A Labor of Love

pass on knowledge, and move the world forward. While the schools have stopped operating, teachers all across the globe have not good morning Star students and families. Mrs camp Pol Piano here to talk about a rainbow poem. I'm going to go ahead and share my screen here. This is from a video that Gayl Campo Piano made for her second grade students, and we are going to write a

poem today about a garden. This is camp Pol Piano titled her home My Garden, and we're going to use She teaches at Northwest Elementary School in Rutland, Vermont, which, like all schools, closed during the pandemic, and since then she's been teaching classes through these videos, working with parents and students to finish out the school year from their homes. So I'm going to write the word red. And I'm

thinking of something in my garden that is read. So I know I have read beats growing in my garden and name. I guess if you had to describe your life right now with one word, what would it be? Um? One word? That might be the word yeah, that might be the word no. I would say um jungling. The next color I'm going to use in my rainbow is yellow, so I'm gonna say yellow. I've taught short workshops in elementary schools before, and it was clear pretty quickly that

the undertaking of teaching itself is a juggling act. First off, as a primary teacher, you're teaching kids everything. Yep. So I do reading, writing, math, science, social studies. And while Gail has been teaching for thirteen years now, it is a whole new ballgame when her eighteen students are all in completely different places. I have to learn a new tech every day. I feel like with our new world. So I had never used video. I had done face time with family, but that was about the extent of it.

And now I feel like we live on it. She's been troubleshooting tech with parents, helping some families set up email for the first time, making sure each kid has everything they need to get their work done, and also what's too much for them and what's too much for their families, and kind of having those conversations and phone calls and check ins with the families. Now that her lessons kind of depend on parents, she's looking out for each of them. How's your mental state as a parent,

Do you have food? Do you are you sick? And do you also have a family. Yeah, so I also have two kiddos, one who's in first grade, so you know, balancing her online learning and trying to because she's being taught by another teacher. Yep, she is. Um. She has another teacher at another school who's doing the same exact thing I'm doing. Not to mention her three year old son who likes to make sure that her and her husband's day starts at four am sharp, and who just

learned how to get out of his crib. So it's it's a juggle. Some days the balls stay in the air better than others. Gayle was actually born and raised in my hometown, Mount Holly, Vermont. She did a very rural upbringing. She got good grades, she left going to school. But I didn't grow up thinking I was going to be a teacher. I was certain my whole life that I was going to be a marine biologist working with

these giant whales in the ocean. Is that what you thought when you were a kid, that you wanted to work with wales? Yeah, whales, or you know, something like mine was sharks. So funny when Gayle grew up and got to high school, she took a p bio and it wasn't exactly what she'd fantasized as a kid, but she was going to stick to the plant. And before she graduated in her senior year, she had a free

period and decided she just try something different. So I did a volunteer in a kindergarten classroom, and I realized, oh my god, I really love this. So about three quarters through the year of my senior year, when I had already basically decided where I was going to college and had that kind of mapped out, I did a one a d and changed everything. Gail went to Rhode Island College and got her teaching degree with the concentration

in special education. After teaching in Rhode Island for a couple of years, she came back home to Vermont, starting off as a special educator and then a classroom teacher. What do you think the biggest misconceptions are that people have about teaching? Oh, you do it for the weekends off and the summer's off and the you know, the really good pay which is um none of which are true.

So I think that people have some misconceptions about what actually happens in a school in the eight hour that were there and the two hours that were there before and after, and the weekend when we're there. Although she says that she's starting to see a shift now that parents have the responsibility of doing what she is professionally trained to do. Yeah, it's like, oh, I get what teachers do now, Like I get that school wasn't just

reading writing Matt. She admits it's not exactly fair. She went to school for this and every family now has a lot on their plate. Even so, she says that being dubbed essential in a time of crisis was validating. Yeah, I think at some point it was like a little bit validating when you think of how is the world going to continue? This is like something that people are saying is essential. More than just being a place where kids can learn, schools provide so much more. They provide food.

They can really be a shelter in a safe place for a lot of kids that might not have one, and it's a place where deep connection are formed between teacher and student as they try to find their way in the world. That's a struggle I think that teachers are feeling right now is how do you just you know, how do you keep that connection going? How do you be there when you've always been there? Ye more of gael Story and the new reality of teaching after the break.

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com or on the Express Jobs app. There are a lot of online softwares that teachers used to connect with families to make sure that these essential core classes continue. However, Gayl Campo Piano says that for years, a huge part of her normal school day has been social and emotional learning. We start every day with restorative circles and community building stuff and character traits, and we do yoga and all of those things are so you do yoga with the kids.

