Teacher Friends and Tik Toks with the Math Girls

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You are listening to the Balancing Act podcast. Here's your hosts,

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Jamie Wancho and Joe Vitale.

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Hey, we are officially recording. Yes, we are. What's going on, buddy? How are we doing?

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Hi, Mr. Vitale. It's me. Who am I? I don't know. I don't know.

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Welcome to the Balancing Act podcast. I am Jamie Wancho. I'm here with Joseph

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Vitale. Mr. Vitale, how are you doing this fine evening?

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I am great. We are giddy with excitement today. We have the laughing fits,

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for sure. We have the sillies. Yes, we have the sillies today.

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But hey, one thing that's not silly is our Season 3 sponsor.

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Season 3 is brought to you, as I drop my ad read, Season 3 is brought to you

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by our presenting sponsor, Teacher's Insurance Plan.

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Check out their website below, tagged in our episode, for more information and

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to get a quote. Teacher's Insurance Plan, auto insurance that brings exclusive

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educator savings and exceptional customer care to New Jersey and Pennsylvania

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educational employees.

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Nailed it. Nailed it. Even after I dropped my phone.

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We are overflowing with excitement and Coke diet.

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Coke in a can. I know. You're in the desserts, though. I get it. I get it. Okay.

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And so these are some really wonderful guests that we have today that are middle

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school educators. We can get as many middle school teachers in one podcast episode

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as... It might be a Guinness World Record break. Yeah. Listen,

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let's Brady Bunch this up.

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We might as well bring them in. Hello, Morgan and Nicole. How are you guys doing?

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Hi. Good. How are you? We are awesome. So a little backstory for our listeners.

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If you follow us on social media, you may have seen us.

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We were organically walking around with teachers insurance plans.

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We're doing a lot of organic things lately.

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Yeah, we're doing a lot of organic things. We were just walking around at the

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New Jersey convention and we were asking people, hey, do you want to record

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a little something for New Jersey insurance plan?

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We'll give you a little swag. We'll just do something while you're here and we

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happen to grab these two lovely young ladies along with

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two of their colleagues uh lo and behold we come

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to find out that they're like all over social media making all sorts of content

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their courses of tiktok nature guys yeah so sometimes sometimes the universe

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aligns and you wind up meeting up with people who you know here we are like

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putting our collective heads together and having you guys on an episode it's

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so exciting to have you guys here yeah thanks for having us.

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So, first of all, one thing I'd love to hear from you guys is one thing we asked, especially...

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How long have you guys been teaching for, first of all, if you don't mind just asking?

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I went first. This is my fourth year teaching. Okay. Yeah.

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Where I'm working now is where I started. That was my first job,

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and I've been there ever since. Okay.

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This is my fifth year, so I have one more year over her. Okay.

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And this is my second school district. Oh, so may I ask why you decided to move

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from one district to another?

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Yeah, I wanted to go to a bigger district. I started off on a really small district

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and I wanted to get to the teams kind of thing into a school.

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So that's what I look for.

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Awesome. Yeah. So it's definitely really cool to have you guys.

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You know, we love to get, we just recorded an episode.

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We have recorded, we've been doing a lot of recording this week with,

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you know, running the gamut of people that have been in the career for almost

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30 years. and then people like yourself that are, you know, emerging from novice

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teachers in the classroom for a while.

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I won't say my usual Joe-ism, Jamie.

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So, you know, you guys might be a little bit younger in the profession,

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but it's always great to have people and hear your perspective about the job.

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Why did you guys, you know, either one of you, what drew you to want to be a

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teacher, to be in the classroom?

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And what do you guys teach, if you don't mind me asking? we both teach them

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so okay yeah oh thank you so much for joining us on the balance i famously uh

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don't math so maybe it was because i didn't have nicole or morgan.

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That's adorable yeah so were you always math that's what you decided,

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I'm math and English. Oh, interesting. Okay. Wow. That was usual.

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Yeah, tell us. Tell us everything. So I picked math because when I was in college

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and I did my student teaching, I thought it was the easier one to teach.

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So credit to those English teachers. I thought it was a little bit harder.

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So I was like, I'm going to stick with the math.

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But I just always was intrigued by math. And I never questioned another career besides teaching.

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So I just thought I wanted to be a teacher and stuck with it.

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Around how old do you think you were when you knew um

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i mean i was playing teacher as like a little kid with my sister i was the i

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made her be the teacher i was the teacher she was the student so i was always

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playing that role for a long time do you have parents that are in education

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or was that not at all interesting oh yeah that is yeah a lot of times people

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around so i was like oh navigating.

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So maybe that was it. Yes. I love it. I mean, yes. Yeah. Awesome.

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I love that. Nicole, what about yourself?

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Um, I always knew I wanted to be a teacher too. Like I was playing school with

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my siblings too. My brother actually.

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Um, none of my parents are teachers. My grandpa was a math teacher,

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but I didn't decide to do math until college.

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Actually, my goal was to be a psychology teacher, actually.

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I loved psychology. I studied it in college, but when I had to,

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when I was told I had to like pick a subject and it couldn't be psychology, I was like, oh, okay.

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I guess I'll do math. I'm good at math. And then I went from there and yeah,

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I've been loving it ever since.

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And Morgan, what led you to middle school?

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I actually wanted to be a high school teacher, but then I got placed for my

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student teaching in the sixth grade.

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So I was like, okay, I was a little bummed out by it. But then once I got into

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it, I fell in love with like the personalities and the characters of it all.

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And then I just stayed with it because they were just so entertaining.

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Yeah. When I, when I first got the job teaching, I've been middle school my

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entire career. When I first got the job, I was like, yeah, I'll teach here for

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a couple of years and then I'll go teach high school.

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And I just never, never had the itch.

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Yes. Be very honest. Yeah. Yeah. And Nicole, what about you?

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I subbed at a high school, my old high school for a while.

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I was in college and I think that's when I knew, yeah, like high school, not for me.

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The elementary level, I did student teach in fourth grade and I loved it,

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but I just couldn't see myself teaching every single subject,

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like how it is in elementary school. And middle school is that sweet spot.

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And I loved my middle school like journey when I was a kid. So I was like,

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you know what? I want to teach middle school. That's fun. Yeah.

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Did you know each other before you worked together?

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No. Wow. No. Wow. But we think we crossed paths.

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Like, we were just talking about this. We're like, we both ran track in high

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school, and we're like, oh, my God, we were probably at the same place at the

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same time and, like, didn't even know.

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Yeah, we grew up right near each other, so we could have crossed paths.

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Yeah, I think, I often think that about Jamie and myself, too,

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because we, our parents have...

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House, uh, houses at the Jersey shore in Manahawken, probably about a mile and a half from each other.

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So it was probably some point where we crossed paths somewhere.

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Uh, we'll talk about like, Oh, and this summer, you know, uh,

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but way back in the nineties, we, you know, Oh, I was here and then I was,

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and, and so like things like that will come up.

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And we really even taught in the same school district for a pretty long time for a long time.

