How To Survive The Classroom

How To Survive The Classroom

As we all know, an educator’s career is one of prestige, respect, and authority. Just kidding. Sure, there are lesson plans and inspirational posters. Book reports and detentions. But nobody tells you it’s also parents brawling in the parking lot, students unleashing live crickets during finals, and getting evaluated for “running a tight ship” while the ceiling literally leaks onto your head. Hosted by Andrea Forcum (aka @Educator Andrea on TikTok, former high school teacher and current professor at Indiana State University), How to Survive the Classroom is part advice column, part survival guide, and part group therapy. Each week, Andrea dons her trauma tiara to tackle call-ins and confessions from fellow educators (and brave educator allies). From hilarious war stories to brutal burnout moments, join us as we strategize, survive, and occasionally let out a good old-fashioned cathartic scream into the void. If you’ve ever Googled “how to professionally quit mid-semester” or seriously considered hiding in a supply closet, this show’s for you. Teaching may be a noble profession… but nobility doesn’t stop your classroom from catching on fire.

Episodes

February 2, 2026 40 mins
PRE-ORDER MY NEW BOOK (OUT MAY 5, 2026)!!! — ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/43BquPd⁠⁠⁠⁠ I’m fresh off Teacher’s Lounge shows in Seattle and Portland (cities I was told to fear, but absolutely adored), and Gerry is coming back to work after a winter break so long it fully erased his sense of time, purpose, and identity. We talk about Pacific Northwest vibes and play a game that asks the important question: is this a student insult… or a Portl...
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PRE-ORDER MY NEW BOOK (OUT MAY 5, 2026)!!! — ⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/43BquPd⁠⁠⁠ Teacher besties… this episode is what happens when you let me and Gerry talk long enough to uncover each other’s secret side quests. I found out Gerry is casually coaching middle school basketball, we unpack why coaching parents somehow feel less terrifying than classroom parents, and I confess that my basketball career was built almost entirely on effort, ...
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January 20, 2026 42 mins
PRE-ORDER MY NEW BOOK (OUT MAY 5, 2026)!!! — ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/43BquPd⁠⁠ Teacher besties… this episode officially marks a new era, and honestly? It’s already unhinged. I’m joined by Gerry (yes, that Gerry), and we immediately get into important topics like whether Terre Haute feels like witness protection, why Florida keeps rewarding me while Jerry watches from afar, and how I accidentally ended up hanging out with an NSYNC member ...
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PRE-ORDER MY NEW BOOK (OUT MAY 5, 2026)!!! — ⁠https://bit.ly/43BquPd⁠ Teacher besties… I am recording this episode with teeth that feel like exposed electrical wiring, so if I sound unwell, it’s because I am unwell. I decided to get my teeth professionally whitened, and let’s just say the pain level was somewhere between “natural childbirth with a broken epidural” and “why did I do this to myself.” But vanity drama aside, this ...
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PRE-ORDER MY NEW BOOK (OUT MAY 5, 2026)!!! — https://bit.ly/43BquPd Teacher besties… this episode I’m talking about hosting nearly 30 people for Thanksgiving (including a self-appointed “Director of Thanksgiving”), discovering my husband’s family may have some intense World War II memorabilia, and the moment I suddenly had to ask, “Was he… on the right side?” And then, because the universe wasn’t done with me, we dive into a stud...
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PRE-ORDER MY NEW BOOK (OUT MAY 5, 2026)!!! - https://bit.ly/43BquPd Teacher besties… this week I brought on one of my favorite chaotic humans: the hilarious Gerry Potoka, comedian, teacher, and man of mysteriously undefined licensure. In this episode, Gerry and I try to pinpoint what he actually teaches, debate whether PE tests are secretly impossible, unpack his “desk art collection,” and discover that his lowercase k is actual...
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PRE-ORDER MY NEW BOOK (OUT MAY 5, 2026)!!! — https://bit.ly/43BquPd This week I’m talking about the grading spiral that made me question my entire career, the wild field-trip confessions my five-year-old brought home, and the absolute unhinged energy that middle schoolers bring into any art room with a blank sheet of paper. And the voice memos? Oh, they’re next-level. One features a crime scene so disgusting I almost logged off...
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In this episode, I’m unpacking how something as innocent as kombucha sent my entire life into chaos… how my own child managed to humiliate me in public with the confidence of a man three times his size… and why I found myself saluting a complete stranger at a gas station like we’d been through battle together. Plus, your stories this week? Unhinged. We’re talking ski masks, mystery backpacks, “not again” from a school counselor (w...
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December 8, 2025 26 mins
In this episode, I’m talking about everything from a wildly out-of-place operatic performance at my dinner table… to a voice memo that had me reconsidering every teacher’s unspoken job description… to the moment I accidentally confessed to a German felony because I couldn't understand what anyone was saying. And yes, there’s a story in here about nipples. And lotion. And regret. Plus, I’m finally sharing the unexpected resource t...
