Teaching in Your Zone of Genius with Rebecca Joyner   

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

Spencer Payne (00:06): All right, here we are with another episode of Front of the Class, real stories from real educators. Joining me today, Rebecca Joyner. And Rebecca, you have a fascinating path that we'll dig into and not necessarily in the classroom today, though you were. What do you tell people that you do for work right now?

Rebecca Joyner (00:24): Hi, I'm excited to be here. I am a former high school science teacher turned curriculum writer. My business is called It's Not Rocket Science. And I serve high school science teachers with creative and comprehensive science curriculum from someone who actually taught in the classroom, because many teachers get curriculum that's from a textbook company written by people that don't know what it's like to actually teach.

And my goal is to really serve teachers by helping them engage their students but even more importantly, simplify their lives so that teaching doesn't have to be rocket science. So I have resources, I have virtual professional development, and I have a free podcast called Secondary Science Simplified that I put out weekly episodes specifically to serve high school science teachers.

Spencer Payne (01:08): And where do people find your curriculum? they say, let's say we flash forward through this, they love what they hear. Where do people find your curriculum to purchase?

Rebecca Joyner (01:17): Absolutely, I sell on a third party marketplace called Teachers Pay Teachers. It's not rocket science there. I also sell on my website. it'snotrocketscienceclassroom.com. Honestly, if you look up high school biology curriculum, high school chemistry curriculum, I should be on the first page of Google. You'll see it's not rocket science right there.

Spencer Payne (01:35): Yep. Awesome. And you mentioned the importance of you aren't doing this, without the experience firsthand of being in the classroom first to help form what you know works. So can you help us understand? You said high school science. What, like what specific subjects, where were you teaching? How long did you teach public or private school? What's, what's kind of the story of when you were in the classroom, all those little details about what you were teaching and where?

Rebecca Joyner (01:44): Absolutely. So I serve high school science teachers who teach biology, chemistry, physical science, or anatomy. I had six years in the classroom before I transitioned to doing this full time because it got, you know, kind of bigger than my britches. I couldn't do it all anymore. I taught public school and private school. I've taught in both situations. And what I really found in those experiences was, especially my first year at a large public school in a big city, very diverse student body was like, was handed this curriculum from the district that was so outdated. It did not align with our state standards at all. And I was teaching biology, which is this high stakes EOC course in the state of South Carolina. Many states do end of course, standardized testing for different subjects. It's typically biology, algebra one, U S history and English one, but some states do those that differently, but there's like one per content area.

Spencer Payne (02:39): Yeah. Okay.

Rebecca Joyner (03:00): And biology is typically the one. So my admin was like pressuring me, you we have to get these scores. And yet they gave me this curriculum that literally I was reading the standards and studying them at night. And I was like, this curriculum does not align. Like it has things in it. Some of the pages of the curriculum were like, you know, laminated sheets that someone had scanned in in the early nineties. And I'm like, what are we doing? And then not only that, but I didn't have the actual resources I needed to execute the things. I didn't have all the lab supplies, especially when I switched to private school. had five different preps I taught and I was in an old computer lab. I didn't have running water. I didn't have gas that you need to do a lot of chem labs. I had no safety equipment and zero budget.

So really that's kind of how It's Not Rocket Science was born was from all these experiences. Like one, realizing that the curriculum I was given by the district or admin was not helpful, not standards aligned, and it came with no support, like no teacher notes. Like I'm doing my first dissections for the first time since I did them in my anatomy class in college. Like, and I'm just doing them alongside the kids and they're asking me questions and they're like, what's this? And I'm like, I don't know what that is because, yeah, and there's no pictures. There's no one doing a video. Whereas like when I wrote my anatomy curriculum, I got my, I flew my sister down who's a surgeon.

Spencer Payne (04:15): Don't remember. Yeah. Yeah.

Rebecca Joyner (04:26): I wore a GoPro on my head and I dissected all the specimens with her next to me so that she could give some cool commentary for like, does this relate to, you know, an actual human heart or whatever. And literally, and then I took like a thousand pictures and I labeled them so that I just really want to serve that teacher who's walking in and is so excited to teach, but doesn't have the actual resources or support.

