August 6, 2024 • 48 mins
Monday morning football lessons can spark student engagement. Just ask Mary.
We’re kicking off our season with third-grade teacher Mary Martinez Crippen from Miami, Florida, joined by Teachers in America host, Kailey Rhodes. Mary became a viral sensation when she began tracking football stats with her class and sharing their journey on social media. Throughout the football season, her students learned grit, perseverance, and other life lessons. In this episode, Mary gives advice on how to incorporate personal passions into your instruction, how to connect classroom learning to the real world, and how to include football into your own lessons.
Teachers in America profiles K–12 teachers across the country. Hear firsthand from the people who are shaping young lives in the classroom every day. If you or someone you know would be a good candidate for Teachers in America, please email us at shaped@hmhco.com.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It puts me to the test each and every year, each,
every week, because there'ssomething that's changed.
It's not the same season as itwas last season, it's not the
same lessons and things that arehappening, so you really have
to be on your game.
And it keeps you going, wakingup, and it keeps me thinking
about my classroom, whereas ifI'm just teaching from the book
and not adding any extra flair,I'm just waking up and teaching
(00:22):
from the book, whereas this isthis sets the fuel, where then,
after it's like, okay, open upyour books and let's read our
next tech set, and they're,they're ready to go, and they
take stories and they comparecharacters to characters on on
the dolphins right, it's justwild.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
From paper to pencil to wifi and AI, education is
ever evolving.
On this new season of Teachersin America, we'll keep you on
the forefront of what's new.
We connect with teachers and edleaders to talk trending topics
and real issues, bringing youinspiring ideas that will
influence the future of yourteaching.
Today, we're excited to welcomehost Kaylee Rhodes to the
(01:00):
Teachers in America team.
She's a math teacher inPortland Oregon and she recently
sat down with MaryMartinez-Crippen, third grade
Miami Dade teacher and viralsensation.
You may have scrolled throughsocial media and seen how Mary
is tying football into hereveryday lessons.
Well, we're kicking off ourseason with advice from Mary on
how to make real worldconnections in the classroom.
(01:20):
Now here's Kaylee and Mary.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Mary, welcome.
Hi, thanks for having me,kaylee.
Oh, I'm so.
It's like a fangirl crush overhere.
I went to watch your I learnedabout you for this podcast and I
went to watch your TikTokvideos and I just like got a
little bit lost inside them.
I just love your teachingpersona.
Thank you, thank you, it's wildmy favorite is like a recent
(01:45):
one, where you're in your likeum Christmas pjs oh yes, the uh.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
I think that one's pinned at the top when I am.
It was the last.
It was the last preview beforewe went off for Christmas break
or winter break, and thedolphins had played like three
games.
We're gonna be playing threegames.
So it was like threepredictions we were doing and
they were.
It was the last day beforewinter, before we were off for
break and the Dolphins hadplayed like three games.
We're going to be playing threegames.
So it was like threepredictions we were doing and
they were.
It was the last day beforewinter, before we were off for
break.
We're all in our pajamas, we'reready to go, but we are talking
(02:11):
about football before we leavefor two weeks.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
And they're totally into it.
I mean, this is the secret,right?
This is the whole point of this.
It's like this evergreen themethat keeps your kids engaged.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Right and it keeps me engaged.
I'm not going to like this,keeps me wanting to come back
and puts the fire in me, and Ithink that's what we all need as
educators.
Is that fire to keep going,especially because it gets tough
as a teacher, and there aredays where we wake up and we're
like, oh, what am I?
Doing here?
Can I just work from home fortoday?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I'm sick, no, I know.
But like, as we head into backto school, it's so cool that,
like, you're going to be doingfootball again, obviously this
year.
But it's so different everyyear Cause, like the season's
different.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
And that's the greatest thing ever.
It's because there's, there'sso and you don't know what's
going to happen.
And that's the beautiful thingis, you teach them that life
lesson throughout the way,throughout throughout the
entirety of the season.
You don't know what's going tohappen until they play the game,
because we can say they'regoing to win, we can say they're
going to beat them or they'regoing to lose, but you don't
(03:16):
know, and that's like life,until you try you just, you just
don't know.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
And how, how is it?
How do they handle thedisappointment?
How do you, how do you putguardrails around that, have
discussions around that reallygrow them in like their
disappointment muscles?
Speaker 1 (03:30):
I think that we, just like I, really was inspired by
coach McDaniel and the way thathe put it into perspective.
A loss is an opportunity forgrowth, and especially because
the way that this started wasdolphins.
It was very simple we trackedthe dolphins.
The dolphins win 10 extraminutes of recess, the dolphins
do not win, there's no extrarecess.
(03:52):
And we were hyped.
And then the first loss cameand, instead of just putting up
the L on the board and moving on, I said you know what?
I would have given them 10extra minutes of recess had they
had won.
Let's talk about the loss.
(04:15):
Let's talk about what it means.
Where do you go from here?
What's coming next?
Well, another game is coming,whether they like it or not.
Are they going to sit and sulk?
for a week Right, or are wegoing to learn from our mistakes
and get better, kind of like inthird grade?
It's a rigorous testing year inFlorida, with our cold reads,
our progress monitoringassessments, our portfolio
(04:36):
assessments.
Are you going to sit there andsulk in your mistakes?
Are you going to let's dive in,because we do heavy debriefs
with our, with our cold readsand our portfolios and
everything that we're doing toreally understand what they're
asking us in these questions andhow to answer it?
Or are you going to take thatopportunity to learn from where
you went wrong?
(04:57):
And I really, and it startedlike that every every week that
it went, every week that passedand it started to become they
were telling me what thedolphins needed to do and I
wasn't leading the discussion,they were leading it.
So if you look at some of thebeginning videos, which were
when I threw them up on TikTok,they weren't, as I wasn't
expecting it to be as massive asit was.
(05:17):
Now I've kind of got it where Ican title it and if you want to
look for a video, you know oneto click, but in the beginning,
all the videos look the samebecause I'm just standing at the
board and you're like what isshe talking about on this one?
You have to like listen to it.
But as you watch them you seethat their understanding of each
passing week, what a loss means, what a win means, and even
just the little things thathappen in the game, because now
they're interested Somebodygetting hurt, a penalty
(06:08):
no-transcript.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
But what I want to make sure that we do is, you
know, I want to make sure thatif you're not a third grade
teacher, if you're notinterested in football, if
you're not, if you don't feellike you have any connection to
like mathy, statsy stuff likeyou still can do what you've
done, which is basically likebring an open-ended situation
into the classroom, a real world, real stakes, ongoing kind of
(06:40):
theme into the classroom thatkeeps everybody engaged and like
I think what I'm also hearingis that in following a team, you
really like create a team.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Our classroom is our team and, especially with the
Dolphins, it's our sense ofcommunity because it's our
hometown.
Whereas so, and I've had a lotof teachers that have reached
out to me on TikTok and onInstagram saying I'm from
Buffalo and I can't wait to dothis with my class next year in
Buffalo, and I've had principalsreach out saying we'd love to
do a Zoom with from a childrenthird grade class from Rochester
(07:14):
, we'd love to Zoom with younext year, from, like, fans of
Buffalo, fans of the Dolphins,just to talk about what's
different about Buffalo andMiami, what's fandom like, just
all the differences.
So I think it just creates evenif you're not a football fan,
just try it it's just the senseof community that you get within
your classroom and you almoststart to love it even more.
(07:34):
Not I mean, I didn't need tolove football even more, but I
paid attention 10 times morethroughout the week just because
I was like how am I going toapply this and teach this to my
kids Now?
How am I going to?
So?
Monday mornings were the best,even after a tough Sunday loss.
What am I going to do now toteach my kids about this?
And it kept those creativejuices flowing for me and, mind
(07:57):
you, this was just our 10 minutewarmup activity.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
This was not even like an entire lesson.
Yeah, that's's my question.
Help an educator who'sinterested in this and who maybe
is thinking like, oh gosh, Idon't have any time.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Like, yeah, build that up for us and I think for
me it started on such, itstarted on a whim.
It actually started last yearwhere, when I first moved from
kindergarten to third grade Iwas I noticed the big jump in
just age difference.
Right, yeah, third grade is verydifferent from kindergarten and
a couple of the boys night andday I have more energy now as a
third grade teacher, but I'mlike, oh, let me research that.
(08:31):
I'm not quite sure about thatanswer.
Let me ask Google.
But I noticed their interest insports was tenfold and they
weren't just a fan of a teambecause their grownups were.
They were a fan of the teambecause they had their own
passions and they are their own.
They're starting to becometheir own humans in third grade
and they really are there.
They have their own interestsand whatnot.
So last year is when I actuallygot into like a little argument
(08:54):
with a student.
He was talking about PatrickMahomes, I was talking about Tua
and I was like, okay, well, andthat's where I just threw up
the dolphin schedule on theboard in the beginning of the
year and I said, okay, we'regoing to track the dolphins.
Here's the deal If they win,you guys get 10 extra minutes of
recess.
If they don't, then that's it.
And then that's how it started.
And then that's the crazy thing, it was just a W and L and then
move on.
(09:14):
But then, as each passing week,they started asking questions
and it just grew and it builtand then.
So when I came back for thisyear I knew it's something I was
I wanted to do again, and itreally was the community of the
dolphins that turned it intowhat this is now, because I took
.
I took what I did to X, formerlyknown as Twitter, and one of
(09:36):
the dolphins beat reporters, waslike, oh, you should also track
that.
And I was like, oh, that's sucha good idea.
And then it just turned intoour Monday morning.
Quick, I'm telling you 10minutes, maybe 20 minutes tops
If there was something likeextra that happened, or if there
was like we were going on breakand there was a three game
stretch, but it was winter breakand we could afford the 20
(09:57):
minutes of conversation we gotinto such a routine where it was
come in and they were on timeto school.
They were excited to come toschool and it's Monday.
It's Monday and they were.
I would be in my classroom,Cause I get here early.
I get here at six 45.
Don't ask me why, but I do.
Um, and I would hear themarguing outside about the game
or arguing about the score orwho won or no.
(10:20):
This happened, and it's justthen.
They came in and their brainswere already turned on because
they knew the conversation thatwas coming and they were already
talking about their numbers,that they had predicted and who
was closest.
So their brains were alreadyturning on, which is half the
battle in the morning.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Yeah, it really is.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Getting their brains to turn on, but I didn't have to
do that anymore.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
No, and it sounds like there's so much.
The sparks were flying.
You teach reading, you teachELA, your focus is literacy, but
, man, how can you even talkabout football without talking
about all these numbers?
I mean, you've said, even inthese examples, you're saying so
many numbers, and so, like I'mjust hearing and I'm gonna skip
ahead to a question how this isso ripe for just so many
(10:59):
cross-curricular connections,especially like if we have
teachers who teach oldersubjects, listening, you know,
like if you're, if you're amiddle school teacher, imagine
where you could go with thishigh school teacher.
You could go deep.
I mean, you're into stats now,but, um, how have you been able
to see?
Or or maybe I can phrase thisquestion and you can answer it
whichever way you want.
But, like if you had a magicwand and you had, um, resources,
(11:20):
money, time and cooperation,cooperation what would you do
with the cross-curricularopportunities of a football
theme?
Speaker 1 (11:31):
That's a loaded question.
