Theme: Welcome to Those Who Can't Do,

Andrea Forcum: I am Andrea Forgham, and I am so excited for the episode today. This past week, I have been working with all of my early field experience students to get them into the classroom, getting them actually actively working with students. Right now they are in middle schools and dealing with all of the chaos that that entails.

And the thing I keep trying to tell them is that they can't take things personally because kids will say some of the absolute most horrible things to get a reaction and to test limitations and all of that. I will never forget when I was walking around my classroom one day and I was trying to get my students back to work, back to their focusing, right?

And for whatever reason, I had like one of those, like random hairs just. Falling in my eyes the entire class and I kept flicking it back. And one of the girls when I came over, I was like, Hey sweetie, I need you to focus. I need you to get back on task. And she looked at me and she said, and I need you to fix your wig.

Like number one, wigs are fine. I just wasn't wearing one. And my natural hair was aggressively attacking me as I tried to instruct and the way she's like single handedly humbled me and took me down. I mean, all of the kids around us just kind of like stared. in awe of the way that she so easily humbled me.

I'm so excited because today you guys are going to hear some equally humbling stories from Andrea Kaspari, who is a comedian. She is touring right now with the National Board Teachers Comedy Tour, and she tells us some stories of her experiences both as a comedian and as a teacher. I cannot wait for you to hear it.

Let's get to it.

Today I have my name twin Andrea Kaspari with me. Hi. Hi, how are you? I am so excited. You guys, I saw Andrea do stand up. It was like, I was trying to remember this morning. I think it was like two years ago now. Like this summer it will be two years when you were touring with board teachers in San Diego.

Yeah, it was

Andrea Caspari: July 2022.

Andrea Forcum: Insane. Because I was like, Oh no, it was like this summer. It was not the summer, but I, I've been an absolute fan of you ever since I saw you perform. Um, and you are also still teaching question mark.

Andrea Caspari: Yeah. Oh, so I'm subbing because I needed the flexibility. And the material. And the material.

Andrea Forcum: Uh, yeah. Let me tell you. It's, things are, are lean over here, teaching college. Um, trying to like, I'm like, can you guys be like, a little bit more disruptive and disrespectful? Cause it's a real dry spell for my content when you guys are so like, kind and courteous and hardworking. It's, Kind of lame. So I

Andrea Caspari: know like what do you have to do now?

You're like you go home You're like everything went really well. I'm just grading papers. Like yeah, I get early.

Andrea Forcum: Yeah, I'm like today I told them like hey guys, let's get to work and then they got to work And I just, then they worked. It's a very strange experience. Um, but I would love for you to share kind of what you've taught, how long you taught, what grades, and how you got into nationally touring with your comedy.

Andrea Caspari: Yes. Oh my gosh, so I've been teaching for 20 years. Last year was my 20th year. Um, I taught four years in the inner city, 16 years in the suburbs, um, and all English. And I've taught dual credit. I've actually taught on campus like I did, um, they called it Long Drive Community College because it was Longview and it was just the longest.

I mean, just, you know, and I didn't have a commuter schedule, so that was fun. But, um, I've taught on campus, off campus, um, and every single thing, like creative writing, short story, ELA 9, um, ELA 10. Uh, just, you know, junior English, like everything, every kiddo and, uh, from every, every time, everywhere you could think of.

So, every age group too.

Andrea Forcum: I love that. So, but it was, now it was high school or did you do middle school as well?

Andrea Caspari: I have never officially done middle school. I've subbed K through 12 and then emotional disorders and, um, special ed and such. But, um, that's for subbing. But for actual teaching, I'm certified. Um, I kept it real brief, 9 through 12.

English. That's it. Um, because they say that if you're too versatile, they'll put you anywhere. And I really believe that. I was like, Nope, we're not trying to do middle school. That's just too many knobby knees and BO. So I,

Andrea Forcum: yeah. So you and I have very similar experiences. Cause that was like my wheelhouse to like teaching nine through 12.

And it's, it's an experience. Do you have any, insane things that you had to, like, confiscate or any crazy things that happened?

Andrea Caspari: Well, I'm trying to think of some of the things that I've confiscated. Um, I know that, uh, one of the things that really was crazy was I was teaching to kill a mockingbird and I had a student Smush an Oreo into the book.

Um, and I, and he left it in the back. And I just remember this kid, he never, uh, participated. He didn't read the book, um, and he didn't share his Oreos. So I was just really disappointed. Which,

Andrea Forcum: which, yeah, to be clear, not sharing the Oreos is probably the biggest offense there, but I Are you sure that that student wasn't making a commentary about.

race relations with taking the Oreo and smushing it together.

Andrea Caspari: Yes. Okay. So I do believe that he was, because I mean, the black cookie and the white cream melding together, coming together, and then the crumbling of society. Oh, yeah. I truly believe that it was symbolic. And so the child did, not only did he pass, I think I gave him an A.

for the symbolism. I, you know, um, that was more, it was to me that really represented, um, what we were going for. So he, he understood the theme.

Andrea Forcum: I love that. Yeah, that's perfect. Now, what grade did you teach to Kill a

Andrea Caspari: Mockingbird? Um, that, okay, so To Kill a Mockingbird was ninth grade. We had, um, To Kill a Mockingbird of Mice and Men, The Odyssey, and Knight.

Those were our big ones. And, uh, Romeo and Juliet were my big, um, seven years of freshman English, so.

Andrea Forcum: Oh my gosh, you did seven years with freshmen.

Andrea Caspari: Yes, that's why, um, this, this is a not, uh, you know, wait, look, there, I'm missing hair. There's some gray, like, this, this is not just a cool teacher wig. This is burned every spring.

Yeah.

Andrea Forcum: I'm done. It's, it's a journey. So what made you get into teaching initially?

Andrea Caspari: Um, health insurance. I'm just kidding. I

Andrea Forcum: mean, fair. My, my health insurance, when I was in California and they had the really strong union and everything there, my health insurance was top tier. So that wouldn't be Like, a terrible reason to get into teaching.

Andrea Caspari: No, I actually, I loved it so much because, um, I went to UCM, the University of Central Missouri, and, um, I worked off my grad degree by teaching Comp 1 and 2. And I loved it so much. I thought, well, I could probably do this. And so I started subbing, um, when I graduated and everyone kept saying, you're such a good teacher.

You're good with the kiddos who really need the most help, the at risk youth and such, you know, I could like, kind of relate to them, I guess. Right. Um, and so I just, I said, you know, I'm going to do this. And I went for my provisional certification, but I taught in the inner city as I was getting it. So it was really, really cool because I, instead of, I never had, um, the student teaching experience.