Spencer Payne (04:36): That's a great idea. I love that.

Rebecca Joyner (04:51): I just think there's so much more that goes into teaching. Like curriculum writing is a whole separate job from teaching. And so I really want to support teachers on that backend so that they actually have the capacity to do what they love, which is actually teach students. And so that's what I'm kind of dedicated to doing now and I'm obsessed with. And I really, I really do specialize in that teacher that's new to the subject who has no resources, is not in a fancy lab and or like that biology teacher who's taught biology for 15 years and then all of a sudden gets chemistry and they're like, what's a Bunsen burner? You know, I'm here for that person.

Spencer Payne (05:27): Yep. That's, I would imagine that's a lot of people to be here for. To back up a little bit, I'd love to dig into this more, but I love to hear a little bit your journey of starting teaching in the first place. What drew you to teaching in the first place? Like, did you start in this profession?

Rebecca Joyner (05:32): Absolutely. So, I mean, I was very much that child that asked for a whiteboard, like in third grade for Christmas, and I would line up my American Girl dolls and I would teach them things. I distinctly remember drawing the digestive tract in what I thought, like I didn't even know the organs, but I remember explaining to my stuffed animals how they digested things from my own experience in some life, like thinking I knew this anatomy. So I've always loved teaching, but I actually, I changed my major four times.

I went in as a nursing major and then I changed to Spanish and international health, which was a program at Clemson, which was like a dual major program. Then I just switched straight to biology pre-med and then spring semester of sophomore year, I was doing all my like gen ed require, all my med school requirement courses. And I just took a one hour philosophy of education class for fun. And I was obsessed.

Like our first assignment was about writing about our past teaching experiences, like teachers who have impacted us. And I wrote like 15 pages in an hour. And the, professor was like, you should really think about being an education major. And so from then I just added on secondary ed science teaching. I actually was going to do a high school English, but my advisor was like, you'll never graduate on time. So you need to do science, which was great because I loved science always. And, so then from there on, I didn't do any pre-med stuff and I was just full send on the high school science teaching from there.

Spencer Payne (07:14): Incredible. Do you remember that 15 pages in one hour that changed your life? Right? Like, do you remember any of the like nuggets from there that have that have led to what you're doing today? Or were there any teachers who you called out that you appreciated that you're kind of emulating now? Like, what are some of the nuggets from that 15 pages in one hour that literally changed the entire course of your life? you recall?

Rebecca Joyner (07:19): Mm-hmm.

Yeah, absolutely. The two teachers that I really referenced were my high school math teacher, Connie Waspe. I had her for three different math. I literally just took what she taught. I mean, I took AP stats because she taught it. I wasn't even interested. And then I was her TA one year as well. And then also my high school chemistry teacher who I had for like regular chemistry and AP, Zach Mattson. Connie's retired, but Zach still teaches. I've had him on my podcast, I think four times now because he's an absolute hoot.

They just really changed my life because they just really cared about students. I felt really cared for. mean, especially I think about in chemistry, that was a very hard course for me. I actually think I'm better at teaching chemistry than I am at biology because it was a harder course for me as a student. So I've had to figure out easier ways to simplify it, but it was very hard for me. I mean, I cried a lot.

And Mr. Mattson never gave up on me. And I was definitely that kid that was like in all honors, like, or all APs. That's like kind of an annoying kid because they're perfectionists. They want these all A's and sometimes you're like, you're not an AP everything student. And I was probably not naturally an AP chemistry student, but Mattson did not give up on me. And, I really respected him and how he was just himself. He was a very unique person. He wasn't trying to be anyone else. And he used that in his classroom management. I just felt like even the wild kids in our class really respected him.

