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Ep. 13 Educated or Just Examined? · The Group Chat

• Carson: What's up everybody? This is the group chat and I'm Carson. Paulina: I'm Paulina. Brandon: I'm Brandon. I'm Brennan, that's Paulina. Carson: Ha ha. Paulina: Hey. We we practiced. Carson: Alright, welcome to the show. So we practiced that a few times and we still managed to screw it up. So anyways, we'll we'll ch you know, we roll like freaking squares, but here we go. today we're gonna talk about teaching and education, seeing as we're all teachers here. ⁓ teachers, tutors, the mix of all that. So before we get into our standard Brandon: That's how we do. That's how we roll. Paulina: For real. Brandon: Conversation. Carson: We're gonna start with a new segment. Today is the first time ever. It's gonna be great. It's gonna be the best thing ever. It's called Where I'm From. So this segment, in these segments, we're talk about, ⁓ we're gonna make comparisons to ⁓ the topic we're discussing, of course, today, ⁓ education, ⁓ talk about it of ⁓ from the perspective of ⁓ here in Spain, we currently live, ⁓ and looking back to where we're from, whether the US Poland. ⁓ we have unique experiences there. So let's get into it. Where I'm from, it's quite different. I don't know about y'all, but teaching, schools, the whole ordeal is a bit different. What comes to mind for y'all? Paulina: Yeah. Brandon: Go ahead, Paulina. I always get to go first. Alright, I'll go. as far as teaching, can't really say anything about that because I only taught here. Well, I kind of taught in the US, but majority of teaching is here in Spain. But as a student, one of the biggest things that I think is different is the ⁓ Paulina: Brandon, you can you you can start first. I'm I'm still I'm still thinking about exactly what's so different. Brandon: yeah, the school spirit. Yeah, I remember my school, like like we actually cared about our school and like representing ⁓ like going to all the games, no matter it's football or track meets, basketball, soccer, baseball, everything. Like the everyone was always going going to the games and we talked about this earlier, but the pep rallies, cheerleaders, everything, the whole the thing. ⁓ And that here that doesn't exist at all. Carson: For sure. ⁓ yeah. Gets people going. True. No, it's true. I missed those. Yeah, those were fun. And you're right, I haven't seen anything remotely like that here. So gotta say, it's a little strange. Paulina: Yeah. True Yeah. I can't share that experience a hundred percent because I mean my school was in the city, so like it's n really difficult to have cheerleaders in a high school in a city and I'm talking about like New York City and Manhattan. It's quite difficult to have like even the space to practice ⁓ American football or soccer or basketball or anything like that. ⁓ However, yes, my school had their own mascot, they had their team, there were still games that people attended. So that aspect yes, but we didn't have cheerleaders, funny enough. Carson: Huh. Well, where's the motivation? Paulina: Yeah, there is no chair feel. Brandon: Are we it we We had cheerleaders, dance team, everything. Carson: True, same. Same, same. okay. Paulina: Yeah, dance team yes. Yeah. We didn't have cheerleaders. It was very weird. I don't know why. Carson: But did the dance team come and perform at halftime during sports like matches or games or no? Brandon: Okay. Paulina: I don't know. I didn't really go to many of those games. Like for me it was just huh, like I have better things to do. I was the nerd a little bit, so I didn't really care about too much. Yeah. Brandon: Yeah. Ha ha. Carson: Haha. Erd alert. Brandon: No yeah. For us for sure. Sometimes it'd be the cheerleaders performance and the dead scene dependent. They go back and forth. Carson: I gotcha. I gotcha, I gotcha. Yeah, I think they sometimes both did it. But ⁓ yeah, just that makes me think of sports in general. Th there's no school sports here. I haven't heard of one school that has well you know, they do some schools do like a light league where they play other schools in the immediate area, but it's nothing super organized. Paulina: Yeah. Carson: And it's certainly not there certainly aren't levels to it. pretty much you just have enough kids for one ⁓ team, you know, maybe over across two or three different grade levels or something like that. ⁓ nothing on the level of the United St on United States, like where we have volleyball teams, we have ⁓ basketball, soccer, ⁓ baseball, had baseball. Like in middle school we even had a lacrosse team. ⁓ maybe even a street hockey we had a street hockey team. It's like Paulina: Yeah. Brandon: Everything. Paulina: Yeah. Brandon: ⁓ yeah, we have a cross. Paulina: ⁓ I'm just. Like who needs that though? Like d it's crazy, right? Carson: None of that here. So that's who needs that? I think it's I think it's important. I think it makes you know Brandon: That's there. So whatever sport you play, well you have a team, you can go out and and do your thing. Paulina: It's important, but Carson: Yeah. It encourages people to be more fit in. So I think it's with it. Paulina: Alright, fun fact. True. Fun fact, I was on a bowling team, so I can't say shit. And Tony still makes fun of me because I was on a bowling team. Like it's not even an actual like there's no physical exercise really with bowling. You push a bowl, you throw a ball, and that's about it. But I was on a bowling team and I didn't have to go to gym class. Carson: Holding too. Yo. Paulina: Because that was part of the gym credit. Like legit. If you did dance or if you did theater or if you did bowling or any type of sport, you were like exempt from going to to gym classes, to PE classes. You had like a waiver. And yeah. So my or if you did like outside of school activities as well and you could prove that that you go to yoga classes or Pilates or whatever type of thing, you could be exempt from like the school gym classes. Brandon: All right. Yeah. Carson: Hmm. Paulina: I haven't seen any well, no, actually that's a lie. We have seen something like that here. But that's in general like you're exempt from regular classes. We had students like that. but yeah. But but yeah, I was on a bowling theme and I didn't have to go to PE classes. So I know, right? Carson: That's a good point. I was just thinking, I'm glad you brought it up. Yeah, I wanted to go into that. Huh that's wild. Brandon: Yeah. At my at my school we ⁓ in high school we didn't have P E 'cause we were required to play sports. Like you had to play sport for like a on our school team or if not you had to do something outside of school. And so we didn't have E because it's all that time was dedicated to classes and so you did sports outside. Carson: ⁓ okay. Huh. Paulina: Interesting. Carson: Interesting. Jinx. You owe me a coke. You owe me a Coke 'cause I'm from Georgia. So no we didn't that's different from from where I was. From where I'm from. So we had the school teams and everybody had PE Paulina: Yo me sora. Brandon: Mm-hmm. Carson: It was usually split one semester would be PE, the other would be health, I guess when we got to high school. Before that, you had PE, I believe, the whole school year. and I will say after having been a PE teacher in Spain, the the expectations for students way higher in the United States in terms of physical exertion. way higher expectations. More mile runs. More drills, more timed events, just way more structure and way more demanding. So something I think is missing here as well as what you said, Paulina, about the students not the the student athletes who are at a high level not ha even having to go to school for any of their classes, not just PE. But no classes at all. That did not exist at my school and at any level, high school, middle school, whatever. I mean the student athletes, we practiced every day, we had games on Fridays, we went to PE, we were never exempt from PE. If anything, the expectation was even higher for our performance. Like, if you start slacking the PET should like, Hey, am I gonna have to talk to your basketball coach? This is unacceptable. Like So just way different standard. Paulina: No, no. Yeah. Carson: At least in terms of B, yeah. Paulina: True. Yeah, and they had to very often from what I have seen, a lot of the kids that were on baseball team or soccer teams, they actually had to keep a certain level for like their grades. They they couldn't get anything below a C or like a B minus in order to still be on the team. Because if they see that they're slipping up with their grades, that's ⁓ that's because of sports. Obviously that's not always the case. ⁓ you know, it could be family issues or whatever other thing. You're you're a high school kid, like it could be anything. Carson: Mm. Mm-hmm. Paulina: But they had it as that if your grades are below a certain level, like you can stay on the team for I don't know, that semester until you actually, you know, sort of go up, you know, you increase your grades and whatever. So improve your grades, yeah. Brandon: Yeah. Carson: Well Huh. Something like that rings a bell to me, but I don't remember exactly what wa what were the criteria or what was a system in place, but I think it was more or less a communication between the coaches and parents about needing to a child to spend a little more time studying as opposed to going to practice every day. Maybe they mispractice once or twice a week to get a few extra hours or something like that. So maybe like an unstructured, you know, compensation. Brandon: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Paulina: