Motivational Mondays and Lasting Lessons with Orlando Rodriquez

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

Spencer Payne: Okay, here we are with another great episode of Front of the Class, Real Stories from Real Educators. Our real educator joining us today is Orlando Rodriquez. Orlando, can you help give a little introduction to yourself in this great big world of education? How do you explain to others what you're working on these days? What do you teach? Where do you teach? What do you coach? Any fun facts along the way? How do you introduce yourself to other educators?

Orlando Rodriquez: Awesome. Well, I just want to say thank you Spencer for having me on today. My name is Orlando Rodriquez. This is going to be my 13th year as a educator. I've been teaching in special education. I teach resource math, but I also coach collegiate baseball as well. This is going to be my fourth year as a collegiate coach. Prior to that, I've been coaching high school since 2006. I was a head coach at the high school I teach currently from 2017 to 2022.

Spencer Payne: Perfect. And what got you into this teaching profession in the first place over a decade ago? Like, how did you end up in this field?

Orlando Rodriquez: To be honest with you, I didn't even think I was going to be a teacher or educator. Uh, I moved down here in 2006 to Arizona and got into high school coaching, uh, baseball. And after about seven years of coaching, uh, I kind of wanted to continue pursuing a degree. And at the time I was going into a business degree and I switched up to an education degree.

And so from there, I was like, know what? I really like what I'm doing here on the baseball field. I kind of want to carry this on as a career. And at the time I was like, well, maybe becoming a teacher will be easier route for me to hopefully be a head coach at the high school level. So I changed my degree from a business degree into a education degree.

Spencer Payne: Perfect. And along the way, have you also pursued your masters? And if so, when did you pursue that? Why then? And what, if anything, did that unlock for you along the way?

Orlando Rodriquez: Yeah, absolutely. So I did pursue my master's degree. I just graduated here a few months ago. Actually, I graduated in June of 2025. And what got me to pursue a master's degree was actually my ultimate goal is to be a collegiate head coach. And so a lot of colleges around the nation asked for or recommend a master's degree. So that kind of what kind of drew me into pursuing my master's degree.

Spencer Payne: Perfect. And it sounds like you are coaching collegiately now. Where are you coaching?

Orlando Rodriquez: I coach at Ottawa University. an NAI school here in Surprise, Arizona. This is, like I said, my fourth year. I'm the infield coordinator there. So when I stepped down as the head coach here at the high school I teach at, I got the offer to be the infield coordinator. So it got me to being one step closer of hopefully having my own program at the collegiate level.

Spencer Payne: Perfect, and with that and recently completing your masters and over a decade kind of in the coaching educational world, anything in particular you're looking forward to, energized by in the next three months, six months, next year, you pick your timeframe. What I'm trying to highlight here is even after you've been doing this job for a while, there's still things to look forward to. What are you looking forward to? What's got you energized? What's cooking for you?

Orlando Rodriquez: mean, what every day is a good, I mean, every day I'm looking forward to, be honest with you when it comes to being in the classroom or on the baseball field. mean, every day I'm blessed to wake up and do what I do, what I love. I mean, to be a positive role model for any of my students or my players, to encourage them to trace after their dreams, no matter what kind of setbacks that may be facing, you know, and the one of the biggest thing I do, or at least I try to do is become the light for those that are facing darkness, you know, so.

That kind of what gets me excited every day to be honest with you. So to put a timeframe of, this is what I'm looking forward to accomplishing in three months is, mean, it's an everyday process for me and I'm excited to do it every day, which kind of leads me to how I start my week off here in my classroom. Every Monday I start, I implemented a motivational Monday. So for the first 10 to 20 minutes of class, I show them either a short clip of a motivational speaker or there's a somewhat of a positive message behind it. And then I give my students at least five to 10 minutes to kind of write into their personal journal.

And then we have a quick discussion and how I personally tied into my personal life and how it helped me, you know, get through some tough times. And I always like to do that on Mondays because I feel like it's a great way to start the period, start the week, work week on a positive note that sets the tone in a positive way for my students. so definitely, you know, it's, I try to motivate them in positive way.

Spencer Payne: I'm going to go two directions on that. First, are there any of those motivational clips, speeches, videos, whatever they may be that are a couple of your personal favorites? Like, do you have a one or two or three that you play maybe every single year and have been for a couple of years because they're just so good? Like, can you share a little bit of insight into your favorite or a couple of the favorite examples that you share in class and why they mean so much to you?

Orlando Rodriquez: Definitely for sure. I teach seniors. So, you know, my biggest thing is to help them understand somewhat how the real world will work once they graduate here in May. And so I try to show clips that will motivate them, but also I can relate to them and help them because like I explained to them, you know, once you graduate, the world expects you to know how to do certain things.

