Andrea: Welcome to Those Who Can't Do, I am Andrea Forgham, and I have had the most insane couple of weeks. I think I've shared that I got kind of sick back in February, and then after that I ended up fighting off a sinus infection, and then this last weekend I had pinkeye, which, what kind of an adult? I would love to know what kind of an adult walks around with pink eye.

I, you guys, it was so embarrassing. Like there's something so shameful about walking around as a grown woman. with pink eye like I sat at urgent care waiting to get eyedrops and I just sat in absolute abject shame because like if you look at me people are like she's got pink eye she got dookie in her eye somehow that's nasty but it in in my defense I have heard from a lot of people that they have gotten pink eye after covid so I think that that's likely what happened to me and that's what we're gonna go with you Listen, that's gonna be my story.

And after it started to clear up, thankfully, um, I, I got antibiotics, all that good stuff, and I was, I was not infectious anymore, to be clear. I went to the Children's Museum. I wanted to say that so no one was like, stop infecting Indianapolis with your disgusting thing. I stuff. I, I was good. Um, I went to the children's museum of Indianapolis and if you guys have not been there, you absolutely need to go.

I know it's like nationally renowned as a children's museum. My kids are three and five, so they're at the perfect age. They just want to touch everything and run around and scream and it's, it's Amazing. I cannot even tell you how much fun we had at that museum. And while I was there, I was there with my parents and my kids, and somebody actually approached me and came up to me and recognized me from social media, which was very fun because my parents were there.

And I, you know, I occasionally get recognized, not that often. Um, but it was really fun to get recognized with my parents there because they had just asked me in the car, like, Like, Oh, how often do people like come up to you? And I'm like, Oh, you know, not that often. And then it gave me like some real legit street cred for somebody to come up and be like, Oh my gosh, I follow you.

I love your stuff. And then I could be like, Oh, you know, like flip my hair and be like, Oh, thank you so much. Like not a big deal at all. But really like when somebody approaches me and says they recognize me, like I am. equally excited to the person who recognizes me because it's always really fun to actually meet some of you.

Um, because a lot of times we just like hit publish and it goes out into the world and it feels, uh, like I'm just talking to myself sometimes. But, um, maybe one day I can hit the Today Show like today's guest. guest. Mr. Philip Lindsay is a special education teacher. He's from Northern Arizona, which by the way, also incredibly beautiful if you've never been to Northern Arizona.

And he actually got invited on the Today Show. He appeared to talk about Gen Z and Gen Alpha slang, which like, what a cool opportunity. And he's also cited in a New York Times article. He shared some of those experiences with us. He talked about Gen Z and Gen Alpha slang. We talked about some of the just brain rot that we ourselves watched when we were that age on YouTube.

And we talked about some of our most embarrassing stories as teachers. So without further ado, let's get right to it.

I am so excited today to have Philip Lindsay here. He is a content creator and a special education teacher, and he is doing the absolute most hilarious videos right now on TikTok and Instagram. Philip, thank you so much for being here.

Philip: Thank you so much for having me, Andrea. I really, really appreciate it.

I'm super excited to talk to you today.

Andrea: Yeah. And you even took the bullet of going into your classroom in the midst of your spring break.

Philip: Oh yeah. I'm here a lot though. I've got a master's degree in progress and all that stuff. So making videos. So I'm in here a lot.

Andrea: Yeah. Yeah. And a little one at home. So you got.

A lot of things you're juggling. So what is your master's degree that you're going for right now?

Philip: So master, it'll be a master's in special education. So I have officially 12 more weeks and then I am done.

Andrea: Amazing. Congratulations. That's huge. Oh my gosh. So now, can you share kind of what your journey has been so far?

Like, why did you become a teacher? How did you choose special education and middle school of all the different options?

Philip: Yeah, that's a, that's a kind of a wild story. So teaching is actually my second career, um, and this is my second year as a teacher. So, uh, I spent about. Eight years or so as a youth pastor.

So I youth pastored in Iowa and then in Arizona, uh, middle school, high school. Um, I have always. Loved kids, being around kids, helping kids. Um, but there was a point had a kid, uh, as he got a little bit older, toddler, that kind of stuff. Uh, the church life was a little bit much. So it's kind of like you're on call 24 seven.

And, um, I needed some time with my family. So I actually went into teaching to get more time, which. That is not the story for a lot of people, um, but I knew that I, my wife and I, we found a nice small town in the mountains of Arizona, beautiful, just perfect place. So, uh, we didn't want to move. We didn't want to leave town.

We had good friends. All of our friends are staying here. They're like lifers and pacing. Uh, I was getting closer and closer to 30. I didn't want to have to go find like, new adult friends. Like, Ooh,

Andrea: right. You just, I mean, you

Philip: just, I just did that. It's

Andrea: terrible. Yeah. And it's, it's absolutely terrible trying to find adult friends like in your thirties.

It's it's would not recommend at all.

Philip: So I was like, what can I do to still work with kids to have a little bit more time to stay in the town that we were living in? Uh, and so teaching the local school district had been trying to get me to come teach for a while. Uh, math is kind of my specialty. Uh, and I had the opportunity to kind of go the general education route at the high school level or the special education route at the middle school level.

Um, and that is, I, I, middle schoolers is my bread and butter. That's where I, I thrive. It's, it's kind of because I'm still like them in most ways. And so relating to them is really, uh, sometimes too simple to do.

Andrea: Like, like concerningly easy for you to do at times.

Philip: Yes. My distractibility level, my impulse control, it's kind of right in the same.

Uh, level, which is not the best all the time, but, um, I love them. Uh, I feel like they're at that age where it's make or break for a lot of them. And, uh, especially now being in the world of special education, uh, I work primarily with kids who, uh, they are all inclusive, like they, they're 90 percent of their days in the gen ed classroom.

Uh, you would never guess that they have a learning disability or an Um, and they come to me for math specifically, and the confidence that can be built through success in math, uh, is, it's unreal. You've got a kid who, they've gone through their whole, uh, academic career, if you will, just being like, this is something that I suck at.