Mm-hmm. Brandon: Yeah. No, we had to have the grades. I can't remember what it was, but I think like a D, you're probably sitting out you weren't gonna play. Carson: Hmm. Yeah. I d I just can't recall. Paulina: And anything else that like you guys are you think is very different? Because the thing that comes to my mind is prom. I don't think they have prom here in Spain. Not that I know of. Like they have the end of the year sort of like trips, which I think in the States also that happens. I I remember my school had end-of-the-year trip and we went like to Pocanos or somewhere upstate or no? Brandon: We live. Not down south. No. You may go on a trip with your friends, but not like the entire class, your entire group going somewhere. No. Not like they do here. O three for me. Carson: I don't think we did. I don't think so. Maybe. Yeah. Spring break ⁓ eight, Panama City Beach. Shout out to those who are there. Y'all are the real ones. A three. Paulina: No, we we ha we had end of the year trips, but going back to this idea of of prom, I don't think that exists in in Spain. In Poland it does. They have like a prom but they celebrate it. Also it's a very different idea because they celebrate it in January, because in May they write their final exams. So it's they call it Studňufka, which means a hundred days or something like that. ⁓ and it's a hundred days up until their final exam. So they're celebrating, like they get, you know, all the crazies out before they have this time to study and prepare for the exams. Yeah. Carson: Wow, interesting. Well it's cool that they have something like that. Brandon: So Paulina: Yeah. And they take it very seriously. They do like a whole ⁓ dance as a class or like as a grade. prepare a dance, they go to practices and it's it's beautiful. I didn't have one because I didn't study in Poland, but it's wow. Yeah. Carson: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Well. Yeah, I was gonna say, I was gonna ask. ⁓ cool. Traditions. Yeah. I w Paulina: Yeah. Very different to American prom. Carson: I was never too we we just you know, at some point in during the dance get in a big circle and everybody just take their turns giving it their best, you know, showing off their their best moves and shit like that. But Brandon: Just a little bit. Paulina: Ha ha. Brandon: Hmm. Paulina: Yeah. Brandon: Yeah. Paulina: So anything else to this segment or Carson: what else? Brandon: Mm-hmm. Carson: I was I was thinking lockers and time between classes. I remember in high school we had seven minutes between classes. ⁓ between second and third period we had ten minutes. I also would sell the best cookies. They must have been they were homemade. Hot, soft, just two for a dollar. A dollar. A dollar, people. I would I would get ⁓ almost every day. I'm a cookie monster. What what can I say? Paulina: Mm-hmm. Carson: And just having that time to go to your locker, to have a locker where you could store your things, your books out, ⁓ a notebook, ⁓ don't know, maybe you have a snack there you want to grab between classes. Maybe you need to hit the head, go to the bathroom. ⁓ normal things the students need to do, everybody to do, and they shouldn't have to interrupt class, you know? So that that structure way more effective. ⁓ And you could b you learn a little bit about time management even in those seven minutes. ⁓ You just ⁓ Paulina: Yeah. Brandon: No. No. You no, you learn a lot about it. Paulina: ⁓ yeah. Carson: I think it helps you. I think it helps you understand that you gotta be somewhere at a certain time or else there's that you know, a little bit of ridicule, like teachers like, ⁓ yeah, you're late again and you're still and your classmates like, ⁓ sh ⁓ you know. It stings a little bit. You know, once or twice and you're like, Okay, I think I'm gonna shape up and get to class on time. Paulina: Yeah. I was just late to my to my regular like first A AM class because I was waiting, you know, at a coffee cart and I was just trying to get my coffee. I'm walking with a coffee and of course, same idea. He was like, ⁓ so you're five minutes late, where were you? And it's like No, was the train, you know, it was a train delay and like, Yeah, the train delay, you got a coffee? Yeah, I was already late, so why not? ⁓ But yeah, there is this aspect of time management, right? In between classes it's like you have five minutes or ten minutes and it's like trying to do the most that you can and Carson: Here it doesn't exist. They just move ⁓ from one room to the other. They don't move rooms. Teachers move, whatever the system is. It's it's whack. I gotta say, I don't like it. I don't think it's good. I think it's, you know, animals in cages is what it makes it feel like. They're not they do. Just pass that fret in the hall, they don't get to see all day. Maybe they never get to see them unless they pass each other a hole, they get to say the one thing or ask a quick question, catch up on last night's show that they were both watching, blah blah blah. Paulina: Definitely. Brandon: Mm-hmm. Yeah. They need a change of scenery. Paulina: Yeah. Yeah. Carson: Yeah no, that those are important moments. Those are social social development moments that I think are really, really important and undervalued. But looking back, man, where Paulina: For sure. Brandon: Right. Carson: I'm from, ⁓ I was all about that. All about seeing my friends, ⁓ you know, giving ⁓ the the handshakes, whatever, just ⁓ chilling a second, on the wall, hanging the locker, ⁓ ⁓ Whatever, man. Paulina: Making out at the lockers, separating other hyenas, making out by your lockers like Brandon: He knows. Carson: Gotta do what you gotta do. Brandon: We have we have five minutes in between classes. But we also had like a campus. So we had different buildings we had to go to. So sometimes you didn't have any time at all because you had to run to the other building. Because if if you were late the teacher locked the door and you couldn't go in, so Paulina: Alright. ⁓ Carson: Yeah. True. Ooh, locking the door. It's a good one. Yeah, my s our school was pretty big too. It was two stories and sometimes you had to walk across the whole school, go upstairs. Maybe your locker was not near your classroom. So yeah, it's not it's not like you always had time to go say what's up to your buddies. So that's a big one for me. A big one that I noticed right away here in Spain, I was like, ⁓ poor kids, and they just don't have that extra you know, just to say something that teachers not gonna overhear. Paulina: For sure. Carson: J b like, you can't just watch these kids and have them on camera. I mean it's just not they start behaving a certain way, you know, they don't behave naturally. It's What else? Where I'm from Paulina: Yeah. For sure. Would that be all? Brandon: I think that's it for now, yeah. I'm sure there's always something else. but Carson: Those are the big ones. Paulina: Yeah. Great. Carson: Right. Will. What's next? I wanted to read I wanted to read something just to kind of get the party started, right? I like myth. Carson reads things. Paulina: With that topic? Yeah. Yeah. My God. Carson Reeds. All right. Surprise. I'm scared what you're gonna pull up right now. Brandon: Since when could you read? Carson: you think I remember that? ⁓ okay. I just put this into perplexity earlier just to get some idea because I know obviously the education systems curriculums curricula has ⁓ everywhere. And a few of the biggest shifts since the nineteen seventies and eighties are more standardized testing. ⁓ And curricula, more standardized curricula. greater use of technology, more inclusion and support for diverse learners, ⁓ good thing, obviously. ⁓ a stronger focus on student-centered teaching rather than one size fits all classrooms. ⁓ ⁓ kind of sets the tone. ⁓ think maybe we can all agree that more technology in the classroom ⁓ probably a good thing and probably helpful ⁓ it's used ⁓ ⁓ but the biggest thing as I was doing this a little bit of diving in is the standardized testing. I think that's a big point of contention for a lot of students and teachers that we end up teaching to the exam. ⁓ start learning how to pass an exam. ⁓ I just wanted to know your y'all's thoughts on that. ⁓ Paulina: ⁓ I mean I think that has been around for quite some time. I mean if that w you that was the a rule or a law that you read from seventies, right, or something like that? Like how it's changed. Yeah. Brandon: Yeah, Paulina. Carson: Well that's just how it's changed since the seventies and eighties. A little bit more I mean a lot more standardized testing, as opposed to before in the seventies and eighties and even prior, the you know, local teachers and schools had a little bit more flexibility in terms of what they would teach their kids, how they would teach them, and now it's more like cut and dry, like this is what you have to teach them, yes or yes. I know we don't say that in English, but C O C. you you have to do this, yes. You know? So that was that's just kinda like one of the big chang biggest changes and what do we think? Brandon: Mm-hmm. Paulina: Yes or yes. Yeah. It's it's definitely true. I do think I mean I wasn't around back in the in the sixties or seventies, so I can't really compare it to that, obviously. Even even though apparently in the other episode I said I'm about fifty years old, I that was a lie. but no, ⁓ Brandon: no? Carson: The fuck? You weren't? House of lies. Paulina: It's it's true. I think when you look at the education system, it's definitely heavily focused on on exams. ⁓ whether it's the SATs or EBAO or other type of exams, as well