August 5, 2024 • 25 mins
Hey Gen Xers, remember when Mary Poppins seemed like the ultimate fix for everything? As a teacher and therapist, I’ve spent years wishing we had her magic back in the classroom. I’m Suzanne M. Swain, EDS/MSSW, and I've lived between the worlds of therapy and education, teaching emotions, middle school, and everything in between.
In this episode, we’ll dive deep into the heart of teaching and how creativity, empathy, and a sprinkle of that "Mary Poppins" magic can revive education. Together, we’ll explore how teachers can reclaim their spark, bring joy back into learning, and foster real connection with students—because, as Dr. Rita Pierson said, "Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like."
Join me on this whimsical journey to rethink middle school, inspire creativity, and rediscover the joy of teaching. Let’s create a new version of education that nurtures both students and teachers, because, like Mary Poppins, we have the power to transform lives—one classroom at a time. Ready to play? Let’s rewrite the game together!
Contact Suzanne Swain:
Email: Suzanne@msmarypoppins.com
Website: www.msmarypoppins.com
Facebook: Suzanne Swain
Produced By: StellaMix Podcast Production
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Hey gen X-ers.
You ever kind of wish like MaryPoppins would come down and help
your kids.
You ever like, have thatthought.
I'm a teacher.
And as much as I try to be MaryPoppins, I can tell you that we
really could use some MaryPoppins vibe going on.
Because.
Kind of feel a little boredthese days.
I need to feel inspired.
(00:26):
I need to feel like I'm growinglike a seed and, and, and
starting to engage in some newinformation.
New ways of doing things.
Hi, I'm Suzanne.
My name is Suzanne I'm swaying.
EDS M S S w.
And I exist in a funny littlespace somewhere between a
therapist and a teacher.
(00:47):
And it's a great space to be.
So I teach emotions.
I've been a professor I've beenan eighth grade teacher.
For a really long time.
And taught writing.
I also taught fifth gradescience and I have been studying
the art of education andpedagogy for years.
Ever since I was born.
(01:09):
A long time.
But I finally finished myproject.
And I would really love to sharewith you some things that I've
learned along the way.
On my yellow brick road ofimagination into the world of
education.
But.
I've always felt that fixingeducation isn't about policy
and, you know, labeling kids incertain departments and doing
this and that.
(01:30):
I, you know, I'm not aboutlabels.
I realize that a lot of theproblem that we have in
education is actually the wordswe're using.
That's the enemy.
It's not the people like it'sall about the people I loved
teaching and loved, loved, lovedgetting to know all of the
families and diverse.
Cultures.
Food and music and everything.
I always just felt so connected.
(01:50):
You know, you ever feel thatconnection with people, you just
like you have a job or somethingwhere you're just like, these
are my folks and you just feltlike you could thrive because
ideas started happening, youknow, you networked and it just,
you felt plugged into the world.
And sometimes I have to go backand watch Mary Poppins because
it reminds me of what theessential nature of teaching is.
Is that inspiring joy?
(02:14):
Is the sunshine for learning.
Right.
There was a lady named Dr.
Rita Wilson.
God rest her soul.
And she was brilliant.
Absolutely brilliant.
And she did.
A Ted talk and the Ted talk, shesaid, Kids don't learn from
people.
They don't like.
Some of the wisest words I'veever heard.
(02:36):
But, you know, what's funny.
Most of my teaching careerpeople thought I was insane for
that.
Yeah.
I have roadblocks all over theplace.
Y'all.
But then I realized I was like,you know what?
We need to go into creativity.
We need to go into ideas.
And, and what if my middleschool classroom could be like a
sink tank?
You know, and we have all thesediverse people and there's all
(02:59):
this potential here.
And you know, who knows whatthese kids are gonna grow up to
be?
You know, their brains are allthese different little brains,
like all these little consolesat, inside, out with all these
little characters sitting at thetable.
Watching me trying to getwhatever they could in academic
vitamins from me each and everyday in 45 minutes or less.
They had to be there.
(03:19):
They had no choice.
So they didn't really worryabout that.
It wasn't about money.
I mean, it wasn't for any kindof pay or anything.
You know, the exchange was justthe interaction of information.
And it's honest, it's pure.
It's good.
Because as a teacher, you know,obviously everyone knows you
don't be a teacher for themoney.
That's not, that's not itbecause you know, money, power
(03:39):
and ego are not the things youwant to focus on.
If you want to be a teacher.
You know, that's not, it you'rea Honda civic kind of person.
You know, So, but like MaryPoppins, you know, teachers, we
were a little bit Horty.
You know, we have a lot ofhoarder kind of tendencies where
you know that little bit of glueleft or, or, you know, oh, wait,
I have a couple of candies leftin this one bag.
And you know, our backpacks areprobably just a giant Walgreens
(04:03):
mish-mosh pile or something likethat.
But we tried on it.
We try for our 40,000 a year andwe fight the good fight every
day.
And.
I just felt like I wanted tohave some appreciation for the
teacher hood of Mary Poppins.
And to say to my fellow teachersout there that, you know, I feel
like we need to be inspired.
(04:23):
And I feel like it's time forteachers now.
Do you notice this it's like theteacher movement is coming and
I'm so excited about thisbecause it's about learning
again.
Thank you.
You know, I'm such aneurodivergent of the eighties
that I'm like, you know,everything is some metaverse and
I'm like, you know, video gamesor I'm in this world, or, you
know, I'm listening to music andI go to that world or whatever.
(04:44):
And in the metaverse there's aplace for a Mary Poppins.
Because, I mean, what is shereally she's a nanny, but we
don't really do that now.
So like, if you were to takeMary Poppins, And remixer like,
I make a mix tape.
Of Mary Poppins in a way, bothmovies.
Sure.
Why not?
All the books and just kind ofremix it.
(05:05):
With Walt Disney's brain,because wouldn't, you just love
to swim around in there forawhile.
And.
See what happens in a modernworld with that?
Put her out there or him or theyor whoever, but like get that
person there.
And let them inspire people, letthem be the best professional
development we've ever had tojust reignite the flame of
(05:28):
interest in our jobs.
Because quite frankly, being ateacher doesn't seem like a
pretty awesome thing to do onpaper.
Now you get all the vibes of thekids, you get the fields, the
kids are amazing.
You love them.
Like your, your they're yourown.
As it's also a therapist.
I spoke a little girl yesterdaythat.
(05:48):
Had some really tough stuffgoing on.
You know, she lost her parentsand she felt really alone.
She was just a little, a littlething.
You know, about eight years old.
I lost my mom when I was 13 andwent to school the very next
day.
And my teachers were the onesthat kinda took care of me.
