May 10, 2025 • 32 mins
T.D. Flenaugh celebrates Teacher Appreciation Week by highlighting four influential teachers who shaped her life. She praises Mr. Beu for instilling potential and honesty, Ms. Nelson for treating students as scholars and preparing her for college, Ms. Coerr for fostering a love for nature and journaling, and Ms. Byler for her meticulous editing of scholarship essays and introducing her to Zora Neale Hurston. Flenaugh emphasizes the importance of teachers in preparing students for life and encourages parents to support their children's education.
We drop new episodes every Saturday at 5 p.m. Pacific Time.
Follow us:
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/fallingforlearning/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/fallingforlearning/
https://linktr.ee/falling4learning
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
TD Flenaugh (00:03):
Teachers. Oh, I'm live and there's something extra
in the back. I wanted to... Muchbetter OK. So today is the end
of Teacher Appreciation Week,and I have been a teacher for
(00:24):
quite a while, but today is morestory of time about the teachers
that helpedshape my future. Andso you don't want to miss this
episode, because I'll also begiving you tips on how to spot a
good teacher and how to you knowwork well with a teacher to help
(00:45):
shape your children's future.
Stick around good stuff.
Hi. Thank you so much forjoining joining us. I am TD
Flenaugh, we have this podcastto help parents and caregivers
(01:06):
with having the resourcesstrategies and sure that their
children are on track forlearning and to stay on success.
Hey, hopefully it's all good inthe hood. I have heard a little
crackling. I hope we don't haveany technical issues, but thanks
(01:29):
so much for joining us. This isepisode 98 of the falling for
learning podcast in the end ofits second season. Big things
happening. I'm on deadline totake care of some big things,
and so I will let you know aboutthat in the near future. But so
that's why I'm going live today,because I'm getting it done even
(01:50):
when I'm feeling tired. Because,of course, I want to shout out
to my teachers. I'm going totalk about four specific
teachers that are, you know,really stand out now I've have a
lot of teachers. I would saythat most of my teachers are
were like, really greatteachers, but there's four that
(02:11):
I'm going to talk about todaythat were really amazing and
really deserve a lot of credit,as far as shaping some of the
things that I am even doing tothis day. So the first teacher
that I want to talk about is mysecond grade teacher, Mr. Bu I
(02:32):
feel like you, if you've beenfollowing me, you've heard about
him before. We are Facebookfriends, and maybe one day,
he'll grace us with his presenceon my podcast, we'll see. But he
was such a great teacher. Onething that he always taught you
know, every day we talked aboutpotential, like we have the
(02:53):
inside of us, the ability to dowhatever we want it to do. And
so he really talked to us aboutour future. He really gave us
time just to talk, just askquestions about whatever we
wanted to ask questions about.
And he talked to us, you know,on a range of things about real
(03:13):
life. During that year, mygrandfather had passed away, my
my father's father, and I hadn'tmet him, but my dad was
obviously very sad, and I toldhim about it, and I don't know
how soon after or before he readthis book called The fall of
(03:34):
Freddie the leaf. And it was abook about death, but it was
about how everyone dies.
Everything dies. And there was aleaf on a tree named Freddie,
and, you know, he had, you know,over time, prepared to die, just
(03:57):
like other leaves had had diedbecause of the seasons and all
of that, just like the cycle andthe circle of life. So he
really, you know, was reallygood about teaching us, just
like being honest with us aboutdifferent things and talking to
us about whatever we wanted totalk to him about. And so, you
(04:22):
know, that was mister Bucha. Hewas really about that later on
in the school year. He alsostarted talking to us every day
about unique, by us being eachone of us being different and
and we have gifts that areunique to us, that only we have.
And, you know, using ourpotential to do whatever we want
(04:42):
to do is really important. Soputting those two things
together really helped me to,you know, have perspective about
who I was and who I could be,and believe in that ability,
right? And my ability to to makethings happen, to get work done.
And to focus in on what I wantto happen in my life. So Mister
(05:05):
BU is, you know, really juststands out to me. I'm still in
contact with him, like he evencame, you know, and took me off
to dinner my family for my 40thbirthday. He also came before
that too. He came to California,he came to our house, and my
husband probably is the one whocooked dinner, but he wasn't my
(05:26):
husband at the time, but lateron, of course, he became my
husband. But so it, you know, soso many great memories just to
stay in contact with him. Yeah.
So you know, those are just somethings, like, really, not always
sticking straight to thecurriculum, but being very good
about exploration for us, right?
(05:51):
And if you are teaching yourkids at home, that's also
something you should be thinkingabout, is exploration, you know,
really letting the kids drive,sometimes the things that you're
talking about and studying isreally important. The second
teacher that I wanted to talkabout, and I've talked about her
a lot as well, is Miss Nelson.
Miss Nelson was my fourth gradeteacher, and I actually didn't
(06:16):
know that she was black. She wasvery light skinned, light
complexion, and but she wasreally a great teacher. She was
really serious. And when I wasin fourth grade, that was the
year, you know, that we had someseparation in my family from,
(06:38):
you know, my mother and but whatreally stood out to me is just
how she treated us, likescholars, like school was
important and we were importantand we could do these important
things. And that's what itreally got to me about her now,
in in my district, often kidsread To Kill a Mockingbird in
(07:02):
eighth grade or ninth grade,maybe seventh grade, but when I
was in fourth grade, we read ToKill a Mockingbird. Now we were
the highest reading group, butthat's what we read, and I just
really feel like that's when,actually, when I found out about
(07:23):
her being black, because she wastelling us about how she had was
passing and a swimming pool, andone of the kids when the white
boys in the neighborhood wassaying, you know, she's black,
and then so she couldn't go tothat swimming pool anymore, and
so she was telling this story,like, in the middle of, you
(07:44):
know, in class. And in themiddle of class, I was like,
Well, wait a minute, are yousaying you're black, you know?
And she's like, Yeah. Like, whatdid you think I was and I was
like, I hadn't thought about it.