So you're saying, if I I'mtrying to get this question
correct if I had unlimitedresources, what?
How would I?
What would I do with thisprogram?
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Yeah, if you could just dream as big as you wanted,
like how could you get reallyall of that cross curricular
juice out of this like such ripefield?
Speaker 1 (12:00):
for this year.
What I'm starting is we aremoving beyond dolphins, and
something that I learned lastyear is because half of the
battle is what I learned trulythis year as an educator was to
listen more to them.
And sometimes we can preach andwe can preach, but we need to
stop and we need to listen tothe children.
Um, cause they've got a lot tosay.
And um, when we, we, when theDolphins were eliminated out of
the playoffs, they asked can wecontinue to follow?
(12:22):
and I said sure, and they wereso interested in all of the
other teams, the stories, thehistory, so I started okay,
let's, and it was on a whim.
So I talked to them about DanCampbell and the Detroit Lions,
how he was a part of their teamin 2008 when the Lions went 0-16
.
And now he's returned as theircoach and he has changed this
(12:44):
program around and just themagnitude of Dan Campbell and
his grit and what he's done tothe program and they have it
sparked a fire in them.
Where is Detroit?
What's it like over there?
And they wanted to.
I had a couple of them startlike a Detroit Lions fan club
and I was like, what's it likeover there?
And they wanted to.
I had a couple of them startlike a Detroit lions fan club
and I was like what?
But?
And then?
So this year I said you knowthey, I'm doing them a
(13:04):
disservice if I only stick tothe dolphins.
So each of them this yearthey're going to draft their own
team.
So they're going to and they'regoing to and that team and I
think I'm.
So.
What I'm so excited for is thatyou know, we went on this
dolphins journey together.
So when the dolphins lost, weall lost and we talked about the
loss.
When the dolphins won, we allcelebrate and we got extra
(13:25):
recess.
Well, we're still going to dothat.
I, I will.
The dolphins is my team.
I will draft them and that willbe my model on the board, as I
do.
But each of them are going todraft their own team.
They'll pick a team out of ahat.
They can choose to trade theteam or whatnot, and since I
have two classes, all 32 teamswill be represented and maybe
some double.
Then they'll get to.
(13:45):
I even created and I got thisactually from my mom, who
created this, but I'm putting myown twist on it she just did it
in a time where there wasn'tsocial media, so, um.
So they'll follow their teamthe stats, the, the climate, how
the time zones, right, and whatI want to really um do with
(14:06):
them is technology literacy.
Some of some of them just don'tuse technology in the proper
way, so we're going to.
We're going to research.
We're going to look up theofficial NFL site.
This is an official website.
You're going to go to your team.
You're going to read about yourteam.
You're going to fill out ahistory report.
You're going to talk abouttheir climate.
Each week You're going to do areport.
Who did they play?
Um, how far in miles is thatteam from you?
(14:28):
Um, did you change time zones,did you?
But then, at the end of the day, when we come in on Mondays,
all of them have gone on adifferent journey, which is like
life.
Yeah, raise your hand If youwon.
A couple of hands will beraised.
Raise your hand If you lost.
Look at your best friend.
Did she win?
Did she lose?
Did he win?
Look, you know, there's goingto be times in life where I win
and he loses.
And how, how do we handle thatwhen one of us is winning and
(14:51):
one of us is looting and it's alot of the social, emotional
learning how do you, how do youhandle friendships?
When one of you is celebratingand it happens in life, even as
adults, in relationships andfriendships, we celebrate a
promotion when somebody ismourning the loss of something,
right?
How do you handle those things.
So I'm really excited for that,just because they showed such
(15:12):
an interest, and I still havethe flags on my board.
And actually today we wentthrough like the changes how the
Las Vegas Raiders used to bethe Oakland Raiders.
They were just so enthralledwith all of it.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
It's amazing because, also, what's really cool is
that you know you've triedsomething for a couple of years
and teachers have this reallyunique ability to like reset
every year and that can be likereally boring or it can be
awesome because we get to likelearn and literally try again
and iterate.
It sounds like you've beentrying something.
You're going to try somethingnew.
I'm so curious, like causewe're heading into back to
(15:44):
school.
I'm so curious about a yearfrom now, about like are you?
Are you going to be like, uh, I, I loved this, I'm going to
stick with it.
Are you going to be like, oh, Igot to go back to the Dolphins
as a team.
Yeah, like it's going to befascinating, but can you build a
go?
Speaker 1 (16:02):
No, I'm just saying that's the great thing and
that's what keeps me going,because we all have a curriculum
that we follow and then we canall become masters of it.
But this has truly.
It puts me to the test each andevery year, each every week,
because there's something that'schanged.
It's not.
It's not the same season as itwas last season.
It's not the same lessons andthings that are happening.
So you really have to be onyour game and it keeps you,
keeps you going, waking up, andit keeps me thinking about my
(16:24):
classroom, whereas if I'm justteaching from the book and not
adding any extra flair, I'm justwaking up and teaching from the
book, whereas this is this setsthe fuel where then after it's
like okay, open up your booksand let's read our next text set
and they're ready to go.
(16:44):
And they take stories and theycompare characters to characters
on the dolphins right, it's?
Speaker 3 (16:47):
just wild.
I wonder if there's even likean opportunity and I'm sure you
have the answer for this, butlike, of reading football
coverage.
Reading I mean introducing somuch.
There's so much copy writtenabout football and if our, if
our focus is literacy, I meanwell, they even you look at
their um library checkout, logthe pre and post.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
All of them.
Now, even different teams, likethey're checking out books all
about history of the green baypackers uh, the san francisco
49ers.
I just had like 10 of themreturn books today.
Eight of the 10 of them wereall football books because they
want to go to the library andthey want to read about them.
They want to read about theseteams and they're interested and
and it's cool because they allfind connections to these teams
(17:27):
in different ways, whether theirfavorite animal is the lion or
their favorite color combinationor they love.
I went to California for thefirst time this past summer and
it was the best time ever.
So now they're a Rams fan, ormy grandmother is from Green Bay
, whatever, and now I'm aPackers.
There's some connection thatall of them can make on so many
different levels.
You don't just have to be likea hard-o football fan.
(17:48):
You know there's.
There's a level and a surfacefor everybody.
Which makes football so greatis you don't have there's so
many different ways to connectwith it.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Hey teacher friends.
If you're an HMH user, did youknow you have access to
Teachers' Corner on Ed Includedwith every HMH program?
Teachers' Corner is a communityof teachers, learning experts
and instructional coachesgathered in one place to support
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(18:22):
resources.
Teacher's Corner lets youchoose how you interact with our
content.
I like to think about it asinspiration on demand.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
You know you're on social media.
I think social media, when usedcorrectly and sparingly, is
just like incredible foreducators, because we learn so
much.
And as you are sharing these umand connecting with other
educators on social media, areyou seeing, like other, mary
Martinez Crippins emerging withtheir own like niches of like
(18:53):
well, I'm not doing football inmy classroom, but I'm doing X.
Or do you have you had anyother other outside inspiration
that our listeners could be like?
You know, maybe I couldn't dothis with football, but I could
do it with something else.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
I haven't seen it yet and I think, just because of
the, I think I will see a lot ofit next this year, because once
I feel like once you get into agroove with something in the
middle of the school year, it'sso hard.
It's like when the districtwill hand you like a new
textbook in December and you'relike how am I supposed to learn
and implement this new?
Speaker 3 (19:24):
textbook.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
I will add it to the list ofresources that I already have
and I'm supposed to be using anddon't know how to fit it all in
already, but thank you, butit's like talk to me in a year
from now and then I'll be ableto tell you.
I have had a lot of people whohave been inspired by it and
want to do it in their own waysand have talked about
implementing it in their own wayin their own city.
(19:47):
I'll be interested to see howit plays out.
But I think TikTok has beenespecially for educators.
It is such a cool.
You know, some of my favoritethings that educators are doing
now is like things that I'msaving that I'm definitely going
to purchase next year for myclassroom.
It's like timers for, like, thestruggling student who can't
get work finished on time.
It's like one of thosehourglass hourglasses but it has
(20:09):
five, 10, 15 minutes and it'slike that would have been
perfect for me to use.
So there's always something tolearn as an educator and I think
that's the by learning andcollaborating with each other.
That's the best way.
I think TikTok does a great jobat doing that, facilitating
that.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Can you tell us your your TikTok handle so that we
can make sure our listeners cango check you out and what I also
?
Love about your TikTok and Iwant to tell our listeners this
is that you, you're, you'reputting up live footage of your
teaching, so teachers are notonly learning from how you're
doing and implementing thefootball, but we're watching
(20:44):
your classroom management.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
We're watching.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
I mean and my attempt , I'm just kidding and well, and
also like your patience whenyou intervene, when you kind of
let them like cue chaos, and Ithink that's really valuable.
So our listeners should gocheck you out at.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Mary is Bananas M-A-R-Y-I-S-B-A-N-A-N-A-S.
It was my seventh grade AIMscreen name.
That has never changed and itis my handle for everything.
I just and now I can't changeit, it just, it cannot change.
I.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
I am.
If you think I'm gonnareciprocate with my AIM username
, you are mistaken it's notgonna happen.
so, um, if you were gonna giveadvice to listeners who do want
to try this, um, and and Ireally I'm a sixth grade math
teacher um, I've taught eighthgrade, uh, english as well.
And I feel like I'm a sixthgrade math teacher, I've taught
eighth grade English as well andI feel like I actually feel
(21:41):
like, if you're, if you are ateacher who teaches even like
12th grade, you actually couldprobably pull out even more like
way more Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Probably better math than I can.
Third grade math is perfect forme because it's probably as
high as I can go right nowwithout having to really study.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
I know I'm not hearing you talk down your
numeracy I know that here as amath teacher.
But if they kind of wanted tojust like try, they can't commit
a whole year.
What should they like?
Superbowl, Like.
How should they?
What should they do?
Speaker 1 (22:11):
I think the easiest way to try is start small.
I mean, the first thing that Idid was just track the wins and
the losses and see what happensand have some sort of tangible
reward.
Don't spend hundreds of dollarseach week if you have the
Chiefs and they're winning right, spending candy for these kids.
(22:33):
Extra recess was something thatI could afford in my schedule
and I was willing to do for thekids on a Monday, cause it's not
like it was every day.
It was on a Monday.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Oh, good clarity.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
They might.
It was just the day after thewin.
They would get 10 extra minutesof recess.
It was not the whole week,right, nice, so that was
something that I could afford.
Um, maybe it's whatever type,whatever your kids might be
interested in.
Maybe they like to eat lunchwith the teacher, maybe the day
after they eat lunch in yourclassroom.
It's something that's free.
Free seating no seating chart onMonday yeah, exactly, I'd say
(23:09):
start small, start with there,because that's that's where I
started, when I didn't know whatthis was going to be at all.
It all started on a whim frommy, from my ADD.
It was just like, well, let'shere we go.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
But then you pulled in your responsive teaching
where you were like, oh, I'mjust, they're interested, cool,
I'll, I'll do this.
And like that's the whole.
Whenever we, we, as teachershere, you know the the warm
fuzzy bumper sticker advice oflike you know, listen to your
student.
That's what it actually lookslike, this is what it looks like
.
So I love this advice Startsmall.