They took me in like a village,you know, And I felt plugged in
and connected right at thatmoment.
(06:09):
Whereas I don't know how I couldhave survived.
At that point, my dad also hadcancer, so things were pretty
sad at home.
So school was my place of light.
It was warm and glowy and snuglyand like a blanket of
information that I could takewith me.
And the librarians were just,you know, kind of Google before
Google was a Google thing, butthey had amazing card catalogs
(06:29):
you could flip through and allkinds of tactical things.
And.
It was a place of wonder.
You know, like it was a place ofopportunity and where I could
have the distraction I neededfrom difficult things in my
life.
And so this little girlyesterday, She's sitting there.
And she's so sad.
And it's like, how do youexplain such a complicated mess?
(06:51):
And how to get out of it to aneight year old.
And you just see the look in hereyes and you're just melting.
You know, your heart just melts.
You know, this kid is worse thanany Sarah McLaughlin, Laughlin,
puppy, commercial type of thingyou'd ever see.
And I wanted to make her happy.
And I was like, I'm going tohave to lie.
That's the only thing I can do.
I need to give her a shot.
Of something that's just joy.
(07:13):
Like the polar opposite ofwhatever emotion she is feeling
right now.
And it's some kind of horrible,mixed sadness emotion.
But I, one thing I know aboutsadness from inside out is I
know.
That she represents empathy.
I had a great opportunity tospeak with Megalophobe who wrote
inside, out in a zoom recently.
And we talked about some ideas Ihad about the movie and she was
(07:35):
so helpful and, you know, and Ithink about her being the game
maker of inside out.
You know, Kind of like on theoutskirts there.
And how does she plan sadness?
But she said that, you know,sadness means empathy and you
can see that from the way thatshe sat with Bing, bong and
consoled him.
And she, you know, she's theteacher.
Of the whole group there.
She's the one who's the teacher.
(07:57):
It's funny because as a, youknow, little glasses wearing
sweater wearing.
Melancholy.
Sideliner kind of sit on thecarpet, rolls at the dance, kind
of on the sides and play withstuff.
Now I'd have a phone, you know,as to be sadness is actually
kind of a good thing, becausewhat I always saw in sadness in
the movie is that she was sortof like a Mary Poppins.
(08:19):
You know, Disney has a great wayof bringing in these characters.
But this, this little piece ofempathy and kindness and
sweetness and everything.
That goes along with.
What it means to be a realperson because you know, Mary
Poppins, I always wondered aboutMary Poppins is backstory.
You know, like what did she eat?
What was her favorite food?
(08:39):
You know, what does she do tolike, hang out?
Like what would she watch onNetflix?
Yeah.
It's like, I want to remixmodern version of Mary Poppins.
Well, so this little girl.
I told her, I said, you know,Kiddo.
I got something to tell you, youhave one.
The lottery.
(08:59):
So I looked around the room andI tried to find something I
could give her like a ticket oranything, and I found this
little glittery.
Uh, piece of paper.
And I wrote on it.
You know, ticket.
And I handed it to her and Isaid, I have been sent here to
help you.
Really.
Yeah, I've been sent here tohelp you.
And you know what?
I am your fairy God teacher.
(09:20):
It's nice to meet you.
My name is Suzanne.
And he was the deal.
You helped me escape from middleschool.
Aha.
And now after teaching eighthgraders for so long and using so
many Glade plugins to deal withthe smell in the classroom, I
now get to be a ferry.
She's like, what?
(09:40):
I said, yeah, you know, it'sfunny.
I was going to go to get mydoctorate, but no, I got another
weird letter in the mail.
And this letter came in purplepackaging and it had all kinds
of squiggly, noodley things allover it.
And it asked me to go to ferryschool because I had been a
master teacher and anadministrator and a librarian
and all these different thingsin the school.
And I tried every single job Ipossibly could, so I could know
(10:03):
everything and everything Icould about the strategy of
school.
And instead of going back to UTto get my doctorate where I had
gotten my clinical social workdegree in may, I said, well,
kiddo, I opened that package.
Cause you got to open somethinglike that.
And I was invited to be a fairyGod teacher.
(10:24):
Wow.
Lucky me.
And she said, okay.
So, how do you get to be one?
I said, well, Yeah, we're rare.
There's only like two in Putnamcounty where I live.
You.
I live in Tennessee, out in therural area.
I was like, yeah, the only twoof us here around here.
And in Cookeville, we got to.
And she's just wide-eyed she'skinda meet the other one.
(10:45):
I'm like, well, maybe.
We'll we'll do a lunch orsomething.
I said, I have a lunch with thetooth fairy next week.
Her name is Debbie, and she didpro bono dentistry workout in
Africa for kids.
And so then she got a letter tobecome a tooth fairy.
Just like, okay.
Yeah.
You just got to sell it.
So.
I was like, sure.
We can have lunch.
And I said, well, I became afairy God teacher.
(11:06):
By having a master's degree ineducation, then getting an
educational specialist degree,which is even rare because it
doesn't even exist in a lot ofstates.
It's like between a doctorateand a masters, and then you have
to go back to school again,outside of education, outside of
pedagogy and all these things.
And then you got to learn to bea therapist.
(11:27):
So you got to learn all there isto know about emotions and that
whole swirly world.
Thank goodness.
We have movies like inside outto help us out.
Because I need a visual here,please.
Wow.
She was mesmerized.
She was absolutely intoxicatedwith the idea that I could in
fact, be a fairy.
It was great.
The joy was coming back.
(11:47):
You can see it in her eyes.
Her old body language started tochange, you know, 80% of
languages is non-verbal.
So you could see her just kindof opening up and opening up.
Did you grab something fuzzy andsafe and, you know, took a candy
and things like that.
And she was just ready tolisten.
I said, well, Yeah, you.
I go to the special schoolsonline through UT and it's like
a special program.
You have to have a real specialpassword for.
(12:08):
It was kind of modern, you know,and would probably work.
And so she bought it and I said,yeah, to do all kinds of weird
classes in like, you know,imagination and creativity and
art and painting and.
It was a really cool artsy sortof world and dance and theater
and all these neat things andtaught us to use our
imaginations for joy and, andhow, you know, the chemical
(12:30):
adrenaline can be.
Kind of dangerous sometimesbecause you know, adrenaline is
like red bull and it's supposedto help you for fight or flight.
When really bad stuff happens.
But sometimes it sticks aroundtoo long and then you kind of
stay there in that mode.
You know, like when somethingreally, really bad happens and
you can't get out of it, it'slike all that adrenaline was
just running around.
(12:51):
It's like red bull.