And I'm not going to get better at it. You get them in a room with less people to spend more time with them and they start making progress in ways that they've never had before and their whole demeanor just shifts and experiencing that in middle school could be a really big game changer for them later on.

So that's kind of why special education is the route that I went, fell in love with, and I'm just going to keep going with.

Andrea: That's so cool. I, you give youth pastor energy, actually. I could see it. Like you do have like the youth pastor beard kind of a look. So I can, I, right. I can feel it. You also play, right.

Acoustic guitar. Do you also play that?

Philip: See, that's the one box that I never checked off in my youth pastor journey. I'm not musically gifted at all. Yeah, I did. I couldn't transition into like a new role where I played music. So I had to just go somewhere else.

Andrea: Right, exactly. I feel like the theater is, you usually go from like, youth pastor, and then you go to like, the, uh, what's it called?

The person who leads the worship, so like, worship minister or whatever, and then you get associate, you know, you kind of trickle your way that way, so. Just climb the

Philip: ladder, right? The church ladder.

Andrea: This is so niche. So many people are going to be like, what are they talking about? It's true, though. Yeah. So, math, okay.

Math is the subject that I struggled with the absolute most. So like you, you said like the, the phrase, I suck at this. I suck at math. That is a thousand percent where I was at all through middle school. And I know that there is a form of dyslexia that is math related. Is it dyscalculia? Okay. I swear I had that and was just, or it could have just been my ADHD that I didn't realize I had it either.

Philip: Welcome to that club.

Andrea: Right. Exactly. 27 before

Philip: I figured it out.

Andrea: Right. Like all of us, it seems like within the past couple of years figured it out. And I just remember sitting there and the teacher and my middle school math teacher, I can say now, I feel more justified in saying this now as like a professor of education.

She was not a good teacher, like respectfully, like she was really good for kids who loved math

Theme: and

Andrea: she knew how to those kids. But for, for kids like me, that like, The second she started doing things on the board and talking, I would be staring so hard at what she was doing, and it's like my brain shut off.

And I couldn't. couldn't hear her anymore. And then when she would be walking around, because she would do the thing up there, and then she'd be like, okay guys, like do the problems yourselves. And I would sit there staring at the problem, frozen, and just tears like streaming down my face. So when you have students like that, what is, what are like your steps to get them out of the panic mode that I've lived in with math?

And I still, by the way, panic when someone tells me to do math. I still get freaked out by it. So, what do you do to kind of reach those kids?

Philip: Yeah, I think, and this is, I think this affects math instruction overall. Like I, I think that overall what I've experienced and seen like when it comes to math instruction is the pace is extremely accelerated compared to most other subjects.

Um, the content area standards that are required to be gotten through are, are I mean, it's massive. I think in Arizona for sixth graders, there's 36 math students, um, to get through in a school year. And so, uh, one of the biggest things that I do in both, because I have a resource room, which is just special education.

Um, and then I have co taught classrooms where I'm in a gen ed setting with gen ed kids and, uh, special education, kids with IEPs mixed in. Um, one of the biggest things that I try and bring to the department is, Hey, we've got to figure out our most essential that we think everybody should get, that everybody's going to be tested on.

Those are the things that we really need to slow down in and build steps and processes into. The other big thing that I noticed is a lot of math teachers, my brain thinks in steps and processes. So if I'm sitting down to do an algebraic equation, it's a very like stepped. Process that you have to walk through.

But the way that some people teach it, it's just like, Oh yeah. So you're just trying to figure out X. And so you got to get rid of some things and, uh, yeah, then you'll figure it out. I'm going to give you some examples. And I'm like, like you can give them like a step one, move the number that doesn't have the letter with it.

And I, and I try and use very basic vocabulary, like, okay, I could sit up there and I could talk about just only use constant and variable and coefficient Or, I can say the number in front of the letter, the letter, the number by itself, and use that vocabulary, that language first, and then try and build them up, uh, to success in that, right?

And then the last thing is just this guided practice I think is really, really underutilized in the math classroom. And not just like, I'm just going to do it on the board and you watch me take, you know, take notes on what I do and just copy down exactly what I'm doing, but like an interactive guided practice.

Like. Every kid in the room is participating. Okay.

Theme: Yeah.

Philip: What's my first step? And my first step is I draw the line through the equation bar, right? It's like bringing them into the practice so that they haven't just copied down problems, right? But they've actually participated in solving the problem. And then ultimately it's like, I, I truly do believe that every single kid, regardless of.

Uh, disability or not, uh, can get to the point with the right pathway and right way of thinking or visual aid or whatever, I believe that they can be successful in it. And so I just worked my hardest to figure out like, okay, is it a language issue, uh, a vocabulary issue, uh, a symbol understanding issue? Is it dyscalculia?

Is it, what is it and how can I put in supports to help them experience success? I don't try and trick them, right? If we practice it a certain way, I'm going to give them practice on that way first and then up the ante a little bit as we go, so.

Andrea: Yeah. Yeah.

Philip: I feel like that

Andrea: just alone, like you mentioned, like the terminology that you use, I cannot tell you how many times they would use the, the math specific terminology.

And I would then be like, wait, which one is the variable? Which ones? And that's where I, and I'd be thinking about that instead of the steps and all of that. So, I mean, that's, that's, So phenomenal. And speaking of language, I kind of want to talk about the biggest thing that you've been doing on social media, which is genera now it's generation alpha slang, right?

Philip: It's debatable. If you go to my comments, you'll see. Yeah. Generations are a little bit weird. I actually studied, uh, in my undergrad, I studied generational theory a little bit for my senior project. Uh, generations typically span about a 20 year period and it takes about 10 ish years after a generation ending to really have a good point, a good solid line of like, this is when this generation ended and this one started.

Right now, um, yes, there's a category of Gen Alpha that may end up still being lumped into Gen Z, but there's some noticeable differences in like how they use language and where it comes from, especially like slang words or trending words and that, but yeah. So that's the, that's the disclaimer. It's not just Gen Alpha, I guess.