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We knew each other as well. Had it, right i'm yeah

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no we didn't we didn't really start it had to be like 15 years

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of me working there before we met each other yeah

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i mean i was still living out in pa when we

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first met because uh it was the tech academy oh

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yeah um yeah such a good breakfast give it

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up any kind of teacher training where they

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feed you two meals right they have

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breakfast and lunch and i remember it was like oh an omelet station where

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are we i had often said to mr callahan on

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many indication that an army marches on their stomachs uh

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so we used to so i i

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went to teaching at the technology academy to kind of helping to run it um not

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in charge of the whole thing but helping to organize with the instructors and

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then you know i saw that jamie had a huge and immense amount of uh you know

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talent and ability to teach in the classroom uh not only with technology but just like her general.

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Like the general air about her, she's very good at what she does.

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So I think that's what gravitated us to, to each other and kind of started our friendship.

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And we have, you know, just to give you the backstory ladies that,

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you know, we have friends, we have kids that are friends or high school seniors.

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They're in the same class.

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You know, my son, my son and her son are talking a lot of smack and fancy football league.

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Officially invited to be a flower girl at Mr. Vitale's daughter's wedding,

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whenever that point in time comes.

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My kids are twins. Okay, my daughter's not getting married anytime soon.

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But there we are talking about, we're just having a conversation like,

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Sophia, who would you have in your wedding? And she's like, well,

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I would have this person.

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And I would have Morgan. I would have Nicole.

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I would have Sophia and Miss Wonka.

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And I was like, yes, I am down. He's like, oh, as the matron of all.

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I'm like, no, the flower girl.

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Love it anyway as we uh wax poetic

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on our past um so what you know

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what motivates you you know in the classroom right now what's your passion i

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don't want to ask you what's your why because i hate that statement more than

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life itself i'm wrong with you then because i hate that statement too yeah uh

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it's it's something that that grosses me out it's very off-putting,

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but like what brings you fulfillment and joy in

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the job like that kind of keeps you going and the reason I ask

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this is because many new and

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novice teachers are leaving the profession at alarming

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rates so you guys have been doing it for four or

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five years I'm not saying you have to stick it out forever but seems like the

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content you're creating and you're you're in the classroom for you might be

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in it for the long haul what's keeping you in it for the long haul honestly

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the best thing so far And I can speak from like going from one district to the

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next, next district, um.

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What grounds me is the co-workers. Like I have amazing co-workers and I wasn't

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getting, I had great ones at my old school, but not to the connection I have at this new school.

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So having a great support system really changes the job. Even on those toughest

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days, like that's who I turn to the most. So I'm really thankful for that.

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No I agree yeah um I definitely think

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my co-workers keep me going but also like I always

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kind of like think back and I'm like I had really strong connections with um

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a few of my students that are now like in high school and I just like whenever

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I'm like oh my god why am I still doing this I like think about them and I think

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about the impact that I've made on them and like how special that is to me and

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I'm like that's my reason why like I keep going because I know that I'm going

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to make more connections.

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That's awesome. You know, Morgan, your story made me think of,

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we had educator Andrea on our show a couple, she's been on twice,

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but last season when we had her on, she talked about her doctoral thesis and what she went through.

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And she basically talked about like how having a support system that is defined

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and organized helps keep and retain teachers in the classroom.

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And she also mentioned that like, hey, if you don't find what you're looking

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for in the school district that you're in.

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Leave, go somewhere else. Because I'm not saying leave the profession,

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but maybe finding another school, finding another environment.

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I mean, we, Jamie and I work in a very large district. We have five middle schools, three high schools.

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So if I really wanted to, we could go try to anyway. Around the way. Yeah.

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Go around the way. And still stay in our district. And still stay in our district.

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So it's great that you're, you know, finding, finding your people.

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That's what I remember Andrew saying that, like, if you don't find your people,

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doesn't mean you're not going to find them.

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It just takes a little bit of time sometimes to find the right environment.

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And, you know, I know it's just the two of you, but there are two other people

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that are part of this, like, again, we affectionately call you the math girls.

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Um, so it's Nicole, you post mainly through your account, but you kind of wrangle

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all your coworkers into this.

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I kind of, not that I, not that I've asked you this, but I kind of feel like

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you're the ringleader of this whole thing. Am I right?

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Yeah. But it's definitely like, I started the Tik TOK by myself and I didn't

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really like I guess I was kind of nervous to even ask any of my friends to be in them.

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Like Morgan was like one of my first coworkers I was like close with.

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And I was like nervous to ask her at first. And our first video together was

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like an outfit video of spirit week.

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And then after that, we're like, this is kind of fun. Like, let's keep doing it.

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And then that's when we got more coworkers to be in videos.

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And now actually a lot of our coworkers even asked to be in them.

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They're like, can we make a TikTok? Like, let's do it. And like,

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we're like, yeah, they give us ideas.

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It's super fun though. Yeah, I get

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asked, like, hey, are you still in the building by my partner over here?

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And I'm like, oh, crap, she wants me to dance. So I go to her.

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So if you ever see me dancing on TikTok, I'm being held against my will. Oh, my goodness.

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I recently made my husband participate in a TikTok, and he was...

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Okay i don't even think joe i don't think i've told you this okay so

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um so he uh pardon me as i dig for my

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pardon me as i dig for my charger everyone yes he was not really

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very a very nice participant i was getting i was

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feeling very silly and i was cracking up and he was like you

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know if you keep laughing like i i i don't

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want to do this anymore and i was like what how

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dare you and he was like no seriously like how long is this going to take and

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i was like well you're out i was like because joe number one lets me yell at

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him laugh do whatever push dance all the things i was like and this is not this

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is not the kind of working environment that i used to.

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I think that's one and although it got a lot of views and he was like oh we're

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doing pretty good on there honey it was like oh now you want to do it yeah you

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definitely have to be silly with the TikToks.

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Yeah. Well, you have to be with it.

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Yeah. So Jamie is historically not a trier. Right.

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But when I when I was doing like technology integration and going to different

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schools, like I could go up to her and be like, hey, we're going to do this.

00:14:50.503 --> 00:14:51.343
We're going to do this thing.

00:14:51.463 --> 00:14:53.963
We're going to do a thing. And she'd be like, oh, OK, let's do it.

00:14:54.243 --> 00:14:57.763
And she was willing to like take the risk and do all that. So I'm trying to

00:14:57.763 --> 00:15:02.143
return the favor and be like, hey, all right, we're going to do this. We're going to dance.

00:15:02.283 --> 00:15:05.043
We're going to jump up and down. We're going to do this. I don't like it but

00:15:05.043 --> 00:15:09.623
I'm doing it anyway and it's fun and it is fun yeah it's great most of the time

00:15:09.623 --> 00:15:11.463
it's fun do you think that.

00:15:12.508 --> 00:15:17.028
Um, you have any, or have you had any experiences with like your students finding

00:15:17.028 --> 00:15:22.128
your TikTok or, um, cause mine recently found me, um, and they're like,

00:15:22.188 --> 00:15:23.968
oh, I'm fine. And I'm like, okay.

