is where is what our placement was teaching with.
Greg
Okay, and then we'll talk about challenges a little bit later because I think this is going to be important for advice, but you mentioned the Title I school. So it hasn't aired yet, but we interviewed someone who worked at a nonprofit that works with a lot of students after they go to school to get them education that are below the poverty line here. So you also mentioned you worked at a wealthier school. What were the biggest contrasts outside of obviously like poverty level and all this stuff that comes with it. like, where is that gap that maybe you saw as like, hey, I really liked working with Title I for this, but there's a lot of challenges there that, and again, we'll talk about this.
I want to dig in this a little more later, but there's challenges there that maybe people should be aware of that maybe don't exist on the wealthier side. And then maybe vice versa, if there are some that kind of translate back. It's a terrible way to ask you a question, Lauren, but hopefully you got what I was trying to say there.
Lauren Farrow
Right, absolutely. So the biggest difference that I would say between, you know, the Title I schools and then the typical, you know, suburban school would be home life and behaviors. Now, there's a lot of schools, you know, across the United States, doesn't matter, you know, what, if it's a Title I school or a typical suburban school, they are facing a huge behavior management crisis. Kids are, you know, coming back from COVID. It's been about, you know, three or four years, but it still is a bit of a challenge for kids to socially catch up since they did miss on average about two years of schools from the pandemic.
But I would say how I view classrooms is that classrooms are a microcosm of society. So your classroom reflects the greater community that you serve. And in the Title I schools, you would see a lot of behavior issues based on their home life and like what kind of they experienced in the morning before even getting to school. A lot of the time there would be family issues or they would come to school, you know, there was not a lot of consistency there with emotions. And, you know, I think when for the students looking for either in high school or college, looking for their niche within education, would say to substitute teach in a lot of different communities. I would recommend finding which community you resonate the most with.
Because Title I schools, you do face a lot of emotional issues there and you do have to have a thicker skin to know how to navigate and shift gears when you're in an environment like that where the majority of the classroom is facing big emotional issues at home and you still have to teach around that. So I would say that that is a factor to consider as well as funding. So Title I schools do not get enough funding.
They don't have as many resources as these suburban schools. Unfortunately, I think it should be the opposite. I think we should be giving more resources to these Title I schools. know zoning and funding is based on your zones, but it automatically, I would say the way that funding is allocated from the state, it's prejudice towards the schools with less of a minority community, the schools that are in a better off area.
And unfortunately, a lot of the teachers who work at those schools have to fund their own classrooms, their materials, a lot of their own professional development if they want to take extra steps in their professional development journey with just as an educator. And so I think that would be the major difference between those two schools.
Greg
Yeah, we're going to dig into this a bit more in a few minutes because I think it's really important. But you touched on a couple of things that I thought were really important. One, I think every wide -eyed young person, regardless of their career, but I think this is especially true in education as people think, I'm to go to college. I'm going to be the best teacher and kids are going to love me and it's going to be smooth. And the reality is, I think you put it very well, that it's a microcosm of society that comes with a lot of good things and it comes with a lot of messy things as well and there's definitely a balancing act there.
So we're gonna dig into that a little bit as well So I really appreciate you saying that the other thing is I think everyone knows if you're going to education It's not the best paying job in the world Probably should be but it's not especially this is gonna be state specific as well so Funding kind of some of those things in your classroom. So making sure they have the right They have enough pens and pencils or rulers or whatever equipment they need
I'm assuming you have a lot more of self -funding in the Title I schools or the lower income schools, not even Title I, but lower income schools than higher income schools. Fair assessment as well.
Lauren Farrow
Yeah, so when it comes to, you know, printing materials, typically schools have a lot of like materials they can provide as a, as a, you know, printing tests and their papers. In OCPS, at least we have a CRM, which is a standardized, you know, curriculum that we can, we're provided with some resources and some, you know, background, and this will vary between counties, but typically they are supported with their assessment there as well.
Greg
Very good. And let's talk about what a typical day looks like for you as a teacher. So maybe we could do second grade is a kind of a jumping off point here, but what is a typical day or a week look like for you? So how much offline stuff are you doing? Lesson planning, grading, interacting, teaching. Can you walk us through that a little bit and give people a real sense of what it looks like.
What is a typical day like as an elementary ed teacher?
