Matthew Kenslow is a very passionate teacher. Loved by his students, this very talented instructor is now making a global ripple effect with his inspirational book- Unstoppable: Substitute Teacher with Autism Makes No Excuses.
Learn from Matthew some of the most powerful life lessons ever:
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/success-made-to-last-legends--4302039/support.
Learn from Matthew some of the most powerful life lessons ever:
- Don't let any diagnosis define you.
- Regardless of your challenge, choose to perservere.
- Find a purpose and back it up with passion.
- Learn to help others learning to accept others for who they are.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/success-made-to-last-legends--4302039/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:10):
And welcome back to success made alast author's corner. I'm Rick Tulchini.
I hope you all are having agreat day. We are, and our
very special guest today is Matthew Kinslow. And Matthew is the author of a
wonderful book, Unstoppable, substitute teacherwith autism who makes no excuses about one
(00:34):
in thirty six children are identified acrossthe world is having autism spectrum disorder according
to the CDC, and more thanfive point four million adults are living with
autism. Yet there's this public perception, understanding and acceptance that have a long
(00:55):
way to go. And Matthew Kinslow, as a teacher social media influencer,
is trying to change that. Henever gave his autism diagnosis the power to
define him or to limit his pursuits, and through this book he hopes to
inspire, inform, and create changeby sharing this compelling true story called Unstoppable.
(01:19):
Matthew, it's an honor to haveyou on our program today. Welcome,
thank you, It's an honor tobe here you bet okay. Now
tell us about this book and whyyou wrote it, this new book,
Unstoppable. I had the idea towrite it towards the end of my student
(01:40):
teaching in twenty twenty two, andI was reflecting on this entire journey through
student teaching and how he never gaveup, and I didn't honestly know what
to expect, but it turned itout. It turned out to be a
very pleasant experience. And I thoughtthat my story would be encouraging to a
spurring teachers or not. Oh verygood. How long did it take you
(02:04):
to write the book? I thinkif you put together and say, maybe
a few months, Oh not bad. How did you use your teaching skills
and your education to kind of organizeyour table of contents and figure out what
you were going to write about?Well, I thought maybe I should just
give a brief introduction of how hegot started in the first place, my
(02:28):
first passions that I had to teach, which started in early elementary school and
being teacher for a day a coupleof times in early elementary school, and
then how I kept the passion,how I solidified the passion in high school.
And then I told the entire journeyof like what it took to be
(02:49):
a teacher of the credential program andeverything. Oh, you were a teacher
of the day in elementary school.Tell us about that fun experience. It
was a fundraiser, and I triedall four years at this particular elementary school.
Third grade, I lost fourth gradeat one, fifth grade, I
lost sixth grade at one, sotwice I got to be teacher for a
(03:13):
day. It was a good experience. It was the first time I ever
heard students say mister Kenslow to me, and it was very fun. I
got to like help the teacher teachinglessons. I came up with, like
like crossword puzzles or word searches.Oh, excellent. Any particular fondest memories
(03:37):
in that sixth grade year that you'dlike to recall today just to further inspire
us in the sixth grade year.Yeah, well, I remember it's May
thirty, twenty oh seven, andI just remember being excited to teach.
And I made a crossword puzzle withall the names of the studenttudents, and
(04:00):
I wanted to teach more, butI couldn't teach everything. Like I had
history. I wanted to teach.It wasn't in the curriculum, but I
did get to teach a few things. Yeah, you have a distinct memory
for dates. I can already telland you're hogly detailed. How does that
help you as a teacher with thatsharp attention to detail. I've always had
(04:26):
that attention to detail and dates,and I don't remember every single date,
but there's a lot that I remember. Therefore, it's easy to remember dates
and birthdays. And I mean,I think a characteristic I have is being
detailed in organized. But on theside, I started to use it for
(04:48):
interesting lessons and such. So Idid my student teaching in math, so
that requires a lot of numbers andeverything. And one of my favorite lessons
I've ever taught as a student teacherit involved using birthdays, so I had
all the students' birthdays memorized since Itook advantage of that. At the end,
(05:09):
they're like, that was a veryimpressive lesson. Of course it was.
