Unforgettable Freak-Outs with Tyler Jackowski

Andrea: Welcome to Those Who Can't Do, I'm your host, Andrea Forcum, and today I have Tyler Jackowski with me. Hi! 

Tyler: What's going on? How we doing? I'm so excited! How are you? This is great! I'm 

Andrea: so excited! I am so excited that you are here. You, now, historically, what has been like your main thing that you've taught?

Tyler: So here's the problem. And I feel like I've said this in so many different ways and shapes and forms just to like make it not sound insane in my head. It's easier to just give you the chronological. So when I first started off, I was, I accepted, cause I'm an idiot. I accepted my first job teaching. I was a stream in writing teacher.

So you know STEM? 

Andrea: Yeah. 

Tyler: So imagine if STEM was like bigger and more annoying. So it was science, technology, religion, engineering, arts, mathematics, and mathematics. And writing. 

Andrea: Isn't that just 

Tyler: school? Yeah. Like, didn't they just Yeah, no, it was just school. I was like, I was like, the guy, and get this, so it was that for grades K 2 through 6.

Andrea: Whoa. 

Tyler: Yeah. So basically what would happen is like, teachers would teach, so it was an elementary slash like early middle school, and teachers would basically do like general content with like Like reading, writing, and then like basic math, and then they would bring it in to me and I would teach them like the STEM like creator space type of thing.

Ask me, ask me what degree I got. 

Andrea: What degree? 

Tyler: Not science. Not math. Not religion. Can you imagine? Are you, are you a mother? 

Andrea: I am. 

Tyler: Great. Imagine if you bring your kid into religion class, and my dumbass walks out and I'm like, 

Andrea: Here we are, guys. 

Tyler: If I'm teaching religion to the American population, we are going into the hole.

And it's going so fast. 

Andrea: I just, I'm trying to figure out how they wrapped that one in, like, how is that one included? It's because it was 

Tyler: a 

Andrea: Catholic school. Okay, got it. got it, got it. 

Tyler: Jump back to when I was in college. So the, the first school that I worked at was right down the street from the college I went to where I was not studying science.

And um, so they would like bring me in and I would, so the whole time that I was doing my education degree, cause that's what I actually got a friggin degree in, they like, they were like really close to the school. So whenever they needed like. Externship opportunities and substituting and just like being over there, they would say like, hey, you're an education major, go get them.

And I'd be hungover like crazy. And I'd be like, okay. So I'd go hang out with toddlers for a while, but they would have me like painting the walls. I took out the trash for them. I would like, I was changing diapers for not too long because I would like throw up in my lap. It was bad. 

Andrea: I'm so confused. This was a, this was a K 12 school.

It was 

Tyler: K through six. 

Andrea: Okay, where there were kindergartners with diapers? Really? Is that a thing? I've never taught kindergarten. My kids, my, my son is in preschool and he's not in diapers. Oh, Andrea, 

Tyler: Andrea, the extent to which these kids will defecate at any age is amazing. Like it's not, it's not like a, it's not like a, Oh, this is like, like correct for your age.

No, it's like a, you have to go, you don't feel like walking, you're going. 

Andrea: Oh my gosh. I, so I've only ever done high school where they, they might still be crapping their pants, but they have enough shame that they would hide it, 

Tyler: you know? Oh my God. And, oh, okay. So to continue what I was saying, so I taught K through K two through sixth grade, all of those contents, but basically like, as you know, like you need to work towards your professional license.

So the friggin administrators like, we got you, we'll add on, and writing. I have a plaque, I have a plaque that's been up on my classroom that says, Mr. Tyler Joukowsky, stream and writing. They had to like write it on in like sharpie. 

Andrea: I It was ridiculous. Now your bachelor's degree is in education? 

Tyler: Yes. So I did a double, I did a double major in secondary education in English.

Andrea: Okay. 

Tyler: Got it. With the goal of being, duh duh, a friggin English teacher at some point in my life. But I did that for two years and, um, and then I ultimately went on to teach humanities at that school, which was like a, a, it wasn't the right direction, but it was like a step. And I taught humanities cause that's like a mixture of social studies and English.

In that, I'm not going to lie, like, can we swear on here? Great. That was a shitload of fun. And like, I, I really enjoyed teaching humanities. It was great. But like, it wasn't. It wasn't focused enough for the district to be like, you got to be teaching English. So ultimately, um, after a couple of years in that school, way more than I should have been, but I just love the students so much in the, that my coworkers, some of them were assholes, but some of them were amazing.

Wow. This is going to go on the internet. Um, but ultimately, like I stayed at that school longer than I should have because like the first year they, they offered me like 28, 000 and I almost shit my pants. 

Andrea: Because, because you thought it was a lot or because you, you did? 

Tyler: Because I, because my IQ is the same as my shoe size and I don't know what's what in this world.

Like what, like what does anybody want from me? 

Andrea: 28, 000? Is that even above the poverty? Oh, I was impoverished. 

Tyler: Oh, I was impoverished. You're like, no, I was impoverished. Like, I know that I was impoverished. Like, I was, I was like, I was eating like hot pockets for like the majority of the year. Did a, did a doozy on my stomach.

But basically, so to continue on, are you glad you had me on yet? 

Andrea: I'm so glad, yeah. 

Tyler: Can we like, just hang out? I feel like we need to just like, chill. We should do that. A thousand 

Andrea: percent. That'd be 

Tyler: fun. So basically, after I got done with that school, I went off and I did this massive switch from teaching, um, stream and writing to everybody up to humanities for fifth and sixth grade.

And then I took a massive leap up to Boston Public School Title one school, 11th and 12th grade English. 

Andrea: Whoa. 

Tyler: Yeah, so I did the leap of faith with zero faith because I had just gone out of Catholic schools and now I know for sure that there is no, there's nothing up there. So um, so then I got, I hope this isn't a religious podcast.

So we, uh, I come to, I'm looking around for like crosses in the background. He's just trying to 

Andrea: see if I, if I have a crucifix behind me. I'm like, 

Tyler: Jesus, does she like singing hymns? But, so I, I went off and I taught, uh, 11th and 12th grade for an entire year and it's funny that we bring up kids shitting themselves in class because this past school year, I had a student, he just trusted himself way too much and there was one time I was getting observed.

So I got the principal, I got, um, it wasn't the superintendent but it was a person from the superintendent's office who's basically gonna directly say like, this person should be teaching or this person should not be teaching. Great timing. So I have, um, my student comes in, and he, he, he's just like, he lives to screw with his teachers, and frankly, like, I can't be that mad about it, because when I was in middle school, I was a nightmare.

We'll get to that. Right. So, he comes in, and, and I think that his goal was like, I'm gonna eat everything on the Taco Bell menu the night before and hold it in. Uh oh. So, we're like halfway through a lesson, it's dead, dead silent. Because they're like doing work and it's early so the kids who don't do their work are asleep and the kids who do do their work are doing their work.

And this kid just like trusted one and it was like probably three percent air. 

Andrea: Oh. 

Tyler: And it like 

Andrea: audibly? Oh my god. Like you could hear that it was definitely not air it sounded 

Tyler: like something you would like find on like a pre recorded tape if you wanted to hear the sound of like a public stall. It was crazy.

It was like Coachella bathroom. Like, like sponsored by Chipotle. It was the worst thing I've ever seen in my entire life. And the kid, he, he was just completely unbothered. We looked around and I was like, do you want to go clean yourself up? And the kid was like, I'm good. And I was like, I don't think you're good.

I'm almost positive You were being 

Andrea: observed? 

