Embracing the Unexpected with Kathy Schmidt 

Please note, this transcript is generated by AI and may include some errors. 

Spencer Payne: Okay, here we are rocking with another episode of front of the class real stories from real educators today. With us is Kathy Schmidt. Kathy, how would you introduce yourself to other folks in the education world? What it is that you're you're working on these days?

Kathy Schmidt: All right, well, hey, everyone. As Ben said, my name's Cathy. currently, I am working and teaching in middle school, teaching sixth and seventh grade English in Casablanca, Morocco. I've been there for two years, and I've signed on for a third year. Probably my background, I tell people, I have an atypical route to how I got to teaching. I did my degree in environmental education and my goal was to work in zoos and aquariums. I've worked at the Alaska Sea Life Center and the Cincinnati Zoo and the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. But you couldn't really get a permanent position there. So then I did something else and then I became a dive instructor and then I did something else.

And then I've been teaching online for like, gosh, 10, 12 years. And then somehow I fell into, opened up a shiny door and there was Morocco and been teaching there in classroom for the two years like I mentioned and yeah I've just done my masters through Moreland completed that just a month ago and preparing for another year of middle school.

Spencer Payne: There's so many fun things that we could explore there. But the one thing I am not going to let you get off the hook of is just like the yada, yada, yada. Oh, I just this magic shiny door and I opened it and all of a sudden I'm teaching in Morocco. How did that happen? How did that come about? Were you already teaching? Like you mentioned, you were teaching online prior. Was this the first time you went and taught back in the classroom in 10 years? And why Morocco and why that time? How did that magic door finally get open?

Kathy Schmidt: Well, I have taught in the classroom. I taught for three years in Korea, but that was 2001 to 2004, so know, 20, 21 years ago. And I had been teaching with VIP Kid, Fluentbee, Book Nook, all of those different companies. So I'd been teaching online for a good 10 years with them. And then there was just some life changes in my life and I needed to find another job, leave the situation I was in. And I was actually going to go to China because I have a bachelor's degree, but at the time I didn't have a teacher's license or anything. And I put my resume up on good old Dave's ESL cafe, which used to be the go-to back in the day in the good old days. And next minute I got an email from the head of school in Morocco saying, hey, someone sent us your resume. Can we interview you?

And I'm like,  Uh, okay. And then we were chatting and then I had a, interview with the other head of school, the primary side, and they just said, we think you'd be a great fit for, uh, sixth grade English and actually seventh grade earth sciences, which I was super excited about because my degree is environmental education. And they're like, can you be here in a month? And I was like, um, okay. And showed up on August 18th, 2023 in Morocco.

And yeah, it's been life changing.

Spencer Payne: And, and you just signed on for a third year. So it must be going well. Must be going well for all parties. So can you share a little bit, for a couple of directions here, but first, can you share a little bit about Morocco? Had you ever been there before? And can you paint a picture to folks who have maybe never been there of, what, what maybe has surprised you the positive or maybe also surprised you to the negative. and why are you staying for a third year?

Kathy Schmidt: Yeah, I signed on for a third year. It's going very well.

Well, ironically actually, because I used to work on cruise ships and we had docked in Casablanca a few times. So I had been to Casablanca before, probably three or four times. so it was sort of, I don't know, weird, I can't think of the word, serendipitous that I ended up in Casablanca. And it's amazing. The people are incredible. They're very friendly. The food surprised me a bit.

I expected a lot more spice and a lot more difference, but you you'd get something like the chicken pastilla and you get it's chicken in flaky pastry, but then they put cinnamon and sugar on, which is really confusing to your taste buds. And they use a lot of cumin and everything. So it's subtle spices, but the food surprised me. It's amazing, but it's definitely very different. There is a heavy religious sort of feel there, but the call to prayer every morning and every evening is one of my favorite things. I love hearing it and there's just this sort of a peace when that happens. Experiencing Ramadan every year is quite an experience and I've tried to fast when my students are fasting. I can't last as long as they do, but it's, you know, part of the culture, so I always try and experience that with them.

Morocco is, beautiful. It has so many differences. I've gone riding a Tramadori camel in the Sahara. I never thought I would do that. It was on my bucket list. Got to do it. Tangier up north, which is they speak Spanish up there along with the other multitude of languages that the people speak in Morocco. It's my favorite city. I've also been briefly to Fez, to Marrakesh, which was just insane for so much in Marrakesh. But the art, the culture, it's just, incredible. And it has this because it's had the French and the Spanish and the Portuguese influence. It's influenced their entire culture, but it's still unique at the same time. So I think that would be what I would say.