as ⁓ here in Spain the the Cambridge exams, right? So is you sort of just Carson: Yeah. Paulina: go with the idea of like okay you need to teach them how to take an exam because this is something that they need for their life. And it's true. Those exams also help with choosing university, getting into university, like SAT scores. SAT scores for people who are now Americans, it's like similar idea of like standard it's a I don't know exactly what it's called, but it's a standardized test that they test you on English skills, math, and something else. I don't remember now. English Carson: It's reading, writing, math and science I think are combined. Is there some history there? Brandon: It's a a little bit of history in the Paulina: Yeah, and one of others. Maybe, possibly. ⁓ and you also have a lot of preparations for that in your school and very often people also pay like outside tutors to prepare you for this type of exam. ⁓ and those scores sort of help you determine which universities you can apply to. Carson: Yeah. Exactly. Paulina: And for me that's something that's crazy. ⁓ don't fully agree with this. ⁓ one hand, yes, because there needs to be something that determines, you like we have these Ivy League schools, ⁓ and is something that determines what you should, you know, where is that ⁓ However, ⁓ the time, some people are just not good test takers. And there needs to be a little bit more room for creative projects, for developing other skills than just taking a test. and I was very fortunate personally that I went to a school that didn't have regions. I don't know if you guys had regents. You guys know what regents are? So regents are also Carson: Sounds familiar. It's like C R C T like the standardized testing. Yeah. Brandon: No, I'm not sure. Paulina: Yeah, they're also tests. I think you start them I don't know if they're in high school or in middle school. ⁓ you can get do them for A P classes, ⁓ so advanced placement, or you could also do them for like regular courses and those scores also determined something. I don't remember and I don't know because I didn't have to take regents because my school was very much so project based assessment. We had PBAs. And everything that we did it was either essays, I don't know, some sort of project, presentations, I don't know Carson: Cool. Paulina: theatrical performances and things like that. There were some classes that we had to take an exam, but the exam had also like a component that allowed you to be a little bit more creative. ⁓ and I honestly preferred that so much better than ⁓ I have seen with that my friends were struggling studying for the regions. And studying something and doing tests that they just don't want to do. Carson: Sure. Mm-hmm. Right. Paulina: I think something like that is ideal personal. Carson: Yeah, I think like you said, you were lucky, you were fortunate to have have had that experience. And I believe that some schools do make an effort to adapt their curricula to Paulina: Yeah. Carson: have a bit more of like a balanced spreadsheet in terms of not just having exams make up the largest component of the grade or largest percentage of their overall grade, but having, like you said, projects, participation points, essays ⁓ in addition to the exam, not just having multiple choice, A B C D memorize the answers, that type of that type of situation. Yeah. Paulina: Yeah. Brandon: See, I don't remember any of that from high school. I just remember basically just going to class, doing your if you had A B classes, whatever, you do your exam and that was it, and taking the ACT or SAT and that was it. Like it wasn't the pressure that I see here in in Spain. Like everything everything is in preparation for Ibao or Bao or Selectividad, whatever you want call it. It changes every year. But everything you do is preparation for that. Paulina: Yeah. Yeah. Brandon: Once you get to your senior year, bach in segundo bachato, it's eighty percent of your grade are your exams. Eighty percent. Carson: Phew. That's wild. That's so big. And we can see. Dude, are you my mind? What's going on with you today? ⁓ that's that's just and part of this is that nowadays we're seeing students have higher levels of anxiety and stress and you know disturbed sleep. ⁓ Paulina: Wild jinx. Course. Course. Carson: you know, eating, changed appetites, this things that kids they shouldn't have. They shouldn't be exposed to it so young. They have plenty of time in their adult lives to be stressed out and deal with things that are maybe unnecessary, but they'll be more equipped, you know, better equipped to deal with it when they get older. But so yeah, I can't I can't get on board with that. Teaching for the exam, study for the exam. You gotta learn this because you're gonna have an exam. It takes the fun out of learning. Brandon: shouldn't have. Carson: And that takes you know, the motivation away from individual progression or the will to progress oneself through education, through knowledge, the the attainment of knowledge. And so it's definitely not conducive, I think, to learning. Is that that high pressure, high stakes? We saw it at when we were working all at the same school and these kids, you know, having panic attacks ⁓ class, whether or not it's because they prepared or just because ⁓ the stress got to them in that moment. ⁓ lot of pressure. ⁓ Paulina: Yeah. Brandon: Yeah. Or the pressure. Paulina: Yeah. Carson: A lot of pressure to perform on an exam that Paulina: Or other w other students sorry. Are other students not having panic attacks but just not giving a shit at all because they have other more important subjects to to worry about? because they're gonna be writing and about for that subject rather than whatever other subject that you're teaching. So them not being prepared because they're trying to balance out like, okay, what is more important? Do I really care if I pass this subject right now or or this exam or do I prepare for something else? Like prioritizing it. Carson: Right. Yeah. Which is a good skill to learn, of course. Paulina: Yeah, but is it really Yeah. No, no, go ahead, go ahead, yeah. Carson: Then on that Brandon, what's up? Brandon: No no, I was just laughing. Cause yeah, it's good for them to prioritize, but on the other side is when it's your subject that gets forgotten. Carson: Yeah. but then I know we are past our segment from earlier, but Paulina: Exactly, yeah. Carson: Here, and I can't speak to all the p public schools, but I know that in the private school, and at least in private schools, and some of them, if not all of them, you have so many retakes if you don't do well on the exam. And this may just be a normal, you know, subject exam that you have throughout the trimester or whatever. But I think that really discourages students from preparing and time managing And they're just saying, well, if I don't do well, ⁓ I take it at some point. ⁓ Paulina: Yeah. Brandon: That's what I explained to my students, is like if you didn't pass, you had summer school. And that summer school was that's what it was, you go there in summer class. It's like there's no other option. It's not ⁓ let me have twenty seven retakes ⁓ see if I can pass this class. No. If you don't pass it, alright. See you in a couple of weeks when summer school starts. ⁓ Carson: What is that? Paulina: Yeah. Carson: Yes. Paulina: Yeah. Carson: Yeah. And what's yeah, that's the fun killer is I can't hang out, friends. ⁓ have to go to summer school because I failed math, because I didn't take it seriously. ⁓ I learned my lesson. ⁓ what? Next year ⁓ gonna get the help I need. I'm gonna stay after class, I'm gonna get a tutor, I'm gonna make sure that I at least pass the subject. ⁓ I don't see students having that kind of ⁓ ⁓ that discipline. ⁓ that's a problem. Paulina: Sure. Yeah. Brandon: No. Paulina: For sure. Brandon: Very much so. Paulina: And with the retakes, d did any of you guys ever ever like have you guys gone to summer school? Have you did it happen to you guys or no? Carson: Feel like a Feel like I had to once. I feel like it was math. I gotta ask my mom about this, because I remember going somewhere, but I don't remember going for a long time. Maybe it was like a week, two weeks. It wasn't it wasn't very intense if it if that's what it was. Yeah, there's a place in my mind, but I don't maybe I'm confusing things, you know, sometimes your memories get fabricated. But it's possible. I do know that I had a tutor for one subject in high school, physics. Paulina: Okay. Brandon: Mm-hmm. Carson: I just couldn't wrap my head around it. I don't know why. I would see the problem and I couldn't visualize it and I couldn't apply the correct formulas. I just didn't there were things I wasn't getting. It was like the steps were not as straightforward as another as in just standard like math classes. So I did have a tutor once. Paulina: Okay. Brandon: That's another thing. For example, I never took physics. I didn't need physics, so I didn't take it. Paulina: Yeah, same. I had chemistry but not physics. Brandon: And here in Spain, everyone takes everything, all the course and no matter what. Paulina: Mm. Carson: They have more flexibility when it comes to the first year of Bachiroto or the second? Or both? Brandon: Mm it it depends on what you're studying, but in general if whatever, if you're gonna go with science you have to do yeah, you have to do certain classes and then in Segundo Bachelor you have the choice to get a little bit more specific in Segundo. In social sciences it's well no, it's the same. You have a little bit more option in this second year. Carson: Okay. Okay. That's