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This week, I owe Texas an apology. Between discovering that Tex-Mex might be the best food on Earth and listening to a kindergarten voicemail about baby mama drama, I had no idea where this episode would go. But then my kids started planning how to get rid of a body, a student declared his future as a midwife, and somehow we still managed to end with a heartwarming story about my sister’s new baby and a resource to help your stude...
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A re-release from last years thanksgiving episode! In this special Thanksgiving episode I sit down with Denver Riley to dive into a blend of holiday trivia, teacher humor, and unexpected insights. As we tackle Thanksgiving history questions (with some questionable accuracy), Denver and I find ourselves navigating through fun facts, turkey anatomy, and relatable teaching stories. We also discuss Denver’s “Jersey Shore” spirit day...
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This week’s episode had me clutching my pearls and questioning everything I thought I knew about middle schoolers. We got a voicemail about a student caught doing something unthinkable during class and somehow, it gets worse. Teachers, you are not paid enough for this level of trauma. Then, I share the foreword from my upcoming book They Never Taught Us That, talk about what inspired it, and reveal a resource that actually helps ...
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November 17, 2025 32 mins
This week I learned that parenting might actually be harder than teaching. It started with my five-year-old asking questions about his “balls,” escalated into my husband giving a full anatomy lesson, and ended with me praying his kindergarten teacher doesn’t get a surprise lecture about semen. Then we hear from a teacher whose classroom window literally exploded mid-class (because of a rogue lawnmower rock, obviously), and I share...
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This week’s voicemails took me on a ride I did not see coming. First up: a sub walks into a high school on eighties day and witnesses a kid try to smash his phone with weights and somehow sets off the fire alarm in the process. Then another teacher shares a story that starts like a simple math problem and ends in the darkest dad joke ever written on a whiteboard. Somewhere between bathroom popcorn hustles, entrepreneurial students...
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This week’s voicemails reminded me why teachers deserve Oscars for keeping it together. One teacher shares the horror of being publicly asked if she’s pregnant and another walks us through a “balloon” disaster that turned out to be something… very not balloon-like. Plus, I unpack the best advice I ever got from an administrator about what to do when kids say something so wild you have to literally turn and face the wall. Takeaway...
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October 27, 2025 36 mins
This week started with a gut punch, my course evaluations. Let’s just say a few of my college students think I should “go back to teaching middle school.” Ouch. But you know what? They might have a point. Somewhere between grading, crying, and doom-scrolling, I stumbled into a TikTok hole about a guy making something called “perpetual stew.” (Spoiler: it involves placenta. You’re welcome.) Then I found joy again through the weirdes...
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October 20, 2025 33 mins
You ever have one of those weeks where your kid says something so wild you can’t even respond right away? Yeah… mine started with a confession about sniffing a friend’s butt. I also found myself on tour with two grown men who can’t remember their rental car company, and then I saw a viral video of a mom furious at her kid’s teacher… because he didn’t drink his water bottle. This week, I’m unpacking all of it . The parenting chaos,...
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October 13, 2025 30 mins
This week I found myself wandering through a 90s fever dream, yes, there was an actual Tamagotchi pop-up shop, before heading to Chicago for a sold-out show that brought out old students, old stories, and one deeply unimpressed middle schooler. Then, things got even more chaotic when teacher voicemails rolled in: one about 8th graders who can’t stop saying “six-seven” (and now in Spanish), and another about a slime experiment gone ...
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October 6, 2025 32 mins
I thought the mic stand was going to be my biggest battle this week… but between parades I didn’t understand, parents at my kids’ school, and voicemails that took turns I could have never prepared for, this episode had me reeling. From a teacher who declared he had his “asshole pants” on, to a locker room surprise that may or may not have been cocaine, to a student loudly announcing she was climaxing in driver’s ed, let’s just say,...
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September 29, 2025 33 mins
This week I learned that nothing divides the internet faster than Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s engagement and yes, I have thoughts. Spoiler: I’m baffled, not bitter. From my squirrel-and-nut analogies to realizing Lord of the Rings news impacts me way more than celebrity weddings, this episode is a rollercoaster of pop culture side-eye, mom-life struggles, and teacher realities. You’ll also hear listener voicemails that had me l...
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