Perfectionism and Pressure with Jere Chang

Lauran: This podcast has content that may be distressing to some listeners. Be sure to check the description below for content warnings. And now. A poem. 

Jordan: Before we begin, please lend an ear, a gentle warning we offer here. Our words may touch on tender things, on struggles life so often brings. Stories of loss, of pain and fear, moments that shape us, year by year.

We share these truths to heal and grow, but understand it may stir sorrow. If your heart feels fragile. Your spirit low. Pause this journey. It's okay to go. Self care matters. It's always wise to honor the tears that fill your eyes. We aim for hope, for lessons, for light, but only join if it feels right. For here compassion will always reign.

Together we'll navigate joy and pain 

Jere: people ask me. How do you deal with online bullying? I was like, oh my god I grew up gay disabled in a small conservative town like online bullying is easy

Jordan: Hello everybody, we are fine a podcast about life in all its Fun Journeys and everything. Oh, and 

Lauran: We've had some fun journeys, I'll tell you. Fun 

Jordan: Journeys? Well, 

Lauran: we'll save that for another time. Because we've got an awesome episode for you today. Yes, we do have a 

Jordan: really great guest. 

Lauran: Including the amazing Jerry Chang, which is also known as Miss Chang Gifted online.

You may know her from Her wife pranking her lunch box, which is just always impressive. I need 

Jordan: to know. 

Lauran: I know. I need to know also. I need to speak with OG Chang, which is her wife. Yeah. I need to speak with OG Chang and learn her tactics because I want to do that to you. That would be so fun. 

Please do. I will.

Jordan: I will. I am so impressed by those videos. OG Chang, me 

Lauran: and you, we got to talk. Because I need to learn your, I need to learn your ways. The 

Jordan: magic. 

Lauran: She's an engineer though, so she's got like Mad skills. 

Jordan: It makes me scared. 

Lauran: Yeah. 

Jordan: You would never feel safe. 

Lauran: But you might also know her from, uh, her awesome skits in her classroom showcasing how she is an amazing gifted education teacher.

Um, and yeah, it's just, it's a great episode and I, I hope you guys enjoy it because I did. 

Jordan: I did, yeah. 

Lauran: Yeah, so without further ado, It's time for Jerry Chang.

Alright, we are back. And I'm not gonna lie guys, I'm, I'm fangirling a little bit because Miss Chang Gifted is one of my favorite accounts on everything. TikTok, Instagram, I follow you, have been following you forever. And I just love your personality because you're just like so So entirely yourself, and that shines in all of your videos and it's the best, just like watching your content is such like, it's such a light in education and just your viewpoint and your perspective of things.

So thank you for 

Jere: being 

Lauran: here first of all. Thank you. 

Jere: Oh yeah. Thanks for having me. I'd, I'd say I was about 85% myself online. , . 

Lauran: I, okay. I could, I I gotta keep it clean. Yeah. , I, I get that. I can relate to that because I, I feel like that too. Um, but I, I honestly, like some of your, your continuing series, I even show my husband because I'm like, okay, you, you need to do this to me just for funsies, like the, okay.

Jordan: I was gonna say, are you asking what I think you're going to ask about? Yes, go 

Lauran: ahead. 

Jordan: Okay. I have to know, how did your wife repackage all of those items and food? That was insane. I was just like, oh my god. 

Jere: Yeah, and I'll get to it. People ask me all the time, they want her to have her own account. Yes. But the reason she doesn't do it is the last thing she wants to do is show the internet.

How to tamper with food, right, 

Lauran: right. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, I told her 

Jere: I was like this and we started talking about it and I was like, if you show people how to take apart a coke can, soda can, pop can, whatever y'all call it up there and empty it. And one time she put potatoes in there. One time she put grapes in there.

The grapes were what got me. 

Jordan: That 

Jere: was crazy. That was insane. So, I mean, you know, the little package is basic flat iron, a food sealer. Okay, okay. But she is an engineer. Yes, I knew that. Yeah, and she lives her best engineering nerd life. Like, has the little glasses, the little tools, and she can take a Coke can and Make it look like it hasn't, as somehow the bottom comes out, how, as we do do with the bottom.

Lauran: How much time does that take her 

Jere: usually to do? Do you know? I don't know. And people ask me, they're like, how does she do this behind your back? I'm like, it's y'all. It's not that hard. . She's just like, Jerry, don't come downstairs. And I'm like, okay. And I take a bath. I'm watch Netflix. Like you're like, don't have to 

Lauran: tell me twice.

Right. Me time. Right, exactly. And then 

Jere: she's like, okay. All clear. And the other big question I get is, what do I eat? I always have backup food. That's so funny. 

Lauran: I, okay, so, because I didn't preface this at all, but for those of you that don't know or have been living under a rock, uh, Jerry's wife pranks her lunches frequently, and it's, like, it just depends on the day what she chooses to prank.

But, like, what are some of the craziest things that she has ever pranked? 

Jere: Some of the more fun ones, it was, You know, like, you know how every day is a day, like it's like hot chocolate day, potato day. It was lima bean day, and she put lima beans in everything. The Coke can was full of lima beans. This kindergartner at school, he even misgendered me.

He's like, Oh my God, you're that man with a lima bean lunch. And I was, he was too cute, I didn't even correct him. I was like, Yeah, dude, I am. And he's in first grade now, and he still calls me Mr. Lima Bean. Aww. And it is so beautiful. I'm like, I will never correct you. If he ends up in my class, like, I guess I'll have to tell him I'm a woman.

And my last name's Chang. But, um, that was, 

Lauran: that was, I mean, Mr. Lima Bean's a fun name, though. 

Jere: Right! If I hadn't already branded myself as Miss Chang Gifted, I would totally change my online name. I was gonna 

Jordan: say, or you just create, like, a little, like, mascot character for your brand. There you go. Mr. Lima Bean.

Lauran: There you go. 

Jere: For real, for real. 

Lauran: So, I want to know, what is it like teaching in a gifted elementary classroom? 

Jere: Oh my god, so I used to do first through fifth, now I do first through third. And when I tell you I am with like minded folks, I am with like minded folks, um, neurodivergent. Of course, all gifted kids are not neurodivergent and all neurodivergent kids do not identify as gifted.

That being said, many kids who identify as gifted also identify as neurodivergent. And the, my favorite part is when parents tell me, so I'll pull out, I see my students one day a week. 

Lauran: Okay, 

Jere: and they spend all day with me. So like today I had second grade yesterday. I had third grade 

Lauran: Oh, I see. So you have one grade level per day, 

Jere: correct?

Lauran: Right, 

Jere: the parents will often tell me it's their favorite day of the week And I know of course I want to take credit. Oh, yeah, I'm so amazing But really what I tell parents is it's not me the kids just get to be in a space Where they're normal and I hate that word But they just, all their neurodivergence, all their nerdiness, all those weird, all those words that are typically like frowned upon in elementary school for that one day.

It's a safe 

Lauran: space. Yes! 

Jere: They just get to be and exist and it's just beautiful. 

Lauran: I love that so much. That's what I love about it. I would have felt so 

Jere: Yeah. 

Lauran: I would have felt so at home in that kind of environment. 

Jere: You know, the little skits I do with that little Mary Sue character. Yeah. And she likes worms, and like, reads all these books, and it's just, like I said, it's just normal for her in that moment.

Lauran: Yeah. 

Jere: Yeah. 

Lauran: And it's like, That's awesome that your school has that, because my, I mean, again, I teach at a very tiny district, um, so my school, like, we have gifted education, um, our kindergarten through, I think, third grade. Has like a it's almost like a special so like right. Yeah. Yeah, so they go like one day a week But it's not all day.

It's just for like a class period. Yeah Um do some activities. Yeah. Yeah, and then my like fourth and fifth grade Don't really, and even 6th grade, because our elementary goes K 6, we don't really have, like, a dedicated, gifted educator for our grade levels. We are just, you know, we're differentiating for those kids, which is fine, but I think that that would be so, like, advantageous for those kids, because, I mean, I can, I can just see like my, my few kids that are just a wealth of knowledge and could benefit from having extra time to be like pushed beyond just the regular ed curriculum, you know, 

Jere: I think the biggest misconception of gifted is so many people think it's synonymous that gifted and high achieving high performing are synonymous and they're not because a lot of highly gifted kids Are not motivated.