Tyler: I was being observed. So we're all like unanimously horrified and now we get to like live in this confined space where we're all sharing air. Just knowing. No ventilation in Boston public schools. None. So we're basically, we, we all are now pink eye victims. And like, I don't know what you like really are expecting from this kid, but he was like, nah, I'm good.

Goes right back to sleep. 

Andrea: Oh, oh, so he woke up to shit himself and then 

Tyler: Yeah, I'm like, dude, your pants are gonna be concrete by lunch. What are you, like, what are we doing here? 

Andrea: Oh my god. 

Tyler: Again, are you still glad that you brought me in? So, 

Andrea: so very glad. So, okay, so you, were you teaching at the Catholic school also in Boston?

Yes. Are you from Boston? 

Tyler: Yeah. Yeah. So I was born right outside of Boston. Um, everybody gets all pissed off if you say that you're from Boston when you're not like born on like, like Matt Damon's doorstep. On the freeway. Yeah, exactly. You got to be born on route one, going straight through the city. No, so I was born in Danvers right outside of the city and Uh, ever, like, I, I went to school outside of the city in Danvers, and then I went to college in Boston, and since I went to college, I've been living in Boston.

Andrea: Nice. Yeah, it's been a good time. I actually, for the first time this summer, I went to Boston, and I fell in love. I love Boston. Oh my 

Tyler: God, it's amazing. It 

Andrea: has to be, I think, one of the most underrated cities. Like, I, I don't know what I had in my, in my mind, other than what I've, like, seen It's like a scene of people talking with like a really heavy Boston accent.

I had a student last year in my teacher prep program that was from Boston and he swore like a sailor. Like Bostonians swear like, like an artist with an easel. It is spectacular. Don't even 

Tyler: get me started, Andrea. Can I tell you the amount of self control I've developed across five years of not cursing in my classroom?

Like whether it's, whether it's a student. Jumping out from behind a, a door when I'm in my prep period, scaring everything out of my stomach, uh, to students just saying like, like, irreparable things about my teeth and nose and forehead and existence, like, you, like, the amount of self control it takes to be a teacher from Boston is like, it's like, it's like, It's an apocalypse in my brain every single day and it's just the craziest thing.

So you, you said that you met, you went to Boston and you were expecting like a certain thing. You were expecting like street fights and they're like saying slurs and Gaelic. 

Andrea: You know, I don't know exactly what I was expecting. The, the cussing thing though, my student, he, because we all talked to him, like if you're going to be working in the Midwest, like you can't be talking like that because he would answer something in class and it would just be four F words before the end of the sentence.

And, So he made a rule that for every time he slipped up and cussed in class, he made himself do 10 push ups. And I have to tell you, I saw him, uh, just yesterday in the hallway, and he ran out of clean shirts, so he was wearing a sleeveless shirt. This kid is so ripped now. 

Tyler: And now he's the rock. Yeah, 

Andrea: because he has to do push ups every time he accidentally swears.

I think he's getting better, but it's an ongoing battle for him. If I did that, 

Tyler: I would be Mr. Universe in, like, 10 minutes. Because I think, like, That's a misconception about teachers that people don't talk about enough, where it's like, Yeah. The people I've met in my life who are the most Like, swear the most, they say the grittiest things, they act like it's the end of the world on a Friday afternoon.

It's teachers, and I think it's because we spend the whole day wanting to say things and wanting to act on impulse, and you can't, so the minute that you put them on a bar stool Friday afternoon after a long week, you will never see alcohol get ingested faster in your whole life. World War II ending, Light work to a teacher on Friday.

Okay. You will never hear more swear words. And the thing is like, I know that from a professional dynamic, you're not supposed to talk about the students. It's all teachers do. All we do is talk about the students and we make sure that every teacher knows like, this kid did this. So when they walked up smiling with their hands crossed, and they're asking for like a present, don't give it to them.

But it's like, that's a misconception because teachers, the fact of the matter is, we're also humans. Right? And we happen to be very angry humans who went into a, a, a career field where you can't be angry. It's just like the, the, the piece of the pie. 

Andrea: Did you ever mess up in class and swear, like really obviously, like in front of your entire class?

Cause I have for sure done that. Okay. What, what's, what's like your, your favorite incident of that? 

Tyler: Okay. Favorite because I think it's funny in hindsight or favorite because. It's the, I don't know. I'm going to go with the one that I think is funny in hindsight because like it was, it's a horrible thing to do.

Okay. It was, it was not good. Okay. Remember how I told you about the kid behind the door? Okay. So let's, let's, let's back up. Uh, it is, What, what was it? So my birthday is on Halloween and I go absolutely 12 out of 12 when it comes to Halloween and especially in the classroom I would like go 100%. So I remember it was Halloween, it was my birthday so I'm like nothing can get in my way, I'm gonna have a great day.

So at that time I had a prep period very early on in the morning. I am dressed as a doctor. I am in scrubs. Okay, um, and I, I left my classroom because I had to like print something out or like figure out how to use the goddamn printer cause, and, um, so I had left my classroom and there's no one in my room, obviously, my students are off at like gym or some shit, and, so I go to the printer, I'm taking my time, I'm coming back, I'm having a nice 27 minute break over the whole day, And I come back in my classroom, and there was a student behind my door, okay?

So I'm walking in, I'm expecting peace, serenity, good vibes, happiness for once. And this student jumped out with a goblin mask on, and I think my brain, like, resorted back to, like, Vietnam PTSD, where I was like, this isn't actually happening. It was like two things. It went into straight up, like, like, self protection mode.

And I said, oh, f word, f word, oh, f word, jumping up and down like a schoolgirl. And I think that my brain was like, you're not a teacher anymore, you're a veteran. Right, it's 

Andrea: done. Yeah. And 

Tyler: I was just like this, and the problem is the kid was like a third grader. This little tiny child wearing like a gremlin mask, and I'm this far away like Screaming the F word.

And then after a while, the kid was like and I did that teacher thing where I was like I will literally throw you at your classroom and tell your teacher that you were screwing around in my room. I'll get you in so much trouble, you're never gonna say a word and you're gonna get out of my room right now.

So I sat down, I went into cardiac arrest and then I went on with my day. How do you do it? 

Andrea: Did that, did that kid ever like apologize or 

Tyler: make eye contact with you? He never came in the direction of my class again. I wouldn't either. Are you kidding me? If anyone, if an adult on the street right now got up in my face this close and said half of what I said, I might never leave my apartment again.

So this kid, he has to go on dressed like a ghoul for the rest of the day, acting like he didn't just get cursed out. In like the most egregious fashion, by a teacher, and um, You're 

Andrea: so lucky it was a kid that age and not a teenager, because it would have for sure been filmed had it been 

Tyler: a teenager. Oh, I would have been the number one reel in TikTok across all of social media.

Probably would have been good for the page, but Christ, would it have been bad. I would have, my teacher license would have gotten ripped out of my spine. 

Andrea: Immediately cancelled. I had a similar ish situation. I didn't get scared. I was more really annoyed. So I was, at that time, I was finishing my, um, my degree.

I was getting my license. So I was teaching and I was going to master, getting my master's, doing all this stuff, exhausted, and I was really into The Walking Dead at that point, right? And this was like, Early Seasons, Walking Dead, right? So the, and Glenn, I'm not, I don't want to spoil anything. Glenn was still alive at this point and I was obsessed.

I loved it. I watched it. Andrea, I 

Tyler: was just about to start watching The Walking Dead. 

