Keeping Teaching Fresh and Relevant with Nathan Cohen  

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

Spencer Payne: All right, here we are today with front of the class, real stories from real educators here today with Nathan Cohen. Nathan, can you give us a little bit of a low down on where you currently teach, how long you've been doing it, public or private school, what grades you teach, all that kind of usual teacher stuff that a fellow teacher might ask. Could you help us understand all those details about where and who you're teaching these days?

Nathan Cohen: Sure. I currently teach fifth grade in Birmingham, Michigan. I've taught all subjects in the past, although this year, currently just teaching math and teaching English language arts, which includes grammar and reading and writing. And I work with about 72 kids in math each day. And then I only teach my personal homeroom, my fifth grade. I teach them math and ELA.

I've been teaching, this is my 24th year in the Birmingham district and coincidentally, I also went to school in Birmingham. So I went to elementary school, middle school and high school through the same district that I'm currently teaching at. And I guess I really got into education and teaching primarily because both my parents do it and I could see the rewards and the real benefits to helping kids and to trying to make the world a better place and to trying to instill character and values in children and not so much just teaching the curriculum, but trying to give it to them in a way that they would find interesting and try to connect with these kids the best that I can.

Spencer Payne: Yeah, awesome. And you mentioned, again, not just trying to teach the curriculum or teach maybe dates or times or years, but trying to convey it in a way that's interesting to the students, in this case, you know, fifth year old, 10, 11, 12-ish year olds. What's an example of how you do that? Like, how do you try to make some of that curriculum come alive in a way that's interesting or feels relevant to someone of that age group?

Nathan Cohen: A lot of times I'll tell the kids, is how I use what we're learning today. This is how I use it in life. And sometimes I will purposely get off topic and we'll talk about how to figure out a discount when you're going to a store and understand how much you should tip a waiter or how much you should tip a waitress. just when I'm teaching, there's a lot of stories that just kind of come up as I'm teaching especially in language arts where it could be reading a book and all of a sudden I'm thinking of something that could be a life learning type of moment and we'll just kind of stop what we're doing and I'll start telling a story. And that kind of, you know, I think that the kids look at that as, you know, they kind of are shaking their heads going, oh, I kind of understand, I get it. So just trying to, I kind of teach my class as they're more sort of my friends and family and not just some random kids that I'm just trying to spit out curriculum to. So I try to, yeah, go ahead.

Spencer Payne: Yeah. And I say, especially that's interesting because, in a, in a world of, know, some teachers talk about how maybe they, they sometimes feel like they have to teach to a curriculum or they may have a little less autonomy of kind of how they get to where they get to. It seems like you're still infusing these real world stories and real world applications. And here's something that happened yesterday that ties into this thing that we're supposed to learn. seems like you're, still weaving some authenticity, right, and some autonomy into the classroom? Can you help share, you know, can you help share a little bit more about how you're doing that and I don't know if it's how you get away with that. Like, you're having this sense of autonomy which a lot of teachers do want. How do you make sure that you still stay on track with curriculum but still weave in some of these real world stories that make things more authentic and feel like you have some autonomy in the classroom?

Nathan Cohen: Well, you you're teaching the curriculum and you can weave off of it a little bit, but you got to kind of circle back to it again. And so, what will happen is a lot of times if I'm telling these stories or I get off the curriculum, all of a sudden you see like 15 hands go up, right? And if I'm going to sit and call in all those kids, I've lost them, right? So sometimes I'm like, guys, I can take two questions or...

Spencer Payne: Yeah. Yeah.

Nathan Cohen: you know what, this isn't a time for putting your hands up because we've still got to get back to it. So sometimes it's me having to just take one or two kids, you know, but it's funny because there are times where, you know, I'll say, I can take two kids and if I don't pick on those kids to tell their part of the story, they're just kind of like, bomber. I'm like, hey, you can tell me on recess time. You can tell me out in the hallway, you know, so it's kind of it's weaving in and out, but there's a fine line. You've gotta still know that time that you have. You only have a certain amount of time. So it's just to make sure that you're not going too far off, but that the kids are understanding the realism behind really what you're learning and the importance behind it and how it can relate and realize.

Spencer Payne: Yep. Yeah, that's awesome. And you mentioned kind of what drew you into teaching in the first place and what got you here, after almost 25 years, what keeps you here? What has kept you in to the teaching profession for this amount of time and keeps you continuing to do it day after day?