00:15:24.328 --> 00:15:27.448
I think they thought it was going to be like more of like this, like secret.

00:15:28.128 --> 00:15:32.768
And I was like, you guys, it's, it's, it's all PG. Like no problem.

00:15:33.048 --> 00:15:37.228
Like you're totally. So how did your district react to it in any way or your

00:15:37.228 --> 00:15:39.548
students have known for like three years now?

00:15:39.548 --> 00:15:42.308
Okay so it's old news to them it's they

00:15:42.308 --> 00:15:45.088
love it though yeah they do it is old it's old news

00:15:45.088 --> 00:15:47.848
to them nicole did you say something about parents there for

00:15:47.848 --> 00:15:51.948
a second yeah their parents they have come up to me and morgan like on back

00:15:51.948 --> 00:15:56.028
to school night and have said like oh my god i saw your video i love it last

00:15:56.028 --> 00:15:58.628
year i had a parent even tell me they were like you know i really love that

00:15:58.628 --> 00:16:01.628
you're doing this i think like it's really helping the students connect with

00:16:01.628 --> 00:16:04.368
you guys and she was like it was really encouraging she was like keep it up

00:16:04.368 --> 00:16:06.968
she was like i love it that was really encouraging.

00:16:07.328 --> 00:16:10.288
I've had parent meetings with like admin in the meeting and they'll go,

00:16:10.408 --> 00:16:12.988
oh yeah, we love you. You're the TikTok teacher. I'm like, oh, okay.

00:16:13.868 --> 00:16:18.088
That's great. It is. Well, because we, you know, we, one of the things that

00:16:18.088 --> 00:16:22.688
we talked about with, uh, when we met with the pod squad people from the,

00:16:22.688 --> 00:16:26.368
um, aspiring educator association from, uh, NJA.

00:16:27.228 --> 00:16:29.608
Uh, yeah. So we, yeah.

00:16:30.568 --> 00:16:34.728
NJA. A lot of letters. A lot of letters. Are you familiar with the New Jersey? Yeah.

00:16:35.608 --> 00:16:36.468
How does it go?

00:16:38.468 --> 00:16:42.028
NJA Aspiring Education Association.

00:16:42.368 --> 00:16:47.208
So it's like the junior version of the NJEA, but for kids that are in college.

00:16:47.408 --> 00:16:53.608
So we did an interview with them on their podcast last year.

00:16:53.868 --> 00:16:59.368
They record out of Trenton, out of the NJEA headquarters, and then they were also on our show.

00:16:59.468 --> 00:17:03.808
So we kind of did like a swap, the pod squad, they call themselves. Yeah.

00:17:03.928 --> 00:17:07.328
So one of the things we talked about was, you know, making sure that you know

00:17:07.328 --> 00:17:12.128
what your district policies are in regards to posting and putting things on the Internet.

00:17:12.368 --> 00:17:15.088
And I am assuming with the amount of content that you guys have created,

00:17:15.268 --> 00:17:17.008
that you guys have done that.

00:17:17.148 --> 00:17:20.528
And if you have you experienced any issues, if you don't mind me asking,

00:17:20.568 --> 00:17:22.008
if it's if it's something you don't want to.

00:17:22.128 --> 00:17:27.768
That's good, because I think it's one thing I don't see is I never really see students in your video.

00:17:28.308 --> 00:17:33.568
Yeah. We make sure that's because it's not allowed. and I'm,

00:17:34.204 --> 00:17:39.144
You know, we had something that I recorded, uh, in my classroom and I had a

00:17:39.144 --> 00:17:42.124
student, I had a, uh, a silhouette of a student walk behind me.

00:17:42.244 --> 00:17:45.064
You never saw the student's face, but you just saw like the back of their head

00:17:45.064 --> 00:17:46.564
walk between me and one other person.

00:17:46.824 --> 00:17:49.904
And I think, uh, Jamie had posted it and I said, pull it down.

00:17:50.004 --> 00:17:52.384
I said, I realized like no one's ever going to know.

00:17:52.564 --> 00:17:56.104
I said, but the fact that we had a student in the background and I didn't,

00:17:56.164 --> 00:17:58.964
I didn't notice it at the time. Like the student came in to like get their water

00:17:58.964 --> 00:18:00.024
bottle that they left there.

00:18:00.144 --> 00:18:02.884
They just like snuck behind me while I was recording during lunch.

00:18:03.704 --> 00:18:07.404
Um and i was like i just didn't feel comfortable uh putting

00:18:07.404 --> 00:18:10.524
it out there again exactly and

00:18:10.524 --> 00:18:13.344
i don't think anything would have ever come of it but it's one of those things like i

00:18:13.344 --> 00:18:16.444
know it's out there so i have to make sure it gets addressed so yeah

00:18:16.444 --> 00:18:19.784
we're very careful with it all um we like

00:18:19.784 --> 00:18:22.984
sat down we went through our policy um nicole's very

00:18:22.984 --> 00:18:25.804
very good at making sure when she looks at the editing

00:18:25.804 --> 00:18:28.484
of the videos there's nothing in terms of like our

00:18:28.484 --> 00:18:31.684
room numbers or our school name or even like

00:18:31.684 --> 00:18:34.504
the map of a school everything she's very good about that

00:18:34.504 --> 00:18:37.684
oh that's good yeah awesome smart the um

00:18:37.684 --> 00:18:40.424
there used to be this show on television it says it was

00:18:40.424 --> 00:18:43.384
a sitcom it was called everybody loves raymond love the

00:18:43.384 --> 00:18:47.724
show yes okay it's horrific so the grandpa he used to come over because he lived

00:18:47.724 --> 00:18:55.044
across the street and he used to um smell the grandson's heads and um they would

00:18:55.044 --> 00:18:59.704
say like what are you doing and he would say i'm sucking the youth um which

00:18:59.704 --> 00:19:02.124
is how i feel about young teachers like you.

00:19:02.864 --> 00:19:07.904
So I want you to be like bright and shiny. This is getting so weird.

00:19:08.724 --> 00:19:12.024
She's embodying Frank. Thank you.

00:19:12.884 --> 00:19:17.364
Shout out, Frank. So I feel like.

00:19:18.693 --> 00:19:22.113
What do you got for me? Give me a little shine. Give me a little sparkle.

00:19:22.373 --> 00:19:25.253
What's happening in the classroom? What are you doing? What's really like,

00:19:25.413 --> 00:19:31.933
what's, what's, what's working for you in this January doldrums that we're going through right now?

00:19:32.093 --> 00:19:34.433
Tell us, tell us everything. I know what Morgan's going to say.

00:19:35.273 --> 00:19:37.673
Well, we do the same. What are you going to think I'm going to say?

00:19:37.953 --> 00:19:40.873
Exactly what you're saying. Say it. Well, we run our classroom.

00:19:40.973 --> 00:19:41.693
Is this what you're saying?