Andrea: Yeah, so I, and I also, congratulations, you had a video that hit like double digit millions, right? I think so. The one you did. Which one? Oh my gosh, the one you did, I'm spacing on her name right now and I feel so bad. Yeah,

Philip: with uh, Lauren.

Andrea: Yes, Lauren Chela. Yes. Yeah, you guys, you guys did a really fantastic collaboration and it, she, I saw her post actually just before I hopped on that you guys, it's like 11 million or something right now.

I think

Philip: that's, I mean, that's my only video that ever went double digit millions, which is crazy. That's so cool,

Andrea: I love it. I mean, and she's

Philip: the, she's the genius behind the uh, the script, if you will. We're working on another one right now. She's, she's. Brilliant when it comes to that kind of stuff. Yeah,

Andrea: that's so cool.

So it's so funny that you studied like generational theory. Little did you know it would be preparing you to be a content creator and do all of this kind of stuff. But you said you mentioned you, or you mentioned that there was a difference between how Gen Z and Gen Alpha uses language and terminology and all of that.

Like, what does that difference look like

Philip: to you? I think that the biggest difference is, so Gen Z, they, they are obviously, they're on TikTok, they're on social media. They, things trend and language trends and that kind of thing. Uh, and so they do gather some of their like language from that, right? Whereas like my age, like it was the songs that were being sung, the popular music, like that was more so where we got.

Um, but Gen Alpha is like, so this is like, so eighth graders and down, it's just so meme like and like YouTube esque, like if it's a, if it's something that a YouTuber says, it's gonna go. It, it could have like, there's one that is completely devoid of meaning, but they use it as if it has meaning and it's skibbity.

Right?

Andrea: I was going to ask about Skibbity Toilet because I still don't understand what that is.

Philip: Okay, so Skibbity Toilet is this YouTube series that it's, it's weird. I like, I've only seen clips of it and it's like, Kind of like, like brain rot, right? It's not good. It's this like weird, kind of freaky, like heads in toilets and some kind of battle and like, whatever, right?

So, skip the toilet. That's what it is. That's where it originated from. It's this YouTube series that like blew up and they use the word skivity as a filler word almost. And then like sometimes they'll be like, you're not skivity or you're so skivity. And I'm like, You don't know what skibbity means. It doesn't have a meaning.

It's like part of a title to a YouTube series, but it trends, especially with that, there was like that trending song that was like sticking out. You get out for the Rizzler. You're so skibbity, right? When that happened, they don't know what skibbity means. They have no clue, but they're just like, Oh, you're so skibbity.

Oh, you're not skibbity. I'm like, What do you guys do it? It's wild. So very like, they're very like, YouTube, memes, TikTok, like, if it's in a meme, it's gonna be, what, utilized.

Andrea: So what, what that reminds me of is, and I don't know if you, uh, are old enough because I'm a little bit older than you, uh, to remember some of the YouTube stuff that was coming out, like early YouTube, right?

So, do you remember, um, oh my gosh, I'm trying to remember, it's, I just remember Rusty Spoons and there's this, like, skinny, yes, and he says it in a really weird voice, What was it called, Rob? Salad Fingers! Yes!

Philip: Oh my gosh, dude. So weird.

Andrea: You're welcome. You're welcome for unlocking that nightmare that we all lived through.

And there was also, um, Strong Bad, The Burninator, and like, there was like this

Philip: Burninator in the countryside.

Andrea: If we have anyone who's Gen Z listening to this, they are going to be so confused that YouTube is a dark They're going to have to

Philip: Google it and then look up what a thatch triff cottage is.

Andrea: Oh my gosh. Like, very, like, we were very unsupervised on the internet for a while, and there was just a lot of unhinged, chaotic things.

But like, it sounds kind of like skivvity toilet, so I guess I can't really throw stones.

Philip: That's exactly what it is.

Andrea: Like brain rot YouTube videos that you fall down when you're in like middle school and high school cuz.

Philip: Oh man, that's funny.

Andrea: Now, you are teaching, do you teach all, everything 6th, 7th, and 8th grade?

Philip: Yep, 6th, 7th, 8th grade. So, I'm in, I'm in a 6th grade classroom, 7th grade classroom, 8th grade classroom every day. So, I see the span of adolescence in that time.

Andrea: Okay, so I want to hear about, apparently you had a Halloween activity?

Philip: Yes.

Andrea: That went really interestingly.

Philip: Yes. So, Halloween activity, I got it from, oh man, I can't remember who it was, but they were like, they put their face, just their face on a worksheet, and then like, space for the kids to be able to dress up their, uh, their teacher in what they should be for Halloween.

Oh, yeah, I've

Andrea: seen elementary teachers do that all the time and it's always adorable. Okay, elementary

Philip: school teachers, they can do it. Let's see what happens when we do it with some middle schoolers. And so I handed out the papers and they kind of looked at me and I was like, no, trust me, this is gonna be fun, but only if you like, make it fun, right?

Don't be lame. Right. And you're like, oh, I'm gonna get in trouble, so I'm just gonna like, do it. Whatever, right? And so I pass out the papers and they were like, okay, I think I got it. I think I got it. Then they started to really get into it. And then there was a moment where I was, I was sitting at the front of the classroom, doing some grading.

And, and there's this kid in the back of the classroom, like back in the corner. And he's just like, tears in his eyes laughing, like drawing something. And he's just like, losing, losing his crap. And he's just like, it's so funny. So funny. And I was like, I was expecting something. Like I did a disclaimer too before.

I was like, Hey, no rocket ships and no wieners. Like just, just,

Andrea: just don't,

Philip: right. You don't need to go there. Just be cool guys. Just be cool. Right. And I walk over. And he had drawn me like this buff body and the thing, and I was like, why is that so funny? And then I looked and he was putting the tiniest little nipple on each of the pecs and he just thought it was the funniest thing and I just, I could not contain myself because his joy that he was finding in that moment.

Brought me so much joy, and we laughed, and I put it up on the board, and I was like, what do you guys think about this kid's, uh, this kid's nipple, right? And just, oh my gosh, it was fantastic.

Andrea: And that was, it was, it was you, right? It was me. It was

Philip: me.