Nathan Cohen: I know I'm in the right profession because when I wake up in the morning, I jump right out of bed and I'm ready to go to work. There's just very few days when I'm like, man, I wish I had the day off or I wish I didn't have to work today. I enjoy going into work. I enjoy the kids coming in the morning. Most of them seem pretty happy at times when they're coming in.

For me, it's about just that light bulb that goes off during the day when I'm teaching something completely new and kids are kind of like, oh, I kind of see how to do it. And then I'm watching them teach each other. we also do a lot of work just talking in class. Like I give them a chance to kind of share their experiences, share what they did over the weekend. So it's kind of just getting to know them more on a personal level.

Once I establish that, then I feel like, you know, every day they come in, I can connect with these kids in a different way. And it keeps me wanting to come back every year. You know, and I'm also in a district where the kids work really hard and the parents are very supportive as well. And as long as I'm doing my job and the kids are doing their job, these kids really, they've got high goals. So when I asked the class, you know, what do you want to do? I want to be a veterinarian. I want to be a lawyer. I'd like to be a doctor. So these kids are coming from families that are well established and parents really have high expectations for the kids starting, I really think in fifth and sixth grade is where it really starts.

Spencer Payne: Yeah, and that can be potentially a blessing.

Right, of high standards, maybe the parents will back you if the child is rebelling or not doing their homework because they know it's important, could also potentially be a curse of, Mr. Cohen, are you really doing enough for my kid said this? so there's ways that could be good and bad. guess I'm curious to hear your perspective on, you know, how do you, maybe especially the beginning of the year, like how do you get on the same page with the parents of kind of what their expectations are, what your expectations are in class and try to...

How do you get on the same page with those folks and make sure that instead of being a blessing or a curse, it's hopefully more of a blessing. How do you do that?

Nathan Cohen: Part of it is, I think that I've been teaching a long time, so I've kind of established a reputation, but I think a lot of it, most of it is communication. And it's if you can clearly communicate with the parents, one, what you're doing each week, what the curriculum is going to look like this week, that it's important if your child is absent that they contact me or contact a friend to know what they're doing in class so that they don't fall too far behind. I think it's setting clear expectations.

And I think it's just if there isn't something going the way that I want it to, whether it's a behavior or whether it's something with a child just not understanding what we're doing in class or someone who's just not paying attention. I think the key there is to communicate within the first month of school via email, via phone call. Sometimes I'll call a parent in for for a quick conference. That is that that can be life changing because they come in in October and I'm telling them, okay, this is what we need to work on. I'm not seeing this happen in class, but I really want to help, you know, and we can try to get on the same page that way. reaching out early, not waiting till conferences in November to say, hey, by the way, your child has 14 missed assignments and didn't do well on their last two math tests. So.

Spencer Payne: Yeah. Yeah.

Nathan Cohen: Any future educators, that would be like my number one thing. Get on the phone, call parents, make sure that you know that you make sure they know that you've got their kids best interests in mind, that you want to help.

Spencer Payne: Yeah, yeah, 100%. Yeah, yeah. And after doing this for almost 25 years, what do you look forward to? Like, is there anything in particular over the next three, six, 12 months, you kind of you pick your timeframe that you are particularly energized by, right? Like, how do you, after 25 years, what do you still look forward to and say, I can't wait for that to happen, or I'm energized by doing this or changing this or tweaking this. Like, what do you have coming up that you're looking forward to?

Nathan Cohen: You know, I look forward to, like, like this year I have a new curriculum in language arts. So every day I'm teaching something that I've never taught before. So it's not the same thing every single year where last eight, nine years I've taught the same lessons over and over. You know, I go back to work on Monday and I'm teaching all stuff that I've never taught before. I'm reading a book that I've never read before. So I guess experiencing new things with the kids at the same time. 

I mean, obviously I love my summers because it's my time to debrief and to think about the next school year and to prepare myself. And I love when a new group of students enters the classroom where I can make more connections with new kids and tell them stories. And they come in and they don't know much about me, but I feel like when they leave the room in June, a lot of them can...they really could tell my whole life story. They know how many kids I have. They know, you know, what's gone right in my life during the school year, what's not. So I kind of use my classes, you know, as friends during the year. Like they, you know, I come in on Mondays and I'm like, guys, I had a great weekend. I did this and this and, you know, but this didn't go well. So we talk about, you know, I talk to them like they're human beings and not like they're little kids. And I just think that they appreciate that.