(08:05):
I hadn't thought about our race.
I didn't know that she wasblack. There was another black
boy in the class, and Frank, hewas sad that he thought she was,
like, Asian. But you know howwhen you're that age, you just
say Chinese or whatever, becausethere wasn't a lot of diversity
in Alaska, right? So, you know,we were the two black kids, and
(08:28):
then we didn't even know we hada black teacher. So, and we
didn't discuss this, neitherFrank court and I did not
discuss like we had a blackteacher, but I was just very
surprised and and obviously therest of the class realized I was
very surprised too, and maybethey didn't know either. I have
no idea what they thought,because I was just surprised.
(08:48):
But I was very well acquaintedwith Ms. Nelson, because I, if
you don't know, I'm cold phobic.
I am against cold weather. And Idid grow up in Alaska, just to
tell you, okay, so part of mybecoming a teacher, I do
(09:12):
attribute to my cold phobia.
Okay? I went out for recess. Wassupposed to, but I obviously
found many ways to help teachersduring recess time, and I helped
grade papers and help puttogether bulletin boards and
organize things and all of thosethings. And of course, those
(09:32):
skills are still used to thisday. And so, you know, I, you
know, we talked about a lot ofthings, and she was very
helpful. I remember she evengave me like a hygiene little
packet, because I guess I was alittle stinky. So there's some
(09:52):
information. I was a littleembarrassed, but she was all
About the business for me. Toback things up a little bit,
going back to not having thatmuch diversity ... my second
grade teacher, Mr. Beu, back tohim. I realized when I got in
(10:13):
his class I had moved away fromFairbanks, which was, you know,
a city in in Alaska, into NorthPole, Alaska, which was less
diverse, not a bunch ofdiversity in Fairbanks, but much
more than in North Pole. So Iwas the only black kid in that
(10:35):
class, and I was feeling acertain kind of way. So I don't
know future nerd or currentnerd, forever nerd, whatever. I
found a book I, you know,impressed upon my mom that I had
to have this book. And I got thebook, and it's called, Why are
(10:56):
people different? And my teacherread that book to the class. I
read it, you know, I wanted himto have it. He said he read the
book every year to his class.
And Why do I cry on this podcastsometimes, not always, but
(11:17):
sometimes. But anyway, when Ibecame a teacher, he sent me the
book, and I actually never -didn't remember it until he gave
me the book. He sent me thisbook, and that's when I
remembered. But I didn'tremember it before then, so I
was like, yikes. I don't knowwho I was in second grade. I
(11:38):
mean, a lot was going on. Butyes, I just had the forethought,
like, I gotta get a book for myteacher, you know. And Why are
people different? And it talksabout, you know, I think I maybe
passed that book on to someoneelse. But it was a great book,
obviously. And it was amazinganyway. Enough of that. Anyway.
(12:04):
One other thing about Mr. Beu,he sometimes, if I was having
challenges, he would like, comeand talk to me, even when I was
in Ms. Nelson's class, if hewas, like, having music, he was
like, let me, you know, I guessMiss Nelson or somebody, would
talk to him about my challenges,and he'd like, I would be able
to go and talk to Mr. Beu duringmy, like, little upset times.
(12:28):
And that was amazing, you know,like he just kind of followed up
with me. One thing that we stilllaugh about to this day, my
mother and I, is that Mr. Beu onmy report card. Said, you know,
Taiesha is finally learning thatshe's human and she can make
mistakes or something to thateffect. So because, if you also
(12:51):
know about me, I am a recoveringperfectionist, and I was full
fledged perfectionist back then,and you know, I would get upset
if I missed something on a paperand whatever. So he was, you
know, just giving a littlereport card comment about how I
was learning how to acceptmistakes. There was many more
(13:13):
years of me torturing myselfover not trying to make
mistakes, but I had some inklingof of getting over it in second
grade, little moments, I guess.
Back to Ms. Nelson. Ms. Nelsonwas really good at she really,
like, in fourth grade, preparedme for college. Like, how crazy
(13:34):
is that? She told me aboutacademic scholarships. And I
know I've talked about this onthe podcast before, which I only
knew about sports scholarshipsbefore, Ms. Nelson, but I
already did really well inschool. Really would get, you
know, basically had a littlemeltdown if I got less than
perfect. And so to know that youcould get a scholarship for
(13:57):
getting good grades was justamazing to me. And of course,
you know, that's what I aspiredto do from that moment. And of
course, that happened. I got anacademic scholarship going to
college. She taught me thecourses to take. She told me the
like, you know, to challengemyself with, you know, hard
(14:19):
courses, Advanced Math, and Idid go all the way to calculus,
and when I was a junior in highschool, and she also told me
about activities to take, andshe was like, whatever
activities you take, make sureyou get leadership roles. Make
sure you stay involved with itfor four years or more, or two
(14:40):
years or more. You know, shereally was telling me about what
to do in fourth grade, and Iremembered those things. She
even was specific about givepeople two weeks ahead of time
before your scholarship. You'regoing to need. She was saying
you need, you're going to need.
Recommendations and, you know,I'll get into this right after
(15:06):
these messages.
The R.E.W.R.I.T.E. Method andThe R.E.W.R.I.T.E. Method
Workbook are your go to resourcefor helping kids to learn to
fall in love with writing, ithas the tips, tools, resources,
(15:30):
strategies and skill buildingactivities to help kids fall out
of writing heat and into lovingto write, get your book set
today.
(15:53):
Okay, so, okay. As far as itcame to asking for
recommendation letters andrecommendations for
scholarships, because sometimesit's more than just a letter.
They may have a checklist or arating form for the teacher, so
she said, give them two weeksahead of when it's due. So if
it's due on the 15th of June,tell them that you need it by
(16:16):
June 1. Ask them two weeks aheadof time. So you're asking them
on May 15. And then she said,make sure you write them a thank
you letter afterward, right? Sothese are things that my family
wasn't teaching me like she wasteaching me these things. And
you know, that was amazing nowshe actually had my sister,
(16:42):
who's four years younger thanme, so she had my sister. Four
years later, I was in eighthgrade, headed to high school,
and my mother was at the time,doing a beauty Beauty School,
cosmetology school, right? SoMs. Nelson would go get her hair
done at the cosmetology school.