And there's a whole hashtag gifted burnout because of the expectation among parents, among educators, like, Oh, you're gifted. So you need to be high achieving. Uh, you can also be gifted creatively. Yes. I mean, I have students who need, uh, academic support. And I have teachers who come up to me like, Why are they gifted?

And I'm like, Cause you don't understand giftedness. Let's talk about it. 

Lauran: Yeah. And I have, I mean, like I said, We differentiate for all of those, those different, Neurodivergencies in our classroom. Yeah. And I mean, I just see that my different students and how they could benefit from an environment like that and being able to be focused on, you know, right?

That would be amazing. I'm interested. So, okay. So when your kids come to you one day a week, are they there? Missing their whole gen ed class? 

Jere: Yep. 

Lauran: So how does that work? 

Jere: They gotta make up the work and keep up. That is, that, that is one, and that's one reason now we don't do fourth and fifth. They do what's called advanced content.

Okay. So like my son identifies as gifted in fifth grade. He goes to advanced math. Okay. And so he goes to a whole separate math teacher and that teacher. Now you can also be in advanced math if you're high achieving, high performing. So they don't just limit that class to just gifted kids. 

Theme: Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Jere: So like today, and you know, it's just working together as teachers. This one of my students had, he hadn't completed all his work in his gen ed class. His teacher hit me up. She's like, Hey, like grades are due. Like this kid is missing a lot of work. I said, I'll tell you what, send him down to my room. I'll help him.

How much can I help him? You just, we work together, you know? All right. 

Lauran: Yeah. And that's so important. I mean, I, I had. More opportunities like that. I feel like at the district I used to teach at just because it's much larger, um, and I think that's something that a lot of smaller districts and I don't know how large your district is, but Atlanta.

Yeah. Okay. Nevermind. Yeah. No, mine is a tiny district in the middle of rural Ohio. And we don't have the bandwidth, like, staff wise to pull that off. 

Jere: Yeah. I mean, we have a thousand kids in our elementary school. 

Lauran: Oh, my lord. I have maybe 500 K 12 in my district. Right. So, I mean, 

Jere: and there's pros and cons to both of those types of environments, right?

Yeah. Yeah. 

Lauran: Absolutely. But I'm glad you brought up that misconception because I do Like, I do think that is a huge, huge gap in people's understanding of giftedness, think of giftedness, they, like you said, they think high achieving and like high academic performance and that's not always the case. Right.

And like a lot of gifted students sometimes demonstrate, um, you know, qualities of, you know, being disorganized and, you know, like you said, lack of motivation and Right. So I think it is important that we educate ourselves more so on those characteristics of those gifted students and I don't know about you guys, but in Ohio, like you all have to go through giftedness training.

Um, Oh, 

Jere: so it's a gen ed teachers have to go through giftedness training. Yes. So we, 

Lauran: yeah, yeah. So all the gen ed teachers, um, no matter what you teach have to do, I think, and I don't quote me on this, but I think it was something along like. 30 to 60, I think it was 60 hours over a few years. Oh, that's awesome.

Yeah, so, so it is, you know, it's not something that, like, nobody knows about. Right, right. But I definitely wish that there were more resources for our, you know, gifted students, um, in smaller districts. I wish we had more. Um, like, stand alone gifted teachers that could, you know, even pop into classrooms and, you know, provide teachers with resources and stuff like that.

Yeah, 

Jere: that's cool. That's cool y'all do that. Yeah. Yeah, 

Lauran: I love your classroom though. I love that concept of like, having different groups of kids coming in and out and, you know, being able to interact with different grade levels. So, are you, is it fun having the same kids, like, 

Jere: Three years in a row. Oh, yes.

It is so cool. Like, I really get to know the kids. Yeah. Um, like I said, they always come back to visit, and, and we're, we're a pre K through 12 school as well. Okay. And, but the, starting in sixth grade, they're at a different building, so. Okay. I may go a year and not see them, but I, I saw this dude the other day, and I'm like, He's like, Ms.

Chang, Ms. Chang, he's jumping up and down. He's got a mustache. And I'm like, who are you? He's got a mustache. Yes. Oh, that kills me. Yeah. He's like this high school kid. And I was, he's like, bring it in. He gives me a big hug. And that's, I was like, oh my God, it's so good to see you. Oh my 

Jordan: God. 

Jere: I mean, other than a couple of wrinkles and a few gray hairs, I don't change a lot.

Jordan: Yeah. 

Jere: A seven year old and a 15 year old is a completely different looking person. 

Lauran: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I. Like, I was just telling Jordan a few weeks ago, like, my first class ever, so like, my first year teaching, I taught second grade, and then, um, when I started teaching fifth grade, it was at the same time that my second graders would have been in fifth grade at that point.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, like, my same first, second grade class and fifth grade class are the same age, and they're in tenth grade now. Kills me that they're like that close to graduating like that. Oh, it'll be want to stab myself in the heart Like it's 

Jere: beautiful. 

Lauran: Oh, 

Jere: I had a kid one year I was I used to be a gen ed first grade teacher and then gen ed second grade and he left our school in the Seventh grade he started college a couple years ago His mom reached out to me and she's like he wants to meet with you and have brunch.

Can we have brunch? And I was like, Oh my God, you're kidding me and his mom and him made for brunch one day a couple years ago, and he's just getting ready to like, go to college and I was just like, dude, this is like, you were like one of the best teachers I ever had. I 

Lauran: was gonna say, what a blessing that they remembered you.

I was gonna say, so 

Jordan: like I work an office job, I'm a creative director. So it's, it's insane to me to just be able to see like that much of your work and impact and everything. Like. Come to fruition in that, like you have a student like who's ready to go to college and you saw them in either first or second grade that they still remember you and you're, you're, you're like presence in their life made such an impact that like, I need to go back and meet with them.

That is just, it's insane to me. It's so cool. It is. It 

Jere: is cool. 

Lauran: That's really awesome. Yeah. Oh my gosh, this is, I'm just like thinking about my kids graduating and that just makes me. You'll cry. Cry, yes, it's gonna make me cry. 

Jere: Did you say your school was 12th grade? Yeah, 

Lauran: yeah. 

Jere: Let me tell you one of the best things that we do that I think, I don't know if y'all do this or not.

We have something called the senior walk. 

Lauran: Yes, we do this. 

Jere: And the seniors put on their robes and gowns. They come down to the elementary school and they walk around and they hold hands or whatever with a kindergartner. Aww. And they, and they come into the kindergarten classroom and they make a poster for the kindergartner.

They read to the kindergartner and they talk. And then every staff member In the elementary school, decorates a door in honor of the senior. Oh my gosh. That is so cool. And it's, it's, it's become this huge, huge thing. So they send us a list of all the seniors. Yeah. And they're like, a spreadsheet or whatever.

And they're like, put your name on whoever you want. And of course, I had to choose among all these kids. Yeah. But, you know, and I don't miss Shane. Did you choose me? Did you choose me and I'll choose my little kid and it's just like it's it's really cool. 

Jordan: Yeah That's awesome 

Lauran: we um at my school they do a senior walk So like the seniors put on their caps and gowns and they walk the hall and that so the kids can see them 

Jere: Yeah, 

Lauran: but we don't do like all of that.

I'm gonna have to bring that up to me. It's pretty cool that is really cool and we 

Jere: cheat and then they have like We have like an elementary band, the band comes through with a percussion and bang it, you know, doing like a little drum line, they're dancing and everybody's screaming and hollering, it's really cool, yeah.

Lauran: That is awesome, and I love that they decorate doors for each kid. How many, so like roughly, how many elementary school teachers do you have? 