I literally just jumped into the classroom and I was just teaching. And then for two years, just at night in night school, um, getting my actual teaching certificate.

Andrea Forcum: That's so funny because you are. At least the second person I've had on so far that is same, same as me, by the way, that got a provisional license.

Um, I, and you, I think that happens, especially for those of us who, you know, didn't go straight from, you know, a bachelor's degree right into teaching, because most of us, you know, can't afford to work for free

Andrea Caspari: for six months. That was crazy. I couldn't believe that was a whole thing that people were doing.

Andrea Forcum: I know. And I asked them. I, I have vivid memories of sitting in the advisor's office because I had gotten a bachelor's degree in English. I was working as a technical writer horribly, like doing a terrible job. Um, and I sat in the graduate office and I was like, okay, so, you know, this is how long the process is.

I can get my license and then, you know, another semester I can get my master's cool. And they're like, yeah, but you have to do a semester of student teaching. And I was like, okay. So. How am I going to work that with work? And they're like, well, you shouldn't work. And I'm like, I have a, I have a mortgage.

Like what? Cause I got married so young. Like I, we had a house, we had a mortgage, we had like responsibilities. Yeah. And they were like, yeah, no, you can't, you can't work. And I was like, well, is there any way I can get a job? beforehand and like get an emergency license or something like that. And this was 2011 when I was having these conversations and that, yeah, they were basically just like, uh, probably, probably not.

And I was like, all right. I was like, well, you know what? I'm going to prove you wrong. They're like, especially as an English teacher, you're a dime a dozen is what I vividly like word for word what she told me. So I low key stocked all the principals in my area, like emailed them, showed up to every single like, Uh, hiring fair, everything that they had available to meet all of these principals.

And then I emailed them once a month.

Andrea Caspari: Wow.

Andrea Forcum: Like, and I was like, Hey, interested in hiring anybody? Because I would love to work at your school, Mr. So and so, Ms. So and so, um, and eventually like they, there was, and just like you, it was like a title one school that was really desperate that had really high turnover that was like, sure, we'll bring in, see if you can, you Float, and what a great first experience teaching with, with higher need kids.

Andrea Caspari: It's my favorite thing. I love teaching kids who need me and want me to be there, um, and sometimes they don't know they want me to be there yet, but then we, but then I, you know, I force it upon them. I'm like, Hey, I remember I had this little girl, Shavia, and she wouldn't sit down. I said, sit down. And she said, Put that little Vienna finger away, missy.

As in a Vienna sausage? As a Vienna sausage. She was like, you got, you got little Vienna sausages. And I was like, oh, okay. Yeah. And that, you know, she put me in my place, but no, she was so sweet. We had such good relationships. And she also was the first spoken word poet that I'd ever met. She asked me one day, can I do a spoken word poem for your class?

And it was memorized, and it was like two minutes long, and she, we ended up taking her to some slam poetry, and then I ended up coaching a slam team years later, but she was the first person I'd ever seen that done. I had never, I mean, this was in the early 2000s. Oh you know, not that early, but you know, 2005, um, and she was just so talented and I love finding what the kids are into.

And then, you know, just embracing that and developing that that's my favorite.

Andrea Forcum: And well, and especially when you've got, like you said, when you've got kids that really need you and want to spend time with you, it's like, it's the most. It's this weird relationship where they want someone to provide boundaries for them so that they can kind of push against them.

You know, if they're not having that structure at home, then they, they kind of like seek it out at school. And I, every single, you know, one of my stories that I tell is, is one of those kids who made me laugh so hard because they are just trying to make sense of this crazy world and they're doing it in my classroom and pushing boundaries wherever they possibly can.

When I taught, I taught for three years at a small private Christian school. It was a tuition based school. So, yeah, it meant that those kids, for those three years, you know, at the very least, regardless of whatever else was going on at home, it meant that there were resources enough to send them to this school.

Right? Yeah. Yeah. Which, you know, meant that, you know, these parents, you know, at least prioritize education, however much a month, to send them to the school. Whereas I had come from that Title I public school out in Virginia, where everyone came from who knows what and kids were waking up in their cars and all of that kind of stuff.

And what I found very quickly is like, I still, like, felt like I really loved the kids but they didn't need me, you know, not the same way. And, uh, I transitioned out of that and back into public school education because I felt like I was able to make so much greater of an impact with those kids who really, like, needed a caring adult in their lives.

Not that the kids lives were perfect at the private school. They had their own, like, challenges and stuff like that, but it was just a very different thing. I didn't have the kids hanging out before school, at lunch, after school, at the, at the private, you know, because a lot of them had sports. They had all of that stuff.

Whereas at the public schools, it was, my room was constantly kind of full of, of kids and, and all of that.

Andrea Caspari: Yes, and that's my favorite. The kids who would come to visit in the morning, I knew if they were absent for the day, if they didn't come see me. I mean, I, there were kids, I didn't even have them anymore years later, and they would just come to visit and hang out.

I had a little girl named Riley, and she would just bring in stuffed animals, and we would name them, and you know, and, and she would leave one, uh, as gifts. Collateral to come get at the end of the day. Um, and we just, we put little name tags on them. This is for a baby and this, you know, just silly. And these are high school kids, but they just wanted a place to belong.

And that's why I loved my school so much. Um, I miss, I miss teaching daily. Um, so much, uh, because we had, so many of our teachers were like that. I mean, they had, they just provided a safe space. Kids just want to feel so safe. And, and just like you were saying, I love that you said that, um, they need that structure.

So it's so funny because people might look in and say, Oh, this is a mess, but you have to understand there's a structure and then they are pushing against it, but they have to have that structure. They need to know where do I sit? They need to know that they feel safe. And I was head granola bars and fruit snacks and crackers and they would bring their friends, uh, you know, Jimmy's hungry.

Can he have some crackers? Yeah, of course. You know, um, I just love doing that. And our school was really known for that. Winnetonka High School, shout out, um, just the most caring and loving staff you've ever met, um, from, from, uh, From the tippy toe from everybody. I mean, I'm telling you, all the teachers, custodians, um, the cafeteria ladies, like, I'm best friends with all of them still.

And they were so good to these kiddos. And they still are. I love

Andrea Forcum: that. And like, what a phenomenal legacy. Like, if you, if one thing could be said about a school, I would rather have that than the highest test scores in the, in the county, you know, like a loving, supportive, safe place for the kids. That's Oh.