00:19:42.513 --> 00:19:47.933
Okay. We run our classroom the same way and we run it using something called activity lists.

00:19:48.533 --> 00:19:50.853
So, Nicole, do you want to know? Oh, OK.

00:19:51.733 --> 00:19:54.713
So basically, Morgan was the one who introduced this to me. And then we kind

00:19:54.713 --> 00:19:56.033
of both put like a twist on it.

00:19:56.293 --> 00:20:00.313
But we kind of encourage students to really be independent in their learning

00:20:00.313 --> 00:20:05.513
and kind of embody like a choice kind of learning activity list.

00:20:05.733 --> 00:20:09.013
So what we do together is the notes. Like if we're teaching a math lesson,

00:20:09.113 --> 00:20:09.853
we do the notes together.

00:20:10.173 --> 00:20:13.973
Then they do a worksheet independently. And then they assess themselves as an

00:20:13.973 --> 00:20:16.913
exit ticket. And we really are trying to push reflection.

00:20:17.633 --> 00:20:20.553
So I feel like the kids nowadays don't really know how to reflect.

00:20:21.053 --> 00:20:23.713
So we push that a lot and we teach them how to reflect like,

00:20:23.713 --> 00:20:26.693
what did you get wrong? What can you do better? What are your goals?

00:20:27.133 --> 00:20:31.093
And then after that, they have a choice of another activity that they can choose

00:20:31.093 --> 00:20:34.633
from. They could do a board game that involves math. They can do an online activity.

00:20:34.973 --> 00:20:38.393
If they prefer working just with word problems because maybe they're not like

00:20:38.393 --> 00:20:40.473
the strongest in that, they can pick that.

00:20:40.573 --> 00:20:43.253
But we have these bins that are organized for them.

00:20:43.413 --> 00:20:46.113
And it's also online. if it's an online activity they get to

00:20:46.113 --> 00:20:48.893
choose whatever they want so they're kind of like in charge of

00:20:48.893 --> 00:20:52.593
their own learning and it kind of gives them this like independency um and

00:20:52.593 --> 00:20:54.733
it makes them feel in charge that makes them feel good about their own learning

00:20:54.733 --> 00:20:58.433
like oh i get to choose what i like i'm not being told what to do so that's

00:20:58.433 --> 00:21:03.493
been working for us really well um and i think the kids enjoy it and we've gotten

00:21:03.493 --> 00:21:06.653
like a lot of other teachers asking if we could share the activity list with

00:21:06.653 --> 00:21:11.193
them like they want us to teach them how to do it in the classroom um so it's really cool.

00:21:11.906 --> 00:21:15.326
That's great. And I'm also glad that you're, I'm also glad that you're sharing.

00:21:15.626 --> 00:21:19.426
Uh, one thing I think that's, I remember when I first started teaching,

00:21:19.426 --> 00:21:22.826
everyone was so like close to the vest with all of their things.

00:21:22.826 --> 00:21:25.006
Like, Oh, you can't do this activity.

00:21:25.146 --> 00:21:28.286
Cause I do it in my classroom. And I'm like, but, but I, but I,

00:21:28.326 --> 00:21:31.006
I just, it's good. So I want to, I want to do it.

00:21:31.126 --> 00:21:33.746
Like, like I'm not going to steal it, say it's mine.

00:21:33.966 --> 00:21:37.226
Like I want to, you know, now, you know, I guess with the advent of teachers

00:21:37.226 --> 00:21:41.266
pay teachers and everybody putting everything out there for people to use,

00:21:41.606 --> 00:21:43.546
I think it's great that you guys are sharing.

00:21:43.746 --> 00:21:47.346
I think one thing I definitely get from the younger generation is their willingness

00:21:47.346 --> 00:21:50.886
to be like, yeah, I tried that. If you want to check this out or if you need

00:21:50.886 --> 00:21:55.906
advice on that or share a folder with resources, whether it be digital or,

00:21:56.521 --> 00:22:00.401
on paper. I think that that's, that's great that you guys do that.

00:22:00.841 --> 00:22:03.461
And that people are seeing the worth in that in you guys, too,

00:22:03.601 --> 00:22:06.221
that like other teachers are coming to say, hey, can I try that, too?

00:22:07.341 --> 00:22:09.821
You know, that's. And to have the flexibility of saying, like,

00:22:09.861 --> 00:22:13.101
I do it a little bit this way and she does it this way.

00:22:13.181 --> 00:22:16.001
Or, you know, if you want to come up with something else, which is good,

00:22:16.101 --> 00:22:19.361
too, because some people sometimes have ideas and they're sort of rigid about

00:22:19.361 --> 00:22:22.521
like the way that they need to be implemented with the kids.

00:22:22.641 --> 00:22:25.281
But I think it's terrific if you can say like, yeah, we're going to try this.

00:22:25.381 --> 00:22:29.281
And also that you're willing to share, because we always say the best professional

00:22:29.281 --> 00:22:30.781
development is the teacher down the hall.

00:22:31.261 --> 00:22:35.041
And, you know, and obviously like the built-in bonus of that is being able to,

00:22:35.501 --> 00:22:39.221
when you hit some sort of a challenge or roadblock, be able to just go,

00:22:40.101 --> 00:22:42.861
what would you, or how could I, or what do you think?

00:22:43.041 --> 00:22:45.641
Or, you know, rather than trying to reach out to someone that, you know,

00:22:45.801 --> 00:22:48.641
is like lives in Ohio and you're never going to see them again or something

00:22:48.641 --> 00:22:52.941
like that so yeah yeah fantastic yeah

00:22:52.941 --> 00:22:55.881
so what is uh what is your so far

00:22:55.881 --> 00:22:58.721
of the content you guys could create right what do you think is your like

00:22:58.721 --> 00:23:01.781
favorite piece of content is there like a series that you guys do that like

00:23:01.781 --> 00:23:06.721
you really like to go back to oh i uh i think like the things our students say

00:23:06.721 --> 00:23:10.441
we have so much fun with that we did that how many times morgan like maybe like

00:23:10.441 --> 00:23:14.181
twice or twice and we want to do a new one doing it yeah we got to do a new

00:23:14.181 --> 00:23:16.021
one that that should be our TikTok this week.

00:23:16.201 --> 00:23:18.541
Yeah. They do the funniest things and it's like,

00:23:19.144 --> 00:23:23.164
we make a list and then we like we compare and we're like oh my god what does that even mean.

00:23:25.004 --> 00:23:27.884
They just have such comments sometimes that

00:23:27.884 --> 00:23:30.564
are so out there and i can't help but laugh i'm

00:23:30.564 --> 00:23:33.664
like i don't even know what you just said it's that new lingo it's

00:23:33.664 --> 00:23:36.444
just like hilarious i think i need i think i

00:23:36.444 --> 00:23:39.264
need a little bit of uh i think we might need a concrete example here

00:23:39.264 --> 00:23:42.244
what you guys might be talking about like i was doing math one

00:23:42.244 --> 00:23:44.884
day and um one of my students goes they're like

00:23:44.884 --> 00:23:48.624
miss this is like doing taxes and i was like do you know how to do taxes they're

00:23:48.624 --> 00:23:52.244
like no but now i'm never gonna try and i just thought that was so funny and

00:23:52.244 --> 00:23:59.784
i was like okay that's hilarious they just say things without thinking and sometimes

00:23:59.784 --> 00:24:03.504
it's good sometimes it's bad but a lot of times it's just so funny and they have a great take on it.