Jere: Okay, well here's the problem, it's gotten so big, like even like the custodial closet door. Oh my gosh, it's so cool. Yeah, it has like a scene, I mean, every, some windows, everybody gets an assignment, the parapros, the teachers, the principal, everybody's designing these doors.

So like, what do you, 

Lauran: what do they put on the doors? Like their name? 

Jere: Yeah, the one thing they do is they give every single person the same size. Oh my God. Two feet by three feet picture of the kid. Oh, 

Lauran: okay. 

Jere: And then the kid fills out a questionnaire, like a Google form where they're going to college. If they're going to college or like, let's say they want to do like fingernails or whatever they want to do now, a nail tech, uh, they'll say their favorite color that I like to ride motorcycles, whatever this whole interest and based on those interests kind of gives you the inspiration for your door.

Lauran: That's great. That is awesome. 

Jere: Like, you know, if a kid, we have a big golf program at our school, so if a kid is going to college on a golf scholarship, they'll have like their college, a big golf, the kid like playing golf and things like that. My last senior, oh my god, I taught the kid in second grade. Love this kid.

Yeah. I got in touch with a dad and the dad's like, I said, do you have any pictures? He's like, no, I got pictures of you and him in second grade. He sent me so many pictures. It covered the whole door. Oh my gosh. Of this kid from like pre k all the way to senior at the school and golf. The whole door. It was just so cool.

Lauran: Yeah, that's how you build like a community. That's how you build a community between elementary all the way up through high school. For sure. 

Jere: We used to call it cradle to college, but that's. Fortunately, we're shifting gears now that college is not necessarily the track for every kid. So now it's more like cradle to success because you can be successful in other ways, right?

Yeah 

Lauran: I love that. I'm definitely stealing that and still you get your best ideas from other people Absolutely. Absolutely. If there's a single teacher out there that has not gotten one good idea from another teacher I want to meet him. 

Jere: I had somebody instagrammed me the other day and was like Hey, I like this content that you made about getting gifts.

Do you what's the policy on? Like copy and other creators. And I was like, you know, if you're inspired by a creator, just credit that person and say inspired by this person. I was like, but we're all watching each other, getting ideas. 

Lauran: Right. So, I want to hear about these stories that you brought. So, you, you told a story about your AP English teacher, Mrs.

Edward. 

Jere: Yeah, yeah, for sure. Okay, so, a little bit of background about me. First generation college student. So like my dad was a mechanic. My mom did hair. My mom, eventually, I don't want to give her credit. She did go to college when I was in college and then became a teacher and retired as a teacher. But when I was a kid, that was not the situation.

College was never discussed or anything like that. I didn't have a great school experience like at all from kindergarten to 11th grade. I mean, I mean, it was bad. Like I hated school. I was miserable. I didn't even know I was gay because it just didn't exist for me, but I knew something was wrong. And so my plan the summer before my senior year, I was like, I know what'll fix all this.

If I just leave this school and go to a different school, that'll solve this problem. That was my plan from a like, what, 17 year old point of view, right? I talked my mom into letting me go to the school district where my dad lived, my parents were divorced. She's like, cool, whatever. We go to like, sign up for the classes.

And my mom was in college at this time. And the teacher, Ms. Edwards, who taught AP English, coincidentally, was the professor of the college that my mom was going to, the local college. Oh, okay. Okay, so you got, okay, so there's the connection. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we go to this school, and we're talking with the counselor, and the counselor's like, well, what classes do you want to take?

And my mom says, I want her to be in this Ms. Edwards class, because I know she's a really good teacher. The counselor looks at my situation and goes, Eh, I don't think that's a good idea for this. She doesn't belong in AP English. And my mom's like, No, I really want her to be in this Ms. Edwards class. And finally, she's like, Well, go talk to Ms.

Edwards. So we do. And when Ms. Edwards sees my mom, she's like, Oh my God, they hug, they embrace. And my mom's like, I want my daughter in your class. She looks at my situations, transcripts or whatever. She listened to me. She goes, are you a hard worker? Cause you definitely don't have the background. And I was like, yeah, yeah, I am.

She goes, I'll tell you what, I will do what I need to do on my end, but you're going to have to do it. You, you got some catching up to do. These kids are like miles ahead of you. I get in that class. I had no business being in that class. They're, they're using words. I'm trying to look up words. I don't want to ask, is this bad?

She works with me halfway through the year. She's like. Are you going to college? I was like, I don't know. I mean, y'all, I'm halfway to graduation. She talks me into, uh, I'm able to play basketball well enough to get into this junior college in North Georgia, tiny little school. You didn't even have to really apply to sign your name.

And I got in to this college and my English, I had called up, but here's the crazy part, I had to take what's called remedial English. That's when you take a college course, but you don't get credit. Okay. Yeah. Y'all don't even know what that is. Most people don't. Long story short, Ms. Edwards accepted me into that class, opened my eyes to even going to college.

I probably wouldn't have. Had she, and then I was able to get enough scholarship to go. Had she not done that, I wouldn't have gone to college. I now have three graduate degrees. I've been teaching for years. I have like, I believe impacted the lives of many kids. If it had not been for her, I would have stayed in my small town.

And we had a factory and probably worked in a factory, no shade on the factory. Like it's good work. We rely on factory workers. They do a lot of good stuff, but my life would have been really different and I wouldn't have had the opportunity to impact all the kids that I've impacted. So I want to, like, she's in my keynotes.

Um, I'm possibly going to write a book. I'm definitely going to try to put her in that. Like, it's just, that's the epitome of a teacher. Who changed a life. Yes. 

Lauran: Yeah, 

Jere: I mean for real, you know, yeah, that's 

Lauran: crazy. Yeah, like I I'm glad that you had that person in your life because a lot of kids don't have that a lot of kids just get told Like if they would have looked at, you know a transcript and had not and you know Not had straight A's or whatever and like yeah, you got no business in this class and like shipped off to a different class Right, but you know, it's that like it's the teachers that have I don't know it's like it's like almost like a like a sixth sense sense where they are able to like Sense something great in you and I'm glad that she she did because obviously we Wouldn't have miss Chang gifted either like 

Jere: you'd have some good power tools.

I would have been looking at I did that a few summers. We would have seen miss Chang power tools

Lauran: There's a second channel for you 

Jere: Now 

Lauran: we'll leave that to your wife with Cans yes That is crazy. Have you ever had a teacher like that? 

Jordan: So I'm just trying to think about it. I was in probably like a situation similar to a lot of your students where I excelled really well in school. School was like a very good environment for me.

I was like valedictorian of so, um, our district that we we both went through the same district, um, I decided to kind of split my time between my normal high school and then we have a vocational school in our area too and why I did that was because our vocational school to get students in there that were high achievers partnered with our one of our local universities and offered not just like the actual college course for uh, Biology but also chemistry for both one and two sessions so i would have been walking away with four classes done at the time so i went through that i excel in all of that my mind was so set on becoming a doctor that was all i was gonna do because all i was told was oh you're very smart you should become a doctor that's like what you should do.

So some things changed and everything. So instead of becoming a full on doctor while I was college, I was in nursing school and I did nursing school for three years. I hated it. The only reason I wanted to be in nursing was because there was one like form of nursing. I really loved, which was surgery. I loved being in the surgical suite and everything.

I loved watching it, loved everything about it. However, in our area, and this is common with a lot of other hospital systems is. Everybody wants to be in surgery because it's usually a higher paying form of nursing, and then it's also, um, It's just, it's better with schedules and everything, so like, everybody wants to be in surgery.

The problem with that is because everybody wants to be in surgery, you can't just walk in and being like, I'm applying for surgery. You usually have to start in med surg, and there's like other reasons, because it gets your feet wet as a nurse, it's a good place to start. And I just, I didn't want to do that.

I hated med surge. I just, I really, I had a very rough experience with my first clinical and nursing homes that really put a bad taste in my mouth. So I ended up dropping out of the nursing program at my college and I was just floating through programs and everything. And I ended Did you 

Lauran: switched and did like 

Jordan: I did chemical engineer.