Andrea: What was he like dressing you up as for Halloween?

Philip: Like a buff person, I guess.

I don't know. A buff

Andrea: guy with tiny nipples. With

Philip: tiny nipples.

Andrea: Did he like, did he give you like some pants or shorts or anything like that?

Philip: I don't remember. All I get is my eyes. The nipples

Andrea: stole the show.

Philip: That's it. That's all I could focus on. Wow.

Andrea: What a, what a gem. Now, so when you first started teaching, it kind of sounds like you did a transition to teaching program, or did you?

Yes. Okay, so was your first, like, year teaching, like, first time in the classroom then?

Philip: Oh yeah, yeah, it was. Oh my gosh. They gave me a, man, I, it's wild, but in Arizona, if you have your undergrad, You can teach full time, get paid full time, full time benefits, like all that stuff, as long as you're enrolled in a teacher preparation program.

So that can either come through like a community college or a master's degree program. So that's why I started my master's. Um, but first day of school on my first year was the first time stepping foot into a classroom. And I had a 30, man, 34 kid caseload, uh, had never written an IEP before. Thank goodness.

Like my, my assistant principal, uh, our dean of students, he, his whole background's in special education. So like he sat with me for hours. Like that's how you write an IEP. This is what I would do with this scenario. Like. So, so thankfully I had that person, and I know that's a big thing that you, you focus on, but like, I had that person.

If I didn't, 34 kid caseload, never having written an IP before, I would have melted. I probably would have been fired. But yeah, that was my, my first experience in the classroom was that.

Andrea: So, um, very similar to you. I also was like kind of had a career before and then transitioned using an emergency teaching license.

So my first day in the classroom was also yeah, a T to T program. So I know that that level of like panicked optimism and chaos. So I, I am sure because I certainly do. I'm sure you have some stories of chaos from that first year. Can you think of any that you want to share?

Philip: Oh my gosh. Chaos. Well, man, aside from the fact that I had a, my first year teaching, I had a 22 kid resource room.

So just spanning all three grade levels, that was daily chaos. Can

Andrea: you, for, for people who maybe are less familiar with what that is, can you real quick share what a resource room is?

Philip: Yeah, so a resource room, and they're run a little bit differently depending on where you go, uh, our resource rooms are focused on, uh, the most essential grade level standards.

So like, in my resource class, like my sixth graders, this year I have just sixth graders, they only get the most important six math standards, and we just, we take four or five weeks to fill in some. Some like, below grade level skills, some prerequisite skills that they need for that specific standard. So, um, but it's a special education classroom.

Every kid in the room has an IEP or something. Um, and, uh, yeah, so that's what it is. So my first resource room was 22 kids, 6th, 7th, 8th grade. Completely different math curriculum from, especially 6th and 7th to 8th. Like it was, it's like, I, Just gonna go for it, I guess.

Andrea: Yeah, and for those of you guys who don't know, so like an IEP, Individualized Education Plan, that is the specific student's required by law educational accommodations.

So that means that there might be something that says preferential seating, and that means you have to usually sit the kid, you know, up close to the teacher, and you need to have written notes, and you need to, there's usually, I don't know, five ish accommodations for, So you had how many kids?

Philip: 20, 22.

Andrea: So somewhere around.

North of a hundred accommodations. That's some good math, Andrea. He would have to be Thank you, thank you so You are good at math. Thank you so Oh my god, I'm gonna start crying. Thank you so much. Notice how I said north of a hundred. I didn't Because I was like, wait, 22 times It's a fact That's 110, right?

But I was like, don't, don't take the chance. Don't do math on the spot. It's not a good look. But like, that's an insane amount of accommodations to be thinking about at all times. Like

Philip: And yeah, the biggest benefit of that class was I got very good at universally accommodating, right? And so it's a skill that while it was very, it was very difficult to figure out, like, I'm not going to lie.

It was very challenging to, cause the, even like the math levels, you know, some kids were at a third grade level, some kids were at a fifth grade level, like it was, the range was wide. Um, But figuring, figuring out how to do notes in a way that every kid could participate. And like, there was just a lot of really good things that I learned about how to universally accommodate and how I can take into like a gen ed setting that is really beneficial for all students, honestly.

Andrea: Yeah. So it ended up being a good thing, but I can, I can like, in my soul, I can feel the panic of like, I have how many, And you just get that stack of IEPs at the beginning of the year with all the accommodations and it being your first year where you're just learning about IEPs, like, brutal. Okay, I think this is a good place for us to take a quick break and then when we get back, um, I am going to be asking about some of the more memorable moments that Mr.

Lindsey has had in his class, so we will be right back.

Welcome back, you guys. Mr. Lindsey, I want to hear if you have any other first year teacher stories before we move on, because I know my first year was just absolute chaos.

Philip: Oh yeah, I've got some, some more chaos for you. So one time my admin, they were like, Hey, we, we would do these like quarterly rewards where if kids did something right, they would get an extra little bit of recess.

So we had one planned. It was coming up. Usually we just would go outside, but there was like, it was monsoon season. So in Arizona, we have monsoons, crazy thunderstorms. And they blow through in like an hour or two and usually it's not till the afternoon, but this one was towards the morning. And so the weather was just horrible, right?

So we couldn't take kids outside and my admin, they were like, all right, sweet. We're just going to do a, an indoor block party where for 45 minutes. You just, like, have something fun going on in your room, slash the hallway, and the only rule is That's a bold move. That's a bold move, and it paid off. Very well.

Um, so they were like, do that. Just have them stay in the building. We've got three buildings. So there's like A building, B building, C building, C building. That's where I'm at. I'm with, uh, some, some, uh, unhinged seasoned teachers who are very, oh man, they're amazing, right? But their goal is always to be the best.

And so they tend to push the boundaries in order to be proven the best. So block party starts, kids are kind of just going from classroom to classroom, right? It's everything's fine and good. And I step out into the hallway and my teacher that's right next to me, she steps out. She's now my instructional coach.

She steps out, she looks at me and she goes, You ready? And I was like, I think so.

Andrea: You're like, maybe?