Now this, I think, is like, solike genius, right? Because she
(17:08):
did not get her hair done by mymom, right? Because that could
be complicated if she doesn't doa good job. Blah, blah, blah,
she got done by someone else,and then she went to my mom and
talk to me, talk to my mom aboutme. And was like, what class is
she going to get in for highschool? She needs to take
advanced classes. She told me totake them. But again, that's not
(17:28):
all my within my realm ofcontrol, a lot of that has to do
with parents, right? And in inmiddle school I was in advanced
math. I was taking algebra in aseighth grader, right? And so I
had taken pre algebra in seventhgrade, algebra as an eighth
(17:52):
grader, and I advocated for thatwas able to do it. So then in
high school, I wanted to take,like, Algebra Two or or whatever
the sequence is after that. Andmy mom was telling her, you
know, Well her her progressreport. She didn't get A. She
got a B. They're saying thatmaybe she needs to take algebra
(18:15):
again. And they're like, no,she's they're gonna say that,
but she needs to be in the morechallenging classes to make sure
she's prepared for college andall of that. And she said, so
they're going to tell you that,but you make sure you tell them
she's going to take it. And ofcourse, I got an A by the by the
end, but you know, they make thecourse decisions before that.
And she's like, and I didn'teven know this part, like this
(18:39):
like an update, because my momtold me maybe, like, I feel like
2020, so not, you know, veryrecent that she told me like
that. Ms. Nelson was likefollowing up, telling her
exactly what the schoolofficials were gonna say and
what to tell them in response.
So she was so amazing. Like, whodoes that right? And knew not to
(19:06):
get her hair done by my mom,because, again, you may not, it
may complicate the relationship,but got it done by someone else,
and made sure she followed upand talked to her and told her
what to say. Because parents,you don't always know what to do
to advocate for your kids. Youdon't know the inner workings.
Some parents will try to tellme, they think they know what's
going on, and they don't. Andthey think they know, but they
(19:26):
don't. So listen to theteachers, and even though you
think it may not make sense, oryou've heard how it was before
things change, and in aparticular school district or a
particular area, you don't knowhow it works. So let the teacher
guide you and listen, listen,because they know okay. And so I
got into my advanced courses andall of that kind of stuff. And
(19:49):
of course, when I went tocollege, it wasn't a big deal
because I had taken challengingI had been taking challenging
classes, so every like as I wasgoing through matriculating.
Challenging myself. Everythingwas just a little step up, and I
was never overwhelmed. And whenI was, well, yeah, I was
overwhelmed in calculus, butreally that had to do with the
(20:11):
teacher. And I'm not going tosay her name, but it was the
teacher. She was messing up, butI got tutoring because I was a
tutor, so I had access totutors. So anyway, I'm not going
to poo poo on the teacher. Okay,but you know, I don't remember
her name anyway. But anyway, soI've talked about Ms. Nelson.
(20:36):
She also was really helpfulabout really taking me through
the writing process and reallytaking ownership of the writing
process, writing on napkins,writing on Scratch, pieces of
paper, when ideas come to you,that's when you write them like
you know, when you wake up froma dream, write it down like she
was about business when it cameto writing and being a scholar,
(20:57):
and what it meant to be ascholar and about studying, I
mean. And so she taught me somuch, and I just really loved
her. Really love her for that.
She was a serious teacher. Sosome people so this is what I
want to say. Like, I feel likeMs. Nelson, I like, I don't, I
don't think I, I am the teacherthat any of my teachers were,
that I'm talking about. But Ifeel like I see a lot of myself
(21:19):
in Ms. Nelson, like I'm veryserious, and I may not be like
that sweet, popular teacher, butI'm about business, like I'm
going to help you get what youneed right. I'm going to push
you and challenge you to do morethan you wanted to do. And of
course, you may not at the time,really love it now, because of
(21:44):
the super nerdiness I have, Iloved it, but some of you may
not love it, right? You're like,okay, she's doing all this. She
got us doing all that. And maynot appreciate it, but you will
need it in the future, and youwill think back like, Oh, my
teacher had me doing this. I'vedone this before, and maybe you
don't appreciate that teacher,like the popular, very sweet
(22:05):
teacher that you know was alwayslike fun. Even though I really
talk about falling in love withlearning, and I talk about how
important it is, but it is, itis something I have to keep
reminding myself, too, becauseI'm very serious when it comes
to education and reallychallenging kids to do more than
(22:26):
than maybe other people wouldhave them to do. Where people
say, Oh, that's too much, butI'm like, I'm going to scaffold
you there. I'm going to get youthere. So please know that when
teachers are challenging orpushing your child that they're
not trying to be mean, thatthey're trying to get them
prepared for the future and setthem up for success and give
them a competitive advantage.
(22:48):
And sometimes some parents pushback and like, okay, that's too
much, or blah, blah, blah, andother teachers will even do
that, who have low expectationsfor the kids, they have a
probrecito kind of thing goingon. And you know, I'm not about
that. I believe your child isbrilliant, and they could do
brilliant things, and I believethat they can struggle through
(23:09):
it with my support. I'm rightthere. I'm not leaving them out
in the cold to struggle. I'mright there with them,
supporting them. So please,please don't commiserate when
your kids are trying to saythings are too challenging. Work
with your kid and let them knowthat they're able to do hard
things because they're brilliantand they have the ability to do
so. So I'm going to take it. SoI went to my second then I went
(23:33):
to my fourth grade teacher. I'mgoing to go to my third grade
teacher, Ms. Coerr. Now, I havenot talked about her very much
and but she's, like, a reallyshort, petite lady. She's really
cute. She wore like a reallyshort haircut, and she really
respected us as, like, scholars.