Lauren Farrow
So a typical day as an elementary school second grade teacher, contract hours start between 8 a and 3 p Typically teachers get to school maybe an hour, an hour and a half early just to prep for the day, print some materials if you haven't already, and get everything sorted for the day. So students, when the bell rings, they'll come in from the the hallways and they'll get seated, they'll get their materials ready, their lunches on the table, their backpacks unpacked. and everything's sorted, and then we will dive right into our morning meeting. In our morning meeting, teachers get to take their own approach with how they like to welcome the students from their homes and set the tone for the day, talk about some high -level overviews of what is scheduled for today, and then we go right into the Pledge of Allegiance and then into our lessons. So elementary school, you're teaching all four subjects.
So typically you teach two subjects before lunch and then two after lunch. So typically that would be either English in the morning and then English and social studies. And then you have your lunch break. Your lunch break is about 20 minutes long. And that includes walking your students down to the cafeteria and then taking them back up to your classroom, eating your lunch in about 15 minutes, going right back down to the cafeteria and picking them up. And then you go down to recess.
You take your students to recess and while you're at recess, you are making sure no one gets hurt. Everyone's safe. Everyone's playing fairly. know, students typically you'll have about one to two students come up to you during recess with either, you know, students are playing fairly or a student got injured. You know, hopefully no students get injured every day. Hopefully not. but you know, you're always problem solving as a teacher. So you don't get very many breaks during, your work day.
So after recess, you take them right back up to the classroom. You'll do a transitionary activity to kind of them cool down from being outside, let their mood settle from having fun at lunch and recess, and then go right back into it. So you'll either teach science, and then you'll have electives. Electives are about 40 minutes long, and you may or may not have a meeting scheduled during that time.
So typically teachers do have that 40 minute block during the day to either prep for the next day or the next week or a project coming up. They have that 40 minute block to do what they feel is necessary for them to be effective teachers. But like I said, there's typically either, you have to make phone calls, you'll have to pick up your mail, you'll wanna chat with your colleagues, your team of teachers that you're on. And then once that time is up.
You'll walk down, pick them up from their electives, come back up, and then finish off your day. So that's what it's like about, you know, on paper, what it would look like every day, of course. There's a lot of unpredictable circumstances that happen when you're a teacher. You can't really predict anything. So I would also say that teachers work about, their contract is, you know, 40 -hour work week, but we work about
50, 55 hours a week, whether that is an hour after school every day or, you know, time spent on the Sunday prepping for the week or whatever that may look like. The good thing about teachers is that you are the creator of your own schedule. You get to decide when you want to put that work in or if you want to, you know, crunch everything in one day or spread it out between the week. You really are the leader in your classroom and for these about 20, 25 students throughout the whole year.
So that's what it looks like typically for a teacher who's teaching second grade.
Greg
It's an awesome answer. You mentioned that you're working more than 40 hours a week, right? There's always gonna be lesson planning and things like this. And that at home time or if you're staying just at school to do the extra time as you get to different age groups, that's going to differ, right? Cause you probably can have more lesson grading and stuff like that. But overall work-life balance, how many hours like say on a weekend would you typically be working? Do you think lesson planning and stuff like that?
What is work-life balance like as an elementary ed teacher?
Lauren Farrow
So I would say typically you arrive to school at least 30 minutes before your contract hours begin. So you're there probably during the week at least minimum a couple hours, maybe three hours if you add it all up, two hours if you add it all up. And then on the weekend, if you were to not stay after school and do some prepping or grading or planning and you were to do that on like a Sunday or on a weekend, I would say you're
probably spending minimum two hours, say maybe close to maybe three hours if you're not spending at least an hour after school as well. And again, that can consist of lesson planning, differentiating, can be grading papers or, you know, parent student contacts. It would really depend. Again, teachers are very flexible. So, yeah.
Greg
So a couple questions here. I'm laughing because of the second one because I'm one of these people. Let's talk about kids first. What is the most challenging from an elementary standpoint, the most challenging part of dealing with kids? And we could talk about, you've had both ends of the spectrum. So if you could provide a little guidance on maybe both ends, I think they'll be helpful for us.
What is the most challenging part of teaching kids?