But then it's weird because likewhen you drink the red bull.
The character anxiety shows up.
And she's like, She's superhelpful, super smart, super
technology oriented.
She's all kinds of capable.
But crippled by her ownemotions.
Herself.
Imagine the emotions inside ofemotions.
(13:14):
Inside of anxiety's head.
Yeah.
Go there.
I have questions.
So.
But if you get her to kind ofcalm down and stop drinking the
red bull and sit in a massagechair and draw a picture for a
little while.
Imagination comes back out andBing bong starts to play and
everybody starts hanging out andhaving a good time at a dance
party with disco balls and allkinds of fun.
(13:36):
And silly string.
Well, If you don't learn frompeople, you don't like.
Then we need to make sure.
That liking your teacher.
Is part of it.
And as a gen X-er I have to saythat it's most of our kids that
are in middle school right nowand middle school is now.
(13:58):
Kind of in dumpster fire mode.
It really is like, these arewarrior teachers.
I'm telling you.
They're like the Navy seals.
Okay.
These people like props to someseventh and eighth grade
teachers.
I see you out there.
I see you, especially my Englishteachers, eighth grade English
teachers.
Hello to you, cupcakes andSlurpees.
Big grants, things like that.
(14:19):
So.
But it's it's bad now.
Do you know how middle schoolstarted?
You got to go back to thebeginning on this one.
You know, in order to have aMary Poppins, you gotta know
where we had the need for, tobegin with.
So middle school.
School's originally were startedby something called the old
Satan diluter law.
It's in the Smithsonian.
I've seen it.
(14:40):
I actually fan girl over it.
When I went the last time I wentto DC for the gun violence
conference.
The old saying the lunar lawsays that if kids do not have a
formal public education, thatthey could be abducted by Satan
and possessed.
True enough.
Now middle schools on the otherhand.
(15:01):
Came on along later on, whenthey realized that puberty was a
form of hysteria.
Right because women were beingtrained basically with, you
know, things during the day,like Valium and whatnot, and,
you know, men were at work andall these things in the fifties
and sixties and.
You know, they thought, well, ifthey could.
You know, if puberty was sort oflike a form of hysteria, much
(15:22):
like, you know, PMs or, orthat's like, what would be, what
if.
Maybe we need to talk to somepsychiatrists and see what to do
with these kids, because they'recrazy.
You know, and.
Uh, so they brought inpsychiatrists and told them that
they basically need to make amental health facility for kids
going through puberty becausethey could be possessed by Satan
(15:43):
or in fact, just kind of be alittle too wild for the regular
populace and cause too muchtrouble because schools are
based on the Prussian German.
Otherwise German, uh, schoolmodel of raising kids in order
to be factory workers.
So they use bell systems.
And if you only go to thebathroom at certain times, and
we've adopted that into ourschool system, as what we're
(16:04):
doing.
So all that bell stuff that'sfrom making us factory workers.
Well, we're not factory workers,most of us anymore because a lot
of factories have closed andthings.
So, you know, it's time tomodernize.
I mean, we're still going on thebasic thought of education from
way back in the day in thefounding of our country, when.
You know, things like this orwhy we started.
So, yeah, middle schools, juniorhighs as they were called mostly
(16:27):
were started in that same modelof being basically a psych ward.
To put them away for a couple ofyears and see what happens.
But one where it kind of failedout is that those teachers were
not taught.
Mental health and how to copewith a variety of learning
disabilities learning issues.
And so on.
Okay.
(16:47):
So.
We tried different options.
And I was able to go to an artsmagnet school for middle school.
Palm beach county school of thearts class of 1996.
I went all the way through to mysenior year.
And guess what y'all.
Mary Poppins lives.
She's out there.
She was at the school of thearts.
That's where Mary Poppins is.
That's the teaching environment.
(17:08):
She needs to be in.
You know, if we want to thinkabout how Mary Poppins is doing.
Because she's a teacher and theyneed help.
Like someone needs to reach out.
Hello, are you okay?
Do you need help?
Like, can, do you want to talk?
Let me take you for a piece ofcake and pizza or whatever and
say what you need to say, girl.
Person.
Anyone.
As an educator.
And I don't want you to think ofclassroom teachers only as the
(17:30):
only teachers in your life.
Anyone that, that sharesknowledge with you as a
transaction.
That's a teacher.
That's a teacher.
So these teachers need some helpright now, and they need some
inspiration and someprofessional development and
something to get the wound backup.
And it's going to be a lot morethan some popsicles and a dance
party.
So, what we can do is look atschools that worked.
(17:52):
Look at situations that broughtjoy to our children and let them
have a childhood back.
Gen X-ers um, we have anepidemic of homeschooling going
on.
And I love the fact that peopleare making the choice to, you
know, choose a different pathfor their child and for whatever
reason that may be.
I think that's great.
It's very admirable.
You know, my best friend, Danashe's homeschooling right now.
(18:12):
And I learned so much from herand her children.
That hi guys.
And.
You know, I can understand thereasons why people are wanting
to homeschool and K-12 teachersare frustrated.
There's, you know, money's beingstripped from the left and
right.
You know, all these things arehappening.
And now they want to blow up thedepartment of education, all
kinds of crazy stuff.
So it doesn't seem like it's atime for teachers, but yet it
(18:33):
does.
Because you have avidelementary, people are starting
to understand the plight ofteachers and.
How funny the world of teachingis it is the weirdest, most
noodley, crazy little place youever saw.
Imagine working at a middleschool for the arts.
So I got into that school when Iwas 13.
And, uh, I went there forseventh through 12th grade.
(18:55):
I was in the visual artsdepartment go visual.
We had a red little applicationform.
And I thought that was sort ofironic.
And time of Alanis, Morissettethat.
You know, um, the red papermeant something positive and
that it was, you know, a goodblessing type of thing.
So I filled out my application.
I did this big audition and Idrove, I did all these drawings
and everything.
(19:15):
Listening to my Paula Abdul andplaying my Sega Genesis and
working on fantasy star and allthat.
But trying to get into this artschool, because I knew that if I
went to a regular junior highkid, like me, You know, that
sits on the sidelines at a danceand sits on the carpet rolls and
just watches everybody like afly on the wall and too scared
to do anything, except get asoda.
And hope that her friends willcome over and talk to her at
(19:37):
some point, but I wasn't, youknow, I was socially phobic kind
of kid.
But I love to draw and I coulddraw cartoons pretty well.
And I used to make money when Iwas in second grade drawing
cartoons for other kids onthere.
You know, school box and thingslike that.
So there's me over there, but Ididn't think I'd survive at a
regular junior high withfootball and all that stuff.
Come on.