00:24:04.713 --> 00:24:07.453
That's awesome they are funny i mean that's like

00:24:07.453 --> 00:24:10.673
such a huge yeah it's so important to find the humor one

00:24:10.673 --> 00:24:13.733
of our favorite pieces of content and i know i keep plugging people that have

00:24:13.733 --> 00:24:17.153
been on our show but courtney varner hi it's me it's miss d uh she does like

00:24:17.153 --> 00:24:20.653
this thing where it's like things middle schoolers would say to me at my funeral

00:24:20.653 --> 00:24:26.573
and she's got like a hoodie on and the couple stickers and she just leaves over

00:24:26.573 --> 00:24:29.513
it's like do you have any takis it is it is the greatest,

00:24:30.413 --> 00:24:32.653
I was like, please make more of those.

00:24:32.813 --> 00:24:35.433
It should be a series. You should be doing one every week. Yeah.

00:24:35.953 --> 00:24:41.513
Especially with all of the brain rot, you know, six, seven, all that other nonsense

00:24:41.513 --> 00:24:42.633
that you get to hear all the time.

00:24:42.813 --> 00:24:45.213
Yeah. You always know you're in for it when they start with like,

00:24:45.913 --> 00:24:46.933
could I ask you something?

00:24:47.293 --> 00:24:49.313
Yes. No offense. Yes.

00:24:50.053 --> 00:24:55.213
Oh, that's the good one. No offense. I'm like, oh, I don't know if I told this

00:24:55.213 --> 00:24:57.373
story on the podcast. We were writing.

00:24:59.033 --> 00:25:02.473
I don't know if I told this, but I'm going to tell it now. We were we were writing

00:25:02.473 --> 00:25:07.233
holiday cards for senior citizens.

00:25:07.273 --> 00:25:12.393
They did a program in town where we have local senior centers and they had like

00:25:12.393 --> 00:25:14.933
kids can make greeting cards.

00:25:14.933 --> 00:25:19.053
So they were like drawing a picture and they said, if you please write a message,

00:25:19.233 --> 00:25:22.053
tell us about your favorite holiday tradition,

00:25:22.473 --> 00:25:24.773
remind the seniors to have a nice meal and enjoy themselves,

00:25:24.773 --> 00:25:28.093
you know, because some of them are in senior homes and their families might

00:25:28.093 --> 00:25:30.213
not be around. It's nice to do things for other people.

00:25:30.393 --> 00:25:35.653
So I made a point to put out to them like, Hey, some of you write a little bit

00:25:35.653 --> 00:25:40.953
small, make sure you read, make sure you write large enough for someone to be

00:25:40.953 --> 00:25:42.053
able to read your writing.

00:25:42.053 --> 00:25:46.333
And I had this very sweet girl in the most genuine way possible.

00:25:46.353 --> 00:25:50.453
She comes up to me and I'm like, I'm sitting at my desk and I'm looking at the

00:25:50.453 --> 00:25:52.073
cards. It's the holidays. I got stickers.

00:25:52.453 --> 00:25:54.393
I was really excited about the activity.

00:25:54.853 --> 00:25:56.973
And she comes up to me. She's like, Mr. Vitale. I'm like, yeah.

00:25:57.053 --> 00:25:59.713
She's like, can you read this? And I'm like.

00:26:01.203 --> 00:26:04.023
Do you want me to read it for content or are you asking me can

00:26:04.023 --> 00:26:08.023
I read it like is it large enough and she was like yeah

00:26:08.023 --> 00:26:10.923
is it large enough can you read it and I'm like are you

00:26:10.923 --> 00:26:13.703
saying I'm old and she's like yeah well no

00:26:13.703 --> 00:26:17.183
but like you're old and I'm like it's in the most genuine nicest way possible

00:26:17.183 --> 00:26:20.703
like she was not being mean in any way but she was basically saying like well

00:26:20.703 --> 00:26:26.703
you're the oldest person I know can you read you read this writing but it's

00:26:26.703 --> 00:26:30.223
the I think Morgan that's like Like you're only going to get that in the middle

00:26:30.223 --> 00:26:31.383
school class or like that.

00:26:31.403 --> 00:26:36.603
That's that's like literally what middle school life is like on the daily all the time.

00:26:37.343 --> 00:26:41.503
I often say I'm going to write a book of words I thought I would never put in

00:26:41.503 --> 00:26:43.123
a sentence when I woke up that morning.

00:26:43.383 --> 00:26:46.843
Like, no, could you stop poking that kid with your banana?

00:26:47.143 --> 00:26:49.703
Like those are all things I've said to people in the cafeteria.

00:26:49.903 --> 00:26:52.163
Like it's those types of things that are great.

00:26:52.303 --> 00:26:57.083
And I love those. I love the spirit week stuff you guys do where you do like

00:26:57.083 --> 00:27:00.043
your little outlet. your outfits and everything's, uh, themed.

00:27:00.223 --> 00:27:04.223
Do you guys have like a favorite one of those that you guys, uh, put out there?

00:27:05.043 --> 00:27:09.843
Have you ever thought I work in education? Why is finding a job so weirdly hard? Yeah.

00:27:10.123 --> 00:27:14.863
Scrolling through random job boards where half the listings don't even make sense is not the vibe.

00:27:15.063 --> 00:27:18.163
That's why njschooljobs.com actually makes sense.

00:27:18.343 --> 00:27:21.883
It's a job board built specifically for New Jersey schools, public,

00:27:22.223 --> 00:27:25.503
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00:27:25.743 --> 00:27:29.083
support staff, coaching opportunities. If your job involves a bell schedule,

00:27:29.303 --> 00:27:31.683
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00:27:31.943 --> 00:27:36.103
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Schools across New Jersey actively use njschooljobs.com so these are real current openings.

00:27:41.683 --> 00:27:46.343
They also host virtual job fairs where you can connect with multiple districts online.

00:27:46.683 --> 00:27:50.643
No driving all over the state. Those are coming up soon so check the link in

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our episode description to register head to njschooljobs.com.

00:27:57.476 --> 00:27:58.816
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00:27:58.816 --> 00:28:02.316
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00:28:39.400 --> 00:28:43.100
I was saying we did the student teacher swap day and we made a tick tock and

00:28:43.100 --> 00:28:46.300
that one went pretty viral to the point where kids were coming up to us and

00:28:46.300 --> 00:28:48.560
showing us, I think it was like YouTube shorts, right? Morgan.

00:28:48.940 --> 00:28:52.020
Yeah. They were like, look, you're in a YouTube shorts. Like, Oh, that's awesome.