Pick a team, pick your team.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
And pick your team, because I did my first year of
teaching very first year ofteaching ever at a charter
school in Rhode Island and Icouldn't have pulled off the
Miami Dolphins in Rhode Islandwhen they're massive Patriots
fans.
I mean I used to get booed atStop and Shop for wearing my
Dolphins jersey.
Like there was one time afterthe Dolphins beat the Patriots
(24:00):
and I went to Stop and Shop andthe guy was like you're not
coming to this checkout line?
Oh my gosh, he was kidding.
But you know you have to findthat connection and start small.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
I mean but it sounds like you could do that with any
team.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
I mean, I'm a soccer person so we could track an
English Premier League game.
But you could and I.
And that's actually brought inbecause my second class is my
ESOL class, where I have I callmyself the United, the teacher
of the United Nations for mysecond class, because they come
from all over and it's so coolbecause Miami truly is a melting
pot.
And talking about soccer I meantalking about football has
gotten some of my soccer playersto talk about soccer and then I
(24:39):
learned interests about themthat I might've not even known.
Yes, I knew they like soccer,but now they're telling me what
teams they like the premierleague and they're teaching me
about the differences becausethey see, oh, okay, like we're
talking about football, likethey feel more inclined to share
what they like to do, orcheerleading, or dance, or so
(24:59):
it's just a way for them to feelcomfortable and I've learned so
much about my students doingthis just because they see me
now as a human and as somebodywho is going through as a fan.
Right, they're not just lookingat me as miss martinez, miss
mrs crippen, like, oh, we needto follow rules.
They're seeing me as a human,responding to my favorite team,
(25:19):
their wins and their losses andstruggling with it, and we're
just able to talk and for oncewe're not talking about their
data and their testing and whatthey need to do and all the
expectations that they have thisyear and how they need to pass
third grade and if not, if theydon't pass the portfolio or the
fast, they have a possibility ofgetting retained.
(25:41):
But once they're able to putthat aside and they're able to
follow a team and it's not abouttheir wins and their losses,
it's about the teams and thenthey can take that lesson that
they learned and correlate it totheir own life so that when
they go through those failuresbecause I remind them that you
are going to fail- you are notbetter than the dolphins Right
(26:02):
1972 dolphins, maybe Perfectseason.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Totally yeah, yeah, 1972.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
I think what I would love for teachers is for somehow
some way to take this programand maybe to inspire other
teachers doing professionaldevelopment, helping them.
Because it is scary, especiallyas a first year teacher,
especially as when you see allthe expectations you have lined
up, it's scary to add new things.
It's scary to go off the railswhen there's a book and there's
(26:32):
a pacing guide in front of youand you have all these things
that you feel like you need todo.
But I honestly and I have agroup of students in this past
year I truly believe because ofthis program it pushed them to a
level they weren't being met atbefore.
It allowed them to because youknow you set the expectation
high right, it sounds liketalking about football and
(26:57):
watching.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
You know, highly paid , highly professional, the top
of their game.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Athletes lose, drop a ball fumble to respond like how
some students when they whenthey're going through their
emotions and they respond in away and they see that happen and
then they see them bring itback and pull it together, but
(27:24):
they apologize, right, andthey're human.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Yeah, but I think it's like this is this is what
we mean by a growth mindset.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Mm, hmm and let me tell you this season and that's
why I love the NFL, because Iknow you talked about tracking,
like soccer the greatest thingabout the NFL is it happens all
in the same school year, so youstart like I will start and
finish an NFL season with thesame group of kids, whereas you
won't do that with baseball.
And you won't do that withbasketball because, especially
if your team makes it to thefinals, you won't get to do that
(27:55):
because the season has thatyour school year has ended and
the finals are happening duringthe summer.
So that's the best thing aboutfootball and it's once a week.
It's not like these crazy.
I mean, baseball is like allthe time.
I feel like it was basedconstantly.
And it's right.
So there is one game.
It's very easy for them and theperfect thing and the greatest
thing why I love third grade isthat right when the football
(28:17):
season ends and the Super Bowlor cheering for it is right when
they are beginning theirportfolio.
And the portfolio is basicallykind of like a football season
where it's 17 assessments, oneper week.
Maybe you take two with thespring break, but it's like a
football season.
So we take those same lessonsthat we talked about all
(28:38):
throughout the 17 or 20 weeks ofthe season and we apply it.
Now is our time to shine.
We use those lessons that wehad and apply them to what our
Superbowl and our season is.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
I'm.
You're converting me, I.
I.
I don't know a lot aboutfootball and I imagine some of
our listeners are like I don'teven know the rules.
You could do wins and lossesyeah, you know what a W is, what
an L is.
Just a quick Google on a Mondaymorning with your 6.45 am
coffee.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
It's fine and I love you also have this thing on your
TikTok and I would love it ifyou would chat to us about it,
because I think it's the perfectthing for someone who's like oh
, I want to do this, but I don'tknow about football.
Can you talk to us about thesnack draft?
Speaker 1 (29:23):
So after the NFL season there is kind of an off
season.
But with the NFL there's neveran off season, especially if
you're on Twitter because you'reconstantly being updated on
everything that's happening,even when it's a dull moment.
So the draft is when collegeplayers like say, I went to
(29:45):
Florida State, so Florida Statefootball, all these players from
college, the best prospectscoming out of college and going
into the NFL, they enter the NFLdraft and all teams get a pick.
Right, if you're really reallybad, like the Bears were, you
get a really really high pick.
So a lot of people tank or playpoorly throughout the season
because they want a reallyreally high pick.
If, so, a lot of people tank orplay poorly throughout the
season because they want areally really high pick if they
know their team's not goinganywhere.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Wow, do you talk about all of that with your
third graders?
Speaker 1 (30:06):
We do sometimes because but this one was the
funny the snack draft cracked meup and there and my block two.
I actually didn't get to finishwith it because we had a
situation happen.
But, um, snack draft was.
We simulated the NFL draft andI even told them.
I said Listen, guys, I don'tknow anything about the college
players.
(30:26):
I watched my team, floridaState, play, but I couldn't tell
you anything about any otherperson on any other team.
I can't tell you.
I just I can't and they can'teither.
I said so why don't we?
We'll simulate a job.
Because they were interested inunderstanding what it was.
Yeah, I said we'll do a draft,but instead of drafting college
(30:47):
players, since we don't know,we'll draft snacks.
So we listed all their favoritesnacks, from drinks, even I
think some were entrees to chips, to candy, and we listed them
all out.
Then we categorized them toentrees to chips, to drinks, to
(31:07):
candy, to desserts or whatever.
And then we talked aboutpositions and I said, okay, what
positions are like biggest?
So we have quarterback, thatwas one, and then we have your
wide receivers and your runningbacks are wide receivers and
tight ends.
And we had our running backsand then we had I did our
offensive line and then I diddefensive line and then
secondary, because defensiveline I'm like the big guys on
(31:29):
the line and then the secondaryis like the guys that stand back
and get the interceptions Right, got it.
So then I passed out, wecategorized it and now we see on
our board.
Here's our list of prospects.
These are our NFL prospectsTakis and Prime and Gatorade and
they're all looking and they'relike you know, we all love
snacks coaches and generalmanagers get when they're
(32:00):
looking at the draft and they'reseeing all these future college
players coming into the NFL.
This is how they're feelingabout them.
They're drooling and they wantthem on their team, just like
you want this snack in yourlunchbox, right?
Speaker 3 (32:09):
You're so good at world building, mary, like I
want, I want our listeners tolike really what, no matter what
you teach, no matter whatyou're into building the world
for another, for a student'smind is is 80 percent of it.
Continue.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
And so then I had my little draft picks.
I put them on like littlepost-it cards and put them in a
bag and they picked out of a hatand whatever team they got, it
said what draft they were, whatdraft pick.
So if you got the Chicago Bears, it said pick one round.
We just did round one becausethere's a lot of picks.
We're not doing 200.
So we're just do round onebecause it's the most popular
(32:45):
anyways.
And I put their need and I dida little research and I went to
Twitter for this, but I did kindof.
It's easy to Google because Idon't really know what the
Carolina Panthers need and I'mnot going to pretend like I
didn't even know there was sucha thing as a Carolina Panther.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
You know, I get it.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
There you go.
So and I put their top need.
So for the Bears I putquarterback.
So say, if I drafted the Bears,OK, I got Chicago Bears and I
need a QB.
So I look at my entrees myentrees Right, ok, so which
entree is my favorite?
And I tell them so aftereverybody's got their draft pick
and some of them my morningclass only has 16 kids, so they
(33:20):
got, some of them got double andthen I've allowed them a five
minute period to trade so youcan trade teams.
I said, if you're notinterested in trading, put your
head down, you don't have totrade.
If you want to trade, now isyour time to trade teams.
And you've got three minutes.
Go ahead and go.
So then you see them andthey're like buzzing and they're
and they're negotiating andthey're.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
I will let you, they're throwing in an eraser
yeah, I will.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
I will do your whatever, not do your homework,
just kidding um I will you knowthey're they're negotiating and
they're saying, well, this team,you really like this team and
la la, or this person, this teamhas two picks and because I
have a couple packers fans andthe Packers only have one pick,
so you get to pick twice out ofthe snack drop if you get this
team and I go like I'll pickonce.
So they're like negotiating,right, and that's a skill that
(34:05):
they're gonna need to know,absolutely.
Um, and it's funny to watchthem negotiate.
And then they get frustrated,right, because they don't get
the.
You know, someone triednegotiating for a team and they
didn't get the team that theywant.
You get the frustration, like Ihad some my Jets player fan
didn't get his Jets and he was alittle frustrated, um, so then
you learn how to deal with noteverything's going to go your
(34:26):
way right.
Sometimes the cards don't workout for you and sometimes you
really, really want something,but somebody already has it and
you can't you can't force themto give it to you.
That's not the way it works.
You tried, and now you got, tomake the best out of your
situation.
So then the draft started andthen I reminded them that,
(34:47):
listen, I gave them a piece ofpaper and I said write who you
would like, write your prospects.
Right, you have your officialdraft card, but that's only
going to be used when it's yourtime, you're on the clock and
you're ready to submit your pick.
But on your paper, write thepeople you're interested in.
And it was funny, I said,because you know it might come
to your pick at pick 21 whenyou're the dolphins and the pick
you want is taken yeah, whatare you gonna do where?
(35:08):
are you gonna go?
Are you gonna stay in the samecategory of what you need, or is
talkies still sitting on theboard and you love talkies?
Speaker 3 (35:16):
why do they love talkies?
I don't, I hate them, I can'tstand them sorry talkies.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Why do they love talkies?
I don't, I hate them, I can'tstand them.
Sorry talkies, if you'relistening.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
Sorry, they're not our sponsor.
It sounds like what you'reinviting, like you're narrating,
right.
You're constantly narratingevery moment of like, not only
like strategy and like actual,like the way the real draft
works.
So like, imagine what coachesare feeling, but you're asking
them to like, be like aliveinside and comfy with their
(35:43):
emotions.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Right and the best was one for the Super Bowl.
We did like a week of like.
Every day for the Super Bowl Iwould play.
I brought in like artists.
Usher was the halftime show.
So every single day we listenedto an Usher song.
And what did they do?
They listened to it.