And we're talking mid eightiesor mid nineties here.
(20:00):
So the art school was my option.
And let me tell you all, it wasa whole new metaverse.
The popular kids, more talented.
They were incredible.
This guy, Sam.
Sane and Welsh.
He learned to play the pianolike overnight.
And he's, he's a genius.
Stephanie, Kababi had this voiceof an angel.
(20:21):
I was like, how did you do it?
She's like sitting next to me inEnglish class.
And then all of a sudden shegets on stage.
He's like, wow.
And I'm like, oh my gosh, girl.
I was an Aw.
Every single day of howincredibly impressive people
were.
We had different art areas.
We had visual, like I was inwhere we did painting and art
and Ms.
Green dusky and.
Ms.
Rudy, remind Mary Poppins thatgot us through and, and showed
(20:43):
us how in the afternoons wecould use art to synthesize our
thoughts and talk, take all thestress from the day.
And.
And put it into her art and giveit feeling an emotion and let it
out.
And you know, that was mentalhealth.
Then that was our mental health.
They were our therapists.
We did art therapy every day.
But the other art areas, we haddance that I was so jealous of
(21:03):
is a little fat kid because allthe beautiful dancer, kids and
everything.
You know, we had dance with Ms.
Portia and they did thesebeautiful, you know, I attend.
Uh, assemblies and everything.
And Cedar would put onproductions like hair and I mean
just, wow, the kids are going toact and sing.
And of course they were all theclowns in class, you know, and
the music kids were kind ofquiet like us and, and, but they
(21:24):
were kind of the smart ones, youknow, the good math and all
that, like you might expect.
And.
But they could play instruments,which is something I could never
do.
You know, I was the kid thatnever played an instrument and
got picked to be like the elfwith the curly shoes and the
giant hat instead of the.
You know, one of the nice ELPs.
On the elementary school music.
The assembly.
So.
In any case this place was MaryPoppins world.
(21:47):
Like I felt like I entered aschool full of Mary Poppins is,
and this carpet bag that she hadwas in every classroom, nothing
costs anything.
I had all the art materials.
I needed money.
Wasn't an issue.
Power was.
Power was creativity.
Power was talent.
Talent was the currency.
I've been amazing what thesekids could do at 13.
(22:07):
Many of us couldn't do at 45.
It was crazy.
We said at lunch outside, justanywhere you want real Bohemian
style.
I was growing up in west Palmbeach, Florida.
The weather's gorgeous, youknow, it's, it's, it's south
Florida and sunshine.
We had sunshine, we had friends,we could sit with who we want
and people play guitars and makethings, painkillers, faces, you
(22:29):
know, whatever kind of wackinessand our teachers were just as
weird.
They'd stand up on a desk andsing greatest love of all in the
middle of class or.
You know, All kinds of sillystuff.
But everybody was just a littlebit on the noodle east side.
Maybe it was the Florida heat.
Maybe it was Ms.
Green Dusty's wild experiment,you know, coming to fruition,
but.
You had a bunch ofneurodivergent kids with a bunch
(22:50):
of neurodivergent teachers.
Not a lot of special ed.
Pull-out no gifted.
Really.
We all were gifted.
Everybody was gifted becausethey were neurodivergent.
They could think on severallevels outside of the box.
They didn't let the box be acage.
Being in a box is no fun.
Nobody wants that.
But sometimes I think, you know,we get a little muddled in our
(23:13):
lives with some of the rules andI think just the words need to
change.
And that is where Mary Poppinslives.
Because of the words can change.
Like my father says to becompetent, capable, and
connected.
Is the secret to great teaching.
And as a school principal foryears, he started schools, my
family businesses schools, I wasborn in the schools.
You know, I've been watchingteachers my entire life, long
(23:36):
living in the school office asthe kid playing with the
durables, you know, I've beenwatching people forever.
And I realize our teachers needcredit where credit is due.
And we are not done talkingabout teachers, not by a long
shot.
But Mary Poppins is there.
Mary Poppins is when teachersget to be creative and they take
anxiety and put down that redbull.
(23:58):
You know, give her an ice hotcup of cocoa and let her draw.
Let her be free to be artsy andweird and creative.
And let them.
Have that space to be who theyare.
'cause that's good teaching.
You know, if they have that timeto noodle, then they're going to
bring that to the classroom andbring their excitement back.
And that excitement isabsolutely infectious.
(24:20):
We need that Mary Poppins spiritback.
But I think it's, we need toappreciate teachers in order to
do that.
And I want to elevate thoseteachers.
I want to integrate them intothe classrooms to take that
little seed of knowledge, thatbeautiful little seed that each
and every child is and let thembloom into a nice, happy little
Daisy.
Friendly flower.
(24:40):
All, uh, um, you've got mail.
The friendliest little flower.
And play the game of middleschool a little differently than
we did.
You know, in gen X, that was aplace of trauma.
It was like going to the hungergames.
You know, it was like playingDragon's layer.
Where if you make one wrongmove, then you got to play the
whole game over again.
It was like, you know, theeighties was all about like,
you're going to die.
If this happens, you're going todie.
(25:01):
Watch the Goonies.
You're going to die.
You.
Like, if you're a goonie, youcould die.
But we always face like suddendeaths at any moment, even in
Disney movies.
But now it's not like that.
We can provide a safe space forour kids, a happy space, a place
where teachers also have.
Equitability, you know, they canfeel like they are appreciated
paid well and treated fairly sothey can have that clear
(25:24):
mindedness that they desperatelyneed.
So that Mary Poppins, if you'reout there.
Fellow teacher.
Let's do it.
Let's get back in the classroom.
Let's erase the dry erase boardthat we had with all of these
old school thoughts about how weused to teach people and what
used to work, kids are not gonnabe made in a factory workers
(25:44):
anymore.
Kids are not going to bepossessed by Satan.
You know, this is not what it'sabout.
But now we have all these issuesgoing on, where things aren't
allowed in schools and so on,and teachers have lost their
way.
They've lost their power, theirjoy, their spirit.
And I want you to get it backand we're going to get it back
together.
I promise you that.
And guess what?
I may just have a plan for howto fix those middle schools out
(26:05):
there by looking at that schoolof the arts and examining what
made it tick and what meetings.
turned back into imagination.
And think about what we could dofor our kids.
If we could just take a minuteto examine Mary, Mary Poppins.
Look at what she can do and tryto help our teachers to get to
that.
To me.
So to all of you, I challengeyou.
(26:27):
To think about this.
Think about your kids.
Think about your childhood andwho were your heroes?
Are you riding on Falcor thedragon at the end of the
neverending story, did you makeit to the castle at the center
of the labyrinth?