Philip: She's like, she's like, I've got these two chains. They're broken. So if they get broken and even more like a, no big deal. Right. And then this other guy steps out, he's like, let's do it. And he just starts yelling like everybody in the hallway, everybody in the hallway.

And so like a couple hundred kids just pour out into the hallway. And, and they were like, they sent me down the hallway to like, make sure they were up against the wall. So nobody gets hit. They were doing, they wanted to do a time trial roller chair race down the hallway. And at first they were like, Oh, just get in the seat and like push yourself.

Right. And then I get in the chair, they're like, let's do a test run. And they were like, with you, with you in the seat, and they were like, okay, here's the test run. So I started going and my, my teacher next door to me, she goes, no, it's not fast enough. And so she grabs the two, the three biggest eighth grade boys.

And they're like, Let's see how fast we can get Mr. Lindsey going down the hallway and legit like, like tunnel vision, slow motion. I was going so fast, kids were like diving out of the way because they're like running across the hall and I'm just like

Theme: freaking

Philip: out. And then I get to the end and our art teacher, he walks out not knowing anything that was going on.

And like, I'm headed right toward him, I'm just yelling his name, yelling his name, yelling his name, and I literally had to, like, jump out of the chair, and like, grabbed him, tackled him, so he didn't get hit by the chair, and like, rolled, and he landed on top of me, we get down to the bottom, and he said a few choice words, and I was just like,

Andrea: I bet.

Philip: I'm sorry.

Andrea: I'm so sorry. And this was, you know, and you're like the young first year teacher. Oh my gosh,

Philip: dude. I felt so bad. I was like, no, what's going on? I'm so sorry.

Andrea: I bet the kids lost their minds.

Philip: Oh, it was amazing. Yeah. We live in a small town, so I went and got my hair cut the next day and the person cutting my hair, she was like, You're Mr.

Lindsey. And I was like, how do you know that? Cause I didn't have social media at the time. It's like, how do you know that? And she was like, Oh, my daughter showed me this video of you just getting like flung down the hallway in a roller chair today. And I was like, Oh, that's great.

Andrea: Did you ever get the video?

Philip: I did not. I wish I had. I bet you they have it. I'm going to try and find it. I'm sure

Andrea: you should.

Philip: That's great content,

Andrea: right? That would be amazing. And like, what a great first year story too. Now. The teacher who said like, are you ready? How long had she been teaching?

Philip: Oh my gosh, I think she was, she's probably in her 15th this year.

And she, yeah, yeah.

Andrea: It sounds like a tenured teacher move there. One who's like,

Philip: they're not firing me. Exactly. Oh

Andrea: my gosh, that is wild. I also wanted to ask you what your most embarrassing teacher moment was. And this is admittedly 100 percent taken from a reel that you just posted, like either yesterday or today.

So if you don't share the one that I'm thinking of, I'm going to prompt you for it because I was laughing so hard. So, most embarrassing teacher moment.

Philip: Yes. So, man, the words, you say so many words as a teacher and you talk so much that things get mixed up a little bit. And here's the thing, one of my, one of my little ADHD things is I like to play with words.

Like I try, I like to say them differently because it's like fun.

Theme: And,

Philip: uh, so one day. Uh, so there's Lookit, there's Kahoot, there's Gimkit,

Theme: and

Philip: I love utilizing those, especially when it's like,

Theme: oh

Philip: man, like we need a little extra practice, whatever. And so one day I'm up in front of the class, like, oh yes, we're gonna do a Gimkit, it's gonna be amazing.

I've got a class full of my 8th grade co top, right, so I've got 20 something 8th graders in there. Uh, and I'm like, okay guys. Go ahead, pull out your Chromebooks. We're going to play a game clip. And I died inside. And they knew, like, they looked at me, nobody, like they didn't even grab their Chromebooks.

Like, they just stared at me.

Andrea: Uh, I, I It was so bad. Would I tell you, I cannot even fathom, because if there was a room that you do not want to say that in Oh

Philip: my god. It is

Andrea: a room full of 8th graders. 8th

Philip: graders! I know! And they just, like, looked at each other like, Gosh, did you just say that? What did you do?

Did

Andrea: you just, did you just keep going or did you acknowledge it?

Philip: I just, I just kept going. I was like That's

Andrea: what I do.

Philip: Yeah. Like I said it, there was a moment of silence and I was just like, Okay guys, bought your Chromebooks and go to GimKit. Like, we're not gonna step into that at all.

Andrea: The worst thing is, is like, if you, if you, like, you had done Lookit, you could have also made that exact same, uh, Mistake.

Philip: Yeah. They need to change their names. That's that. I'm starting a petition. Mm-Hmm. .

Andrea: That is, you

Philip: have to change your name.

Andrea: The absolute worst. I had something similar-ish where I was trying to explain some grammatical things to my students, and I was, I put the sentence on the board and there was like, this is probably not the greatest story for a podcast.

You'll be able to get it, but everyone else can be like, what is it? You guys will get it, but, and I'm like circling something at the end of the word, and I wanted them to understand that that word was describing something at the beginning of the word. So then I drew an arrow, right? So I have a circle, and then I have an arrow connecting to that.

And then I circled the word at the front, a slightly smaller word, so a slightly smaller circle at the front. And then I was really trying to emphasize, so I brought The top line right back over. And I was so involved in what I was saying that I just heard, which as a teacher, you know, when you hear like a little bit of a, like that kind of like a

Theme: snicker,

Andrea: a little chuckle behind you, you have to very quickly assess the situation around you.

And so I looked at it and realized that I had just drawn, like, a penis on my board inadvertently, just, just fully, fully did it. Right. And I was like, oh, oh my God. And so as I, like, I kind of paused for a second and then grabbed the eraser and like erased it really quickly. I was like, so now we're going to move on because you can't acknowledge it.

You have to pretend.

Philip: I will never again try to hand draw a thermometer. Talking about rising and falling temperatures, like, no, they don't understand that thermometers used to look like that, okay?

Andrea: That is really funny, I never thought about that, but yeah, I bet a thermometer is a major issue. Yeah, how often do kids draw, um, Squidward on your board?