They, what did they do?
They listened to it.
They rated it out of five starsand they wrote a rationale on
why they rated it the way theyrated it.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
They're writing you know, mary, you're a genius.
A genius Teachers like this iswhat we're talking about.
This is when we talk aboutbringing real world stuff in to
get our kids numericallyliterate and literate.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
This is what we're talking about.
Look at this.
Someone who loves Taylor Swiftcould take her tours as an
example, and they could trackand graph her tours.
Where is she going?
Did she change time zones?
How many hours in a flight?
If she had this and this, you?
Speaker 3 (36:29):
know how many people are on her payroll?
How much money does she have tomake to stay in the green?
What is that doing for ourbottom line economy?
I mean, whatever grade levelyou're teaching, that's how deep
you go, right?
Do you have a specific last,last formal question before we
enter, like some fun?
Speaker 1 (36:49):
rapid fire round.
It's already been like, yeah,it's been.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
It feels like it's been like five minutes.
I feel the same way.
Is there a student that comesto mind for you anecdotally, who
maybe was struggling?
Maybe maybe it was having ahard time with literacy.
Maybe it was having a hard timewith behavior, maybe it was
having a hard time with buy-inand um, this kind of kind of
switched things around for them?
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Um, I think there's so many, but one that sticks out
to me the most is my Jets fan.
He you know, being the lonesomeJets fan, he and him is his mom
, and I speak about this a lothow this year has really changed
his life.
He struggled a lot withemotions and after going through
this with the football andseeing especially because I
(37:30):
don't know if you saw the Jetsreached out to us and did
something that has changed hiswhole, his dream became a
reality this year.
And so, long story short, Iwent for my 30th birthday to
MetLife Stadium on Thanksgivingto watch Dolphins Black Friday
versus Jets right, my first timegoing to Jets game, jets home
(37:52):
game and they were giving outJets towels at the game.
And I'm like, what am I goingto do with this towel?
I'm not a Jets fan.
And my brother and my mom werelike, oh, you got to give it to
like your Jets fan.
I was like I'm going to keepthis.
So they both gave me theirtowels and I had like three
towels that I blew home with me.
And during that game, a Dolphinsplayer tore their Achilles on
(38:13):
the field at MetLife stadium andI don't know if you remember
the first game of the season forthe Jets, aaron Rodgers tore
his Achilles at home.
After the game it was inreports that already Aaron
Rodgers was in contact with theDolphins player, trying to
support him through the recovery.
So at first I didn't know,because I don't everything that
(38:36):
I do, I can't just do it.
I have there has to be a reason.
And I was struggling with howam I going?
I can't know because I don'teverything that I do, I can't
just do it.
I have there has to be a reason.
And I was struggling with howam I going?
I can't just give them thesetowels.
That's not going to make alasting.
Oh, here are some towels.
There has to be a reason.
And I said you know what thisis going to be a lesson on
(38:58):
sportsmanship.
Yes, we talked people you'recompeting against to be at their
best.
You never wish harm on them.
And even though you're not aDolphins fan, we don't wish harm
on your team.
We don't wish.
We're not going to talk badabout you or your team, because
that's we just learned aboutsportsmanship.
And I said we appreciate howkind you've been throughout this
process, listening to us talkabout and celebrate the dolphins
.
So then I gave him the towelsand compared it to Aaron Rogers
(39:22):
and Jalen Phillips.
And then the Jets actually andthis is the power of social
media and the Jets reached outonto my TikTok and said that's,
this is amazing, we'd love togive a little surprise.
And then they direct messagedme and they sent a signed
football from the jets.
And it was actually funnybecause I I gave, so they sent
(39:44):
him this football.
He was going his first everfootball game he was going to
was going to be at hard rockdolphins home game versus the
jets.
So the dolphins will alwaysplay the jets twice Cause
they're in the same division.
They'll play them home andthey'll play them away.
I got the towels at the awaygame.
Now they're going to play themat home.
So I saved the football to getright before the home, right
before the game he was going toversus the Jets.
(40:05):
And when I got the football Ireached back out to the Jets and
I said he's going to freak out.
He's so excited he's going tohard rock for the first time
ever to watch you guys play andthis is going to make his day.
I'm giving it to him on Friday.
And they were like oh, hold on,we'd love to do something for
him.
At the game At the Hard RockStadium he was sidelined with
his dad, got to meet all hisfavorite players pregame and one
(40:28):
of them sent him like a videoand we're so excited to meet you
and that really just thatchanged it for him.
Yeah that everything's different.
Everything changed.
Yeah, everything's different.
(40:53):
Wow, yeah, like he has justthings have taken perspective
with him and he's realized andhe's seen all these things and
now he's so excited to come andhe's talking about football all
the time.
But he's grown up truly in thisclass and I attest that to what
he's experienced in here and hefelt heard and he felt not
shunned because he was the jetfan jets man in our class but
(41:16):
celebrated because you knowwe're all different and I have a
, a Bills fan, in my afternoonclass and a lot of people are
like, how can you have a Billsfan?
I said because it doesn't matterwhere you come from or what you
support Any fan is welcome.
And it's just you know, and thefact that the New York Jets
knew who he was, that was it forhim.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
So it just seems like role models on top of role
models on top of role models forthese kids.
That's incredible.
Oh my gosh.
Thank you so much for sharingthat story.
Oh gosh, my face is red,emotional.
Okay, as we wrap up, I'm goingto enter into our rapid fire
round.
I'm going to warm you up withsome rapid fire questions that,
(41:56):
like you, can answer with acouple of sentences, and then
we're going to move into oneword only.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
I'm really bad at this, as you can tell.
I ramble on and on.
Speaker 3 (42:03):
It's going to be great.
You're ready, you're ready.
Okay, so our first sentence,rapid round question what's a
rookie mistake that you madeyour first year teaching?
Speaker 1 (42:17):
your first year of teaching, Trying to do
everything, trying to beeverything, I think.
I think trying to be the mostorganized trying to be the most
enthusiastic, trying to, and notjust letting myself be me Like
(42:37):
not, it's okay that I'm notorganized, I'm, I'm, I'm very
type B and I think I felt like Ihad to be the perfect teacher,
which meant lesson plans on yourdesk, perfect Every week,
organized File, like I stillcan't.
I change my data system everyyear because it's like, nah,
it's not working, and this onedidn't even get finished halfway
through this year, so it's likebut that's OK, as long as you
know so.
Speaker 3 (42:59):
Are you describing me ?
Yeah, that's me, me, that's me.
There's a lot of us out there.
Hey, all right, describe yourpre-school morning routine, your
am morning routine, includingyour go-to teacher fit okay.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
Pre-morning routine wake 5.30.
Sometimes I will go for a run,but I haven't done that in a
while, just because it's verydark outside right now.
Drink some coffee, shufflearound in my slippers, get into
the car, plug in the music, pumpmyself up with some jams
anything all over the spectrum.
(43:36):
I get to school ridiculouslyearly, at six 45.
I live in a one bedroom with myhusband right now, so it's like
I need my space to turn on thelights to feel relaxed.
So I get in here at six 45.
It's funny, my teacher bestiegets here at like seven and she
comes up.
She's the PE teacher, so shedoesn't really have a classroom.
She comes in Um and I'm doingmy stuff while we're debriefing
(43:58):
about our day and our week.
But my teacher fit isdefinitely my Nikes, joggers or
jeans.
I'm fortunate to work at aschool that they allow you to be
casual and comfortable Like I'mnot going to be rolling up here
in pajamas.
And if I'm wearing joggers, well, my joggers are like nice
joggers, but if I wear a hoodie,it's like I'm making it cute.
(44:21):
You know, I got a cutehairstyle with cute shoes on,
like I'm not schlepping aroundto school.
You know, maybe the last day ofschool.
Speaker 3 (44:30):
But our jobs are active, man, let us wear, active
wear.
Speaker 1 (44:33):
Right, so it's always sneakers.
I cannot.
There is one teacher at myschool who is dressed to the
nines every day and, man, I havenever seen her repeat an outfit
and I aspire to be like her,but I know I never will, because
I cannot teach in high heels oreven open toed shoes, because I
get cold.
Speaker 3 (44:49):
I can't teach in flats.
They're not comfy, there's nosupport.
Speaker 1 (44:52):
It's sneakers every, or my Doc Martens in the winter.
It's only my Doc Martens.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
You know I'm wearing my teacher fit pants and shoes,
so I'm going to show you myshoes, then you show me your
shoes, you ready?
Okay, this is what I'm wearing.
These are my teacher shoes.
Oh hey, what's up?
Speaker 1 (45:09):
We're cashing it up over here, I know, yeah, and I
got my joggers on.
I see those joggers.
Speaker 3 (45:17):
I'm elastic waistband panning right now, right now,
all right, and then last longeranswer.
And by long you know, anyfavorite teacher shout outs you
want to give.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
I think my favorite teacher shout outs about Coach
Sundry, my coach in elementaryschool, who saw the athlete in
me and saw, you know, alwaysencouraged me to continue
playing sports and encouraged meto compete with the boys.
And just because I was a girl,and always I mean, I selected PE
all throughout middle schoolwhen all the girls chose dance
(45:50):
because I was encouraged as anathlete and as a person.
And my fourth grade teacher, msFerrer, whoi was terrified of
cause my mom taught.
My mom taught for 37 years andI went to the elementary school
she taught at.
My mom put me in her class butit was for a good reason,
because I needed.
I needed the toughness and Ineeded and I would.
I would stay after school andhave to write and finish
(46:13):
assignments because I didn't getto finish them during class.
But you know, she worked withme and I was.
I haven't had a diagnosed ADD,so it was like you know, I felt
I felt heard and I think thatwas a pivoting moment for me was
, you know, having that toughteacher that I couldn't just
slide by with?
Speaker 3 (46:30):
You hear it here, teachers Be tough, it works.
All right, you ready for therapid fire?
One word answers Sure, allright, here we go.
Fill in the blank.
I want my lunchbox to be packedwith blank.
I do not want it to have asingle blank.
Speaker 1 (46:45):
I want my lunchbox to be packed with a.
Speaker 3 (46:47):
PubSub.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
I do not want a single item I have to heat in
the microwave.
Speaker 3 (46:56):
PubSubs all day.
I'm from Georgia, so I get it.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
You guys have Publix yeah yeah, we do.
Speaker 3 (47:00):
We do favorite school supply pens.
All right, last question whatfootball position would you play
?
Speaker 1 (47:09):
wide receiver or cornerback.
You want to run cool, Iactually played those positions.
Speaker 3 (47:17):
Mary, thank you so much.
We have had the best timetalking to you.
You are such an inspiration.
Our listeners need to go followyou and emulate everything
about you.
Speaker 1 (47:26):
Thank you, guys, it's been a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (47:29):
If you or someone you know would like to be a guest
on the Teachers in Americapodcast, please email us at
shaped.
At hmhcocom.
That's S-H-A-P-E-D.
At hmhcocom.
Be the first to hear newepisodes of Teachers in America
by subscribing on Apple Podcasts, spotify or wherever you get
your podcasts.
If you enjoyed today's show,please rate, review and share it
(47:51):
with your network.
You can find the transcript ofthis episode on our Shaped blog
by visiting hmhcocom.
Forward slash shaped.