Lauren Farrow
Absolutely. So that's a great question. I think maybe one of the most difficult things when it comes to student behaviors and when they're acting out in the classroom is that 90 % of the time when students have big behaviors and big emotions and they're acting out, it really is a mirror. It's not a mirror. It's not showing you maybe what you're doing wrong or what is happening. It's not a direct reflection of what they're doing. Rather, it's a window to see
what exactly they're feeling underneath what they're expressing. Kids, especially the younger kids at the elementary level, are not socially emotionally developed, especially with COVID. Again, I'll talk about COVID. I know we hate talking about it all the time, but it really has had a lot of impact on students.
We are seeing across the nation that these students have been stunted and that there's a lot of behaviors and behavior in classroom management is a big topic of conversation right now for teachers. And a lot of the time with, you we see behaviors, even when I was in a great school in Winter Park, their zoning laws had changed for the year I was there. And so there was a couple of students from lower communities, lower income communities that were in my classroom.
And I was actually placed in the classroom that our school had like the grade lottery. So parents could place their students within certain classrooms with they have known the teacher, if they've been in the community for a little bit longer, they know which teacher they want to place them with. And there's always going to be that one classroom. If you are in a school that does that lottery system that has the students with the uninvolved parents or the parents that don't typically interact with the school or they're considered mobile families, teach students that are attending just that one year because perhaps they'd move from year to year around. So I was placed with a bundle of students who had quite a bit of challenges and I had quite a bit of students who had IEPs and learning accommodations. So it was a little bit of a tricky classroom and it was a great suburban community, amazing school. However, a lot of similarities from what I hear from my friends who teach in Title I schools and then my personal experience with Title I schools.
Greg
That's okay. So the challenges that come with that, right? So you've got to balance.
I don't how to frame this. You've got to balance behavioral issues that could be resulting from just general family issues, insecurity issues. And you mentioned COVID, right? So stunting. And I see that with my kids with specifically the younger one with handwriting, right? Cause he was at home for that year and a half there and trying to catch up. So you have multitude of issues that are causing disruptions to the classroom, but some of those disruptions will kind of carry over because if you're home for COVID, you're home for COVID. Doesn't matter, you know, how much income that the family might be making. So how do you, as a teacher, how do you balance the dichotomy between this is something everyone's dealing with and we need to adapt to, I don't want to call it new normal, but you know, you're adapting to it.
And then vast disparities between different cohorts there. So you have families that are all happy and pleasant and the kids have a supportive environment and you know they're getting whatever help they need and then you have another one who's both parents are working they're working 60-70 hours a week trying to put food on the table and that food might be insecure and they're more self I say self-sufficient but they're not getting the guidance they need. How do you manage that when those two worlds come together?
Lauren Farrow
That's a great question. So when it comes to classroom management, that is a very much a, you know, topic of conversation when it comes to any new teacher, especially those, you know, again, in college and high school, if you're considering becoming a teacher, make sure you are very fluent with your classroom management and how you want to approach that and practice. Practice is the biggest thing. So when it came to my classrooms, it really is staying one step ahead and making sure those students who are ahead and perhaps on or above grade level, you're constantly giving them resources, you're giving them worksheets that enhance their learning, asking them real world questions, making them think that higher level thinking, using Bloom's taxonomy to really enhance their learning. And then when it comes to the students who are maybe acting out a little bit more frequently, also making sure you're accommodating their current level.
A lot of the time when we see students acting out, it is because either they are frustrated, they feel like they can't properly do that work, that independent work, they feel anxious or frustrated again, just with their level. They're not at the level as their peers. So just kind of leveling with them, pulling them back to your back table, working with them one -on -one or in small groups. Ability grouping students is a big thing. So one thing I forgot to mention with during your school day, you are pulling small groups through each subject, mainly math and reading. to make sure we're accommodating and differentiating for each student level. It's a little bit tricky to do since a lot of students are varying levels in your classroom.
By December, January, you can hope to have your students more on like a even playing field, more even than the beginning of the year. But it really is establishing again like a very safe classroom environment, making sure your students feel safe, they feel heard. The ones who are acting out, they feel heard and seen. The ones who are on task and are doing what they're supposed to be doing at the time they're supposed to be doing it, praising them, giving them merit for that. And so it really is just being on top of every single student and making sure you're accommodating every student based on their ability, where they're at in that day and where they could be.