Yeah. Incredible.

Andrea Caspari: The, the most loving. And we're all still friends. We're all, um, even teachers that have left, we all still, we have this, uh, teacher thread and we just send random memes and, you know, uh, all kinds of stuff, uh, we're still.

Andrea Forcum: I love that. So now how did you transition into doing standup?

Andrea Caspari: Best question.

I love this because, um, I actually started doing standup before I started teaching.

Andrea Forcum: Wow. Yeah. Yes. So, so you, gosh, because I still to this day have not done standup. I've thought about it. I even Googled if there was any like open mic nights in my little town of Terre Haute and there, there is on Friday nights.

There's one like dive bar that has standup and I'm like, cause I don't want to do it with an audience that knows me for the first thing because I feel like that's, that's cheating a little bit, you know, like, I mean, yeah, yes and no. Right. Because they're familiar with me. They already like me, all of that.

Like, I want to see if I'm funny. Like if the jokes themselves are funny, not just like, oh, they like me and that's, you know, why they're laughing kind of a thing. Um, and so I've flirted with the idea, but I'm, Absolutely terrified of actually going out there and trying to do, like, a tight 10 in front of strangers.

So, how did you, like, end up doing that for the first time?

Andrea Caspari: So, funny thing. So, years ago, um, I started doing comedy just one year prior to teaching. And, um, I had been teaching. I was a graduate teaching assistant of comp one and two. Um, and I met somebody at school, um, not a student, I promise. Um, I met this, uh, gentleman at, you know, in, in one of my classes that I was taking and he worked across the street from Stanford and Sons.

in Kansas City. And, um, that was our one big club in Westport in Kansas City. And, um, I remember him saying, you know, cause I'd always said, Oh, I want to do standup. Oh, standup's so cool. And he said, you're funnier than any of those guys at the open mic. And I was like, Oh, well, let's go see. And I went on a Tuesday night and I said, Oh, you are so right.

So

Andrea Forcum: you went and now that, that Tuesday night, did you actually do standup or did you just watch other people and I'm so much funnier than them.

Andrea Caspari: Know My Name twin! No, darling, I did a reconnaissance mission. Oh no, I did not go in. No, no, no, no, no. I had I'd never seen it really done. They had like comedy central specials and things, but I had never gone to live comedy.

And so here I'm watching, you know, three minutes, three minutes, three minutes, and then the The, um, you know, big guys would do five, you know, they would get five because they were known or whatever. And, and I, so I said, let's just see what this is all about. And then I said, okay, and I brought my own three minutes the next week and I did it.

But, and I want to say that I killed, but actually there was death involved. There was. This is a legendary story, I'm going to make it really quick, but this is so crazy. There was a guy, I'm still best friends with him to this day. He was a comedian named Kyle Parris. And he decided that he, and he was very Andy Kaufman esque, he still is, when he does comedy, he does kind of, you know, just like a skit type of thing.

And what he did was, um, he He basically, I saw him at the pre-meeting. They had like this meeting, uh, the, the pre-show meeting, and he had a cooler, an ilo, cool igloo cooler. And uh, and he had just like this big curly kind of hairdo and, and just really strange looking guy, right? And I thought, well, who is this guy and why does he have a cooler?

Where are we supposed to bring lunch? Like, I didn't, you know, I, I don't know. I've never done an open mic. Anyway, so he was like number three and I was like number six when we drew out of the hat. And so Kyle Paris gets up on stage and he says. I have a pet possum and I'm going to teach him to do tricks.

And he had already staged he was a regular, so he'd already had them put a vacuum cleaner up there, um, it was plugged in, and he opens the igloo cooler, and he pulls out a possum, and he sticks the vacuum cleaner in him, uh, to revive him, because he says, he's dead, he's dead, my pet, he's been in the cooler, and now he's suffocated, and he's dead, we have to revive him, and he, And the stench of death just infiltrates the entire, it pervades everything, and it's because he found it as roadkill, I found out later, and he brought it in this cooler, kept it for a couple of days in his car, and then he brought the possum out, and he revived it as the stage show, as a skit, and the whole place, They were vomiting.

They ran to the bathroom. They were roshamboing for the toilets. They were leaving. Over half the audience was gone by the time it was my turn. They were gone. He was banned for life. This is my first night, first night of comedy ever. And I had to go up. So this guy comes up with this, um, you know, Lysol spray.

And then it's my turn. Now, Andrea Kaspari. Oh, and I'm up there and I have friends in the audience giggling, the rest of them are puking. Oh my gosh. I can't make this up. This is a legendary story. Everybody knows Kyle and the Possum story. No one really has put together that that was also my first night of open mic.

And so I thought, if I can get through this, and I still got giggles, you know. If I can get through this, I can get through anything. I promise you there hasn't been another show that was ever worse. There's been nothing like that since.

Andrea Forcum: I just, I'm trying to understand, you know, comedians take risks. That's why we love them, right?

Like you want to see a comedian really go for it. But his idea was like, it's going to be so funny to bring a rotting corpse on stage and reanimate it.

Andrea Caspari: Yes, absolutely. And to him, that was hysterical. And this is a man who you, he, one time he was wearing pants and I'm painting a donut and then he turned around and he didn't have a back to the pants.

Oh my gosh. Completely tushed out. Yeah. But he was just, you know, a character. A character. And, um, the last thing he ever did before he moved to Chicago, he's been living in Chicago like 16 years, um, he did a slip and slide, uh, into Cherry Pie.

Andrea Forcum: Wow. So very committed to the, the physical comedy bits. Yes.

Andrea Caspari: Absolutely. And so, and I'm not, that's, I mean, I do some physical comedy. I like to dance on stage and I like to do some, you know, characters and things, but, um, you know, I just thought, Oh, this is awesome. I love a risk taker. So we became fast friends and we still are friends to this day. He calls me almost every Sunday and he's just a really good friend and we keep in touch.

So

Andrea Forcum: great. I love that. That is just so unhinged. That's exactly the kind of people that I would be drawn to as well. Yes. Oh,

Andrea Caspari: he's just, it's so, and so funny and such, such a good human. Um, so yeah, I mean, and so I just started doing open mics and things like that and we just didn't have a lot of them in Kansas city, um, when I started and then it started to pick up and then, um, you know, I just started to do it professionally, but I was teaching the whole time and, um, I just remember.