what I've heard. That's what's something yeah. Something I've heard. Yeah. Paulina: Very different system. For for me it was very different system. I mean, I had from freshman year we could choose our electives. Like we would have our like regular classes and then we we could choose like one or two electives, I think it was. ⁓ and then like I think once you got to senior year, you had like the core classes, which is I don't know, like English, math, and the history, for example. Brandon: Really. Paulina: And then you could choose your like science electives, you could choose technology, whatever, like theater, whatever you wanted. Like you have the freedom to choose what like you would put numbers which one you prefer to be your like first choice and and that's that like you would get your electives. Carson: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I remember having more freedom, for sure. It could always I was always encouraged by my parents to take A P classes, but I personally wasn't s really into school. I was like, I wanna get good grades in the normal classes instead of getting possibly lower grades in the harder classes. Wasn't the right mentality. I should have definitely challenged I mean I kinda wish I had challenged myself more, ⁓ because that would've set me up maybe for college to be a bit maybe perhaps more ambitious. But Brandon: Exactly. Carson: hindsight 2020, you know? But we did have the options. And yes, you could choose a language. Spanish was taken very fast, so I started with French. I I finished, I continued with French, four years of French. And so yes that could Paulina: Yeah. Yeah. We we we Brandon: Hehehe. Carson: So that could serve me well if I prefer if I choose to go back to studying that I'll definitely remember. I heard some the other day and I understood almost everything, surprisingly. So ⁓ anyways, the point is you do have more freedom control over what you're doing in high school, not absolute control, obviously there was still some you did have to choose a math, you did have to choose a science, at least in my school. Did y'all ever see yourselves becoming teachers? Paulina: Point sure. Yeah. Carson: y'all ever see yourselves becoming teachers? ⁓ Paulina: No. No. Carson: This guy knew. I a really ⁓ I ⁓ ex explicitly that I never wanted to be a teacher. ⁓ It like not on my radar or anything, it was just like I I saw my mom as a teacher, ⁓ I the work she brought home. ⁓ This guy knew. Yeah. I have a really I remember ex explicitly stating that I never wanted to be a teacher. It wasn't like not on my radar or anything, it was just like I I saw my mom as a teacher, I saw the work she brought home. Brandon: Definitely not. Definitely not. Paulina: ⁓ não, não. ⁓ não, não. Brandon: It it's something I still don't believe now. It it's something I still don't believe now. Carson: all the stress that she had dealing with students and parents, different school systems, different counties in Georgia. And I said, no, thank you. That looks like way more stress than it's worth. more time. ⁓ a lot of money. ⁓ worth it. But all the stress that she had dealing with students and parents, different school systems, different counties in Georgia. And I said, no, thank you. That looks like way more stress than it's worth. Way more time. Not a lot of money. Not worth it. But Paulina: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Carson: Here we are. Here we are. Paulina: ⁓ Brandon: Exactly. It's like my family, like they they still can't figure it out. They can't believe it, ⁓ of all people like I became a teacher. It's like really? Like this little kid that doesn't talk, like he's a teacher? Like how does that class work? But it Carson: No, look at that doesn't Paulina: Yeah. Carson: Why is you just get in the classroom and stare at a kids? Paulina: I mean it works somehow, right? I mean like s sorry. If it works somehow, Brenda. I mean Brandon: No, yeah, defin no, it's ⁓ honestly like w when I'm in a classroom, I'm a completely different person. Where did that person come from? I don't know, but he's there. He's there. Yeah. Carson: You created him. He's your he's your character. That's cool, man. Paulina: S sorry Car Carson you were saying I like we said something at the same time. Carson: It's just happening today. You and I are on the same wavelength. So it's a good thing. Like I don't know, it's like we're friends or something. I don't know. Can't put my finger on it, but No, great mindsink alike. ⁓ Paulina: For real, right? Like there is something here like maybe just a little bit. Brandon: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. ⁓ yeah. Carson: Yeah, you we we transformed ourselves, right? We we I mean I didn't have many options when I came to Spain. In fact, I I came to Spain the pretense ⁓ of of being an auxiliar, an assistant English teacher. So that was my first job before I even came here. It was decided for me that ⁓ how I would ⁓ my way into the the job market. ⁓ so just naturally became this is the thing you're doing, and you get better at it, you practice it, and ⁓ you get ⁓ accustomed to doing it and I won't say that it's the hardest job I've had overall. In some ways it has been. Maybe maybe that's not the right way to go about it, but it's not all that bad I should say. It's there are rewarding moments Brandon: Yeah. Carson: if really enjoy your coworkers, like you ⁓ made some friends out of it, so I can't complain. ⁓ You know, who you work with matters the most. Who you work for, of course, matters. ⁓ If you at least somewhat see eye to eye with most or all those people, then it makes the experience way better. ⁓ And ⁓ some flexibility in what you teach and how you teach is huge too, and I did have that. At least in my first year, I definitely had that, and even in my second year ⁓ Brandon: Definitely. Paulina: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Carson: of teaching I had that. ⁓ so that was nice. ⁓ strictly you must do this all the time. There was a little bit of leeway. ⁓ ⁓ think the kids enjoyed it that way. It wasn't so cut and dry. They weren't always ⁓ the same thing and sometimes it's to just be a little surprised. ⁓ Keep their toes. ⁓ Paulina: For sure. Brandon: Yeah. I wanted to say this, you were talking about rewarding moments that happen. So obviously what a couple of weeks ago I was on the cruise with the students, with ⁓ the seniors that graduated. Paulina: ⁓ so that's why you weren't here. ⁓ Carson: Right. Brandon: And ⁓ I was sitting next to a student on the bus as I don't know, we were going, ⁓ I think we were in Italy and we were talking just about music. Because he likes music, he likes like hip hop, rap and everything. We were talking about different artists and different albums and things. And we started talking about ⁓ Jay-Z. Talking about Jay-Z, and I was like, yeah, I was like, well, I like the blueprint, that's one of my favorite albums of his. Carson: Act like you didn't know. Brandon: And we're just going about different things. And then later when we went to France, he actually went to ⁓ he found a CD shop and bought it, the blueprint. And he gave this to me on graduation. Like he was graduating and he gave me a gift. So those that was one of those rewarding moments like when you see there are good people, good kids, and it gives you a little bit of hope for the future. Carson: Hey, look at that. ⁓ Paulina: Aww that's very sweet. Carson: That's awesome. That's awesome. Paulina: Yeah. Carson: Yeah. Something to remember by. That's cool. That's cool. And just those for me also those moments of when they when they when something clicks with them, when you see them have that aha moment. Paulina: Sure. Brandon: Definitely. Carson: And you're like, uhhuh, yeah, you know you see it, don't ya? And it just you know, they can't there's no going back at that point and you know that they're better for it. And you don't have to take the glory, you don't have to say, I'm the one who showed you the door if you walk through it or whatever, all that shit. It's just rewarding to see it and you see somebody learning and ⁓ having a positive impact on them. It's ⁓ really get that a lot like you can as a ⁓ teaching, I should say. Paulina: ⁓ no, it's definitely the rewarding moments, but it's also this idea of like as Carmen said that like little moments of the huh like the light bulb where the gears are turning, right? ⁓ right now I currently work with mainly mainly adults. ⁓ so it's it's different a little bit, you know, because I'm usually younger than my students. It's it's funny. It's like it's it's it's like the roles are sort of like are supposed to be reversed, right? Like technically my teachers should be older, right? But a lot of my students are in their forties, fifties, so they are the ones that are older, but they're still learning and like the moment that you see like that as someone who is younger that you're still able to teach something to a person that is almost sometimes like double your age, right? Almost, ⁓ it's like incredible. It's it's a completely different feeling that like I didn't experience that when I was teaching kids. Because teaching kids or teenagers is also different, you know, like they hear one thing in one ear out the other, they forget it the next day, they don't really care about it. Right? And they prepare for an ex them and that's it and they forget about it. But with adults that actually want to learn, they hear it, they pay attention, they will repeat the word, they will bring it up the next class and they will actually like, Paulina, remember that time when you told me about this