Greg
Excellent. Now to the question where I was chuckling before the one thing I'm sure they tell you this in school nowadays, but you are dealing with parents as well as the students, right? We have helicopter parents, the parents at I would, I'm not even going to say it. Right? So talk to me about the, talk to me about the challenges, the dynamics, effective strategies, whatever you've found with dealing with parents of students because you're to get parents coming to you for, you know, it could be kick out in trouble or you have a concern about, you know, their development, something like that. It could just be about parent teacher conferences that come up all the time this year. could be about, you know, you're going to get it for my kid's being singled out or he's not going to interfere. Why do you hate my kid? Right. You're going to get everything regardless of what income level you're at. talk, talk to us about dealing with some of those parents if you could.
Tips for teachers when dealing with parents of students?
Lauren Farrow
Right, so I personally, think a lot of teachers have their different feelings about dealing with parents and communicating with parents. for me personally, I really enjoy meeting the parents because it gives me a better idea of the student. It allows me to put together a family picture and of course, like a non -judgmental, kind of a whole comprehensive view of what this child's family life looks like. And of course, not making any assumptions and not making any, you know, having any bias or anything like that. But it allows you to look beyond any behaviors that may be happening because you never know what it may be at home. Parent communications, typically, they really just want to help their student.
They want to help their child. They want to see them thrive. They want to see them, you know, reach new milestones and learn more. We're at school to learn. They just want to see their child grow. so communications, typically, you know what that looks like on a weekly basis, you're always sending out an email, you're always going to be in communication with what you're teaching, what the subject is, and what it might look like, you know, in a week or two from that day. But typically, some phone calls do go out. I think phone calls should be saved for, you know, specific behaviors or, you know, kind of a more situations that kind of call for it because you don't want to over communicate. know, typically both parents are working. They both have full -time jobs and it's really difficult for them to also be communicating with a teacher. But I find that parents do prefer more than less communication. So it really is finding that balance between your cohort of students. Again, it does vary year to year, but there usually is a higher positive response than there is a negative response of communications.
Greg
I'm going to ask you something completely honest with me. second grade, graduating, they're going up to third grade. They've got to do class assignments. You alluded to this before, right? So generally schools would try to, the teacher will put a recommendation. I think this person will, their learning style will pair best with this teacher, but that's not the definitive rule. That's just guidance, right? And suggestions.
Do you take parents into account when assigning, when recommending? So you try to either split the crazy parents up, put the crazy parents together. Like, is that a factor that is recommended when you go in?
Lauren Farrow
In some situations, yes. So at the end of the school year, you know, when all the testing is done and you get to meet with your team, you do get to play students in their classrooms for the next school year. So you look at, let's say we were looking at third grade, we looked at our students learning style and we looked at what teacher they would fit best with. And there's always going to be, I wouldn't say there's a lot of, you know, parents that butt heads, but there are circumstances that are like that.
So we are very mindful of the whole picture, of the bigger picture with which students don't get along, which students have had issues in the past, or which students get along too well. You you want to make sure there's a good learning environment for every student with the bigger picture in mind.
Greg
So you helicopter parents out there careful coming for you Okay, let's transition a little bit into those in school. Maybe they're already know they want to be teachers Maybe they know they want to be teachers. They have no idea what grade level or maybe they're just exploring it It's like hey that might be something I'm interested in but I don't really know but let's talk specifically about high school What advice might you offer to a high school student who either knows they want to do it or is maybe fringe curious on it to either help them choose what they want to do or maybe it's a class or skill that hey as a teacher you're always going to use this, develop it now. What advice might you offer to high school student?
Lauren Farrow
Yeah, so to my high school students, I know a lot of you are activists at heart. You have that bright light shining and you really want to make a difference in the world. And I say chase that light. As a teacher, you really are changing one student at a time. You really are inspiring your teaching, you're helping the next generation. And as much as it is very difficult to be a teacher right now in 2024, and maybe it'll be easier with AI, you know, in your future by the time you're a teacher but I would say pursue it and pursue it if you know that you want to, if you're sacrificial, if you're willing to give up some of your time outside of your working hours to plan and prep and think of your students and do that extra mile of work and that extra, you know, hour of planning to make that little difference. if you are very organized or if you're sort of organized, I would say become even more organized as a teacher, you are on top of time management, you're really on time, you're prompt, you have all of your papers organized, you have, some teachers have like an organized mess and that's okay too because if they know what they need at that time, they know where everything is, then that's awesome.