And, you know, she we lived,right? You know our not we
(23:59):
lived, but our school was rightby the woods, right? And Ms
Nelson, not Ms Nelson, Ms. Coerrwould have us go and do like
nature walks. And she would holdup in her hand a moose nugget,
which is poop, right? She wouldbe like, here is moose
excrement, and it can tell you alot about what the moose eats
(24:19):
and their health. And, you know,it was, like, gross, but at the
same time, so challenge, so,like, intriguing, right? Like it
was, and I believe people, like,would make jewelry out of, like,
(24:39):
I guess, like dipped mooseexcrement or maybe it wasn't
actually, actually mooseexcrement, but maybe it was like
a cast, like a like somethingthat was in the shape of moose
excrement they make, would makestuff out of it. Or maybe they
made it with the actual stuff, Ireally don't know. But anyway,
she had us looking throughmicroscopes. She had, as you
(25:02):
know, really respectingourselves as scholars. The other
thing she had us do was journal.
So she's the one who introducedin a real like set, gave us a
practice. Now, of course, youread about it in the books. You
see it on TV, where people werelike journaling and stuff like
that, but she actually had usjournaling and was using
(25:22):
writing. She had us think aboutand have a practice of using
writing as a confidant, but wecould write down our thoughts
and untangle some ideas orproblems that we were having on
paper, right? So I reallyrespected her for that, and
really carried that practicewith me throughout my life. So I
(25:45):
really, like, really, you know,love, miss, miss, miss core. She
was amazing. And she, you know,just taught us so much. Um,
another thing about Ms. Coerrnow I don't remember how, what,
you know, what the relation, orlike, whatever it was, but she,
I remember, she told me she hadher kid in college, and her kid
(26:06):
went to college with her andwent into classes with her. And
do you know I had my kid incollege, and I actually had my
daughter in classes with me somedays. And, I mean, that's
something my teacher told meabout, like, she didn't stop,
and she kept going. I don't knowif that was graduate school. So
she was older, you know, I was,you know, obviously, at the end
(26:28):
of my teen years, but, you know,I don't know, but she just told
me that's something that shedid. And I ended up doing
something similar in college.
And I remember that she wastelling me that she did that. So
I was, like, interesting, right?
Something, okay? And my lastteacher, I'm going to talk about
in Ms. Byler she was my 12thgrade teacher. So I went to
(26:50):
three high schools, and my lasthigh school was at Grant Union
High School in Sacramento.
That's when I had left home andmoved to Sacramento and
graduated from there, but thereI applied to, like, almost like,
40 scholarships. And I was anindependent student, and Ms.
(27:13):
Byler was the person who, everytime I did a scholarship essay,
right, every scholarship wantedthe essay. She would revise that
essay, edit that essay. And whenI'm talking about edit and
revise, remember she was workingwith a perfectionist. That would
be a 13, 567, 13, I don't know,back and forth, back and forth
(27:39):
until she was like, Okay, it'sready, but I would give it to
her. She'd mark it up. I'd giveit back. I fix it. Give it back.
She'd mark it up. I give it backto her. She'd make mark it up
again, Mark You know, it wouldgo back and forth. And she was
there for me. She was patient.
She did that for me. She wasamazing. And so I really, you
know, love that she did that.
(27:59):
She also introduced me to ZoraNeale Hurston. I did not know
who that author was. We readTheir Eyes Were Watching God in
her 12th grade English class.
And you know, I was just amazedby Zora Neale Hurston still am
to this day. And, you know, butshe introduced me to that she
also introduced me to somethingagain that I am currently a part
(28:19):
of right now, which is thewriting project. I'm part of the
California writing project. I'veworked with the National Writing
Project, with the UCLA writingproject, all of that. But so in
in Sacramento, she had me be apart of a writing project thing,
and I have the anthology. I wasone of the people who worked,
(28:44):
one of the editors on theanthology, and so, like, I
didn't even make the connectionto, like, many, many years
later, like, this was a writingproject thing, and this, and I'm
in the writing project, but, youknow, it's amazing. And I just
recently working doing a projectwith the writing project. Had
met a teacher that works atgrant where I graduated from
(29:04):
high school, and he's like, allof us go to the writing project,
you know. So I was like, wow,it's still going and, you know,
just, just something near todear. It's like, means a lot to
me as a writer. It with thewriting project, we develop
ourselves as personal writers sothat we can actually speak to
how best to teach writing. Andso Miss Byler did that for me.
(29:26):
And, you know, really, all ofthose teachers put together, you
know, really helped me to becomethe person I am today, the
teacher I am today. And I justreally want you to know that
teacher appreciation is a timewhen you can just say thank you
to the teachers a little if youdon't have to spend a lot of
(29:48):
money, but it means a lot if youjust write a little note or a
letter or something and tellthem you appreciate them,
because it is a work of love.
Mm. Like we are, like, pouringin to ourselves, like things
that we could teach you aboutlife. I was writing something
(30:09):
today, and someone was, I was, Isaid, I started this podcast to
help parents and educators,like, help kids toward success,
and someone's like success inschool. And I was, like, no
success in life. The whole pointof school is to make sure that
our kids are able to function asadults, you know, in the world
(30:30):
and so no, it's not just aboutthem getting an A in school or a
B or passing a class. It's aboutthem being able to take these
skills and use it in their livesso they could have a fulfilling
life and a happy life. So I amsaying Happy Teacher
Appreciation to all the teachersout there. Thank you for what
you do. All of my teachers areamazing. I only have a 30 minute
(30:53):
podcast usually, and I chosefour teachers to talk to about
talk about today, and that's Mr.
Bu, Ms. Coerr, Ms. Nelson andMs. Byler. I love all of you,
and I hope you are living yourbest lives, and you know,
carrying on your legacy whereveryou go, because you are I'm part
of your legacy, and I appreciateyou. I hope that you do
(31:16):
something today, all of you,educators, parents out there to
give your kids the competitiveadvantage, thank you.