Spencer Payne: Perfect. And can you paint us a picture a little bit of what does a middle school classroom in Casablanca, Morocco look and feel like? And also what's the makeup of the students? How big is the class? Where are these students coming from? Are they all international? Are they all local? Can you paint us a little bit of a picture of if we were in your shoes staring out at the faces in your classroom, what does that room look like?

Kathy Schmidt: Well, my class with sixth and seventh grade, it varies between 16 to 24 students. A majority of them are Moroccan. It is a private school, so they come from the upper class. But I've had a Syrian student who actually just returned to Syria. I usually have two to three Chinese students in every class. I have students that are Moroccan, but they only speak French. So you have to go with that.

I also have some German students in my class. have some American students, usually kids from the teachers there. So it's a very, you can have probably, I would say five to 10 different countries in one class sometimes. It's usually Moroccan with three or four or five others within the classroom, but it's super multilingual. It's super multinational and there's a huge variety of cultural differences that you have to navigate and make sure, you know, and things like that. Like I just had one student where I would ask a question and he'd go, what? And I'd say, well, hang on, okay, let me just double check. When you talk to your mom, is that how you say it? And says, well, I say it in derision. I'm like, okay, do that. And then I said to the other kids, how do you translate that? And they went, what? And I'm like, okay, so let's maybe work on tone. I think that's what's missing.

But you have to think about that. Like, he's literally saying what he'd say to his mom, but he's missing the tone. So there's a lot of cultural interactions that I have to work on.

Spencer Payne: 100 % yes. And what do you love about that particular school, that place, those students, et cetera, to make you sign on and say yes for a third year?

Kathy Schmidt: The kids as enthusiastic, we'll use that adjective as they can be, they are phenomenal, they are very kind, they are very caring. They can be a handful in so many ways, but ultimately they're good kids. And it's just the challenge, the cultural challenge that fascinates me.

The masters that I did in Fort Moreland was multilingual learners and it's just sort of given me more drive to try and figure out how to tailor my classes for multilingual students because so many resources are from monolingual or bilingual and now you have to, know, when I make my exams I have to do English in French, English in Chinese, English in German.  you make, then you have to do the IEP exams, the differentiated exams. So you're probably making for one exam five to six different exams, but it's a fascinating challenge.

So we'll see if I can handle one more year of fascinating challenges and go from there.

Spencer Payne: Yeah, I say that is a lot. And you already shared the one example of the tone of you're trying to get it. Was that how you'd speak to your mom? And it sounds like actually, yes, just maybe not in the same tone. But you mentioned the fascinating challenge of a multilingual room. Can you just share a little bit more about like any crazy stories of how have you how have you approached that in maybe a good way or a way that failed or, you know, I imagine also there's probably some if I'm putting myself in your shoes in that world, I imagine there's sometimes like that tone question where there might be two students talking and you don't know what they're saying. And you're like, we talking trash right now? Like, what are you saying? So can you share a little bit more about what that challenge has been like and maybe some examples of how you've handled them.

Kathy Schmidt: Absolutely, especially in my Chinese students for example will totally agree with this. Chinese for example, you could be talking to your friend or to your parent, but it could sound like, what did you just say to your mom? Because it sounds aggressive, but it's not. My students are very quick to point out if any other student has said a bad word. They're quite happy to throw their colleague under the bus right there. They're like, she said a bad word, he said a bad word.

And so I, and sometimes I can tell from the tone. I'm like, no, I know, I know what you said, you know, and, the, it's, yeah, it's just, it's, it's super interesting and super challenging. And I think, for example, I had one kid, sixth grade only spoke French when he arrived this year. And I, I've really tried it from last year to this year and then out to next year. I'm kind of, he's sort of an inspiration for my multilingual differentiation. He spoke almost no English, couldn't write it. I did have someone from learning support twice a week that would sit with him. I would have the kids be a buddy system now and then. And I'd be like, hey, Spencer, could you talk to Adam and translate that for him? And sometimes they'd be like, no, wait, Adam, do you understand? Do you have a question? Something like that. And by the end of it, by our last exam, he wrote the exam completely in English.

There was a French exam which the testing teacher had aside and he looked at it afterwards to double check he had it right. And then by the end of it, he was putting his hand up and answering. was, he did a debate. It was a very basic debate, but he did a debate and I was so proud of him. And his mom would actually message me going, please, could you talk to him? Because he only behaves in your class. He only listens in your class. Cause the other classes he couldn't understand but I was taking the time and focusing and being like, OK, do you get it? Do we need to go somewhere else? Do we need to do this? So that's one I would say. There's been a few where I have to remind myself it's a cultural difference. It's a, you know, with the kid with the word. And he was one who had a interesting. Personality sometimes, shall we say, a challenging personality sometimes.