And so the clips that I like to show is like Eric Thomas. He's a great motivational speaker. his messages, I mean, you can pick any of his videos and you can't go wrong. So, one of them is the, one of the favorite ones is, it's called the guru. He he's a guru and I don't know if you've ever seen it or heard it, but he explains how guru takes the gentleman out to the sea. Brings them out further and further until the gentleman is underneath the water and holds them there until he's fighting to get out of the water. once he, the guru feels like the guy cannot breathe anymore, takes them out, gives them the air and the gentleman is upset and says, why did you do that? And he says, you want to be, you told me you want to be successful. Well, if you want to be successful, you got to be willing to do anything you possibly can, just like you're trying to do to get that last breath.

And that's how I feel sometimes where, if I want to be a positive role model and show my students or even my players, if they want to accomplish anything, they have to be able to do anything or everything they can possibly do to achieve that goal in the right way. You know, and, and that's my way of showing them like, Hey, if you want to be successful, you have to put the work in, you know, you have to strive to want the best, do the best, be the best. And so you got to do everything you possibly can for that last breath, which means everything you can possibly do to be successful.

Spencer Payne: And by second direction, I was hoping to go on that leads into like, and who, who was your inspiration? Maybe when you were their age, was there somebody that you learned from who kind of set that direction or expectation or standard for you that you're trying to carry the torch for them? Like who, was that example or that leader that you looked up to when you were their age?

Orlando Rodriquez: Absolutely. So I'm the baby when it comes to my family. I have an older brother and an older sister. My sister is 16 years older than I am. My brother is nine years older than I am. And so growing up, my brother was a huge, huge influence in me. I look back now and didn't realize how much he was molding me to become the young man I am now. I don't want to say young man. I'm older now, but...

Looking back and seeing the times that we were outside playing, granted, like I said, we're nine years apart. So when I was four years old, you know, he was 13. And so, we'll be playing outside going, doing our, you know, playing our stuff and. There will be a time where my mom will call us in for dinner. And so my brother would be like, okay, you know, it's almost dark at that time. And so my brother would be like, okay, if you run this last route.

If you catch the football, we'll stay out here for like another 10 minutes and I'll let mom know that we're going to be out here a little longer. But if you drop it, then you're going to go back inside and eat dinner. And so I was like, okay, so I'll run this basically a how Mary route, you know, and he will launch it. And to be honest with you, I was more, I failed more times that I succeeded. And every time I failed, um, you know, I would cry, not cry. would cry and I would be like, girl, just give me one more shot, you know, one more chance. And he would tell me, you know what?

There's only going to, you're only going to have one opportunity in life sometimes and either going to catch the football or not. And so if you do, if you miss it, then hopefully when that next opportunity comes along, then you'll be willing to, to make what, uh, you know, you'll be willing to catch the ball, be successful. And so at that time, I didn't understand what he was telling me, but now that I got older, I was like, wow, you know, he's so true. There's many opportunities don't come along and when they do, you know, you have to take advantage of it because more likely, you know, you might fail, but at least you least you tried. And that's the one thing I can always tell myself, at least I tried and I can learn from it. And so when another opportunity comes along, I can go from there and hopefully be successful.

Spencer Payne: Yeah. So these, these Monday motivational sessions that you provide for your students, they're, they're coming from a personal place of, know, you had, you had this older brother who was that example for you and not everybody has that older brother that can be that example. And it sounds like, correct me if I'm wrong, you're trying to be that example for your students when they might not have that same older brother that you had and try to carry that torch. and I'm, curious on that note, do you, how did the Monday motivational like, videos and sessions that you do start. Like when did you first start doing those? What's the reaction from students? Do they like them? Do you get pushback? Do you get pushback from parents? Can you dig into this a little bit more? Like how did it start and what's the reaction to those?

Orlando Rodriquez: so to be honest with you, it just, it just started one day when I woke up and I was like, you know what? I want to try something different today. I'm going to try to start a Monday off on a good note. Cause I mean, personally, that's how I start my Mondays off. I start off with a good positive message and then that kind of kicks into the rest of the day where it keeps, makes me feel positive. So I was like, no, I'm going to try that with my students. I'm going to find a good positive message.

And I'm going to give it a couple of weeks and see how it goes. You know, so when I started it, I explained to my students each class how, how this affects me and my personal life, how starting the week off on a great note, you know, and it kind of talks about like with Eric Thomas, um, he explains how a lot of people don't like Mondays because it reminds them of the week they have in front of them, the work they have to do. And that's why everybody enjoys Fridays because they can have the weekend, not worry about responsibilities and just, you know, enjoy life. But then Sunday night comes, people start thinking about Monday and then Monday comes and it just like, Oh, here comes a long week. Well, why don't we just flip the script on that and just say, you know what? Mondays is the day I become one person. So by the time that Friday comes, I'm already a better person than I was Monday. And so that's how I kind of wanted to implement and teach my students. Because like I said, my students.