And kids like to Students like tohave their name and their data involved
because it makes them feel special andunique, doesn't it. Yes, I
believe so. Yeah, it's avery it's a very personal thing. Autism
(05:34):
in our world. I think it'sgrossly misunderstood. In your book, you
are teaching us through this narrative aboutabout autism, and I want you to
kind of take the platform today andtell us what are the biggest misunderstandings about
this? Okay, Autism is aneurodevelopmental disability. I kind of like viewing
(06:00):
it as a different ability to livelife, a different lens with which to
be the world. And there arechallenges and I strive to overcome them as
much as I can. So someof the negative parts of autism include these.
It's hard to concentrate, so likereading, doing homework, trying to
go to sleep at night have beena struggle for me because it's hard to
(06:23):
shut my mind off when it's supposedto. I had a speech delay when
I was three years old, oras diagnosed at age three, so I
had to speech therapy, which help. I was very shy throughout my life.
I had my share of being teasedfor having autism. But i've at
the same time, I've made friends, but at the same time I was
(06:45):
shy to make friends, to hangout with friends. But on the flip
side, you know, there's thememory, the attention to detail, and
other things with autism that I enjoy. It different ability to live life.
It makes me wonder about why everyoneshouldn't choose a different ability to live life
(07:15):
and pay less attention to diagnosis andpay more attention just to people and helping
other people. Yeah, that's oneof the things that you and I were
exchanging emails about before the program wasthe topic of significance, and we dwell
(07:38):
too heavily Matthew on why people shouldbe trying to move from being successful to
being significant and significance to us meansgiving back. What do you think significance
means to you after several great tenuresof being a substitute teacher and I'm sure
(07:58):
someone's going to pick you up afull time teacher and professor someday, But
what does significance mean to you today? To me, today's significance means something
that's just very important at the mostimportance. But as you were saying,
I fully believe that what's significant issomething where I'm able to help people and
(08:20):
give back that significant to me,like paying it forward, and that's what's
significant. You bet. Did youjust wrap up a school year or when
was the last time you were youwere teaching? Uh? The well,
this academic yere ends on June seventh, Okay, so I'm just subbing in
(08:43):
the meantime. Very good very good. If we had some of your favorite
students on if they are our favoritestudents, what how would how would they
describe you as other than he's thebest substitute teacher we've ever had in our
entire lives. They they might bringout times when I do magic tricks and
(09:03):
I tell them it's not real magic. But I do like tricks as a
reward for good behavior, as incentivesto strive your best, to be the
best that you could be. Ialso juggle, so a lot of people
might talk about me juggling. Sowhen you juggle, are you juggling more
(09:26):
than three autumns or is that themax? Up to four? What?
Yeah? Four juggle bugs. Yeah, I've heard that in juggling it's not
about the catching, but it's aboutthe pitching. Is that true? I've
just heard a lot of hand eyecoordination. Yeah, yeah, What do
you do? What are some ofthe different things that you juggle or is
(09:48):
it just balls or what do youwhat do you juggle? Yes, those
are juggle bugs there. Juggle bugsare like being back cubes and such.
But then I also juggle clubs.Those are what look like bulling pins.
And then for a finale, Ijuggle a basketball, a club and a
juggle bug at once, a bowlingball, a basketball, a basketball.
(10:13):
Okay, okay, I've seen ajuggler on a cruise before do a basketball,
a ping pong ball, and abowling ball. And so how would
you, as a juggler manage thatyou know that fifteen pounds coming down on
(10:33):
you in that lightness, the featherlightness of a ping pong ball, Well,
see, I just need to practicewith that, like having a bullying
pump. But yeah, I couldimagine the bullying pole is very like massive
in the ping pong ball is likelighter than hair. It's well to an
extent. Yeah, yeah, itwould take. It would take something.
(10:54):
Magic is a skill set that Ithink a lot of our listeners would love
to try their hand at. Whatwould you say would be some tips in
terms of getting started as a magician. I would say, just make sure
that you practice beforehand a lot,and practice in front of a mirror,
(11:16):
and then after practicing in front ofa mirror, making sure that your sleide
of hand is convincing enough, andmaybe go to like a family member,
very good friend in practice, andthen after that then you could feel confident
to go in front of a classor somewhere. Yeah, and you use
the magic tricks as a reward forprobably right answers or figuring out something.