So a couple of years ago, I know it was like 2017 or something. I always thought being a teacher was so different. I was the only comedian teacher I'd ever met. Now we know that there are a lot of them, right? You know? Yeah. I don't know if it's just grown or if we're just discovering them because of social media, but before social media was huge, um, Devin Siebold was making all of his videos and he was cracking us up and we were sharing them in our, um, groups and sharing them online.

And I just remember, I, you know, I got brave one day and I said, I'm contacting this guy. And I said, you know what? My home club is the Kansas City Improv, now the Funny Bone. They just renamed it last month. I don't know why. Um, but we got married there. It's like a whole thing. So it's really cute. Anyway, so it's my home club, and I said, if you ever come to town, I would love for you to do a show, like, let's just put a show together in Kansas City, and he was like, that sounds amazing.

A year or so later, he emails me, my friend Joe and I are coming to the improv, will you be on our show? And I was like, sure, and I had no idea who Joe, oh, guess who that was, Mr. D.

Andrea Forcum: I was gonna say, Mr. D, that's so awesome. I should have let you guess. Do you want to try that again? No, that's okay. It's all right.

Andrea Caspari: So it was, I had never heard of this guy and this was so many years ago, right? And I'd never heard. So I'm Googling him and it's Joe Dombrowski of Ellen and all, you know. And I was like, Oh my gosh, Oh my God, it's Mr. D, you know, Joe. Okay. I don't know Ms. Joe. And then, um, Devin came and I did a three minute, um, just a guest spot because they already had a host and, uh, just killed it and had fun.

And I was like, these are my people. 300 sold out, um, mostly women, but it doesn't matter. But teachers, educators, bus drivers, custodians, these are my people. And they were giggling, they got it, they just understood. And so then a few years later, Devin said, hey, you know, we're starting the Board Teachers Comedy Tour, would you be interested?

And I said, say no more. And there we go, we did it.

Andrea Forcum: Oh my gosh, that's so cool. So have you ever performed at like your school or any of that, like for at a professional development?

Andrea Caspari: You're so cute. So absolutely. Oh, I do have to tell you. So, um, I used to do comedy and cookies every year, um, this was to earn money for the art department to go, uh, on their trips.

Cause they would go to like Paris and London and go look at the art and stuff. So we would do that as a fundraiser. And then another time we did laughs for lunches to pay off the student lunch debt. So that was really fun. Yeah, it was really cool. I love doing that charity kind of stuff. And then another time they actually, they forgot teacher appreciation.

And they asked me. Of course they did. Of course they did. Right. We, uh, I'm telling you, I, just several years ago, they were, they had this special day and it was supposed to be like rest and relax and rejuvenate, R& R& R or whatever. And there was a hashtag for it. And it was like, you know, North Kansas City, all this stuff.

And our administration forgot until the last minute. And so then the next day we had nothing and we were seeing all of these, like, everyone had donuts and someone brought in Hawaiian Brothers, um, buffet lunch and someone had bagels. And, uh, they had at one of the schools, they had, um, you could choose six different activities.

You could do yoga and massage and things. And, you know, we were, I think we got to wear jeans. Oh no! There's just like,

Andrea Forcum: jeans and

Andrea Caspari: tumbleweeds. Absolutely, and they even said if you want to go roll around outside or something, I mean really, you know, just take your time. Okay, so that was fun. So it was for the early release, or early, uh, late start.

Anyway, so then, one of the administrators came to me, a good friend, and she was just like, Hey girl, um, next week, can we, we're gonna redo this, okay? So this was on a Thursday late start, and she's like, next Thursday late start, can you do comedy? And And I said, you want me to take 160 staff members who are peeved, who are, who feel undervalued, completely forgotten, and you want me to make them giggle at 7.

30 in the morning? 7. 30 in the morning is a brutal time to do comedy. It's the most brutal time. I mean, now, I don't think anyone had been drinking, maybe a few, but I said, no, I really did. I said, no. And she goes, okay. And so instead the committee, and I think that while she was asking me, the committee was already, they had hired a comedian, magician, hypnotist instead.

And they took the 300 that I guess was supposed to be earmarked for donuts. And they paid him to come and do hypnotism. At 730 in the morning while we're eating Kodiak pancakes. I remember there were Kodiak. I don't know why we needed high protein pancakes. Nobody cared anyway. And so I, I was so excited.

I was like, this is, this is going to be amazing. So the night before, so that Wednesday, you know, a week later, that Wednesday, we're all talking about how stupid this sounded and this is going to be an S show and I'm just texting, this is going to be awful. This is going to be ridiculous to my teacher thread.

And then somebody, one of my teacher besties texted me and said, Honey, The assistant principals on this thread, you texted the wrong ones. They were side by side in my inbox. And I said, Oh my God. And so she saw it and we were never, it was never the same again. And I felt so bad, but I did get a front row and I was like, ah, let's see this guy.

And. Man, the pancakes were good, and he really tried. But it was a tough crowd. He really, I think he did a good job for what he had to deal with. But I was not going to take the brunt. I was like, oh, heck no. I don't want them to think I forgot, like I was on the planning committee or something. Instead, I would.

Yeah. A

Andrea Forcum: magician comedian hypnotist at 7. 30 in the morning is a, that's a lot. That's a

Andrea Caspari: lot. You know what, honey? But that, let me tell you, when you get into comedy, that's just called a corporate gig.

Andrea Forcum: See? And these are, these are the stories that I heard from so many comedians where they're like, yeah. And then I went to this corporate thing and everyone was miserable or they did it on Zoom and it was horrible.

And I'm like, that sounds so bad.

Andrea Caspari: And it sounds like such good money, because you can go to these awesome, like, and so Board Teachers is awesome, of course, and that doesn't even count. This is just its own dream. But, like, some of these, um, heck gigs, right? H E double hockey sticks gig. Oh my gosh, corporate gigs are the worst.

They're just absolutely the worst. They're, you know, it's 10am, no one has had a drink, you're sitting by your boss, nobody knows if they're allowed to laugh, you keep looking at her, is she giggling, she's not, you know, and, and, oh my gosh, it's the worst, and you have like 40 people just staring at you like, you know, I, we really could be cleaning our offices or clipping our toenails, what are you doing here?

Oh my gosh. It's not good. But that puts hair on your chest. I can show you. No, I'm just kidding. But that puts hair, I'm serious, it puts hair on your chest. This is how, I mean, you know, if you, anytime that you have to follow, um, a dead possum, or a, right, or a comedian hypnotist at 730, right? Right. I didn't do that one, but all right.