And I, that's what keeps me coming back and looking forward to talking with them because they're at that age, especially in fifth grade, where they're just, they're good kids. They're young, they want to do well. And I think that just watching some of them grow and being motivated to learn and some of the kids that start the year shy and then all of a sudden they're asking tons of questions and they just start to see their test scores increase and I see smiles on their faces. All of that is what brings me back because when I leave work each day, it's like, all right, I did something good today. made, you know, you know, little Ava was really happy or Johnny did such a good job on his math test and the last one he didn't do well on. So it's, takes time. but you know, like especially this point of year, I put what they need to do up on the board. All the kids are in a routine now.

Right, especially once it's like February, March area. So I love this time of year because the routine is fluid and the kids just kind of know what to do and they know the routine so well. you know, that keeps me going. It's exciting for me.

Spencer Payne: Yeah, that's awesome. And on your note of helping the super shy kid actually be comfortable asking questions or answering questions later in the year, I just got to share a quick one. My favorite teacher I ever had was his name was Mr. DeZetta. He taught history.

And I think it was maybe freshman year and I was super shy kid at the time. might not sound that way now, but I was very shy, not sure of myself. So I would only raise my hand to answer one of his questions if I knew the answer. And even if I knew the answer, I might still not say, you know, 1776. might say 1776. Like I might even answer his question with a question. cause I was afraid of being wrong. Right. And I remember him saying, I remember him just, you know, in a nice way and I knew he cared. It wasn't like the first day of school. I knew he was, he genuinely looked out for me. Like he was, he was looking out for our best interest. He's like, Spencer, you know the answer. answering my question with a question. Like, you know the answer, say it with confidence. And I will never forget that.

And like, it was a, it was a, just a good, powerful reminder of like, don't have to doubt yourself. Like he, he, like he believes in you. He's trying to showcase and pull out, you know, some of that confidence. no other teacher ever, ever kind of I don't know, treated me with that. I was like a level of uniqueness of like, that's not something you say to all 25 kids in your class. That's something you only say to me, because you know me and you're trying to get the best out of me. And I always appreciated that. So just the fact that you said that reminded me of that. And shout out to Mr. Rosetta, you're one of my favorite teacher in all of elementary, middle, high school combined. Like he was awesome.

Nathan Cohen: Ooh, that's...Yeah, that's a nice shout out and that's exactly like, that can be life changing for you too and help to build your confidence and you know, I just don't believe in, even if a kid is wrong when they put their hand up, it's the way that you respond which is so important.

Spencer Payne: Yes.

Yes, actually on that note, any specific examples if a kid raises their hand, they're wrong. Any examples that you might have or be willing to share of how you don't say, nope, that's wrong, next kid. How do you foster that? What's an example or how do you help foster to, even though you're wrong, how do you help foster them to answer again or ask the question a separate way so that they answer again with more confidence? How do you do that?

Nathan Cohen: You kind of cushion their answer. So you kind of say like, can, that's a great answer. I can completely see where you might think that, but we got to change it a tiny bit. can you think about, like sometimes I'll put them right in the spot and think about it a little bit more. Can you think of something different? You know, you're really, really close, but if it's math and it's just, you know, a blatant, you know, the answer is 26 and they put their hand up and they're like 22. I'm like, oh man, you are so close. You're so close.

Look at it one more time, you're right there. So it's about just not saying, no, next kid. It's kind of cushioning their answer and kind of saying, or you say, 22 is really close. Tell me how you got that answer because you're like three or four away. So it's just about the way you respond and the tone of voice.

Spencer Payne: Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. All about that encouragement, knowing you have their best interests to try to get to that right answer, and they're very close.

Nathan Cohen: You got it.

Spencer Payne: As you look back on again, 25 years in the classroom, I'd imagine you have several. Proudest moments, wildest moments, tough times, all that kind of stuff. I'd like to explore some of those. and we'll start on the positive. Anything you look back on that are just the coolest, most enjoyable, proudest moments of your teaching career or something that you look back on and still makes you smile today. And when you look, when you're, when you're 80 and you're sitting in a rocking chair, hopefully at the beach, you'll still probably smile and light up because of that cool, enjoyable, proudest moment. Anything come to mind?