(11:45):
What is in the last year ortwo, what is your favorite magic trick
that you performed. That'd start topick a favorite, because one of them
is, you know, you picka card, you sign it, and
then it looks like I put itback in the deck. And beforehand they
(12:05):
have an envelope and they make surethat the envelope is empty, and I
put the envelope in my pocket.Okay, now I'm like, pick a
card, sign it, and thenI put the card back in the deck,
and then it changes to the envelope, and in the envelope, I
pull out the card that they signedand that's the souvenir. Oh, good
(12:26):
grief, Matthew. That is toocool. I mean I would be entranced
as a student. I would goshow me more, show me more,
you know. So it's a whata wonderful, positive way of teaching.
I just love that. Okay.We are talking with author Matthew Kinslow who's
written this wonderful book called Unstoppable.Substitute Teacher with Autism makes no excuses.
(12:50):
Man, it's a powerful book.Tell our listening audience where they can purchase
your book today. They could purchaseit on or Barneson, Noble or like
any library or bookstore. Aline.I would probably put like Unstoppable Matthew Kenslow
on the search bar because there's alot of products called unstoppable. Okay,
(13:13):
okay, very good, And Matthew, many of our listeners love to collect
autograph copies. Are you signing bookplates? Little plates like this so they
can be sent out with your book? Or what's the situation on that?
Well, I could, like withthe address and such a could sign and
(13:37):
mail out, send out. Okay, So I would imagine folks, you
can get that done through Ascott Mediagroup as well. And I'm going to
give out ascots. It's Asscottmedia dotcom and news at ascottpr dot com.
(14:00):
Maybe another contact way to do thataccomplish that as well. And we are
going to be right back with Matthewafter this quick commercial message. Hi,
this is Carla from Gracefully Yours GreetingCards. We are Texas Aggie's but base
are publishing headquarters in Austin, Texas. I want to let you in on
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(14:26):
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(14:48):
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(15:13):
twelve packs. It's like having acard shop in your own home, so
every time you need a card,you have them handy. So visit gracefully
dash yours dot com to buy greetingcards where art and message connect to your
heart. And we are back withauthor Matthew Kinslow. Hey, we heard
(15:37):
that you were covered on ABC sevenin Los Angeles and that over a million
people have followed your story on socialmedia. What surprises. Have you learned
from social media and all these crazypeople that want to learn about your heart
and mind? One thing I learnedis like the tool that's social media that
(16:00):
you could basically go anywhere in theworld these days potentially, And there are
a lot of negativity about social mediathat I'm trying to spread positivity and you
know it's available. So that's whyI decided to post the past six years
on social media. Very good.I like that, And Inunstoppable, I
(16:25):
know that you've chronicled your highs andlows with just great honesty and authenticity,
and you walk the readers through whatlife is like for people who are neurodivergent.
If there was another term for neurodivergentthat the rest of the world should
learn and know, because that's abig word, what would be the other
(16:48):
word for neurodivergent, I'd have tothink, because neurodivergent just expresses the diversity
of the mind, So I haveto think of a word for that.
Yeah, it's it's interesting. It'slike I can see you planting almost a
(17:10):
new vocabulary out there for the world, as you have in your book Unstoppable,
And maybe the word is unstoppable,and it's not there's no limits.
It's like you can find your potentialand stop classifying or putting us in a
box, you know. So it'sit's one of those situations of people open
(17:32):
up your mind. You know thatthe entire world is broken. There's something
wrong with everybody in our opinion,So it's we find we find your book
to be so inspirational, and butat the same time, we're trying to
fight this this world that says you'redisabled and I'm not really really because there's
(17:56):
something wrong with everybody. What doyou think about that? I was reflecting
on that because like everyone has something, and what I was thinking is,
you know math, for example,Like a lot of people might think that
we have a disability, have thosethings that are hard, but there's a
(18:18):
lot of people who are neurotypical,the people who are not neurodivergent, and
they tell me and everyone how muchthey hate math. But to me,
like math is so much easier forme. Is there a new math out
again? Because when I was growingup, there was a new math and
it was the way to go.And then all of a sudden, all
of our elementary school teachers decided tojust put all the past, put it
(18:44):
all in the past, and theypicked up on the new method and they
returned to it ten years later.So what's the latest new math over in
my state? It's psychomic Core inour curriculum, which is more like word
problem based and such. And that'swhy I had to student teach out of
through McGraw hill curriculum. Word based. Okay, so what's that? Yeah,
(19:06):
on the SAT. If there's stilla math section on the SAT and
other entrance exams, are they allword based like you just described, I
have to check. I mean alot of work problems. There are like
application problems, and I think that'swhat the curriculum designers are trying to get
(19:29):
at. It's like, here's themath, but how are you going to
use it in real life? Hereare the application problems? M do you
ever approach math from the standpoint ofThere may be in your in your class
students that will be future coders whoare coding for software that will never go
(19:52):
to college. All they will dois learn to code, and then they
will do that for ten or fifteenyears of their life and make a really
good living doing it. There isthere something that you're building into your teaching
to help future coders well perhaps andbecause coding would include computer science and mathematics,
(20:15):
and like my job would just bethe teach and hopefully teach in a
way where students could understand math andnot get frustrated and what they wanted to
do with it in their life istheir calling. And I would hope that
maybe five, ten, fifteen yearsdown the line, i'd hear how they're
doing. Yeah, Oh, Ilove that. Yeah. To that point
(20:37):
for all you teachers out there,and God bless you for teaching and taking
your talents forward to the classroom.Thank you for what you do for starters.