00:28:52.300 --> 00:28:57.320
Someone was taking our video and using it in like a, like what's the word?

00:28:57.800 --> 00:29:02.000
Like a violation of like a bunch of teachers doing teacher student swap day.

00:29:02.100 --> 00:29:04.340
And like, it keeps popping up. Like even the other day, another kid came out

00:29:04.340 --> 00:29:07.200
to me. They're like, I saw you again on YouTube. I'm like, that's so funny.

00:29:08.140 --> 00:29:12.220
I am waiting for our teacher students flop day this year because I have so many

00:29:12.220 --> 00:29:13.520
plans that I am not revealing.

00:29:15.100 --> 00:29:19.940
I greatly enjoyed it last year. I had, what did I do? I did socks and Crocs.

00:29:20.040 --> 00:29:20.760
That's always the big one.

00:29:21.800 --> 00:29:26.060
I got like a, I got a wig, like a curly haired wig. So I looked like,

00:29:26.120 --> 00:29:27.800
you know, the boys with the alpaca haircuts.

00:29:28.520 --> 00:29:32.140
And I had, I have pimple stickers on. That was fun.

00:29:32.680 --> 00:29:36.240
And I kept walking into people's classes and asking them for Takis.

00:29:36.740 --> 00:29:40.860
And I had the sweatshirt with like one arm on, like one arm out,

00:29:40.980 --> 00:29:44.580
one arm. I still don't understand. That is the most uncomfortable thing. I haven't seen that.

00:29:45.220 --> 00:29:48.580
No, you haven't seen the sweatshirt where they wear one arm in and one arm out?

00:29:49.280 --> 00:29:52.400
Oh my God. Is that not a thing for you guys? No, I haven't seen that.

00:29:52.760 --> 00:30:00.000
Yeah, because I dressed like my son and the kids were like styled me specifically

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:05.080
with the sweatshirt that I had it on too much. Oh, habit.

00:30:07.000 --> 00:30:09.840
So it had to be half on and half off. Yeah.

00:30:10.040 --> 00:30:13.340
Well, we did the teacher swap. I dressed as our students, but I did a,

00:30:13.440 --> 00:30:17.160
like a boy football Jersey and I actually took my students Jersey and wore to school.

00:30:17.320 --> 00:30:19.540
Oh, that's cool. I like that. I like that. Yeah.

00:30:20.260 --> 00:30:22.860
I like that. Um, so, um,

00:30:24.024 --> 00:30:29.584
sorry. Um, in regards to like, as you guys continue on your journey,

00:30:29.684 --> 00:30:32.464
like, what do you guys think right now for you outside of, you know,

00:30:32.564 --> 00:30:34.784
you guys are making content, trying to do different things.

00:30:35.264 --> 00:30:38.944
Um, well, in regards to the profession itself though, what do you think is the

00:30:38.944 --> 00:30:41.604
biggest challenge for a new teacher entering the classroom right now?

00:30:41.684 --> 00:30:43.584
You guys are closer to that than Jamie and I are.

00:30:44.004 --> 00:30:47.704
So we'd love to hear your take on it. I mean, duh, but yeah.

00:30:51.704 --> 00:30:55.804
Um we've i've actually talked about this before um

00:30:55.804 --> 00:30:59.424
james secretly tried to kill me when she does i'm sorry

00:30:59.424 --> 00:31:02.464
like i don't know why you're saying that as if people don't

00:31:02.464 --> 00:31:05.704
know but yes go ahead sorry to interrupt

00:31:05.704 --> 00:31:09.004
apologies good i would say like in specifically

00:31:09.004 --> 00:31:12.284
coming from like grad school or even just a

00:31:12.284 --> 00:31:15.464
teacher's program in college you're not really taught classroom management

00:31:15.464 --> 00:31:18.424
so then you're just thrown into a classroom especially like the

00:31:18.424 --> 00:31:21.324
middle school age group we teach seventh grade so it's very

00:31:21.324 --> 00:31:25.184
it's like a different kind of beast um but you're

00:31:25.184 --> 00:31:28.164
not taught classroom management strategies to the fullest

00:31:28.164 --> 00:31:30.844
extent you're told about them a little

00:31:30.844 --> 00:31:34.264
bit so that was like the biggest thing that was we had

00:31:34.264 --> 00:31:38.644
to really adjust to as new teachers we didn't like know what to do or what's

00:31:38.644 --> 00:31:42.064
the best way to talk or even like talking to a parent how do you talk to a parent

00:31:42.064 --> 00:31:46.524
what's the best way to communicate like and you can't say it directly like your

00:31:46.524 --> 00:31:49.684
kid is acting this way you have to use like more fluff words with it so it's

00:31:49.684 --> 00:31:52.184
just like talking about that stuff yeah yeah,

00:31:52.723 --> 00:31:55.603
I remember being, oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. No, you're good.

00:31:55.863 --> 00:31:58.263
I was like, yeah, I agree. The classroom management, but I think like,

00:31:58.363 --> 00:32:02.083
I feel like our colleges kind of believe that we'll learn that through the student

00:32:02.083 --> 00:32:05.963
teaching, but I've heard so many stories and like me and myself that I didn't

00:32:05.963 --> 00:32:07.583
have like the best student teaching experience.

00:32:07.743 --> 00:32:11.363
So like I didn't get to teach as much as I probably should have for student teaching.

00:32:11.763 --> 00:32:14.563
Yeah. And I student taught during COVID when we were online. So.

00:32:15.143 --> 00:32:19.403
Oh, so you, yeah, you learned, don't take this the wrong way.

00:32:19.543 --> 00:32:22.443
You learned nothing because that's not that's not what it's like

00:32:22.443 --> 00:32:27.263
you know that that it's not and I didn't even think of that because now you

00:32:27.263 --> 00:32:31.643
say you've taught for five years year one for you was probably what hybrid year

00:32:31.643 --> 00:32:37.583
yeah it was hybrid year nope oh my goodness that must have been madness okay

00:32:37.583 --> 00:32:40.163
yeah so an entire semester that you did,

00:32:41.344 --> 00:32:45.724
Like, my student teaching was like a 20-week semester of school.

00:32:45.884 --> 00:32:52.544
Was that your— My student teaching was a full-year school calendar year. Oh, wow. But how often?

00:32:54.264 --> 00:32:58.604
I student taught straight for, I think it was 20 weeks.

00:32:59.024 --> 00:33:02.484
Okay. So, like, Monday through Friday full-time. Yeah, full-time.

00:33:02.484 --> 00:33:05.484
But I was in that same school for a whole calendar year.

00:33:05.984 --> 00:33:11.524
Got it. Okay. Wow. Oh, yes. I feel like there's lots of schools that have been moving towards that.

00:33:11.584 --> 00:33:16.444
I had a student teacher from Rutgers, and she was with me her junior year and her senior year.

00:33:18.304 --> 00:33:23.364
But it was, like, both times spring. So by the time she came around the second

00:33:23.364 --> 00:33:25.064
time, it was, like, full-time, full-time.