Nathan Cohen: There's a lot that comes to mind. I mean, I've gotten letters from old students, notes from old students, emails, kids that have come back to me and said that in some way or shape or form, I changed their life and made them feel confident about themselves or that I taught them math in a way that they finally understood and they never understood it before. there are, I have lots and lots of stories like that, which to me every time it makes me feel good, or when kids say, you know, my son or daughter had you and, you know, we've heard great things about you and we know, you know, that they're in great hands when they're in your class and that kind of thing is really fulfilling.

Winning the Hour Magazine Teacher of the Year probably was one of my greatest feelings that I've had inside, because so much of it was done behind my back and I really didn't know much. And parents from a previous year had nominated me and then I found out about it a few months later. And then all this voting came out where parents had to come in, parents, friends, family came in and they could write letters on my behalf to the magazine. And between the six people that were finalists, whoever had the most letters or the most powerful, meaningful letters was going to win that award.

I got the email one day saying that I had won and that was, to me, was real special. And I even emailed the magazine and said, I would love to know what people said. I would love a book of it. No. And I still haven't seen them.

Spencer Payne: Yeah. So you didn't get to see the letters? Like, so you had to go request to see what people actually said?

that seems like a shame. Like, don't get to, all these people are appreciating you and showing your gratitude and you don't get to actually see or read what they said?

Nathan Cohen: No, they did not show me any of the information. I just thought it would, I thought for me, it would make an incredible book, an incredible story, something I could bind and show my own to children, or I could give it to my son one day and say, hey, show this to your kids, you know, cause every story was about, you know, something positive about me. And it just would have been cool to be able to have a hand on it and see, cause I don't know really the details of what people wrote.

But I just, it was a great feeling inside that people spent the time to, to write nice things, knowing that I had put in at that time, it was like 21 years of education that I had put, you know, put that dedicated my whole life to. So that was just truly an amazing moment. And, know, I was getting congratulations and, you know, emails and text messages. And it was just a, I guess it was fulfilling. It made me feel like, my gosh, I'm doing something right.

And when I'm done teaching one day, I can look back on this and really have this in my head as a success.

Spencer Payne: Yeah, that's awesome. And congratulations. and especially in any profession, you know, we all might have some estimate of like, think I'm doing well. Maybe I'm not doing well enough here. I think I'm doing well, but do they, do they really think that? And it's not that you're seeking external validation in some way. and again, you said the nominations, all these letters were behind your back. So it's not like you were out like vote for me, vote for me. was more, you know, this, I don't know, this very

Nathan Cohen: Thank you. Right.

Spencer Payne: It sounds like nice, genuine, authentic validation of like, you know, I think I'm doing a good job in the classroom. I hear these nice notes and then that's like, oh, they really do appreciate it. Like, like people really do like the job that I'm doing. Great. I'm going to, I'm going to keep doing this because it seems to be working. The only shame is if only, if only that would have happened in year five or seven or eight to give people more direction that they're on the right track and people appreciate what they're doing.

Sometimes you don't know right and that feedback can can really be a gift if you think you're doing a good job to get that Validation from the students and the teachers that yes, in fact, they you are doing a good job. We really appreciate the work that you're doing

Nathan Cohen: Yeah, I mean, we get evaluations each year from our principals, so we kind of know how we're doing in some respect, and we hear from parents all the time, but having that validation, I guess it was just kind of a neat, experience for me.

Spencer Payne: Yeah, it's awesome. any wildest, craziest moments, you I still can't believe that actually happened or kids say the darndest things. Everyone was cracking up. No one knew what they actually said. Any wild, crazy moments that you're able to share in this 25, almost 25 years of teaching in classroom.

Nathan Cohen: Yeah, I would say the really the whole thing with COVID was the wildest and craziest thing. mean, just, you know, March 13th, we were told to stay home and we, you know, started teaching from our computers and I had a whole classroom of 22 kids in front of me from where I'm sitting in my den. So that to me was the wildest, craziest couple of years that I've ever had. And then even we came back to school, we all you know, with masks and separated and, you know, with shields up and stuff. So, you know, my craziest moments, I've had tons of moments in class where I've laughed and we've had fun or someone's fallen out of a chair or, you know, there's little things like, you know, like there was a kid playing with the rubber band in front of me and the rubber band flung off his finger and it went and hit the ceiling and it stuck on the ceiling and it's still there.

Spencer Payne: Yeah.