But you never will know all ofthe students that are out there that
you've influenced that someday may turn outto be an astronaut, you know,
or a great engineer, just becauseyou've inspired them to love math. And
(21:00):
so that's in part why we wantto have you on today, just to
say thank you for your positive influenceon the students. And of course your
book Unstoppable is inspirational into itself.Okay, just a few more questions with
our special guest author Matthew Kinslow.I had asked you before the show also
(21:23):
to tell us about your best habitsand then your worst habits. Let's start
with your worst habits right now.That's one of the worst habits that I've
came across reflecting on my life wasprocrastination. And I would not recommend that.
So I tried to cut that offfurlier in life because I knew how
(21:45):
stressful and it was, so soI tried nowadays, like if I know,
if I have a lot of tasksto do, I won't put it
off to the last minute, butspace it out, which goes into a
better habit, which is spacing outyour work and giving your self time to
(22:07):
complete it. And then another islike not communicating would be a worse habit.
So like I found that communications isvery key, and like for me
personally, like communicating who I amand and some of the challenges that have
MA be better with the relationship withmy colleagues, for example, all right,
(22:33):
spacing out your work? What whata great habit too to endorse and
to try to teach other people todo that. What's your what's your perspective
on our culture being or looking likethey're too busy and they're busy on this
most of the time. What whatwould your suggestion be to our to the
(22:57):
at least the United States called aboutslowing down and enjoying life and maybe getting
off of their small screens. I'dsay it's just that like to take time
to enjoy life. The past tenor fifteen years, with technology and such,
I've personally seen even my friends beingconsumed by that instead of like spending
(23:22):
quality time, you know. Andthere have been times in my life where
where it's like I was at aplace where I could spend time with my
friends, but they were to consumewith like a computer game where their MP
three player or something. So Imean my encouragement is like, this is
(23:44):
your one life and just try toenjoy it a bit more and discipline yourself
with like how much you spend ona device. Absolutely. Okay, We're
going to end today's show and giveMatthew an opportunity to think everybody that he
wants to who has positively influenced him. And so I'll let you take the
(24:07):
podium and wrap up today's show andpretend that you were receiving an Oscar and
Emmy, a Grammy and a Tonytoday, which you should because you've you've
done great and you've done some greatthings, including writing Unstoppable and this interview,
because you're a great storyteller and agreat conversationalist. So thank your audience.
(24:30):
Who would you like to thank today? Number one? I'd love to
thank my mother and grandfather. Theyhave been raising me since birth. And
I also want to thank all myteachers from like preschool to to my college
days, all my mentors that I'vehad. I'd like to think my commanders
(24:51):
at the Rear Rangers program were Rangersis like boy Scouts with a faith based
element to it, and all mycommanders have never given up on me and
likewise paid forward to never give upon anybody else. And lastly, I
want to thank all my professors atVanguarden University who were a part of the
credential and Master's program, and mymentor teacher herself at Ensign, whom I
(25:15):
was a student teacher under. That'sterrific. Hey, Matthew, thank you
so much for being on today's show. People, you need to buy Unstoppable,
and we think it's mandatory reading,not only for this summer, but
for any time. It's timeless andit's classic and it's worth your read.
(25:37):
So go to Amazon Today or Barnesand Noble or your local bookstore and ask
for Unstoppable. Matthew, thank youso much for being on Fantastic Interview.