But I would say time management organization is the biggest, you know, skills I would say to hone in as a high school student. I know high school is pretty organized in and of itself, you know, you have your folders, you have your... computers for, you know, organized for different topics and your Google Drive and all of that. Awesome. That's great. So I would just say, you know, when you're a teacher again, you really teaching now, I would say is about 20 % of the job, not to misguide you just to tell you the truth and be fully transparent and fully honest. When you're teaching, it really is like 20 % content, especially when you're teaching the little ones. You have a
I would say total of maybe about 45 minutes of like actual teaching time You really don't want to be up lecturing as you know a great a class of seven or eight year olds for 30 minutes They'll just you know clock out within 10 minutes. So teaching really is about 20 % of a job and then the other 80 % you know You are solving problems. You're shifting gears you're planning for lesson that you need to catch up on or some, you your students aren't getting the content as fast as you thought they would.
So just adjusting every little thing on a daily basis. So if you're flexible, if you are open minded, you're adaptable to change, if you are very internally driven, if you have that intrinsic motivation and that activists in you, I would say 100 % become a teacher because we need people like you.
I know the pay might be a deterrent, it might be scary, especially in Florida. We are one of the lowest paying states in the whole nation. But it really is more than the pay. And I think in the future, I think with all the conversations that we're having around education and this coming generation, Gen Alpha and all of that, I think we might see some reform happening. I know our education system is also drastically changing with AI.
And we as teachers have to adapt to these societal changes. And AI has already permeated so many industries and education is the one I think, in my opinion, can make the biggest impact. And so it really is. I think there will be reform happening within the coming years for education, fingers crossed, because our teachers are undervalued for sure. But again.
You are in it for a bigger purpose, chase that purpose. know Tim Ferriss talks about defining your why and chasing your why. It really is holding near why you're wanting to be a teacher and crystallizing your purpose in that specific career. The good news is if you find that you are a teacher and you maybe don't, it doesn't live up to your expectations as you thought it would, there are so many other careers that you can leverage your education.
for your skill set for especially like you can educate, you know, wide groups of people with marketing with their marketing materials or corporate training. There's so many ways that you can help people. And if the classroom isn't for you, I say, you know, definitely put yourself in the classroom, see if you like it, see what you can do with what you have and see if your why is big enough and strong enough. And if not, there are so many other opportunities.
Greg
So question for you, when did you know you wanted to be a teacher?
Lauren Farrow
So I've always loved kids. think kids are delightful. They're so funny. They're very fun to be around. And so when I was in college, I was actually studying biomed. So I was taking the path my mom took. You know, I was thinking of becoming, you know, getting a position within a hospital and working with patients and helping people. I've always wanted to help people. And then I was out to lunch with my grandma and she asked me a question. She was like, Lauren, have you ever considered being a teacher? And I was about maybe a year, a year and a half into my studies at UCF. And I was like, no, I haven't thought of being a teacher. And then I thought about it. And then I took a class or two. And I was like, well, this, this feels right. This feels fitting for me. I feel like it would be like, that's my next step. So in my heart, I'm a very flexible person. I kind of go with where my heart goes as well. I think so important to listen to your listen to your heart and know what it's telling you so you can shift and find that purpose with where you're at. But yeah, funny story. My grandma actually told me and then I pursued it and then this is where I'm at.
Greg
So we hear the story time and time, almost every single interview. They change in college, they change post -college, right? They change at the very end of college after three years, they're like, eh, I wanna do something else. So I think it's important that people hear that they might not know what they wanna do or they change midstream and it's okay to change midstream. So thank you for saying that. So.
Let's talk about colleges for a second. I assume a lot of that same advice you offer to high school organization, right? Just kind of follow those things. It's going to carry over to college as well. But you have a lot more opportunity in school and, secondary education. or collegiate education. So there's clubs, there's committees, there's all sorts of things. have internships, any different advice for those may be studying education in college and, that is beyond the scope of say the high school age.
Advice for college students studying education
Lauren Farrow
Okay, so for my college students, I would recommend you become really well -versed with AI because when you can leverage AI in your classroom, you can save yourself a ton of that extra administrative time that you're using to work outside of contract hours. I would say definitely read on the legislation about what your counties allow with AI or with certain zoning laws with certain, you know, funding for computers or if students have computers they can take home or any digital resources that they may have within that community.
