Episode 1
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Episode 1 - Get To Know Your Hosts And Find Out Why We Became Great Teachers
Hey everybody, Caylee and Layne here… we are so excited to welcome you to the very first episode of The Pre-k Teacher Family. This is a podcast for all things PRE-K TEACHER…
Behavior Management Strategies,
Time Saving Tips,
Advice From Teachers,
High Quality Resources
If you need it, we’re talking about it.
We’ll be bringing you new episodes every Friday, make sure to hit subscribe so you never miss an episode!
On today’s episode, you’re going to get to know Caylee and Layne a little better ….AND, you’re going to hear what made us great teachers (trust us, it’s not what you think)...
EPISODE Script:
We didn’t go to school to be podcasters, in fact... spoiler alert, we are total beginners… so please bear with us.
Honestly, there is something empowering, about accepting the fact, that we might suck in the beginning ...but... we’re showing up, we’re trying our best… and we are going to get better…so thank you for being here and giving us a chance...
We hope there’s someone out there listening that’s going to appreciate our bravery…
and ultimately, how we feel, doesn’t matter… because this podcast is for you.
WE are here for YOU.
And we want to start by saying, “You’re doing great.”
And you might think, “They don’t even know me this isn’t helpful…” But you listen here, sister, or brother… and you listen good…
I’m about to tell you how I became a great teacher... and trust me, it’s not what you think.
I honestly believe I became a great teacher for one reason… and I'll explain it with a quick story…
Ok, here we go…
It’s because the first principal I ever had, came to do an observation on me,
(you know those terrible, anxiety-building nightmares)...
ya, so, she came to observe me… and she observed one of the worst lessons I’ve ever taught (that’s no joke, I was a first year teacher, there were lots of terrible lessons that year)
GET THIS---I was so new, I didn’t even know what an observation was.
I REMEMBER THIS...
She came in … and we were all sitting on the carpet. She pulled up a chair, and just sat in it, with her clipboard, staring at us......
I’m not kidding, the first thing I said was, “Hey, welcome! What can we do for ya?”
She was like, “This is an observation”… serious face.
(If I had known what an observation was, I probably would have puked from the pressure….)
BUT. I. DIDN’T….
You guys, I was like “oh alright, cool.”
And I proceeded... to have a few kids, using markers, to trace over the words “Happy Halloween,” that I HAD WRITTEN, in pencil, on a huge piece of paper…
I don’t even know what the other kids were doing, I think I blacked it all out, later, when I finally learned what an observation was….. You know, the intense pressure, the scoring, and the whole report card that sticks with you your whole career like a wrap sheet... and AFFECTS YOUR PAY, it’s just too much…
I want admin everywhere, to hear this message: Get in your teachers head, but do it in the right way…
Tell them they’re good, even when you can see they’re struggling…. If you are deciding between a positive comment or a negative one, keep the negative one to yourself. I became a good teacher because my principal told me I was one… (maybe she didn’t say that exactly, but that’s how she made me feel, and come on, as teachers, we know that’s more important.)
It’s the same with kids... you start telling them to fix stuff, they get down on themselves and second guess everything. You start telling them they are smart and doing awesome things, they will want to do and be better.
They will try harder, and they will feel more confident.... We all need that in this world..
So, no, you beautiful teacher out there listening to us right now, we don’t know you, personally, yet… we haven’t observed your teaching, we haven’t rated your performance...But we, are living proof, that building teachers up, NO MATTER WHAT, will make them better teachers… so that’s what we’re going to do.
Hi, we’re Caylee and Layne, cheerleaders reporting for duty…. nice to meet you.
We want to invite you to go on a journey with us… give us a chance, and we will change the thoughts in your head…
But we’re not just going to cheer for you, cross our fingers, and hope that good things happen…
We’re going to create the change.