You are as advertised. Thank youfor being on today's program, No problem,
and folks, as we always say, we wish you you success,
(26:00):
but on your way to significance.Half a great week, m
And welcome back to success made alast author's corner. I'm Rick Tulchini.
I hope you all are having agreat day. We are, and our
very special guest today is Matthew Kinslow. And Matthew is the author of a
wonderful book, Unstoppable, substitute teacherwith autism who makes no excuses about one
(00:34):
in thirty six children are identified acrossthe world is having autism spectrum disorder according
to the CDC, and more thanfive point four million adults are living with
autism. Yet there's this public perception, understanding and acceptance that have a long
(00:55):
way to go. And Matthew Kinslow, as a teacher social media influencer,
is trying to change that. Henever gave his autism diagnosis the power to
define him or to limit his pursuits, and through this book he hopes to
inspire, inform, and create changeby sharing this compelling true story called Unstoppable.
(01:19):
Matthew, it's an honor to haveyou on our program today. Welcome,
thank you, It's an honor tobe here you bet okay. Now
tell us about this book and whyyou wrote it, this new book,
Unstoppable. I had the idea towrite it towards the end of my student
(01:40):
teaching in twenty twenty two, andI was reflecting on this entire journey through
student teaching and how he never gaveup, and I didn't honestly know what
to expect, but it turned itout. It turned out to be a
very pleasant experience. And I thoughtthat my story would be encouraging to a
spurring teachers or not. Oh verygood. How long did it take you
(02:04):
to write the book? I thinkif you put together and say, maybe
a few months, Oh not bad. How did you use your teaching skills
and your education to kind of organizeyour table of contents and figure out what
you were going to write about?Well, I thought maybe I should just
give a brief introduction of how hegot started in the first place, my
(02:28):
first passions that I had to teach, which started in early elementary school and
being teacher for a day a coupleof times in early elementary school, and
then how I kept the passion,how I solidified the passion in high school.
And then I told the entire journeyof like what it took to be
(02:49):
a teacher of the credential program andeverything. Oh, you were a teacher
of the day in elementary school.Tell us about that fun experience. It
was a fundraiser, and I triedall four years at this particular elementary school.
Third grade, I lost fourth gradeat one, fifth grade, I
lost sixth grade at one, sotwice I got to be teacher for a
(03:13):
day. It was a good experience. It was the first time I ever
heard students say mister Kenslow to me, and it was very fun. I
got to like help the teacher teachinglessons. I came up with, like
like crossword puzzles or word searches.Oh, excellent. Any particular fondest memories
(03:37):
in that sixth grade year that you'dlike to recall today just to further inspire
us in the sixth grade year.Yeah, well, I remember it's May
thirty, twenty oh seven, andI just remember being excited to teach.
And I made a crossword puzzle withall the names of the studenttudents, and
(04:00):
I wanted to teach more, butI couldn't teach everything. Like I had
history. I wanted to teach.It wasn't in the curriculum, but I
did get to teach a few things. Yeah, you have a distinct memory
for dates. I can already telland you're hogly detailed. How does that
help you as a teacher with thatsharp attention to detail. I've always had
(04:26):
that attention to detail and dates,and I don't remember every single date,
but there's a lot that I remember. Therefore, it's easy to remember dates
and birthdays. And I mean,I think a characteristic I have is being
detailed in organized. But on theside, I started to use it for
(04:48):
interesting lessons and such. So Idid my student teaching in math, so
that requires a lot of numbers andeverything. And one of my favorite lessons
I've ever taught as a student teacherit involved using birthdays, so I had
all the students' birthdays memorized since Itook advantage of that. At the end,
(05:09):
they're like, that was a veryimpressive lesson. Of course it was.
And kids like to Students like tohave their name and their data involved
because it makes them feel special andunique, doesn't it. Yes, I
believe so. Yeah, it's avery it's a very personal thing. Autism
(05:34):
in our world. I think it'sgrossly misunderstood. In your book, you
are teaching us through this narrative aboutabout autism, and I want you to
kind of take the platform today andtell us what are the biggest misunderstandings about
this? Okay, Autism is aneurodevelopmental disability. I kind of like viewing
(06:00):
it as a different ability to livelife, a different lens with which to
be the world. And there arechallenges and I strive to overcome them as
much as I can. So someof the negative parts of autism include these.