Oh,

Philip: Squidward. I mean, they are, here's the one thing I will give them. They are extremely creative. I thought I was creative in high school. They are next level, like, artists. It's wild how many wieners they can hide in different things. But, that also sounded kind of weird, but, um, um, but, my favorite one is, and this happened, man, I, I still don't know who it was, what kid it was, but it, it happened like.

Probably man, four or five weeks straight, at least one day I go at the end of the class, I like to wipe off my little whiteboards. Mm-Hmm. Put 'em back. Just so you know, if something did get drawn on it while kids are taking it out the next day, I don't lose the class for 30 minutes. Right,

Theme: right. And so

Philip: for like five straight weeks, like at least one of the days, I would be going through, wiping down the whiteboard, wiping down the whiteboard, and every time I get to like whiteboard number five or whiteboard number six, wiener.

Just across the whole board. And I'm like, oh my gosh, who is doing this? And just like week after week, I'm like, I wonder if there's going to be a wiener today, just wiping the boards, wiping the boards and literally like five or six whiteboards in for like a couple of weeks straight, there's just same looking, like impressive how, like.

It looked the same every single time. Yeah, it was like a signature,

Andrea: like you knew.

Philip: Exactly, a signature. I just could never figure out which kid it was. That, oh my gosh, it chuckled every single time. So you

Andrea: never, right, every time, so you never found out who it was? Never found out who it was.

Philip: Like, I have my, like, my guesses.

Uh huh. And it doesn't happen anymore either, so I'm like, I don't know. really know what was why they started, why they stopped. I don't know.

Andrea: You don't know who the phantom phallus drawer was. They're just like out there.

Philip: Oh, you're so good at that. I'm trying to think of a third

Andrea: F, like phantom

Theme: phallus.

Andrea: I can't think of a third F for it instead of drawer.

That's so

Theme: good.

Andrea: But yeah, and it is, there is just something about that, man. I know that like, In, uh, like, the, the ruins of, like, ancient Rome, they've found pictures of penises, too. There's something just, like, innate in their souls. They cannot help it.

Philip: Gotta draw a weiner.

Andrea: Right, exactly. Whenever there's a spare moment, that's, that's the first thing.

Oh, yes. What should I

Philip: do? I'm not, uh, I couldn't do my worksheet.

Andrea: Nah. Get a draw winner real

Philip: quick.

Andrea: Time to have a rocket ship, which it's funny you mentioned the rocket ship because at my first job, they had like the regular, like, long wooden tables. I just realized I was setting myself up. Tables. Kids.

Philip: Okay.

So that is the problem.

Andrea: That's a problem. You can't say normal

Philip: words as a teacher without it going that direction.

Andrea: Yes. And I've also had it happen where I do that, where I'm just like, and I like correct course, correct. And none of them were thinking it, but me, but I've been teaching for so long that I can't help, but immediately let my mind go to the gutter.

It's, it's the worst. Um, so. But they, the teacher that was in the classroom before me, what she would do, because it was so frequent and they would always use sharpies, is she would turn them into caterpillars and butterflies. So you would come in and the desk would be covered in different lengths and girths of butterflies and caterpillars all over the place.

And the first day I came in and she was like, And I was like, what are you doing? And she's like, Oh, I have to do this every year. It's how I start just, you know, making sure all of like the penises have been transformed. Oh my gosh,

Philip: that is wild.

Andrea: What a journey of a, of a job it is, you know, like. You gotta get creative.

And I, I've also had it happen where, you know, there's a drawing on the board and I erase the drawing and all that's left then is like a penis and that's in Sharpie, you know, and I'm like, excellent. Love that for me. Um, so one of the things that we do on the podcast is I get listener submissions and they ask for advice.

So, I picked, I picked a couple of questions that are like, the first one is middle school related, so I figured that would be kind of the perfect one. It's your wheelhouse.

Theme: Nice.

Andrea: Um, so this person is from, they said their name was scared of my school board in Missouri. Right. Um, and the question is this year I have a student who follows me around meowing like a cat.

It's weird. This is new to me as a seventh grade teacher. Not sure how to address it. Any advice would be appreciated.

Philip: Now, what I would probably do is meow back, but that's probably not the best move. Um, here's, I'll connect it back to this, right? Kids are seeking, like so much, are seeking some kind of relational connection. That's what they're looking for, right? And so, if there is a way to engage this student in a meaningful way to where they don't maybe feel like they need to meow for attention or whatever they might be trying to do, uh, that would be my approach to it.

Like, hey, do you wanna Let's sit down and hang out a little bit, talk about life, something you, you know, you know, anything, right? Because especially middle schoolers, I feel like they, they don't know how to socially interact. They're working on figuring that out. And in this world, it's like, how do you even figure that out?

And so if a teacher can, in some way, engage them relationally to the point where they can kind of lay aside whatever it is they think they have to do to get attention or to engage in relationship, that would be my. My, uh, piece of advice for that one, other than meowing back, but that one might not work.

Andrea: Yeah, I feel like that, that's such solid advice too, because you're right. Like, usually when kids are, are doing stuff like that, it usually is related to just seeking out relationship and affirmation and, and all of that. So I think that's really solid advice. And I've had students that, you know, would do that.

Um, and then of course there's, you know, Like in my last year. So last year I had several students who would howl like a dog, um, and said that they were wolves. Now I, they. We're doing it ironically, like they weren't actually like identifying as a furry and all of that kind of stuff But they thought it was funny to say that they were a wolf and to howl and all of that kind of stuff And you're you're totally right.

Like it was exactly that and there was one time this boy. He's like I will sit down and Do my work if you howl with me And I'm, listen, I'm not proud of it, but I was desperate. I just needed to sit down. Right. Exactly. Like it got him to shut up and sit down and he was delighted, like made his day that I held with him.

And I, it was only the one time, but it was so funny. And like, to this day, like he still follows me on social media and every once in a while will just send me like memes of wolves or like happy cats or sad cats. And I'm just like, what? Like, what is the deal, my guy? But he still does. So, you know, it is that whole relational piece.