Nathan Cohen: And it's been four years since this little rubber band has been stuck on the ceiling in my classroom. So every year another class comes in, they're like, Mr. Cohen, why do you have a rubber band stuck on your ceiling? I'm like, I don't know. It flung off a kid's hand, it went up and it never came down. I don't know. So there's just, you know, there's lots of weird stuff like that. We've had, I've had malfunctions with our HVAC system where

Spencer Payne: Ha ha!

Nathan Cohen: My principal once was doing an evaluation on me and all of a sudden steam started pouring from the HVAC system and then water started flooding out from the bottom. And I mean, water, pouring water. So I'm in the middle of a evaluation from my principal and obviously we shut that down. We had to call like an emergency technician to come out. Water had...I'm on the second floor, so water had flooded my whole room while the kids were sitting in it and then had seeped all the way down to the room below me and was pouring out of the ceiling of that room. So yeah, that'll be a story I'll never, ever forget.

And then there was another one where there was a science experiment I was doing where I soaked an egg in vinegar for a week and it's supposed to actually deteriorate the exterior of the egg. And you're supposed to be able to drop the egg and it bounces. Well, I was doing it in front of my class, showing my principal how it was gonna bounce. And when I went to let it drop, it just splattered all over his shoes. So there's a little stuff like that. I was like, all right, science doesn't always work. So here's a great example while I'm cleaning off my principal's shoes. Here's a great example of how science is not perfect, right? So even when you make mistakes as a teacher, I think you gotta own up to it and just say, okay.

Spencer Payne: Okay. Yeah, yeah.

Nathan Cohen: Maybe I didn't let it soak in the vinegar long enough. But yeah, I've got hundreds of little stories like that where just, you know, the whole class is laughing and, you know, you get them all going and it's, you know, it creates what it does, creates cool memories. And then at the end of the year, when I'm doing my end of the year graduation speech, I try to intertwine some of those memories in my speech so that they remember. then all the kids, you know, I'm giving my speech, all the kids are like, yeah, forgot about that. That was so funny. So yeah, I think every year brings its own funny moments and challenges.

Just one more real quick story. We went to fifth grade camp this year and the first thing they said when we were about to hop on some canoes was no one has ever fallen off a canoe at this camp. We don't expect anybody to fall off canoes. Keep your life jackets on and don't do anything stupid. Just make sure that you stay in and you're rowing. And I looked out and sure enough, there was a parent and two kids in the water. So they had fallen off the canoe, they were reaching for a hat that some kid had lost and they all reached the same direction at the same time and the canoe tipped and they were about as far out in the lake as possible. you know, like that kind of story will be something that I'll say at the end, my end of the year speech, don't forget about, you know, staying safe in a canoe and not falling out. So, you know, every year brings brings fun and memorable moments.

Spencer Payne: Yeah. That's awesome. I love that you've kept the rubber band in the ceiling for four years. That's awesome. And I love that no janitor or no one has taken it down. I love that.

Nathan Cohen: It'll never come down. Yeah, it'll never come down. So it's just funny that it's been there that long.

Spencer Payne: That's so awesome. And on a maybe a more challenging note, any particularly, and maybe it was COVID, right? Any particularly tough times or tough moments in your career. And when you have those tough times, tough moments, like how do you bounce back? How do you right the ship? How do you turn the canoe back over? Like, anything strike you over your decades in teaching of just particularly tough classes, tough days, tough moments, and how do you right the ship? How do you bounce back?

Nathan Cohen: Yeah, I've had some very tough classes in terms of just usually several students or a few that aren't allowed to speak with each other in the same classroom or constantly are physically or mentally, emotionally fighting all the time. And that's, you know, that's just kind of comes with the job.

I feel like at this point you don't just have, you're not just an educator. I have to kind of be a counselor, sometimes a social worker. I have to listen to both sides. The hardest part to me is I know some kids, they'll lie right to me. You know, I'll watch something and then they look right at me and lie. you know, so it's about just taking those moments and trying to, I don't get angry. You know, I can be disappointed, but I think it's about not yelling at the kids because I don't feel like it does any good. And it's just about talking to them on their level, sitting down with them, trying to connect with them, letting them know that you care about them, that you have their best interest in hand.

But boy, there are days where I'm coming home from work and I know it's a tough day when I don't turn any music out. Most days I get in, music goes up, I'm driving home, I open my sunroof and I am like, okay good day today. If my sunroof doesn't open and the music doesn't go on, that means my mind's thinking, okay? Something didn't go well, I'm upset about something. And sometimes it helps to just talk about it. So, you know, I'll call a teacher friend, you know, I'll talk to anybody I can.