That's hmhcocom forward slashS-H-A-P-E-D.
The link is in the show notes.
The Teachers in America podcastis a production of HMH.
Thank you to the productionteam of Christine Condon, tim
(48:13):
Lee, jennifer Corujo, neil Fry,thomas Velasquez and Matt Howell
.
Thanks again for listening.
It puts me to the test each and every year, each,
every week, because there'ssomething that's changed.
It's not the same season as itwas last season, it's not the
same lessons and things that arehappening, so you really have
to be on your game.
And it keeps you going, wakingup, and it keeps me thinking
about my classroom, whereas ifI'm just teaching from the book
and not adding any extra flair,I'm just waking up and teaching
(00:22):
from the book, whereas this isthis sets the fuel, where then,
after it's like, okay, open upyour books and let's read our
next tech set, and they're,they're ready to go, and they
take stories and they comparecharacters to characters on on
the dolphins right, it's justwild.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
From paper to pencil to wifi and AI, education is
ever evolving.
On this new season of Teachersin America, we'll keep you on
the forefront of what's new.
We connect with teachers and edleaders to talk trending topics
and real issues, bringing youinspiring ideas that will
influence the future of yourteaching.
Today, we're excited to welcomehost Kaylee Rhodes to the
(01:00):
Teachers in America team.
She's a math teacher inPortland Oregon and she recently
sat down with MaryMartinez-Crippen, third grade
Miami Dade teacher and viralsensation.
You may have scrolled throughsocial media and seen how Mary
is tying football into hereveryday lessons.
Well, we're kicking off ourseason with advice from Mary on
how to make real worldconnections in the classroom.
(01:20):
Now here's Kaylee and Mary.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Mary, welcome.
Hi, thanks for having me,kaylee.
Oh, I'm so.
It's like a fangirl crush overhere.
I went to watch your I learnedabout you for this podcast and I
went to watch your TikTokvideos and I just like got a
little bit lost inside them.
I just love your teachingpersona.
Thank you, thank you, it's wildmy favorite is like a recent
(01:45):
one, where you're in your likeum Christmas pjs oh yes, the uh.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
I think that one's pinned at the top when I am.
It was the last.
It was the last preview beforewe went off for Christmas break
or winter break, and thedolphins had played like three
games.
We're gonna be playing threegames.
So it was like threepredictions we were doing and
they were.
It was the last day beforewinter, before we were off for
break and the Dolphins hadplayed like three games.
We're going to be playing threegames.
So it was like threepredictions we were doing and
they were.
It was the last day beforewinter, before we were off for
break.
We're all in our pajamas, we'reready to go, but we are talking
(02:11):
about football before we leavefor two weeks.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
And they're totally into it.
I mean, this is the secret,right?
This is the whole point of this.
It's like this evergreen themethat keeps your kids engaged.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Right and it keeps me engaged.
I'm not going to like this,keeps me wanting to come back
and puts the fire in me, and Ithink that's what we all need as
educators.
Is that fire to keep going,especially because it gets tough
as a teacher, and there aredays where we wake up and we're
like, oh, what am I?
Doing here?
Can I just work from home fortoday?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I'm sick, no, I know.
But like, as we head into backto school, it's so cool that,
like, you're going to be doingfootball again, obviously this
year.
But it's so different everyyear Cause, like the season's
different.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
And that's the greatest thing ever.
It's because there's, there'sso and you don't know what's
going to happen.
And that's the beautiful thingis, you teach them that life
lesson throughout the way,throughout throughout the
entirety of the season.
You don't know what's going tohappen until they play the game,
because we can say they'regoing to win, we can say they're
going to beat them or they'regoing to lose, but you don't
(03:16):
know, and that's like life,until you try you just, you just
don't know.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
And how, how is it?
How do they handle thedisappointment?
How do you, how do you putguardrails around that, have
discussions around that reallygrow them in like their
disappointment muscles?
Speaker 1 (03:30):
I think that we, just like I, really was inspired by
coach McDaniel and the way thathe put it into perspective.
A loss is an opportunity forgrowth, and especially because
the way that this started wasdolphins.
It was very simple we trackedthe dolphins.
The dolphins win 10 extraminutes of recess, the dolphins
do not win, there's no extrarecess.
(03:52):
And we were hyped.
And then the first loss cameand, instead of just putting up
the L on the board and moving on, I said you know what?
I would have given them 10extra minutes of recess had they
had won.
Let's talk about the loss.
(04:15):
Let's talk about what it means.
Where do you go from here?
What's coming next?
Well, another game is coming,whether they like it or not.
Are they going to sit and sulk?
for a week Right, or are wegoing to learn from our mistakes
and get better, kind of like inthird grade?
It's a rigorous testing year inFlorida, with our cold reads,
our progress monitoringassessments, our portfolio
(04:36):
assessments.
Are you going to sit there andsulk in your mistakes?
Are you going to let's dive in,because we do heavy debriefs
with our, with our cold readsand our portfolios and
everything that we're doing toreally understand what they're
asking us in these questions andhow to answer it?
Or are you going to take thatopportunity to learn from where
you went wrong?
(04:57):
And I really, and it startedlike that every every week that
it went, every week that passedand it started to become they
were telling me what thedolphins needed to do and I
wasn't leading the discussion,they were leading it.
So if you look at some of thebeginning videos, which were
when I threw them up on TikTok,they weren't, as I wasn't
expecting it to be as massive asit was.
(05:17):
Now I've kind of got it where Ican title it and if you want to
look for a video, you know oneto click, but in the beginning,
all the videos look the samebecause I'm just standing at the
board and you're like what isshe talking about on this one?
You have to like listen to it.
But as you watch them you seethat their understanding of each
passing week, what a loss means, what a win means, and even
just the little things thathappen in the game, because now
they're interested Somebodygetting hurt, a penalty
(06:08):
no-transcript.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
But what I want to make sure that we do is, you
know, I want to make sure thatif you're not a third grade
teacher, if you're notinterested in football, if
you're not, if you don't feellike you have any connection to
like mathy, statsy stuff likeyou still can do what you've
done, which is basically likebring an open-ended situation
into the classroom, a real world, real stakes, ongoing kind of
(06:40):
theme into the classroom thatkeeps everybody engaged and like
I think what I'm also hearingis that in following a team, you
really like create a team.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Our classroom is our team and, especially with the
Dolphins, it's our sense ofcommunity because it's our
hometown.
Whereas so, and I've had a lotof teachers that have reached
out to me on TikTok and onInstagram saying I'm from
Buffalo and I can't wait to dothis with my class next year in
Buffalo, and I've had principalsreach out saying we'd love to
do a Zoom with from a childrenthird grade class from Rochester
(07:14):
, we'd love to Zoom with younext year, from, like, fans of
Buffalo, fans of the Dolphins,just to talk about what's
different about Buffalo andMiami, what's fandom like, just
all the differences.
So I think it just creates evenif you're not a football fan,
just try it it's just the senseof community that you get within
your classroom and you almoststart to love it even more.
(07:34):
Not I mean, I didn't need tolove football even more, but I
paid attention 10 times morethroughout the week just because
I was like how am I going toapply this and teach this to my
kids Now?
How am I going to?
So?
Monday mornings were the best,even after a tough Sunday loss.
What am I going to do now toteach my kids about this?
And it kept those creativejuices flowing for me and, mind
(07:57):
you, this was just our 10 minutewarmup activity.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
This was not even like an entire lesson.
Yeah, that's's my question.
Help an educator who'sinterested in this and who maybe
is thinking like, oh gosh, Idon't have any time.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Like, yeah, build that up for us and I think for
me it started on such, itstarted on a whim.
It actually started last yearwhere, when I first moved from
kindergarten to third grade Iwas I noticed the big jump in
just age difference.
Right, yeah, third grade is verydifferent from kindergarten and
a couple of the boys night andday I have more energy now as a
third grade teacher, but I'mlike, oh, let me research that.
(08:31):
I'm not quite sure about thatanswer.
Let me ask Google.
But I noticed their interest insports was tenfold and they
weren't just a fan of a teambecause their grownups were.
They were a fan of the teambecause they had their own
passions and they are their own.
They're starting to becometheir own humans in third grade
and they really are there.
They have their own interestsand whatnot.
So last year is when I actuallygot into like a little argument
(08:54):
with a student.
He was talking about PatrickMahomes, I was talking about Tua
and I was like, okay, well, andthat's where I just threw up
the dolphin schedule on theboard in the beginning of the
year and I said, okay, we'regoing to track the dolphins.
Here's the deal If they win,you guys get 10 extra minutes of
recess.
If they don't, then that's it.
And then that's how it started.
And then that's the crazy thing, it was just a W and L and then
move on.
(09:14):
But then, as each passing week,they started asking questions
and it just grew and it builtand then.
So when I came back for thisyear I knew it's something I was
I wanted to do again, and itreally was the community of the
dolphins that turned it intowhat this is now, because I took
.
I took what I did to X, formerlyknown as Twitter, and one of
(09:36):
the dolphins beat reporters, waslike, oh, you should also track
that.
And I was like, oh, that's sucha good idea.
And then it just turned intoour Monday morning.
Quick, I'm telling you 10minutes, maybe 20 minutes tops
If there was something likeextra that happened, or if there
was like we were going on breakand there was a three game
stretch, but it was winter breakand we could afford the 20
(09:57):
minutes of conversation we gotinto such a routine where it was
come in and they were on timeto school.
They were excited to come toschool and it's Monday.
It's Monday and they were.
I would be in my classroom,Cause I get here early.
I get here at six 45.
Don't ask me why, but I do.
Um, and I would hear themarguing outside about the game
or arguing about the score orwho won or no.
(10:20):
This happened, and it's justthen.
They came in and their brainswere already turned on because
they knew the conversation thatwas coming and they were already
talking about their numbers,that they had predicted and who
was closest.
So their brains were alreadyturning on, which is half the
battle in the morning.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Yeah, it really is.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Getting their brains to turn on, but I didn't have to
do that anymore.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
No, and it sounds like there's so much.
The sparks were flying.
You teach reading, you teachELA, your focus is literacy, but
, man, how can you even talkabout football without talking
about all these numbers?
I mean, you've said, even inthese examples, you're saying so
many numbers, and so, like I'mjust hearing and I'm gonna skip
ahead to a question how this isso ripe for just so many
(10:59):
cross-curricular connections,especially like if we have
teachers who teach oldersubjects, listening, you know,
like if you're, if you're amiddle school teacher, imagine
where you could go with thishigh school teacher.
You could go deep.
I mean, you're into stats now,but, um, how have you been able
to see?
Or or maybe I can phrase thisquestion and you can answer it
whichever way you want.
But, like if you had a magicwand and you had, um, resources,
(11:20):
money, time and cooperation,cooperation what would you do
with the cross-curricularopportunities of a football
theme?
Speaker 1 (11:31):
That's a loaded question.
So you're saying, if I I'mtrying to get this question
correct if I had unlimitedresources, what?
How would I?
What would I do with thisprogram?
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Yeah, if you could just dream as big as you wanted,
like how could you get reallyall of that cross curricular
juice out of this like such ripefield?
Speaker 1 (12:00):
for this year.
What I'm starting is we aremoving beyond dolphins, and
something that I learned lastyear is because half of the
battle is what I learned trulythis year as an educator was to
listen more to them.