I mean, corporate gigs are where you're going to make your money, but you're earning it.

Andrea Forcum: Yeah. Yeah. It's putting in the work. All right. Well, that feels like a good place for us to take a quick break. So we will be right back.

All right. Welcome back. Um, so the next thing I wanted to ask you today, Andrea, and it's very strange saying my own name to someone else. I have limited experiences with other Andreas. I know a lot of Andreas, a lot of Andreas, but This is, this is special for me.

Andrea Caspari: Well, I love you because when we first met, like, you jumped into, you jumped in the DMs.

I did. I slid right in those DMs. Yeah. Slid right in and you were so sweet. Oh, it was so funny. You guys all did a great job and, um, you were just so sweet. And then we started keeping in touch, but I was dying because I got all of your merch. Like, I understood all of your shirts and everything you were going through.

We are so, it's hysterical. We're kindred spirits, same name. 9 through 12. You know, the experiences are so similar and you just get it. You just get it. You have earned every single follower you have. You are so precious and so good at this. I'm so proud of you. You've grown so much and it's so cool to watch.

Andrea Forcum: You're so kind. Thank you. It's, it's really, really fun when English teachers find their way to my merch shop, even if they buy nothing, because everything is so niche English teacher humor. Like there's a, there's a few that are not like English teacher focused, but a vast majority. Right. Cause that's like where my soul is.

So it's like very like niche allusions to things that happen in the world. American Lit books, mostly, because that's what I mostly taught, but yeah. Yes, American

Andrea Caspari: Lit was my favorite. That was actually my very favorite, my junior English American Lit, um, and then they switched it up, you know, every few years we had to teach something different.

I don't know how I got stuck for a seven year loop on, uh, Freshman, but I liked the literature, so it was fine. But yes, American Lit is also my favorite where I was, so. Yeah, see, twins.

Andrea Forcum: Twins. So, um, I know I embarrassed myself quite a bit throughout my time in the classroom. Did you ever have like a really embarrassing moment while you were teaching?

Andrea Caspari: Yes. Um, when I started teaching dual credit several years ago, I was teaching dual credit, uh, college English through Maple Woods. I mean, this was a serious class. Um, every kid in it, you know, most of them were, uh, trying to get a credit that would go towards their, um, their high, uh, high school and English, uh, for college.

And so I had to be like, you're a little more serious than normal, right? Um, and man, I just was so confused. I had taught Hamlet before, but I hadn't re read it. And I don't know about you, but I'm only ever 24 hours ahead of a kid.

Andrea Forcum: A hundred percent. Yeah.

Andrea Caspari: Ever. Right. Um, just because there's so much, they have so many expectations and then grades are due and then this, and suddenly, you know, you're coaching something and, and whatever, you're up all night and working.

And we have families I've heard. Right. If memory serves. So I remember I just, I got really confused and I just Googled What the hell is happening in Act 3 of Hamlet? Because I just, I, it was so confusing. We just kept reading and we were, you know, back in the day I would do that, um, stupid Shakespeare or whatever it was called.

The one that happened. No fear Shakespeare. No fear Shakespeare. Stupid Shakespeare. Stupid Shakespeare. Right. Yeah. I, and so we did that with like Romeo and Juliet and whatever their freshmen, who cares, right? And I could, I can handle freshmen, but here I am trying to teach college and we're reading, you know, in Shakespearean Shakespeare.

Andrea Forcum: Yeah.

Andrea Caspari: Okay, no. So anyway, so I was like, what the hell is happening in the amulet in Act 3? And then, uh, a little girl said, Miss Kaspari, your projector's on. Oh. Literally, the kids saw me in real time just giggling and all that, and I was like, oh no.

Andrea Forcum: They just fully saw behind the curtain for a second.

Andrea Caspari: They really did.

They're just like, oh, Oz. This isn't good. And then they closed the curtain back because we do, I mean, I'm in Missouri and not Kansas, so we're close enough, but

Andrea Forcum: Toto,

Andrea Caspari: Toto was even like. Oh, this was so bad. I just wanted to click my heels and just get out of that one.

Andrea Forcum: What did you say when she told you that?

Um, I just said

Andrea Caspari: that was a

Andrea Forcum: screensaver. It's just, just wild. That was just wild. You're like, that's my super hilarious screensaver. I hope everybody loved it. Um, and then I switched to a cat falling off a ledge or

Andrea Caspari: something. Nice. Nice. What are you going to do? What can you do? I mean, I'm so smooth, right? I mean, it was so embarrassing.

I just was like, I was mortified. And I do wake up sometimes at night sweating and thinking about it.

Andrea Forcum: That's fair. It would haunt me. I don't think I ever have had one of those searches. I do think that I have accidentally, um, shared my screen when I was Amazon shopping during teaching during COVID, you know, like when we were all trapped at home and I thought that I had Like only shared the box, you know, like, cause you can share either just a box or you can share your whole screen.

And I thought I had shared the box and I realized like way too late and I didn't have the chat up because I was clearly not paying attention to my own class. I can't even remember what we were doing, but I think I was like, okay guys, like, Check in the chats for something. I wasn't like, thank God, like shopping for anything embarrassing.

It was probably like, you know, millennial women's clothing choices, Amazon or something.

Andrea Caspari: Getting like, yeah,

Andrea Forcum: exactly. And I opened up the chat when I was, you know, after the five minutes or whatever I'd given them. And the chat was full of people private DMing me saying like, you are sharing your screen with everybody.

We all saw that. And I was like, Oh. Oh, I .

Andrea Caspari: Oh, you're like mortified. So embarra, I mean, where do you go from embarrass,

Andrea Forcum: from

Andrea Caspari: embarra?

Andrea Forcum: How

Andrea Caspari: did you get out of it?

Andrea Forcum: I, I just started laughing and I was like, well, that's really embarrassing, so let's, alright. like, just kind of stumbled my way through. 'cause like it's so mortifying and they, it completely ruins the illusion that we have it all together, that we like to try.

and have sometimes like, go

Andrea Caspari: ahead. No, I was just going to say that I've never had that illusion. Like I, the one time that I really tried to be so serious, it was the first day of teaching at UCM. Um, at the time it was called, um, CMSU, Central Missouri State University. And I was, teaching comp one, and I had a class of 30 students and most of them were older than me.

And I remember I wore, I, I just, I went to this stupid place to buy a suit. I don't know why I chose lemon yellow. Elaine Bryant, they just call it butter. We all, I mean, you have to have some, a reference. Right, right. So I'm wearing this butter colored suit, and I thought I looked so cute and like kind of fresh, you know, whatever.

