Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:00:00]:
All right. Let's get into today's agenda. We're talking about positive and meaningful connections, and then we'll move into the teacher student bond, the teacher student bond. I wanna bring this quote up because I think this is really important. I was just watching, you know, I've watched that Rita Pearson, TED talk. I don't know. At least a 1000000 times, it seems like at this point, No significant learning can occur without a significant relationship. I'm a say that one more time.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:00:35]:
No significant learning can occur without a significant relationship that was back in 1995. I was on my might say, Oh, well, you know, that's research is past 10 years. Do we think that post COVID, it's that rule doesn't apply to this day because I would imagine that it it sure does to me. You know, I as long as I've been teaching, as long as I've been in a classroom, and even as a school principal, that's one thing I I will I will stand by is when it comes to relationships, when it comes to not just relationship with your students, but also relationship with your community, their parents, guardians, things like that. That is so, so, so vital, so essential. And I I hate that it sounds cliche around these days. People talk about relationships, relationship, relationships. You hear it so much that it's almost like, okay.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:01:25]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We know. Yeah. Our relationship. Blah blah blah. No.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:01:29]:
But it's really important, which makes me want to bring up our formula. The formula when it comes to a sense of belonging. If you want to foster to create. You have to have these 3 things. A student has to feel accepted, included and support it. If you don't if they got 1 or the other, if they got 2 out of 3, it doesn't matter. They need to have all 3 of these things in order to feel a strong sense of belonging. Bottom line, argue with me.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:02:06]:
So I want someone to tell me that it's not true. And and I loved I loved it. We can have a conversation, but that is the formula. All right, let's jump into positive and meaningful connections. Now, last week we talked about John Bowlby's work when it comes to the attachment theory. His research back in the 19 fifties came up with basically you know, you got the proximity manage, maintenance, a safe haven, secure base and separation distress. Now, when we're thinking about from our early childhood standpoint, from our young our young babies, Right? They identify with their caregivers and that connection with their caregivers and how that impacts them as a result of their adulthood. All children have a desire to be near the people that they're attached to.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:02:55]:
We talked about the desire to return to that attachment figure for comfort and safety in the face of a fear or threat. As I mentioned last week, school is sometimes the safe haven for our student. That is the safest place for them. And I've talked about how, you know, there's situations where students, maybe they carry a knife in their backpack, for example, and They're afraid to get caught with that backpack, but now they're not bringing that weapon to school because they're wants to do harm to another student classmate or any of those kind of things, but they're essentially just wanted to make sure that they're safe on the way to school and on the way home because that's maybe the type of neighborhood that they're right. And that's that's some of the things they had to deal with. Maybe their caregiver is not around or able to welcome to school. So those kind of things are important. They gotta have a secure base, meaning your school, for example, or the home could be those secure bases, and then there's that separation distress, the anxiety that occurs in the absence of the attached figure.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:04:00]:
Now We built upon that work. Right? So one of doctor Boby's students was doctor Mary Ainsworth, and we talked about the secure, the anxious avoidant, the anxious ambivalent, and the disorganized. Now the secure attachment is the most common attachment, but there, of course. We're thinking about it from an equitable standpoint. You know what? All kids aren't the same. Traumatic event events and experiences can impact the way a student's a child's attachment occurs, and as a result, you might get different form. Now ideally, yes, we do want our students to have the secure attachment. And then on the extreme other side, if you will, is the disorganized.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:04:44]:
Right? Again, a lot of that come from their attachment to the caregiver. So why does this have to do with education? Well, I'm glad you asked that question. I see. Thank you for paying attention. And thanks for asking that question because here's the thing, teachers who spend more time with children face to face than anyone else often become the most significant individuals in their students' lives. They provide a vital source of security and stability, especially for students who are already carrying the weight of feeling rejected. Now the thing about students, and I talk about biases because I I believe like when it when it comes to being a teacher, Right? And you're wanting to be the best teacher that you can be. We have to start with our own self awareness.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:05:35]:
We have to do that work and say, you know what? As much as I hate to say this because you'll hear that comment. Oh, I treat all my students the same. As much as we wanna say, we don't wanna say it sometimes. We have our favorites. We got we got the kids that are our favorites, you know, for whatever reason. Maybe we have a good relationship with them. Maybe they're straight a students. Maybe they're they're funny to make a slap.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:05:57]:
Maybe we have a connection in which as students to teacher ratios, There's interest. We we watch the same movies, music, things like that. We spend a lot of time with our students from that k L pre k to L, you You know, our Eakins with us 7, 8 hours a day. And so over time, those relationships have to develop. We're supposed to provide source of security stability, especially for students who are already carry the weight of feeling rejected. Now here's the thing. When we assess the biases. There's often there's there's a halo bias and then there's a horns bias, for example.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:06:34]:
Right now the halo bias, That is the bias in which, you know, you think about the most popular students. Maybe it's via charismatic attributes, Great in academics. Maybe they're really good in sports. Whatever it is. It's almost as if those students can walk on water. They have that halo. What happens when we pay all this attention to those certain students that are quote unquote popular students and we don't pay attention to the students who need the most support? We're spending all our time riding glowing and and just these these recommendations for college, and and we're inviting the the scouts out to to watch their games, but there's some students that aren't getting the love support that they need their damn near invisible. So when we're talking about again, going back to the formula, accept it, support it and include it.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:07:25]:
What happens to those students that aren't considered the Halo by within that Halo bias is the horns. Although I have this quote here, It talks about the importance of our students. What happens? There's a caveat because there's so many school norms, right? So all the students that follow within the school policies, the spoken rules, and the unspoken spoken rules, all those different things. There's many students that don't fit within that line. They're outside of the the coloring when it was when you talk about, you know, you have your coloring books, they they they're outside of those lines. And as a result, they may reject those connections. They may reject those bonds and they might act out. And there's typically a story behind this.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:08:14]:
But as teachers, I say we have a classroom. We have our classroom management. We got our protocols. You know, this is how you come in class. These are the the the strategies that we need to do. This is what needs to happen, and we have students that for some reason they're not fitting within that. Frustration starts to build. We're trying to figure out, well, why can't I get the student to respond or behave or act the way I need them to act? Why can't they be like the other students? What happens is teachers may respond in a few ways.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:08:42]:
Some of those ways that they might respond might be. The teacher feels the need to win every battle and engages in a power struggle. With student. You know, you didn't sit down, or you didn't put the you didn't sharpen your pencil at at the right time. You didn't do this. You didn't do that. So there's this battle, the students being disrespectful. Sometimes there's other there's there's there's more to the story, but This can happen.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:09:08]:
Another thing that can happen is a teacher feels like they need to save face by having the last word again control. This is a classroom worse. I'm the adult. I'm in charge. Whatever I say goes. So as a result, feel like you had to have his last work. Fortunately, sometimes what happens is the teacher talks down to the student. Teacher confronts the student with frequent use of the question, why? Why do you have to act like Why aren't you doing what I'm asking you to do? Then sometimes a teacher preaches, moralizes, threatens the students.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:09:43]:
Seen this a lot. If you don't sit down, if you don't be quiet, I'm going to do this. I remember when I was a little kid, when I was in elementary school, I remember those days where I had teachers. I'm not. I'm not. Okay. I'll be honest. I wouldn't.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:10:01]:
I wasn't a stellar student when it came to behavior. I I definitely had my day, but you know what? I used to hate. I used to hate those times when teacher like 1 kid does does one thing or let's say a teacher said the threshold is like The right at that line is like someone else says something, and whole class gets punished because of the result, once do the and, you know, like, when you're in the classroom and you're one of the other students that didn't do anything. Right? You know, I'm just chilling. I was I was actually paying attention this time. And then what happens when that 1 student does something and then the teacher punishes the entire class? Oh, no recess for y'all because it that's Johnny Johnny had said something, and I've done it too. I I'm not gonna lie. My early teaching days, I've done this.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:10:46]:
Right, because that's how I that's how I came up. So I figured that's that's that's what you do. In order to get that order in your classroom, punish the entire class because of 1 student or or because, you know, again, you were at that place. You were at that limit. You were at that strip that that thresh that's I guess, I would say stress level threshold, you were right there and just you just needed 1 more thing to happen. And as a result, everybody gets punished. Obviously, that's not fair to the entire class. I think there's other things that we can do, because of naturally, the students, the peers are mad at the student.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:11:21]:
Now students gotta deal with all that, with the backlash not from just the teacher, but also the kids are mad because they didn't go to recess. Now they're mad at Johnny as well. That is not the best protocol. What we should be doing instead is provide that continuous acts of love and kindness. Again, Thinking about our halo students, the older students that get the most, you know, we love them. We tend to love the halo students, but the horn students are the ones who are often labeled as troublemakers. These are the problem children. These are students are constantly being suspended, spelled in all these different things.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:11:55]:
But instead, for all of our students, each and every one of our students used to have continuous acts of love and kindness. And I'm saying this as an individual who has made his mistakes as well. And I can't I can't come to you and say, like, this as if I'm perfect L, and I've as if I've never made any mistakes. I have definitely I have played favors. I have. This is a message to my own self. This is a reminder to me as well. I remember as a kid, I used to love you know, my parents used to read me Bedtime stories.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:12:28]:
And there was this 1 story books. Uncle Arthur's bedtime stories was a book that I used to love Eakins, and there was all these different stories. You know, there's always morals of the story type of books, and there's one that really sticks out to me as I as I'm thinking is is there was one that was like you had the heat hot coals on their hands. You know, the story goes, you know, the boy comes home and L him his dad, Daddy, you know, there's this bully at school. He's giving me a hard time, and he's just mistreathes me. He's constantly oh, I when next time I see him, wanna beat him up. I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do that tonight.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:13:03]:
Dad says, well, how about this? Why don't you put some hot coals on his head? Boy is excited. Oh, yeah. It's true, daddy. I I wasn't I wasn't expecting that out of you. For sure. Yeah. You darn right. Let's do that.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:13:17]:
How do I put hot coals on this here? Because I I don't know. I might get in trouble. I mean, I like the idea, but I like where you're going, like where you're thinking. That might be a little bit too harsh. Yes. Is this what you do? When you'd be extra nice to this young kid. So see, the kid is going to think that you're going to give him a hard time. The kid thinks that you're going to sit there and, and you know, he's going to be mean to you and you're going to be mean back and you're going to go back and forth, but no, he's going to be mean to you.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:13:44]:
The way he put those hot coals on his head is by being extra nice to him. Show your Doritos with him. Ask him if he wants a soda from the machine. Just be nice to him. Hey, we're about to play a baseball game. We're about to play dodge, but you wanna come play with it? Why don't you come be on my team? Be extra nice on a boy skeptical because, again, he's mad. Totally upset with the with this with this whole situation. He's not Eakins school.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:14:10]:
He's feeling like he's being bullied and the boy is upset. That's it. Trust me. Just try it. See what happens. The boy goes to school the next day. Does everything his dad said extra nice to boys. I mean, I mean, Kid is just going hard, and and he's like the 1st time the boys nice back to him.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:14:26]:
The Eakins already caught off guard. Like, L. Woah. Woah. What's happening here? So now he's trying to go a little harder. I'm a be really mean to this. Maybe pushed him a little bit. Maybe slammed the door in his face.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:14:38]:
Boy says something nice to him, still does kind gestures. By the end of the day, the Danner best friends. This boy comes home, has dad all about his day. Look, we're buddies now. Dad is excited because not only did the son take his advice, but it worked because the sun learned a valuable lesson about Eakins hot coals on people's heads. We We might have a child or student that we're we're that that that challenges us. And they, you know, kids would like to test us and see how far they can push things. Push the limits.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:15:11]:
Could this be an opportunity for us to take a deep breath? Hi, Johnny. I see what you're doing. I need some help with, passing out these papers. Can you help me pass out these papers, Johnny? Or, hey, Johnny. I need some support with with this work. Would you mind down to the office for me and just handed this message over to the principal, or can you do this for me? Be an extra nice to those Sheldon. This is often a story behind this. You know, a lot of times when students are quote, unquote acting out, there's a reason.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:15:44]:
They want some attention. Give them that attention in a positive way. You know what's interesting today or actually this week? So I've been teaching a class at the university at Idaho State. I live in Idaho. Every time I say I laugh. Anyway, I'm teaching this class. It's, intro to is, you know, 1st year, you know, these these are kids fresh out of high school. It was great group of kids that I'm working with, but the class is families, communities, and culture.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:16:11]:
That's what the class is about. And this week, we were talking about the teacher. The conversation is all was all about the value of our our teachers, and I had the students reflect, their teachers back in their k L experiences. And here's the question that I asked them. I said, go into detail about what your ideal teacher would be like, what they would look like, and anything else you can think of. So I separated the Eakins up and put them in pairs 2 and threes. And, you know, I I had them discuss for about 7 7 minutes. And so when we came back together as a whole group, the students asked me a question.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:16:51]:
They're like, L, well, doctor, because what what do you think? And what would your ideal teacher look like? And it reminded me of a time growing up. I think I was in the 7th grade this year. Now I grew up in a very religious home and, when it comes to religious homes, We didn't do a lot of the stuff to the, like a lot of the other families, messy. A lot of the community members did. For example, we didn't trick or treat Halloween wasn't something that we celebrated. There was that belief that, you know, Halloween was bad and, you know, all this different, devil worshiping all this stuff. Right? So we just didn't do the trick or treating thing, which is that just wasn't part of what we did. And so I remember the 7th grade year, the teachers, like all the different the classes, you know, all, you know, from the departments, you know, the English teacher, history.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:17:42]:
Towards the end of the I don't know, semester year, somewhere around there, and it had to been, I guess, around Halloween. They decided they were gonna show cast for the friendly ghost to all, all the 7th graders. And so we had to get a permission signed to come back to school and say, yes, Parents said it's all good. We can watch this. Take home my permission slip. My parents wouldn't sign it. They're like, no. I'm excited.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:18:08]:
We're not gonna have you. We're not gonna support this while I shouldn't be posting all this stuff. I went back to school the next day, and it was me and, like, 2 of the students who also has some religious things that their parents didn't sign it either. I think actually, I think one of the I think one of the kids just totally forgot to turn in their permission slip. So they just couldn't watch it either. And as a result so we're in a room next door to the room where the auditorium where all the you know, where they're watching the movie. And I'm and I sat there, and we sat there and looked at each other. Well and we could hear the movie playing.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:18:42]:
We Here, the kids laughing and all the stuff looked like they were having a lot of fun, but we didn't feel included. Now going back to what my ideal teacher would have looked liked and would have been like, it would have been nice. Had my, I, if I, you know, I've had favorite teachers And this is not this. This is not the episode of for that. Right? But for me, if I could have an ideal teacher, that is something that I would want. Someone I recognize, you know what? This student does not fit as far as morals, maybe, or beliefs or values does not fit within a scope of everybody. So, yes, I want to create an event or have my students participate in something, but I recognize that this student or this group of students, this is not going to to meet their needs. Is there something maybe an alternative? Like, I mean, we legit sat in that room by ourselves talking to each other or just Eakins of just Listen, we could hear the movie play it.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:19:46]:
There was no alternative thing. I think about the kids that, for example, that don't celebrate Christmas, that don't celebrate, various group, you know, activities, or they do celebrate activities that no one else celebrates within a class and how isolated maybe they feel, when they're eating maybe a certain meal or dish they bring it home from their mom and, you know, their mom spends their time or their parents spend their time putting something together for food, and they bring to school, and they get teased to me fun. Oh, what are you eating? What is that? Having that teacher to provide that support for them, to comfort them with words of affirmations. Let them know. Listen. You know what? Don't worry about what they got to say. You know what? That food looks good. Can I try some? Oh, this this this tastes really good.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:20:33]:
But having a teacher in your corner when you don't fit the norm is so important. I can sit there and think about those times because of my beliefs in the way we are brought up. We were taught, you know what? There were school events that were happening on on Saturday. The way I was brought up, that was our Sabbath. And so I couldn't participate in certain events, sports, activities, things like that. While the majority of the class and the majority of students were able to participate in those events. I wasn't able to do so, but having a teacher to say, you know what? I'm really sorry to just not that's not something that you're able to do. Here's an alternative or, just some words of encouragement.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:21:18]:
So that way I'm not feeling or that student is not feeling as if they don't belong because they can't participate or do the things that everyone else is doing. And I didn't want special privileges. Right? I didn't I didn't need to be brought up front. And so, you know, everyone, hey, gather around. We're going to to other we're gonna we're gonna other the student. Everybody gets to learn about this person's. They're they're special something that's weird to you, but it's this is what they do on their own. Right? So there's different ways.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:21:52]:
There's different strategies that we can connect, and just having those kind of, I, idea experiences would make such such a difference. Again, I'm one of those individuals that believe that teachers have the best intentions. Now I I did watch a few videos early this week. Also, stuff that some teachers are doing. It's like, dude, this 2023. Are you serious right now? This is what you're doing. And we had some conversation about that in my class. But at the same time, I think in general, a lot of us teachers, we we get into the profession because we love Eakins, not trying to get rich, Not trying to become millionaires, but we love students.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:22:29]:
We love kids. Maybe we have a craft. We have an expertise. We have the knowledge or something that really drives us to do this work. Is not, it it I I don't know. I I think that's that's one of the reasons why a lot of us get into the profession. Right? And so I believe that we we often have the best intentions, but there's sometimes we miss things. And and and and it's again not intentional, but those are the little things that when it comes to what an ideal teacher would look like, that is a piece that I want to have.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:22:59]:
And then we'll talk about favorite teachers in just a moment, but I think that's really important. Well, let's move on talking about the teacher student bond. So another thing that I did this week was I I asked my students again, we're talking about teachers, and I had them reflect. I said, think back. Okay. I want you to think back to who your favorite teacher was and why. So I think this is so valuable because when we think about the teacher student bond, I think all of us has at least 1 teacher that we can think of off top of our head. Oh, yeah.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:23:36]:
Such and such mister, missus, doctor, whoever. Right? We could think about all those different things. If I was to ask you who your favorite teacher is or was, and there's always a why. Why were they your favorite teacher? Oh, and his teacher, I I I can probably guarantee that that teacher knew your name and knew how to pronounce your name. That's probably one attribute, but it some people that's not a big deal. Some people that that is a big deal. I I was I would they gave me Americanized nickname all year round, This one teacher took the time to practice, said my name correctly. That really resonated with me or, you know, I've been passed up 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:24:19]:
Every year I got passed up. No one ever challenged me. Wasn't until 9th grade that someone actually gave me Eakins because English wasn't my first language, but everybody else just passed me along. Oh, yeah. L, they're doing their best things. It's just not their 1st language, so we'll just pass. So no one else challenged me except for this 1 teacher. Maybe some of us have a story like that.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:24:44]:
Some reason that your favorite teacher. So based off of the feedback that I got from my students this week, kind of boiled down to 3 different areas. 1 students felt like, you know what? This is my favorite teacher because that teacher was more than just a teacher. Yes. Talk about reading, writing, and arithmetic value of academic support, importance of getting those grades. Our educational system was built on results right based off of industrial revolution, and we still utilize that format to this day. But when we think about who our favorite teachers, The bond that we have with those teachers, they were more than just a teacher. How many of us have been dad, mom, Counselor, nurse, social worker, top people.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:25:38]:
I mean, I get I get day. I taught so many shoe. I taught so many people how to tie their shoes when I taught 2nd grade at 1 year, because that was just a, you know, that that was for every 5 minutes Kids coming up to me as your Eakins. Can you tie my shoes? Taught kids how to ride bikes, how to fish more than just a teacher. One of the things I have loved throughout my years in the classroom throughout my years as an educator is attending events outside of the classroom. Going to powwows, going to basketball games, championships, soccer games, all those different things to see my students in their element outside of walk quietly. Yeah. 5 minutes.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:26:27]:
Get to class. Turning assignments to your homework outside of that world. Was seeing them within their own like, going to church events, watching my students perform their their musical instruments and their band. I was watching them sing in in front of an auditorium of 1,012 years old. I remember when I first started doing public speaking keynotes. That was tough as an adult with a 100 people in my audience and watching a kid. One of my students sing their heart out front of all these folks in their element. Being able to witness that means so much.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:27:08]:
Not not only that, me personally, What the kids can really appreciate that their teacher took the time to come out and support them. The next one Eakins challenging subjects become easy. Now I've mentioned before I struggled in math. I took geometry twice in high school. I asked you to say, you don't ask don't ask me no geometry questions. I can't help you. My daughter, I as she knows, my son as well. Look, man, I I got y'all history.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:27:39]:
English. I got you. Ask me anything. I I got I'll figure. We'll figure it out. But you start bringing that, you bring the math to me. Right? But I can, I can vividly think of SERP several math teachers, actually 2? Let me just say to not several to to math teachers that had 9th grade that made math. So like, I I don't know.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:28:02]:
It was like magical. I I it they it sung to me. There was a connection that, like, for someone who had struggled through math and struggled afterwards, I know it was the teachers. I know for sure it was the teachers that made math the way it was for me that year. So not only was, you know, of course, they obviously academics, but the more than just teachers and the able to make challenging subjects become easy. The last one is these teachers are not afraid to do things differently. They challenge traditional styles of instruction and catered to individual needs. 1st, not the cookie cutter, not the one size fits all, but the teachers that take the time that says, you know what? I recognize that if I is, you know, maybe you need a little bit extra time.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:29:04]:
Maybe. Let's let's go outside. Now I I went to a conference in San Diego earlier this year back in March, deeper learning conference. And I went to a session, and it was 2, indigenous session leaders workshop post. And they said, you know, we're gonna do things differently. It's not a sit and get, this is not One of those sessions where, you know, we're going to put you in small group. This is going to be different. We'd literally we were in that room.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:29:36]:
We were in that space for like 5 minutes and then they're like, alright, get stuff. We're going outside. Went to an area within a park, and that was where we did our session. And it's, it's very memorable for me because it was, I experienced something outside of something I've never experienced in my life that comes to a workshop presentation. And we talked about the value of utilizing nature in the classroom for instructional purposes, the value of understanding the earth and respecting the earth, and how it can relate to instructional practices that are outside of what the traditional instructional practices that we see a lot in our classrooms. Now, that might be an example that not everybody has has maybe looked into or it there. It might take some practice, but even if we look at it, scale it down a little bit, and look at it from a smaller standpoint. Are there things that we can do that are outside the norm that that that doesn't fit.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:30:41]:
Again, going back to the crayons, doesn't fit within those line, but these little things characteristics, high quality teachers that make you memorable. I personally don't wanna be one of those teachers or didn't wanna be one of teachers. No one ever oh, yeah. I I did have a history teacher 1 year. I don't remember. I don't know. Is there an impact that I could create that 20 years from now, 10 years from now, student comes up to me. Hey, doctor, can you remember me? You made such an impact in my life.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:31:10]:
Thank you for those times. Thank you for those conversations. Thank you for the stuff outside of the books outside of my textbook. Thank you. Listen. Me, personally, I became a teacher because I had a history teacher, mister Fielder, dopest teacher I ever had. I mean, I mean, this dude was just so cool. History teacher and top basketball.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:31:33]:
He coached basketball. He was a basketball coach. I said, that's what I wanna do. I became a history teacher and I coached basketball because that was the type of influence this man had on my life. I want it to be just like that when it came to be Eakins, when it comes to being a teacher, I wanted to model that. I just, I have some very good memories. So again, none of these, well, I lied. I was gonna say none of these had to do with academics, but the point is Teaching is not just book work.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:32:06]:
It's more than that. So you think about who your favorite teacher was is in. Why? What were those attributes that contributed to them being your favorite teacher? Let's wrap it up.

Are you subscribed to the podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. Click here to subscribe in iTunes!

Now if you enjoy listening to the show, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other advocates find the podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!