My mom and dad are both great listeners as well because they're both educators. you know, a lot of times I talk to my mom about stuff that's going on in class and you know, and sometimes just my colleagues, I have phenomenal colleagues I work with and a phenomenal principal, having them to kind of knowing that they're in my, they're kind of in my repertoire of people I can talk to and say, Hey, what do you think? What do you think about this? That's a huge bonus for me. And it's really that that can help me wake up the next day and be like, all right, let's go after it. Let's fix the problem. So it's relying on people around you because you can't fix everything.

Spencer Payne: Yeah, a hundred percent. Not to mention whatever problem you face, especially if maybe you're, you're, you're one in a teaching, right? Like it's almost impossible that whatever problem you're facing is unique to you and no one else has ever dealt with it or solved it. Like there's, there's probably somebody in your school or again, in your case, parents who've been doing this for a long time, who is, who has tried to solve that problem and failed and made it worse. And here's what they learned. And then the second time, here's what they did to actually correct the situation that they might advise you to do. Like it's highly likely that someone else has faced that exact same problem. So ask, like if you ever faced this, what should I do? How did you handle it? It's a powerful thing to just ask for help because probably someone has faced the exact same situation before.

Nathan Cohen: Yeah, so, and if they haven't, you go to the next person and ask. So, it's just about getting as many people, you know, I guess on your team as possible and making sure that you work well with the people around you. Because they're your biggest support system.

Spencer Payne: Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. 100%. 100%. Anything that you've consistently done in your career that just seems to work really well for you and maybe you're surprised more people don't do that thing. Anything to stand out?

Nathan Cohen: For me, it's two things. One is preparation. The other is organization. So when I prepare for a week, when I prepare for a day, I way over prepare. So when I'm doing lesson plans, when I'm thinking about what I'm gonna do on Monday, I always have way more than I'm gonna get done in my head.

So there's never a point where I'm teaching and I'm like, gosh, there's 25 minutes left. What are we gonna do for them? It just doesn't ever, ever happen. It's usually, gosh, I need 25 to 30 more minutes to get this in. I don't mind, you know, tailing over part of what I did today to tomorrow, but you have to, as a teacher, I think it's over preparing, always being ready for more than what you expect, never having a ton of downtime.

I can't speak to every grade level, but I know in fifth grade, sixth grade, seventh grade, when there's a lot of downtime between classes, that's time where trouble happens. Where there's talking, where they're getting into mischief, you know, you're going to have a couple of kids that are going to sit and read, and you're going have a couple of kids that are going to do things like throw erasers across the room or go in the bathroom with three of their friends and who knows what's going on, right?

So it's creating really good lessons and preparing well so that you don't have a ton of downtime between subjects and you're constantly moving quickly throughout the day. Preparation. So the second one I said was organization. I just think it's so important as a teacher to stay organized with your material. You know, I'm not, when I go to teach a lesson, I'm not fumbling through papers and being like, my gosh, where did we leave off? And everything's ready before the day begins.

Spencer Payne: Yep.

Nathan Cohen: My math book's open to page 24. My ELA stuff is sitting out, it's ready. It's like sitting right there. And when we transition from one subject to another, it's like, okay, you guys have a minute, fill out your assignment book real quick of what you need to do for homework tonight in math or reading. And we're starting reading. And then as soon as I take out the next material, I start complimenting the kids that have all of that material.

So I'm not gonna say, Joe, why don't you have your stuff out? Instead it's, hey, I love how Ava and Julie and Parker, all of you are ready. You've got all your stuff out, you guys are ready to go, nice job. We got about 30 seconds. So organization and preparation is the key and always to be overly prepared when you walk in front of those kids.

Spencer Payne: Yeah, and that subtle distinction right there, I love what you just said there, instead of calling out the students who don't have their book open or haven't done X thing is instead of going that way, focus on praising the ones who have done it. It's a subtle little shift, but it's a very powerful shift on the tone that that brings to the classroom.

Nathan Cohen: Yeah, I just feel like even more now these days than ever before, feel like kids really don't want to be called out in a negative way. And I think it hurts them in public, yeah.