Andrea: Well, Glenn at the, I stopped watching it before a lot of stuff happened because it just, Kind of lost interest for me. But the, um, when I was watching it, I knew that, like, they left it on a cliffhanger and Glenn was in great peril, which happens a million times in that show.

But I told my students, this was a class of freshmen to seniors. It was my journalism class. And I told them, like, okay, guys, like, I'm not going to watch The Walking Dead tonight or, or like yesterday, like tonight, because I'm going to be at grad school. Do not tell me what happens. Right. So I come in the next day and this kid who's constantly trolling me, he comes up to me and he's like, Hey miss, you want to know what happened to Walking Dead last night?

I was like, no, absolutely not. Don't tell me. And I'm like getting my stuff ready and I'm stressed and frazzled. And he's like, Glenn died. I said, don't you dare. And it was in front of the entire class. It was, everyone was like kind of chit chatting and it got so quiet and I could feel my face. I could feel my face heat up and I was like, I didn't say that.

I didn't say that. And the look on his face, like his eyes got so wide. Cause I, I had never sworn like that in class before, but I was also first year teacher. And that is like the hardest year when you're trying to curtail swearing and all of that. And his eyes got so big and he said, well, and then you just hear all around.

Oh, miss that a bad word. And I was like, no, I didn't. No, I didn't. Nothing. None of that happened. I was like, guys, be cool, be cool, be cool. No, but it's like, what are you going to do? I, I thank God. We're here to teach 

Tyler: lessons. You taught that kid a lesson. 

Andrea: Lessons were learned. They never snitched, but for the rest of the time I was at that school, that kid would come back in and be like, Remember when we were talking about The Walking Dead?

And I'm like, I don't actually. I have no memory of that. He blackmailed 

Tyler: you. He should have been like, remember that time you brought me a donut and I didn't tell every administrator about what you said? Remember? I would be like, it's crazy. I feel like I'm a big, like, like I like a medium cold brew ice black.

Like, I don't know, I feel like you could get me that and it wouldn't be much of a problem. Oh 

Andrea: my gosh. 

It was so bad. It's kind of a beautiful thing. Lessons were definitely learned. You're teaching business. Mostly. Obviously. Yeah. I mean, it was mostly that first year that I had things like that happen where I was just like, oh, I'm going to get hired.

Tyler: So it's actually really funny because, so. Again, I'm from outside of Boston. My parents taught me how to swear. And the high school that I went to before college, it was a super preppy school. It's a prep school. It's called St. John's Prep. It's in Danvers. And, um, so it basically was like this really high achieving, super expensive prep school.

In other words, not where I should have gone to high school and my parents, like, I would have conversations with them and they would hear how often I swore and they'd be like, you can't speak that way when you're in school. Like, if the headmaster hears you, if a supervisor hears you, if any of your teachers hear you, you're going to get kicked out and they're not going to give us any of our money back.

And I was like, mom, or I guess to be realistic, mom. Ma, here's the thing that you don't understand, is like, I have sort of like a switch, and I think this is one of the first signs where I realized that like, teaching is something I could do, I straight up have a switch. If you had told me, we need to go this entire podcast without swearing, I could do it.

But I told her, I was like, whenever I see someone who I know I can't swear around, I can talk at the same rate, the same volume, the same consistency, And I'm just not going to swear. Like, my brain shuts it off. And I, I don't know if it's like a processing thing or like some like special other disability I have, but like, I just don't do it.

I don't know what it is. It's just like, it doesn't happen. And she told me, she was like, I don't trust that. I don't trust that at all. And I was like, I don't blame you. But then I, I brought that to the classroom because in my, in my years as, as a high school student, I don't think I ever swore in front of a teacher that didn't already, like, I wasn't like already kind of okay with swearing, so, and it was never anything bad, it was never anything I'd actually say outside of school.

Outside of school, you'd think we're like, we're like on like the 56th floor of a building being made in like the 30s, like it's, it's not fun, but I never, I never screwed up, and I would bring that into teaching, and my parents would tell me, they'd be like, you can't speak like this in front of your class, and I'm like, what do you think I do?

Every day. Do you think I'm sitting in front of Pick your shit up! Like, with what, children? No, like, it doesn't happen. I have a switch, and it's on and it's off, and I think that it's like a mixture of a superpower and a curse, because every time that I've wanted to swear and I couldn't, my brain becomes like this melting pot of, like, I need to let this out at some point and that's what bars are for.

Andrea: Or, you know, if a kid happens to jump out from behind a door wearing a scary Halloween mask and then that switches, whatever switches in your brain, it overrides that. The switch got 

Tyler: ripped out of the wall. That was so, so bad. Like, I could not have let carelessness hit the wind harder if I tried. It was just like, It was a Jesus take the wheel moment.

And by Jesus take the wheel, I mean Jesus. I'm going to say every curse word I've ever heard in my life. Like a proper Bostonian. 

Andrea: Right. Exactly. Yeah. I actually, so when I was in Boston, I had probably the coolest moment since I started doing social media stuff because I was, I was there with like my whole family and I, we were just kind of going around looking at the sites.

We went to the little tea party museum, which by the way, if people haven't gone, so cool. It's so much fun. It was. And then we went to, um, Boston Sail Loft, which is like a, a chowder place downtown. 

Tyler: Sick. 

Andrea: Very, very good chowder. Oh my god. And so we show up, we stand at the front and the, there's this, you know, guy who's, who's taking names and stuff and we're like, oh, can we get in?

And he's like, oh, it's gonna be like an hour wait. And we're like, okay. And my kids are getting hungry. And so I was like, all right, well, you know, like. Maybe we'll come back later. He's like, it's gonna be busier later, and we don't take any reservations. And I was like, crap. And so we're staying there trying to figure out what to do.

And then this woman comes up behind him and says, Oh, my God, are you Andrea? And I was like, yes. I am. And she's like, Oh my God, Dad. And she looks at the guy who's taking names. She's like, Dad, we have to get her in. And I was like, wait, what? And she's like, I'm a teacher, but my dad owns this place. And, you know, we, we don't take reservations or like let people in for anything.

She's like, we had like the secretary of You know, some muckety muck from the government was here last week. We made him wait. She's like, but dad, can we, maybe we can open the, they opened the patio area for me and my kids and my parents and like had a special little private patio area for us to eat in.

And I was like, so blown away because she's a teacher in the Boston public schools and she was so, so sweet and so kind. And she messaged me like two weeks later on Instagram and said that, uh, the guy who plays Luke Skywalker, I can't remember his name. I know, I'm so terrible. I'm not 

Tyler: the 

Andrea: guy. Luke Skywalker, that guy.

Yeah. Uh, he apparently came like two weeks later and she made him wait for a table. Alright, Andrea! I just, I just happen to be like the very perfect niche for that, that teacher. And it was just one of those where I was like, I think, uh, I think I love Boston. Like, I got treated like such a celebrity. It was so fun.

The food was really good when I was in Boston. Like, went to an incredible coffee shop. Like, it was just the best experience. So, 

Tyler: Oh my 

Andrea: God. Big fan of Boston. You 

Tyler: badass. Oh my God. Yeah. That's the thing about Bostonians. It's like, if you're someone that we, that we like, We'll treat you like a million dollars, but if you're someone we hate, we will make sure you don't want to be alive anymore.

It's like the craziest thing in the world. It can go both ways. Like, if you're someone who we think is just like a scumbag, you're gonna get ripped to shreds. We're really, really good with like, uh, like you're gonna get what you deserve type of 

We Are Fine Trailer: town, 

Tyler: and I don't know. I think that like, so, in fairness, That situation is crazy.