Uh, they're all, you know, I teach special education. So a lot of them, I will say, I want to say to have a negative self-talk, but there's a lot of Nick, lot of negativity in their life, I believe. And based on what I've got to know each student, you know, a lot of them come from broken homes or don't have a positive role model. And so I started telling myself, well, you know, why can't I be that positive role model for them? Why can't I be that person where that can help them and encourage them to want more, you know, and not feel like they're being held back. And so moving forward was, you know, this was a way for them to see that, hey, people struggle and people overcome those struggles. And you're not any different. You can find a way to, you know, make it happen, find a way to chase your dream, be accomplished of any goal you want to set out for yourself. 

So far, it's been great. Last year, like I said, it was the first year I did it. at first, it took a while to kind of kick off with my students, but there was one Monday, it was probably a month into it, where we were behind when it comes to teaching a lesson, my instructional. And so I was like, hey guys, this week, this Monday, we're not gonna be able to do motivational Monday. I apologize, but we need to catch up. We need to get going. And so I had about maybe, a handful of students from each period site coach like I look forward to the motivational Monday like you know, we not skip it next time and so I was like, okay Yeah, definitely and from there that kind of told me like hey, you know, we're on to something here And so since then we've been on a positive role and and my students, you know, they love it They we have great conversations, you know, and like I tell them you don't have to share personal information. Just tell me how it affected you or what kind of message you got from it.

Spencer Payne: Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. Especially just sharing with your students. You know, it wasn't just something that you made them do, but you shared the context around like, do this for myself and it helps me a lot. And I want to share this gift that gives to me. I want to share it with you. And this is why. And then to have that response after a month or so when you're behind like, sorry, we can't do it today. We got to, we got to catch up. And then to have a couple of people like, I don't want to miss it actually. I'm happy to move faster the other days so we don't miss this. Now all of sudden you got their buy-in, is even cooler. So it sounds like that is something that you implemented because you got great value from it. Obviously on the hopes that they would too, it sounds like they are. So thank you for sharing that.

Teachers out there. Feel free to go steal. don't know. And I really don't. Like, I'm gonna cheat a little bit. Like, let's say somebody else wants to go do that, but they're like, oh man, I'm not sure what I'd show. You shared Eric Thomas, the guru. Do you have maybe a couple other ones? do you have like a couple other ones? like, hey, go steal this one, this one, and this one also, teachers. And then you've at least got a month. Then after that, go figure your own motivational Monday out. At least give them a starting point. Do have a hit list anywhere?

Orlando Rodriquez: Well, I mean, so I got another one, Jaco, he's an ex military guy. His, videos are quick and sweet. he, there's one that he always talks about that I like, it's called good. so he explains how, if you're facing adversity, you know, he says you should tell yourself good, because if you're facing some kind of challenge, that's the only way we're going to grow as individuals.

And so, you know, maybe we didn't get that promotion that we wanted. He says, good, because then we can learn and work harder for the next promotion. Um, like I explained to my baseball players, you know, when we find ourselves, um, you know, making a few errors back to back as a defensive player, or we're all for three as a hitter, you know, good. That means we get to get after, uh, get after that, you know, at practice tomorrow taking, you know, a whole bucket of ground balls working on backhands that we might've made know, a couple of errors on, or maybe work, you know, our front shoulders flying open on our hitting. And so we need to make sure we're staying closed and, and working on going middle away approach, you know, so it's a good, good situation to be in when you find yourself in a bad situation, let's just say.

Spencer Payne: Yep. All right. Perfect. We got Eric Thomas guru. We got Jaco good. We got a couple for any teachers out there. There's a couple you can potentially steal after that. Like, hey, maybe go go find a couple of your own motivational Mondays and then post them so we can all potentially get the benefit of whatever you guys are using. If you guys choose to use this one, which I really like a lot.

Orlando Rodriquez: And the good thing is there's no cuss words in those two.

Spencer Payne: Yeah, there you go. Perfect. Reflecting on your, again, over a decade kind of in the classroom coaching, et cetera, I'm sure you've got some moments, some stories, some things that rise to the top since you've been in this profession for a while. Do you have any proudest moments? And it could be in the classroom. Maybe it's on the baseball field. Any proudest moments of...what students, players maybe were able to accomplish or appreciation they showed for you maybe a couple of years after they got out of your classroom or out of your dugout and they're out in real life and they realize the value of what you were trying to teach them just like you realized later on the value of what your brother was trying to teach you. So any proudest moments that rise to the top, anything that still makes you light up of things, folks in your class or team accomplished. props that you got from them afterwards, anything rise to the top of proudest moments in education or in coaching over the years.