I would say you're doing, for college students, you would do a higher level overview of the profession. So you would almost be looking at the profession from a bird's eye view. So you have the opportunity within education while you're studying in college to talk to your professors and connect with them and talk to them about what their experience as a teacher was and how it might have changed when they were teaching versus what education looks like when you're entering the education system. So you have a lot of perspectives you can look at. You have a lot of politics you consider and see how things have changed over the years. And we have seen education change in three major ways over just the last 15 years.
So Initially, students were working on pencil and paper, looking to the front of the classroom, directly engaged with the teacher. And then we transitioned to one -to -one student learning. for every student, typically for most classrooms, most counties, of course, not all, students have a computer or a tablet that they can learn from that has a personalized learning plan based on their diagnostic test.
So we went from pencil paper to one-to-one student learning and now everything's kind of a blend of hybrid learning environment. So that's where students are learning from, know, a virtual, you know, a video or resources at home mixed with the in -person, you know, direct instruction. So again, that's just in the last 15 years. So I would highly recommend you stay up to date with legislation the politics with education, what is going on, you know, in society, culturally with where you're at, because there are so many factors to consider when being a teacher. And I think that those factors are overlooked because when you are a teacher, you have your baseline responsibilities, but you can go that next level when you consider all of these factors.
And teachers aren't given enough credit for when they do that because a lot of the time it really is selfless and you're doing it just out of your heart. You're not wanting to, you know, a lot of the time you don't really express how much you've done or maybe, you know, a lot of people day to day don't really know what exactly teachers do. So again, I would just say connecting, networking, talking to your professors, talking to your peers and getting to know what the current state of education looks like and shifting from there.
Greg
Good and we're talk about those transitioning into the workforce now trying to land their first job. It’s probably a bad assumption on my part, but there is a decline in the number of teachers going into the workforce. So usually, I say usually, but usually schools are always looking for teachers, right? So it might be easier than maybe other professions that land that first job. But in some cases, there's going to be a lot of competition that get in certain school districts or school zones or certain schools in general.
So advice for those heading into trying to land their first job is are there certain things they could do on the resume? Is there certain things they should be doing in college? Two internships versus one. I know you have a certain amount of observation hours and things you need to do, but any advice might be able to offer those newly entered the workforce.
Advice for new teachers entering the workforce
Lauren Farrow
Yeah, I would recommend, you know, any direct communication you can have with that school's admin. If you have a school in mind that you really want to teach at, I familiarizing yourself with their team. I think reaching out to their secretary, reaching out to the principal, dropping off your resume. Those are some really big things that can differentiate you from other schools that are other, you know, colleagues that are applying for your positions. I think just putting your name out there, getting that real world experience, substitute teaching is a great way to get that experience because being a first year teacher, it is really difficult. And like you said, a lot of teachers typically quit within five years of starting education.
So unfortunately, the numbers are really high right now. There is sort of a crisis going on. And I think the best way to know if you are fit for the job is to substitute teach and then substitute teach in the school that you're wanting to teach at as much as you can familiarizing yourself with the teacher teams with either the fifth grade level if you want to teach with them or third grade. I would also recommend that you may not get the grade that you are looking to teach your first year.
So let's say you have your dream school and then they're offering a third grade position, but you want to teach fourth grade. I would recommend teaching third grade. A lot of the time as well, when the school year ends and then you have your next school year coming up and you're prepping, principles move you around. So you're not really even guaranteed to teach the same year your whole career. So again, being flexible, being adaptable, being able to go where life takes you. So yeah, that's a great way to familiarize yourself with your foot in the door and then show what you got.
Greg
Excellent advice. How about some misconceptions about being a teacher?
Common misconceptions about being an elementary education teacher
Lauren Farrow
I would say that it's a good question. I would say some misconceptions might be that you are you know it's going to be a really rewarding fulfilling job all the time. Sometimes you don't get you know any merit or any you know pat on the back you won't always be getting any of that. A lot of the time you won't get that. So you know
Definitely have that internal intrinsic motivation. Know your why. Know have the reason, you know, for why you continue on as a teacher. Another misconception would be that, you know, again, like you have to be super organized. A lot of type A teachers do have everything in like their boxes and their drawers and their folders and everything is color coded and that's beautiful. That's awesome. But don't feel like you have to be that type of teacher.
Because you can have your organized mess. Of course, the classroom will be organized, but then maybe behind your desk, behind your drawers might be a little bit messy. I would say these skills are learned. You can learn, you can improve, you can change. So those are some misconceptions, I would say, that come with being a teacher.