I haven't had somebody be like, we made, you know, Darth Vader sit out in the cold, but you're coming in. You're on a different level. But I will say there was one time. So I was in where was I, I was in Boston flying to LA. And there was a group of students all like, 8th grade, probably. And, um, they were on a trip from LA to Boston, and they were on their way back.

They were on the same flight as me. Nightmare. So, they saw me, and like, I've come to find that in lieu of the fact that I've never taught 7th and 8th grade, 7th, 8th, 9th, or 10th grade, those groups are the ones that are like, Mr. J. And I'm like, so I had, and it was this group of like 30 children. So what happened was one of them came up to say hi to me.

And then six of them came up to say hi to me. And then they were all coming up to say hi to me. And I think the thing about me is that like, I'm never going to be upset if somebody like wants to say hi to me, but the problem is I'm also. A person who's been in education, so when it comes to kids, like, I'll do whatever I need to do to make a student happy.

So, it went from, like, saying hi and, like, waving across the terminal, to me sitting on the ground, surrounded by a group of, of children, all screaming things at me, being like, are you Skibbity Riz? And I'm like, I don't, I still don't know what that means. So, they're asking me all these questions, they're, they're like, Pulling up their phones so that we can do, like, dances and, like, TikTok trends and all this, and I, and, like, so, since they were on a field trip, they were on the field trip with their teachers, and even the teachers were, like, love what you do, so, they, so I was sitting on the ground with them, and I have, like, all these pictures from it, because it was just so funny, the teachers, because I was, like, completely entertaining their entire group of kids, Um, the teachers were like, let us do like something for you and um, they like went off and they like got me a coffee and they came back and um, the teachers were like cooling in the back, like sitting up, like, like feet kicked up.

I have all of their students and she looked at me and she was like, the minute that you want them to stop, please just like, like give me a thumbs up. I'll call them all back over. They do not have to be there. And I realized that in that moment, it's like. I would, I would prefer to be sitting down talking to people about content and about like whatever stuff that I do than watching TikToks in the airport.

It's like that feeling of like being able to meet people who think that the stuff that I put on social media is like worth watching. Coming up and talking to me is, is, is better than anything I could ever ask for because 

Andrea: when 

Tyler: I was in like middle school and like mostly middle school was like really, really bad for me, but like high school wasn't awesome either, but like in middle school, I wasn't aware of the fact that I had ADHD and like massive anxiety.

Like I was diagnosed at 27. I'm 28. Right? So, like, it took a really long time for me to understand, like, why can't I sit still, um, why is it, like, every now and again, like, my heart rate shoots up and I, like, kind of can't breathe, and I would, like, have these issues, and I would have teachers telling me, like, you need to shut up, you need to stop talking, you are way too loud, you won't stop moving, you're, like, tapping, I'm tapping my feet right now.

You know, if I wasn't doing this, I don't think I'd be able to have a conversation. But like back then the teachers would be like, if you keep tapping your foot, I'm going to send you out of the classroom, you know? And I remember my first anxiety attack was in. Middle school, and I had to be like carted out of the school, and I didn't know what it was.

My mom thought it was like an asthma attack, and I was like, Mom, I know I'm out of shape, but I was sitting still. Like, what, what do you want me to do? I was sitting still like, I don't think this was it, but my heart rate was like, Like, a hundred and ninety as a middle schooler. And, like, the reason the way that this all comes back together is like, I spent a lot of years having people tell me to shut up, And like not wanting to hear my voice and saying like, whenever I talked it was annoying or whatever.

And the idea that now as a 28 year old, I have people who not only enjoy what I say but want me to say more. Is like, like the fact that you're inviting me onto a podcast, like, to get me to talk, is like such a beautiful round circle, and that's the thing that I love about, like, talking to the kids, is that, like, there's probably a kid or two, like, even I was like, dude, you need to shut up, but I was like, no, you don't, you just need to, like, say the, say certain things, and then hold off on certain things.

But like, promoting that idea that like, your voice should be heard, your voice is worth being heard, because that was some shit that I like, really needed to hear back then, and I never got it. So if I ever see kids who want to like, say hi to me, I will never say no. 

Andrea: Yeah, and you know, it's so funny because I, I kid you not, of the people who I have on my podcast who are usually teacher creators or people who are involved in education and also have some sort of online platform, I would say a solid 90 percent of them, and people probably think I'm like looking for people who have been diagnosed with ADHD, myself included.

I got diagnosed like two years ago. Um, so But, like, I kid you not, I think that maybe 10 percent of the people who I've had on don't have ADHD. Yeah. Everybody else is like, yeah, so I was just diagnosed with ADHD recently and I think it's because we did spend so much time trying to, like, shut up and make ourselves smaller and all of that and then we found a way for us to share ourselves and be creative and do all of that online.

Yeah. And it's like, oh, hey. Like, yeah. Turns out there's a whole market for this. I really enjoy it. I 

Tyler: love it. And it's like, so I had like sort of two sides to it. Like the ADHD is like kind of its own thing where it's just like a focus. It's like, uh, you know, staying on the same like path when I'm talking, which like Even now, you've watched it happen.

I don't stay on the same thing. But it all sort of comes together. But the side of it that really got to me, like on a daily basis, was the anxiety. Like, I, I got diagnosed in one false swoop. I talked to a psychiatrist for like 10 minutes and she's like, Yeah, we got one for you. I got, I got diagnosed mass anxiety and insomnia and they would work cyclically so I would not sleep the whole night and then the not sleeping would feed the anxiety and then I would like wake up during the day, my heart rate would be on 10.

Like this time, actually this week, last year, I had to get a surgery to get a, it's still in my chest. I have a loop recorder put in my chest because, um, A little over a year ago, it was like October of the year before, or October of last year, I was um, visiting my friend out in, in Vegas, and I was like, it was like the morning I was working out, and um, I had had a problem with my heart rate, like a little bit, and I knew that I had like some problem with like mental health and anxiety.

But it had never really come to a head like this. I was like working out and I like did a run and it wasn't like a run where it was like, Oh, your heart. No, it was like a mellow run so that I can say that I worked out and people leave me alone. But I had finished my workout and I was just like chilling, like having a drink of water, like not doing anything.

My heart rate went up to 218 for 10, for 10 minutes, sitting perfectly still. I have a picture of my, um, my Apple Watch and it was like, Red. Red, like, red, like, holy shit, go to the hospital. It's 

Andrea: like, hey, um, you're 

Tyler: gonna die. Yeah. And, like, so basically after that, and I realized that, like, my anxiety had been pretty bad before that.

Actually, no, I'm wrong. This all happened, like, right before the start of the school year. And that's where, like, the wheels start turning as a teacher where you're like, you gotta start getting stuff together or you're gonna be screwed. So I think that was like an every morning feeling for me. And yeah, my heart rate was like 218 for 10 minutes sitting perfectly still.

And that, to someone who's like, in like a very, very, like, minimally different part of their life, is cardiac arrest. 100 percent you're on the floor cardiac arrest like, like heart failure. That's what happens when your heart fails, like your heart's working when it doesn't need to. And it's like, all right, well, this sucks.

So yeah, 

Andrea: exactly. 

Tyler: So this time last year I had to get a surgery to get a loop recorder put in my chest because we needed to find out if it was. Um, either an anxiety thing and like just a stress problem or full blown atrial fibrillation, which as the years go on is like 90 percent like you're gonna be prone to heart attacks.