It's hard to concentrate, so likereading, doing homework, trying to
go to sleep at night have beena struggle for me because it's hard to
(06:23):
shut my mind off when it's supposedto. I had a speech delay when
I was three years old, oras diagnosed at age three, so I
had to speech therapy, which help. I was very shy throughout my life.
I had my share of being teasedfor having autism. But i've at
the same time, I've made friends, but at the same time I was
(06:45):
shy to make friends, to hangout with friends. But on the flip
side, you know, there's thememory, the attention to detail, and
other things with autism that I enjoy. It different ability to live life.
It makes me wonder about why everyoneshouldn't choose a different ability to live life
(07:15):
and pay less attention to diagnosis andpay more attention just to people and helping
other people. Yeah, that's oneof the things that you and I were
exchanging emails about before the program wasthe topic of significance, and we dwell
(07:38):
too heavily Matthew on why people shouldbe trying to move from being successful to
being significant and significance to us meansgiving back. What do you think significance
means to you after several great tenuresof being a substitute teacher and I'm sure
(07:58):
someone's going to pick you up afull time teacher and professor someday, But
what does significance mean to you today? To me, today's significance means something
that's just very important at the mostimportance. But as you were saying,
I fully believe that what's significant issomething where I'm able to help people and
(08:20):
give back that significant to me,like paying it forward, and that's what's
significant. You bet. Did youjust wrap up a school year or when
was the last time you were youwere teaching? Uh? The well,
this academic yere ends on June seventh, Okay, so I'm just subbing in
(08:43):
the meantime. Very good very good. If we had some of your favorite
students on if they are our favoritestudents, what how would how would they
describe you as other than he's thebest substitute teacher we've ever had in our
entire lives. They they might bringout times when I do magic tricks and
(09:03):
I tell them it's not real magic. But I do like tricks as a
reward for good behavior, as incentivesto strive your best, to be the
best that you could be. Ialso juggle, so a lot of people
might talk about me juggling. Sowhen you juggle, are you juggling more
(09:26):
than three autumns or is that themax? Up to four? What?
Yeah? Four juggle bugs. Yeah, I've heard that in juggling it's not
about the catching, but it's aboutthe pitching. Is that true? I've
just heard a lot of hand eyecoordination. Yeah, yeah, What do
you do? What are some ofthe different things that you juggle or is
(09:48):
it just balls or what do youwhat do you juggle? Yes, those
are juggle bugs there. Juggle bugsare like being back cubes and such.
But then I also juggle clubs.Those are what look like bulling pins.
And then for a finale, Ijuggle a basketball, a club and a
juggle bug at once, a bowlingball, a basketball, a basketball.
(10:13):
Okay, okay, I've seen ajuggler on a cruise before do a basketball,
a ping pong ball, and abowling ball. And so how would
you, as a juggler manage thatyou know that fifteen pounds coming down on
(10:33):
you in that lightness, the featherlightness of a ping pong ball, Well,
see, I just need to practicewith that, like having a bullying
pump. But yeah, I couldimagine the bullying pole is very like massive
in the ping pong ball is likelighter than hair. It's well to an
extent. Yeah, yeah, itwould take. It would take something.
(10:54):
Magic is a skill set that Ithink a lot of our listeners would love
to try their hand at. Whatwould you say would be some tips in
terms of getting started as a magician. I would say, just make sure
that you practice beforehand a lot,and practice in front of a mirror,
(11:16):
and then after practicing in front ofa mirror, making sure that your sleide
of hand is convincing enough, andmaybe go to like a family member,
very good friend in practice, andthen after that then you could feel confident
to go in front of a classor somewhere. Yeah, and you use
the magic tricks as a reward forprobably right answers or figuring out something.
(11:45):
What is in the last year ortwo, what is your favorite magic trick
that you performed. That'd start topick a favorite, because one of them
is, you know, you picka card, you sign it, and
then it looks like I put itback in the deck. And beforehand they
(12:05):
have an envelope and they make surethat the envelope is empty, and I
put the envelope in my pocket.Okay, now I'm like, pick a
card, sign it, and thenI put the card back in the deck,
and then it changes to the envelope, and in the envelope, I
pull out the card that they signedand that's the souvenir. Oh, good
(12:26):
grief, Matthew. That is toocool. I mean I would be entranced
as a student. I would goshow me more, show me more,
you know. So it's a whata wonderful, positive way of teaching.