Greg
Very good. What do you wish you knew about teaching or education in general sooner?
Lauren Farrow
One thing I wish I knew sooner was that there is a crisis right now in the American education system. And a really big part of that crisis is students and their families. And a lot of the time, both parents are working and they don't have a lot of time to spend teaching their children. A lot of times students are coming to kindergarten. Some can read, they have their sight words, they're fluent. And then...are having a little bit more trouble adapting and adjusting because they're simply not given that support at home. may not have resources or their parents just simply are so busy. And so I think being familiar with those societal issues and cultural issues that are present right now would be a great thing to know before you enter teaching and educating in this time and age because there really are bigger issues at hand.
And I think we'll see more reform in the coming years, like I said earlier, and I think when you have that chance in college to familiarize yourself with all of that, you can then make informed decisions based on what you know when you're entering the system. So a lot of people say the system's broken and that, you know, we need change and there's no way that this current education system can support teachers right now. And to that I would say we need teachers anyway no matter if it sounds really intimidating, it sounds like it can be overwhelming for a lot of teachers entering right now, you have the chance to make that difference, right?
So the ocean's filled with water, you're that one drop, every single drop makes the ocean. So I would highly recommend every teacher is very informed, understands the current climate of their parents' working force and what it looks like when that student goes home, whether if they're sitting on their phone, you know, scrolling on TikTok at like, you know, eight, nine, 10 years old and they're just kind of on their phone. Their phone is raising them when they're at home and not at school.
So being aware of those extra things because it really forms their day to day and it may not be a direct reason as to why these students are behaving certain ways or why they, know, this generation is growing to be the way they are. But it can, there's these correlations are strong and it's important to be aware of all of these factors. I know that was like a huge answer to that.
Greg
As we wind down time here Lauren let's let's end the teaching part on a positive note so what's the most rewarding part of being a teacher?
The most rewarding part of being a teacher
Lauren Farrow
Absolutely. The most rewarding part is when you get to see that light bulb moment when you're teaching a kid who initially couldn't read a full sentence and then you hear them read that full sentence all on their own, it is so rewarding. There are so many little wins. They're very rewarding throughout the day to day that you can, but it's so important to write down. A lot of teachers have a little journal that they keep with them throughout the year. I would highly recommend this to new teachers.
And they just write down every single day the positives that happened, the wins, the small wins that they had. It really is a great thing to look back to and to keep you motivating you throughout the year. It really is also seeing students interact and share and say nice words and be encouraging or help them up when they've fallen down or encourage them to try again. There's so many beautiful moments that happen within the classroom that really make it such a beautiful experience.
Greg
Well said, well said. So, Lauren, I'm going spend just a minute here. You mentioned it earlier, and we mentioned it in the very intro as well, but just because you're a teacher does not mean you need to be a teacher the rest of your life. You can transition to a lot of different careers. I have a friend who hires customer success managers at Business Technology Company. He's a former teacher, but specifically looks for teachers because they can handle people well, they're adaptable, they're generally organized, as you mentioned.
and they tend to be some of the best performers. Lots of different things you could transition to. You started Teacher Deteki, which is a company. you only taught for a short period. I know you still substitute teach, why did you make it? Tell us what Teacher to Techie is, but why did you make that transition from education into an education related business, if you will?
Lauren Farrow
Absolutely. So my transition, my experience as a teacher was a little bit unique. And to answer that question, I'll have to tell you with where I transitioned out of when I left teaching. And so when I got a job at a digital marketing agency, and so I started with marketing and I worked with a bunch of tech startups and health -based businesses, aesthetic businesses, and I found that I was leveraging my skills as a teacher with copywriting, with my time management, my project management skills, with educating communities and groups on these certain procedures or health benefits or these augmented reality software that can really benefit people. So I found that I was leveraging my education background in that area within marketing.
But I always had that feeling in my heart that there's something left that I have to do. Now there's something pulling on my heart, there's something, there's unfinished business there. And so with AI, when AI was released and AI was growing and becoming more, you know, prevalent in different industries, I had a thought and I was thinking, well, we can't leave education behind with AI. There's so many opportunities to help teachers and help students with differentiation and helping teachers with their time management outside of the classroom. And there's so many things that AI can help benefit that I figured, well, let me personally help teachers and parents with familiarizing themselves with this technology.