And for that to happen at 27 is not a good situation. So when I first got that in, fun fact, I did the surgery like before school and then went to school after, which was ridiculous. 

Andrea: Like on the same day? 

Tyler: On the same day. 

Andrea: Tyler! 

Tyler: I know. I know. I know. That can be, that can be a story for the next time I come on a podcast.

That shit was stupid. But, um, I was talking to the cardiologist and he was like, He was like, we, we need to find out why this is happening, because you're on a road to having an incredibly unhealthy heart, because it's, it's being, like, It's being your heart's basically being like strangled by something. So let's find out what it is.

So at a similar time, I had started therapy, like, like probably like six or seven months before all of this was happening. And I had never seen a psychiatrist and I was talking to my therapist about it before this whole heart rate situation. And I was talking to a psychiatrist and she was like, yeah, I know why it's happening.

I know exactly why it's happening. So, she diagnosed me, I got put on Zoloft, I got put on hydroxyzine for sleep, and I have not had a single episode of a heart flutter since. 

Andrea: Oh my gosh. That's amazing. My 

Tyler: anxiety was so bad. I was putting myself into like pre heart attack zone. 

Andrea: Yeah. Like literally you were in fight or flight sitting still doing nothing.

Yeah. My body would wake me up 

Tyler: in the middle of the night and you would think that I was just fighting a bear and it was just like the craziest thing. And this is something, the reason why I like bringing that up on podcasts, especially podcasts about education is people like to downplay the effects of the job being a teacher.

You know? And people already know that like mental health in schools, in teachers specifically, we like, just don't like to talk about it. No administrator wants to be like, hey, we want you to be happy every day, and they're like, can you pay for my mental health work? And they're like, no. We will, however, give you coffee on Fridays, and it'll be drip coffee, and it's gonna taste like piss.

But this is your mental health, right? So, it's like, it gets to a point where it's like, I know no one's gonna help me, so I At some point needed to have like a pre heart attack in order to start helping myself and since it's been, it's been amazing since it's more or less. Fingers crossed, like under wraps, but like, that's the point that it got to.

And I think that it's like a, it's a testament to the fact that like, if there's a teacher watching this, who feels like their mental health isn't in order, you're, it's going to come, it's going to creep up on you at some point in time. I hope it doesn't happen in the way that it does to me, but like, get ahead of it.

A hundred percent get ahead of it. Cause if you can't, if you're like a broken vessel, you're not going to do anything in the classroom, you know, it's going to be a complete waste of your time and the kid's time. So, it's like, that was just a shit show for me. 

Andrea: Yeah. So, uh, we are going to take a break, but when we get back, we are going to be discussing some potential holiday things that teachers could get into since this episode is coming out beginning of December, um, so we will be right back.

We Are Fine Trailer: Hey everybody! Hey! I'm Lauren. I'm Jordan. And we are starting a podcast together! Yay, finally! I know, it's been like in the works for so long and finally we get to share it with you guys. I 

know, we're really excited about this, so. It's 

called We Are Fine. Are we though? Sometimes, not always. Some days we're doing really good.

Yeah, and some days we're doing real bad. Real bad, guys. Yeah. And it's okay. But we're gonna talk about it. This entire podcast is dedicated to all of life's ups and and downs, and all kinds of teacher related mishaps? Like 

being stuck in a school during an apocalypse and trying to figure out how you're going to survive?

Yeah, and then also like the really fun moments, like building a special relationship with your students. Or even raising a fictitious egg named Eggbert who becomes a mushroom king. 

Um, I'm sure he is toad, not just a mushroom king. 

Okay, okay. What about the teacher stuff, because I want to talk about teacher stuff.

Yeah, there will be all of that. That we have some amazing teacher guests and we get to dive into their lives as educators. 

So we hope you'll join us on this journey and the We Are Fine podcast. You can get it every Wednesday on my YouTube channel, Mrs. William 5th, or on all audio platforms and everywhere that you get podcasts.

We will be there. 

I've heard there's a doge moon podcast platform now in space only. 

It'll be there too. So we hope that you'll be there with us and we can't wait to share this journey with you guys. Bye. Welcome

Andrea: back to those who can't do so. Holidays are now. I have been to pretty much, I'm going to be honest, every school that I've gone to, I've heard things on the news and stuff about people getting upset about discussing holidays or whatever, but I've never been to a school where it wasn't very inclusive and people who are, Celebrating different holidays felt like they could talk about, you know, whatever, um, their family culture and celebrations were and all of that kind of stuff.

Um, but I have gotten some crazy Christmas gifts before. Um, I got, I got like a pair of used socks once, like, like that were, Um, there was like a whole, you know, like they were kind of like rolled up, like, you know how they were, they used to be white and then like they were rolled up and all of that and like in a little gift bag.

And it was one of those kids that's really quiet. And so you're like, are you screwing with me? You don't know how to take it. So you just like, thank you. That's so sweet. Cause like, what if they were like, you know, giving, giving their best Christmas gift and that's what they found was their dad's old socks or something.

And you don't want to be insensitive because, you know. Or maybe that kid hated me and was like, won't it be funny 

Tyler: if I give her? I'm like trying to think of how much you need to do to put a hole in a sock. And I'm just like, I'm trying to think of myself and I'm so OCD when it comes to socks. Like, I need my socks.

They need to be heavy friggin duty. Can we just talk about the fact that like, if we needed to, you and I could talk about socks for probably 40 minutes. That's besides the point. I was getting ready. I had like six different things to say about socks. So have you seen that goddamn filter? That friggin filter on TikTok?

Where it shows you a foot and you adjust it to where the sock should be, like next to the ankle or up, like halfway through, and then it guesses your goddamn age. What did it guess for you? So, okay, if this is, if this is a foot, right? Yes. Okay, this is like your calf, this is like your knee, and this is like your heel.

This is dumb as shit. Oh my god. But you, you adjust it. So for me, right. I don't think I can put my foot next to my head to display it, whatever. For me, the sock needs to be like under like right next to your ankle. Right. Okay. Like hugging around the ankle, under your, like right along your achilles heel. If it's not there, I will scream at pedestrians,

And the thing is, I did that and I'm thinking to myself, I'm like, alright, what this means? Like I wear shorts. I'm like walking around a lot, like, I like having like airflow so that my feet don't smell like shit all day long. It pinned me at, at 50 years old. 50! For having ankle socks? For having ankle! What do you want me to put on, stockings?

What do you want me to do? That's a crime. Like I'm wearing it like That is a crime. It wants me to wear friggin fishnets to work. I like, I don't understand the purpose of this. But Gen Z, I don't care, but that's the thing. I don't give a shit. I will take this for granted and I will, I will absolutely say like it's wrong because in my mind, like if the sock isn't that I will lose my mind.

I will be a headline that afternoon, but I think it makes me think to myself, like I need a heavy duty sock. I don't think I let a sock get to the point where it has a hole in it. In like four years, but I'm trying to think like, how much time have I walked around outside? Aggressively potentially running either to something or from something.

Yeah. Um, no, I don't, I don't know. It would take a lot, right? 

Andrea: So I can tell you because not only do I put holes in my socks, I put holes in my shoes. I hold on. Actually, let me show you my shoe right now. 

Tyler: Andrea. 

Andrea: So do you see this? I have that is from wear and tear on my foot because I have one toe. So detailed.

I have one toe that slightly points. Points up. And I don't know what happened to it. I don't know. But I have to like really keep that toenail trimmed because it will, it will literally wear holes from the inside out of my socks. And then I also am a little bit pigeon toed. So I kick my feet kind of together when I'm walking.