And did you rescue your babybrother from David Bowie?
You know, did you grab the wormalong the way?
All you got to do is play thisnew game.
(26:47):
We're going to play a new game.
And we're going to rewrite thisgame this time with all kinds of
bonus levels and fun things.
But we just got to do ittogether.
So, if you're ready to play thisnew video game.
I've got some quarters.
Ready player one.
I'm ready to play as MaryPoppins.
My name is Suzanne M Swain EDS,M S S w.
(27:10):
And I'm auditioning to be MaryPoppins.
2.0.
Hey gen X-ers.
You ever kind of wish like MaryPoppins would come down and help
your kids.
You ever like, have thatthought.
I'm a teacher.
And as much as I try to be MaryPoppins, I can tell you that we
really could use some MaryPoppins vibe going on.
Because.
Kind of feel a little boredthese days.
I need to feel inspired.
(00:26):
I need to feel like I'm growinglike a seed and, and, and
starting to engage in some newinformation.
New ways of doing things.
Hi, I'm Suzanne.
My name is Suzanne I'm swaying.
EDS M S S w.
And I exist in a funny littlespace somewhere between a
therapist and a teacher.
(00:47):
And it's a great space to be.
So I teach emotions.
I've been a professor I've beenan eighth grade teacher.
For a really long time.
And taught writing.
I also taught fifth gradescience and I have been studying
the art of education andpedagogy for years.
Ever since I was born.
(01:09):
A long time.
But I finally finished myproject.
And I would really love to sharewith you some things that I've
learned along the way.
On my yellow brick road ofimagination into the world of
education.
But.
I've always felt that fixingeducation isn't about policy
and, you know, labeling kids incertain departments and doing
this and that.
(01:30):
I, you know, I'm not aboutlabels.
I realize that a lot of theproblem that we have in
education is actually the wordswe're using.
That's the enemy.
It's not the people like it'sall about the people I loved
teaching and loved, loved, lovedgetting to know all of the
families and diverse.
Cultures.
Food and music and everything.
I always just felt so connected.
(01:50):
You know, you ever feel thatconnection with people, you just
like you have a job or somethingwhere you're just like, these
are my folks and you just feltlike you could thrive because
ideas started happening, youknow, you networked and it just,
you felt plugged into the world.
And sometimes I have to go backand watch Mary Poppins because
it reminds me of what theessential nature of teaching is.
Is that inspiring joy?
(02:14):
Is the sunshine for learning.
Right.
There was a lady named Dr.
Rita Wilson.
God rest her soul.
And she was brilliant.
Absolutely brilliant.
And she did.
A Ted talk and the Ted talk, shesaid, Kids don't learn from
people.
They don't like.
Some of the wisest words I'veever heard.
(02:36):
But, you know, what's funny.
Most of my teaching careerpeople thought I was insane for
that.
Yeah.
I have roadblocks all over theplace.
Y'all.
But then I realized I was like,you know what?
We need to go into creativity.
We need to go into ideas.
And, and what if my middleschool classroom could be like a
sink tank?
You know, and we have all thesediverse people and there's all
(02:59):
this potential here.
And you know, who knows whatthese kids are gonna grow up to
be?
You know, their brains are allthese different little brains,
like all these little consolesat, inside, out with all these
little characters sitting at thetable.
Watching me trying to getwhatever they could in academic
vitamins from me each and everyday in 45 minutes or less.
They had to be there.
(03:19):
They had no choice.
So they didn't really worryabout that.
It wasn't about money.
I mean, it wasn't for any kindof pay or anything.
You know, the exchange was justthe interaction of information.
And it's honest, it's pure.
It's good.
Because as a teacher, you know,obviously everyone knows you
don't be a teacher for themoney.
That's not, that's not itbecause you know, money, power
(03:39):
and ego are not the things youwant to focus on.
If you want to be a teacher.
You know, that's not, it you'rea Honda civic kind of person.
You know, So, but like MaryPoppins, you know, teachers, we
were a little bit Horty.
You know, we have a lot ofhoarder kind of tendencies where
you know that little bit of glueleft or, or, you know, oh, wait,
I have a couple of candies leftin this one bag.
And you know, our backpacks areprobably just a giant Walgreens
(04:03):
mish-mosh pile or something likethat.
But we tried on it.
We try for our 40,000 a year andwe fight the good fight every
day.
And.
I just felt like I wanted tohave some appreciation for the
teacher hood of Mary Poppins.
And to say to my fellow teachersout there that, you know, I feel
like we need to be inspired.
(04:23):
And I feel like it's time forteachers now.
Do you notice this it's like theteacher movement is coming and
I'm so excited about thisbecause it's about learning
again.
Thank you.
You know, I'm such aneurodivergent of the eighties
that I'm like, you know,everything is some metaverse and
I'm like, you know, video gamesor I'm in this world, or, you
know, I'm listening to music andI go to that world or whatever.
(04:44):
And in the metaverse there's aplace for a Mary Poppins.
Because, I mean, what is shereally she's a nanny, but we
don't really do that now.
So like, if you were to takeMary Poppins, And remixer like,
I make a mix tape.
Of Mary Poppins in a way, bothmovies.
Sure.
Why not?
All the books and just kind ofremix it.
(05:05):
With Walt Disney's brain,because wouldn't, you just love
to swim around in there forawhile.
And.
See what happens in a modernworld with that?
Put her out there or him or theyor whoever, but like get that
person there.
And let them inspire people, letthem be the best professional
development we've ever had tojust reignite the flame of
(05:28):
interest in our jobs.
Because quite frankly, being ateacher doesn't seem like a
pretty awesome thing to do onpaper.
Now you get all the vibes of thekids, you get the fields, the
kids are amazing.
You love them.
Like your, your they're yourown.
As it's also a therapist.
I spoke a little girl yesterdaythat.
(05:48):
Had some really tough stuffgoing on.
You know, she lost her parentsand she felt really alone.
She was just a little, a littlething.
You know, about eight years old.
I lost my mom when I was 13 andwent to school the very next
day.
And my teachers were the onesthat kinda took care of me.
They took me in like a village,you know, And I felt plugged in
and connected right at thatmoment.
(06:09):
Whereas I don't know how I couldhave survived.
At that point, my dad also hadcancer, so things were pretty
sad at home.
So school was my place of light.
It was warm and glowy and snuglyand like a blanket of
information that I could takewith me.
And the librarians were just,you know, kind of Google before
Google was a Google thing, butthey had amazing card catalogs
(06:29):
you could flip through and allkinds of tactical things.
And.
It was a place of wonder.