But he wasn't a bad kid. When he did well, when you showed that you had interest in him, he would be amazing. He was an amazing kid, but challenging. And so there are times I have to remember, do you understand? And quite often the Chinese kids who seem to get really good grades, especially if we do vocabulary tests, because they memorize. can, easy for them. They'll get 100 % on the vocabulary test, but they won't be able to speak anything  to keep remembering I need to focus on them but it's hard when you have like 20 kids that you're trying to control and teach and you have to also differentiate for the Chinese kids and but I had two Chinese kids that had to do we had to end of your presentation and one of them I said okay you guys can work together one can do the slides one can do the actual presentation and I was certain the girl would do the presentation and the boy would do the slides

Spencer Payne: Yeah, that's a lot.

Kathy Schmidt: because he never spoke in class, never. Not even in China when he was in the Chinese class, apparently. And he did the presentation and the whole class was just like, you speak? And he did a great job. mean, he had some basic mistakes, but he did an amazing job. And I told the Chinese teacher and he did it again in Chinese class. And she was like, what? Where did that come from? And so he'd been absorbing it the entire time, but he was just slow to process it. And so that's something else I have to remember like just because they're not answering quickly. They might be going through that folder of which language am I going to speak to pull it out to answer.

Spencer Payne: Yeah. And I love the, by the way, I love the story of, cause there's a teacher listening who might say, I don't have a multilingual room. but still the concept going back to the one student who you would, the French student who you make sure like their mom praised you because they only liked your class and spoke in your class of like the little subtlety of just making sure, Hey, do you understand this? Do we need to take a little bit more time for you? and that can be done. This doesn't have to be a language barrier. That could be anything in anybody else's class. If there's a kid who just is for some reason, not quite getting something of just that sometimes I bet you weren't even, it's not like you were derailing for 15 minutes a day. might've been one, two times a class, slow down for 20 seconds. And all of a sudden you're bringing everybody along with you. It's not, it's not something that derails a class for 30 minutes, right? I'm bet it was very small, very subtle and very appreciated.

So thank you for doing that for others who maybe wondering, I don't have a multilingual room. How do I do? Well, there's a million things that you could go do to slow down for one student bring along. So your background here. Now we're talking you're training animals when you're working in these zoos and aquatic centers. What was your role in these in these capacities?

Kathy Schmidt: Yes. Well, it was environmental education. So usually I was teaching classes about the environment. When I worked at the Cincinnati Zoo, for example, I would do the animal demonstration. So I would stand up at the top of the amphitheater area with maybe a snake and encourage people to come down. And then I would do a presentation about alligators and I'd have the two baby alligators that I would explain and teach about, or I would have the frog mouth bird and talk about it. But I wasn't training. I also did, like, I worked in the morning, I would work in the African felt section. And so that was, you know, cleaning the rhinostole, very glamorous, that one, and the okapis.

Spencer Payne: Maybe I won't ask about how cleaning the rhinostall has translated to being a good teacher, but I am curious about, yeah, there you go. But I am curious about those presentations and demonstrations you're doing for the kids at these zoos, aquatic centers. What, if anything, did you learn from those experiences that have helped you, that you've translated into the classroom to help kids learn, to ensure that you have earned their attention?

Kathy Schmidt: Patience.

Spencer Payne: Right? Cause if you're boring, droning on, like maybe kids aren't paying attention, but maybe you didn't earn it. So can you help us understand a little bit of like, did some of those presentation skills that you learned doing that? How has that helped you and how has that translated in the classroom?

Kathy Schmidt: Well, definitely when you're teaching with something like a live animal, not just a prop, you have to stay calm because you don't want to freak out the animal. And you also have to engage the audience. It does help to be like, here, I have a snake or a baby alligator or something like that. And you also have to prepare for the unexpected. For example, the baby alligators we had at the Cincinnati Zoo, if they get very comfortable and relaxed, well, they would poop or pee.

Every single time I did a presentation, they would poop and pee on me, which would freak out the audience. And I'd be like, yeah, okay, so we're relaxed. And I'd have to just keep going with the presentation. But it was like, you never knew if it was gonna happen, when it was gonna happen, things like that. So it taught me prepare for the unexpected. Also when you're taking kids around the zoo, animals will do what animals do.

And occasionally they'd be like, what are they? Ask your mom, moving on. And you have to just be prepared for questions that you may not know how to answer. And so I think it prepared me in that sense. And I'm a visual learner doing the activity learner. I like to do project-based learning, things like that. So learning environmental education, which is a very being involved kind of education style.