And sometimes we can preach andwe can preach, but we need to
stop and we need to listen tothe children.
Um, cause they've got a lot tosay.
And um, when we, we, when theDolphins were eliminated out of
the playoffs, they asked can wecontinue to follow?
(12:22):
and I said sure, and they wereso interested in all of the
other teams, the stories, thehistory, so I started okay,
let's, and it was on a whim.
So I talked to them about DanCampbell and the Detroit Lions,
how he was a part of their teamin 2008 when the Lions went 0-16
.
And now he's returned as theircoach and he has changed this
(12:44):
program around and just themagnitude of Dan Campbell and
his grit and what he's done tothe program and they have it
sparked a fire in them.
Where is Detroit?
What's it like over there?
And they wanted to.
I had a couple of them startlike a Detroit Lions fan club
and I was like, what's it likeover there?
And they wanted to.
I had a couple of them startlike a Detroit lions fan club
and I was like what?
But?
And then?
So this year I said you knowthey, I'm doing them a
(13:04):
disservice if I only stick tothe dolphins.
So each of them this yearthey're going to draft their own
team.
So they're going to and they'regoing to and that team and I
think I'm.
So.
What I'm so excited for is thatyou know, we went on this
dolphins journey together.
So when the dolphins lost, weall lost and we talked about the
loss.
When the dolphins won, we allcelebrate and we got extra
(13:25):
recess.
Well, we're still going to dothat.
I, I will.
The dolphins is my team.
I will draft them and that willbe my model on the board, as I
do.
But each of them are going todraft their own team.
They'll pick a team out of ahat.
They can choose to trade theteam or whatnot, and since I
have two classes, all 32 teamswill be represented and maybe
some double.
Then they'll get to.
(13:45):
I even created and I got thisactually from my mom, who
created this, but I'm putting myown twist on it she just did it
in a time where there wasn'tsocial media, so, um.
So they'll follow their teamthe stats, the, the climate, how
the time zones, right, and whatI want to really um do with
(14:06):
them is technology literacy.
Some of some of them just don'tuse technology in the proper
way, so we're going to.
We're going to research.
We're going to look up theofficial NFL site.
This is an official website.
You're going to go to your team.
You're going to read about yourteam.
You're going to fill out ahistory report.
You're going to talk abouttheir climate.
Each week You're going to do areport.
Who did they play?
Um, how far in miles is thatteam from you?
(14:28):
Um, did you change time zones,did you?
But then, at the end of the day, when we come in on Mondays,
all of them have gone on adifferent journey, which is like
life.
Yeah, raise your hand If youwon.
A couple of hands will beraised.
Raise your hand If you lost.
Look at your best friend.
Did she win?
Did she lose?
Did he win?
Look, you know, there's goingto be times in life where I win
and he loses.
And how, how do we handle thatwhen one of us is winning and
(14:51):
one of us is looting and it's alot of the social, emotional
learning how do you, how do youhandle friendships?
When one of you is celebratingand it happens in life, even as
adults, in relationships andfriendships, we celebrate a
promotion when somebody ismourning the loss of something,
right?
How do you handle those things.
So I'm really excited for that,just because they showed such
(15:12):
an interest, and I still havethe flags on my board.
And actually today we wentthrough like the changes how the
Las Vegas Raiders used to bethe Oakland Raiders.
They were just so enthralledwith all of it.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
It's amazing because, also, what's really cool is
that you know you've triedsomething for a couple of years
and teachers have this reallyunique ability to like reset
every year and that can be likereally boring or it can be
awesome because we get to likelearn and literally try again
and iterate.
It sounds like you've beentrying something.
You're going to try somethingnew.
I'm so curious, like causewe're heading into back to
(15:44):
school.
I'm so curious about a yearfrom now, about like are you?
Are you going to be like, uh, I, I loved this, I'm going to
stick with it.
Are you going to be like, oh, Igot to go back to the Dolphins
as a team.
Yeah, like it's going to befascinating, but can you build a
go?
Speaker 1 (16:02):
No, I'm just saying that's the great thing and
that's what keeps me going,because we all have a curriculum
that we follow and then we canall become masters of it.
But this has truly.
It puts me to the test each andevery year, each every week,
because there's something that'schanged.
It's not.
It's not the same season as itwas last season.
It's not the same lessons andthings that are happening.
So you really have to be onyour game and it keeps you,
keeps you going, waking up, andit keeps me thinking about my
(16:24):
classroom, whereas if I'm justteaching from the book and not
adding any extra flair, I'm justwaking up and teaching from the
book, whereas this is this setsthe fuel where then after it's
like okay, open up your booksand let's read our next text set
and they're ready to go.
(16:44):
And they take stories and theycompare characters to characters
on the dolphins right, it's?
Speaker 3 (16:47):
just wild.
I wonder if there's even likean opportunity and I'm sure you
have the answer for this, butlike, of reading football
coverage.
Reading I mean introducing somuch.
There's so much copy writtenabout football and if our, if
our focus is literacy, I meanwell, they even you look at
their um library checkout, logthe pre and post.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
All of them.
Now, even different teams, likethey're checking out books all
about history of the green baypackers uh, the san francisco
49ers.
I just had like 10 of themreturn books today.
Eight of the 10 of them wereall football books because they
want to go to the library andthey want to read about them.
They want to read about theseteams and they're interested and
and it's cool because they allfind connections to these teams
(17:27):
in different ways, whether theirfavorite animal is the lion or
their favorite color combinationor they love.
I went to California for thefirst time this past summer and
it was the best time ever.
So now they're a Rams fan, ormy grandmother is from Green Bay
, whatever, and now I'm aPackers.
There's some connection thatall of them can make on so many
different levels.
You don't just have to be likea hard-o football fan.
(17:48):
You know there's.
There's a level and a surfacefor everybody.
Which makes football so greatis you don't have there's so
many different ways to connectwith it.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Hey teacher friends.
If you're an HMH user, did youknow you have access to
Teachers' Corner on Ed Includedwith every HMH program?
Teachers' Corner is a communityof teachers, learning experts
and instructional coachesgathered in one place to support
you with a new kind ofprofessional learning Bite-sized
, teacher-selected andteacher-driven, with on-demand
sessions, lesson demonstrations,program support and practical
(18:22):
resources.
Teacher's Corner lets youchoose how you interact with our
content.
I like to think about it asinspiration on demand.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
You know you're on social media.
I think social media, when usedcorrectly and sparingly, is
just like incredible foreducators, because we learn so
much.
And as you are sharing these umand connecting with other
educators on social media, areyou seeing, like other, mary
Martinez Crippins emerging withtheir own like niches of like
(18:53):
well, I'm not doing football inmy classroom, but I'm doing X.
Or do you have you had anyother other outside inspiration
that our listeners could be like?
You know, maybe I couldn't dothis with football, but I could
do it with something else.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
I haven't seen it yet and I think, just because of
the, I think I will see a lot ofit next this year, because once
I feel like once you get into agroove with something in the
middle of the school year, it'sso hard.
It's like when the districtwill hand you like a new
textbook in December and you'relike how am I supposed to learn
and implement this new?
Speaker 3 (19:24):
textbook.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
I will add it to the list ofresources that I already have
and I'm supposed to be using anddon't know how to fit it all in
already, but thank you, butit's like talk to me in a year
from now and then I'll be ableto tell you.
I have had a lot of people whohave been inspired by it and
want to do it in their own waysand have talked about
implementing it in their own wayin their own city.
(19:47):
I'll be interested to see howit plays out.
But I think TikTok has beenespecially for educators.
It is such a cool.
You know, some of my favoritethings that educators are doing
now is like things that I'msaving that I'm definitely going
to purchase next year for myclassroom.
It's like timers for, like, thestruggling student who can't
get work finished on time.
It's like one of thosehourglass hourglasses but it has
(20:09):
five, 10, 15 minutes and it'slike that would have been
perfect for me to use.
So there's always something tolearn as an educator and I think
that's the by learning andcollaborating with each other.
That's the best way.
I think TikTok does a great jobat doing that, facilitating
that.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Can you tell us your your TikTok handle so that we
can make sure our listeners cango check you out and what I also
?
Love about your TikTok and Iwant to tell our listeners this
is that you, you're, you'reputting up live footage of your
teaching, so teachers are notonly learning from how you're
doing and implementing thefootball, but we're watching
(20:44):
your classroom management.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
We're watching.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
I mean and my attempt , I'm just kidding and well, and
also like your patience whenyou intervene, when you kind of
let them like cue chaos, and Ithink that's really valuable.
So our listeners should gocheck you out at.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Mary is Bananas M-A-R-Y-I-S-B-A-N-A-N-A-S.
It was my seventh grade AIMscreen name.
That has never changed and itis my handle for everything.
I just and now I can't changeit, it just, it cannot change.
I.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
I am.
If you think I'm gonnareciprocate with my AIM username
, you are mistaken it's notgonna happen.
so, um, if you were gonna giveadvice to listeners who do want
to try this, um, and and Ireally I'm a sixth grade math
teacher um, I've taught eighthgrade, uh, english as well.
And I feel like I'm a sixthgrade math teacher, I've taught
eighth grade English as well andI feel like I actually feel
(21:41):
like, if you're, if you are ateacher who teaches even like
12th grade, you actually couldprobably pull out even more like
way more Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Probably better math than I can.
Third grade math is perfect forme because it's probably as
high as I can go right nowwithout having to really study.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
I know I'm not hearing you talk down your
numeracy I know that here as amath teacher.
But if they kind of wanted tojust like try, they can't commit
a whole year.
What should they like?
Superbowl, Like.
How should they?
What should they do?
Speaker 1 (22:11):
I think the easiest way to try is start small.
I mean, the first thing that Idid was just track the wins and
the losses and see what happensand have some sort of tangible
reward.
Don't spend hundreds of dollarseach week if you have the
Chiefs and they're winning right, spending candy for these kids.
(22:33):
Extra recess was something thatI could afford in my schedule
and I was willing to do for thekids on a Monday, cause it's not
like it was every day.
It was on a Monday.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Oh, good clarity.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
They might.
It was just the day after thewin.
They would get 10 extra minutesof recess.
It was not the whole week,right, nice, so that was
something that I could afford.
Um, maybe it's whatever type,whatever your kids might be
interested in.
Maybe they like to eat lunchwith the teacher, maybe the day
after they eat lunch in yourclassroom.
It's something that's free.
Free seating no seating chart onMonday yeah, exactly, I'd say
(23:09):
start small, start with there,because that's that's where I
started, when I didn't know whatthis was going to be at all.
It all started on a whim frommy, from my ADD.
It was just like, well, let'shere we go.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
But then you pulled in your responsive teaching
where you were like, oh, I'mjust, they're interested, cool,
I'll, I'll do this.
And like that's the whole.
Whenever we, we, as teachershere, you know the the warm
fuzzy bumper sticker advice oflike you know, listen to your
student.
That's what it actually lookslike, this is what it looks like
.
So I love this advice Startsmall.
Pick a team, pick your team.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
And pick your team, because I did my first year of
teaching very first year ofteaching ever at a charter
school in Rhode Island and Icouldn't have pulled off the
Miami Dolphins in Rhode Islandwhen they're massive Patriots
fans.
I mean I used to get booed atStop and Shop for wearing my
Dolphins jersey.