I was gonna say you had like two other, um, physics. Yeah. I did like a lot of other things and I just, I couldn't find something that stuck. So eventually I landed in the business school because I was having just this hard time trying to figure out who I wanted to be. Like 

Lauran: where your passion 

Jordan: lies. Yeah.

Where my passions and the professor. When I first walked into the business school, his name was Michael Panticus. He was an associate professor at the time at Youngstown State, um, where I got my bachelor's degree from. He asked me, he's like, well, what do you want to do? Like, you're just kind of floating around left and right, and I just remembered, like, I told him, I was just like, I just want to create.

That's like, all I want to do. Because at the time I was also in a band, and that was where, like, my passions lied, is I just loved going in. To essentially avoid something in creating something out of nothing and like like you guys said earlier like no nobody's like if someone comes to you and tells you that they created something for a hundred percent original they are a liar i know when i first started writing music and when i first because my backgrounds in advertising and public relations so and i took a lot of classes in graphic design so like i ended up becoming a graphic designer so when i was first learning design when i was first learning to write music and everything.

I don't know how many hours I spent locked in my bedroom, like Creating things by mimicking other people and everything. Mr. Panticus. He was the first person in my life who was like, well, what do you want to do? And just kind of like threw it back at me because so long in my life from like other adults, teachers in my life, they're like, Hey, you're really smart.

You need to go in the medicine and it was just like, it was told 

Lauran: you felt like almost pressured to do that thing so that you didn't like disappoint people. It 

Jordan: was because I love that you brought up, um, like gifted burnout because I, I suffer a lot from that. Um, I also, 

Lauran: do you know, cause I don't remember ever doing any kind of gifted testing.

I know they probably did, but 

Jordan: like, so the only time I remember is I was in like a gifted. Math class? At one point I feel like you 

Lauran: are gifted in math, like, for sure. Um, my problem 

Jordan: is One of the things like we talked about on the show is me and Lauren both go to therapy Um, one of my biggest problems is I have a very big issue with perfectionism To the point where if it's 

Jere: really common among gifted kids.

Jordan: Yes, 

Jere: and there's like studies on this 

Jordan: Yeah And my issue is if if I can't like be the best at it first try out of the gate I shut down immediately. 

Jere: My son wouldn't go bowling And I was like, why don't you want to go bowling? And he's like, I might lose. 

Theme: Yeah, 

Jere: this was when he was an eight. And I was like, dude, we don't even really bowl.

We put the bumper things on it's fake bowling luck. 

Jordan: Yeah. I just, I don't know what it is like in my mind. And it seems like with other people's mind, like it is like this big thing. Like if I can't be number one, there's no. Point and it just, it's like this huge, like embarrassing factor. Like I can't even have fun.

It's like, I have to, 

Lauran: I remember you telling me about was when you were in sixth grade, 

Jordan: your English teacher, your English 

Lauran: teacher. So this kid would literally take his homework home, do all of it. And then throw it in his locker and not even bother to turn it in. I'm like, but you did the work and he's like.

Eh, I don't care. I don't know. It's like, 

Jere: like, a lot of, a lot of gifted kids who are twice exceptional, they have like anxiety disorder, learning disabilities, uh, ADHD, autism spectrum disorder. I mean. So a lot of gifted kids are twice exceptional, and that's another big misconception. That's probably where you would have landed.

Jordan: And which I would love to see it because I do, I have, uh, like, I not only like I have ulcerative colitis, which has been a huge impact on my life, but I also have OCD. So I would have loved to see. Look up 

Jere: twice exceptional. You will find, I was born with spina bifida. So I know definitely another life of a disability.

Um. You know, I have to use a catheter. My bladders paralyzed. I was supposed to be paralyzed from the waist down. Oh, wow. So yeah, I got all kinds of phases. So I like growing up with this. Did you grow up with ulcerative colitis or were you later in life? 

Jordan: I was diagnosed at 13 years old. So I was 7th grade.

Yeah. 

Jere: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Any kind of, um, digestive disability. As a teenager, horrible. 

Jordan: I can tell you, it, yeah. 

Jere: People ask me, how do you deal with online bullying? I was like, oh my god, I grew up gay, disabled, in a small conservative town. Like, online bullying is easy! I can delete those comments. You're like, piece of cake, block, block, block, block.

Right, right. You can just 

Jordan: ignore it, it's not in your face, like, in the moment. That's 

Jere: easy, yes. It was ruthless. Oh 

Jordan: yeah, yeah, and I can say that was Like having ulcerative colitis, just kind of like, cause you don't plan for it. And it's one of my biggest like struggles when you hear people things like, cause you'll hear talk with like, when it comes to like some disabilities that it almost sounds like you like chose this.

It's like, nah, I definitely would love to have not lived with ulcerative colitis most of my life. 

Jere: Yeah. Hidden disabilities can be challenging because I don't want to get TMI about my restroom habits, but because of the catheter I had to do. So other things in the private bathroom and I'll, and so I can use a typical bathroom, but using an accessible bathroom is better for me.

And I'll walk out sometimes and people look at me like sideways and I'm like, don't even don't make me show you. I'll show you all my stuff. Just leave me alone. Yeah, it's none of your business, 

Lauran: and then like, that's, that's the thing that bothers me the most about, like, hidden disabilities is that just because you can't see something doesn't mean that somebody is not going through something or, you know, just because it's not something that's visible, you know, doesn't make it any 

Jere: less valid.

I will, I'll get in so many, like. And middle school and high school teachers get so mad at me because I'm always advocating for kids to go to the bathroom. That is, I will die on this hill. I will 

Lauran: die on 

Jere: that hill also because of my husband. Yeah. And they're like, they're, they're doing bad things in there.

They're vaping. They're doing this. I'm like, I know y'all are dealing with different stuff in high school than I am in elementary school. I get it. And there have been times when the kids are like, Hey, Ms. Chain, can I go to the bathroom? And I'm like, Hey, look, I just sent four people. Can you hold it until one of those four people comes back?

Yeah, okay, cool. Wait until somebody comes back. I get it, but at the same time, yes, you can go to the bathroom. Can I go to the bathroom? Absolutely. I'm not keeping the bathroom from children. Right. I'm not doing it. 

Lauran: No, I, I feel the exact same way. Even the kids, 

Jere: I'm so sorry. Even the kids, this is a big, it's a big passion for me.

When the kids working on a hard math problem and I know they wanted to go to the bathroom to escape the math problem I still say yes because maybe they do need a break from the math problem and I'm okay with that and sometimes I'll say hey Look, I know you're getting away from this math problem. I totally respect that Go take your break do what you need to do when you come back the math problem is still gonna be here and we're gonna Get through it.

Yeah 

Lauran: No, I I completely agree with you a hundred percent like in my in my classroom like We, we have like, and I kind of, I made a video explaining how our bathroom system works in my classroom just because we have to have some kind of order to it, you know, just as a school in general, um, we are, at my school, we are only allowed to send one kid at a time, like You know, usually, but if there, you know, obviously, if there are other circumstances, I let more than one go, you know, but how we do it is like, our kids have, um, like three restroom breaks, um, to scatter however they want throughout the day.

But then we also. You know, they also can go during the morning time when they're just like doing work, lunchtime, specials, recess, in between class times, like they have so many opportunities to go. It's not like we just limit them to three. Um, but it's, you know, it's just so us for us to see who went to the bathroom that day, essentially.

And, you know, my, but my kids, you know, I. I don't police the bathroom. Like, I, I really don't even, I'm not, if you're one of my students, don't listen to this next part. I, I don't even look at the bathroom list. So if you've asked me to go to the bathroom like five or six times, I don't know. You're on the list!

Not the list! No, I don't look because I'm like, if someone has to go to the bathroom, they gotta go to the bathroom. I mean, I can only, it's none of my business what, what they need to do. When they go to the bathroom and, you know, whether it's just, you know, they have nothing going on and they just got to take a break and go to the bathroom or, you know, if they have ulcerative colitis or IBS or something that they need to be able to go medically for whatever amount of times they need to go, 

Jere: right?