thing? It's pronounced like this, right? Or this is how it connects and or like, I've watched the show and they this phrase that we have seen in class. And I'm like, like yes, thank you, you know? So it's it's a different type of rewarding, you know, but it's it's amazing. Yeah. It's amazing, you know. Yeah. Yeah. And it's not to it's not to like shit on the young students, you know, like Carson: For sure. No, for sure. They're listening more. Yeah. Just period. It's true though. Period. Brandon: They listen at all. Paulina: When you're a teenager you have like so much happening in your life, like all the friends drama, all the boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever drama, ⁓ drama with your parents, because they don't let you go out because whatever. ⁓ everything, right? Like your hormones are all over the freaking place. ⁓ it's true we're laughing, but it's true, right? Like I remember when I was a teenager. ⁓ so I don't really Carson: ⁓ yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Paulina: Like, for me it was, okay, if they don't want to hear this, they're not gonna listen. Like, if they're not in a mood, it's gonna be in one ear, out of the other. ⁓ it's it's a very different type of teaching and learning when you work with teens versus when you work with adults. Carson: Right. Totally. Brandon: But o but also with you, Paulina, teaching English at our school because the English level is so high. They are really good at English in general. And actually they said it in the graduation speech the other night, like it's like we're not gonna study for English 'cause we know everything. That's like their that's their mentality how it is with the with the subject. Other subjects, well, they could be a little bit more challenging and ⁓ topics and content that they don't they don't know. And so they may pay a little bit more attention, but with English ⁓ Paulina: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Brandon: It's difficult. Paulina: Exactly. And the literature aspect of it, like, sometimes the books that we had to teach, I was just like, really? Why are we teaching sorry to say this, I'm not a and I know who's gonna be really angry about this. I'm not a huge fan of Shakespeare. And don't like I don't enjoy teaching Shakespeare. It's not my cup of tea. Or I should say my not my cup of coffee. ⁓ It's just not it. Like I don't like it. ⁓ and for me to teach that, to have and to pretend that I'm actually enjoying it and to make the class fun, it's it's like much more frustrating. ⁓ and the kids don't enjoy literature. They enjoy their little fanfics, whatever. Carson: Mm. Paulina: rather than actual literature. And that's like we we need to adapt to that as well. Like, as the world is changing, we should literature that students can relate to a little bit more. Of course, there should be some classics, but teach classics like, I don't know, George Orwell's nineteen eighty four rather than teaching them Shakespeare. I mean personal opinion here, but Carson: For sure. For sure. No, I agree with you. I think that should change. I think that's just there has to there's a degree of re relevance. That certain content it just doesn't meet the level of relevance necessary to, you know, really get their attention, to keep their attention, to keep them focused on what you're teaching them. It's just Now un unfortunately is a side effect of social media, the internet age, and just AI and the whole thing where people just have short attention spans in general, but and everything has to be so exciting or it's just not cool enough or it's not interesting enough or you just fall off. Like, yeah. High stimulation. ⁓ Brandon: Mm. All the time. Paulina: Yeah. Carson: And then we crash. But you know, there's really no crash nowadays. It's like need a quick fix, I need it now. ⁓ then like so what you're saying in these ⁓ novels, ⁓ ⁓ older ⁓ ⁓ more built around the story. ⁓ patience, it's a slow ⁓ up. ⁓ are so many, you know, subtleties ⁓ things that you don't really catch and ca you don't really appreciate unless you're so engaged. ⁓ Paulina: Yeah. Carson: And it's really hard to get people to engage when they're not interested in it. ⁓ so you really hit the nail on the head there. ⁓ sure. I agree. 1984. ⁓ that should definitely be in a brave new world. Definitely should be in there. Highly relevant, timeless tales. Absolutely. Paulina: And how was your ex teaching experience in Spain? I mean, ⁓ all still teachers, like in general, h do you guys have a good experience? Like can you guys compare it to a different country? I mean, Brandon you sort of t touched upon that, like that you didn't really teach in in the States, so you don't really have much to compare. ⁓ about Carson? Carson: I've only taught here in Spain. I was a personal trainer in the US, so different kind of teaching. I wouldn't really I can't directly compare it. but what you did say about kids versus adults is huge. so no, my overall experience in Spain, I would just have to say teaching in general is that it's really important that you're passionate about helping young people become Paulina: Yeah. Carson: educated and informed as they get older and meeting them, like you said, like you brought up ⁓ very well, Paulina, that hormones are changing, they're having this crisis ⁓ some extent. ⁓ many things. ⁓ life is so crazy, even though it's not, ⁓ know, even though really it's not, but in their minds it is. ⁓ so their reality is is such. ⁓ Brandon: So many things, so many things going on. Paulina: Yeah. Yeah. Carson: And so just you really it really pays to appreciate the process and to reflect excuse me, to reflect on on your adolescence when you're teaching teens or your childhood, if you're teaching younger kids, and just kinda meet them where they are. So that that was eye opening and I I think that helped me appreciate the process more and put less pressure on the students and of course on myself. And just trying to change my the way that I would see teaching. And methodologies and stuff like that. So Yeah. Paulina: Fair. Brandon: I taught in the US it was just ⁓ I was teaching adults, teaching them English, like the the immigrants. ⁓ so that's com that's a whole different world, completely different than everything I've done here. So that's why I said there's no comparison. Because it it's completely different world. ⁓ Carson: What about y'all? Yes. Paulina: Yeah. True, yeah. Yeah. ⁓ Carson: But what's your overall impression of teaching, education? How do you see it? Brandon: You need lots of patience. Patience is necessary. And like you said, everything which you said, you have to have a passion. You have to want if you don't care about whatever you're teaching, well, how are they gonna care about it? So you have to care about it first, and then you have to have the patience because I think Pauline you said this earlier, talking about how everyone is so different, everyone learns a different way. You have to be able to adapt to Carson: Yeah. Paulina: For sure. Brandon: should be to every single student to try to reach them in whatever way is necessary for them. Yes, it's very difficult, but it's part of the profession and so you gotta step up to the plate and do it. Paulina: Yeah, for me, I mean I can compare a little bit but also it's not a crazy comparison because in the States, mm, I was teaching college students. There was a program that I think I talked about this in a different episode, ⁓ that was sort of like doing like tutoring services ⁓ for art history and and English composition and a little bit of French if I'm not mistaken. I think it was French one on one. Carson: Yeah. Paulina: So that's for students that needed that help. So like if you knew you needed that help, you would go to a center and and that's it. Like those people wanted to be there. Like they chose to be there. when I was working at a ⁓ Poland, I was working in two different academies, ⁓ same idea. Like those people pay money ⁓ be ⁓ to be at the academy. And they were usually adults. Majority of them were adults or already like, I don't know, seven. year old or eighteen year old, so they usually have their own money. I mean, maybe the not the 17 year olds, but it's usually also their choice to sort of continue learning, ⁓ for I don't know, to get a better job or to get into university or whatever the type of thing it is. ⁓ so it's it's slightly more difficult to compare teaching in an academy rather than teaching at a a private school. Right? And versus what I'm doing right now, which is like freelance, right? It's like on my own balls. Like I decide what I want to do and who I want to teach and like my Brandon: La hei la heifer. Paulina: hour all well, hours sometimes, you know, but it's ⁓ yeah, Laeva. It's it's very different, right? ⁓ so all of my experiences have been very different and it's I don't think it's a cultural thing. It's just the places in itself. Carson: Yeah. Cool. Yeah, you you more you you see such a variety of students the longer you're you're teaching and Brendan, like you said, you have to adapt your style continuously. You have to give each each kid a chance, each student a chance to to hone their strengths and and discover their weaknesses. And also let them work in a way that's more or less natural to them. Paulina: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Carson: still pushes them, you know, so they strive for improvement but not always relying on tests if you if you have the freedom at your school to to change your grading structure, you know, things like that. Paulina: Speaking of teachers. Carson, I can see. I can see your