Thanks again for supporting theFalling for Learning Podcast,
new episodes go live everySaturday at 5pm you can watch us
(31:41):
onyoutube.com/@fallingforlearning,
or listen on all major podcastplatforms such as Apple, Google,
Audible, Spotify and much morefor more resources, visit
Fallinginlovewithlearning.com.
We really appreciate you. Have awonderful week.
Teachers. Oh, I'm live and there's something extra
in the back. I wanted to... Muchbetter OK. So today is the end
of Teacher Appreciation Week,and I have been a teacher for
(00:24):
quite a while, but today is morestory of time about the teachers
that helpedshape my future. Andso you don't want to miss this
episode, because I'll also begiving you tips on how to spot a
good teacher and how to you knowwork well with a teacher to help
(00:45):
shape your children's future.
Stick around good stuff.
Hi. Thank you so much forjoining joining us. I am TD
Flenaugh, we have this podcastto help parents and caregivers
(01:06):
with having the resourcesstrategies and sure that their
children are on track forlearning and to stay on success.
Hey, hopefully it's all good inthe hood. I have heard a little
crackling. I hope we don't haveany technical issues, but thanks
(01:29):
so much for joining us. This isepisode 98 of the falling for
learning podcast in the end ofits second season. Big things
happening. I'm on deadline totake care of some big things,
and so I will let you know aboutthat in the near future. But so
that's why I'm going live today,because I'm getting it done even
(01:50):
when I'm feeling tired. Because,of course, I want to shout out
to my teachers. I'm going totalk about four specific
teachers that are, you know,really stand out now I've have a
lot of teachers. I would saythat most of my teachers are
were like, really greatteachers, but there's four that
(02:11):
I'm going to talk about todaythat were really amazing and
really deserve a lot of credit,as far as shaping some of the
things that I am even doing tothis day. So the first teacher
that I want to talk about is mysecond grade teacher, Mr. Bu I
(02:32):
feel like you, if you've beenfollowing me, you've heard about
him before. We are Facebookfriends, and maybe one day,
he'll grace us with his presenceon my podcast, we'll see. But he
was such a great teacher. Onething that he always taught you
know, every day we talked aboutpotential, like we have the
(02:53):
inside of us, the ability to dowhatever we want it to do. And
so he really talked to us aboutour future. He really gave us
time just to talk, just askquestions about whatever we
wanted to ask questions about.
And he talked to us, you know,on a range of things about real
(03:13):
life. During that year, mygrandfather had passed away, my
my father's father, and I hadn'tmet him, but my dad was
obviously very sad, and I toldhim about it, and I don't know
how soon after or before he readthis book called The fall of
(03:34):
Freddie the leaf. And it was abook about death, but it was
about how everyone dies.
Everything dies. And there was aleaf on a tree named Freddie,
and, you know, he had, you know,over time, prepared to die, just
(03:57):
like other leaves had had diedbecause of the seasons and all
of that, just like the cycle andthe circle of life. So he
really, you know, was reallygood about teaching us, just
like being honest with us aboutdifferent things and talking to
us about whatever we wanted totalk to him about. And so, you
(04:22):
know, that was mister Bucha. Hewas really about that later on
in the school year. He alsostarted talking to us every day
about unique, by us being eachone of us being different and
and we have gifts that areunique to us, that only we have.
And, you know, using ourpotential to do whatever we want
(04:42):
to do is really important. Soputting those two things
together really helped me to,you know, have perspective about
who I was and who I could be,and believe in that ability,
right? And my ability to to makethings happen, to get work done.
And to focus in on what I wantto happen in my life. So Mister
(05:05):
BU is, you know, really juststands out to me. I'm still in
contact with him, like he evencame, you know, and took me off
to dinner my family for my 40thbirthday. He also came before
that too. He came to California,he came to our house, and my
husband probably is the one whocooked dinner, but he wasn't my
(05:26):
husband at the time, but lateron, of course, he became my
husband. But so it, you know, soso many great memories just to
stay in contact with him. Yeah.
So you know, those are just somethings, like, really, not always
sticking straight to thecurriculum, but being very good
about exploration for us, right?
(05:51):
And if you are teaching yourkids at home, that's also
something you should be thinkingabout, is exploration, you know,
really letting the kids drive,sometimes the things that you're
talking about and studying isreally important. The second
teacher that I wanted to talkabout, and I've talked about her
a lot as well, is Miss Nelson.
Miss Nelson was my fourth gradeteacher, and I actually didn't
(06:16):
know that she was black. She wasvery light skinned, light
complexion, and but she wasreally a great teacher. She was
really serious. And when I wasin fourth grade, that was the
year, you know, that we had someseparation in my family from,
(06:38):
you know, my mother and but whatreally stood out to me is just
how she treated us, likescholars, like school was
important and we were importantand we could do these important
things. And that's what itreally got to me about her now,
in in my district, often kidsread To Kill a Mockingbird in
(07:02):
eighth grade or ninth grade,maybe seventh grade, but when I
was in fourth grade, we read ToKill a Mockingbird. Now we were
the highest reading group, butthat's what we read, and I just
really feel like that's when,actually, when I found out about
(07:23):
her being black, because she wastelling us about how she had was
passing and a swimming pool, andone of the kids when the white
boys in the neighborhood wassaying, you know, she's black,
and then so she couldn't go tothat swimming pool anymore, and
so she was telling this story,like, in the middle of, you
(07:44):
know, in class. And in themiddle of class, I was like,
Well, wait a minute, are yousaying you're black, you know?
And she's like, Yeah. Like, whatdid you think I was and I was
like, I hadn't thought about it.
(08:05):
I hadn't thought about our race.
I didn't know that she wasblack. There was another black
boy in the class, and Frank, hewas sad that he thought she was,
like, Asian. But you know howwhen you're that age, you just
say Chinese or whatever, becausethere wasn't a lot of diversity
in Alaska, right? So, you know,we were the two black kids, and
(08:28):
then we didn't even know we hada black teacher. So, and we
didn't discuss this, neitherFrank court and I did not
discuss like we had a blackteacher, but I was just very
surprised and and obviously therest of the class realized I was
very surprised too, and maybethey didn't know either. I have
no idea what they thought,because I was just surprised.