Orlando Rodriquez: Yeah, I mean, to be honest with you, as a teacher, as educator, as a collegiate coach, baseball coach, the one of the biggest things that I always tell myself is players and my students aren't going to remember what I taught them. I mean, they're at the moment they are, but they're going to remember me more of how I treated them and how I respected them. And so whenever I run into old students or old players,

You know, it makes me feel good when they come up to me and give, know, especially my players, they come up and, coach, how you doing? You know, give me a hug and, talk about how, you know, how I encouraged them back when they were younger to, to want more. And I've run into a few students in the past where, you know, they have thanked me to just being there to listen to them, you know, being that ear when they were going through some tough times and motivating them with the words that I could use at that time to help them get through those situations.

And now they're married and have a family and they're, you know, have a job that they're excited about. And one of my biggest things that I put on my social media is a hashtag. I love what I do. And that helps them to pursue what they love to do, you know, because I feel like I said, like I told you earlier is every day is a great day.

You know, I get to wake up every morning doing what I love and that's being a positive role model to my students and to my players and anybody I get to be around my family, my wife. And so, you know, having old students and players come up to me, it's awesome. And I've been blessed to have former players of mine in high school move on to the professional level. And I still reach out to them. They reach out to me and say, Hey coach is checking up on you. How's everything going? Thank you for being there. You know, I feel like if I was, you know, if you weren't that positive person pushing me, you know, I wouldn't be where I'm at right now. And that makes me feel good. But at end of the day, you know, I just want them to remember me hopefully in a positive way, just by being there for them and caring for them.

Spencer Payne: Perfect. And any on another note of stories, any wildest, craziest, funniest, I can't believe that actually happened. I can't believe that person said that thing. Any of those types of stories in this long career you've had in education and in coaching, anything rise to the top, funny, wild, crazy, I can't believe that happened type stories.

Orlando Rodriquez: I can go a lot of crazy stories when it comes to the baseball field, but also in the classroom. I have a lot of patience when it comes to dealing with players and my students. Like I said, I teach special education and for some reason I always connect with the students that are behavioral issues. You know, they have behavioral problems where they have outbursts and I'm fortunate enough to have them in my class a lot. And so when you have a 20 some class of students that could be set off at any moment or feed off each other, you know, it could be a wild day. And so there's a couple of times where I had, you know, a student A and student B not be happy and not like each other. And then they start, you know, going off, you know, talking, disrespecting each other. And I, you know, I have to step in and put the coach voice in and say, Hey, this is my classroom.

This is not behavior that I deal with. Have respect for my classroom. I have respect for you. Don't disrespect me in my classroom. What can we do to solve this? And then I'll take both students out of the classroom. I'm fortunate enough to have a paraprofessional help me throughout the day so I can leave that person into my class that continues teaching the lesson where I can talk to these two students and say, hey, what's going on? What's happening? And then I can go from that route. And then the next thing I know, it's just like, hey man, I'm sorry, dude. Like you just kind of upset me because you set this comment and it just, I'm having a bad day already. And that kind of got under my skin where the, you know, the other students says, well, I was just kidding with you. You know, I was, mean to disrespect you like that.

And, and so, you know, after a while they're just like, all right, man, you know, I apologize. like, then they turned to me and I coach, I apologize for disrupting your class. I'm like, Hey man, just don't let it happen again. Like, you know, everything's good after that and come back into class. And then we continue where we left off in lesson, you know, so it's just, it's, it's just crazy. Cause you know, it could have gone south. It could got a lot worse.

Spencer Payne: Yeah, see on that note, actually, I'm curious to dig into that. Like it's it's very easy to..It's not very easy, but it could be very easy when someone, you know, there's altercation, whatever. can be very easy to punish. I'm going to make sure this doesn't happen again. Detention, et cetera. It sounds like your approach is very different. It's very, it's a little bit more patient. Uh, it's maybe a little bit more like, all right, do you get that out your system? All right. We're not going to let that happen again. Are we? No. Like, can you share a little bit more about like your approach there, how you, how you came across that approach and, is it effective?