face got brighter. I can see. yes, we actually have notes for this episode. Look at us being prepared. but that's to Carson. I think Brendan, you also put something here, so ⁓ so Brendan, no. ⁓ right, ⁓ Carson: A good experience. Brandon: Hehehehe Carson: What's up? Brandon: All right. No no. I I have something else. Paulina: Carson, you you made a you wrote a question here of which of your teachers made a lasting impact on you as we're talking about teachers and teaching. You have one in your mind? Or no? Carson: Hmm. Yes. I don't want to say his name because I don't really know the etiquette for these types of things, but we'll call him Mr. B. Paulina: I don't gotta recall mine now by his name. I don't care. ⁓ Carson: Right? I don't know. ⁓ but it was English literature, if I'm not mistaken, been many years. It was the first first class of the day. And I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't too fond of the subject, it wasn't Brandon: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Carson: you know, Shakespeare. There's a lot of Shakespeare and yada yada yada. I think the Mark Twain was probably the best bit, but Right, he just seemed with it. He seemed really excited about his job. He really put some thought into it. He always I I wanna say, again, I could be fabricating memories, but he always wore a suit. I think every day he wore a suit. Dressed to the nines, always, and not the same suit. Different suits. It was so Paulina: God. Brandon: Mm-hmm. Paulina: I don't know what else he was doing because as a teacher to have that many suits, what type of money you must be making. ⁓ Carson: Look, I'm saying, okay, Peachtree City, Georgia, here's another thing, black teacher. At my school, ten percent black students. So definitely a minority. But he stood out because always wearing the suit, of course, and just having this attitude like his job was the most important job on the planet. That was his personality, that was his energy, and he took it seriously. And so I took the class a bit more seriously too. I tried to stay awake. No, I stayed awake. Somebody whose name I won't mention behind me slept every day because my tall ass would block their view. So I was I was strategically placed in front of ⁓ person. Anyways, he just man, ⁓ confidence, ⁓ class ⁓ ⁓ me. ⁓ Paulina: Okay. Brandon: That's important. Carson: still stays with me in that if you're gonna do something no matter how small the job is, not to say teaching at a high school in Future City, Georgia, a small job, because that's a good place to be teaching. We we have a we scored higher on the testing than a lot of other counties. It's probably not an easy job to get. But you know what I mean? It's to take it like to the next level. To really appreciate what you're doing. Dress differently, just Not be the same boring ass teacher. He was a you know, he he led engaging, exciting classes. So fond memories and yeah, I think I think a good role model. So so there's that. What about y'all? Paulina: It's impressive to wear to wear a suit every day to work. Like ⁓ man. Brandon: That's just Sarah. Carson: If not a suit, he was dressed. He was just dress like well dressed. Not just the average, basically. But I wanna say it was a suit. I'm gonna ask other people again, I have to ask other people. He was. And he and he yeah, I mean we were s were bad, but he never lost his temper with us. Like there were some moments, ⁓ myself, I'm sure. ⁓ Paulina: ⁓ okay. Brandon: Yeah. He was dressed to impress. Carson: Just talking shit, you know, kids just talk shit. Teenagers, they they use code. I remember I'd code with my friends, or say things that would mean things, and I'm not gonna dive old cheer. But you know, we'd say things and the teachers are smart, obviously. They know what we're doing. You know, he It's it's like that. But he was never he never got ugly, never got mean, never lost his temper. And just I loved his demeanor. I loved his whole whole character. Brandon: ⁓ Yeah, it's still like that now. Carson: It's like just stepped into this role and he's like, No, this is my ⁓ fought for this, I love my job, ⁓ I want my students to know that and maybe they'll be more interested and I definitely was. And when we were reading and ⁓ discussing, ⁓ felt more ⁓ just I don't know, just more comfortable ⁓ participating in the group discussion. It seems ⁓ seemed like a fun chat that I want to be a part of. ⁓ Paulina: It's nice to have those teachers, right? Brandon: I'm so sad. Carson: Yeah. Yes, definitely. Paulina: Brendan? Brandon: There's been a lot of teachers. None I can name a lot, not gonna do that, but I guess I wanna a special shout out to at a principal in elementary school. I can't remember his name, I can see his face. And then also my principal in high school. I wanna shout out them because they're actually two black principals, which is not very common, especially ⁓ East Tennessee. But they were both were professionals ⁓ definitely people to look up to. Carson: Mm-hmm. Okay. Paulina: Okay. Brandon: Especially ⁓ where we were from. And so they were good examples, good role models and I'll never forget them. But one of the teachers I wanna say is gonna be my art teacher, Miss Luttrell. Paulina: Mm-hmm. Brandon: I had it for for middle school and high school. And for the three years I middle school, they were completely horrible. Because I am not artistic. It was it was a struggle for those three years. ⁓ it it was rough. And for some reason, like last summer when I went home, like I was going through my closet and my mom has like all these paintings and all these things I made. I was like Carson: I'm the same man. Paulina: Course. Brandon: Why it it's like why were these not burnt? Exactly. It's like why are these still why do they still exist? Like they shouldn't be around. Carson: Ha ha. Paulina: Like with like the dry pasta, you know, like Carson: Yeah. I've got one framed, my mom framed one of them. Brandon: goodness they're horrible. I don't know, mine it mine is bad. Carson: I'll send you all picks next time. It's not bad. It's not my worst work, I will say. I don't know if it's my best. Paulina: My god, please guys, let's let's do that. Let's put a collection of our art our art from like middle school or high school or something. Brandon: no ⁓ Yeah, I don't wanna see that. Yeah. ⁓ anyway, I struggled through those three years of middle school and then finally in freshman year we had the opportunity to do photography. And so finally that was my opportunity to switch and I started with photography and I loved it and it's been something that I've been in love with ever since. What was that? Nineteen ninety nine. Carson: Cool. Yeah. You still do? True. Paulina: Damn. You were in high school in nineteen ninety nine? Carson: See man gonna party like it's ninety ninety nine. Brandon: Yeah, freshman year. My freshman year, yep. 99 2000. For the 99 2000. Juvie. Juvie. Carson: ⁓ Boump boop boum boom boum ⁓ the papa Paulina: Okay. I was like four years old then. Brandon: Yes, we all know your baby. Paulina: I was watching like the Rugrats or some shit. Brandon: And we were listening to Juvenile. Paulina: ⁓ man. Alright. Carson: And our senior year we were ⁓ nine and we always made fun of the next year. Were you guys gonna say ten, ten, ten, one zero, one zero? Brandon: Okay. Yeah, definitely not good. Sounded better. Carson: Well that's cool man. Yay. Yeah, it's not a bad word. Brandon: Alright, Miss Paulina. ⁓ No. That's leading into my next question. When once you finish this, I have question. Carson: Your turn. Paulina: Yeah, ⁓ Miss Paulina, I like that. It's like I'm a teacher, you know. Miss Paulina. well I have three teachers that sort of stand out in my in my mind. ⁓ I have Miss Fink, who is my high school teacher for English. and she made classes very interesting because it was reading But we would like psychoanalyze the characters. So we would read like Tawny Morrison, like Beloved. We would read Fear and Loading in Las Vegas. we read Alice in Wonderland and we would psychoanalyze the characters and dive deep into it. I think from that moment, I was like, my god, I really like ⁓ this I like to read even more than I liked before. And actually of it gave me ideas of like, okay, how I can write my own story. Carson: Nice. Cool. Paulina: and do my own writing. So it definitely like that class was for me like inspiration to start writing and doing like all these creative things. then I have also in high school Mr. Thorpe who's like I don't know if he actually liked me as a student because I was a bit annoying in his class, I think. Yeah. Carson: You? Annoying? Never. Paulina: Yeah, because I was I was really excited about the class and I feel like I would ask a lot of questions. ⁓ so I was like nerdy annoying. and it was a class that was an elective. that was connected to anthropology. It was ⁓ like I don't remember exactly the name, but we would look at also like crime scenes type of thing. So sort of like criminology with an aspect of anthropology to it as well. So it was we would look at like also like human evolution and like the human body and itself, like the anatomy and also how can that connected to criminology. So like if a person gets stabbed in the eye, like is it possible for them to actually survive, you know? if I don't know like the sort of like human evolution aspect of it as well, you know, like how we have adapted and changed as human beings. and that class later on when I had to choose my degree in at university, I studied anthropology because I was so fascinated with how like that class looked like and before I decided to go to