The Bobby Bones Show - Episode 3: A Labor of Love

Episode Date: May 26, 2020

Teachers and school administrators have been navigating the new normal and attempting to continue doing what they've always done: enrich the knowledge and lives of students everywhere. In this episode, elementary school teacher Gail Campopiano shares the ways in which her approach to her role has changed, and the deeper connections that make teaching such a rewarding, if at times difficult, profession. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Topshelfcountrycruise.com. This is on the job. This season, we're speaking with folks who are finding their professional stride in a tumultuous job market and learning how to double down on their skills and their experience to overcome challenges.

We'll bring you inspiring stories of people making themselves essential, an important skill set in any economy. Within the turbulence of COVID-19, education workers have been navigating the waters of a new normal in order to continue doing what they've always done, pass on knowledge, and move the world forward. While the schools have stopped operating, teachers all across the globe have not. Thanks to our students and families, Mrs. Campo Piano here, to talk about a rainbow poem. I'm going to go ahead and share my screen here.

This is from a video that Gail Campo Piano made for her second grade students. And we are going to write a poem today about a garden. This is Kim Pocano titled her poem, My Garden. And we're going to use... She teaches at Northwest Elementary School in Rutland, Vermont, which, like all schools, closed during the pandemic. And since then, she's been teaching classes through these videos, working with parents and students to finish out the school year from their homes.

So I'm going to write the word red. And I'm thinking of something in my garden that is red. So I know I have red beets growing in my garden. I guess if you had to describe your life right now, with one word, what would it be? With one word. That might be the word. Yeah, that might be the word. No, I would say juggling.

The next color I'm going to use in my rainbow is yellow. So I'm going to say yellow. I've taught short workshops in elementary schools before, and it was clear pretty quickly that the undertaking of teaching itself is a juggling act. First off, as a primary teacher, you're teaching kids everything. Yep. So I do reading, writing math, science, social studies. And while Gail's been teaching for 13 years now, it is a whole new ballgame when her 18 students are all in completely different places. I have to learn a new tech every day. I feel like with our new world. So I had never used video. I had done FaceTime with family, but that was about the extent of it. And now I feel like

we live on it. She's been troubleshooting tech with parents, helping some families set up email for the first time, making sure each kid has everything they need to get their work done. And also what's too much for them and what's too much for their families and kind of having those conversations and phone calls and check-ins with the families. Now that her lessons kind of depend on parents, she's looking out for each of them. How's your mental state as a parent? Do you have food? Do you, are you sick? And do you also have a family? Yeah, so I also have two kiddos. one who's in first grade, so, you know, balancing her online learning and trying to... Because she's being taught by another teacher?

Yep, she has another teacher at another school who's doing the same exact thing I'm doing. Not to mention her three-year-old son, who likes to make sure that her and her husband's day starts at 4 a.m. sharp, and who just learned how to get out of his crib. So it's a juggle. Some days, the balls stay in the air better than others. Gayle was actually born and raised in my hometown, Mount Holly, Vermont. She had a very rural upbringing. She got good grades.

She liked going to school. But I didn't grow up thinking I was going to be a teacher. I was certain my whole life that I was going to be a marine biologist, working with these giant whales in the ocean. Is that way you thought when you were a kid that you wanted to work with whales? Yeah, whales or, you know, some like... Mine was sharks. It's so funny. When Gail grew up and got to high school, she took AP Bio.

and it wasn't exactly what she'd fantasized as a kid, but she was going to stick to the plan. And before she graduated in her senior year, she had a free period and decided she'd just try something different. So I did a volunteer in a kindergarten classroom, and I realized, oh my God, I really love this. So about three quarters through the year of my senior year when I'd already basically decided where I was going to college

and had that kind of mapped out, I did a 180 and changed everything. Gail went to Rhode Island College and got her teaching degree with a concentration in special education. After teaching in Rhode Island for a couple years, she came back home to Vermont, starting off as a special educator and then a classroom teacher. What do you think the biggest misconceptions are that people have about teaching? Oh, you do it for the weekends off and the summers off and the, you know, the really good pay, which is none of which are true. So I think that people have some misconceptions about what actually happens in a school in the eight hours that we're there and the two hours that were there before and after and the weekend when we're there. Although, she says that she's starting to see a shift now that parents have the responsibility of doing what she is professionally trained to do.