Like, does that, does that help? in some way not have the same thing happen a second time when you're kind of not yelling not necessarily a like I'm gonna punish this to the full extent but being a little more patient and just Kind of like all right. We're not gonna do that again Are we like can you share a little more about again? How you arrived at that approach and your take on its effectiveness and maybe preventing that same behavior a second time because you're so calm and cool

Orlando Rodriquez: Right. I really believe it has to do with just the way I coach, you know, the way I live my life. I always like to use the metaphor, like a duck in the, in the pond, you know, it looks nice and calm, you know, above the water, but underneath it's just the little legs are paddling, you know, a hundred miles an hour. So even though I may be at a time where I'm, you know, kind of like, my gosh, what it's going to happen. I have to stay calm for my, my students and stay calm for my players. So they understand like, Hey,

It's okay, you know, and so how we, I'm a transparent person. I try to be as transparent as possible with my students and players and let them know like, Hey, I'm a human being as well. have emotions, you know, I have challenges outside the classroom, outside the baseball field. like we call it foul territory. Like our head coach says, the things that go on in our personal life, but you know, we have to create a positive learning environment. And that's my job as an educator is to make sure that each student feels safe inside my classroom, no matter what's going on around them. And so when I have situations like that, I always try to stay as calm as possible for my students so they know that everything's going to be okay.

And the one thing that I feel that helps me during those situations is I get to talk to and build relationships with my students and get to know who they are as individuals. And so whenever we have an outburst like that, I can just pull them aside and say, hey, what's going on? what's happening? And like the example I gave was, know, the student just maybe forgot to eat dinner and breakfast for, you know, maybe because their parents are split up and, you know, mom worked an overnight shift or, you know, worked extra hours and wasn't there to help make them breakfast or they didn't have anything for breakfast. So they're grumpy. I mean, I get angry a lot. You know what I mean? If I, if I don't eat my, my snacks and, and my meals, I get a little angry. So I can understand that, Hey, maybe that outburst was because they haven't eaten or there's something behind why they're acting that way, why that behavior is showing, you know, and it's my job. feel for me, myself as an educator, I feel it's my job to find out why, you know, the why part of that behavior.

So I can pull them aside and say, Hey, what's going on? What's happening? And, know, I'll had an argument with my significant other, or, you know, my parents are going through a divorce. I don't know how to handle it. I I'm sorry to, you know, disrupt the class. And we kind of have that relationship, that open communication where I can help them. Cause like I said, at the end of the day, I'm here to teach them, you know, curriculum, but they're gonna remember me for how I treated them. And like I said, I always wanna make sure I'm that light for them.

Spencer Payne: Yeah. On that note, how do you set that tone of how you run your class and how you run your team or your program or your infield? How do you set that tone upfront with a new class, a new crop of kids, a new group of parents? How do you go about setting the stage of what you expect of them and what they should expect of you?

Orlando Rodriquez: I mean, for players or for my students, you know, I explained to them, hey, you know, every teacher or every coach has to have their own expectation how they want you to be in their classroom or on the baseball field. Well, for me, as your coach or as your teacher, your expectations should be the same as my expectation. And that's to show up every day, do your best every day. And if your best is all you got right now, that's what we're going to go with, you know, so expectation is by not just talking about it, but actually being about it. You know, my actions speak louder than words. And so I have to show up every day. Like we are talking about, you know, I was going to, you know, pursuing my, my master's degree, as a full-time student, also a full-time teacher, also a full-time collegiate coach. And so if I had time to manage all of that in my personal life, right.

There shouldn't be an excuse why students or my players can't get their job done as well, but I can't really say that to them, you know, but I can explain it to them and say, Hey, you know, you didn't, unfortunately we didn't get this homework Simon done because you chose to go hang out with your friends where we should have maybe made a decision to, you know, sacrifice a little bit of that friend time for me time where I can get my stuff done. Because now, you know, you have to do double the work. And so.

That's where Motivational Mondays come in. That's where the positive reinforcement comes in. That's where being transparent with the, you know, with my players or my students saying, Hey, we just got to work on some time management or we need to work on some life decision-making, you know? And so just, just also showing them, explaining to them and opening up about my personal life and my journey and what, you know, adversities that I faced every day to accomplish my goals. And I'm the first one from my brother and sister to graduate, with not with the bachelor's degree, but also a master's degree. And, you know, I, it makes me happy that I can make my proud, my family proud and my parents proud.

You know, I got two nieces, two nephews and they're older now. And it's just being that positive role model for them, you know, cause the times where I was tired, I was, you know, come home from practice or come home from a long day of a game at a doubleheader that started at four o'clock, I'm getting home at 10 o'clock, I still have an assignment due, you by midnight, I'm over here, you know, trying to knock it out. And, you know, I easily tell myself, you know, I'm just gonna take the 5 % ding and return it in tomorrow or the next day. But I can't take the easy way out because I got, you know, my nephews, my neck, my nieces, my family members, my wife, you know, they're counting on me to get this stuff done no matter what. And that's, that's where I have to make a life decision of saying, you know what, I gotta do this. can't feel sorry for myself. I gotta knock it out. So here we are at 1150 doing the homework.