He just, he never raised his voice, but had a very just like commanding personality and was so patient. Like he just was so patient with our, a bunch of gaggling girls picking out prom dresses in the spring. Like, and he just stuck with us and yeah, I like, I remember leaving thinking I didn't even pass the AP exam and I got a four and it's because of Zach Mattson. So just two people that change your life. Relationships make a difference.

Spencer Payne (09:26): Big time. And do you recall, because this concept of maybe being in front of a classroom and the ability to own the room and be patient, but maybe also have a high standard and help push people beyond their comfort zone, but not too far that they don't like you for it. These are hard things to balance. Do you recall anything specifically that he did to strike that balance so that maybe you employed in the classroom or that you infuse in the curriculum that you grant to other teachers?

How do you try to strike that balance based on what you saw of great teachers who did it really well?

Rebecca Joyner (10:00): Absolutely, I think it comes down to figuring out your core values. I have a professional development course online for high school science teachers and that's the first part of it, is really figuring out who you are and what your strengths are and leaning into those and not trying to be someone you're not. When I was first teaching, one of my coworkers, Jamie, who I respect so much, she had just started teaching the year before me but as a second career. So she was older than me, she had children. She had this like mama bear energy and that really attracted students to her. And then I kind of tried to emulate that, but I was 22. I did not have kids. I was not married. Like, and it just did not track. And I was wasting energy trying to copy things in other people as opposed to like kind of using my personal zone of genius. And that's something I just feel like with Matt's and Ms. Wauspe, like they were very different people, but they just were so settled in themselves and they weren't trying to be someone that they were not.

Spencer Payne (10:34): Yeah. Yeah.

Rebecca Joyner (10:57): They both were also very structured. think sometimes we think students are just gonna buck against routine and rhythm, but I actually feel like high school students live really chaotic lives. And I feel like the noise they're constantly hearing on the internet and on their phones is really chaotic. And so I actually think they really thrive walking into a classroom where the expectations are super clear and those being really clearly articulated and consistently reinforced is such a gift for our students.

And so I think that even if you're not the most type A person and you're not like maybe a super like Zach Mathis is not like a very high energy person, but he had a rhythm and we had a routine we always walked through. You know, he started the day always asking any news of interest. He gave us a few minutes to share like anything we wanted. And it was always just kind of a fun time to get to know your classmates. And then we kind of walked through the same patterns. And so I just think knowing who you are leaning into that and then setting up some routines and rhythms is so important for your students.

Spencer Payne (12:00): This concept of a zone of genius, I would love to just dig a little bit more onto, how could, how might you articulate your zone of genius or maybe give a little highlight or a sprinkling of an exercise someone might, might go through to try to find their zone of genius and then incorporate in the classroom. So again, they can be the best version of themselves instead of trying to copy what someone else did that just doesn't work for them. So can you speak a little bit more about that zone of genius? What's, what's yours?

How do people find that out and how do they incorporate it?

Rebecca Joyner (12:33): Yeah, mine's a little bit outrageous. I went to an art school, through 12th grade. It was like a magnet program at a public school. And so my mom always said I was like bred to be on stage. And so that's the energy I bring into the classroom. Like this is my audience and this is my stage. Like I like to do outrageous things. Like I loved to skateboard on a pencil skirt in physics and to like demonstrate the Newton's laws of motion. I'm caught standing on a lab table making some sort of dramatic proclamation, but that suits my personality. And that is how I, you know, I garner attention in my classroom is I really demand it. And I, that works for me. Students wanted to come to my classroom because they're like, what is she going to do today? You know, TikTok wasn't around when I was in the classroom, but I would have been probably viral on TikTok for some of the things they filmed, you know, but that is who I am.

Spencer Payne (13:19): Yep.

Rebecca Joyner (13:29): If for someone else, that would feel really unnatural to them. I am not the mom of their personality. Even now that I have three children, I'm still not that like nurturing type of person. don't know. Like even Jamie, always think she did like she did tough love just so well because it just was who she was. Like I just think being who you are. And so I think if you're not really sure who you are, think, you know, personality assessments can be helpful, like a disc and enneagram, Myers Briggs, think asking other people what they see in you, I think is really, really helpful as well. I think that was something, you know, a lot of my friends would point out, like you're a storyteller. Like those are things that you do. And leaning into that and just being like, okay, I think we can learn things from other people. I learned some great like classroom management hacks from Jamie Whitlock, but like personality wise, I was just burning energy trying to, you know, be like her.