Like there was one time afterthe Dolphins beat the Patriots
(24:00):
and I went to Stop and Shop andthe guy was like you're not
coming to this checkout line?
Oh my gosh, he was kidding.
But you know you have to findthat connection and start small.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
I mean but it sounds like you could do that with any
team.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
I mean, I'm a soccer person so we could track an
English Premier League game.
But you could and I.
And that's actually brought inbecause my second class is my
ESOL class, where I have I callmyself the United, the teacher
of the United Nations for mysecond class, because they come
from all over and it's so coolbecause Miami truly is a melting
pot.
And talking about soccer I meantalking about football has
gotten some of my soccer playersto talk about soccer and then I
(24:39):
learned interests about themthat I might've not even known.
Yes, I knew they like soccer,but now they're telling me what
teams they like the premierleague and they're teaching me
about the differences becausethey see, oh, okay, like we're
talking about football, likethey feel more inclined to share
what they like to do, orcheerleading, or dance, or so
(24:59):
it's just a way for them to feelcomfortable and I've learned so
much about my students doingthis just because they see me
now as a human and as somebodywho is going through as a fan.
Right, they're not just lookingat me as miss martinez, miss
mrs crippen, like, oh, we needto follow rules.
They're seeing me as a human,responding to my favorite team,
(25:19):
their wins and their losses andstruggling with it, and we're
just able to talk and for oncewe're not talking about their
data and their testing and whatthey need to do and all the
expectations that they have thisyear and how they need to pass
third grade and if not, if theydon't pass the portfolio or the
fast, they have a possibility ofgetting retained.
(25:41):
But once they're able to putthat aside and they're able to
follow a team and it's not abouttheir wins and their losses,
it's about the teams and thenthey can take that lesson that
they learned and correlate it totheir own life so that when
they go through those failuresbecause I remind them that you
are going to fail- you are notbetter than the dolphins Right
(26:02):
1972 dolphins, maybe Perfectseason.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Totally yeah, yeah, 1972.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
I think what I would love for teachers is for somehow
some way to take this programand maybe to inspire other
teachers doing professionaldevelopment, helping them.
Because it is scary, especiallyas a first year teacher,
especially as when you see allthe expectations you have lined
up, it's scary to add new things.
It's scary to go off the railswhen there's a book and there's
(26:32):
a pacing guide in front of youand you have all these things
that you feel like you need todo.
But I honestly and I have agroup of students in this past
year I truly believe because ofthis program it pushed them to a
level they weren't being met atbefore.
It allowed them to because youknow you set the expectation
high right, it sounds liketalking about football and
(26:57):
watching.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
You know, highly paid , highly professional, the top
of their game.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Athletes lose, drop a ball fumble to respond like how
some students when they whenthey're going through their
emotions and they respond in away and they see that happen and
then they see them bring itback and pull it together, but
(27:24):
they apologize, right, andthey're human.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Yeah, but I think it's like this is this is what
we mean by a growth mindset.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Mm, hmm and let me tell you this season and that's
why I love the NFL, because Iknow you talked about tracking,
like soccer the greatest thingabout the NFL is it happens all
in the same school year, so youstart like I will start and
finish an NFL season with thesame group of kids, whereas you
won't do that with baseball.
And you won't do that withbasketball because, especially
if your team makes it to thefinals, you won't get to do that
(27:55):
because the season has thatyour school year has ended and
the finals are happening duringthe summer.
So that's the best thing aboutfootball and it's once a week.
It's not like these crazy.
I mean, baseball is like allthe time.
I feel like it was basedconstantly.
And it's right.
So there is one game.
It's very easy for them and theperfect thing and the greatest
thing why I love third grade isthat right when the football
(28:17):
season ends and the Super Bowlor cheering for it is right when
they are beginning theirportfolio.
And the portfolio is basicallykind of like a football season
where it's 17 assessments, oneper week.
Maybe you take two with thespring break, but it's like a
football season.
So we take those same lessonsthat we talked about all
(28:38):
throughout the 17 or 20 weeks ofthe season and we apply it.
Now is our time to shine.
We use those lessons that wehad and apply them to what our
Superbowl and our season is.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
I'm.
You're converting me, I.
I.
I don't know a lot aboutfootball and I imagine some of
our listeners are like I don'teven know the rules.
You could do wins and lossesyeah, you know what a W is, what
an L is.
Just a quick Google on a Mondaymorning with your 6.45 am
coffee.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
It's fine and I love you also have this thing on your
TikTok and I would love it ifyou would chat to us about it,
because I think it's the perfectthing for someone who's like oh
, I want to do this, but I don'tknow about football.
Can you talk to us about thesnack draft?
Speaker 1 (29:23):
So after the NFL season there is kind of an off
season.
But with the NFL there's neveran off season, especially if
you're on Twitter because you'reconstantly being updated on
everything that's happening,even when it's a dull moment.
So the draft is when collegeplayers like say, I went to
(29:45):
Florida State, so Florida Statefootball, all these players from
college, the best prospectscoming out of college and going
into the NFL, they enter the NFLdraft and all teams get a pick.
Right, if you're really reallybad, like the Bears were, you
get a really really high pick.
So a lot of people tank or playpoorly throughout the season
because they want a reallyreally high pick.
If, so, a lot of people tank orplay poorly throughout the
season because they want areally really high pick if they
know their team's not goinganywhere.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Wow, do you talk about all of that with your
third graders?
Speaker 1 (30:06):
We do sometimes because but this one was the
funny the snack draft cracked meup and there and my block two.
I actually didn't get to finishwith it because we had a
situation happen.
But, um, snack draft was.
We simulated the NFL draft andI even told them.
I said Listen, guys, I don'tknow anything about the college
players.
(30:26):
I watched my team, floridaState, play, but I couldn't tell
you anything about any otherperson on any other team.
I can't tell you.
I just I can't and they can'teither.
I said so why don't we?
We'll simulate a job.
Because they were interested inunderstanding what it was.
Yeah, I said we'll do a draft,but instead of drafting college
(30:47):
players, since we don't know,we'll draft snacks.
So we listed all their favoritesnacks, from drinks, even I
think some were entrees to chips, to candy, and we listed them
all out.
Then we categorized them toentrees to chips, to drinks, to
(31:07):
candy, to desserts or whatever.
And then we talked aboutpositions and I said, okay, what
positions are like biggest?
So we have quarterback, thatwas one, and then we have your
wide receivers and your runningbacks are wide receivers and
tight ends.
And we had our running backsand then we had I did our
offensive line and then I diddefensive line and then
secondary, because defensiveline I'm like the big guys on
(31:29):
the line and then the secondaryis like the guys that stand back
and get the interceptions Right, got it.
So then I passed out, wecategorized it and now we see on
our board.
Here's our list of prospects.
These are our NFL prospectsTakis and Prime and Gatorade and
they're all looking and they'relike you know, we all love
snacks coaches and generalmanagers get when they're
(32:00):
looking at the draft and they'reseeing all these future college
players coming into the NFL.
This is how they're feelingabout them.
They're drooling and they wantthem on their team, just like
you want this snack in yourlunchbox, right?
Speaker 3 (32:09):
You're so good at world building, mary, like I
want, I want our listeners tolike really what, no matter what
you teach, no matter whatyou're into building the world
for another, for a student'smind is is 80 percent of it.
Continue.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
And so then I had my little draft picks.
I put them on like littlepost-it cards and put them in a
bag and they picked out of a hatand whatever team they got, it
said what draft they were, whatdraft pick.
So if you got the Chicago Bears, it said pick one round.
We just did round one becausethere's a lot of picks.
We're not doing 200.
So we're just do round onebecause it's the most popular
(32:45):
anyways.
And I put their need and I dida little research and I went to
Twitter for this, but I did kindof.
It's easy to Google because Idon't really know what the
Carolina Panthers need and I'mnot going to pretend like I
didn't even know there was sucha thing as a Carolina Panther.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
You know, I get it.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
There you go.
So and I put their top need.
So for the Bears I putquarterback.
So say, if I drafted the Bears,OK, I got Chicago Bears and I
need a QB.
So I look at my entrees myentrees Right, ok, so which
entree is my favorite?
And I tell them so aftereverybody's got their draft pick
and some of them my morningclass only has 16 kids, so they
(33:20):
got, some of them got double andthen I've allowed them a five
minute period to trade so youcan trade teams.
I said, if you're notinterested in trading, put your
head down, you don't have totrade.
If you want to trade, now isyour time to trade teams.
And you've got three minutes.
Go ahead and go.
So then you see them andthey're like buzzing and they're
and they're negotiating andthey're.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
I will let you, they're throwing in an eraser
yeah, I will.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
I will do your whatever, not do your homework,
just kidding um I will you knowthey're they're negotiating and
they're saying, well, this team,you really like this team and
la la, or this person, this teamhas two picks and because I
have a couple packers fans andthe Packers only have one pick,
so you get to pick twice out ofthe snack drop if you get this
team and I go like I'll pickonce.
So they're like negotiating,right, and that's a skill that
(34:05):
they're gonna need to know,absolutely.
Um, and it's funny to watchthem negotiate.
And then they get frustrated,right, because they don't get
the.
You know, someone triednegotiating for a team and they
didn't get the team that theywant.
You get the frustration, like Ihad some my Jets player fan
didn't get his Jets and he was alittle frustrated, um, so then
you learn how to deal with noteverything's going to go your
(34:26):
way right.
Sometimes the cards don't workout for you and sometimes you
really, really want something,but somebody already has it and
you can't you can't force themto give it to you.
That's not the way it works.
You tried, and now you got, tomake the best out of your
situation.
So then the draft started andthen I reminded them that,
(34:47):
listen, I gave them a piece ofpaper and I said write who you
would like, write your prospects.
Right, you have your officialdraft card, but that's only
going to be used when it's yourtime, you're on the clock and
you're ready to submit your pick.
But on your paper, write thepeople you're interested in.
And it was funny, I said,because you know it might come
to your pick at pick 21 whenyou're the dolphins and the pick
you want is taken yeah, whatare you gonna do where?
(35:08):
are you gonna go?
Are you gonna stay in the samecategory of what you need, or is
talkies still sitting on theboard and you love talkies?
Speaker 3 (35:16):
why do they love talkies?
I don't, I hate them, I can'tstand them sorry talkies.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Why do they love talkies?
I don't, I hate them, I can'tstand them.
Sorry talkies, if you'relistening.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
Sorry, they're not our sponsor.
It sounds like what you'reinviting, like you're narrating,
right.
You're constantly narratingevery moment of like, not only
like strategy and like actual,like the way the real draft
works.
So like, imagine what coachesare feeling, but you're asking
them to like, be like aliveinside and comfy with their
(35:43):
emotions.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Right and the best was one for the Super Bowl.
We did like a week of like.
Every day for the Super Bowl Iwould play.
I brought in like artists.
Usher was the halftime show.
So every single day we listenedto an Usher song.
And what did they do?
They listened to it.
They, what did they do?
They listened to it.
They rated it out of five starsand they wrote a rationale on
why they rated it the way theyrated it.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
They're writing you know, mary, you're a genius.
A genius Teachers like this iswhat we're talking about.
This is when we talk aboutbringing real world stuff in to
get our kids numericallyliterate and literate.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
This is what we're talking about.