Yeah. Like, oh, I get what teachers do now. like, I get that school wasn't just reading, writing math. She admits it's not exactly fair. She went to school for this, and every family now has a lot on their plate. Even so, she says that being dubbed essential in a time of crisis was validating. Yeah, I think at some point it was like a little bit validating. When you think of how is the world going to continue, this is like something that people are saying is essential.

More than just being a place where kids can learn, schools provide so much more. They provide food. They can really be a shelter and a safe place for a lot of kids that might not have one. And it's a place where deep connections are formed between teacher and student as they try to find their way in the world. That's a struggle I think that teachers are feeling right now is how do you just, you know, how do you keep that connection going? How do you be there when you've always been there? Yeah. Yep.

More of Gail's story and the new reality of teaching after the break. A strong work ethic takes pride in a job well done. Sweats over the details. This is you. But to get an honest day's work, you need a response. You need a callback. You need a job. Express employment professionals can help because we understand what it takes to get a job.

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to make sure that these essential core classes continue. However, Gail Campo Piano says that for years, a huge part of her normal school day has been social and emotional learning. We start every day with restorative circles and community building stuff and character traits and we do yoga and all of those things are. so... You do yoga with the kids.

Yep, yep. School has changed a lot since I was there. Yeah, the kids love it. Truth is, school has changed a lot in the last couple decades. And that's because the world has changed a lot in the last couple decades. I think kids and even adults, I think our society now has become really fast-paced. And there's a lot of stressors in adults, but especially students' lives. In Rutland, where Gail teaches, it's a high poverty area.

There's a lot of drug and alcohol abuse. A lot of kids have trauma. And second grade is a huge development year for kids. They're just learning how to deal with those emotions and those things that might trigger them and learning coping strategies. So we embed it almost all day long. You know, if you're doing a mass card game, you're also teaching them how to lose and how to accept loss and how to take turns and all of those things that. Maybe they haven't learned, yeah, or just still need to practice. People who understand teaching do understand the actual workload of the job,

the physical workload of doing the job, especially if you have a family. Yeah. But I guess, like, it's hard to imagine how much emotional work you take on by essentially having this den full of cubs that you, yourself, can't help but be emotionally attached to as well. Yep. Even just, you know, on a good day, yeah. There is a large emotional attachment that comes with teaching, for sure. For teachers, the classroom can often be a safe place for kids who don't have one. It's a place where teachers can offer some consistency,

let a kid know that they've got someone to turn to, no matter how big or small the problem. Gail says that's the real challenge of distant learning. Not being able to check in on those kids that you are worried about, that you know really the first time you hug them in the morning is the only time that they've been hugged in the morning, you know, when they hear the principal say that they're loved on the announcement in the morning might be the first time that they heard those words. So that's hard. Boiled down, the role of a teacher is being there and helping a student move forward.

It's a huge responsibility, one that comes with the job. Over her career, Gail's experienced the impact that role can really, really have on a kid. And she's experienced the impact that it can have on her. So two years ago, I had a student who, before the year started, you know, we always get some information about the children before they come into your classroom. And I was teaching kindergarten at the time. The preschool of the student went to let Gail know that he had significant behavioral challenges and was going to need a lot of support.

This little boy came in and everything I had been told was completely. completely false. He was just really easy to work with, really good friend, worked super duper hard on everything you wanted him to do. He just really wanted to please. She was relieved. Couldn't have had a better start to the year. And then in about October, he left school, went home and no one was at his house to pick him up off the bus. So he was brought back to the school and some phone calls were made. And that sometimes happens and the day, you know, time kind of passed and the story kept kind of unfolding and his mother had passed away. The student had seen his mother that morning and she was fine. His big sister and a preacher from their local church came to the school where he was waiting

and they sat him down and they told him. It was a Friday. So over the weekend, he went to go live with a police officer and his family that went to the same church. Totally traumatic, as you can imagine. So then Monday came, and it was just horrific. Like, you can't even imagine. He, and I'm going to get choked up about it, he came in early, and he just, like, ran into the classroom and wrapped his arms around me,

and just melted, just was sobbing, you know, and it was just the most hard. heartbreaking thing that I think anyone can ever imagine. When the rest of the kindergarten came in, Gail and a guidance counselor talked to the class about what happened. This happened over the weekend. He lost his mom. Like, this is how we can support him.