I just love that. Okay.We are talking with author Matthew Kinslow who's
written this wonderful book called Unstoppable.Substitute Teacher with Autism makes no excuses.
(12:50):
Man, it's a powerful book.Tell our listening audience where they can purchase
your book today. They could purchaseit on or Barneson, Noble or like
any library or bookstore. Aline.I would probably put like Unstoppable Matthew Kenslow
on the search bar because there's alot of products called unstoppable. Okay,
(13:13):
okay, very good, And Matthew, many of our listeners love to collect
autograph copies. Are you signing bookplates? Little plates like this so they
can be sent out with your book? Or what's the situation on that?
Well, I could, like withthe address and such a could sign and
(13:37):
mail out, send out. Okay, So I would imagine folks, you
can get that done through Ascott Mediagroup as well. And I'm going to
give out ascots. It's Asscottmedia dotcom and news at ascottpr dot com.
(14:00):
Maybe another contact way to do thataccomplish that as well. And we are
going to be right back with Matthewafter this quick commercial message. Hi,
this is Carla from Gracefully Yours GreetingCards. We are Texas Aggie's but base
are publishing headquarters in Austin, Texas. I want to let you in on
a little secret about greeting cards andthe people that write them. We really
(14:26):
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(14:48):
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You have supercharged my life so thatI can soar again like a flying eagle
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(15:13):
twelve packs. It's like having acard shop in your own home, so
every time you need a card,you have them handy. So visit gracefully
dash yours dot com to buy greetingcards where art and message connect to your
heart. And we are back withauthor Matthew Kinslow. Hey, we heard
(15:37):
that you were covered on ABC sevenin Los Angeles and that over a million
people have followed your story on socialmedia. What surprises. Have you learned
from social media and all these crazypeople that want to learn about your heart
and mind? One thing I learnedis like the tool that's social media that
(16:00):
you could basically go anywhere in theworld these days potentially, And there are
a lot of negativity about social mediathat I'm trying to spread positivity and you
know it's available. So that's whyI decided to post the past six years
on social media. Very good.I like that, And Inunstoppable, I
(16:25):
know that you've chronicled your highs andlows with just great honesty and authenticity,
and you walk the readers through whatlife is like for people who are neurodivergent.
If there was another term for neurodivergentthat the rest of the world should
learn and know, because that's abig word, what would be the other
(16:48):
word for neurodivergent, I'd have tothink, because neurodivergent just expresses the diversity
of the mind, So I haveto think of a word for that.
Yeah, it's it's interesting. It'slike I can see you planting almost a
(17:10):
new vocabulary out there for the world, as you have in your book Unstoppable,
And maybe the word is unstoppable,and it's not there's no limits.
It's like you can find your potentialand stop classifying or putting us in a
box, you know. So it'sit's one of those situations of people open
(17:32):
up your mind. You know thatthe entire world is broken. There's something
wrong with everybody in our opinion,So it's we find we find your book
to be so inspirational, and butat the same time, we're trying to
fight this this world that says you'redisabled and I'm not really really because there's
(17:56):
something wrong with everybody. What doyou think about that? I was reflecting
on that because like everyone has something, and what I was thinking is,
you know math, for example,Like a lot of people might think that
we have a disability, have thosethings that are hard, but there's a
(18:18):
lot of people who are neurotypical,the people who are not neurodivergent, and
they tell me and everyone how muchthey hate math. But to me,
like math is so much easier forme. Is there a new math out
again? Because when I was growingup, there was a new math and
it was the way to go.And then all of a sudden, all
of our elementary school teachers decided tojust put all the past, put it
(18:44):
all in the past, and theypicked up on the new method and they
returned to it ten years later.So what's the latest new math over in
my state? It's psychomic Core inour curriculum, which is more like word
problem based and such. And that'swhy I had to student teach out of
through McGraw hill curriculum. Word based. Okay, so what's that? Yeah,
(19:06):
on the SAT. If there's stilla math section on the SAT and
other entrance exams, are they allword based like you just described, I
have to check. I mean alot of work problems. There are like
application problems, and I think that'swhat the curriculum designers are trying to get
(19:29):
at. It's like, here's themath, but how are you going to
use it in real life? Hereare the application problems? M do you
ever approach math from the standpoint ofThere may be in your in your class
students that will be future coders whoare coding for software that will never go
(19:52):
to college. All they will dois learn to code, and then they
will do that for ten or fifteenyears of their life and make a really
good living doing it. There isthere something that you're building into your teaching
to help future coders well perhaps andbecause coding would include computer science and mathematics,
(20:15):
and like my job would just bethe teach and hopefully teach in a
way where students could understand math andnot get frustrated and what they wanted to
do with it in their life istheir calling. And I would hope that
maybe five, ten, fifteen yearsdown the line, i'd hear how they're
doing. Yeah, Oh, Ilove that. Yeah. To that point
(20:37):
for all you teachers out there,and God bless you for teaching and taking
your talents forward to the classroom.Thank you for what you do for starters.