university, I was looking at studying like Carson: Cool. Paulina: like ⁓ criminology, psychology, or ⁓ anthropology because of that one semester class. Carson: Wow. Huge impact. Brandon: That's the sound. Paulina: And and also he was teaching computer p programming and I had to learn how to program in like I don't know what I think was Python, I don't remember now. Awful. I hated that class because I couldn't get a different elective. But I like, Well, it's with Mr. Thorpe, so it'll be fine. And he went really easy on me with the projects. He was like, I know you can't like Carson: Yeah. Brandon: I know you can't do this. Paulina: I can't y you can't code for shit, you know? He was like, I'll give you extra time. He was like, Take it easy and he would like always come by, Paulina, how are you doing with this? I'm like, How do you think I'm doing? Like there, freaking disaster, crying at the computer. ⁓ it was bad. but he passed me, I think he gave me like a C, you know? He was like, Well, you tried, you came to class, you put in the effort, you asked questions Carson: Ha ha ha ha. ⁓ Ha ha ha. Ha ha. Paulina: You did a shitty project, but he did the project. So like he was a very understanding teacher, you know, and was there to actually like help you and push you. ⁓ and I had this is university. ⁓ I don't remember his last name, because he just went by Maxime. And Maxime was this little ⁓ French Canadian guy. ⁓ who was my French teacher and I absolutely adored him. Like his classes were never boring. ⁓ like you would walk into class from the first day he would just tell you to speak in French and we're like we only took French 101, we're in French 102 and you expect us to speak speak fluently and he goes, No no no Franc Franc and I'm like, ⁓ my god I was like I I need to ask you a very important question upon XM he was like what? Brandon: Mm-hmm. Paulina: And Francé, Franci and I'm like And after a year I spoke like amazing French because he like pushed us to actually just speak French all the time. We watched French movies, ⁓ we did like a lot of fun project. There were times where we wouldn't even sit down in a class because he would have us move around, talk to other people, do some sort of creative things. And I was like, my god, like a learning a language at a university level can be this fun. ⁓ Carson: Hmm. Paulina: You know, like you usually think in university you go and you study and that's it. Right? But it was like a whole different take on it. So, yeah, those three teachers, my my favorite. Of course there are many other, but those are the ones that sort of like stand out. I mean there's also creative writing teachers that I had, you know, like but Brandon: Yeah. Carson: So cool. Paulina: that's that's a whole different story. That's a whole different inspiration process. Like that's my creative process. But for like growing as a person, not just my creative aspect, but a real person and choosing my degree and learning languages, I would say I would say those three teachers. Carson: Nice. Brandon: That's cool. Carson: cool, I just I love seeing people who love their jobs. Paulina: Yeah, for sure. Carson: And teaching it's just crucial. You're gonna lose ⁓ You're never gonna get You might not even be able to lose 'cause you never had ⁓ But ⁓ know, these things help build you know, these lessons that we learn build help build other character, they give us ⁓ motivation to learning later in life ⁓ and ⁓ make appreciate ⁓ the people ⁓ who have in the work. ⁓ Paulina: Yeah. Yeah. Carson: And who just think outside the box and it's not just here's here's how you get your grade and do it. No, let's change the lesson, let's modify it more group activities, more projects, more hands-on. not just gonna read the book, take notes, copy, copy, copy, ⁓ know, regurgitate on exam day. It's ⁓ more to it than that. ⁓ gotta give ⁓ a chance to process it their way ⁓ give you their version of it and not say it has to be like this or it's wrong. ⁓ And so the great teachers out there, we we appreciate you. We're we're thankful for you. Paulina: Yeah. I want to to say something about that and then Brandon I know you had a question. We'll we'll get back to your question, but I'll I'll respond to what you said. It's great and I wish we could all do that, right? However, sometimes it's difficult because you have you have a specific Brandon: Mm. Carson: You did it. Brandon: Yeah. It's difficult. It's extremely difficult. Paulina: format that you need to follow, like a syllabus or whatever, and you have to follow it and you don't have enough hours in a day or you don't have enough classes or there is an activity or whatever. And it's like, how am I supposed to fit, I don't know, three reading classes or two reading classes this week when one w one day they have some sort of activity and another day they're have a day off. And it's like you assign them for homework and they don't read it. So Carson: For sure. Yeah. Paulina: y I wish I could be or I could have been more creative with my students. That was like I would love that. And I feel like with my students now like teaching freelance, my classes are pretty creative. Of course there is the aspect of grammar and listening and whatever, but I also try to make them more like ⁓ personalized to see, okay, this person learns in this way. Brandon: Yeah. Paulina: they will like this method. Let's try it let's try this. Right? In schools it's different. Yeah. And in schools it's different. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Brandon: But the groups are also much smaller. And that's a word of a difference. Like we have some classes now that are twenty six, twenty seven, twenty eight students. Paulina: Yeah. It's a lot. Brandon: It's extremely difficult, extremely difficult to cater to everyone's needs. When there's so many needs, everything has changed and every year there's new ⁓ new things that you have to adapt for for those for the students and Carson: Yeah. Brandon: It's difficult, but we try. Paulina: Yeah. Brandon, going back to your question, Carson, if you don't mind. Carson: No, I want questions. Why would I mind? What are you talking about? Brandon: Alright. I don't know. No, I think I think this would be a good question, kinda ended on it goes along with what we were just talking about with the teachers. But ⁓ how do you all feel about the how teachers are viewed in comparison to the US and Spain? Because for example, when I was in the US, like every single teacher was Mr. So and so, Miss So and so, Professor, Doctor, whatever. High school, middle school, elementary, university, everywhere. And then here, it's just like whatever. It's like your first name, Brandy. Like the kids have nicknames for me. Like they call me Brandy. They call me anything with a B in our art, well, they call me they call me everything. They also call me Jamal. So much more informal than what we had in the US. Or at least what I had in the US. I don't know. What about you guys? Carson: Yeah. Paulina: Right, right. Jamal. Carson: Oak. They call you Unk. Some malt. Yeah. Paulina: Mm, mixture. I definitely obviously elementary school like it would be Miss or Mr. or Mrs. ⁓ High School generally also it was like Mr. or Miss or whatever and maybe there was like one or two teachers that went by like their first name or just their last name without a mister or Miss. ⁓ university level a lot of them Brandon: Yeah? Carson: Really? Paulina: That I had, at least in the States, and I want to underline that in the States, they would either just use their last name or their first name. So for example, Maxime, I don't even know what their what his last name is. It was Maxime since the first day. But then you would have older teachers that would be like, Miss, whatever, whatever. and then you would have mmm generally it was the younger teachers. Younger I mean like in their like late thirties, early forties, that would just be like, hey, I'm Maxim, I'm Betina, I'm whatever, like, and it would be fine. But the older teachers generally be like, Mr. blah blah blah. ⁓ in Poland, they're very, very picky about this. ⁓ it was a huge culture shock for me when I started university. Because I didn't I never study in Poland except for when I was a kid, which everybody was miss or mister. But university level you have different type of titles. You can have a some people just go by Mr., you have professor, then have doctor, then you have whatever. And ⁓ the they will make sure that you call them doctor blah blah blah. Like they earn that title and you're gonna call me a doctor. Brandon: Yeah. Paulina: I'm a professor, I earn that title, you better call me professor. And if you slip up, if you call a doctor, professor, vice versa, or whatever, you call them mister, ooh, you'll get grilled. Like they will look you up and down, or they w they won't even respond to your email. I had a case where we had a pr a doctor, sorry, ⁓ that didn't respond to an email because my friend addressed him as professor. And I was like, what? Carson: That's just stupid. Paulina: Or like address him as Mr. or something. And I was like, W what? For me that's insane, you know? and for me I much prefer having that It's difficult because I I don't mind having first name bases if it's with older students. Or if it's, you know, with if I'm working right now at like freelance, like I don't mind that. But I think if I'm working with teenagers, I would definitely prefer Miss and probably my first name because my last name ⁓ my god, I don't know who's gonna pronounce that. so Something along those lines I would say. But in Poland they they're very formal about