Spencer Payne: especially in public. mean, maybe in private, maybe they'll appreciate it, but especially in public. A couple more rapid fire, more quick hittery type questions, especially as you look back and maybe some of this is also helpful advice for younger or aspiring teachers. But for a new teacher, maybe someone who's about to start their first year or is in their first year, what's the number one piece of advice you give to someone in that position or as you look back knowing what you know now, what might you give to yourself in kind of year one? So what's some of the wisdom you might share with a new or aspiring teacher or even go back and give it yourself in say year one or year two of the profession?

Nathan Cohen: I would say it's really about being kind to yourself because we are, as teachers, our own worst critics and we're going to make mistakes and there's no way to go around it. When I look back at my first, second, third, and fourth, and fifth year, there's constant mistakes that I made, but you have to learn from them. And it's sometimes about writing it down and journaling, what lessons went well, what lessons did not, and then making little modifications and knowing that every single class that comes in front of you during a day, every class has its own personality. So you can't, there's not one right way to teach a class that you have to modify, you have to be open-minded, you have to adjust. And I would say number one is you have to be so patient.

And it's not an easy skill to be patient, but yelling and getting frustrated only creates more chaos in the room. Whereas if you can stay calm, even if a situation is going on in the room that you're really uncomfortable with, staying calm is so key. And I think that's very difficult for a lot of the new teachers to do. They wanted to say, I don't know what you're doing. I've told you five times. We're supposed to be coloring this in and you're rolling on the floor. Sometimes like the kid just needs to roll on the floor, you know, and let them do what they need to do and then try to veer them back in eventually. But it's really, it's about being nice to yourself. And boy, is it hard to do because the first couple of years of my teaching, I was coming home each day saying, this is not for me. This is hard, lot harder than I thought.

Spencer Payne: Yeah. Hmm. Yeah. On that note, yeah. What, did you keep pushing through then? Like in those first couple of years of thinking this is hard, maybe this is not for me. You've not, yeah, I've been doing it for almost 25 years. So how, like, did you, how did, why stay? What, what, what, what changed from those early years, especially if there was a day where like, I can't, I can't do it anymore. Like how, how did you show up the next day? How have you continued to do this for, for that long after those early, early struggles?

Nathan Cohen: It's good good question. It's there are days where I've wanted to just give in but it's it's I feel like I kind of feel like if a failure if I don't push through something that I I feel like I'm good at so it's Again talking to the people around you and you know, you can't hold everything in as a teacher. You've got to work as a team.

If you're one of those people that just, you you're going to be upset all the time and you're holding everything in inside, you know, it doesn't work, you know? So was about relying on those people around me to say, my gosh, I had the worst day today. Can I just tell you about some of the things that happened and just having other people listen? And then sometimes while I'm talking through it, I'm like, wait a second. I made a mistake here. And I realized what I did.

You know, and it's all the way that you're talking to the kids, your facial expressions, your tone of voice, you know, so it's about learning from your own mistakes and moving on.

Spencer Payne: Yep, yep, awesome. What to you is the just number one single best thing about this profession?

Nathan Cohen: Seeing kids learn, seeing kids like to come to school, having a student come to me and say, I love math. I mean, who likes math? mean, not a lot of kids do, but if it's, I feel like there are kids that I teach that really enjoy learning it. And I would say, you know, when kids learn new things and then they perform well on an assessment or a test or even a daily assignment,
and I'm able to grade that right in front of them and then I hand it back to them with an A or a good grade. I'm like, that's hard work, right? You're earning those grades, I'm not giving them to you. You've got to put the work in. And then when kids realize that they are more capable than they think they are, then I've got them. And I feel like it's so rewarding to have when I get in the car after school each day, just, hey, I made a difference today.

Spencer Payne: Yeah. Now the sun roof, now the sun roof is going to open and the music's cranking up. yeah. Awesome. And on the other end of that spectrum, what to you is the single worst thing or the toughest thing about this profession? Or if you had a magic wand and could just point that at one problem and just change it immediately, where would you point that magic wand?

Nathan Cohen: Now the sunroof and exterior go on. Yep.

I think the hardest thing is that there are so many kids out there that are disrespectful. And I just want the kids to be nice. I don't want them swearing and being mean to each other. And there's a lot of stuff that happens behind my back that you don't see and on recess. And the lessons I'm teaching them in class, I would love them to take out in life with them. Being a good person and having good character and showing empathy and sympathy and having a good growth mindset and not being narrow-minded. there's a lot to it. I think the hardest thing is when a child doesn't want to learn and doesn't really want to be in school and you've got to try to instill in them the importance of an education. That's a challenge.