And so I will put holes in my, like my running shoes, get holes right there every single time. And my husband calls it, um, My velociraptor toe and he'll like, he'll be like, 

Tyler: because I was just about to say, are you part bald eagle? What are we talking about here? 

Andrea: That's why, you know, that's the funniest thing because, you know, as a creator online, you occasionally will get messages asking for feed picks and I'm like, that's not what you want.

I'll tell you right now. 

Tyler: I wish 

Andrea: it 

Tyler: Can I tell you, Andrea, I'm a, I'm a male in the educational profession. Do you know how many people think I'm gay? And they're just like, I would be your, I would be the man for you. And I'm like, 

Andrea: wow, 

Tyler: respectable. Absolutely. I appreciate it. I don't swing that way, friend. And they're like, I, if you put on a pair of underwear and ship it to me, I will pay your rent for a year.

Andrea: Yeah, I've gotten some of those requests. Do you think they're telling the truth though? Hell no, they're not telling the truth. But all I have to do, 

Tyler: I gotta wait for someone to be like, my package of Mr. J's socks came in and then what? What, am I going to write a contract being you have to pay my rent for a year?

Do 

Andrea: you 

know how quickly I'd get 

Tyler: friggin cancelled? I'd be like, yeah, I sent Dave my used underwear, but he didn't have to go posting it. And the problem is like, I'm not going to find myself in a situation where I'm like, shit, I probably shouldn't have sent used socks to Dave. I don't want to do 

Andrea: that. How the hell did we get 

Tyler: here?

Andrea: How did we get here? Here's the thing though, because I always wonder, I always send screenshots of that stuff to my husband whenever I get a message like that, because we think it's funny. And so I got a, I got one just this past week that was like, Um, basically like saying they would give me 55, 000 to send a topless picture of myself and I was like,

I got those college loans and I texted my husband and he's like, he's like, think of the vacation we could go on, Andrea. And I was like, shut up. No, there's no way. There's no way. What's 

Tyler: your husband's name? 

Andrea: Stephen, 

Tyler: Stephen, Stephen, you're a friggin real one. You're a gladiator. You are, you are the pinnacle of male presence because here's the thing.

There are ways to go about this, right? You want to go to Italy for however long you want. Sick. All you got to do is not put your face in it. Don't get a tattoo in it. You're golden. Do you know how quickly I would do that? Do you know how quickly I would do that? The money would 

Andrea: never come. The money would never actually come.

First of all. Second of all, if I wanted to do that, I mean, you could, I could just, you know, have an Only Fans or whatever. But it was, it was so funny because my husband was like, somebody messaged me recently too. And it was like, how, like, does your husband feel threatened by the people in your DMs? And I was like, The father of my children, the man who has seen me birth two children and has known me since I was 19, no, he's not threatened by Kevin from San Antonio DMing me saying, nice butt, like, in what world?

Tyler: See, here's where it's different. I will tell you this, like, first off, Steven, you said? Steven's a god. 

Theme: Yeah. 

Tyler: And, and he should be, he should be recognized as such. Like I want to, I need to have a beer with Steven as soon as humanly possible. Here's the difference. Rania is the first person that I've been with.

That like, I think she's the most beautiful person I've ever seen in my entire life. I have been like, I recently went to like this like creator thing that Snapchat hosted. And we had like all these creators and, and it was funny. We like had a conversation after and she was like, it kind of, you get in that situation where you're like, were any of them beautiful?

And I'm like, Girl, have you seen you? Have you 

Andrea: seen you? There are so many 

Tyler: mirrors in this goddamn apartment. Find a reflection. But the thing is, it's like, she's without a doubt in my mind, the most beautiful person I've ever been with. And why she gives me the time of day, the thing is like, if we're going to compare and contrast, because she's like, she's like a content creator too.

She's got her own following on TikTok and Instagram. People love her Instagram. We can't even compare DMs because I get Bridget in Wisconsin who's like, I would literally lick the bottom of your foot after running a marathon. And I'm like, Bridget, chill. And Bridget, like, I'll show that to Rania and we'll laugh about it.

She gets like NBA players. Does she? Well, I'm like, all right, we have Attila the Hun trying to hook up with you and I have Bridget who's trying to lick in between my toes. Right. We're not on the same page. I could see that 

Andrea: being a different, yeah, I could see that being a different feeling if there were like NBA play.

We're not 

Tyler: playing the same game. We're not in the same league. We're in a different stadium. Right? Like, I, like, that, that was a Parks and Rec quote, wasn't it? Whatever. But that's the thing is, it's like, it's like, If anyone could send me anything, it'll never be as intimidating as a 7'15 NBA player asking if he can like bring her to Ketch Steakhouse.

I'm like, I can't afford to sit in line at Ketch, never mind bring you there. I'm like, we can't even pretend this is the same game. 

Andrea: That is 

Tyler: pretty brutal. 

Andrea: That's brutal. All of this to 

Tyler: say. 

Andrea: Okay, then we gotta get back to Christmas. 

Tyler: Fifty five thousand friggin dollars? Fifty five thousand? I would buy implants and then post a picture with them to get that.

Andrea: I, let's think about it. That was my thing. He could buy his own set of implants, take a picture of himself and just play pretend. You know? He doesn't even have to take pictures. 

Tyler: He can just sit in the mirror and just jump. Like, it's, it's, that's, he can have the time of his life. He's like a one stop shop.

Right? Like, he'll never need the internet again. 

Andrea: You would think. 

Tyler: But that's the thing is like, if somebody offered me that, I would just like do it myself. It sounds a whole lot like I'd net about 45, 000 from that. 

Andrea: Honestly, yeah. 

Tyler: It's an easy thing. Back to Christmas. We both have crazy ADHD. 

Andrea: Yes, we do. Okay.

So, uh, what are some Christmas gifts that you would recommend or you think would be fun for people to think about for their teacher friends or if they're not teachers themselves for their kids teachers? 

Tyler: Okay. So, I go in a lot of directions when it comes to GIFs, but I think the thing is that people, people forget the fact that, like, any conversation you've ever had about teachers What's the number one thing that is a bipartisan agreement that everyone has about teachers?

Andrea: Oh, about giving, like, for gifts ideas? Just 

Tyler: teachers in general. What's something that people think about teachers that everyone agrees on? 

Andrea: I don't know. Don't put me on the spot. You can be put 

Tyler: on the spot. What's something that everyone agrees when they talk about teachers? What's something we all agree on?

They're heroes. They're heroes. 

Andrea: Yeah. You could say 

Tyler: that they should be paid more. Oh, for sure. Okay. So I think the thing that people forget is that like, teachers want to be able to afford the things to like do self care. I think that people forget how much like a gift card actually goes a very long way.

I know that a gift card is a thoughtless gift, but to me, I'm like, okay, you're allowing me to do with this whatever I need. If you can't go the money route, I, so I actually like, I make merch, right? And the whole point of the merch is I have so many shitty mugs that just say J. Right? A giant J. Like, this mug with a J, because my last name starts with a goddamn J.

I have probably 60 of those mugs. Because every single year, teachers don't, or parents don't know what to get teachers, and they're like, I guess he drinks coffee sometimes. Let's get him a mug. And I'm like, yeah, but all I need is one. I can wash it. I can reuse it. Now multiply that by 30. So what I did, I was like, I was like, obviously, I want to make merch for my platform.

But I also want to make something that has like sort of a purpose. So I started making merch that I think is like a little bit On the funnier side, something that teachers will wear and they'll be like, Oh, like this is actually kind of sick. For example, this sweater is one of mine. It says students deserve better.