We just have to give him space and understand that this is really, really sad and scary for him. Gail says it was one of the hardest days of her life. But some of the best ones, came from that following year as she watched other students be there for him and got to help him work through it all. Sometimes he'd lose control and she would take him aside to the beanbag corner of the room and help him talk it out. He would just say, I just miss her so much and just like melt into you, you know, and you were like, yep, you know, this is, this is why I do this job. To teach the reading and the writing and the math, but it's also to help kind of form these little,

lives that are just starting. My rainbow is my garden. We always love to purple. If you had to say one thing to anyone who wants to become a teacher, what would it be? Get into a classroom as quick as you can in your studies or even before your studies and see if it's if it really is something that you, that you love because teaching really does have to be a labor of love. And there's something about a purple carrot that just makes me happy.

So I'll end with that feeling. Purple carrots make me smile. If someone says, you know, how would you identify yourself? I would say I'm a teacher and I'm a mother and I'm a wife. You know, there's lots of other layers there. But that definitely is one of the first things that I would say. Because it's not just a job. Yeah, no, it's not.

It's not something that I can just leave at the door. You can write a rainbow poem of your own. It's not a nine to five. Can't wait to read them. I'm going to stop sharing my screen. Talk to you soon. Miss you. Bye bye.

For On the Job, I'm Otis Gray. Thanks for listening to On the Job, brought to you by Express Employment Professionals. This season of On The Job is produced by Audiation and Red Seat Ventures. The episodes are written and produced by me, Otis Gray. Our executive producer is Sandy Smallins. The show is mixed by Matt Noble for Audiation Studios at the loft in Bronxville, New York. music by Blue Dot Sessions. Find us on IHeart Radio and Apple Podcasts.

If you liked what you heard, please consider rating and reviewing the show on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. We'll see you next time for more inspiring stories about making yourself essential as you discover your life's work. All right, if you have ever dealt with a traditional home security company, you know the drill.

Expensive monthly fees, contracts that lock you in for years, and waiting around for a technician to set everything up. It's a lot. Well, now they're Simply Safe. They have completely changed the game. Simply Safe has no long-term contracts, no hidden fees, no being trapped. They earn your business by actually keeping you safe, not by locking you in. Setting up is so easy.

You customize your system at SimplySafe.com. It ships to your door in a few days, and with the app-guided setup, you can have everything installed and armed in under an hour. No technician needed. And it's not just a camera. It's a full ecosystem of sensors, cameras for inside and outside, and 24-7 professional monitoring. If there's ever a break-in, a fire, or a flood, SimplySafe's agents are on it immediately. They were also named America's best customer service by Newsweek, which honestly tracks.

Right now, you can get 50% off your new system by visiting Simplysafe.com slash bones. That's half off at SimplySafe.com slash bones. There's no safe like SimpliSafe. Owning a home comes with a lot of things nobody really prepares you for, including yard care. Sunday is a company trying to make that part easier. They start with a soil test and climate data to build a yard plan tailor to where you live, then ship everything directly to your door. No guesswork, no dragging bags of fertilizer.

And instead of harsh chemicals, Sunday uses simple nutrient-dense ingredients like seaweed, molasses, and iron. Everything hooks up to a hose, which honestly sounds like my speed. If your yard feels more stressful than satisfying, Sunday's approach makes a lot of sense. Go to get sunday.com to get your free custom yard analysis. That's get sunday.com. A better help ad. Financial stress affects the majority of Americans, often causing anxiety, sleep disruption, and even depression. It's also one of the leading sources of conflict for couples.

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We had so much fun this year that the top shelf country cruise is back for a second sailing in 2027. Eddie and I had a blast plan for you guys in meeting you at the Raging Idiot shows. Let's do it again. We'll be back with performances from Riley Green, Chris Young,

Lauren Elena, Randy Hauser. Join us March 27 on the Sunday Celebrity Summit departing from Tampa, stopping in Bimini, Key West, and Cozumel. Go to top shelfcountrycruise.com to book your cabin.

Topshelfcountrycruise.com. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.