And, and I spent an hour just being serious. You know, as serious as I can be, right? You know, and here's what we're going to do, and here's your syllabus, and here's how, you know, this, this, this. And then I said, does anyone have any questions? And one of the youngest kids in the class, like an 18 year old student at the college, I mean, on campus, right.

I was doing grad school and graduate teaching. He raises his hand and he's like, I didn't know we were going to have a crazy teacher. That was his takeaway. Everyone starts laughing. And I'm like, Oh my God, I'm a laughingstock. I really thought, but then we all, you know, I mean, they, we all got along and we all had a great time together.

I mean, and, and I realized, and here, this is my takeaway. You just have to be authentic. And then, and, and that's how you gain relationships. That's, that's where you get the good stuff. You just have to be authentic. Anytime you try it, they can see right through the facade. Oh yeah. If you try to be too cool or if you try to be too serious.

So you just have to do you and just be honest like I'm having a really crazy day today or something weird was last happened last night or a student kind of ticked me off this morning. So y'all be good today. I need your help. Um, you know, whatever, like just no, no funny business because it's been a weird day.

Um, right. Authenticity is one of my biggest biggest tips as a teacher.

Andrea Forcum: Yeah, that's always what I'm telling my, my student teachers who are about to go into the classroom is like, just be yourself. But then at the same time, I have a couple students that like have kind of potty mouths and stuff like that.

And I'm like, be yourself, but like, tamper, tamper that down. Cause you can't, you can't be behaving like that in front of a group because they're all going into their middle school, uh, field placements right now. So the way ISU does it is before they have student teaching, they have early field experience.

So they have So these are the six weeks of time in the classroom where they teach just one unit in the middle school and then the second semester they do the same thing but in the high school. So they've already kind of dipped their toe in the water a little bit before they get to student teaching.

And, um, so this semester they're doing middle school and I'm just like I Like, like, uh, like, blessings to all of you as you go into this dark time.

Andrea Caspari: You're just sending out sympathy cards. Like, I'm so sorry. Yes. For, for your loss of sanity. Exactly.

Andrea Forcum: So with 20 years of classroom experience, I think that you are the perfect person to give some advice.

And one of the things we do on this podcast is we take advice, or sorry, we take questions from the audience. So I have, A couple of questions that I would love to hear your take on.

Andrea Caspari: I love it. I can't wait. Let's, let's do it.

Andrea Forcum: All right. So the first one is from somebody named Megan from Pennsylvania, and she asked, how do you handle openly defiant students, i.

e. an eighth grader who wants to argue and fight back on everything.

Andrea Caspari: I love it. Okay, so he'll become my new favorite. Let me tell you guys, I will walk in and the first kid to give me any guff will become my favorite, will become the class leader because I, I, I basically will recognize that immediately. He is, um, the squeaky wheel trying to get oil and I need to come over and what I'll do, I'll kind of notice the ones who are a little defiant or put the feet on the desk or just, you know, whatever.

Give me a little lip. And I'll go to them, and back in the day, I would threaten them, no, within an inch of their life, you know, um, end of story, no. Um, I go and I say, Hey Jimmy. You're really such a class leader. I noticed that a lot of the kids follow you and they really look up to you. Do you think you can hand some of these papers out for me or do you think you can take attendance down for me?

You're just like really dynamic and I just, you know, I think you're awesome. Let's do this. And they, I promise you, this has worked the last few years that I kind of developed that. I mean, my goodness, these kids, they love it because the reason that they're acting, defiant, is because There is a disconnect, um, with attention from somewhere.

They need it. Maybe the family doesn't give it. Maybe they live with grandma and, and she's busy with other kiddos. Um, or at work. They need that love. They want that attention. They just have been getting it in a negative way. And they know that if they're defiant in other classes, they're gonna get yelled at, they're gonna get attention, they're going to, um, you know, put the tack in the seat and ah, you know, whatever, uh, the teacher sits on it.

Now you're in detention. No, I don't have that kind of free time. I'm here to teach, I'm here to enjoy you, um, and every single child can learn and deserves to learn, and I never label a kid quote unquote bad. I just notice who is defiant, who's a little lippy, and we're gonna go ahead and get him on my side immediately, so because he is a natural leader, or she, or them, they them, is their natural leader.

So it's time to go ahead and employ them as a natural leader and use those, their powers for good.

Andrea Forcum: I completely agree. And the way that I always handled students like that is again, twinsies, cause I feel like I handle it very similarly, or I try to where I identify that kid very early on. And the way I kind of frame it is that I am so insufferably kind and loving towards that child that it becomes too much work for them to still hate me.

Like, it would be an exorbitant amount of effort for them to continue to be rude or hateful to me because I have, at that point, worn them down to the point where I am literally, I know about what they like, what they don't like, I reach out to them, I know about their life. Like, people don't really, like, kids are lazy.

They're not going to work that hard to hate you if you were just constantly being kind and loving to them. Like. they don't have the energy for it. They're just going to like you and they're going to hate somebody else at that point because they're like, all right, fine. Like, I guess she's, I guess she's chill.

Like, you know, like is usually how it ends.

Andrea Caspari: I love it. That is such a quote, my friend, that they're not going to work that hard to hate you. That's, that is a quote you should put on a shirt or something, you know, just play with that. That is valuable. That is so valuable. And it's just because students, they just, they want that attention or they're so used to getting it in that negative way.

And I know we've all heard that, But the, to be insufferably kind and to really take an interest in them immediately. But the, but the number one thing is to go ahead and make sure that you identify who the student is, um, you know, who the leader is, because if you, if you isolate that leader, then the others just will follow.

So that's a really good thing. Quick way to do it, um, in a, like, on a first day, because you really do set the precedent, and I'm not trying to freak anybody out, like, especially new teachers. Like, if you mess up the first day, it's forever. You know, they're just throwing spit wads. Right. Like, I've been teaching a long time.

There were spit wads, I promise. Now they're just throwing headphones, right? I don't know. Earbuds or whatever. But, um, it's it you know, you, you can, um, figure out who it is and then make sure that you take care of it very early on because if you don't it will get out of hand. So you do have to figure some things out pretty quickly.

Andrea Forcum: And I think one of the things that can be so challenging as the teacher is you really have to be familiar with your own triggers and your own reactions when kids disrespect you because that kid's not gonna come in saying I'm a leader and if I don't get some extra attention I'm gonna be your nightmare like they're gonna show up and they're gonna like roll their eyes they're gonna be disrespectful and you know if if you just immediately respond with like negativity back it's not I'm not saying like be like of course What's the word?