We are going to give you strategies that are going to make you a better teacher…. And if you have one of those “negative nancy” admin, just discreetly drop me their name, I will make the whole thing anonymous… but I will help them get that STICK OUT OF THEIR…
“CAYLEE! Stop!!! We can’t do that.”
What? Why! SOMEONE SHOULD DO IT.
Well it’s not going to be us! … We take the high road remember…
Ok, you’re right. Thanks, I just get so HEATED thinking about them up on their high horse, just looking down on all those teachers, who are fighting battles, in the trenches, giving EVERYTHING they’ve got…
OK! OK! I know, I feel the same way, but we are going to fix it by HELPING THE TEACHERS.
YES, ok, LET’S DO IT!!!!!!!!!!... Just so everyone knows, I have plans for a future episode where I go more in depth with this idea… and it’s going to be in the form of a letter to ADMINISTRATORS everywhere, I’ll be sure to get you each a printable copy that you can anonymously slip into the box of anyone you think could benefit from such a letter...I got your back!
Caylee Introduction:
I am the teacher behind the triedandtrueteachertips instagram account which I started almost two years ago… Feb 1, 2018 was my first post…
And, actually it was another dear teacher friend of mine, who suggested I start it… shout out to Lily… She was the one who told me I should start posting about my ideas... so I did…
And that kept growing, eventually I made some youtube videos and started a website/blog....
And man, I thought I was kinda good with technology, but each time I’ve done something new for my brand, I’ve had to learn a whole new set of skills
When I think back, I forget most of the struggles, when I had to google every step of the process… I hope it’s the same for this podcasting venture… I can’t wait to look back and reflect on how far we’ve come.
And, if it sounds like we are reading this episode, that’s because we are reading this episode.. Because we want to make sure to deliver the valuable context we’ve promised you, and, right now, when the mic is on… I forget how to talk…
And I go off on tangents and forget the point I was trying to make and before you know it I’ll be telling you about my fantasy vacation and think hmmm where was I going with this?
So as we get better, this will all be a much smoother operation… but we had to start somewhere...
So let’s go back a little bit, I went to college at Ohio University, graduated with my early childhood degree… At OU, early childhood majors spend over 1,000 hours in the classroom before they graduate, a lot of schools only do like 50 hours…. So I got to student teach at the child development center with infants up to pre-k and then I student taught in kinder, first, second and third… by the time I graduated. Which was a great experience, to get a taste of each grade.
I moved out to Denver after college with one of my best friends from first grade… and I started working for Bright Horizons daycare, until I got offered my first official teaching job in DPS… And that’s when I met Layne.
We taught together for 3 years, and then she went and had a baby on me…. Didn’t you give birth the last day of school?
Haha, yes I did! … I was hoping to get to go on summer break early but nope. Lol
Ya, man, so then the Caylee and Layne run was over…
I switched schools, and taught 4 more years at another DPS school…. Shout out to everyone there!
So then, what happened? Why did I quit teaching? Well, in June of 2019 I got married.... And I had already told my school I wasn’t coming back because it has been our dream to live in Montana. So we were moving.
It was very sad to leave Colorado but I was on board with this Montana dream we had been talking about for years. My husband loves to hunt ducks and we have a bird dog, they are both in heaven in our new home.
We have 20 chickens and our neighbors have sheep and horses so we have animals around all the time. We love the animals, Caylee and I do...always have… we’re both vegetarians… remember that dog that was on the playground before school? And my gerbils that escaped in the school…. didn’t you find him eating snacks in your room?
LAYNE INTRODUCTION -
Hey! I’m Layne … I am a mom of two. I have a 4 year old daughter, Scout, and a 2 year old son, Hawk.
What’s my girl Scout doing right now?
Haha, she’s probably convincing my husband she needs to stay up late to watch one more episode of Spy Kids. Those two keep me on my toes. It’s funny, I thought I would be so prepared for motherhood, after being a pre-k teacher for years…..boy, I was wrong!