Lauran: I'm not going to be the one to tell them no, right? Like, I just, Oh, I agree in the bathroom. I agree. Stop gate keeping the bathroom. And, but I all like, it's such a tricky yeah. Situation to because you know, I get it from from like the high school perspective, like trying to curb those negative behaviors, but the fact of the matter is you unless you're in that bathroom with them, you don't know what those kids are doing.

You don't know if they're actually going into the restroom or what or which kids are doing. So I get it. 

Jere: There's got to be some policies and stuff, but I'm still I'm advocating for the bathroom. I got y'all. Yes. 

Lauran: Yeah, we're in the same boat, so I'm glad we agree on that. And I'm glad you brought that up, because that's something that I feel like a lot of people don't talk about is hidden disabilities.

Yeah, yeah, definitely. I didn't have a 

Jere: 504, and I begged my mom not to put a 504 on file for me because I was so embarrassed. I did not come out. It was easier for me to come out as gay than it was for me to come out as disabled. I didn't come out as having a disability until I started TikTok and I've only been on TikTok for Or all the socials for years and I think like a year in and I started to grow and I think I had only like a couple hundred thousand followers and I was like, and people were telling me like, I look up to you, you know, mostly queer related and I thought, wow, I'm kind of people are looking up to me.

I should probably speak out. So I made one video. About where the catheter and it went viral and my DMS, my comments blew up with people with spina bifida. I was like, y'all probably haven't even heard of spina bifida and I don't expect most people haven't heard of it. Unless you know someone. Yeah, we have.

From my nursing background. 

Jordan: Yeah, definitely. Oh, yeah. 

Jere: Fair enough. Fair enough. But like most regular people first are like, what is that? And I have to do a little medical. I draw a little picture of your vertebrae and the nerves and your spine is exposed and all. But I was born, I was typical. They didn't know I had it.

Um. Anyway, I was shocked at the number of people with spina bifida. I was like, Oh my gosh, it was really humbling. And I was like, okay, I guess I need to talk about it. I don't need to, but I wanted, I felt inspired to talk about this more because representation is so important. Yeah, 

Lauran: absolutely. 

Jordan: I was going to say, I could speak from the lens of ulcerative colitis.

Like it's such a, because it deals with like, it's an autoimmune disorder that deals with your digestive system. And because of that and what it affects, it's very like taboo to kind of talk about it because it is, it's very embarrassing. So like a lot of people with ulcerative colitis, clones, Crohn's disease, and like heavier forms of I, IBD, like you don't want to talk about it.

Cause it's like, It's what, you know, we spend all of our society spends like it shows this message of don't talk about how you poop and how do you, how do you bring it up when like your whole disease is kind of essentially like, I'm not going to the bathroom normal, like it's, it's insane. So, like, you kind of get siloed into like a community where, like, for when I was growing up, it wasn't like.

As prominent as it was now like we were really big advocates for the crowns and colitis foundation because they have done so much to kind of bring it to light and bring people together for the past like couple decades now. Um, but still it's one of those things like even when i was growing up and through it was like the only person i felt comfortable talking to was my pediatrician gastro 

Theme: so 

Jordan: yeah it's i think people like you who come to the like.

Use your platforms and everything to showcase, like, not only are you an LGBTQ teacher, but you're also a disabled teacher, and it shows people, like, hey, even if I have spina bifida, like, I can be something great in my community, too. 

Lauran: Right. Exactly. Absolutely. Thank you both for sharing, like, those, like, very intimate parts of your life with the internet.

Because, like, seriously, it, it does shine such a light on, on those things that we need to focus on. And, you know, giving space for, you know, disabled voices, and giving space for, you know, neurodivergent voices, and LGBTQ voices. Just People who are different and have different perspectives. And I think that that's amazing that you feel willing to share those stories.

Theme: Yeah. 

Lauran: So, I mean, not that, you know, I don't have anything to the extent of what either of you have, like, grown up, you know, with. But, I mean, just. Like last year, I just got diagnosed with ADHD, and I, I, I didn't know my entire life. Woo! I didn't know, I didn't know my entire life that I had this, and then, like, everything, like, once I found out, and I was, like, doing more research on myself.

I was like, wow, this all makes so much sense now. No wonder it has 800 hobbies. Yes! It can never finish one. Or hyper fixate on things. Or, like, can't remember anything, like, five minutes later. It's just like But it's such a fun world. It is! It is! And, but, like, I feel like it's helped Us even in our relationship.

I feel like it's helped like, because I know like when we were first married, like Jordan used to get so frustrated with me when I wouldn't remember something correctly or like, you know, we, you know, conversation we had previously and he'd be like, yeah, you said this. And I was like, I don't think I said that.

I'm like, I don't remember. I don't remember it that way. He's like, No, you definitely did. And like, so after learning that, I was like, well, just remember, like, my memory is not great. So if I did, you're probably right. Pull the card ADHD. ADHD. I will play my cards. Here you go. I even, I even say it in my classroom because I know I have students with ADHD and like, I like, I will openly like when I, you know, my, my co teacher and I were just talking about how like different teachers can tolerate different noise levels and things like that within their own classrooms.

And that's how like classroom management becomes very diverse and all that. Um, and in my classroom, like I can tolerate. Enough noise level, but my brain, if I am trying to teach something or trying to say something, I cannot like my brain will diverge into two different things and I'll hear this and be trying to talk and I can't so I have struggles.

Yes, 

Jere: you know, I will students because when I have the kids with ADHD and they're tapping and fidgeting, I just looked at him and I say. I'm sorry, you're distracting me. I don't even get mad at them. I'm like, I can't handle it because I'm trying to teach and now I'm wanting to tap with you. If you could just give me five minutes, let me teach because, you know, it's like a battle of the Yeah, and it's, 

Lauran: but it's good for them to hear that.

And I'm, I don't get like mad at them or frustrated. I just like I just tell them straight up. I was like, I'm like, Hey guys, I, I'm like, I have ADHD and when I hear side conversations, when I'm trying to explain something to you, I cannot focus on what I'm saying, like, could you hold off for like 10 minutes and then we can, 

Jere: yeah, or I'll join the conversation.

I know we're Googling squirrels and Abraham Lincoln, we get, we get off on tangents every now and then. So bad about getting off on tasks. I was showing a bit. Okay. This kid said, I want to go skiing for winter break. And I was like, did y'all and I'm not kids. Obviously, I'm not showing TikToks in the classroom, but it was a snowboarder and he was going to do like a tutorial.

And this kid or this person zooms by him like in super speed and he's like, I can't slow down and then two seconds later, somebody zooms by and goes, Earl, and I was like, I gotta show y'all this video and I was like, Oh my God, I'm so far off task and I'm the teacher. But then I had to show them this video.

Why 

Lauran: not? I mean, that reminds me of, what was that vine where they were like on a mountain? 

Jordan: Oh my gosh, I know what you're talking about. And then, like, it's 

Lauran: like, they're like, They're doing 

Jordan: an interview on the mountain and the kid just like flies by on the set of skis. 

Lauran: And he goes, I'm a giraffe! It's the same kind of thing.

Yeah, but that, like, that is where my brain goes. And I, So I, I do the same exact thing. And it was just a kid 

Jere: basically saying, Hey, Miss Chang, I'm excited. I'm going to Colorado to go skiing. And I was like, Oh, have you seen this video? We got to watch it right now. Hold on, class. Pause. We're going to watch this video.

Lauran: Oh my gosh. It's so great to like hear that other people do the same stuff that I do. It's real though, you know? It is. Yeah. Yeah. Like I, oh my God. I can't, I can't tell you how much it like, it honestly has changed my life though. Learning that about myself and just. Cause I, I grew up my whole life.

thinking, because I mean, I have anxiety. I'm a perfectionist, but like I grew up my whole life thinking that there was something wrong with me and why do I think this way? Why can't I ever focus on one thing at a time? And like, but like, you know, back when I was in school, like females being diagnosed with ADHD and it may be, I don't know the exact statistics and maybe it's more common now.

