Do you teach? Do you work at a school in any capacity? Do you have kids of your own? Do these offspring of yours attend (or have they attended) the same school that pays your paycheck? If you have selected yes to just one of these questions, this episode is for you. But if you selected yes to more than one . . . well this episode may hit some very familiar notes (and I wish we could have invited you on as a guest.) Join host Taylor Davis and guests Anna Frame and Lea Crongeyer for an exploration of the intersection of parenting and working as a school professional.

2:58-3:20: Inquiring minds must know; what does a child call their parent when they are actually teaching them in a classroom setting?

4:22-6:57: How being a teacher and being a parent are sometimes very different and sometimes very similar; also we discover Lea has basically taught every kid in the world.

7:05-8:14: Why Anna Frame is a lot less fun as a mom than a teacher; and the interplay of high expectations and “not MY kid!”

9:45-13:33: A surprise side effect of being a teacher momma: we never want to infringe on our kids’ teachers’ time or stress them out in any way.

13:38-14:55: The added entanglements for mommas who are not only teachers at the same school but also ALUMNAE!

14:56-16:30: “The balance of challenges and blessings” when your own kid is in the exact same grade you teach; the things we miss but also the insights we glean.

16:40-17:20: Julie’s surprise reveal that Lea Crongeyer is the real reason she ended up working at St. Andrew’s. (When I was considering the job she texted me, “it is one of the most precious gifts of my life to have taught at the same place my kids go to school.”)

17:28-20:25: Julie’s biggest point of tension in these dual roles of administrator/teacher and momma is also incredibly generative.

20:26-21:16: Lea drops some major wisdom: “So parenting you do so much of it with your heart you have to have a lot of self control as a teacher . .. you can’t be momma bear at school”; and Taylor points out sometimes we have too many “inside” insights. :)

21:16-23:20: Anna shares the good side of all this: we have a cheat code for what to talk to kids about in the car; also that year Lea let Taylor wake up her own kid from nap.

23:40- 25:26: Being a momma-teacher makes you have so much grace and empathy for your kids’ teachers and other cheat codes that can give us a leg-up on our parenting partners.

25:31-26:38; 28:18-29:58: When your kid gets in trouble, sometimes [a different kind of] the swooping in is helpful; also why Julie loves student-led conferences.

26:48-27:33: Listen here to find out which of our children was NOT a good napper and required an elaborate ticket system to stay put!

30:25-31:40: Josh Brister finally gets on the mic to drop wisdom about how parenting has impacted his view of the parent/teacher relationship; also our podcast’s most dramatic moment in the history of its existence!

31:41-32:46; 34:24-35:00: Not only do we give teachers more grace when we are in our parenting role, we give parents more grace in our teaching role; now we know how hard it is!

32:47- 34:23: How parenting shifts our view of the value of writing qualitative comments to parents.

35:00-35:50: Sometimes we are very, very bad parents. True confessions.

This week, join host Hannah Williams-Inman as she speaks with middle school educators Paul Buckley and Maria Edwards about experiences teaching as an introvert/extrovert.

• (0:00-2:35) TEAM Intro and Episode Intro - Teaching as an introvert vs extrovert, and the way that may change the vibe and feeling of our day to day life here at SA.

• (2:45-3:10) - Can you figure out, based on this conversation, who is our introvert and who is our extrovert?
• (3:20) Question 1: What is your favorite part of the school day?
  • (3:40) Maria starts us off - she loves seeing her lessons come to life, especially when a lesson hits well in a (probably morning time) class.
  • (4:50) We reflect on how the time of day completely changes the vibe of a class.
  • (5:30) Paul speaks about how he loves the calm moments of the day, taking a moment of peace, and maybe even a quick walk around campus.
  • (6:15) We love our outdoor campus!
• (7:00) I forgot to introduce myself! Sidebar, it doesn’t take just an introvert to LOVE their planning period - I love mine too!
• (7:50) Another sidebar - Maria remembers a conversation between the three of us before she had actually been hired. We knew she was a winner!
• (8:25) Question 2: What part of the school day consistently stresses you out?
  • (8:35) Hannah first - needing to be super flexible stresses me out, even though our environment and schedule at SA is typically so consistent and our days operate generally as expected, we still sometimes have to adjust on the fly. Such is life as a teacher.
  • (9:50) Paul shares - he feels stressed when lesson plans go awry, and he has to change things on the fly. He also shares that on a normal, regular day, lunch can be very stressful. It can feel draining, and it’s loud!
  • (11:25) Maria shares - she agrees that it’s stressful when a lesson plan flops, and being in year one of teaching is a lot of trial and error. Maria and Hannah both struggle with the way one lesson plan gone wrong can really flip the entire week/month/quarter on its head schedule wise.
  • (12:40) There is a unique struggle when classes are only 50 minutes.
• (13:50) “Just a quick sidebar…” figuring out how to effectively plan a class period (making sure you plan enough but not too much) is kind of the art of teaching, in a nutshell.
• (15:25) Question 3: How do you feel at the end of a school day?
  • (15:40) “Do you mean before or after my nap?” - Paul uses his after school time to rest, and restore, by enjoying some silence and taking his dog on a walk.
  • (16:35) Maria gives a lot during the school day, but she gives herself a boost with some energy drinks, so she can still be active and head to the gym after school!
  • (18:30) Boundaries! Work/life balance with our families and our own ability to recharge!
  • (18:50) What does it look like to turn off “teacher talk” at the end of the day, especially when we are with non-teachers?
  • (19:45) Hannah shares that at the end of the school day, she may be tired and more mellow, but is also kind of ready to expend a different kind of “after school” energy.
• (20:50) The big reveal! Who is our introvert?
• (21:45) We are so clued into the way our kids are each day; do we have the same amount of awareness for ourselves? Do we keep a finger on our own pulses as well?