Just like every new school year brings you a new pack of kids and issues... so did motherhood. It’s a daily balancing act, which I suck hard at some days, and other days, I feel like I deserve the mother of the year award.
I got my degree in psychology and really loved it. I knew I wanted to work with kids in some way. I started my career working in a residential treatment facility that housed and schooled kids from ages 7 through 18…. Boy, was that an eye opener. I learned so much during my time there, but it wasn't a fit for me.
I took my tools from that job and became a paraprofessional at an elementary school in a Pre-k classroom. These kids were 4 years old and I was lost on what to do. I was so scared when the main teacher left the room! But, you learn… you keep going and learn more, and try new things, and fail, and try again.
After awhile, I knew I had found my people, this was the place for me. Then, I went back to school to get my teaching license ...yay!
I am super grateful for the time I spent as a para - it allowed me to learn sooooo much I wouldn't have been able to, if I had gone the traditional route. I also learned how freakin hard our aides, paras, student teachers, and other support roles in the classroom work… and to cherish that relationship. They can be your biggest allies.
My first year as a teacher was, ummmmmm…...HARD! I didn’t seek help when I needed it (thought that was a sign of weakness), I worked from the wee hours of the morning, until I would drop... I didn’t collaborate with peers, I tried to be everything to everyone, and that’s just not possible. Like they saying goes…. Don't reinvent the wheel, I was working my ass off trying to reinvent the wheel. Not good.
My second year of teaching was when I met Caylee…. Finally a partner! We bounced ideas off of each other, shared materials, shared lessons, vented to each other, asked for help, traded students when we needed a reset……. It was a game changer, having a trusted colleague. We have some doozie stories I’m sure we will touch on in future episodes.
Oh heck ya we will.
I gave birth to Scout on the last day of school, like Caylee said ha ha! no early summer break for me, she waited patiently for the last day.
After spending the summer home with my new baby, I decided I wanted to stay home with her a little longer, and not long after that, Hawk came along, my son! George Hawkins is his full name, he was named after his grandpa, but we call him Hawk.
Scout is 4 and attends ½ day preschool 4 days a week. The other day we do home school in our makeshift basement school, with my two kids and niece. Hawk is 2 and stays home with me. He is currently obsessed with his big sister, hot wheels and balls!
When Caylee approached me about doing a podcast, I was excited, because I listen to true crime podcasts religiously... but then, it hit me…. I know nothing about starting a podcast! Somehow, Caylee can always motivate me, to push into the unknown.
She is truly one of the hardest workers I have ever met. If I was going to do this with anyone , it’d be her! Here we go!
We are excited to help lighten your load...to inspire you...to bounce ideas off each other with you… and to give you something to listen to, while your cutting all those laminated name tags.
So you are probably wondering, What are you going to get from this podcast?
We have been hearing your requests for behavior support. We know there are a lot of tough behaviors happening in your classrooms...and we are going to help you with them... throughout the next few episodes we are going to talk about what to do with the hitters… the the spitters ...the chair throwers...and a whole bunch more of the behaviors you’ve been asking us for help with…
One point we want to make, is that we all know- no strategy works for everyone, all the time, right? That’s really why were here…
Some strategies work for some kids some of the time…
and others work for others some of the time,
and some work for most, a lot of the time…
but there’s no ONE ANSWER that’s going to fix everybody’s problems.
It is our hope that this will be a podcast you can listen to over and over… next year when you have new kids, come back and play it again… maybe something we said that wasn’t relevant to what you had in your classroom last year will be perfect to try with the kids you have now…
Pre-K Teacher Family
We want to take a second to talk to you about the Pre-K Teacher Family… because it’s the name of this podcast, but it’s also a support group for Pre-K Teachers.
Hey guys, Caylee here, like I said earlier, I created the tried and true teacher tips instagram account, which turned into a website and an email list where I’ve been sharing tips and freebies with teachers around the world…
And, in December, I launched the Pre-K Teacher Family, kind of cheesy, I know, but let me tell you, it has been the most refreshing experience…
because, before this, I was interacting with people on Instagram and Facebook but nothing went beyond, “Hey nice idea, how did you do this, where do I get that?”