Look at this.
Someone who loves Taylor Swiftcould take her tours as an
example, and they could trackand graph her tours.
Where is she going?
Did she change time zones?
How many hours in a flight?
If she had this and this, you?
Speaker 3 (36:29):
know how many people are on her payroll?
How much money does she have tomake to stay in the green?
What is that doing for ourbottom line economy?
I mean, whatever grade levelyou're teaching, that's how deep
you go, right?
Do you have a specific last,last formal question before we
enter, like some fun?
Speaker 1 (36:49):
rapid fire round.
It's already been like, yeah,it's been.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
It feels like it's been like five minutes.
I feel the same way.
Is there a student that comesto mind for you anecdotally, who
maybe was struggling?
Maybe maybe it was having ahard time with literacy.
Maybe it was having a hard timewith behavior, maybe it was
having a hard time with buy-inand um, this kind of kind of
switched things around for them?
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Um, I think there's so many, but one that sticks out
to me the most is my Jets fan.
He you know, being the lonesomeJets fan, he and him is his mom
, and I speak about this a lothow this year has really changed
his life.
He struggled a lot withemotions and after going through
this with the football andseeing especially because I
(37:30):
don't know if you saw the Jetsreached out to us and did
something that has changed hiswhole, his dream became a
reality this year.
And so, long story short, Iwent for my 30th birthday to
MetLife Stadium on Thanksgivingto watch Dolphins Black Friday
versus Jets right, my first timegoing to Jets game, jets home
(37:52):
game and they were giving outJets towels at the game.
And I'm like, what am I goingto do with this towel?
I'm not a Jets fan.
And my brother and my mom werelike, oh, you got to give it to
like your Jets fan.
I was like I'm going to keepthis.
So they both gave me theirtowels and I had like three
towels that I blew home with me.
And during that game, a Dolphinsplayer tore their Achilles on
(38:13):
the field at MetLife stadium andI don't know if you remember
the first game of the season forthe Jets, aaron Rodgers tore
his Achilles at home.
After the game it was inreports that already Aaron
Rodgers was in contact with theDolphins player, trying to
support him through the recovery.
So at first I didn't know,because I don't everything that
(38:36):
I do, I can't just do it.
I have there has to be a reason.
And I was struggling with howam I going?
I can't know because I don'teverything that I do, I can't
just do it.
I have there has to be a reason.
And I was struggling with howam I going?
I can't just give them thesetowels.
That's not going to make alasting.
Oh, here are some towels.
There has to be a reason.
And I said you know what thisis going to be a lesson on
(38:58):
sportsmanship.
Yes, we talked people you'recompeting against to be at their
best.
You never wish harm on them.
And even though you're not aDolphins fan, we don't wish harm
on your team.
We don't wish.
We're not going to talk badabout you or your team, because
that's we just learned aboutsportsmanship.
And I said we appreciate howkind you've been throughout this
process, listening to us talkabout and celebrate the dolphins
.
So then I gave him the towelsand compared it to Aaron Rogers
(39:22):
and Jalen Phillips.
And then the Jets actually andthis is the power of social
media and the Jets reached outonto my TikTok and said that's,
this is amazing, we'd love togive a little surprise.
And then they direct messagedme and they sent a signed
football from the jets.
And it was actually funnybecause I I gave, so they sent
(39:44):
him this football.
He was going his first everfootball game he was going to
was going to be at hard rockdolphins home game versus the
jets.
So the dolphins will alwaysplay the jets twice Cause
they're in the same division.
They'll play them home andthey'll play them away.
I got the towels at the awaygame.
Now they're going to play themat home.
So I saved the football to getright before the home, right
before the game he was going toversus the Jets.
(40:05):
And when I got the football Ireached back out to the Jets and
I said he's going to freak out.
He's so excited he's going tohard rock for the first time
ever to watch you guys play andthis is going to make his day.
I'm giving it to him on Friday.
And they were like oh, hold on,we'd love to do something for
him.
At the game At the Hard RockStadium he was sidelined with
his dad, got to meet all hisfavorite players pregame and one
(40:28):
of them sent him like a videoand we're so excited to meet you
and that really just thatchanged it for him.
Yeah that everything's different.
Everything changed.
Yeah, everything's different.
(40:53):
Wow, yeah, like he has justthings have taken perspective
with him and he's realized andhe's seen all these things and
now he's so excited to come andhe's talking about football all
the time.
But he's grown up truly in thisclass and I attest that to what
he's experienced in here and hefelt heard and he felt not
shunned because he was the jetfan jets man in our class but
(41:16):
celebrated because you knowwe're all different and I have a
, a Bills fan, in my afternoonclass and a lot of people are
like, how can you have a Billsfan?
I said because it doesn't matterwhere you come from or what you
support Any fan is welcome.
And it's just you know, and thefact that the New York Jets
knew who he was, that was it forhim.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
So it just seems like role models on top of role
models on top of role models forthese kids.
That's incredible.
Oh my gosh.
Thank you so much for sharingthat story.
Oh gosh, my face is red,emotional.
Okay, as we wrap up, I'm goingto enter into our rapid fire
round.
I'm going to warm you up withsome rapid fire questions that,
(41:56):
like you, can answer with acouple of sentences, and then
we're going to move into oneword only.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
I'm really bad at this, as you can tell.
I ramble on and on.
Speaker 3 (42:03):
It's going to be great.
You're ready, you're ready.
Okay, so our first sentence,rapid round question what's a
rookie mistake that you madeyour first year teaching?
Speaker 1 (42:17):
your first year of teaching, Trying to do
everything, trying to beeverything, I think.
I think trying to be the mostorganized trying to be the most
enthusiastic, trying to, and notjust letting myself be me Like
(42:37):
not, it's okay that I'm notorganized, I'm, I'm, I'm very
type B and I think I felt like Ihad to be the perfect teacher,
which meant lesson plans on yourdesk, perfect Every week,
organized File, like I stillcan't.
I change my data system everyyear because it's like, nah,
it's not working, and this onedidn't even get finished halfway
through this year, so it's likebut that's OK, as long as you
know so.
Speaker 3 (42:59):
Are you describing me ?
Yeah, that's me, me, that's me.
There's a lot of us out there.
Hey, all right, describe yourpre-school morning routine, your
am morning routine, includingyour go-to teacher fit okay.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
Pre-morning routine wake 5.30.
Sometimes I will go for a run,but I haven't done that in a
while, just because it's verydark outside right now.
Drink some coffee, shufflearound in my slippers, get into
the car, plug in the music, pumpmyself up with some jams
anything all over the spectrum.
(43:36):
I get to school ridiculouslyearly, at six 45.
I live in a one bedroom with myhusband right now, so it's like
I need my space to turn on thelights to feel relaxed.
So I get in here at six 45.
It's funny, my teacher bestiegets here at like seven and she
comes up.
She's the PE teacher, so shedoesn't really have a classroom.
She comes in Um and I'm doingmy stuff while we're debriefing
(43:58):
about our day and our week.
But my teacher fit isdefinitely my Nikes, joggers or
jeans.
I'm fortunate to work at aschool that they allow you to be
casual and comfortable Like I'mnot going to be rolling up here
in pajamas.
And if I'm wearing joggers, well, my joggers are like nice
joggers, but if I wear a hoodie,it's like I'm making it cute.
(44:21):
You know, I got a cutehairstyle with cute shoes on,
like I'm not schlepping aroundto school.
You know, maybe the last day ofschool.
Speaker 3 (44:30):
But our jobs are active, man, let us wear, active
wear.
Speaker 1 (44:33):
Right, so it's always sneakers.
I cannot.
There is one teacher at myschool who is dressed to the
nines every day and, man, I havenever seen her repeat an outfit
and I aspire to be like her,but I know I never will, because
I cannot teach in high heels oreven open toed shoes, because I
get cold.
Speaker 3 (44:49):
I can't teach in flats.
They're not comfy, there's nosupport.
Speaker 1 (44:52):
It's sneakers every, or my Doc Martens in the winter.
It's only my Doc Martens.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
You know I'm wearing my teacher fit pants and shoes,
so I'm going to show you myshoes, then you show me your
shoes, you ready?
Okay, this is what I'm wearing.
These are my teacher shoes.
Oh hey, what's up?
Speaker 1 (45:09):
We're cashing it up over here, I know, yeah, and I
got my joggers on.
I see those joggers.
Speaker 3 (45:17):
I'm elastic waistband panning right now, right now,
all right, and then last longeranswer.
And by long you know, anyfavorite teacher shout outs you
want to give.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
I think my favorite teacher shout outs about Coach
Sundry, my coach in elementaryschool, who saw the athlete in
me and saw, you know, alwaysencouraged me to continue
playing sports and encouraged meto compete with the boys.
And just because I was a girl,and always I mean, I selected PE
all throughout middle schoolwhen all the girls chose dance
(45:50):
because I was encouraged as anathlete and as a person.
And my fourth grade teacher, msFerrer, whoi was terrified of
cause my mom taught.
My mom taught for 37 years andI went to the elementary school
she taught at.
My mom put me in her class butit was for a good reason,
because I needed.
I needed the toughness and Ineeded and I would.
I would stay after school andhave to write and finish
(46:13):
assignments because I didn't getto finish them during class.
But you know, she worked withme and I was.
I haven't had a diagnosed ADD,so it was like you know, I felt
I felt heard and I think thatwas a pivoting moment for me was
, you know, having that toughteacher that I couldn't just
slide by with?
Speaker 3 (46:30):
You hear it here, teachers Be tough, it works.
All right, you ready for therapid fire?
One word answers Sure, allright, here we go.
Fill in the blank.
I want my lunchbox to be packedwith blank.
I do not want it to have asingle blank.
Speaker 1 (46:45):
I want my lunchbox to be packed with a.
Speaker 3 (46:47):
PubSub.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
I do not want a single item I have to heat in
the microwave.
Speaker 3 (46:56):
PubSubs all day.
I'm from Georgia, so I get it.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
You guys have Publix yeah yeah, we do.
Speaker 3 (47:00):
We do favorite school supply pens.
All right, last question whatfootball position would you play
?
Speaker 1 (47:09):
wide receiver or cornerback.
You want to run cool, Iactually played those positions.
Speaker 3 (47:17):
Mary, thank you so much.
We have had the best timetalking to you.
You are such an inspiration.
Our listeners need to go followyou and emulate everything
about you.
Speaker 1 (47:26):
Thank you, guys, it's been a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (47:29):
If you or someone you know would like to be a guest
on the Teachers in Americapodcast, please email us at
shaped.
At hmhcocom.
That's S-H-A-P-E-D.
At hmhcocom.
Be the first to hear newepisodes of Teachers in America
by subscribing on Apple Podcasts, spotify or wherever you get
your podcasts.
If you enjoyed today's show,please rate, review and share it
(47:51):
with your network.
You can find the transcript ofthis episode on our Shaped blog
by visiting hmhcocom.
Forward slash shaped.
That's hmhcocom forward slashS-H-A-P-E-D.
The link is in the show notes.
The Teachers in America podcastis a production of HMH.
Thank you to the productionteam of Christine Condon, tim
(48:13):
Lee, jennifer Corujo, neil Fry,thomas Velasquez and Matt Howell
.
Thanks again for listening.
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