You know, like it was a place ofopportunity and where I could
have the distraction I neededfrom difficult things in my
life.
And so this little girlyesterday, She's sitting there.
And she's so sad.
And it's like, how do youexplain such a complicated mess?
(06:51):
And how to get out of it to aneight year old.
And you just see the look in hereyes and you're just melting.
You know, your heart just melts.
You know, this kid is worse thanany Sarah McLaughlin, Laughlin,
puppy, commercial type of thingyou'd ever see.
And I wanted to make her happy.
And I was like, I'm going tohave to lie.
That's the only thing I can do.
I need to give her a shot.
Of something that's just joy.
(07:13):
Like the polar opposite ofwhatever emotion she is feeling
right now.
And it's some kind of horrible,mixed sadness emotion.
But I, one thing I know aboutsadness from inside out is I
know.
That she represents empathy.
I had a great opportunity tospeak with Megalophobe who wrote
inside, out in a zoom recently.
And we talked about some ideas Ihad about the movie and she was
(07:35):
so helpful and, you know, and Ithink about her being the game
maker of inside out.
You know, Kind of like on theoutskirts there.
And how does she plan sadness?
But she said that, you know,sadness means empathy and you
can see that from the way thatshe sat with Bing, bong and
consoled him.
And she, you know, she's theteacher.
Of the whole group there.
She's the one who's the teacher.
(07:57):
It's funny because as a, youknow, little glasses wearing
sweater wearing.
Melancholy.
Sideliner kind of sit on thecarpet, rolls at the dance, kind
of on the sides and play withstuff.
Now I'd have a phone, you know,as to be sadness is actually
kind of a good thing, becausewhat I always saw in sadness in
the movie is that she was sortof like a Mary Poppins.
(08:19):
You know, Disney has a great wayof bringing in these characters.
But this, this little piece ofempathy and kindness and
sweetness and everything.
That goes along with.
What it means to be a realperson because you know, Mary
Poppins, I always wondered aboutMary Poppins is backstory.
You know, like what did she eat?
What was her favorite food?
(08:39):
You know, what does she do tolike, hang out?
Like what would she watch onNetflix?
Yeah.
It's like, I want to remixmodern version of Mary Poppins.
Well, so this little girl.
I told her, I said, you know,Kiddo.
I got something to tell you, youhave one.
The lottery.
(08:59):
So I looked around the room andI tried to find something I
could give her like a ticket oranything, and I found this
little glittery.
Uh, piece of paper.
And I wrote on it.
You know, ticket.
And I handed it to her and Isaid, I have been sent here to
help you.
Really.
Yeah, I've been sent here tohelp you.
And you know what?
I am your fairy God teacher.
(09:20):
It's nice to meet you.
My name is Suzanne.
And he was the deal.
You helped me escape from middleschool.
Aha.
And now after teaching eighthgraders for so long and using so
many Glade plugins to deal withthe smell in the classroom, I
now get to be a ferry.
She's like, what?
(09:40):
I said, yeah, you know, it'sfunny.
I was going to go to get mydoctorate, but no, I got another
weird letter in the mail.
And this letter came in purplepackaging and it had all kinds
of squiggly, noodley things allover it.
And it asked me to go to ferryschool because I had been a
master teacher and anadministrator and a librarian
and all these different thingsin the school.
And I tried every single job Ipossibly could, so I could know
(10:03):
everything and everything Icould about the strategy of
school.
And instead of going back to UTto get my doctorate where I had
gotten my clinical social workdegree in may, I said, well,
kiddo, I opened that package.
Cause you got to open somethinglike that.
And I was invited to be a fairyGod teacher.
(10:24):
Wow.
Lucky me.
And she said, okay.
So, how do you get to be one?
I said, well, Yeah, we're rare.
There's only like two in Putnamcounty where I live.
You.
I live in Tennessee, out in therural area.
I was like, yeah, the only twoof us here around here.
And in Cookeville, we got to.
And she's just wide-eyed she'skinda meet the other one.
(10:45):
I'm like, well, maybe.
We'll we'll do a lunch orsomething.
I said, I have a lunch with thetooth fairy next week.
Her name is Debbie, and she didpro bono dentistry workout in
Africa for kids.
And so then she got a letter tobecome a tooth fairy.
Just like, okay.
Yeah.
You just got to sell it.
So.
I was like, sure.
We can have lunch.
And I said, well, I became afairy God teacher.
(11:06):
By having a master's degree ineducation, then getting an
educational specialist degree,which is even rare because it
doesn't even exist in a lot ofstates.
It's like between a doctorateand a masters, and then you have
to go back to school again,outside of education, outside of
pedagogy and all these things.
And then you got to learn to bea therapist.
(11:27):
So you got to learn all there isto know about emotions and that
whole swirly world.
Thank goodness.
We have movies like inside outto help us out.
Because I need a visual here,please.
Wow.
She was mesmerized.
She was absolutely intoxicatedwith the idea that I could in
fact, be a fairy.
It was great.
The joy was coming back.
(11:47):
You can see it in her eyes.
Her old body language started tochange, you know, 80% of
languages is non-verbal.
So you could see her just kindof opening up and opening up.
Did you grab something fuzzy andsafe and, you know, took a candy
and things like that.
And she was just ready tolisten.
I said, well, Yeah, you.
I go to the special schoolsonline through UT and it's like
a special program.
You have to have a real specialpassword for.
(12:08):
It was kind of modern, you know,and would probably work.
And so she bought it and I said,yeah, to do all kinds of weird
classes in like, you know,imagination and creativity and
art and painting and.
It was a really cool artsy sortof world and dance and theater
and all these neat things andtaught us to use our
imaginations for joy and, andhow, you know, the chemical
(12:30):
adrenaline can be.
Kind of dangerous sometimesbecause you know, adrenaline is
like red bull and it's supposedto help you for fight or flight.
When really bad stuff happens.
But sometimes it sticks aroundtoo long and then you kind of
stay there in that mode.
You know, like when somethingreally, really bad happens and
you can't get out of it, it'slike all that adrenaline was
just running around.
(12:51):
It's like red bull.
But then it's weird because likewhen you drink the red bull.
The character anxiety shows up.
And she's like, She's superhelpful, super smart, super
technology oriented.
She's all kinds of capable.
But crippled by her ownemotions.
Herself.
Imagine the emotions inside ofemotions.
(13:14):
Inside of anxiety's head.
Yeah.
Go there.
I have questions.
So.
But if you get her to kind ofcalm down and stop drinking the
red bull and sit in a massagechair and draw a picture for a
little while.
Imagination comes back out andBing bong starts to play and
everybody starts hanging out andhaving a good time at a dance
party with disco balls and allkinds of fun.