And people always want everything for free...... Like people go bananas for free stuff…and I was trying to give people what they wanted, so I’d provide as much free stuff as I could, but then I’d try to connect with people… and they were gone…so that wasn’t helping me to build relationships and get to know teachers…
So, I decided to try a new route… and I put all the documents and resources I’ve created over the years, into nicely organized folders, ...and, I just started asking teachers to Join my family…
Over 100 teachers have joined so far! Isn’t that crazy?
Ya, well I’m one of them! I use those resources constantly with Scout and Hawk even gets in there when we’re doing our “work.”
I’ve heard business owners say it before, “When people pay for something, it becomes more valuable to them, and they are more invested…” and that is THE TRUTH... teachers pay a few dollars a month, and right from the get-go, it’s a relationship. We are working together and then more people join and it turns into a community, not just a few teachers anymore, there’s a whole family of teachers now…’
And, you know, I keep trying to inspire them, and here I am, being inspired by them, every day, so it’s just a beautiful thing.
Over 100 teachers have joined the family… and I have been able to finally open the doors and give everything I’ve got! Because, the reason most teachers join is the resources…
OMG the resources!!
Haha, what’s Scout’s favorite one from January?
She loved the shoemaker and the elves activity. You might have seen her bedazzled shoes on Instagram …Oh and last month was one of our favorite months ….. all the Christmas/holiday ideas kept us busy all month!
I love hearing that… over the years, I have created hundreds of things, that I am now getting to share with all of you… when you join the family, you get access to a website called TRELLO... and when you go into trello, you see folders by month, and you click into them and you will see TONS of fun documents and templates and activities and printables, and great resources…
We are completely ready for valentines…. no scrambling to find something last min.. …. I’m also already preparing for the rainbow theme! So helpful
I feel like just opening the folder gets me excited, because the background is a theme and I love to feel the themes of each month, ohh January is so snowy and February has hearts everywhere..and don’t even get me started on December, I would live in whoville if I could… Then, in each folder, there’s a letter I’ve written to you for that month that gives you behavior management strategies and other relevant tips for the days of that month, like in February, I used to teach in Colorado and there would be so many inside days… and day after day when you’re stuck in your classroom with your students, you start to kinda lose it… and so I shared some of my favorite resources for getting kids moving on those days.
Oh, and the fonts! Don’t forget to tell them about the fonts!
And ya, each month has fun fonts you can download, did you guys know that? There are fun fonts for every occasion you can think of…
There are tracing fonts, bubble letter fonts, heart fonts, snowflake fonts, I mean adding a few fun fonts to your teacher life, can really change things for you…
Teachers love those little details, they just bring us so much joy… the stickers, and pretty pens, and mini erasers make us happy…
And you’ll here me say again and again, we need to do more of what makes us happy.
So one side of the family is all the resources, but there’s another side… and that side is support for the tough behaviors…
Gotta help them figure out those behaviors... that’s what a lot of teachers need the most, right?
Ya, and initially, the way I was doing it was, one-on-one, troubleshooting...we’d email back and forth, they’d tell me what was happening and I’d send them some ideas to try and we’d go from there..
And the feeling I get when a teacher writes back and says, “THANK YOU SO MUCH for your amazing tips. It's the first time I’ve asked for help and I'm given tips that actually feel doable! Thank you from the bottom of my HEART!” …
...That was a real response from a teacher. Her name is Lily, and she was struggling with one kid... she had tried a bunch of stuff but she was getting discouraged because this one child’s behavior was hurting other kids... and she just wanted them all to feel safe coming to school, ya know?
We’ve all been there... IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK? For God’s Sake!