Spencer Payne (14:27): Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's perfect. I love the idea too of just asking people who are around you who've seen you, hey, what are some things that you think I do really well that maybe I should do even more? Like that's just great advice to just consistently get in that habit of asking professionals around you for that advice. Cause you know what's surprising is oftentimes people might not necessarily tell you and then you ask and all of sudden a whole lot of really good information might happen just because you asked.

Rebecca Joyner (14:32): Right. Yeah. And that's one of my advice always for first year teachers. One thing I'm really grateful for at my first school was that admin were very involved. You had someone in your room every day just popping in. So you got very used to kind of auditioning, if you will. Like you always knew there were going to be other eyes, but it was good in the sense that it forced me to be open to feedback and critique. And so I would always try to follow up with one of the people who popped in that week and say, Hey, like, what did you see? I'm doing well. And what did you say? I wasn't.

And I think kind of going first in humility. think one of my biggest mistakes was that first year is like trying to have it all together. And it's like, everyone knows you're 22, fresh out of college and a first year teacher. Like, why are you trying to act like you're perfect and you know everything? You know nothing. And the more I like accepted my weaknesses and humbled myself and invited feedback, the more accelerated my growth was.

Spencer Payne (15:47): I'd love to explore that a little bit more just because you alluded to earlier, AP everything, straight A student, maybe a little bit of a perfectionist, right? And then all of sudden you're in the classroom, 22, your words, not mine. You don't actually know anything, right? But you still, have that, I your personality might be, you have that perfectionist tendency. I have to have it all together. I have to be the best 22 year old teacher that there ever has been. And it sounds like what you're saying right there is like, that was actually not a very helpful like necessarily mentality to have.

How did you, how did you shake that? How did you learn that? How did you, how did you adjust to this concept of like, I don't have to have it all together. It's okay. I'm figuring it out. They're, they're helping me figure it. Like, how did you go from this perfectionist mentality to more of almost adapting, improving, figuring out as you go mentality. It sounds like that's what you did. If I'm, if I'm hearing you correctly, if, if so, how did you do that? That's a hard thing to do.

Rebecca Joyner (16:17): Mm-hmm. It did not happen quickly. It was a lot of failures and it was a lot of tears and it was a lot of like holding everything so tightly with my fist and getting so frustrated and a coworker or a friend, one of my best friends was a high school counselor at the school I taught, my first school I taught in being like, open your hands, like take a deep breath, okay? Like, okay, the lab you just did got absolutely trash data. Okay, what are we gonna do from here?

Oh, teaching students how to do error analysis is one of the most important skills in high school science. Let's focus on error analysis. What went wrong? What didn't? Really like owning those mistakes as opposed to trying to cover them all up. And just being honest with students, like one thing I'm really grateful for is my first school we were on semester block. So we got all new students in January because we saw four classes, 90 minutes every day for a semester. So in two years, I really got four years of of redos which was great. I felt like that helped accelerate growth too. And really that second, you know, semester or first year being like, okay, what am I going to be letting go of? And, and I started slowly and a teacher friend had told me like, you just need to focus on like one thing at a time, like getting better at one thing every semester, every year, that's what you're going to do.

And so it was definitely a process like, but I think at first really focusing on that classroom management and figuring out how do I do that with like my personality and my giftings instead of just trying to copy everyone else with practical tips too. But then slowly from there, like I hated the curriculum I was using. I did not like it, but I did not have time to redo everything. And at first I was trying to write everything and redo it all and make it better and, you know, reformat the font that is just like so bad on the paper. And it's like, okay, now is not the time. And I use my summers to do some of that, you know, kind of more proactive work that I could.