But it was very uncommon for sure. And so for me to make it all the way through, you know, even through like college and my master's degree and be able to do those, like you see my process through things and how like. I literally had to buy myself a physical planner, where I write down a to do list, uh, because I was just keeping post it notes in my head of different to do lists.

And I had to, like, double plan in my phone, so that I wouldn't forget things, because that's what happened. I was just, like, dropping the ball left and right, because I'm like, oh, wait, I have to do this. Oh, no, that was due last week. I have to do this now. And it, like, just everything clicked the moment I found that out and I started researching more about myself and, like, you just don't feel as, like, I don't know, you don't feel like, oh, something's wrong with me.

You feel like, oh, no, I just, my brain works differently and I can, you know, do these things to help myself. And I can help the people around me help me by telling them, you know, how my brain works. So Yeah, it's good 

Jere: for your students to see that. 

Lauran: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And I, I mean, I'm not shy about that. I will, I will openly just be like, yeah, hey.

I've got ADHD and I cannot focus right now, so I need you to get quiet. Right, right, right. Uh, but yeah, no, I, I love that. I love hearing, you know, different, different classrooms that are vastly different than mine but also vastly the same. Yeah, right. That's awesome. That's awesome. Well, we are going to take a quick break.

And then when we come back, we're going to play a really fun game. So we'll see in a minute.

All right, guys, we're back. And we are ready to play our version of family feud, which we are now calling faculty feud. I feel like we need some game show music in here. That was great. That was beautiful. Okay, so what's gonna happen is we both Jerry and I asked our classes. Some different questions and, um, collected their responses anonymously and then our producer put them together in like, you know, Family Feud style game show board.

So, we're going to, uh, take turns going back and forth trying to guess what they answered and collect as many points as we can and we'll see who ends up being the winner. That would be 

Jere: me. Let's do it. Oh! Jerry's calling it. Listen, I love the confidence. Pointing the shot. 

Lauran: What do I win? What do I win? You win an internet hug.

Yay! Yay! Okay. So, the first question is what I asked to my group of 24 fifth graders. Okay. And the question was, what's the first thing you do when you get home from school? So, since Jerry's the guest, you go first. Eat a snack. Okay, let's see, is eat a snack on the board? Survey says It is! Eats! We had one response for eats!

One! Come on! Oh, just one! How? Just one response, but hey, you got the points! 

Okay. 

So, I mean, it counts for something. Alright, Jordan. 

Jordan: Fortnite. 

Lauran: Play Fortnite? Fortnite. Specifically Fortnite? 

Jordan: Oh. Play video games. Okay, okay, okay. Oh, yeah. 

Lauran: I was like, I'll be nice to you. Alright, play games! Four responses. Woo! What are these kids doing?

I was like, right? What are they doing? I don't know. I think they're reading. Yeah. Okay, okay. I'm gonna say, do a chore. Oh, boring. No. I know, I know, but maybe, maybe some of them have chores. Come on, Miss Wooly's Kids. 

Jordan: What is it? 

Lauran: Chores or clean. Three responses. What are these kids doing? Wow, I've got three kids that do chores?

Awesome. Well, that doesn't surprise me. My kids this year are really good at cleaning up. Like it's very rare. You have the one kid that does 

Jordan: the pillow chop. 

Lauran: Yeah, my one student, no joke, literally fixes my pillows on my couch, and he does the pillow chop. They need to come down to Atlanta. I looked at him and I was like, did you just chop my pillows?

And he goes, That's how my mom does it. Oh my gosh. I love that kid. Let's go. I was like, you're 

Jere: a keeper. Um, 

Lauran: okay. 

Jere: Back to me? Yep, back to you. I hope this is not true. I hope, come on kids. I have, I believe in you. Homework? Homework. Please don't be homework. 

Lauran: The top answer with six responses, homework! Yes!

I was so hoping that wouldn't be on there. Oh, Jerry, I was gonna say that. Dang. 

That is the first thing they do. That is the first thing they do. 

Miss Wooley, you gotta do better by these kids. Listen, I don't give them homework. I don't understand why they're What? I don't understand what homework they're doing.

Cause the only homework they have from me is to study vocab words. Like, five minutes a night. What kind of homework are you giving these kids? Automatopoeia. Well, actually, no. But, I, like, I'm, I'm being dead serious. I do not give them homework. My co teacher, maybe she gives them math homework. I don't know.

I'm rooting for you kids. Alright, let's 

Jere: see. Blame it on the math teacher. 

Lauran: Oh, wait, is it my turn? Oh, yeah, 

Jere: yeah, yeah. Are you trying 

Lauran: to steal my turn? 

Jere: No. 

Lauran: Thief! 

Jere: Okay, 

Jordan: your turn. Um, watch TV. 

Lauran: Watch TV. Oh, yeah. Do we have watch TV on the board? Watch TV and tablet, three responses. There we go. All right. Oh, I forgot.

I'm gonna start saying survey says. Survey says. Oh, yeah, for sure. Oh, yeah. I'm gonna channel my inner Steve Harvey. Um, alright. Geez, I feel like you guys took all the good ones. We did. Um, 

Theme: oh shoot. I'm 

Lauran: gonna say, like, babysit siblings. Oh. Like, watch their, like, watch their younger siblings. Eh. 

Jere: No, it's not on the board.

No. Is there more on the board? There's four more. Four more. Okay. Okay. 

Lauran: Go to the bathroom. All right. Go to the bathroom. Do we have, eh, what? It's not on there. . . 

Jordan: I'm not gonna lie. That would've definitely been my answer. . 

Lauran: Hey, you know, you gotta go and you gotta go. I, 

Jordan: oh my gosh, I had a ritual. Um, okay, so was was back?

No. Are 

Jere: you gonna tell us the ritual? 

Jordan: No, I was just, okay, so the medication I was on to control ulcerative colitis, like, it put me, I'm not kidding, like, it was to the second of, like, how time of a schedule I would have to be on, and it was like, of course, like, I don't know if it's like circadian rhythm or something, it was as soon as I walked in the door from the bus.

That's lucky though, at least 

Jere: you're home. That's called muscle memory. Yeah. 

Lauran: Alright, let's see. Uh, I'm going to say, I'm going to say Oh wait, whoa, 

Jere: whoa, whoa. Oh wait, 

Lauran: Gunn's turn! Yes! He's got a reveal for me again! I thought yours was go to the bathroom, but that was, that was Jerry's. 

Jordan: Okay, so let's run this back.

We got We got homework. We got chores. Oh, I can't 

Lauran: do a review? 

Jordan: Okay, okay, 

Lauran: okay. No. Play games, watch TV, and eat. We have four more blanks. Oh, I got one. Play outside? No, that's wrong. That was wrong. Oh, I got a different one. Alright, go outside. One. Okay, I'm gonna say, play with their pets. Play with their pets.

Play with their pets. Oh, I got one. Survey says? Walk the dog! Yay! Oh, that's only one response though. I'm ready. Okay. Yep. There's two more. Sleep. Oh, dang. They are liars they be napping for sure. Oh, they tell me all the time they're like when I'm gonna go home I'm gonna go take a nap. Yeah Okay, Jordan two blanks left so far I I'm losing

What'd you say? Actually, I'm tied with, I'm tied with Jerry right now. 

Jere: Oh, that's gotta change. 

Lauran: Oh no. Hold on. I'm so wrong. Jerry has seven points. Jordan has eight. I have four. Oh, . Oh, I'm in the 

Jordan: lead. Oh no. Okay. Um hmm. 

Lauran: I know it's tough to think of like, what the heck else are these kids doing? 

Jordan: Talk to their parent or give them a hug.

Jere: Aw, that sweet, sweet. It's not gonna be on there though. 

Lauran: These kids not love their parents? What is this? No, their first thing is homework. Homework first. 

Alright, 

oh, oh, oh! Ungrateful. I got one. Uh, go to practice. Oh, that is a good one. Like a sport. Yeah, that's a good 

Jere: one. 

Lauran: Are you kidding me? None of them are going to so I know they all go right to football and soccer and cheerleading Yeah Okay, here 

Jere: comes mine.