Spencer Payne: Yeah. Did you get your master's degree? And if so, when did you do it? Before you started, a couple years in, and what did that unlock for you? What did that allow you to do that maybe if you hadn't gotten it, you wouldn't be able to do or you wouldn't have been able to earn?

Nathan Cohen: I would encourage every teacher to get a master's degree. I mean, your pay increases is definitely worth it. I did it right when I finished college. So I did it my first and second year of teaching, which was not easy, but that was the recommendation that I was given is to just do it right away. So I took classes after school, I took classes in the summer. I didn't have kids at the time, so it it kept me busy, but...

The big thing with the master's is I got a master's in curriculum and instruction. So I learned more about teaching and more about how to implement different kinds of curriculum and make it interesting for kids. And then again, it really unlocked a big pay increase as well. And over time, I would say over the last 22 years that I've had my master's degree, the amount of money that I wouldn't have had if I didn't had it is astronomical.

Spencer Payne: Yeah. Yeah, Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah. Awesome. And knowing what you know now, would you still go down this teaching path and recommend it for others? And if so, why? And if not, why not?

Nathan Cohen: So it's kind of a must.

I would because I love what I do. And I love teaching and I like to be with kids. And I am not the kind of person that could sit in front of a computer all day and type in numbers. I love working with kids and watching them learn and looking at watching them grow each day. So I would go down that same path. if, you know, future educators, what I would recommend really is to make sure that you truly love kids. Make sure that you are engaged in their lives and that you connect with them and that they feel comfortable in your classroom and that you really try to enjoy teaching as difficult as it can be and as overwhelming as it can be. It's really not about the curriculum. It's really about the kid and it's about making a connection with them and trying to make a difference in their lives.

Spencer Payne: Yeah, awesome. And last question, anything else you think that you haven't shared yet that is just valuable, fun, worth sharing words of wisdom or anything that you did share that you just feel is so important it's worth resharing because it's just like, you don't want it to get lost in all the other great things that you said. It's just that important it's worth restating. So any final new words of wisdom or repeated words of wisdom?

Nathan Cohen: I would say like the new words of wisdom, just kind of thinking about the fact that each school day creates a memory and each school day is there's you got to think of something positive that happened throughout every single day because there's no way you're going to go through a whole day and some kid isn't going to come up to you and smile or someone's not going to say something nice to you.

It's really about enjoying trying to really enjoy what you do despite the fact that it's not the highest paying job and it's not an easy job, it is really challenging to go stand up in front of kids each day and be on for seven hours. And I would say the most challenging thing is going to the bathroom. There's just no time to go to the bathroom. it's like, you really have to think about, you know, using your time, like what are you gonna do on your break?

You know, you're going to go to the bathroom, you got to eat. But man, I mean, there are times where you're teaching a two and a half hour block and you're like, man, I got to run to the bathroom and there's just no time to go. So that's a challenge of the job. I mean, it truly is. Luckily, I have a great teaching partner where I can just pop in her room and be like, I'm running to the bathroom real quick. And she does the same thing to me all the time. She'd be like, I'll be back in one minute. Just kind of keep an eye out, make sure, you know, they're not killing each other in class.

So, that is the real challenge is just trying to find time to get the work done, find time to go to the bathroom. And then, you know, the other thing too is when the school day is done, your day is not done, you know, because your mind is always thinking about these kids. What did I do right? What did I do wrong? How can I make it better? Right? Even after 24 years of teaching, I'm still doing that every single day.

Spencer Payne: Yeah. Yeah.

Nathan Cohen: I'm thinking, all right, what could I do a little bit better? Who could I connect with? Did this lesson go well? And at this point, I've kind of mastered what is going well and what is not. But it's just, be open-minded, be kind to your colleagues because you're going to need them to have your back and to be with.

Spencer Payne:And to watch your class, we need to go to the bathroom. Oh, that's awesome. Well, thanks so much, Mr. Nathan Cohen, for sharing your real stories as for a real educator. So appreciate all the nuggets and words of wisdom from almost 25 years in the classroom. Thanks so much for sharing your story, words of wisdom and inspiration for younger and aspiring teachers.

Nathan Cohen: and to watch your class when you're going to the bathroom. You got it.

Of course. Thank you, my pleasure.