It's helped me in the classroom to try and gauge students to do something. know, when seventh grade we did the boy who harnessed the wind, written by William Kamkwamba in Malawi. And so I was like, you know what? We're going to build a windmill. And you can build a windmill or you can interview a student building a windmill or you can write a newspaper ad or you can pretend to interview William. And the kids did these phenomenal, like amazing. It blew my mind what they did and we had a presentation and we did a competition and the parents and the teachers came and it was just an off the cuff idea and they loved it. And so next year we're going to work with the science department in science. learn about atmosphere and build the windmill in English. We'll focus more on the English side of it. A newspaper article and interview a podcast, something like that, and do stuff like that.

So working in the environmental field has made me a more can I say engaging? To toot my own horn. Engaging, I use my hands a lot, my facial expressions and you know, things like that. And so it does, it makes a difference. It's not just, hi, today we're gonna study, you know, Romeo and Juliet and you make it more interesting.

Spencer Payne: Yeah, on that note, thank you. And thank you for giving the example of a windmill because you mentioned you like, you know, project based learning, doing projects in your classes. And I was going to ask, well, can you give this example? And because that one came so naturally, I got to ask for a little bit more. If there's a teacher out there who's like, I want to do more of that kind of stuff, but I'm not sure exactly what to do. Can you maybe help share one or two, maybe your top one or two other examples that either you really liked or that the more importantly, that your students  we're raving about of some of that project-based hands-on learning. Any other examples that you can share beyond the windmill example?

Kathy Schmidt: Absolutely. Last year, well, first year, we read in sixth grade the book Hatchet, which is about, it's like 1983, boy gets isolated in the Canadian wilderness after a plane crash. For the book, the kids didn't really connect. It was hard for them to understand. But I had them do, let's create a survival kit. You you have to do a kit. You need to survive. These are very important things.

It was very hard for them to understand why their PS5 was not a vital survival requirement. however, they did magically create indefinite Wi-Fi and permanent solar systems, that as solar panels, so they could power it. They came up with that really quickly when I'm like, how are you going to power it? There is no Wi-Fi. But they loved making it. Some of them did like pictures. Some of them brought like a, it had like a soccer, a soccer ball, a football, you know, like.

Why do you need that? Well, in case I get bored. Again, you're not quite understanding that, they really, we could use that to build on it. You are literally trying to survive. Why would you need this? So that was one in science, seventh grade science. the last quarter was space. So I said, all right, guys, this is what I want you to do. You're going to pick a planet, a black hole, whatever, celestial body.

You're going to tell us about it, do a Canva presentation, and then you have to switch gears and sell us on moving to this. The earth is dying. We have to move. If it's a black hole, why should we go to a black hole? You have to do it. And some of the kids, it was very like, well, this is a black hole, blah, But then I had a couple of the others. I had one kid, his voice was very, he was like very quiet and he was always kind of squeaky. And he did his presentation like this and then he put on a jacket and he's like, and now.

Spencer Payne: Okay, yeah.

Kathy Schmidt: We are going to go to this black hole and the whole class sat back and was like, who are you? A whole new personality. was absolutely phenomenal. Totally blew our minds. He did a great job. Another two sisters that were identical twins and I could never remember which one was which because it was both names as well. One made out of box and foil made an entire  astronaut suit to explain how we were going to live on the moon. And they just embraced it. And so those are probably two of my favorite things in English in sixth grade. Throughout the year, they write their own book and then they create their own poster and their book cover. then our amazing print guy at the school binds them that we do a book show. And the kids blow my mind because I'm totally  whatever you want to do. Sometimes I have to be like, not that. But whatever you want to do, you are allowed to do. And their creativity is astounding when you just give them free reign. So those are some of them favorites.

Spencer Payne: Thank you for sharing many great examples other people can learn from tweak or just steal I love the one of the space and Explain it and then sell us on why why that should be our number one option of where we should move. That's a really fun one Some other things I'd love to hear your stories in the classroom any particular just proudest moments that you've had in Whether it's the actual classroom whether it's your online learning environment where you just look back and you're like

Gosh, I was on fire that day. The students were on fire that day. That was a great day. That was a great week. That was a great moment for student Z, whatever it may be. Any proudest moments that you look back on that just still make you smile in your teaching career that you're able to share.

Kathy Schmidt: I in the classroom teaching, I would probably say it's those aha moments when the kids are like, this is what you mean, you know, especially with my English second language students where they suddenly realize what it is. Or, you know, I've had a couple of classes where the class just gelled, you know, I've been fighting with them for weeks and then one day they just, it's like something clicked with one of my seventh grade classes this year.