00:33:25.264 --> 00:33:30.144
But there's a lot of pressure, especially when you speak to parents and you

00:33:30.144 --> 00:33:33.584
realize, like, there are so many people who have children and have no idea how

00:33:33.584 --> 00:33:39.844
to be the parent. And then they sometimes are looking at you for advice or wisdom.

00:33:40.044 --> 00:33:46.064
And I remember that very distinctly, like in my 20s, before I was a parent myself of like, what?

00:33:46.384 --> 00:33:49.844
You want me to tell you what to do with your 13?

00:33:50.704 --> 00:33:55.224
You know, I remember being like very puzzled by that and then realizing like

00:33:55.224 --> 00:34:00.164
pretty quickly, no, they're serious. and I am like the professional and I do

00:34:00.164 --> 00:34:04.064
have to give them the best pieces of advice that I can and, you know,

00:34:04.144 --> 00:34:05.364
kind of get that from other people.

00:34:06.244 --> 00:34:10.384
That, and I remember, never write anything down. I mean, this was before computers,

00:34:10.384 --> 00:34:13.344
but it was like, don't put anything in writing and don't give them anything

00:34:13.344 --> 00:34:16.364
in writing and don't hand them anything. And being like...

00:34:16.967 --> 00:34:20.667
My very first year teaching and having a parent meeting and being like, oh my goodness.

00:34:20.927 --> 00:34:23.647
And there's like, there's kind of like those few things where you,

00:34:23.847 --> 00:34:28.247
no matter how far you get into it, they'll always stick with you.

00:34:28.367 --> 00:34:31.247
And you'll always remember like that, those situations of like,

00:34:31.327 --> 00:34:32.827
oh my gosh, don't write anything down ever.

00:34:33.247 --> 00:34:37.847
Yes. Or count all your kids before the fire drill because one of them,

00:34:38.087 --> 00:34:40.407
someone may take one of them just to try to trick you.

00:34:40.907 --> 00:34:44.027
I remember my student teaching and I still am like, one, two,

00:34:44.127 --> 00:34:44.907
three, four, five, six, yes.

00:34:46.787 --> 00:34:52.047
Never happened to me before. That's also the swing and a miss from a mentor program.

00:34:52.247 --> 00:34:56.047
Like, I think that's where, you know, if you have a good mentor as well,

00:34:56.287 --> 00:34:58.627
like when you're in, and we were talking about this today in my class,

00:34:58.767 --> 00:35:02.347
like, you know, when you get certain jobs, you,

00:35:02.507 --> 00:35:05.467
you know, you work with someone who's experienced because we were doing a Senate

00:35:05.467 --> 00:35:10.647
lesson and junior senators get paired up with senior senators to show them the

00:35:10.647 --> 00:35:14.527
ropes and here's how to do the job and that we get some of that.

00:35:14.747 --> 00:35:21.107
But my mentor showed up every month to have me sign a piece of paper that we met.

00:35:21.707 --> 00:35:24.947
Like there was no talking with him. He was like, he was, uh,

00:35:25.147 --> 00:35:27.747
months from retiring. I don't know why he was my mentor.

00:35:28.347 --> 00:35:33.207
Uh, I got nothing from him. So yeah, it does. And it was a long time ago.

00:35:33.347 --> 00:35:34.787
And then I had to figure it out on my own.

00:35:35.047 --> 00:35:39.027
Um, and hopefully you guys had a better experience, but if you didn't,

00:35:39.107 --> 00:35:43.827
that's where maybe one day when you're in that position, which you may be,

00:35:44.167 --> 00:35:46.987
that you'll make sure that those teachers have that support.

00:35:47.907 --> 00:35:50.207
What did your mentoring program look like?

00:35:51.742 --> 00:35:54.702
Um yours was at different school right morgan right

00:35:54.702 --> 00:35:57.482
you did at wanton oh yeah

00:35:57.482 --> 00:36:00.342
i'm my mentoring i went to school in connecticut so

00:36:00.342 --> 00:36:03.802
my whole thing was in connecticut and like i said my my

00:36:03.802 --> 00:36:07.242
uh college did it where your grad year

00:36:07.242 --> 00:36:09.962
because i did five-year master program your grad year is a

00:36:09.962 --> 00:36:12.802
full year at a school district and they pay

00:36:12.802 --> 00:36:15.702
for your grad year instead of like because you're oh

00:36:15.702 --> 00:36:19.022
employee for them i have never heard that before yeah

00:36:19.022 --> 00:36:22.142
it's really nice yeah so like i am i

00:36:22.142 --> 00:36:24.982
get assigned a mentor teacher the first day of school and i'm

00:36:24.982 --> 00:36:29.362
with them the whole year and then i will have like straight 20 weeks of actually

00:36:29.362 --> 00:36:33.382
student teaching but outside those things i'm like a sub in the building or

00:36:33.382 --> 00:36:38.742
i did a long-term leave so it was a great story that is very interesting uh

00:36:38.742 --> 00:36:42.162
because i never i had never uh morgan i'd never heard that before that schools

00:36:42.162 --> 00:36:44.142
will like pay for that, like a school district.

00:36:44.882 --> 00:36:48.962
It's Quinnipiac University. Okay, nothing wrong with that. So that was that

00:36:48.962 --> 00:36:51.582
specific to the university or something Connecticut does?

00:36:52.122 --> 00:36:53.702
That's specific to the university.

00:36:54.522 --> 00:36:59.422
That's very interesting. That's also an attraction to go and be a part of those programs.

00:36:59.602 --> 00:37:03.282
Again, Jamie and I are, we're living the college experience right now,

00:37:03.402 --> 00:37:06.082
which is way, way different than when we did it.

00:37:07.082 --> 00:37:11.602
No, that's, that's, so, and yours was a master. But when you were a first-year teacher.

00:37:12.382 --> 00:37:16.362
When you were a first-year teacher, you were assigned a mentor with your school

00:37:16.362 --> 00:37:19.902
district? Oh, yes. Yes. Okay. And was that...

00:37:20.766 --> 00:37:23.466
Someone that so and then you move to districts and you

00:37:23.466 --> 00:37:27.426
don't get another one so then you have to like no i yeah yeah

00:37:27.426 --> 00:37:30.126
i didn't i was at my other district for two years so i had that

00:37:30.126 --> 00:37:32.846
mentor for two years and then well just

00:37:32.846 --> 00:37:36.346
for the first year really yeah and then when i came to the new district honestly

00:37:36.346 --> 00:37:39.306
nicole's my mentor so she actually liked

00:37:39.306 --> 00:37:42.066
it yeah showing me all the ropes so she

00:37:42.066 --> 00:37:45.326
really was my mentor yeah and you need that yeah for

00:37:45.326 --> 00:37:48.666
each other's mentor really yeah that's great yeah well

00:37:48.666 --> 00:37:51.806
yeah that's where you know those relationships

00:37:51.806 --> 00:37:55.206
that you create with your co-workers uh are are

00:37:55.206 --> 00:37:58.006
ones that you know are long-lasting so if you guys ever

00:37:58.006 --> 00:38:00.686
you know who knows where your paths are going

00:38:00.686 --> 00:38:03.386
to be right if you decide to go to different schools at one point you'll still

00:38:03.386 --> 00:38:06.906
have that you know connection with one another um to

00:38:06.906 --> 00:38:09.686
to fall back on you know that's great yeah and we

00:38:09.686 --> 00:38:12.386
really try to be like the welcoming committee at our school with all the new

00:38:12.386 --> 00:38:15.666
teachers so like the other two people that are in our group that are in our

00:38:15.666 --> 00:38:19.526
videos and you are they were there at the teacher convention yes we were new

00:38:19.526 --> 00:38:22.646
last year last year was their first year of teaching so we really like took

00:38:22.646 --> 00:38:26.186
them under our wings and that helped them that's great do you go to the convention

00:38:26.186 --> 00:38:30.286
every year or was this um the first one for you our first one.