Love this, but it's not like the funny one. This is one that I love. It might get you fired, but it is what it is. This one says, Yes, I'm a teacher. No, don't ask me how my day was. You know? 

Andrea: That's very, like, swift looking, isn't it? Wasn't there, like, a Taylor Swift design that was similar to that? Is that the illusion?

If it is 

Tyler: and I get sued, I'm going to be pissed, but, like, that's the thing. I wanted to make merch that teachers will be able to see and, like, at least it'll put a smile on their face, right? Like, they wear it and it's like a conversation starter. It's a little bit funny because, like, teachers are funny.

Funny as shit. And we don't give them opportunities to be funny because then they'll get fired. So like I made a mug as well. I was like, okay, if you're going to get a mug, get a mug that actually works. I have one that says. Don't you dare talk to me until you can see the bottom of this. And on the bottom it says, all right, you're good.

Andrea: I love it's like 

Tyler: that's the type of direction that I would go in. Cause I've gotten some nightmare, nightmare Christmas gifts. It's been horrible. 

Andrea: So what, so obviously no ankle socks, um, have been given to you because you'd be delighted by it. I would be elated, are you 

Tyler: kidding me? My God. 

Andrea: What have you been given?

Tyler: Okay. So when I was teaching younger grades, The, the, the parents, like I'm always like this with parents, right? Like we're, we are a text away, a phone call away. And I make that like across the board, because if your kid starts throwing desks, you're going to come in here and help me pick them up. But like, I think, especially my first couple of years of teaching.

My parents that I worked with, I think that they just like thought I was like a frat star and just like this, this like 18 year old like tank top on top of a roof. I don't know. They give me gifts that I think would fit like The dynamic of, like, a frat boy. One teacher got me a giant cowbell. A cowbell with a handle.

It was this big, okay? And on the front it said, ring for beer. 

Andrea: Oh. 

Tyler: Wow. And she said to me, so my girlfriend at the time, she said to me, she was like, this way your girlfriend will know. 

Andrea: Can you imagine? Like, have you lost 

Tyler: your mind? Do you know how quickly she would punch me in the throat? 

Andrea: Deservedly.

Tyler: Literally. Deservedly. She would clock me in the mouth. She would put my Adam's apple in the back of my neck. If I ever, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Are you kidding me? I cannot even fathom. And it's loud as hell. I moved apartments and I was like, I can't. Can't throw it away. Like it is kind of funny, but I'm never going to use it for its purpose.

I'm like, I'm like moving these boxes and it's like ding, ding, ding. And no one knows. They think I'm like moving around cattle and it's just the weirdest thing you've ever seen. That's a legitimate Christmas present someone's gotten for me. Crazy. That is wild. Oh my gosh. I had a parent buy me underwear.

But it wasn't just underwear. It wasn't like boxers or briefs. It was like the ones that look like a Speedo and they really like cradle you. 

Andrea: Like a banana hammock situation? Like 

Tyler: a banana hammock, right? Yeah. And it wasn't like a normal color where they're like, this is literally for use. It was red. 

Andrea: Was this a single parent?

Hoping to make you a stepdaddy or what was the context of that? 

Tyler: Oh shit. Do you not remember? It was a single parent. 

Andrea: Oh my god, did you not realize they were hitting on you? 

Tyler: Andrea, we need to take another break. Oh shit. 

Andrea: How did you not realize that? Obviously, you don't give underwear to somebody that you don't want to see them in underwear.

Like, that's the whole thing. Yeah, you almost became a stepdad. Look at that. What a treat. Can you imagine? 

Tyler: And I'm holding him up and I'm like, Here we go. Thank you. Did you 

Andrea: open it in front of the student? Did the student know that that's what you were going to be getting? 

Tyler: No, this was given to me after school.

The, the, the parent came in and was in the classroom, just me and her. And she was like, this is for you. And I was like, what the hell are we doing here? She really 

Andrea: shot her shot. I got to have respect for that. 

Tyler: In fairness, her kids are annoying as hell. So it would never happen. Wow. But, oh my God. I just like, wow.

What a mind blowing consideration. 

Andrea: Oh my gosh, that is, that is such boys, just like, I can't believe, 

um, okay. So I'm going to share the things that, um, other than your merch, which is very fun. And I love, um, I would love that. Um, so there's a couple of things that actually were self care related, because I think that when we're looking at gifts for people, and when I am out shopping and stuff, I don't like spending money on stuff that I don't Just need, right?

Like it feels like an extravagance. If it makes my life like easier or I would just enjoy it. I have like I have such a hard time buying it for myself. Um, so there's a couple of things. There's something called a miracle and it's spelled weird. M. I. R. A. K. E. L. Neck massager. It's on TikTok shop right now, but it's like the neck massager that you can put on your shoulders and it heats up.

It is fantastic. I got it for my husband. Oh, I got 

Tyler: one for Rania. 

Andrea: Did you? It's so nice. Oh my god. It's 

Tyler: great. 

Andrea: Highly recommend. And it's not like, 40. Insanely. 40, which like, if you are teaching, if you're going to buy for an elementary teacher and you only have one teacher to buy for, I feel like that's mostly doable.

Yeah. If you're, if you've got, if you're shopping for six high school teachers, that's probably not going to be the choice. You know what my fatal 

Tyler: flaw is? I would bring it into the classroom and the kids would be waiting for a lesson. I'd be like, 

Andrea: Sorry, it's, yeah, 

Tyler: Oh 

Andrea: my gosh, well, okay, and the second one actually is a coffee mug, but it's an Ember coffee mug.

Are you familiar with Ember coffee? No, but now I 

Tyler: want to see it. 

Andrea: Oh my gosh. My brother got it for me for Christmas, like year before last, and I love it. It is a coffee mug that you write, you, it has an app attached to it so you can tell it what temperature you want it. to be and it keeps it at that temperature.

You can also like put room temperature water in it and then it'll make tea for you. Um, it's. Awesome. Very expensive. So again, this is probably like if you have someone in your life who is, or like people who just work from home and are constantly leaving cold coffee everywhere, it's such a good gift.

This is sick. Those are like my favorite things. Do you know what the problem 

Tyler: is? Here's the problem with me. I think one of the most Bostonian things about me, it could be 90 degrees out or snowing, I will always have an iced coffee. 

Andrea: I love iced coffee. Here's, I will, I either want the coffee to be literally burning my mouth when I drink it or iced.

I do not like tepid coffee. Tepid coffee makes me gag. I can't do it. 

Tyler: Is this a safe space? I think it's so gross. Of course. Okay, great. So recent, I'll come down here. So recently Rania and I went to Cyprus. Okay, so we went to, her whole family is Cypriot, both of her parents are from Cyprus, okay, so we went over there to meet, this is very, this is very isolating, um, so I went over there to meet her whole family because Cyprus is gorgeous, so we go over there, right, and um, Her, so we like had, we had like 15 meals a day because that's all they, they literally eat like crazy and it's always the best food.

I gained 15 pounds in a week. So what they do is after dinner, they have coffee, which is pretty customary, right? But they do coffee a little differently. It's like an espresso shot. So they asked me, they're like, they're like, Tyler, do you want a coffee? I'm like, sure. What do they bring out? They bring out, this coffee was one degree away from boiling.

Okay, like to the point where the bubbles were like still bubbling, like it's on its way to becoming like going from liquid to gas, right? And her, so her dad and all of her family members, they grabbed the thing and they start chugging it down. And I'm like, do you all not have nerves? Do you not have nerves in your mouth?