No, of course not… There’s just not enough support out there for preschool teachers who are seeing all these challenging behaviors and people just expect them to handle it…
But all the schools we ever taught at, there were no good Professional development scheduled for us…
Whenever we had to go to an organized PD it was about licensing or the new curriculum or how to use TSGOLD to document 80 indicators about every child 3 times a year…. (I can’t even talk about TSGOLD right now… I’m not prepared and I will cuss too much.)
But ya, they just expect us to “handle it”… and, well, we’re trying, but when you don’t know what to do… and, you have, 500 other things, you’re also supposed to be DOING, RIGHT NOW…
It’s a burden too heavy for the teacher heart!!
And as corny as it sounds, I feel like helping those teachers, is like our calling… I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts… and they say, “if you have a set of skills that can help other people…. You can’t sit there and let excuses about what people will think of you stand in the way of serving those people that need it”…. I really feel like, we have had to put our insecurities aside, and go for it... because the teachers need help… help that we can give them.
So, I knew this kind of behavior help that I was attempting, the one-on-one deal... wasn’t scalable, and so many more teachers needed this exact support… I could keep trying to email back and forth and help them one at a time, or I could find a different way…
And that’s how the podcast idea started.
This podcast is going to allow us to help ALL OF YOU with those tough behaviors…
In fact, this podcast is sponsored by the Pre-K Teacher Family…
Imagine that. Haha… so, If you’re interested in learning more about it, you can visit my website, triedandtrueteacher.com and click on the tab that says, “Join the Pre-K Family.”
There’s a ton of information there for you, you can see what the folders look like, check out those fonts, and get a peek at the documents you’ll have access to… and finally, if you’d like to join my email list, where you get tips and freebie straight to your inbox, visit my website, again that's triedandtrueteacher.com and sign up on the home page, you just enter your name and your email address and you’ll get my Name Writing Practice Template as a freebie, directly to your inbox! So that’s worth it, right? It’s my best selling document on Teacherpayteachers and I’ve been giving it away for free to everyone that joins my email list… and I also give you the fonts for free when you join my email list… YUP, all the fonts for free… you’ll get them to your inbox on the first of the month each month! SO make sure to take advantage of those perks…ya, I’m good at sharing… plenty more where that came from ladies and gentleman.
A WORD FROM THE FAMILY:
In fact, don’t just take it from us, we are going to feature a message from actual members in the family in each episode so you can hear the truth from them!
Here’s what Karen said… “My favorite part of the Pre-K Teacher Family is the personalized attention Caylee gives us. She truly cares (deeply even) about getting to know each and every one of us. I’ve never experienced anything like it online. Ever”
And I just want to say, I picked her because Karen has been one of my number one people… she just told me recently that she bought a bluetooth speaker so she could listen to our podcast in her car…I can’t even put into words how deeply that touched my heart.. It seemed only fitting that we would shout her out in our first episode… Karen is a veteran teacher who was resistant to change, but has embraced me and she just shows up everywhere, she even bought one of my teacher aprons..
KAREN, I see you girl… and I appreciate every BIT of your love!!!
END RECAP:
Ok, so let’s recap…
Caylee and Layne, your cheerleaders are here, reporting for duty because we know, that believing in you, and supporting you, is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING.
If you are a pre-k teacher who needs HELP, we are here for you…let us help you… join the pre-k teacher family… if you’re unsure, the only way to know is to try it… and you can try it risk free for a month! If you don’t want to stay, we will give you a full refund, no questions asked! you have nothing to lose and so much to gain!
And make sure you tune in for our next episode…
We’ll be giving you the number one behavior strategy we use as our “go-to” when those tough behaviors pop up… if you’ve got a kiddo with some extreme behaviors, screaming, explosive tantrums, maybe they’re destructive… and you feel like you’ve tried everything?!!
…This episode is for you, don’t miss it!
And finally, one of the best ways to help us get our message to more teachers is to share and subscribe! If you’re listening on a smart phone right now, you can take a screenshot and tag us in your story!