But you never will know all ofthe students that are out there that
you've influenced that someday may turn outto be an astronaut, you know,
or a great engineer, just becauseyou've inspired them to love math. And
(21:00):
so that's in part why we wantto have you on today, just to
say thank you for your positive influenceon the students. And of course your
book Unstoppable is inspirational into itself.Okay, just a few more questions with
our special guest author Matthew Kinslow.I had asked you before the show also
(21:23):
to tell us about your best habitsand then your worst habits. Let's start
with your worst habits right now.That's one of the worst habits that I've
came across reflecting on my life wasprocrastination. And I would not recommend that.
So I tried to cut that offfurlier in life because I knew how
(21:45):
stressful and it was, so soI tried nowadays, like if I know,
if I have a lot of tasksto do, I won't put it
off to the last minute, butspace it out, which goes into a
better habit, which is spacing outyour work and giving your self time to
(22:07):
complete it. And then another islike not communicating would be a worse habit.
So like I found that communications isvery key, and like for me
personally, like communicating who I amand and some of the challenges that have
MA be better with the relationship withmy colleagues, for example, all right,
(22:33):
spacing out your work? What whata great habit too to endorse and
to try to teach other people todo that. What's your what's your perspective
on our culture being or looking likethey're too busy and they're busy on this
most of the time. What whatwould your suggestion be to our to the
(22:57):
at least the United States called aboutslowing down and enjoying life and maybe getting
off of their small screens. I'dsay it's just that like to take time
to enjoy life. The past tenor fifteen years, with technology and such,
I've personally seen even my friends beingconsumed by that instead of like spending
(23:22):
quality time, you know. Andthere have been times in my life where
where it's like I was at aplace where I could spend time with my
friends, but they were to consumewith like a computer game where their MP
three player or something. So Imean my encouragement is like, this is
(23:44):
your one life and just try toenjoy it a bit more and discipline yourself
with like how much you spend ona device. Absolutely. Okay, We're
going to end today's show and giveMatthew an opportunity to think everybody that he
wants to who has positively influenced him. And so I'll let you take the
(24:07):
podium and wrap up today's show andpretend that you were receiving an Oscar and
Emmy, a Grammy and a Tonytoday, which you should because you've you've
done great and you've done some greatthings, including writing Unstoppable and this interview,
because you're a great storyteller and agreat conversationalist. So thank your audience.
(24:30):
Who would you like to thank today? Number one? I'd love to
thank my mother and grandfather. Theyhave been raising me since birth. And
I also want to thank all myteachers from like preschool to to my college
days, all my mentors that I'vehad. I'd like to think my commanders
(24:51):
at the Rear Rangers program were Rangersis like boy Scouts with a faith based
element to it, and all mycommanders have never given up on me and
likewise paid forward to never give upon anybody else. And lastly, I
want to thank all my professors atVanguarden University who were a part of the
credential and Master's program, and mymentor teacher herself at Ensign, whom I
(25:15):
was a student teacher under. That'sterrific. Hey, Matthew, thank you
so much for being on today's show. People, you need to buy Unstoppable,
and we think it's mandatory reading,not only for this summer, but
for any time. It's timeless andit's classic and it's worth your read.
(25:37):
So go to Amazon Today or Barnesand Noble or your local bookstore and ask
for Unstoppable. Matthew, thank youso much for being on Fantastic Interview.
You are as advertised. Thank youfor being on today's program, No problem,
and folks, as we always say, we wish you you success,
(26:00):
but on your way to significance.Half a great week, m
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