I'm like, don't be a carpet? Don't be a Oh, a doormat. What's the word? Doormat. I was like, floor mat is wrong. What is I love your, like, don't be a car mat. Don't be a car Yeah. What? Okay, got it. Thank you. Don't be a car hat. Yes. Yeah. Like, don't just roll over. Like, but Also, like, but Be the adult and have control of your emotions, you know?

And it's a hundred percent easier said than done, because I would be lying to say that I always had control of my emotions every time a kid was rude to me. Like, I'm, we're all human. There's things that kids can say that really hurt us. And we have to be very intentional. And there were times that I had to quite literally, like, take a step outside and take a breath, because a kid really managed to get to me one of those times.

But Like you said, if you establish that relationship early, if you identify those kids and you use their leaderships for good and not evil, then it makes the rest of the year go so much smoother. It's incredible. It

Andrea Caspari: does. It does. And I will tell you this. I don't want either of us to come off as like, Oh, we know this, or this has always been just like you said.

Um, We have, we had to take years to figure this out. And that's why we want to impart this knowledge, um, to you, to anyone listening as quickly as possible, because I would say the first 10 years of my career, I was triggered. I was truly, truly hurt. This child is disrespecting me. I remember in the first year or two, I said, I'm the CEO of this classroom.

You see my name on the door? This is Ms. Kasparian's classroom and my rules. I mean, I'm not kidding. Like, and just, you know. totally freaked out and going home and sobbing and you know, whatever. And now I just giggle and I'm like, Oh, okay, honey. Yeah, literally. This ain't my first rodeo. Okay, come on, you know, and go sit, you know, go sit yourself down.

Yeah, I'll hush with you. Um, you know, and every once in a while I actually play, I play breathe with them or I play Get triggered. So I'll be like, excuse me, uh, oh, okay, I'm back. And then they giggle and we just start fresh. Yeah, that's my other that is another tip is to always start fresh every single day is a new day.

So if you had a really weird day with Haley last night, you know, yesterday, today, Haley comes in good morning, Haley. Don't keep it. Don't hold on to it because that only hurts the two of you. That hurts you so much and then it hurts the relationship with the student and then they can't learn because they're not safe.

Andrea Forcum: Exactly. Exactly. Solid advice. Um, okay. So the second question, uh, is more curriculum based. So we had, uh, James from Indiana asking, um, or saying, I'm really interested in alternative studying techniques for students that struggle with traditional outline style of note taking. For example, sketch note taking can be more engaging than just writing down everything.

So when you were, you know, lecturing and stuff like that, what are some things that you maybe use to help students that were maybe more visual or needed to move or something like that? Well,

Andrea Caspari: this is an awesome question too. Um, we are an avid school. And so we were like an avid, uh, demo, demo school, demonstration school.

It was a really big deal. Um, and so we did, uh, the, Cornell notes. Oh yeah. So students had, yeah, so students had the Cornell sheet and that established a procedure. Everybody goes up and they get their Cornell sheet and I think that there have been studies done that when students write, they learn more, you know, it really, it's ingrained in them.

More so than when they're just typing notes. So I like to have students grab the Cornell sheet, um, and they put the title, and they put the date, and they organize it. Um, but here's the thing, I love to, um, teach, you know, multiple intelligences in different ways, and, and, um, every student has their own way, right?

We have the kinesthetic learner, and you have the audio learner, and the visual, and the audio visual. Um, so if students need to, um, Take a little break. Go and sit, um, you know, sometimes I'll have like a bean bag or somewhere else that they can sit. I don't freak out on, oh my gosh, everyone has to be sitting in the row and everyone has to be facing.

Um, you need to do what works for you. And this is another thing that, you know, years later that we learned, right? This is just a 20 year veteran kind of thing, more so than I came into this, you know, I've always been so great. No. I'm just telling you that students need alternate settings. Um, some kiddos need the notes, um, written, right, and a copy of the notes, but then they're able to study because maybe it was just going, we're going too fast.

I always make sure that the PowerPoint is on Canvas. That's like our blackboard or whatever the students, um, they can, so they can go at their own pace. Everything is about flexibility. It's about figuring out who your students are. Once they're safe enough to talk to you and to share, Hey, I'm not getting this.

Can I stay after a little bit? That's fine too. We had, um, Tuesdays and Thursdays, I would stay after, uh, for tutoring and things like that. We had, um, a huge tutoring session in the cafeteria and a person from each discipline would sit at a table and work with the students. So I usually sign up for Tuesday or Thursday and we had several other teachers do that.

Um, and so students could, you know, I just want students to find the way that works for them. There is no way that works for everybody. And back in the day, that was that cookie cutter, all 30 students facing, and they're all looking at the overhead and everybody's writing. And if you get out of line, you're missing it and we're just going to go without you.

Um, I want students to have different ways to do it and, um, to make sure that they are learning in their own, at their own pace and in their own, uh, best way.

Andrea Forcum: Yeah, a hundred percent. And I, I've loved Cornell notes as well. I've used those quite a bit. And I think, like you said, Like, a standard procedure of how you do notes and that kind of routine is incredibly helpful.

But also, um, something I love to do is have my students do, like, a pair share real quick. Be like, okay, so I just finished introducing Shakespeare. Tell your, your neighbor your favorite fun fact that we just learned about Shakespeare. And then they do, you know? And, um, yeah. I, I love the ability to, like, have them talk for a second because, you know, me and you both probably.

Um, you know, we can't sit silently for 40 minutes without, like, moving or talking or doing something. Like, put me in professional development for an hour and I am, like, worse than my students. So much worse. Like, playing with my phone, texting my colleagues about lunch, like, I am, there's, I'm the worst, right?

So I try and keep my mind in that kind of space where I'm like, if I wouldn't be able to sit here for an hour and just absorb, why am I expecting this 14 year old to do it? Who is, you know, got all of these other things on their plate other than my class as well.

Andrea Caspari: Oh, a hundred percent. And this really brings me to, um, not only, of course, agree with you, my name twin and my bestie, but let me also say that the student learning has changed and we have to adapt to that and we have to recognize it.

And even though it's much to our chagrin, It is upsetting that everything is just piecemeal, like, here you go, da da da da, and we're just trying to do fun facts. Hey, it helps if you realize that that's how it's going. They are, and we are, scrolling through TikTok, scrolling through. And so if you do something like that, I like to show, um, like John Green has the Crash Course History things.