But I think just really taking a deep breath and being like, what can I do right now? And what's one thing I can just kind of focus on improving and then next month I'll pick another thing.

Spencer Payne (18:47): That is that one thing concept is, is great advice. And it seems like that's something that, that you applied regularly to your teaching, you're teaching six years in the classroom. Is there anything else that you consistently did in the classroom that just seemed to work really well for you? And maybe you're, you're surprised. Other people didn't do that thing. And maybe it's not standing on top of chemistry lab tables, right? Maybe that's unique to you, but is there anything that you did that seemed to work really well that seemed like it would have universal applicability that you would advise others to do? And maybe you're surprised they didn't do that thing. Anything stand out to you?

Rebecca Joyner (19:11): Yeah, for sure. A few things. One, like systems will save you. So coming up with like a system, I made a list of every single thing that would make me annoyed or like angry with a student in a day. And then I wrote a procedure for all those things. And at the beginning of the semester, I taught those procedures. know, so for example, it would annoy me when we'd be having this great discussion and a student raised their hand and they had to go to the bathroom. It just felt like it stunted the vibe. I'm like, you're ruining like we're having this like engaging discussion.

Spencer Payne (19:49): Yeah.

Rebecca Joyner (19:52): And so I wrote a procedure for how I wanted them to go to the bathroom. They don't need to ask me. You go, you sign this thing, you take the pass, you go, you come back. Like I don't need to know about your bowel movements. Okay. whereas like, you know, things that don't bother me, I know some teachers get really bothered by like a pencil sharpener during class. I'm loud. So like I can talk over anything. I'm unfazed. So I'm not making a procedure for pencil sharpening. Okay. We're not going to micromanage everything, but the things that really bothered me, I made a system for.

Spencer Payne (20:08): Yep.

Rebecca Joyner (20:18): And so that way we could teach on some procedures proactively about them and try to decrease interruptions in the classroom. I think the second thing is being proactive with parent communication. I avoided parents at all costs at first. I really saw them as a burden and not an asset until an admin basically told me, gotta start prioritizing parents, I didn't. So that was something I learned in the long run and really learned like, they are on my team.

We're on the same team here for the student. And again, that was hard to not having been a parent. I was like, why do they care? You know, cause I was a child also teaching children. and then the other thing that I'm like obsessed with is doing bell ringers, but I call them prime times because I think the first five minutes are the most important of the class period. I think they set the tone for the whole rest of the period. I think having students come in, sit down, get started learning. You can use that time to take attendance, walk around and check assignments, whatever you need to do. And then also using it as like a daily assessment tool and a check-in and making sure like, I would never get to a test and be surprised by a student's test score because I'm checking in with them constantly. And so I'm obsessed with prime times. Like when I find out that people still don't do a bell ringer and they've taught for 20 years, I just want to like gift them my prime times and be like, please just try and then tell me how your life changes.

Spencer Payne (21:42): Yeah, that's awesome. On that note, like what's the number one piece of advice, maybe that was a 20 year old teacher who hasn't done this yet, but to a new teacher, what's the number one piece of advice you'd give to someone who's maybe in their first year, second year, or they're about to start teaching for their first year, or what advice would you go back and give yourself? And you kind of alluded to a couple of things, but I'm curious if you pick one thing, what's that number one piece of advice you'd give to a new teacher or yourself in year one?

Rebecca Joyner (21:51): So I know I mentioned, like I already said, like go first in humility and asking for help. Like I think I was so afraid. I remember I had this one teacher who taught physical science like I did. And so she was kind of supposed to be my mentor showing me things. And she just would be like, okay, we're going to do this demo today. And she would just like whip together a couple of chemicals, make an explosion and be like, here you go. And I was terrified. I didn't understand the science behind it. I didn't really know like what are the safety precautions, but I was afraid to ask and that was dangerous.

Like at the end of the day, that was dangerous. so just ask the questions and don't be embarrassed to look stupid. Like it's not stupid to ask. It's safe to ask and it's smart to ask, especially as a science teacher. I think also, like I said, parents, but not just parents, any stakeholder, it's not your, it's not your sole job to get this student to pass her class or to pass the EOC or to pass the AP exam.