Spencer Payne: Yep. And real quick too on the master's program, just cause you alluded to like you're a full-time educator, you're a full-time coach and you're a full-time student before you finally got through everything. Any tips to share with anybody who might be all three of those things right now of how you did it, how you got through that, anything that now that you're on the other side, you might go back and share with somebody who's kind of got all three, wearing all three of those hats right now.

Orlando Rodriquez: The best thing I can say is to the advice I can give them is just remember your why. Remember why you're doing it. Remember why you're pursuing to accomplish your master's degree. You know, it could be for yourself. It could be the, you know, the person next to you. It could be for your family member. It could be for a friend. You know, whatever your why is, just continue remembering that every time you feel tired, every time you feel like you can't do it because

Spencer Payne: Would you mind sharing your why? know some of it aspirationally be a head baseball coach. Was there more to it than that? when you had those tough days or your homework's at 1150 and you're tired and you still got to go do it, like what did you come back to? What was your why?

Orlando Rodriquez: making my family proud, making my wife proud, you know, um, and in turn it makes myself proud. I look back now and I still can't believe it that I have a master's degree. Um, you know, go back, you know, 15, 20 years from now, uh, I wouldn't have thought this if somebody said, Hey, you're going to have a master's degree and, and, and this is what you're going to, your life is going to be. I would be like, I don't, I don't believe you. And that's what kind of what brought me out here in 2006 to Arizona was just understanding, not understanding, but just wanting a better life for myself. And once I got here and I was by myself, it kind of started painting a good picture of what my wife was. And that was to make my family proud at the time. working three jobs for a long time and going from one job to one job to one job in one day, every day of the week, it was tough.

But at same time, I knew that's what I had to do to survive and make a life for myself out here, which I believe transitioned to pursuing my master's degree and getting me through those tough times and remembering the sacrifices that not just my mom and dad made, but also my sister. She was really hard on me, strong on me. She had high expectations of me. so at the time when I was young, I'll get upset. You know what I mean? Like, my gosh, you're not my mom.

You're 16 years older than I am. You're not my mom, you know, but you know, now I look back, it was just because she wanted the best for me. Just like my brother, he wanted the best for me as well. And so I felt like those days where I was tired and I didn't feel like doing them, I had to because I had to, I had to thank them somehow. And putting the hard work in was the way of me thanking them and getting my master's degree.

Spencer Payne: And congratulations on getting it. And now that you've gotten it, like what have you been able to add back into your life week, day? it watching that? What finally going to watch a baseball game? Is it actually going to talk to your friend? Like what have you been able to add back again, give a little bit of a carrot to those who might have be going through the middle of it right now of like, what, what have you been able to add back in that field that felt most good that you kind of deprived yourself of while you're going through that master's experience to get through it? Like what have you added back in that feels the best?

Orlando Rodriquez: Breathing, breathing. I can finally breathe. I can finally have relaxation. I can have that peace of mind. Those are the things I can really do now. It's just nice to go from a long day in the classroom to a long day on the field and then going home and just relaxing with the wife. We just recently bought a house for our first time.

A few, we just moved in. haven't been in there for about a month now. So, thank you. Thank you. So that's another thing that I think helped, with that getting a master's degree helped us, you know, with getting our first home. so now, you know, there's a lot of things I still need to do, honey, to do lists, of course. So I'm, I'm trying to knock it out as much as I can. but you know, just be able to breathe that peace of mind to just know that I don't have any homework to do anymore. I can just come home and relax and just.

Spencer Payne: Congratulations.

Orlando Rodriquez: Enjoy life.

Spencer Payne: Perfect. Well, breathe on, breathe on. And I mean, just while we're on this vein, right, like it was tough, I'm sure going through all three of those things at the same time. How, know, when you're experiencing that, and maybe on, you know, the worst Wednesday, you're like, my gosh, I was up to one last night doing this homework. I'm so tired. Like, how do you turn it back on the next day at school? Like, what advice would you give to teachers out there? Because we, you know, everybody and everybody and every job faces that time where you're just like, man, I got to be on today and I'm struggling with my energy or this happened or whatever it is. Anything, any advice, tips or anything that you've done that seems to work when you got to go back and it's Thursday morning, you got to go turn it on again when you're feeling low and you don't have a lot of energy in you. How do you turn it back on? What are some things that are useful to you?

Orlando Rodriquez: Like I was like, explained earlier, you know, Jocko, you know, find yourself tired, find yourself in that situation. It's good. You know, it's good to be tired. It's a good to be in that. And so I tell myself, you know what? I'm okay. You know, I can get through this. I know I had a long day yesterday. I know there was a lot of stuff that needs, you know, that needed to be done and there's still a lot more tasks that needs to be done today, but that's good because this is a life that I wanted that I prayed for years ago. And so.