Um, on that, that same kind of wavelength with relationships. The second question we got was from somebody that said, I get that teams need people to vent to, but how do you deal with a team that constantly talks trash about the students? Um, they never have anything positive to say. I genuinely enjoy working with most of my students and am the odd man out because I don't join in on the negativity.

And this is, um, somebody from Texas.

Philip: Man. Yeah, that sucks. Makes me kind of mad, right?

Andrea: Right. And it sounds like you have a really phenomenal team. You've been really fortunate, it sounds like, with the people you work with.

Philip: Very fortunate, right? And there's moments where it's just like, like, to the point where, like, if we're in PLC and somebody's like, Oh man, I don't, I don't think this kid will really benefit from this reteacher, this intervention.

They're just not going to try. It's kind of like, there's, there's a team approach to being like, gotta give them a chance. Right? And so, I do believe that I work with so many people that are student first. Um, and I think, uh, it's a touchy subject because it's like, how far do you have to go to be student first, right?

Especially if, um, the powers that be, the, the bigger powers that be are not student first. And so you're kind of working against the grain and you, you know, what, what are your personal boundaries so that you stay healthy and don't burn out, but also are student first. And I think my approach in that situation, shoot, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna be the odd person out.

I'm gonna be the one that just continues to say, like, no, this is, I get it. Kids are difficult, right? There are some hard things that you have to deal with in the classroom. It's frustrating. Teaching is frustrating because it's like, I feel like I taught it so well. We practiced so much and now they don't remember it or they can't engage in a discussion about it or whatever it is.

Um,

Andrea: yeah,

Philip: but they're also kids, right? Like they are humans that have dignity and, uh, they have value and man, for adults to be spending the majority of their time just trashing on little humans that are trying to like sift through life. Most of them in. Unique home situations where they're having to figure out things that I've never had to figure out in my life.

And, so, like, in that situation, I'm just going to be the one that is the oddball out. I'm going to be annoying about it, too. Like, I'm going to constantly be like, eh, yeah. We're not going to talk about that. Yeah, I'm not really going to engage in that. If it's like Hey, this funny thing happened in class or like, I saw a kid googling how to Google something like that, which I've seen before.

Um, if it's those kinds of things, it's like, yeah, that's funny. It's lighthearted, it's not, you're not attacking their dignity as a person. But if it's like, right, this kid is such a blankety blank, and I wish he would just not be a part of the school. It's like, man. I don't know, maybe go do something else.

Andrea: Right? Yeah, no, seriously. Because it can't be

Philip: enjoyable for them either if that's

Andrea: Exactly. Because kids can sense it. Yeah, absolutely. They can sense it. I, my first year teaching, I remember so vividly, I was sitting with A couple of teachers who were retiring that year. And I still, to this day, have great respect for them.

Phenomenal teachers, but they were tired and they were ready to retire. It was like, they're like on their last, last couple of years. And I will never forget where I was talking about like, Oh, have you had this student before? And one of the teachers said, that kid's an idiot. And I was like, what? And she's like, yeah, he's, he's stupid.

And I was like, who, uh, Hmm. Uh, you know, like one of those, like it stunned me. And, you know, that kid wasn't an idiot. That kid had a lot of really hard things in life that made it very difficult to focus in class. And that's all, like you said, almost always, that is the case when a kid is really difficult

Theme: in

Andrea: class and Meowing, or doing other, like, things that disrupt the class, 99 times out of a hundred.

It is because this kid did not get enough food, or sleep, or, you know, they had a huge fight with somebody right before, and, like, to us, as adults. Or they're raising themselves and their younger siblings. Yep. And, like, you have them come to class and you're like, why don't you put your phone away and focus?

Well, because they're coping with things that I can't even fathom. Like, I can't, I cannot imagine living constantly in a space where I don't know if I have food when I get home.

Theme: Mm hmm.

Andrea: Like, Or, I don't know if my mom is going to be healthy enough or conscious enough to make sure that the heater's on and it's going to be cold tonight, and I don't, and then you're going to try and teach math to me, right?

Like I struggled enough just being like a girl that's 12 in middle school and trying to learn math and trying to figure out who I was and dealing with other kids, much less having, you know, uh, All of those other, like, I can't imagine coming to school under those conditions. It's, it's hard for me when I hear about teachers that are so down on the students to where they can't empathize anymore.

Theme: Yeah.

Andrea: Um, and I think that they're like that, that's partially just empathy fatigue from the past few years, especially. For sure. You know, I, you know, I, You came in after COVID. So I don't, yeah, like, but you were around students with your, your ministry experience. So, um, I don't know. I just, I think that it, It takes a lot for people to constantly refresh their empathy, but it's so necessary as a teacher.

Philip: Yeah, and I think the, the biggest things with that, and these, I, I learned this, it's kind of a collective learning experience from being a youth pastor in a small town, uh, into teaching in a small town is, The two biggest things is one, you can't, you can't take things personally is a big piece of it for me, right?

Like my life would, my teaching would, it would be a horrible job if I took everything that a kid said or did or didn't do or whatever as a personal attack against me as an educator. Now, Sometimes it even is, right? Sometimes it is very deliberately directed at me. I still cannot take that personally because I, and I have to recognize that there's layers to this kid that's like, I had a kid stand up in the middle of state testing and throw a pencil at me and then walk out.

Right?

Andrea: Right.

Philip: Okay. Like I could sit there and be like, Oh, what did I do? What didn't I, like, I could take it very personally. Or it could be like, that kid's got a lot going on. Uh, I know that kid has a lot going on. Right. And be able to take more of that approach to it. And then there's also this like. And I think teachers and people in ministry are actually really similar in, um, what could lead them to burnout.

And it's that, it's that empathy piece of like most people that I've encountered that get into teaching, get into teaching because they genuinely care about kids, right? They genuinely want, or they genuinely care about more people knowing about a specific subject matter or whatever it is, um, that can drive a person to.

giving everything, uh, that they are to a profession. And when you start to see very little on the spot results, it can become a very fatiguing, um, process. Right. And so one of the other things like is you just, you've got to, And this is hard for a lot of people, but I'm thankful that as a youth pastor, I learned like I had to set boundaries.