It's you, it's the parent, it's the admin, it's the resource team. If they have an IEP or 504, you know, it's the ML or the ELL teaching team. If they are, you know, English as a first language learners, like you are not alone. It's even other teachers. Like sometimes if had a difficult student, I'd go find the English teacher, the math teacher, whatever. Hey, what's working with you, for you with this student? Like this is a group project. It's not all up to you. Like I wanna scream that at every first year teacher.

Like it's not all up to you. And then the last thing I would say is like start now setting up good habits and work life boundaries because it is really, really hard to reinforce a boundary that's already been ignored or violated. I know like most first year teachers, you're not going to only work your contracted 40 hours like that's you're going to work more. But if I if I could, I really recommend working only at work. If you're able, like I'd rather you stay late till five or 5:30 and get the work done than start bringing it home and it starts infiltrating your home life and never ever, ever check your email after work hours. I would go on to say too that that's, that could potentially be a safety concern. Like if a student emails you something and then it could be a mental health thing, like you should not be checking email after work hours. And that's a nice way to mentally set a boundary there with work too.

Spencer Payne (24:35): Yep, 100%. And on the note of asking for help, I cannot tell you how many times even today I'll walk into a room, someone says something or an acronym or something I haven't heard before. like, I'm sorry, sorry, quick dumb question. What does that mean? I that all the time. And again, it doesn't have to be this like, oh my gosh, everyone's going to think I'm dumb if I ask this. I'll even preface it in a funny way. Like, hey, this might be a stupid question, but I haven't heard that before. What do mean by that?

And it's just a very easy, quick way to just kind of slide those questions in there without it feeling like this, you know, this weight that you're like, am I going to, am I going to ask? I'm so scared to you. Like, no, just throw it in there. yeah, yeah, there we go.

Rebecca Joyner (25:13): Yeah, I pull a Michael Scott all the time, like, tell me this like I'm five, you know? We're about to do taxes. I'm like, explain this to me like I'm five, you know?

Spencer Payne (25:21): Yeah, exactly. Any moments, coolest, most enjoyable or proudest moments in your career that you're able to share? Anything that you look back on now and it still just makes you smile or light up because of what you or the team of teachers or the student did? Are there any particular moments that you look back on and like, that was awesome?

Rebecca Joyner (25:37): Yeah, my last year that I taught full time, I got to teach AP Biology and it was so awesome because all of the students I had had before in freshman biology and so, and many of them I had had in physical science as well. So it was like my third time teaching them and it was just such a blast to be tackling it with them. And that was like, at that point I had really understood the concept of humility and I said day one, like, y'all know I'm doing this for the first time. Like we are going to be figuring this out together. They were constantly asking me questions I did not know the answer to. I was like, let's Google it together. We were really, really figuring it out together. And we just had a blast doing it. I just got so relationally close with them. It was awesome to teach them all as juniors and seniors when my first few years with them had been eighth and ninth graders and like they were really mature, a lot more mature.

And it was even more special because we were walking through the adoption process that entire year. And that March we adopted our oldest and my students got to like cheer me on through that. And then I went on maternity leave and had to just hope that they were well prepared for the AP exam and 80 % of them passed, even though I missed the last six weeks of, you know, education before they went and took the exam. So that was really like, I still look back on that. And I was like, that was crazy that that turned out well when none of us knew what we were doing. And we just did our best and it was just a really unique group of students. It was really special.

Spencer Payne (27:18): That's awesome. And parlaying that now, going back into teachers pay teachers and all the curriculum work that you do there. I'd love to dig in for just a couple of minutes here of, you you've mentioned storytelling and speaking to the teacher that has a curriculum that's outdated or that the curriculum calls for X, but they don't have that supply. So they can't even do X. So can you help us understand for folks who maybe haven't seen your, it's not rocket science or haven't seen one of your curriculums like what is the personality of a Rebecca Joyner curriculum from It's Not Rocket Science? Like what are they expecting to see? What are they expecting to get? What is so special about your curriculum, your courses, your concepts that keeps so many people coming back to you for your content?