I shouldn't feel sorry for myself. I shouldn't give in because my students are counting on me to deliver, to be that coach that they, you know, see every day, that high energetic coach that's ready to teach them about math and how it relates to the real world. And, you know, be there to motivate them. Because like I said, if I'm tired and I'm down, don't get me wrong, there's those days do kick in. luckily I have a prep hour where I can just kind of relax, but when when the lights are on and my students are on their desk, I have to be that guy for them. I have to be that person that's energetic, that's ready to go. I can't let them see that. I have things on my mind, you know, and so the best thing I could say is just take one step at a time and just understand that, you know, things are going to get a little easier. Things are going to get better, but the expectations you have for your students is the same expectations they have for you. So if they, you know, you expect them to be on the best task and give them the best effort, then you have to do the same for them. You have to put the best effort you possibly can.

Spencer Payne: And for those teachers or educators out there who maybe are not coaches of the high school sports teams or junior high or college, whatever it may be, is there anything that you have found especially helpful  that maybe you learned while coaching that you have taken back into the classroom? So is there any advice maybe for those that you have learned or you put into practice where like, wow, that thing worked today teaching high school baseball. Like I'm totally going to bring that to the classroom. So anything there that you might be able to share with folks who maybe don't have that experience coaching that seemed to have you, you learned or you implemented. Coaching baseball that you then took back into the classroom. That was a great way to get motivate your kids and still discipline, make it fun, turn into a game, whatever it is. So anything there that you might be able to share of how coaching actually turned into making you a better teacher.

Orlando Rodriquez: I would say...so one the things as a coach when it comes to teaching my players a drill is to break it down each step. so I realized that I have to carry that into the classroom, especially with math. There's so many different things that can happen in math. And that's why a lot of students or people in general don't like math because math assumes, know, certain rules that goes along that you might've learned when you're in middle school, but now they expect you to know it in high school. And so that's where the frustration comes. So I have to understand that if I'm teaching a player to, you know, do a certain drill, I got to teach the student how to do a certain process step by step.

And then when I see them, you know, comprehend what I'm teaching them or comprehend and remember, hey, this is how I do it to solve a solution, you know, then I get to me excited, you know, just like if I see a, one of my players that was struggling on a backhand, you know, it made two errors and then we, you know, worked on it during practice. And then the game, he throws a diving backhand, throws the guy out to save the game. I mean, how you not get excited about that? You know, I mean, so it's the same, same excitement I get when I see a student in that might not have, you know, comprehended what I was teaching them on Monday, was confused on what steps to do. And then on Friday, when we have a quiz, you know, an assessment and, know, they score really well and they're just like, Oh my gosh, coach, I didn't think I did that well. And I'm like, man, you put the work in all week. Like, yeah, let's go, you know, and that gets me excited. And they, you know, just seeing, seeing my students and my players achieve, it makes me light up, you know, how can you not?

So just that excitement, just to see the success from my players, from my students, that's exciting for me.

Spencer Payne: and perfect, and a couple more rapid fire, more quick hitter questions as we get close to wrapping up. these selfishly, I'm a baseball guy too, so I'm gonna ask this one. What was your go-to brand, make, and model of leather in the infield when you were playing?

Orlando Rodriquez: so I'm a Wilson. I'm a Wilson guy. I like their gloves. don't brand. mean, when it comes to like the models, it doesn't matter as long as I catch the ball. You know what I mean? It doesn't mean I'm old school. I was a kid that, you know, didn't grow up like now where, you know, I didn't have a friend. If I didn't have a friend to play with in the front yard, I use the wall and a tennis ball to work on my backhand, forehand, slow rollers. So any glove for me was a glove. but Wilson's are the ones I really like now.

Spencer Payne: What might be the number one piece of advice that you would give to someone who's in those shoes? It's their first year, maybe they've been teaching now for three weeks, maybe two weeks, maybe a month. They're starting their first year, they're feeling overwhelmed, they're wondering if it gets easier. What might be the number one piece of advice you'd give to that teacher in their first year?

Orlando Rodriquez: I would say to stay structured into what you want for your classroom. You know, focus on one thing at a time. Don't try to solve the world problem in one day. You know, so if you want your students to be engaged throughout the class period, then figure out activities that keeps them engaged and then solve the rest of the issues that need to be solved later during the week or later down the month. You know what mean?

Just pick one thing that you want to focus on in your classroom and then tackle that task.

Spencer Payne: Yep. What to you is the single best thing about this profession? And you can choose education, coaching, both different ones for different sides, but what's your favorite part about it?