(13:36):
And silly string.
Well, If you don't learn frompeople, you don't like.
Then we need to make sure.
That liking your teacher.
Is part of it.
And as a gen X-er I have to saythat it's most of our kids that
are in middle school right nowand middle school is now.
(13:58):
Kind of in dumpster fire mode.
It really is like, these arewarrior teachers.
I'm telling you.
They're like the Navy seals.
Okay.
These people like props to someseventh and eighth grade
teachers.
I see you out there.
I see you, especially my Englishteachers, eighth grade English
teachers.
Hello to you, cupcakes andSlurpees.
Big grants, things like that.
(14:19):
So.
But it's it's bad now.
Do you know how middle schoolstarted?
You got to go back to thebeginning on this one.
You know, in order to have aMary Poppins, you gotta know
where we had the need for, tobegin with.
So middle school.
School's originally were startedby something called the old
Satan diluter law.
It's in the Smithsonian.
I've seen it.
(14:40):
I actually fan girl over it.
When I went the last time I wentto DC for the gun violence
conference.
The old saying the lunar lawsays that if kids do not have a
formal public education, thatthey could be abducted by Satan
and possessed.
True enough.
Now middle schools on the otherhand.
(15:01):
Came on along later on, whenthey realized that puberty was a
form of hysteria.
Right because women were beingtrained basically with, you
know, things during the day,like Valium and whatnot, and,
you know, men were at work andall these things in the fifties
and sixties and.
You know, they thought, well, ifthey could.
You know, if puberty was sort oflike a form of hysteria, much
(15:22):
like, you know, PMs or, orthat's like, what would be, what
if.
Maybe we need to talk to somepsychiatrists and see what to do
with these kids, because they'recrazy.
You know, and.
Uh, so they brought inpsychiatrists and told them that
they basically need to make amental health facility for kids
going through puberty becausethey could be possessed by Satan
(15:43):
or in fact, just kind of be alittle too wild for the regular
populace and cause too muchtrouble because schools are
based on the Prussian German.
Otherwise German, uh, schoolmodel of raising kids in order
to be factory workers.
So they use bell systems.
And if you only go to thebathroom at certain times, and
we've adopted that into ourschool system, as what we're
(16:04):
doing.
So all that bell stuff that'sfrom making us factory workers.
Well, we're not factory workers,most of us anymore because a lot
of factories have closed andthings.
So, you know, it's time tomodernize.
I mean, we're still going on thebasic thought of education from
way back in the day in thefounding of our country, when.
You know, things like this orwhy we started.
So, yeah, middle schools, juniorhighs as they were called mostly
(16:27):
were started in that same modelof being basically a psych ward.
To put them away for a couple ofyears and see what happens.
But one where it kind of failedout is that those teachers were
not taught.
Mental health and how to copewith a variety of learning
disabilities learning issues.
And so on.
Okay.
(16:47):
So.
We tried different options.
And I was able to go to an artsmagnet school for middle school.
Palm beach county school of thearts class of 1996.
I went all the way through to mysenior year.
And guess what y'all.
Mary Poppins lives.
She's out there.
She was at the school of thearts.
That's where Mary Poppins is.
That's the teaching environment.
(17:08):
She needs to be in.
You know, if we want to thinkabout how Mary Poppins is doing.
Because she's a teacher and theyneed help.
Like someone needs to reach out.
Hello, are you okay?
Do you need help?
Like, can, do you want to talk?
Let me take you for a piece ofcake and pizza or whatever and
say what you need to say, girl.
Person.
Anyone.
As an educator.
And I don't want you to think ofclassroom teachers only as the
(17:30):
only teachers in your life.
Anyone that, that sharesknowledge with you as a
transaction.
That's a teacher.
That's a teacher.
So these teachers need some helpright now, and they need some
inspiration and someprofessional development and
something to get the wound backup.
And it's going to be a lot morethan some popsicles and a dance
party.
So, what we can do is look atschools that worked.
(17:52):
Look at situations that broughtjoy to our children and let them
have a childhood back.
Gen X-ers um, we have anepidemic of homeschooling going
on.
And I love the fact that peopleare making the choice to, you
know, choose a different pathfor their child and for whatever
reason that may be.
I think that's great.
It's very admirable.
You know, my best friend, Danashe's homeschooling right now.
(18:12):
And I learned so much from herand her children.
That hi guys.
And.
You know, I can understand thereasons why people are wanting
to homeschool and K-12 teachersare frustrated.
There's, you know, money's beingstripped from the left and
right.
You know, all these things arehappening.
And now they want to blow up thedepartment of education, all
kinds of crazy stuff.
So it doesn't seem like it's atime for teachers, but yet it
(18:33):
does.
Because you have avidelementary, people are starting
to understand the plight ofteachers and.
How funny the world of teachingis it is the weirdest, most
noodley, crazy little place youever saw.
Imagine working at a middleschool for the arts.
So I got into that school when Iwas 13.
And, uh, I went there forseventh through 12th grade.
(18:55):
I was in the visual artsdepartment go visual.
We had a red little applicationform.
And I thought that was sort ofironic.
And time of Alanis, Morissettethat.
You know, um, the red papermeant something positive and
that it was, you know, a goodblessing type of thing.
So I filled out my application.
I did this big audition and Idrove, I did all these drawings
and everything.
(19:15):
Listening to my Paula Abdul andplaying my Sega Genesis and
working on fantasy star and allthat.
But trying to get into this artschool, because I knew that if I
went to a regular junior highkid, like me, You know, that
sits on the sidelines at a danceand sits on the carpet rolls and
just watches everybody like afly on the wall and too scared
to do anything, except get asoda.
And hope that her friends willcome over and talk to her at
(19:37):
some point, but I wasn't, youknow, I was socially phobic kind
of kid.
But I love to draw and I coulddraw cartoons pretty well.
And I used to make money when Iwas in second grade drawing
cartoons for other kids onthere.
You know, school box and thingslike that.
So there's me over there, but Ididn't think I'd survive at a
regular junior high withfootball and all that stuff.
Come on.
And we're talking mid eightiesor mid nineties here.
(20:00):
So the art school was my option.
And let me tell you all, it wasa whole new metaverse.
The popular kids, more talented.
They were incredible.
This guy, Sam.
Sane and Welsh.
He learned to play the pianolike overnight.
And he's, he's a genius.
Stephanie, Kababi had this voiceof an angel.
(20:21):
I was like, how did you do it?
She's like sitting next to me inEnglish class.
And then all of a sudden shegets on stage.
He's like, wow.
And I'm like, oh my gosh, girl.
I was an Aw.