All right read 

Jordan: We got Reid, 

Lauran: no, we've got two blanks left. 

Jordan: Oh my gosh. Okay. All right. We're about to hit 

Lauran: a third and then we'll have to reveal the other two and we'll go on to Jerry's. If you can't get this. 

Jordan: I got to get it then. Oh, it actually would be 

Lauran: me if I can't get it. Oh, okay. Okay. Cause that'd be a one more round.

Jordan: Yep. Okay. Um, we're going to go with call or text a friend. No! 

Lauran: Go on phone! Two responses! All right, dang, why didn't I think of that?

Shoot, okay. I'm gonna say Hang out with friends? Huh, I lost it for us. All right. What was the last blank? Work! Work? What, do they get jobs? Like, oh, like a job on a farm. Okay. Okay. Oh, yeah. Cause you 

Jordan: teach in a rural district. Yeah, yeah. That makes 

Lauran: sense. I definitely did not have, we are in an urban school.

Yeah. I've got a, I've got a few, a few kids that live on a farm. That's cool though. Yeah. Yeah. It's cool. Cause they like, it's, it's amazing to hear how knowledgeable about like. I bet they are. About taking care of farms and just equipment and different things that they are in agriculture in general. It is really cool.

That's neat. Alright, on to Jerry's question. So, uh, Jerry had a lot more responses because you have more students than I do. Yeah, I have like 70, 80 kids a week. How the heck do you fit them all in that schedule, man? A different class a different day. A lot of kids. Yeah, but even a different class a different day, I feel like that's a lot of kids.

It is a lot. I know a lot of people. Yeah, you know a lot of people. I do. Okay, so, Jerry asked her students, what is something kids may get in trouble for at school? Okay, now keep in mind, the grade is first grade through third grade. Yeah, 

Jere: so this is like a myriad of grades. All right. 

Lauran: Yes. All right, Jerry, you get to go first.

Jere: Um, like, Talking in class. 

Lauran: Oh my gosh. I think Jerry just snatched the the winning answer. 22 responses for talking. 

Jere: When I tell you these kids, they never stop talking. Yeah, these 

Lauran: kids are really chatty. Yeah, yeah, we like to chat. Yeah. 

Jordan: Okay. Oh man. 

Lauran: Jordan, what do kids get in trouble for at school? 

Jordan: Bullying or not being a friend.

Yeah, that's a good one. 

Lauran: That is a good one. Yeah, bullying and fighting seven responses. We're on the board All right. Dang it. I am glad that one's not higher though. I am also glad. Yes. I'm mad you took talking though because that was my answer. I mean, it's pretty obvious. Okay, I'm gonna say not doing their work.

Jere: Yeah, being off task. Dang it. That 

Lauran: was my second guess. Yeah, being off task. Eighteen. Oh my god, I might have just moved up in the leaderboard. No, no, 

Jere: no. I'm not 

Lauran: gonna beat you, but maybe I'll beat Jordan. No. 

Jere: Running in the hall. Okay, running, being busy, running in the hall. 11 responses. 

Lauran: These 

Jere: are the little kids.

They run everywhere. Little 

Lauran: itty bitty kids. Yes, they do. With 

Jere: their arms back like this. Oh, the Naruto run. I saw this 

Lauran: video today where a high school like pranked their students like at the bell. 

Jere: The teachers. 

Lauran: Yeah, they all ran out of the school as a Naruto run. Oh, 

Jordan: no. 

Lauran: Yeah, as soon as the bell rang They just left the kids.

Jordan: You have to show me this video. I will 

Jere: like it's like 10 teachers running down the hall It was it was hilarious. The kids are like what? It was 

Lauran: cool. It was a cool video. Okay, Jordan Last blank. Can you get it? 

Jordan: I'm gonna go with lying. Ooh, okay, 

Lauran: okay, lying. No! Dang, I just, what did I just have in my head? Oh my gosh, I lost my train of thought.

I had one. I had one. Okay, wait. Talking, being off task, running in the hall, Oh! Uh, not keeping their hands to themselves. Oh, yeah. Little kids have a really hard time with that. You're right, yep. 

It's not that one! Oh, no! Alright, 

alright, Jerry. 

Jere: Um. 

Lauran: It's all on you now. 

Jere: I don't really care about this, but I chewing gum, you know, maybe 

Lauran: other teachers might care about that.

No, not chewing gum. Back to Jordan. 

Jordan: Man, what would little second grade Jordan get in trouble? This is really 

Lauran: funny to hear from like Jordan's perspective because he does not work with little kids at all. So like for him to be thinking about what little kids get in trouble. For at school is just so off your radar.

Yeah, it 

Jordan: is. I'm just, I'm, Oh man, I'm spitballing here. Um, eating food when they're not supposed to be 

Lauran: eating in class. Yeah. I mean, I let my students eat, but a lot of teachers don't. That's not a bad guess. All right. I'm going to say. Dang, I really need to stop talking before I let my thought out of my head because it just Escapes.

It does, it escapes right out of my head. What was I thinking? Talking, being, oh, being disrespectful. Oh, that's a good one. Yep, 

Jordan: that is. 

Lauran: Oh my gosh, what the heck do these kids think they're gonna get in trouble for? 

Jere: Oh god, I forgot mine too. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, bad words, bad words. Oh, yeah, cursing. No, it's not that 

Lauran: either.

Alright, last round, Jordan, you and then me, and then we'll see what the winning thing is. I know it's gonna bug me. 

Jordan: We don't, these kids aren't cursing. Nope. They're not being disrespectful. Nope. 

Lauran: They're not chewing gum or eating in class. They're just talking. 

Jordan: Do we have like, out of their seats? 

Lauran: Oh, we don't.

Okay, out of their seats? 

Jere: That's a good one. 

Lauran: That is a good one, though. That is a good one. Close. Oh, I was close! Close. Out of their seat. Close. What? If they're out of their seat and that's close to the right answer? Oh, they said it was close. Not specific enough. Oh. Oh, uh, is it like constantly coming up to the teacher's desk?

No, they don't. I don't know, I'm just trying to. I know my kids do that. Nope. Forever, but I'm just trying. They're like little 

Jere: kittens. It's hilarious. Yeah, 

Lauran: yeah. Alright. Oh, playing! Ugh. What? 

Jere: Like playing how? Like, probably because like, you're teaching and they'll be goofing off. You're like, okay, alright. It's kind of adjacent to off task, but I guess it's, yeah.

Yeah, I 

Lauran: think I would also put that with off task, but I, I agree. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. Okay, so let's see. Who's the final winner? Did you calculate the total? Okay, our final winner, Jerry! With 40 points! Woo! So you get an internet hug! Yay! Oh my gosh, well this was so much fun, Jerry. so much for coming on the show.

We love talking with you and playing this game. This was a fun game, too. It was fun. I liked it. Before, before we head out, do you have any cool projects you have coming up that you'd like to share? 

Jere: Um, you know, not specific projects. I'm doing some public speaking. I'm speaking for Elevate, your classroom.

I'm speaking for them next year in Nashville and Austin. I'm going to Las Vegas to speak next summer. So I'm just doing more talks. So if y'all want to come hear me talk, 

Lauran: yeah, 

Jere: hit me up. That's my biggest thing lately is doing talks. Yeah. 

Lauran: Yeah, I love that. I want to, I, I would love to do that. I, I am doing, 

Jere: go ahead, go ahead.

It's either centered around like teacher motivation, creativity, and then like diversity and inclusion. Those are like my big three areas. 

Lauran: I like that. I'm doing, I'm doing one this summer on, um, my classroom economy and how I use that as like real world integration for fifth grade. So, yeah, I, I think that's awesome.

Um, yeah, I'm going to have to try to You know, persuade my school to, like, have you come speak. Please 

Jere: do. We need that. And I want these kids to take me out on the farm. Yeah. 

Lauran: Yeah, yeah. No, it's funny because my one, um, my one friend at my school, her fiancé has, like, a massive farm. Like, 

Jere: what kind of farms?