Orlando Rodriquez: Just seeing the success, seeing the success from my players, from my coach, from my, my, my students, you know, just that's, that's that's the best part, to be honest with you. That gets me up every morning. Just knowing that, Hey, this could be the day that, you know, little Johnny can, you know, comprehend what this, you know, problem that we've been trying to solve for the past few days, or this might be the day where this player might be, you know, understanding what I'm meaning when he comes, I say come through the baseball on a ground ball.

Spencer Payne: Yep. And what's the single worst thing or hardest thing about the education profession or if there was something you could change overnight with a magic wand, where would you point that magic wand?

Orlando Rodriquez: That's great question. So when it comes to education, I believe, you know, being a teacher nowadays is difficult. We have a lot of responsibilities. And one of those things that we have to understand is our students, they go through a lot right now. you know, as older teachers now, we didn't have social media. We didn't have any of this stuff that...these teenagers are facing nowadays, you know, and so we have to understand that they're feeling pressure that we never felt when it came to social media or presence inside the classroom, you know, and so we just got to be understanding. And I think that's the hardest part as an educator to know what each student is feeling. And so it can be tough. It can be tough. the responsibilities atop of that of not knowing our students, but also doing the paperwork and teaching the curriculum, making sure we are reaching every standard for them. It's just, it can be overwhelming at first, you know what I mean? But at the same time, like I said, if I was a first year teacher, you know, just tackle one task at a time.

Spencer Payne: On that note, social media, does your school or do you in your classrooms allow cell phones or smart watches in the classroom or do you lock them up? So, is cell phones allowed? Yes or no in the classroom?

Orlando Rodriquez: No, cell phones are not allowed. They are put into the students backpack or. Yeah, it's actually just in their students backpack. We usually can either have at the one end of the classroom.

Spencer Payne: Yep, perfect. that, and just real quick, is that a new change? Is that something that you can say like, man, we just implemented that two years ago and it's so much better? Like, can you compare contrast to that to a time where maybe they were allowed and any differences that you notice?

Orlando Rodriquez: so this year's the first year where, you know, Arizona passed a state law where students are not allowed to be on their cell phone. And so this is the first year it's actually gone in place. And so it, see a big difference, you know, students, don't, you know, students don't like the, like it at all, but at the same time, like I tell them, Hey, this is what it used to be like back in the day when I was in school. You know I mean? We didn't have cell phones. So, you know, we had to be engaged throughout the classes. And then that's what you see is a lot of students are so you know, engage with their phone throughout the day. It's hard for them to engage when it's coming to the instructional aspect of teaching in the classroom. So that's where I try to make it fun, make it engaging where I'm talking about certain things relating to the real world. And so they can kind of, you know, forget about the other distraction, which is their cell phone.

Spencer Payne: Yep. Any other educators who you really appreciate? Anybody you want to give a quick shout out to? Maybe you work with, worked with in the past, whatever it may be, someone who you just think is doing a fantastic job with being a role model for students. Anybody you want to give a quick shout out to?

Orlando Rodriquez: Yeah, mean, man, the list can go a long way to be honest with you. I've been fortunate enough to learn from a lot of good teachers here at the school I teach at the high school. know, Ms. Turan has been one of one of those teachers here. Ms. Pritz, my vice principal, Ms. Lamozzo. You know, I have had I've had some good, good teachers here and it's just been nice to learn from them and just kind of understand the special education aspect of how it is to be there for our students. Because like I said, a lot of our students in the special education department, they just have a tough life, you know? And so I just want to make sure I'm there for them.

Spencer Payne: Yep. And any final words of wisdom, anything that you would love to share with other teachers, educators out there that we just didn't have a chance to get into today that you want to share or anything that you did share, but it's just so important. You want to say it one more time. So any new or repeated words of wisdom.

Orlando Rodriquez: advice I can give anybody, any educators out there or coaches that are, are educators as well. You know, what you're learning or what you do implement on the field, carry it into your classroom. You know, carry that passion that you have, that love that you have for that sport or that hobby that you have in your personal life, carry it into your classroom because students, they, they, they want that. They, they want to see that passion. They don't want an educator that just comes in, teaches instruction and the curriculum and then that's it on the bell rings, you know, they want to see that passion and that's what I try to do every day is show the passion I have for what I do, not just on the field or in the classroom, but just in life in general, just, you know, like I said, I, my hashtag, I love what I do. It's so true.

Spencer Payne: Well, Orlando Rodriquez, thank you so much for sharing your story, a real educator, and many real stories. And thank you for carrying the torch, so to speak, of what your older siblings were trying to instill in you with discipline, hard work, striving for something more, and being that example for the students that you see and your ballplayers year in, year out. So thank you so much for sharing your story. Appreciate you.

Orlando Rodriquez: No, thank you.