I had to, it's like, Hey, sorry, you can't show up on my doorstep at midnight unless it's an actual emergency. Right? Like, and I had kids show up for all kinds of reasons, like broke up with my girlfriend, like whatever. It's like, come on in. And I never turned them away, but, um, you got to set those things into, into place to keep yourself in a space where you can continue to leave the best kids And you can continue to create an environment where kids feel valued and respected and like they have something to contribute.

Or if you don't, I think that's when you start to slip into that like just negative mindset and you can, I guess you can ride that into the sunset, sunset and then collect your retirement. But like, it's not what I want to do, you know?

Andrea: Yeah, and I mean, doing that too is just such a miserable way of experiencing teaching when there's so many funny things, so many joyful things to experience as, as a teacher.

So, and I think that is kind of the perfect note for us to wrap up on. So, Philip, thank you so much for taking the time out of your spring break and coming into school to do this with us. This is awesome.

Philip: Oh, it was amazing.

Andrea: Before I let you go, is there Anything big you have coming up? Is there anything you want to share, any projects and let people know where they can find you?

Philip: Yeah. So, um, I don't have any, I'm slowly working on middle school special education math curriculum. Um, just designed to kind of fit a slower pace and a more step by step process. I've got one booklet that has been completed. You can find it in, uh, any of my social medias. There's a link to my bio.

Teachers Pay Teachers is where I have that. So that's the one big thing I'm working on. Um, I've got a lot of other projects, but none that I can really, like, you can't go see them yet. Right? So. Gotcha. Okay. But yeah, you can find me on Instagram. Uh, Mr. Flindsay, P H L I N D S A Y underscore sped or TikTok, Mr.

Lindsay underscore sped or on Facebook. I'm just Mr. Lindsay. So that's where you can find me.

Andrea: Awesome. Thank you again so much for coming in. I really appreciate it.

Philip: Thank you.

Andrea: All right, guys, we will be right back.

Welcome back, you guys. I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Philip as much as I did, because I was absolutely cracking up. The, the parallels between Skibbity and Salad Fingers actually makes Skibbity make more sense to me somehow like it because it's nonsense, but also so was which again, if you're Gen Z, you are even more lost than before.

But for Millennials who unfortunately were unsupervised on the internet for a while, it probably still tracks. And I cannot tell you how much you guys need to go check out Philips. content. He's so funny. We didn't talk about it that much today, but what Phillip does with a lot of his content is he goes through and defines Gen Z and Gen Alpha slang.

And it's so hilarious. And I swear to you, even if you're Gen Z or Gen Alpha yourself, there are going to be words that are probably a little bit regional and you're going to learn something. So it's an absolute treat. Cannot tell you how much I recommend that. Um, I had so much fun hearing about all of his classroom stories and.

The fact that he and I both started like our first year teaching as transition to teaching licenses and all of that is just chef's kiss. I, So appreciate hearing stories from people who entered the classroom in the same way that I did and were just there with a hope and a dream and optimism and just made our way the best we possibly could.

Uh, now I want to make sure that we don't miss the things that are happening in your classroom. And this past week I asked on Friday on Instagram, What are your students doing? And the first one I think is perfectly related to Phillip's content. And that was that apparently, um, at one of y'all's schools, the students started pronouncing Hyatt as in like the hotel chain, like yacht.

So they're going around calling Hyatt, yacht, which it just, it tracks, right? Like that makes sense. perfect sense of like, again, it's nonsense, but kids just find joy in the nonsense, just like we did when we were in middle school ourselves. Another one that you guys submitted was that they told a teacher that they look like a pastor that supports breast cancer awareness, which could be a compliment, potentially.

I think. I mean, that's a good thing to support, right? But it fe somehow it feels like an insult in there. Um, and the final one that I picked to share with you guys is that apparently one of you were being observed by your district representation, which there's like different levels of being observed.

For those of you who have not been in a classroom, like, If you're being observed by your assistant principal or your principal, that's enough pressure as it is because they're the ones who are writing your reviews and all of that. But then if district is in the classroom, that's like your whole school is kind of at stake.

Like you are then representing your school. All of that, right? So if there's ever a time that you want your students to act right and not get themselves in trouble, it is 1000 percent when you see the suits come in from district and observe your class. And apparently this teacher said that one of their students set a talkie on fire and held it like a little tiki torch while there was somebody in the classroom observing from district.

And I Like, I would love to say, well, you know, people from district have always been in the classroom, but that is not the case. So, I am so sorry to that person that that happened. Hopefully the person from district had a sense of humor about it, because I could not imagine not seeing that and thinking it was absolutely hilarious.

If you have something you wanted to share that happened in your classroom, there are a ton of ways that you can contact us. You can email me at andrea at human dash content. com, or you can contact me on Instagram or TikTok at educator Andrea, or you can kick it with us at our human content podcast family on Instagram and TikTok at human content pods.

And of course, this is a new podcast. So thank you guys so much for those of you who have reached out, who have given reviews and shared it with your friends. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate that. It really helps the podcast. And if you leave a review, we will even maybe give you a shout out. Check out our full video episodes up every week on YouTube.

Thank you guys so much for listening. I am your host, Andrea Forkham. A very special thank you to our guest, Mr. Philip Lindsay. Our executive producers are Andrea Forkham, Aron Korney, Rob Goldman, and Shahnti Brooke. Our editor is Andrew Sims. Our engineer is Jason Fertizzo. Our music is by Omer Ben Zvi. The recording location is the Indiana State Bi College of Education.

To learn more about Those Who Can't Do, Program Disclaimer and Ethics Policy and Submission Verification and Licensing Terms, you can go to PodcasterAndrea. com. Those Who Can't Do is a human content production.

Thank you so much for watching. If you're like me and you're thinking, gosh, I really need more Those Who Can't Do in my life, you can start your binging right now by clicking on that playlist button right over there. New episodes are out every Thursday, so please subscribe and join us each week on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.