Lauran: Corn? Chickens? Cows? Uh, they have, I think they're mostly crops. Just different kinds of crops. That's really cool. Um, but they also have animals. I don't think they, like, uh, You know, or like a dairy farm or anything like that, though. Um, but she, like, talks all the time about how, like, her fiancé will take her in, like, the big 

Jordan: The combine tractor?

Combine. Oh, 

Lauran: yeah, that'd be so much fun! Yeah! I was like, can I come? I just want to see it. Like, I just want to, like, sit up there and watch you shuck all the corn instead. Oh, yeah. That would be so cool. Yeah, it would be awesome. But, uh, once again, thank you for being here. Oh, so much. We had a blast. Can't wait to have you back on the show.

And we wish you guys Uh, while we're, while we're filming this, it's like, maybe a week before the holidays, so happy holidays. And, uh, yeah, so we will be right back, guys.

Jerry was super 

Jordan: cool. Oh, god, I, I loved having them on, they were great, she was just awesome. I know. And, yeah, I think 

Lauran: I didn't think she was gonna whoop our butts so bad in Faculty Feud. She, 

Jordan: she kicked my butt. Royally, are you kidding me? What 

Lauran: do you mean, yours? I was in last! At least I had You were in last?

I think. No, I thought I was in last. Oh, well, 

she kicked both of our butts. Yeah, I was gonna say, 

Jordan: we got our butts destroyed. No, and it was, it was nice getting to talk about all of our experiences, especially like the invisible disabilities part. I really enjoy talking to somebody without, about that, so. I 

Lauran: agree.

I think that was a really awesome conversation. 

Jordan: Yes, absolutely. 

Lauran: Speaking of awesome conversations, it's time for this week's special bond. Special bond! This week's special bond comes from Rebecca. Thanks, Rebecca. My music teacher slash vocal teacher from high school is my biggest inspiration. He poured so much love, support, and wisdom over my life.

In high school, I had a ton of family problems going on, such as my brother going to jail by Uh, my birth dad being manipulative and me falling for it every time. And every time my dad broke my heart, my music teacher was still there for me. And then my senior year, two months before I graduated, I finally told him off and cut off our relationship.

And I feel so free. I wouldn't have been able to do it without my music teacher. The amount of mental and emotional abuse I was put through, I don't know if I would still be here. Wow, that's a that's a heavy one. Yeah, 

Jordan: that is 

Lauran: that's crazy. I just my heart goes out for you because or to you because I I get that.

Uh, i've also you know in my life dealt with you know, some family If you know, I'll put it that way. Um, I don't want to get into it, but I know what that feels like. And I'm happy that you made a decision for you that is better for you mentally and emotionally, and that you feel so free and that your teacher was able to provide some support for you in that really hard time.

Jordan: I think that highlights that like special bond thing of having someone in your life. Who empowers you and emboldens you to be able to make, you know, it's, it's a tough stand. It is like, I think it's hard and a lot of people don't have the support to make that stand and make that choice. So it's really amazing that your teacher was your source of inspiration to do that.

So 

Lauran: absolutely. So thank you so much, Rebecca, for sharing that. And if you would like to share your special bond with us, we would love to read it on the show. Go ahead and send them over to hello at we are fine pod dot com. We would love to include them in an episode. 

Jordan: How's the show? Let us know how you like it by coming and chatting with us on our.

human content podcast family at IG and Tick Tock at human contest, not contest, human content pods. 

Lauran: And you could also email us at hello at we are fine pod. com. 

Jordan: And we want to say thank you to our first shout out and to all the listeners who have been liking, subscribing, and leaving comments. We have this one from at Mr.

J Rod 92 on YouTube. Did I say that right? 

Lauran: Yeah, I think. Okay. That's how I read it. 

Jordan: it is, is MrJRod92. I'm from Polk County, Florida, to like Devin. He was a sub at my high school a couple years later. I worked at the Orlando Improv Comedy Club, now the Funny Bone, and I remember seeing Devin doing stand up there as well.

He's a great dude. 

Lauran: Absolutely. That was such a fun episode to shoot with Devin. He is hilarious. And such a giver. Like, that is, I think, what makes it even better. He's not just funny, but he's got the biggest heart in the world. 

Jordan: Yeah, he, he goes out of his way to be like a light and an impact in his community, which is amazing.

Lauran: So, thank you so much for the shoutout. I, I love that you took some time out of your day to highlight Devin. And, um, you know, him being an awesome dude because he is. So if you wanna view the full episode of our podcast, you can view those over on my YouTube channel at Mrs. Woolley in fifth. Uh, they're pretty funny and I Oh, they have a, a great bookcase in the background.

If you haven't seen it yet, are you 

Jordan: talking this bookcase? It's 

Lauran: beautiful and I love it. And you should also view it for yourselves 

Jordan: who, who pray, tell Built said book case. 

Lauran: Your dad. No, I'm just kidding. Jordan and his dad made them for me, which makes them even more special. So I think you should go look at my bookcase.

Look at our carpentry work here. It is, look 

at that. Look at that. I, I think it's, I think it's, uh, you know, it's worth a view if you, if you ask me. It's not just worth a 

Jordan: view, it's worth a like and a comment too. 

Lauran: Oh, maybe, uh, maybe a subscription also, maybe a subscribe. I think it's worth one of those. 

Jordan: If we get, what's a good, what's a good goal?

A goal for what? I don't know. If we get a goal, you're gonna determine the number. 

Lauran: Of what though? 

Jordan: I will play hide and seek in the house with a little microphone. You'll have to find me. 

Lauran: Oh my god, this is great. Okay, so, so, are we trying to make a view goal? Yeah, 

Jordan: view goal, like goal, whatever you want it to be.

Lauran: Okay, so, how about if If one of our next episodes that comes out hits, I don't know, maybe, will we go for like a Thousand views? Is that, am I reaching too high? No, we're 500. Should we go with 500? Let's go with 500. 

Jordan: We'll do 500. 

Lauran: Because I want to watch you play hide and seek. 

Jordan: Yeah, and I'll get the little microphone and everything for it.

All 

Lauran: right. All right. So if, if, uh, this episode with Miss Chang gifted gets 500 views, Jordan will play hide and seek in the house with a tiny microphone and I will film it for you. I, I love that. Please. Speaking of. Please 

Jordan: get it there because I really want to do that. 

Lauran: Yes, please. Who 

Jordan: is that creator that does that?

The real estate agent? I don't 

Lauran: know her name, but she's all over my For You page. 

Jordan: Yes, because I do want to credit her because that's the idea of the content. And I just love it so much. It's so funny. 

Lauran: We're your hosts, Lauren and Jordan Woolley. Special thanks to our guest today, Jerry Chang, also known as Miss Chang Gifted.

Everywhere you can find her. She is phenomenal. Make sure you give her a follow. Um, and yeah, our executive producers are stealing 

Jordan: my thunder. 

Lauran: No, I was setting 

Jordan: you up. Our executive producers are Jordan. Wooley, Lauren Wooley, Aaron Corny, Rob Goldman, and Shanti Brooke. 

Lauran: Our editor is Andrew Sims. Our engineer is Jason Portizzo and our music is by Omer Bensby.

To learn more about our program, disclaimer and. Fix 

Jordan: Policy and Submission Verifications and Licensing Term, go to wearefinepod. com or reach out to us at hello at wearefinepod. com with any questions or concerns. Oh, you 

Lauran: almost made it. 

Jordan: I did. Almost. I stumbled there a little bit. 

Lauran: This podcast discusses sensitive and challenging topics, including mental health and personal struggles.

If you're in crisis or need someone to talk to, please reach out to the Suicide Hotline at 988. The Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You are not alone. 

Jordan: We Are Fine is a human content production.

Lauran: Hey, you! Hey! I love 

Jordan: that shirt you're wearing. And you know what would go great with that shirt? What? A nice big virtual hug. And you can get that by hitting some of these buttons down here. Subscribe, like, comment. We'll give you a big ol virtual hug. 

Lauran: Thank you so much for listening, and we will see you guys next Wednesday.

Bye!