School has changed a lot since there. Yeah, the kids love it. Truth is, school has changed a lot in the last couple of decades, and that's because the world has changed a lot in the last couple of decades. I think kids and even adults, I think our society now has become really fast paced and there's a lot of stressors in adults, but especially students. Lives in Rutland

where Gail teaches, it's a high poverty area. There's a lot of drug and alcohol abuse, a lot of kids have trauma, and second grade is a huge development here for kids. They're just learning how to deal with those emotions and those things that might trigger them, and learning coping strategies. So we embed it almost all day long.

You know, if you're doing a math card game, you're also teaching them how to lose and how to accept loss, and how to take turns and all of those things that maybe they haven't learned yet or just still need to practice. People who understand teaching do understand the actual workload of the job, the physical work load of doing

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

have one. It's a place where teachers can offer some consistency, let a kid know that they've got someone to turn to, no matter how big or small the problem. Gail says, that's the real challenge of distant learning, not being able to check in on those kids that you are worried about that. You know, really, the first time you hug them in the morning is the only time that they've

been hugged in the morning. You know, when they hear the principles say that they're loved on the announced it in the morning, might be the first time that they heard those words. So that's that's hard boiled down. The role of a teacher is being there and helping a student move forward. It's a huge responsibility one that comes with the job. Over her career, Gayle's experienced the impact that role can really have on a kid, and she's

experienced the impact that I can have on her. So two years ago, I had a student who before the year started, you know, we always get some information about the children before they come into your classroom, and I was teaching kindergarten at the time. The preschool of the student went to let Gail know that he had significant behavioral challenges and was going to need a lot of support. This little boy came in and everything I had been

told was completely false. He was just really easy to work with, really good friends, worked super duper hard on everything you wanted him to do. He just really wanted to please. She was relieved, couldn't have had a better

start of the year. And then in about October, he left school, went home and no one was at his house to pick him up off the bus, so he was brought back to the school and some phone calls were made, and that sometimes happens, and the day, you know, time kind of passed and the story kept kind of unfolding, and his mother had passed away. The student had seen

his mother that morning and she was fine. His big sister and a preacher from their local church came to the school where he was waiting, and they sat him down and they told him it was a Friday. So over the weekend he went to go live with a police officer and his family that went to the same church. Totally traumatic, as you can imagine. UM. So then Monday came and it was just horrific, like you can't even imagine he um, and I'm going to get choked up

about it. He came in early and he just like ran into the classroom and wrapped his arms around me and um just melted just sobbing, you know, and it was just the most heartbreaking thing that I think anyone can ever imagine. When the rest of the kindergarten came in, Gail and a guidance counselor talked to the class about what happened. This happened over the weekend he lost his mom, Like, this is how we can support him. We just have to give him space and understand that this is really,

really sad and scary for him. Gail says it was one of the hardest days of her life, but some of the best ones came from that following year as she watched other students be there for him and got to help him work through it all. Sometimes he lose control and she would take him aside to the bean bag corner of the room and help him talk it out. He would just say I just miss her so much and just like melt into you know, and you're like, yeah, you know, this is this is why I do this job.

It's to teach the reading and the writing and the math, but it's also to to help kind of form these little lives that are just starting very and I'm going to end my rainbow with purple in my garden. We always loved have purple carrets cares. If you had to say one thing to anyone who wants to become a teacher,

what would it be. Get into a classroom as quick as you can in your studies, or even before your studies, and see if it's if it really is something that you that you love, because teaching really does have to be a labor of love. And there's something about a purple carret that just makes me happy. So I'll end with that feeling. Purple carrets make me smile. If someone says, you know, how would you identify yourself? I would say, I'm a teacher, and I'm a mother, and I'm a wife.

You know, there's lots of other layers there, but that definitely is one of the first things that I would say, because it's not just a job. Yeah no, it's not. It's not something that I can just leave at the door. You can write a rainbow poem of your own. It's not a nine to five can't wait to read. Stop sharing my screen. Talk to you soon, miss you. Good bye for on the job. I'm otus Gray. Thanks for listening to on the job. Brought to you by Express

Employment Professionals. This season of On the Job is produced by Audiation and Red Seat Ventures. The episodes are written and produced by me Otus Gray. Our executive produce he is Sandy Smallens. The show was mixed by Matt Noble for Audiation Studios at The Loft in Bronxville, New York. Music by Blue Dot Sessions. Find us on I Heart Radio and Apple Podcasts. If you liked what you heard, please consider rating and reviewing the show on Apple Podcasts

or wherever you listen. We'll see you next time. We're more inspiring stories about making yourself essential as you discover your life's work. Audiation