Rebecca Joyner (28:00): Yeah, definitely the organization. It is so organized. Everything is incredibly aligned. I do a process that I learned my first year teaching called understanding by design. It's essentially like you're kind of, you have the end goal in mind and then you're writing everything leading to there. One thing that I know teachers get really frustrated with because I got really frustrated with is when you're sitting in a parent conference and your principal's there and the parent and the student and the students like, she never taught me this. So one thing I do is on the front page, I give my students a packet for every unit and it has every single instructional resource they'll use for the entire unit. And on the front, I list out objectives, skills, and vocabulary that they will need. And every single test question goes back to something on that front page. Every instructional resource aligns back there. So if you're using ISR Occasigns, you can know that you'll have an answer.

If they say she never taught me this or he never taught me, you can say I absolutely did. And here's where it's extremely aligned. It's also really creative. I think one of the things that's been a gift now that I am able to do this full time. When I first started doing it, I was just publishing exactly what I was using with my students in real time. Now I've gone through and I've really looked at like the unit as a whole to make sure there's a ton of variety and creativity because students learn different ways. Like some students are going to be really artistic. Some are going to be really analytical.

Spencer Payne (29:12): Yep.

Rebecca Joyner (29:25): And so every unit makes sure like you're reaching every student in your classroom with inquiry and with, you know, hands on labs and with some sort of creative aspect. And so it's really creative. And then also just the support again, like you're not just getting like a CD or a flash drive or a download. That's just like these giant PowerPoint slides with like a hundred slides and then some, you know, tests like it's not like that at all. Like you get your download and there's five folders and one entire folder is just implementation and it's just like your lesson plans. It has like NGSS alignment. And then there's like a 30 page document and me just my commentary on it all. There's lecture videos on YouTube of me teaching every concept. So if you've never taught it, you never taught stoichiometry, I'm gonna teach you how to teach it. Or you can just show the video to your students if you wanna do a flip classroom strategy.

I just really try to provide the support that I wish I had had in the beginning. And especially, I didn't even really realize until I started at St. Rocket Science, how many teachers in the high school science arena specifically come to it as a second career. So they do not have the training. You know, they were in pharmaceutical sales or they were in nursing or they were a lab tech and they had kids and decided they wanted a more normal schedule or you know, whatever the reason may be. And so they don't have the training and they're, you know, they're figuring it out as they go. 

Spencer Payne (30:33): Hmm. Hmm.

Rebecca Joyner (30:49): I really want to be there to help them with that.

Spencer Payne (30:52): Awesome. thank you for obviously doing what you're doing. And when you solve your own problem first, it's usually a problem a lot of other people have. And you can help a lot of people when you solve your own problem first. A couple more quick hitter questions here as we wrap up. Did you also get your masters? And if so, why and what did that unlock for you?

Rebecca Joyner (30:56): Yeah, so I had a scholarship to Clemson University that was four years of undergrad and two years of graduate school. And so I went ahead right after I graduated and I started a master's of education, MED in curriculum and instruction. And what's funny is I started this because it was the only master's program at Clemson at the time that was designed for full-time teachers. So we did like summer full-time courses. And then in the school year, we just had nighttime stuff.

And then like every assignment was like knowing you're in the classroom. So was very just like pragmatic, like, hey, let's analyze something you did in your classroom this week type thing. So I did it my first two years teaching and I didn't even start actually writing curriculum, you know, professionally for two more years. But what's cool is like, I didn't realize I even had a passion for curriculum writing. Cause again, I didn't even know at the time how different that was from like lesson planning and just teaching. Like it's a whole nother thing. And so I really fell in love with it. It was really equipping. got me really excited to start doing that. And so then that's when two years later I started writing curriculum for other people too.

Spencer Payne (32:21): Yep. Awesome. and what to you is the number one single best thing about this profession teaching.