00:38:30.706 --> 00:38:35.586
And what was the incentive for you to go um i feel like we just heard a bunch

00:38:35.586 --> 00:38:39.686
of the other teachers talk about it like we don't did we get any i think we

00:38:39.686 --> 00:38:44.586
get pd hours yes like it was just kind of like, let's go for fun.

00:38:44.726 --> 00:38:47.866
Like, why not? Like, we have to go at least once. And now we're like, let's go back.

00:38:48.026 --> 00:38:50.486
Like, let's go again next year. All the veteran teachers were like,

00:38:50.546 --> 00:38:53.066
you should do it at least once in your career. Yeah.

00:38:53.286 --> 00:38:56.466
You should do it when you're young. And we were like, you know what? Why not? Let's do it.

00:38:56.706 --> 00:38:59.646
And we're so glad we did. We had such a great time.

00:39:00.026 --> 00:39:02.246
Did you stay? Yeah, we stayed the whole weekend.

00:39:02.766 --> 00:39:05.706
Oh, great. Which hotel did you stay at?

00:39:06.560 --> 00:39:11.400
The Hard Rock? The Hard Rock, yeah. Oh, okay. Yes, I stayed at the Borgata.

00:39:11.960 --> 00:39:15.260
Joe didn't stay, so he did a lot of driving.

00:39:15.460 --> 00:39:19.660
But we stayed for two nights, my husband and I. And I will say that as an old

00:39:19.660 --> 00:39:23.620
lady, I was not used to the smoke.

00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:30.160
No, because everything is—and as a former smoker, my kids know I used to smoke.

00:39:30.260 --> 00:39:34.180
As people used to smoke in the 90s, it was much more common.

00:39:34.180 --> 00:39:40.100
And, but it was so strange to be in an environment where smoke lives and not

00:39:40.100 --> 00:39:44.760
just like you dip in and you go to dinner and then you go back sleeping in the hotel.

00:39:44.780 --> 00:39:49.300
Like my nose, I had nosebleeds for like a week after. Oh, goodness.

00:39:49.820 --> 00:39:53.200
Isn't that wild? My husband too. And he, I mean, he was a bouncer when we met.

00:39:53.360 --> 00:39:57.040
So like what up in the club and people, you know, you could drink and dance

00:39:57.040 --> 00:39:58.000
and smoke and the whole thing.

00:39:58.300 --> 00:40:03.100
Yes, he was. Yes, he was. And he was in Hoboken. He was a bouncer in Hoboken.

00:40:03.716 --> 00:40:06.856
He was a bouncer in Hoboken. That's where we met. It's like paid for,

00:40:06.976 --> 00:40:09.156
you know, my engagement ring, our wedding, all the things.

00:40:09.296 --> 00:40:12.616
So it's like big ups to the bouncing. But that was very different for me of

00:40:12.616 --> 00:40:15.416
like, huh. And someone said, you have to stay in a hotel.

00:40:16.496 --> 00:40:21.416
I think next door to Borgata, there's another tower. That's smokeless.

00:40:22.316 --> 00:40:26.976
I was like, ah, good tip. Because I'm already planning my trip for next year. Yeah.

00:40:27.716 --> 00:40:33.976
Joe, you're staying this year. Yeah. I wanted to. My kids had an in-person decision

00:40:33.976 --> 00:40:38.336
day down in Stockton, so I had to drive back and then get them back down because

00:40:38.336 --> 00:40:40.096
my wife had a work obligation.

00:40:40.316 --> 00:40:45.596
So I made that trip twice that week, which was fine.

00:40:46.576 --> 00:40:50.216
An exciting time to do all that. But yeah, definitely to go back next year.

00:40:50.436 --> 00:40:53.756
I mean, maybe we'll see you guys down there, of course.

00:40:54.916 --> 00:40:58.796
We'll have a bigger crew. Yeah, I love it. I love it.

00:40:59.776 --> 00:41:02.836
That's great. it's awesome uh look we

00:41:02.836 --> 00:41:05.616
we love what you do i think that the content that you guys put out

00:41:05.616 --> 00:41:08.456
there is awesome uh and what's great about

00:41:08.456 --> 00:41:11.316
it is it's you might be the math girls but it's

00:41:11.316 --> 00:41:14.676
not just boring math content it's actually like fun

00:41:14.676 --> 00:41:17.556
things to show like we can have fun at this job and

00:41:17.556 --> 00:41:21.016
be jovial and put ourselves out there um which

00:41:21.016 --> 00:41:23.576
i think is awesome i love what you guys are doing so i

00:41:23.576 --> 00:41:26.656
agree agree yeah so uh

00:41:26.656 --> 00:41:30.176
miss blanco i appreciate you friend i appreciate you

00:41:30.176 --> 00:41:33.676
and morgan and nicole and all

00:41:33.676 --> 00:41:38.396
my technical difficulties which never came to end but hey and before i forget

00:41:38.396 --> 00:41:43.996
i also appreciate our season three sponsor uh teachers yeah i know teachers

00:41:43.996 --> 00:41:49.096
insurance plan uh check out their website tagged in our episode uh our season

00:41:49.096 --> 00:41:50.856
three is brought to you by teachers insurance plan.

00:41:50.996 --> 00:41:54.956
Teachers insurance plan, auto insurance that brings exclusive educator savings

00:41:54.956 --> 00:41:59.196
and exceptional customer care to New Jersey and Pennsylvania employees.

00:41:59.971 --> 00:42:02.891
All right uh we're getting full thank you very

00:42:02.891 --> 00:42:05.791
much for joining us such an awesome not only was

00:42:05.791 --> 00:42:08.251
it awesome meeting you guys at the convention but it was great that we were

00:42:08.251 --> 00:42:12.231
able to you know meet and powwow and talk a little bit and and get your insight

00:42:12.231 --> 00:42:16.351
and thank you for letting us uh suck up the youth from you guys appreciate it

00:42:16.351 --> 00:42:21.931
this is my favorite part of the day yeah all right we will see everybody next

00:42:21.931 --> 00:42:23.531
time on the balancing act podcast.