They've burned them off already. They burned them out, right? Or maybe they're just men and they're able to like do what they need to do or just like humans with a better pain tolerance. I'm sitting here like. It was 

Andrea: a test. They were trying to see if you were like really a man and you're sitting over there like 

Tyler: Well, you know what they found out?

You know what they found out? We had to, we had to like wait to leave because I was sitting here blowing on this coffee, right? You, you like, you would have thought this was the woman licking my foot from my DMs. I'm like, like doing my best. I couldn't drink this thing for like 20 minutes. They had already had four of them.

They're all hopped up. Oh wow. I was like, I was so insecure. Cause I was like, how are you possibly drink? Like, did you make this in hell? Like, I don't understand how you have this coffee so hot. First question, how is the frigging coffee so hot? Like, did you make this on the sun? Then second off, how are you not in physical pain?

Like, do you eat embers for a living? I don't understand how this works. You know, so I think that's another part of the reason is like, I set myself up for failure because all I drink is iced coffee. It's all I've ever done. You know, middle, I have walked in shorts because I'm an asshole through Boston while it was snowing with an iced coffee and people have taken videos of me and been like, look at this jackass.

Andrea: And they're right. So what? Are you drinking like just iced coffee or are you getting like a frou frou, oh it is literally just ice and coffee. Black coffee, cold brew. Okay. Cold brew iced just wonder if you're further complicating things with the girlfriend's parents by getting like a mocha latte situation.

Can you imagine if I bought a 

Tyler: friggin frappuccino? Or like a caramel, crusted, dusted, angel feather on top macchiato. He would have looked over to Ryan and been like, dude, this is not the one for you. This is not acceptable. Not a chance in hell. He was like, if you bring him into our house. I will punch him in the throat, I promise you, I will kick his nuts into his mouth if you bring him back into this household, I promise you.

He will taste food. You have a 

Andrea: real gift for violent imagery in a way that I have rarely seen. I 

Tyler: think what you meant to just say was like, I'm from Boston, that's all we do, it's either we talk about violent imagery or we commit violent imagery. 

Andrea: I love that. Okay, so before I let you go, what do you have coming up?

What can we tell people about, like, different, are you doing any live events? Do you have, I know you have a podcast, you want to talk about that? Yeah, 

Tyler: so I actually have a podcast that I have been putting out on YouTube, Spotify. And, uh, Apple podcast called No One Asked For This Podcast, because not a single person asked for it.

Um, most recently, I have a s so, like I said, I taught 11th and 12th grade last year, and I had a student who graduated as a 12th grader, and she developed quite a following by specifically screwing with me and posting it to TikTok. She has, like, almost a million followers now, which is just bonkers. And, uh, She came on the podcast for like episode 8, right?

And on episode 8, she just took it upon herself to start making bets, right? So she was like, if this podcast gets 10, 000 views, you need to come on the next podcast with me dressed as the Lorax. I bet you did. I bet you did. Uh, the whole podcast is absolute blasphemy. And it made me feel like I was, it wasn't even my podcast anymore.

It's basically her podcast now, but the nobody asked for this podcast. It's on Spotify, YouTube, uh, Apple podcasts in, in It is focused on education, but somehow it's also just focused on the ridiculous things that happen in everyday life. Um, my plan is to bring on a lot more content creators so that we can talk about, like, the do's and don'ts of trying to get bigger on TikTok and Instagram.

Um, and then just like sort of shooting the shit and having fun. It's a, it's a fun podcast. A lot of people say that when they listen to it, it feels like they're on a FaceTime call with their friend who's in a psych ward, which is like 

Andrea: excellent recommendation. Listen, 

Tyler: if you don't want that, what do you want?

Um, exactly. Yeah, that. And then, uh, the merch, the merch, like at this point we're going to be past black Friday, so we don't have to worry about the black Friday sale. But, um, I am going to be doing a sale for Christmas because I want teachers to be able to get gifts that they actually want. So we're going to do some pretty big discounts on the mugs and the hoodies and stuff like that.

Um, yeah. And then there are projects in the mix that you and I have talked about, but I can't talk about yet. But basically, if you are an educator or you're someone who knows an educator and you want to know about A pretty big project I'm working on. DM me on Instagram. It's at Tyler Joukowsky Official on Instagram.

Um, that's gonna be coming out right after this, right after this podcast comes out, but I'm, I'm really excited about it. I, I can only imagine, like, you know I'm gonna ask you to have a part in that, so you'll hear about it from all sides of things, and hopefully I can come back on here and actually talk about it.

Andrea: A thousand percent. And then how do people find your merch? Is it like a website? 

Tyler: So if, so to find my merch, you can either go on the Shopify website and just type in the Fishing for Clout merch store, or the easier way to do it is to go on TikTok. If you go on my page, you can see the, um, like my actual store.

So on my TikTok page, if you click the store right there, you can see all of my merch. Perfect. Yeah, so actually Rania is my model in this. That's so adorable. Aww, I love that. I'm so happy I did that. Um, yeah, but you can find it there and then you can also just search it on Shopify. I think if you, if you Google it, you'll end up finding like an old one that I tried to do by myself and failed.

Don't order from that because it's not the same stuff, but yeah, no, it's, it's pretty easy to find. Also, you can DM me and I can send you the link. 

Andrea: All right. Sounds good. Well, thank you so much for coming on, Tyler. This was super fun. 

Tyler: This was an absolute honor. I love that we got to nothing we talked about doing.

That's just like the best kind of podcast. I love it. 

Andrea: Exactly. All right, guys, we'll be right back.

Welcome back to those who can't do. Um, I hope that you were able to follow my chitchat with Tyler. Um, it's, it's always a really fun adventure when I get to have somebody on who has that much energy and as excited as I am to talk. So I hope you guys had as much fun as I did. Um, if you have thoughts about anything we said today, or you have thoughts on who you would like to see come on those who can't do, you can reach out Andrea at human dash content.

com, or you can contact the human content pod. Cast family at human content pods and thank you so much for those of you guys who have left reviews. Um, the review today is from dumper bumper bump bumper, not bumper dump, dumper bumper. Um, which thank you for the five star review. Um, the title is do what the teacher said to do and it says, Hey, Ms.

Andrea. I'm here to turn in my review. I hope I get a good grade. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. I hope you, in fact, also listened to the podcast and liked it. Um, love, love it when students do his request. This isn't my student, just so we're clear. Like, I don't assign this as like an assignment with my students.

Um, yeah. But I definitely appreciate when I get reviews. So thank you so much and make sure that if you have not yet reviewed the podcast, you do so, um, because that is how other people find the podcast. So if you would also like to see, uh, my weird busted up shoe from my crazy raptor toe, you can see it on YouTube because those episodes are up every single week at Educator Andrea.

Thank you so much for listening. I'm your host, Andrea Forkham. A very special thank you to our guest co host today, Tyler Joukowsky. Our executive producers are Andrea Forkham, Aron Korney, Rob Goldman, and Shahnti Brooke. Our editor is Andrew Sims. Our engineer is Jason Portizo. Our music is by Omer Ben Zvi.

Our recording location is at Location is Indiana State by College of Education to learn more about are those who can't do his program. Disclaimer and ethics policy and submission verification and licensing terms. You can go to podcast or andrea.com. Those who can't do as a human content production.

Thank you so much for watching. If you're like me and you're thinking, gosh, I really need more of those who can't do in my. You can start your binging right now by clicking on that playlist button right over there. New episodes are out every Thursday, so please subscribe and join us each week on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.