Every single day of howincredibly impressive people
were.
We had different art areas.
We had visual, like I was inwhere we did painting and art
and Ms.
Green dusky and.
Ms.
Rudy, remind Mary Poppins thatgot us through and, and showed
(20:43):
us how in the afternoons wecould use art to synthesize our
thoughts and talk, take all thestress from the day.
And.
And put it into her art and giveit feeling an emotion and let it
out.
And you know, that was mentalhealth.
Then that was our mental health.
They were our therapists.
We did art therapy every day.
But the other art areas, we haddance that I was so jealous of
(21:03):
is a little fat kid because allthe beautiful dancer, kids and
everything.
You know, we had dance with Ms.
Portia and they did thesebeautiful, you know, I attend.
Uh, assemblies and everything.
And Cedar would put onproductions like hair and I mean
just, wow, the kids are going toact and sing.
And of course they were all theclowns in class, you know, and
the music kids were kind ofquiet like us and, and, but they
(21:24):
were kind of the smart ones, youknow, the good math and all
that, like you might expect.
And.
But they could play instruments,which is something I could never
do.
You know, I was the kid thatnever played an instrument and
got picked to be like the elfwith the curly shoes and the
giant hat instead of the.
You know, one of the nice ELPs.
On the elementary school music.
The assembly.
So.
In any case this place was MaryPoppins world.
(21:47):
Like I felt like I entered aschool full of Mary Poppins is,
and this carpet bag that she hadwas in every classroom, nothing
costs anything.
I had all the art materials.
I needed money.
Wasn't an issue.
Power was.
Power was creativity.
Power was talent.
Talent was the currency.
I've been amazing what thesekids could do at 13.
(22:07):
Many of us couldn't do at 45.
It was crazy.
We said at lunch outside, justanywhere you want real Bohemian
style.
I was growing up in west Palmbeach, Florida.
The weather's gorgeous, youknow, it's, it's, it's south
Florida and sunshine.
We had sunshine, we had friends,we could sit with who we want
and people play guitars and makethings, painkillers, faces, you
(22:29):
know, whatever kind of wackinessand our teachers were just as
weird.
They'd stand up on a desk andsing greatest love of all in the
middle of class or.
You know, All kinds of sillystuff.
But everybody was just a littlebit on the noodle east side.
Maybe it was the Florida heat.
Maybe it was Ms.
Green Dusty's wild experiment,you know, coming to fruition,
but.
You had a bunch ofneurodivergent kids with a bunch
(22:50):
of neurodivergent teachers.
Not a lot of special ed.
Pull-out no gifted.
Really.
We all were gifted.
Everybody was gifted becausethey were neurodivergent.
They could think on severallevels outside of the box.
They didn't let the box be acage.
Being in a box is no fun.
Nobody wants that.
But sometimes I think, you know,we get a little muddled in our
(23:13):
lives with some of the rules andI think just the words need to
change.
And that is where Mary Poppinslives.
Because of the words can change.
Like my father says to becompetent, capable, and
connected.
Is the secret to great teaching.
And as a school principal foryears, he started schools, my
family businesses schools, I wasborn in the schools.
You know, I've been watchingteachers my entire life, long
(23:36):
living in the school office asthe kid playing with the
durables, you know, I've beenwatching people forever.
And I realize our teachers needcredit where credit is due.
And we are not done talkingabout teachers, not by a long
shot.
But Mary Poppins is there.
Mary Poppins is when teachersget to be creative and they take
anxiety and put down that redbull.
(23:58):
You know, give her an ice hotcup of cocoa and let her draw.
Let her be free to be artsy andweird and creative.
And let them.
Have that space to be who theyare.
'cause that's good teaching.
You know, if they have that timeto noodle, then they're going to
bring that to the classroom andbring their excitement back.
And that excitement isabsolutely infectious.
(24:20):
We need that Mary Poppins spiritback.
But I think it's, we need toappreciate teachers in order to
do that.
And I want to elevate thoseteachers.
I want to integrate them intothe classrooms to take that
little seed of knowledge, thatbeautiful little seed that each
and every child is and let thembloom into a nice, happy little
Daisy.
Friendly flower.
(24:40):
All, uh, um, you've got mail.
The friendliest little flower.
And play the game of middleschool a little differently than
we did.
You know, in gen X, that was aplace of trauma.
It was like going to the hungergames.
You know, it was like playingDragon's layer.
Where if you make one wrongmove, then you got to play the
whole game over again.
It was like, you know, theeighties was all about like,
you're going to die.
If this happens, you're going todie.
(25:01):
Watch the Goonies.
You're going to die.
You.
Like, if you're a goonie, youcould die.
But we always face like suddendeaths at any moment, even in
Disney movies.
But now it's not like that.
We can provide a safe space forour kids, a happy space, a place
where teachers also have.
Equitability, you know, they canfeel like they are appreciated
paid well and treated fairly sothey can have that clear
(25:24):
mindedness that they desperatelyneed.
So that Mary Poppins, if you'reout there.
Fellow teacher.
Let's do it.
Let's get back in the classroom.
Let's erase the dry erase boardthat we had with all of these
old school thoughts about how weused to teach people and what
used to work, kids are not gonnabe made in a factory workers
(25:44):
anymore.
Kids are not going to bepossessed by Satan.
You know, this is not what it'sabout.
But now we have all these issuesgoing on, where things aren't
allowed in schools and so on,and teachers have lost their
way.
They've lost their power, theirjoy, their spirit.
And I want you to get it backand we're going to get it back
together.
I promise you that.
And guess what?
I may just have a plan for howto fix those middle schools out
(26:05):
there by looking at that schoolof the arts and examining what
made it tick and what meetings.
turned back into imagination.
And think about what we could dofor our kids.
If we could just take a minuteto examine Mary, Mary Poppins.
Look at what she can do and tryto help our teachers to get to
that.
To me.
So to all of you, I challengeyou.
(26:27):
To think about this.
Think about your kids.
Think about your childhood andwho were your heroes?
Are you riding on Falcor thedragon at the end of the
neverending story, did you makeit to the castle at the center
of the labyrinth?
And did you rescue your babybrother from David Bowie?
You know, did you grab the wormalong the way?
All you got to do is play thisnew game.
(26:47):
We're going to play a new game.
And we're going to rewrite thisgame this time with all kinds of
bonus levels and fun things.
But we just got to do ittogether.
So, if you're ready to play thisnew video game.
I've got some quarters.
Ready player one.
I'm ready to play as MaryPoppins.
My name is Suzanne M Swain EDS,M S S w.
(27:10):
And I'm auditioning to be MaryPoppins.
2.0.
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