Rebecca Joyner (32:29): Man, lifelong impact on students. I had a student reach out to me yesterday that I have not spoken to in seven years. And she shared something with me that I apparently had said to her. Like, I don't even remember this. And it changed her life. And it was something that like she still comes back to. And that's where I just think like, you have no idea like the investment you're making in, in souls, like in the future. Like if you want to have an impact on the world, start with students.

This is the number one way that you can have like exponential impact. And yeah, like you're putting your heart and soul into this and so much time and energy, but like it will pay off if you go first like in prioritizing relationships with students, because that's what makes like lifelong impact. And it's just the best.

Spencer Payne (33:15): Yep. That's awesome. A quick, quick note. I, uh, at a random, I don't know, a couple of months hiatus between graduating college and my first professional job. And I coached JV baseball at my old high school. And I wrote like a handwritten letter to every one of the players at the end of the season for thanking them. And here's what I saw in you and that kind of stuff. I completely forgot I did that. And then maybe 10 years later, one of the, one of the kids who I coached was now he was, he was maybe varsity coach, David, was doing, was coaching baseball at another high school. And he reached out to me and he like, I still have that letter you sent. I, this is my first year coaching. I did that for all of my, my kids this year. And I was like, my gosh, I forgot I even did that. That's amazing. And now he's picking up this thing that I did 10 years ago or 15 years ago. And he's continuing that with these relationships with, with his, with his baseball players. It was just an awesome, like reiteration of like, wow, this thing that I forgot about actually has a positive ripple effect out there.

Rebecca Joyner (33:51): And things like a handwritten note, like that just doesn't happen anymore and it makes a difference. I actually have a student who has a word that I wrote in a note to her when she graduated tattooed on her arm in my handwriting. And I'm like, I just think, I just think the more that life becomes online, the more that life in person really matters. And like your impact will make an even greater difference. Like something like as simple as handwriting something, it just doesn't happen anymore. So I just think it's a, it's a gift that you did that.

Spencer Payne (34:20): Yeah, awesome. Two more really quick questions for you. Knowing what you know now, would you still go down this teaching path and recommend it for others?

Rebecca Joyner (34:47): Yeah, a thousand percent. And I still like every day, I'm like, how could I go back and still get time with students and still manage what I'm doing? I need to get my business to a place that other people are more a part of it. So it's not so much me so I can do that. Cause I mean, I still to this day miss the interaction with students. It's the best.

Spencer Payne (35:06): Yeah, awesome. anything else that you think is valuable, fun, or worth sharing with this audience here of teachers and prospective teachers, or anything that maybe you said earlier that is just so important, you want to re-highlight or redouble underline. So any last words of wisdom or any repeated last words of wisdom that you just feel are so important that you've got to get it in there one more time?

Rebecca Joyner (35:23): Yeah, something I actually say a lot to teachers in my little corner of the internet is something my husband said to me once when I was just like panicking back when I was still checking email at 9 p.m. at night. He was like, hey, you're you don't drive an ambulance. You don't drive an ambulance. That's not your job. And I know that's like silly, but I always when I would start getting like frantic, I would think of myself like panic driving an ambulance. And I'm like, that's not my job.

And so I think when you're feeling that chaotic energy, like remember your role. And again, like I said earlier, it is not all up to you. I think teachers are naturally altruistic and that can then lead to us becoming martyrs. And you don't need to martyr yourself for the success of your students. One of the things that's actually, think really valuable for them is them seeing mental wellness modeled for them and work-life balance and boundaries.

That's just something they're not seeing. So I think you putting work in its proper place, like you are working to live, you're not living to work. And so putting in its proper place and putting yourself in your proper role, I think is the thing that's gonna serve you and your students for your whole career.

Spencer Payne (36:41): Well, thank you so much for sharing your real stories from a real educator and that's in the classroom and not in the classroom, educating the educators. So thank you for what you're doing and thank you for sharing your story with us.

Rebecca Joyner (36:43): Yeah. Happy to do it.