Spencer Payne: Actually, yeah, I'd like to hear a little bit more about this, especially if you just just preface like things are not rough maybe for weeks and then all of sudden they clicked. Can you share a little bit more about like what was rough? Are you pulling your hair out at week three of like what is going on here? What am I going to do with this class? And like what's your like? It's easy to just gloss over like, for weeks it was a rough experience. But like when you're in week three of a rough experience, it feels like it's never ending. Right. So can you share a bit more about like

Kathy Schmidt: We had one day.

Spencer Payne: What's going through your head is things are not clicking and then like, is there anything you can point to of like, how did it click? What happened?

Kathy Schmidt: Well, with this particular seventh grade class, I had taught them sixth grade the year before as well. And there were a lot of strong personalities in my class and they all wanted to vie for attention. You know, the hormones are getting up there in their teen years. And it's like, guys, can we just, if we can just get through this, we can play a game, we can do a debate, can we just get through this? And it was just, was like pulling teeth. I just couldn't get them to focus. And they'd be like, well, you know, like,  don't do this, why are you always so angry? Why do I? I'm like, because I just, I just need to let me get through this. You guys, when we do it, you get through it very quickly. and I was just like, just one, give me one day. And I don't know if the planets aligned or what it was this one day we came in and we got through all our material. We had a class discussion. We did a class debate and afterwards one of my students came up and said, Hey miss, that was a really good class. And I'm like, yes, this is all I've asked from you.

And like for a couple of weeks afterwards, every now and then they'd be like, but hey guys, like just let miss talk, let her explain, then we can do something fun. And they kind of understood it. I still had ups and downs with them, but for the most part, that class kind of clicked. They worked a lot faster and better than the previous, the class I had in the previous period. So that was one thing I don't know how it just maybe it was just one day they worked and they understood they got it, but they still had to fight me on it. But I think that's just, I'm a 12, 13 year old and I just have to be opposite to the teacher and everyone else who's an adult. And I did have a sixth grade class, first quarter, phenomenal, best class I had. Every other teacher complained about this class. And I'm like, they're great for me. It's amazing.

From quarter two, yeah, I understood what every teacher was talking about. It was a constant battle with this class and I felt so bad for the few good kids in it. And that was just, they had got their dynamic. A lot of the boys were trying to be the cool boys in the class, which meant the misbehaving kids. If you got them alone, they were phenomenal kids and they wanted to work. But the minute you put them back into the social setting, it was like a class full of class clowns and just had to be opposite and had to be. So I think it was just sort of that age, that grouping. We try to move some students around. You try things like, I'm going to take points off. I'm going to give you points. We're going to play a game. We're not going to play a game. And some days it works, some days it doesn't. I'm still trying to learn not to beat myself up about it. As long as I get  most of my material through to the kids at this point. That's what I'm focusing on.

Spencer Payne: Yeah. And on that note, when there's, it just feels like you're not making progress or like we made progress today. I mean, we're getting somewhere. And then the next two days, you're like, wow, we took three steps backwards. Gosh. Uh, when you're in that kind of roller coaster and it just, doesn't feel like you're getting to where you want to go. Um, how do you handle that? Like, how do you bounce back when, when you feel like you, got somewhere and then the next day you go to class and you're like, geez, this is, I was wrong. We're going way backwards again.

How do you bounce back? How do you stay sane in those experiences? cause this is not something that's unique to you, right? Like, so how, how do you, how do you kind of center yourself and control yourself and keep pressing on and trying to get to where you're trying to get to.

Kathy Schmidt: How do you stay sane? I'm a teacher. I'm not sure if I am sane. But it's really hard sometimes. There are days where I've cried in the classroom or the students have left and I'm just like, my gosh. And I've had some students, the ones I've said to them, like the reason I'm getting angry is because you're so amazing. And if you just put the amount of effort in your work that you put into your attitude, you would be...

the top of this grade, you would head towards IB, International Baccalaureate for 11th and 12th grade. You could do it. You're phenomenal. And it's so frustrating to me. And the kids do have moments where they're like, yeah, I'm sorry, miss, like things like that. it's then I have a kid who brings me flowers at the end of the year with a note that says, thank you so much for being there for me in and out of the classroom. I have kids that come and only feel safe in my classroom at lunchtime and want to stay in my classroom with me, kids that I don't even teach. I taught them once my first year and they come and they give me a hug every time they see me and they're like, you're just like my mom or things like that. I do a route where in the world is Miss Kathy because I've been to over 70 countries.