(08:48):
But I was very well acquaintedwith Ms. Nelson, because I, if
you don't know, I'm cold phobic.
I am against cold weather. And Idid grow up in Alaska, just to
tell you, okay, so part of mybecoming a teacher, I do
(09:12):
attribute to my cold phobia.
Okay? I went out for recess. Wassupposed to, but I obviously
found many ways to help teachersduring recess time, and I helped
grade papers and help puttogether bulletin boards and
organize things and all of thosethings. And of course, those
(09:32):
skills are still used to thisday. And so, you know, I, you
know, we talked about a lot ofthings, and she was very
helpful. I remember she evengave me like a hygiene little
packet, because I guess I was alittle stinky. So there's some
(09:52):
information. I was a littleembarrassed, but she was all
About the business for me. Toback things up a little bit,
going back to not having thatmuch diversity ... my second
grade teacher, Mr. Beu, back tohim. I realized when I got in
(10:13):
his class I had moved away fromFairbanks, which was, you know,
a city in in Alaska, into NorthPole, Alaska, which was less
diverse, not a bunch ofdiversity in Fairbanks, but much
more than in North Pole. So Iwas the only black kid in that
(10:35):
class, and I was feeling acertain kind of way. So I don't
know future nerd or currentnerd, forever nerd, whatever. I
found a book I, you know,impressed upon my mom that I had
to have this book. And I got thebook, and it's called, Why are
(10:56):
people different? And my teacherread that book to the class. I
read it, you know, I wanted himto have it. He said he read the
book every year to his class.
And Why do I cry on this podcastsometimes, not always, but
(11:17):
sometimes. But anyway, when Ibecame a teacher, he sent me the
book, and I actually never -didn't remember it until he gave
me the book. He sent me thisbook, and that's when I
remembered. But I didn'tremember it before then, so I
was like, yikes. I don't knowwho I was in second grade. I
(11:38):
mean, a lot was going on. Butyes, I just had the forethought,
like, I gotta get a book for myteacher, you know. And Why are
people different? And it talksabout, you know, I think I maybe
passed that book on to someoneelse. But it was a great book,
obviously. And it was amazinganyway. Enough of that. Anyway.
(12:04):
One other thing about Mr. Beu,he sometimes, if I was having
challenges, he would like, comeand talk to me, even when I was
in Ms. Nelson's class, if hewas, like, having music, he was
like, let me, you know, I guessMiss Nelson or somebody, would
talk to him about my challenges,and he'd like, I would be able
to go and talk to Mr. Beu duringmy, like, little upset times.
(12:28):
And that was amazing, you know,like he just kind of followed up
with me. One thing that we stilllaugh about to this day, my
mother and I, is that Mr. Beu onmy report card. Said, you know,
Taiesha is finally learning thatshe's human and she can make
mistakes or something to thateffect. So because, if you also
(12:51):
know about me, I am a recoveringperfectionist, and I was full
fledged perfectionist back then,and you know, I would get upset
if I missed something on a paperand whatever. So he was, you
know, just giving a littlereport card comment about how I
was learning how to acceptmistakes. There was many more
(13:13):
years of me torturing myselfover not trying to make
mistakes, but I had some inklingof of getting over it in second
grade, little moments, I guess.
Back to Ms. Nelson. Ms. Nelsonwas really good at she really,
like, in fourth grade, preparedme for college. Like, how crazy
(13:34):
is that? She told me aboutacademic scholarships. And I
know I've talked about this onthe podcast before, which I only
knew about sports scholarshipsbefore, Ms. Nelson, but I
already did really well inschool. Really would get, you
know, basically had a littlemeltdown if I got less than
perfect. And so to know that youcould get a scholarship for
(13:57):
getting good grades was justamazing to me. And of course,
you know, that's what I aspiredto do from that moment. And of
course, that happened. I got anacademic scholarship going to
college. She taught me thecourses to take. She told me the
like, you know, to challengemyself with, you know, hard
(14:19):
courses, Advanced Math, and Idid go all the way to calculus,
and when I was a junior in highschool, and she also told me
about activities to take, andshe was like, whatever
activities you take, make sureyou get leadership roles. Make
sure you stay involved with itfor four years or more, or two
(14:40):
years or more. You know, shereally was telling me about what
to do in fourth grade, and Iremembered those things. She
even was specific about givepeople two weeks ahead of time
before your scholarship. You'regoing to need. She was saying
you need, you're going to need.
Recommendations and, you know,I'll get into this right after
(15:06):
these messages.
The R.E.W.R.I.T.E. Method andThe R.E.W.R.I.T.E. Method
Workbook are your go to resourcefor helping kids to learn to
fall in love with writing, ithas the tips, tools, resources,
(15:30):
strategies and skill buildingactivities to help kids fall out
of writing heat and into lovingto write, get your book set
today.
(15:53):
Okay, so, okay. As far as itcame to asking for
recommendation letters andrecommendations for
scholarships, because sometimesit's more than just a letter.
They may have a checklist or arating form for the teacher, so
she said, give them two weeksahead of when it's due. So if
it's due on the 15th of June,tell them that you need it by
(16:16):
June 1. Ask them two weeks aheadof time. So you're asking them
on May 15. And then she said,make sure you write them a thank
you letter afterward, right? Sothese are things that my family
wasn't teaching me like she wasteaching me these things. And
you know, that was amazing nowshe actually had my sister,
(16:42):
who's four years younger thanme, so she had my sister. Four
years later, I was in eighthgrade, headed to high school,
and my mother was at the time,doing a beauty Beauty School,
cosmetology school, right? SoMs. Nelson would go get her hair
done at the cosmetology school.