that still. It's very rare that you find a professor that you can just call them by their first name. Of course you have nicknames for them and whatever that they don't know about. Alright, we think they don't know about, you know, but we would never say it to their face. Carson: Right. Brandon: Mm-hmm. Carson: Yeah. Huh. Well where I'm from. It's yes sir, no ma'am. In the South especially we have yeah, we have good formal etiquette there where that's concerned, and it's not any different in school. It's mister, misses, miss Brandon: That was so yeah. Carson: Whatever the teacher d however they introduce themselves is how you should address them and I would never dream of going on a first name basis with a with a teacher, a professor. Like you said, doctor is important if they're doctors, they like it, they need it, they earned it, a PhD doesn't count for nothing. so yeah, it's yes sir, no ma'am, and Mr. and Mrs. Absolutely a hundred percent. Always. Brandon: No. Paulina: Yeah. What about you? What is your preference? Carson: I think what you said probably is true for me too, if it's yeah, I mean ⁓ if I heard you right, but if it's adults, I don't really care too much. If they're maybe a around my age, or at least in their mid twenties, and they call me by first name, I don't really care. But if it's kids, I think they need to learn I think that's a form of respect and deference. I don't want them to think that they're on the same level. We're not friends, you know, I clearly have Brandon: Exactly. Carson: you know, way more life experience. You know, you need to be a little bit more respectful and respect your elders kind of mindset. ⁓ ⁓ I think if a if a student thinks ⁓ their teacher is their friend, ⁓ it's bad for everybody. I don't that's I don't think that's really a productive environment ⁓ or relationship ⁓ And I had that experience where students did get you know ⁓ Paulina: Too friendly. Yeah. Carson: Too friendly. Too friendly. Saying things, divulging things. I was like, you know I'm your teacher, right? You shouldn't be saying this type of stuff to me. Like I do have a you know, I could call your mom right now, basically. Like it's there's yeah, they shouldn't be they shouldn't be got comfortable. Paulina: Yeah. Yeah. Carson: They need to know that, ⁓ I don't want to let Mr. Crandall down when I don't study for my exam as opposed to, ⁓ I don't want Carson to be upset. You know, there's there's a there's a different weight to that. It's like for me. That's how I see it. Brandon: Yeah. Paulina: Mm. Brandon, do you think you could go back now, like, after so many so many years of teaching and like people calling you just Brandon? Like, do you think it would be difficult for you to be like, Mr Brandon? Brandon: No, I think it should be like Carson said, it's like that first line of respect. It should I for me personally it should be the student should address me as Mr. Martin. Paulina: Awww, it's the more ⁓ Brandon: That's how should be. But here in Spain it's different. So well you adapt to the culture and adapt to what it is here, but that r that respect that changes. They said you may think it see it as a such a small thing, but it's actually quite significant. Carson: So should I Paulina: Yeah. Carson: I think it's an important dynamic, yeah. It forms the dynamic, yeah. Paulina: Great. Brandon: Automatically you're the friend. You start out as their friend and not their teacher. No authority, no respect. Carson: It's like we're equals in the in the sense of we're all human. Yes, we're human that way, but equals in socioeconomic and and the is your boss is not equal to you, you know. Y you don't you can call your boss by the first name if you're on that basis, but that doesn't mean that it's just a little less defined if you're a kid and there's a teacher and yeah. Paulina: Yeah. Yeah. level of education actually. Brandon: A lot of times the students are say something, it's like, ⁓ well you do that. I was like, Yeah, I'm not a student. So it's like I'm not sure. We're not the same here. Like I I can do it. Louisi. But yeah, it's like I can do this 'cause I'm a teacher, you're a student, like there's different levels of this. Paulina: Mm-hmm. Carson: We are not the same, I am a Martian. Paulina: Yeah. Yeah. Carson: I'm big, you're small. I'm right, you're wrong, and there's nothing you can do about it. Matilda. Paulina: Yeah. Brandon: Actually no, a big no. The the the the kids in elementary are bigger than me. massive now. I don't know what they're eating, I don't know what's wrong, but they're not normal. Paulina: Yeah. My Carson: What did you eat? Paulina: I need it. What they're putting in that cafeteria food. Carson: Yeah. Brandon: That's ⁓ it's not the cafeteria food, it's something else. I don't know what it is, but Paulina: Mm. Carson: Something at home. Brandon: But yeah. Paulina: Man. That's a good question, Brandon. Yeah. Do like do not like teaching? Yes, no, ⁓ maybe so. Carson: I would like to be done it's not what I want to do. It's what I've had to and I've made the of it and ⁓ there's good and bad, pros and cons. It's not for me. I I've pushed myself to do ⁓ And I've tried to keep my ⁓ my head up and look on the bright side. But it's not it's not the it's not my career of choice. And so it is time. It is time for me. Brandon: Time to move on. Carson: And I answered the question, so you two need to hash it out. Paulina: I mean I I enjoy it. I mean it's I think I enjoy it now more than ever, to be honest. ⁓ I have less work that I Carson: Can you seem a little more excited about it? I don't know, you seem kinda like Ein Shine. Blood sugar dropping. Brandon: I enjoy it. Paulina: I'm hungry. I'm getting hungry here. I'm thinking about what I ha what I'm gonna have for dinner. ⁓ Yeah. No, but I enjoy it more than I have enjoyed before. I think I really prefer to work in small groups ⁓ rather than bigger groups. I definitely see myself working more with adults. It doesn't mean that I'm not gonna work with kids, but I think it's very different to work with having one or two teenagers versus having class of twenty six. Right? It's sort of like a little domino effect. If one does something then the other one doesn't and the whole thing sort of just falls, right? Carson: Mm. Paulina: So it's it's a very different sort of experience and I enjoy it. I can see myself doing this for a couple more years definitely. And we'll see where it goes from here. I mean still quite young, so maybe in five years I'll have a little bit of identity crisis like Carson and like Mr. James over there. ⁓ and Brandon: Mm-hmm. Carson: You're not that young. You were when we first met each other, but now Brandon: Not anymore. Times have changed. Paulina: What you mean? What you mean? ⁓ Screo. Carson: We're in the same tenure frame, decade, whatever. Paulina: And now what? And I what? I'm old? Are you calling me old? Carson: Huh? I'm saying you're getting older. Brandon: You're moving up. Paulina: What you mean? I'm still twenty five. What do you mean? I haven't I haven't aged a bit. ⁓ Brandon: Mm-hmm. Carson: And ⁓ Brandon: The good days are really good. And like when you have those good days of teaching, like honestly there's nothing honestly there's nothing else I can imagine doing. The problem is those days don't come very often. The b the bad days are are very very very common. Because there's just so much to do. There's so much like the teaching profession has changed a lot. It it is very difficult. It's mentally and physically exhausting. Paulina: Mm-hmm. Brandon: And it takes a toll on on everyone. I mean you see it there's it's very common you see people crying. Almost all the time. Not every day, but at least once a week. There's always you're gonna see someone in the teacher's room crying because it's just it's rough. No. No, that's everyone. But no, but it it is not a it's not an easy profession. A lot of times people say, Well teaching or you get Paulina: Yeah. That was me. Yeah. That was me. My first year. Yeah. Brandon: all the time off in summer, you get holidays and all this, but like teaching i involves so much. Like tea actually teaching giving class is like such a small percentage of what the profession entails. And for that reason I don't I don't see myself doing it for many years in the future because it takes a toll on you. And I look for something that I don't know. What I don't know, but something that's just not so Carson: Well said. Mm. Brandon: Physically and mentally demanding. I haven't played that much I haven't played this year because of my shoulder, so ⁓ Carson: It's gonna be hot. Paulina: And then lose. Carson: ⁓ you making excuses? Brandon: No. I'm just saying facts. Just staying facts. I actually might play better now because of that. Paulina: Imagine, imagine that. Holy shit. Carson: Or we've got an iron shoulder up in here. I'll put it. So now we're talking about tennis. And Brandon: Anything is possible. Paulina: ⁓ man. Brandon: Next episode. Leave it in the comments. Who's your favorite tennis player? Who's gonna win? Between Carson and I. Paulina: All right. We're getting sidetracked. All right, guys. Carson: ⁓ ⁓ Well, is ⁓ time close up shop? ⁓ Paulina: man. Brandon: That's a wrap. Paulina: That's a wrap. Carson: Alright, people. Woo! Thank you for watching our episode on teaching and education. You know where to find us, anywhere you get your anywhere and everywhere you get your podcasts. Check us out. Give us a follow. Like things, share things, subscribe to us, and we will see you on the next one. Have a good one, y'all. Thank you. Much love. Paulina: Ha ha Tá aí. Brandon: Those hash.