And so I get a picture and they have to guess where I am and they get really disappointed when I just don't have time to prep it. And they're like, but Miss Kathy, like we need to know where in the world is how about if we try and give you one and you have to guess where you're supposed to be. And they start wanting to interact. So moments like that, it's those moments that make me go, aw, that's why I do it.

Spencer Payne: And I say on this note, how at the end of a year, especially when there's in any given year, there can be ups and downs and twists and turns and all kinds of this. How, at the end of the year, do you look back and think, did I do a great job this year? Did I do a good job? Did I do okay? What do I, what did I do really well that I want to keep doing more of? What did I, where was I not so hot that I want to change? Like how do you, how do you kind of work through all of that for yourself and kind of judge your own, your own performance for the year and what you want to do more of and what you want to do less of.

Kathy Schmidt: Well, like using my French student as an example where he went from zero to debate, you know, still not perfect, but on his way. Those are moments which I kind of go, okay. Or where the kids who were particularly challenging come up and say, I just want to say thank you. And, know, I appreciate you. And that those are the times where I'm like, I did actually get through to them. They just made it very difficult. And there's times where I'm like, you know, I have to try work on stay calm, don't react.

Stay calm, don't react. That's one of my hardest things that I want to work on because there are times you're just like, you're my third class today, which is difficult. just, I can't do it anymore. But I think that just their reactions at the end of the year when they're not trying to score free points from me and they just genuinely are, thank you.

Spencer Payne: Yeah. The number of thank yous, that could be a good metric. The number of genuine thank yous, not the ones that you're fishing for. Are there any teachers that you, this is an opportunity to shout out to anybody who you think has done a great job. Any teachers you work with now, have worked with in the past, maybe had when you were going through school, who you just thought did a great job? what do you...

Kathy Schmidt: Genuine, yeah.

Spencer Payne: did you or do you most appreciate about that particular teacher? So this is an opportunity now, you just talked about kids showing their appreciation for you, let's talk about appreciation that you have for another teacher. Anyone stand out and why?

Kathy Schmidt: Okay, well I think from my own schooling career, I would probably say my seventh grade teacher, Mr. Warden, he was phenomenal. He was just, he had a great sense of humor. He kept us focused and I always remember him and also I had a history teacher in high school who literally taught me how to write essays because our exams were like write three, three page essays and he really helped me focus and learn how to write essays. And that was still pen and paper. We didn't have computers then. And I think at the moment, I would probably say the principal, our new principal we had for middle school this year, she was my mentor for Moreland through the Teach Now program. And I've gone into her office countless number of times just going, I just don't know what to do. And she's like, breathe and smile.

And she's like, you know, she's really wanting to focus on giving us the support we need that if there's a student causing issues, she'll just pull them out because we need to teach. can't manage one kid and have 20 kids miss out. And she's really there to give us support. And I have my co-teacher with seventh grade in English, Sarah, she's from Australia. She's phenomenal with making curriculum and coming up with these phenomenal ideas for what we're teaching in English.

And she's worked really well with me with creating the curriculum. You she only teaches one seventh grade class. I teach two. I came up with the basic framework. She came up with a lot of the material we used within it, you know, and has been a phenomenal support in that thing. Just having a teacher to kind of bounce ideas off. And we are both the middle school teachers. So, you know, in August before next year, we're going to meet up and focus on seventh grade and then look at sixth grade and look at eighth grade and figure out how we can balance so we have this flow through middle school preparing them for high school. And yeah, I would probably say those guys.

Spencer Payne: Yeah. Well, congratulations, for both all those people you just mentioned. Uh, cause when people, when, when people are doing it right, I always say like, we should say thank you for doing it right. Um, and you, you, you glossed over something as well right there that I want to highlight of sometimes when you get in that moment of frustration, sometimes, sometimes the most trite, uh, cliched answer is the right answer. Just like, like that, that principle shared with you of just breathe.

Kathy Schmidt: Absolutely.

Spencer Payne: and smile. All right, here we go, we're back. Sometimes it can be that simple if you allow it to be that simple to turn your bad class into let's go, let's get back after it again. A couple more rapid fire quick hitter questions here as we look to wrap up. For a teacher who maybe, let's just say for argument's sake, maybe you're about to go to your third year in this same school in Morocco. Maybe there's a new teacher who's gonna be starting this year alongside you in one of those other classes.

Kathy Schmidt: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Spencer Payne: What advice would you give to that brand new first year teacher to help guide them early in their teaching career? What's the number one piece of advice you give to that new teacher?