Now this, I think, is like, solike genius, right? Because she
(17:08):
did not get her hair done by mymom, right? Because that could
be complicated if she doesn't doa good job. Blah, blah, blah,
she got done by someone else,and then she went to my mom and
talk to me, talk to my mom aboutme. And was like, what class is
she going to get in for highschool? She needs to take
advanced classes. She told me totake them. But again, that's not
(17:28):
all my within my realm ofcontrol, a lot of that has to do
with parents, right? And in inmiddle school I was in advanced
math. I was taking algebra in aseighth grader, right? And so I
had taken pre algebra in seventhgrade, algebra as an eighth
(17:52):
grader, and I advocated for thatwas able to do it. So then in
high school, I wanted to take,like, Algebra Two or or whatever
the sequence is after that. Andmy mom was telling her, you
know, Well her her progressreport. She didn't get A. She
got a B. They're saying thatmaybe she needs to take algebra
(18:15):
again. And they're like, no,she's they're gonna say that,
but she needs to be in the morechallenging classes to make sure
she's prepared for college andall of that. And she said, so
they're going to tell you that,but you make sure you tell them
she's going to take it. And ofcourse, I got an A by the by the
end, but you know, they make thecourse decisions before that.
And she's like, and I didn'teven know this part, like this
(18:39):
like an update, because my momtold me maybe, like, I feel like
2020, so not, you know, veryrecent that she told me like
that. Ms. Nelson was likefollowing up, telling her
exactly what the schoolofficials were gonna say and
what to tell them in response.
So she was so amazing. Like, whodoes that right? And knew not to
(19:06):
get her hair done by my mom,because, again, you may not, it
may complicate the relationship,but got it done by someone else,
and made sure she followed upand talked to her and told her
what to say. Because parents,you don't always know what to do
to advocate for your kids. Youdon't know the inner workings.
Some parents will try to tellme, they think they know what's
going on, and they don't. Andthey think they know, but they
(19:26):
don't. So listen to theteachers, and even though you
think it may not make sense, oryou've heard how it was before
things change, and in aparticular school district or a
particular area, you don't knowhow it works. So let the teacher
guide you and listen, listen,because they know okay. And so I
got into my advanced courses andall of that kind of stuff. And
(19:49):
of course, when I went tocollege, it wasn't a big deal
because I had taken challengingI had been taking challenging
classes, so every like as I wasgoing through matriculating.
Challenging myself. Everythingwas just a little step up, and I
was never overwhelmed. And whenI was, well, yeah, I was
overwhelmed in calculus, butreally that had to do with the
(20:11):
teacher. And I'm not going tosay her name, but it was the
teacher. She was messing up, butI got tutoring because I was a
tutor, so I had access totutors. So anyway, I'm not going
to poo poo on the teacher. Okay,but you know, I don't remember
her name anyway. But anyway, soI've talked about Ms. Nelson.
(20:36):
She also was really helpfulabout really taking me through
the writing process and reallytaking ownership of the writing
process, writing on napkins,writing on Scratch, pieces of
paper, when ideas come to you,that's when you write them like
you know, when you wake up froma dream, write it down like she
was about business when it cameto writing and being a scholar,
(20:57):
and what it meant to be ascholar and about studying, I
mean. And so she taught me somuch, and I just really loved
her. Really love her for that.
She was a serious teacher. Sosome people so this is what I
want to say. Like, I feel likeMs. Nelson, I like, I don't, I
don't think I, I am the teacherthat any of my teachers were,
that I'm talking about. But Ifeel like I see a lot of myself
(21:19):
in Ms. Nelson, like I'm veryserious, and I may not be like
that sweet, popular teacher, butI'm about business, like I'm
going to help you get what youneed right. I'm going to push
you and challenge you to do morethan you wanted to do. And of
course, you may not at the time,really love it now, because of
(21:44):
the super nerdiness I have, Iloved it, but some of you may
not love it, right? You're like,okay, she's doing all this. She
got us doing all that. And maynot appreciate it, but you will
need it in the future, and youwill think back like, Oh, my
teacher had me doing this. I'vedone this before, and maybe you
don't appreciate that teacher,like the popular, very sweet
(22:05):
teacher that you know was alwayslike fun. Even though I really
talk about falling in love withlearning, and I talk about how
important it is, but it is, itis something I have to keep
reminding myself, too, becauseI'm very serious when it comes
to education and reallychallenging kids to do more than
(22:26):
than maybe other people wouldhave them to do. Where people
say, Oh, that's too much, butI'm like, I'm going to scaffold
you there. I'm going to get youthere. So please know that when
teachers are challenging orpushing your child that they're
not trying to be mean, thatthey're trying to get them
prepared for the future and setthem up for success and give
them a competitive advantage.
(22:48):
And sometimes some parents pushback and like, okay, that's too
much, or blah, blah, blah, andother teachers will even do
that, who have low expectationsfor the kids, they have a
probrecito kind of thing goingon. And you know, I'm not about
that. I believe your child isbrilliant, and they could do
brilliant things, and I believethat they can struggle through
(23:09):
it with my support. I'm rightthere. I'm not leaving them out
in the cold to struggle. I'mright there with them,
supporting them. So please,please don't commiserate when
your kids are trying to saythings are too challenging. Work
with your kid and let them knowthat they're able to do hard
things because they're brilliantand they have the ability to do
so. So I'm going to take it. SoI went to my second then I went
(23:33):
to my fourth grade teacher. I'mgoing to go to my third grade
teacher, Ms. Coerr. Now, I havenot talked about her very much
and but she's, like, a reallyshort, petite lady. She's really
cute. She wore like a reallyshort haircut, and she really
respected us as, like, scholars.