Um, I like to find fun. four minute videos on the concept.

Andrea Forcum: Yeah.

Andrea Caspari: Right. Like in workshop model, we really did kind of move to workshop model. And I always felt that initially I was offended because I was like, Oh my gosh, you know, I used to do a 40 minute PowerPoint on Dickinson and now I'm just throwing out.

I'm like, okay, she uses dashes. Let's move on. She uses dashes. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. She was agoraphobic. She had a white dress. Let's go. You know, and, and, and it was upsetting. But now if you, if you really acknowledge that kids learn in a different way, they, they're absorbing their information. Um, and you have, if you, if you incorporate that, uh, maybe have them do something, you know, like make a playlist for Shakespeare.

We've done that before. Well, you know, and, and what does that represent? Um, everything has to be, you have to adapt. Yeah. Look, when you've been teaching for 20 years or however long, how long have you been teaching? 10 years. 10 years. That's a long time. Okay. That's a decade. These things change and things have changed even more, you know, to technology begets more technology.

And it's only going to get smaller and quicker and faster. Um, so we just have to kind of roll with the punches and understand that it's not that same, uh, rolling in of the projector and the overhead and taking the notes. You have to roll with the punches and figure out how the kids learn best now.

Andrea Forcum: Yeah.

The

Andrea Caspari: modern way. Oh, for sure. For sure.

Andrea Forcum: All right. Well, thank you so much, Andrea. I would love to have you share where you're going to be. How can people find you in the upcoming months since you're like a national traveler going everywhere and performing everywhere?

Andrea Caspari: Oh my gosh. Well, that's awesome. We have so many fun dates coming up at BoardTeachers.

com. You can find all of our tickets in our calendar, um, but we're doing like Louisville, Kentucky at some point soon, and Shreveport, Louisiana, Fort Worth, Texas. I'm super excited about some Colorado shows, um, Evans, Georgia, Greensboro, North Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina, uh, Macon, Georgia, um, but I'm really excited to come to your town.

We're gonna come to Evansville and see our Andrea, my name twin. Check us out at Board Teachers.

Andrea Forcum: Absolutely. And I 1000 percent will tell you guys when I went, that was how I was first, you know, introduced to Andrea and It was so much fun. I was laughing so freaking hard. And there were several comedians that I was less familiar with that I got to know by going to the show.

And now I'm going again and I'm bringing my college students with me to go and see them. So I cannot tell you enough how much you need to make it to one of those shows. They are super, super fun. So don't miss it. Don't miss out on that. Um, now is there anywhere else that people can find you other than on the BoardTeachers site?

Andrea Caspari: Yes, um, please jump on, uh, I'm at Kaspari Land. I have that whole thing happening. I'm trying to, um, follow in your footsteps and, and build my social media. And, um, one of my big ones that I'm really trying to do is, uh, Andrea Kaspari Comedy on Facebook. I think that's a really good one. Um, I'm trying to put out memes and videos and, um, I do have some on the board teacher sites as well, but, um, TikTok is KaspariLand Comedy, but, uh, Instagram and YouTube are KaspariLand.

So just, you know, jump on if you think that this was helpful or funny or you want to see some more. Um, you know, material or content, uh, jump on there because I have new stuff coming every few days. And, um, I just, I have so much fun interacting with, uh, people who jump on and I always have fun advice and, um, I'll make you giggle and, and I, I also love feedback.

So I, you, you tell me what you, what's on your mind too.

Andrea Forcum: Awesome. All right, guys. Well, you go and check her out on all of those profiles, and we will be right back. Thanks.

Welcome back. So I hope you guys enjoyed my conversation with my name twin, Andrea Kaspari. I so love getting to talk to her about all of her crazy experiences. And, The Shakespeare story, I think, is the one that stands out the most to me just because it's so relatable to be sitting there while you're in the middle of teaching it and just Googling, like, what was happening in Macbeth or Hamlet?

And I, I thankfully, like I said, have never had that specific experience, but I do vividly remember one time teaching a group of juniors who were really bright. Like, I started teaching that group and knew pretty quickly, like some of these kids are for sure smarter than me. And I was going over some grammatical stuff and grammar has never been my strong suit.

And I remember teaching it with such confidence, like saying it with my whole chest when I was up there. And then the sweet boy came after class and came up to me. I was like, um, Hey miss, I don't, you said this was the answer, but I don't, I don't think that's correct. Exactly. And I. was so mortified. He was a thousand percent right.

And he did it so gently. So I like went back up and had to be like, I'm sorry, I was wrong. And like eat crow in front of my entire class, which got to stay humble. Right. Um, so something that I want to make sure that we do before I let you guys go is talk about what your students have been doing to keep you humble in your classroom.

Um, one submission was that a student said, miss, you look like a puppet coming out of an onion. In the best way possible. The, I, I'm trying to fathom what they meant by that. If maybe there was like. a lot of layers happening with the outfit. And that's why she looked like a puppet coming out of an onion.

But that would be difficult to recover from. And on that same note, another student apparently said, your style looks like someone who takes their cat camping. And I don't know not to come for art teachers because I love, I love our art teachers, but I feel like that's the description of that style specifically, you know, is like very like Maybe exuberant and colorful and a lot of like, floating layers happening.

So I don't know, I don't think this was, these descriptions were the same teacher, but Either way, they're gonna, they're gonna keep us humble one way or another. If you guys have thoughts about what we talked about today, or you have something insane that your student said to keep you humble in class, you can reach out to us on my profile on Educator Andrea on Instagram and TikTok, or you can email us at Andrea at human content.

com, or you can visit us on TikTok at humancontentpods. Obviously, this is a new podcast, so thank you guys so much for tuning in and giving your reviews and comments. I so appreciate it. It makes such a big difference to the podcast and helping people hear the podcast and learn about it. Make sure you leave a review on your favorite podcasting app and we might give you a shout out on the next episode.

You can also get full video episodes up every week on YouTube. Thank you guys so much for listening. I'm your host, Andrea Forgham. A special thank you to our wonderful guest, Andrea Kaspari. Our executive producers are Andrea Forgham, Aron Korney, Rob Goldman, and Shahnti Brooke. Our editor is Andrew Sims.

Our engineer is Jason Portizzo. Our music is by Omer Ben Zvi. Our recording location is the Indiana State Bi College of Education. To learn more about Those Who Can't Do's program disclaimer and ethics policy and submission verification and licensing terms, you 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 of 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.