Kathy Schmidt: Be flexible, be prepared to just change your entire, you know, that cliche meme, make the plan, prepare the plan, start the plan, throw the plan out. It's pretty much how it goes every single day in classrooms, especially with the interesting behaviors we sometimes have. And I just be like, just be prepared to throw your entire plan out the window and do something completely different, still teaching the kids, but don't be like, I have to teach this way. I have to follow my lesson plan. Like maybe you skip this out today and you do it tomorrow, but you have to be prepared to switch it up and just go with the flow.

Spencer Payne: Yeah. Yeah. I have a, I have a little boy who's almost three and I can't tell you how often it's like, all right, well, we're going to go eat and then we're going put our clothes on and then we're gonna do this and then we're gonna do this. And then he'll go do the fourth thing. And it's like, I mean, we could do the fourth thing. Like that's cool. As long as you recognize like after that, we're going to do this afterwards. He's like, okay. And so sometimes there's a little bit of just like, just the order. Sometimes you just change the order up and it's everyone's just a hundred percent on board.

Um, obviously sometimes then he's like, no, I said I was going to do it, but now I don't. And that's obviously a whole separate conversation. But sometimes, sometimes you can just change the order up and it changes everything. How do you set the tone on day one with a new class, not only with the teachers, excuse me, not only with the students and kind of what you expect of them, what they should expect of you, but also with their parents? Like how do you approach both the students and their parents kind of day one, the first week, however you want to define that when you have a new class and everyone's trying to figure out like, okay, what's Mishmah all about? Right? Like, how do you how do you how do you go about that? What's your process?

Kathy Schmidt: As the head of school once described, I run a very tight ship, which means I am fairly strict and I kind of find that it works better. Sometimes it's just a look and they immediately know I'll show five fingers and I'll take them away and they're like, no, that means five points I'm taking away. They learn that very quickly and I'll be like, come in. And I don't normally do assigned seating. I want them to have the freedom. Sometimes I have to shift the seating. I like to have a U shaped so that I can move around the classroom and that kind of thing. And I emphasize that this is a equal classroom, that it's a safe space, but you need to show me the respect and I will show you the respect. Like it's an equal playing field right here. And we need to get through a certain amount of work and then we can do fun stuff.

I have them line up outside my class before they come in. Unfortunately, the new classroom I'm shifting to, there's lockers, so that's not gonna work so well. I always try to be like, you need to stand up, push in your chairs, wait at your desk before I let you out. If you go line up at the door, I'll be like, no, you're not leaving. And the kids pick it up very quickly. And a lot of them will be like, when a kid is arguing, they go, just say, yes, miss, sorry, miss, sit down, and it's the end of it. Don't argue with her.

And I say to them, don't argue with me. you, you know, yes, miss, sorry, miss, if you have a problem after class, come, I will listen. If you think you deserve more points, come, give me a logical argument. Make it entertaining for me. You know, if you want more points, you have to work for it. I'm not just going to give you points because you wrote the paper. You have to earn the points. And so they picked that up pretty quickly that, you know, if you, if you put the effort into it, they, get, get some of it out. So.

Spencer Payne: example. Thank you for sharing that. You mentioned earlier just recently completing your masters. Can you share a little bit about why now and what if anything do you expect or hope that that unlocks for you by getting that?

Kathy Schmidt: Well, coming to Morocco and everything, I've realized that back in 2001 when I did teaching in Korea, you just needed a T-cell or a two-fold or a bachelor's. You didn't need anything else. Now international teaching, you need a teacher's license, preferably a master's, preferably a PhD in some places. And so I did the Teach Now program and got my Washington DC license. And then as my advisor said, he's like, it's pretty much...

90% of the masters you can just do the last four months and then you have a masters because it's a 14 13 month program and I'm like well why not I'm already doing school I may as well keep going with it and I'm really glad I did I already got when I resigned for the third year my school gave me a really nice raise in lieu of me getting my masters I know that with my masters at Moreland it also makes me equal for the requirements for some British schools. If I decide to go to say, Spain and work at a British school there, my qualifications now would meet British standards. I think it will open up a lot of doors for me. It taught me a lot of stuff. have amazing members from my cohort that I'm still in contact with that we chat and talk about things and be like, OK, I'm doing this. And they're all international teachers.

And it's it I think it will. It's given me the confidence and reminded me on paper, I now have a certificate to prove to myself that I actually am a good teacher. Because you doubt yourself. You're like, am I really good? And then you're doing the program. You're like, I knew that. How did I know that? I knew that. I'm a good teacher. it's doing those programs really does help. And the master's was fantastic. It was really good.