And, you know, she we lived,right? You know our not we
(23:59):
lived, but our school was rightby the woods, right? And Ms
Nelson, not Ms Nelson, Ms. Coerrwould have us go and do like
nature walks. And she would holdup in her hand a moose nugget,
which is poop, right? She wouldbe like, here is moose
excrement, and it can tell you alot about what the moose eats
(24:19):
and their health. And, you know,it was, like, gross, but at the
same time, so challenge, so,like, intriguing, right? Like it
was, and I believe people, like,would make jewelry out of, like,
(24:39):
I guess, like dipped mooseexcrement or maybe it wasn't
actually, actually mooseexcrement, but maybe it was like
a cast, like a like somethingthat was in the shape of moose
excrement they make, would makestuff out of it. Or maybe they
made it with the actual stuff, Ireally don't know. But anyway,
she had us looking throughmicroscopes. She had, as you
(25:02):
know, really respectingourselves as scholars. The other
thing she had us do was journal.
So she's the one who introducedin a real like set, gave us a
practice. Now, of course, youread about it in the books. You
see it on TV, where people werelike journaling and stuff like
that, but she actually had usjournaling and was using
(25:22):
writing. She had us think aboutand have a practice of using
writing as a confidant, but wecould write down our thoughts
and untangle some ideas orproblems that we were having on
paper, right? So I reallyrespected her for that, and
really carried that practicewith me throughout my life. So I
(25:45):
really, like, really, you know,love, miss, miss, miss core. She
was amazing. And she, you know,just taught us so much. Um,
another thing about Ms. Coerrnow I don't remember how, what,
you know, what the relation, orlike, whatever it was, but she,
I remember, she told me she hadher kid in college, and her kid
(26:06):
went to college with her andwent into classes with her. And
do you know I had my kid incollege, and I actually had my
daughter in classes with me somedays. And, I mean, that's
something my teacher told meabout, like, she didn't stop,
and she kept going. I don't knowif that was graduate school. So
she was older, you know, I was,you know, obviously, at the end
(26:28):
of my teen years, but, you know,I don't know, but she just told
me that's something that shedid. And I ended up doing
something similar in college.
And I remember that she wastelling me that she did that. So
I was, like, interesting, right?
Something, okay? And my lastteacher, I'm going to talk about
in Ms. Byler she was my 12thgrade teacher. So I went to
(26:50):
three high schools, and my lasthigh school was at Grant Union
High School in Sacramento.
That's when I had left home andmoved to Sacramento and
graduated from there, but thereI applied to, like, almost like,
40 scholarships. And I was anindependent student, and Ms.
(27:13):
Byler was the person who, everytime I did a scholarship essay,
right, every scholarship wantedthe essay. She would revise that
essay, edit that essay. And whenI'm talking about edit and
revise, remember she was workingwith a perfectionist. That would
be a 13, 567, 13, I don't know,back and forth, back and forth
(27:39):
until she was like, Okay, it'sready, but I would give it to
her. She'd mark it up. I'd giveit back. I fix it. Give it back.
She'd mark it up. I give it backto her. She'd make mark it up
again, Mark You know, it wouldgo back and forth. And she was
there for me. She was patient.
She did that for me. She wasamazing. And so I really, you
know, love that she did that.
(27:59):
She also introduced me to ZoraNeale Hurston. I did not know
who that author was. We readTheir Eyes Were Watching God in
her 12th grade English class.
And you know, I was just amazedby Zora Neale Hurston still am
to this day. And, you know, butshe introduced me to that she
also introduced me to somethingagain that I am currently a part
(28:19):
of right now, which is thewriting project. I'm part of the
California writing project. I'veworked with the National Writing
Project, with the UCLA writingproject, all of that. But so in
in Sacramento, she had me be apart of a writing project thing,
and I have the anthology. I wasone of the people who worked,
(28:44):
one of the editors on theanthology, and so, like, I
didn't even make the connectionto, like, many, many years
later, like, this was a writingproject thing, and this, and I'm
in the writing project, but, youknow, it's amazing. And I just
recently working doing a projectwith the writing project. Had
met a teacher that works atgrant where I graduated from
(29:04):
high school, and he's like, allof us go to the writing project,
you know. So I was like, wow,it's still going and, you know,
just, just something near todear. It's like, means a lot to
me as a writer. It with thewriting project, we develop
ourselves as personal writers sothat we can actually speak to
how best to teach writing. Andso Miss Byler did that for me.
(29:26):
And, you know, really, all ofthose teachers put together, you
know, really helped me to becomethe person I am today, the
teacher I am today. And I justreally want you to know that
teacher appreciation is a timewhen you can just say thank you
to the teachers a little if youdon't have to spend a lot of
(29:48):
money, but it means a lot if youjust write a little note or a
letter or something and tellthem you appreciate them,
because it is a work of love.
Mm. Like we are, like, pouringin to ourselves, like things
that we could teach you aboutlife. I was writing something
(30:09):
today, and someone was, I was, Isaid, I started this podcast to
help parents and educators,like, help kids toward success,
and someone's like success inschool. And I was, like, no
success in life. The whole pointof school is to make sure that
our kids are able to function asadults, you know, in the world
(30:30):
and so no, it's not just aboutthem getting an A in school or a
B or passing a class. It's aboutthem being able to take these
skills and use it in their livesso they could have a fulfilling
life and a happy life. So I amsaying Happy Teacher
Appreciation to all the teachersout there. Thank you for what
you do. All of my teachers areamazing. I only have a 30 minute
(30:53):
podcast usually, and I chosefour teachers to talk to about
talk about today, and that's Mr.
Bu, Ms. Coerr, Ms. Nelson andMs. Byler. I love all of you,
and I hope you are living yourbest lives, and you know,
carrying on your legacy whereveryou go, because you are I'm part
of your legacy, and I appreciateyou. I hope that you do
(31:16):
something today, all of you,educators, parents out there to
give your kids the competitiveadvantage, thank you.
Thanks again for supporting theFalling for Learning Podcast,
new episodes go live everySaturday at 5pm you can watch us
(31:41):
onyoutube.com/@fallingforlearning,
or listen on all major podcastplatforms such as Apple, Google,
Audible, Spotify and much morefor more resources, visit
Fallinginlovewithlearning.com.
We really appreciate you. Have awonderful week.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.