So Teacher to Techie was founded to bridge that gap between modern with traditional teaching methods and modern technology and modern advancements within tech. And basically I do all of that heavy lifting for you. So I know parents and teachers don't have a lot of time outside of their busy schedules, outside of their work. to familiarize themselves with AI and all of these technologies that can help benefit their students' journey with learning and growing as an individual. And so I provide professional development workshops and one -on -one consultations tailored to your specific needs with your teaching style or your parenting style or your students' learning style.
And I give you the tools and techniques to use AI to the best possible way that you can use it and improve your day-to-day within either educating or parenting. So teacher to techie really does help, know, even AI prove your lessons. So a topic of concern for a lot of teachers and parents is, well, AI is going to, you know, take away our teachers who's going to teach if they're learning from their computers or they're learning from, you know, robots, technically. And what I have to say to that is students, I know there's a lot of concern with cheating as well, using AI to cheat and to do their work for them. And now what I have to say as a counter to that is like any tool, it can be used for building or breaking.
So like a hammer, you use a hammer to build a house, build whatever you're working on, or it can be used to take down any house or anything that you may be building. And the same way AI can be looked at It can be used as a tool or it can be used as a detriment. And the only way to fix or address that problem is to directly address it and to get ahead of the learning curve. And so as teachers, it is our responsibility that maybe is not directly taught to you in college or high school, that you do have to adapt to the technologies that come out to all the learning software and all of the teaching methods and modern pedagogy. And when it comes to AI, you are
I highly encourage teachers to stay ahead of that learning curve, to start familiarizing yourself with chat, TPT, and Claude, and all of the learning software that is available because there's hundreds of tech startups that are creating AI softwares for teachers that are being released. And the biggest thing is to take that step ahead, be proactive, and familiarize yourself with it.
Greg
Very good. I love the advice of getting ahead of it because it's not going anywhere. It doesn't have to be AI. It's anything that is prevalent. It's not going anywhere. It's like people trying to ignore phones when they came out. You look around and you just go, this thing is going to be prevalent in our society. We should probably figure out what this is and how to use it and things like that.
Lauren Farrow
Absolutely, yeah. And when comes to phones as well, when iPhones were released at least in about 2007, now a lot of people, you know, it took a couple years for everyone to be acclimated to iPhones. And by now, almost every single person has an iPhone. Now you can still mail mail, you can still walk to the post office by your stamps and address a letter and put it in the mailbox but you can also FaceTime and iMessage and text and both get the job done. You're still communicating with other people, but one makes your life so much easier and makes everything go by so much more smooth and so much faster. And so that's what I also recommend. Take a look at iPhones. Everyone has an iPhone now. That's gonna be the reality with AI as well.
Greg
Agreed. And by the way, I get better results with Claude than I do Chat GPT. So I don't pay for it, but I get better results on the Claude side. So just, just throwing that out there. All right. Last one for you, Lauren. You can't be a teacher. You can't run your tech business. You've got to choose a different career. What you're going to choose and why.
Lauren Farrow
For me specifically, if I couldn't be a teacher or if I couldn't run my tech business, I would have to say I would be an entrepreneur of sorts. I would still help people in that certain way. would find a pocket in the industry where people need help. There's no solution and provide them that solution, ethically and responsibly. I think that's where I have found my calling is.
Greg
Very good. Lauren, thanks for your time today. It was a pleasure having you. If anyone wants to reach out, ask any questions, check out Teacher to Techie. What's the best way for them to contact you, find you? Feel free to throw out whatever you'd like to at that point.
Lauren Farrow
Absolutely, yeah. You can visit my website at teacher2techie .org and that's two as in T -O. Teacher2techie .org and you can fill out if you're interested in talking to me in a one -on -one consultation, you can schedule a free 30 minute consultation. Just go on my website and you'll schedule that through Calendly or you can also give me a call. You can call my phone at 407-747-4796. would be beyond happy to chat with you and see how I can provide value to you and your family.
Greg
Very good, we'll link this in the show description. So feel free to check that out if you missed it and don't feel like rewinding. Lauren Farrow everyone, to find out more about her check out that show description. Check out TeachertoTechie.org and all the other ways she mentioned to contact her.
I hope everyone enjoyed today's episode If you'd like to unbox your career with us, we'd love to have you Please visit the website to find out more, and until next time, be kind of one.
(Interview transcription provided by Riverside.fm. May not be 100% accurate.)
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