Spencer Payne: And how, at all, are you and your school approaching AI in the classroom? Are you using it? Are you shying away from it? And how is it, at its most simple, how is it impacting the way kids are learning in your classroom these days versus maybe other teachers who have been in that school for three, four, five, six, seven, a little bit longer? So how are you approaching AI? And how is that changing how kids are learning these days?

Kathy Schmidt: Well, I can definitely say there's a big shift in just the two years I've been there. When I arrived, there was no AI allowed. And I didn't really know chat GPT. I had never used AI. I didn't really know how it worked. The kids, unfortunately, depend on AI a lot. My students are very computer savvy. They're very good at it. My first year, the AI detectors worked. My second year, AI detectors don't work anymore.

They can't tell you, but you can read it and be like, you don't know what this word is. And they go, my sister helped me. I'm like, no, your sister wrote it. So like I did one project, we did an explorer project for seventh grade. They had to pick an explorer and I said, okay, what we're going to do, you're going to open your computers. You're going to go to wait for it, chat GPT, which they nearly all fell on the floor when I said that. I said, you're going to write in this prompt and it's going to do an outline.

You're then going to look at the outline and you're going to answer some of the questions and fill in. so they got points for the outline and for the information they filled in. said, you're going to use that to create your slideshow from your slideshow. You're going to create a research paper and so, or do the research paper, then create the slideshow. But this is your outline. And some of the kids did an amazing job of using the outline. Other kids just copied and pasted from Google and AI. But we are trying. we're heading in the direction of it's a tool, not a crutch. And so I am taking some of the Moreland PDs on AI to try to learn how to use it better. It is an amazing tool, I'm not gonna lie. It helps me with some of my lesson planning. But yeah, it is something that's happening. And I try to explain to the kids, in my day, I had to use books called encyclopedias.

And heaven forbid my co-student was using the one I needed, I had to wait until that book was available. And you can see the comprehension is like, wait, what? How? What about computers? I'm like, we didn't have computers in my day. And so trying to teach them that, like, you know, in the good old days, it was this. This is the new encyclopedia, but be prepared. It's not always correct. So.

Spencer Payne: Yep. And what to you is the single best thing about this profession? What do love about it?

Kathy Schmidt: hugs, the smiles, the light bulbs going off, the, you know, just...

On the days they all listen to me, that's my happy day. know, the day we get through stuff, the day we have fun, the day they let me score at football and they were like, you know, small stuff like that. were actually like, these kids are amazing and it's an amazing profession and it's hard and it's difficult and it's frustrating and it's incredibly empowering and incredible at the same time. So you love it and you hate it, but you do it anyway.

Spencer Payne: And on that exact note, what is the most frustrating part about this profession or the thing that you wish you could wave a magic wand and change it overnight? What's the worst part about this profession?

Kathy Schmidt: overbearing parents that, you know, kind of go, but my little Jimmy would never do that. And so that would be one where I wish the parents worked with teachers versus blamed teachers. And then also just more resources in general for all teachers around the world. doesn't matter what school you're in. It doesn't matter where you are, just having the availability to resources and the understanding from people that just because you're a teacher, it's not because you get two months off a year and that's such an easy job. You're working and grading until 11 p.m. at night. You get to school at 7 a.m. and you're prepping before class and you don't have a free period or a break because you're grading or prepping. And even now during summer, I'm preparing for next year. I'm rewriting my curriculum. I have to prepare my lesson plans.

You don't get two months off. So just that realization that teachers need to be more valued. Teachers need to be, you know, superstars. We're superstars. So we should be treated like superstars, I feel. I guess.

Spencer Payne: And maybe this is going to be restated, any last words of wisdom. So for teachers out there listening, any last new words of wisdom, things that we just weren't able to cover, or maybe repeated words of wisdom like we're superstars, if that's where you choose to go.

Kathy Schmidt: I would say take a breath and breathe. Just take a moment and breathe. It's all worth it in the end. No matter how difficult you think it is, you're making a difference. Whether you realize it or not, I've had an online student that I taught who contacted me after she graduated high school. had been five years since I taught her.

I only taught her for six months and she's like, you made a difference. And you never know the difference you make in a kid. You don't know what's going on in that kid's life. And just you being there, being an ear, being as friendly smile, a high five, can make all the difference in a kid's life. And I really think that's why we do it.

Spencer Payne: Great final words. Thank you so much, Cathy, for sharing your story from the Cincinnati Zoo to teaching in Casablanca, Morocco going into year number three and a whole bunch of twists and turns along the way teaching real hands-on projects like windmills and sell me why I should move to the black hole for your kids in class. Thanks so much for sharing all your real world stories in the classroom. Appreciate it.

Kathy Schmidt: My pleasure. Thank you so much.