On this episode of the Innovative Schools Podcast, Kevin is sitting down with gifted education teacher, Jeri Chang, and they discuss how her life experiences impact how she educates students today. Come on. Let's learn together.
Kevin Stewart:Welcome to the Innovative Schools Podcast. Thank you for joining us today. I'm so glad to be with you, and I hope that today as you come into what we're doing, that you're going to walk away not only having gained some information and some knowledge, but you are going to be excited today because I have the incredible privilege of having the one, the only Jerry Chang, miss Chang, with us today on the podcast. Jerry, thank you.
Jere Chang:Thank you for the crowd goes wild. Thank you for having me.
Kevin Stewart:Yes. Glad to be here. It is amazing to have you. You're an amazing person. Thank you for joining us in the summit and sharing.
Kevin Stewart:Jared just shared in our summit, did a plenary session, a keynote, knocked it out of the park. Thank you. And so we're excited to have you with us today. Jared, just share with some of those that may be watching. You are like a social media queen.
Kevin Stewart:You are a school queen. You're still in the classroom doing amazing things. So just for those who may not be real familiar with him, share who you are. Who is Jerichang?
Jere Chang:Yeah. So I teach gifted education. I'm from Atlanta, Georgia, and I've been in the classroom for over twenty years. Been at my school for almost twenty years. And during COVID, like a lot of other people, I started social media.
Jere Chang:And it was just, I lost both of my parents and I was sad. So I started posting on TikTok. And six months later, had a couple 100,000 followers, a manager. And then five years later, I have over 4,000,000 followers, a lot of representatives, a lot of reps, a lot of managers. I've written a book and it just turned into something that I never imagined.
Jere Chang:I hate the words when people say you're just a teacher, but so many teachers feel like, and we're treated like we're just teachers. And so to kind of be able to have a voice to amplify that we're more than teachers.
Kevin Stewart:Absolutely.
Jere Chang:It just kinda turned into something. I teach gifted education, absolutely love it. And I've been like, yeah, I'm still in the classroom. That surprises a lot of people when they see me as an influencer, as a public speaker. They're like, are you really in the classroom?
Jere Chang:Yes. How do you guys do all these talks? Strategically with my personal days, weekends, being tired. But, yeah, I'm just doing a jack of all trades now, doing a lot of things.
Kevin Stewart:That is amazing. Yeah. What got what got you interested? Why why teaching? I mean, could have done so many things in life as many people could, but why teaching?
Jere Chang:I don't know. That's the short answer. I'm serious. When my first career path was university administration, I majored in college, oh my gosh, in playing. I have a Bachelor of Science degree in outdoor recreation and leisure studies.
Jere Chang:Is that not incredible?
Kevin Stewart:That's a great degree.
Jere Chang:I know. Until I went to seek a job and I was like, I'm not gonna make any money. Like, not that I wanted to be rich, but I was like, maybe I should do something different. And I got into residence life out of college. And so I pursued residence life and then got a master's in university administration.
Jere Chang:I got bored. And so then I wanted to, like, move to Tokyo, move to Spain and be cool. And so I got another master's in applied linguistics, and I was gonna go overseas and be cool. I'm serious. This was literally my track to being a teacher.
Jere Chang:And then I fell in love. And I stayed in Georgia. That relationship did not work out, and I literally became a teacher as a plan b option.
Kevin Stewart:And they're plan b.
Jere Chang:I swear. Yeah. And it shocks people. Started teaching high school ESOL for, I did that one year, went to elementary school ESOL, did that for two years. And then I went to my school where I am now.
Jere Chang:And I started teaching gen ed first grade. And when I say I fell in love, like, I was like, wow. This is amazing. So I never saw it coming. I never intended on being a teacher.
Jere Chang:It really found me. That sounds kinda cliche, but it did. It really
Kevin Stewart:did. Yeah. Yeah. And the I mean, just thinking about what what you're saying, I would plan to go to Tokyo or somewhere. Let's go do this thing.
Kevin Stewart:Find find the world. Let the world find me. And then teaching finds you. What, what was that like? What was that first experience like?
Jere Chang:When I first went into teaching, and these are just my personal thoughts, I'm not, I obviously don't feel this way about teaching. I felt like it wasn't enough. I had siblings, my brother's like a CEO, my sister became a superintendent and I just felt like I was not as successful as them. And again, it just played over in my head that I'm just a teacher, I'm just a teacher, I'm not as successful. And again, those were my own insecurities that were playing on me.
Jere Chang:But it took me a few years into teaching for me to realize that I'm so much more than a teacher. I'm literally impacting all these kids. And when I really started to notice it is when the kids got older and they started coming back to me and telling me stories like, you were one of the biggest impacts of my life ever, coaches, teachers. And I was like, wow, I am doing something great.
Kevin Stewart:Yeah.
Jere Chang:I am doing something amazing. And that's when I really realized that I was no longer like just a teacher. I was doing something bigger.
Kevin Stewart:Why do you I mean, you said said that phrase, just a teacher. Why do you feel like from your own perspective that that not only you, but so many teachers across the nation, across the world have that thought about themselves? I'm just a teacher.
Jere Chang:Right. That's such a good question. I think it's because, first of all, the pay. I mean, that is an ongoing topic. Teachers need to get paid more, treated more, more dignity, more respect.
Jere Chang:So many times when parents come to talk to me, they don't necessarily trust my judgment or trust my guidance. And it's just like the societal thing that, oh, you know, you're a teacher, you're not esteemed or you're not as successful. I don't know why it's that way. But I'm trying to spread the word, if you will, that we are not just teachers, but there is this this feeling even when I have some administrators, sometimes in meetings, when I'm invited to the table to share my opinions. It's kind of like, Oh, that's nice.
Jere Chang:And it's just not respected. And I think teachers just feel that.
Kevin Stewart:Feel the
Jere Chang:Lack of respect.
Kevin Stewart:Lack of respect, lack of value.
Jere Chang:Yeah. From parents, from kids, from administrators.
Kevin Stewart:How can and and just thinking through this, how how can can we change that? How can society help change that? How can
Jere Chang:Give us more money.
Kevin Stewart:Give us more money.
Jere Chang:I mean, seriously, trust us more. Yeah. You know, some of the curriculum that comes out, it's so like, call and response. I do this. You do this.
Jere Chang:It's like scripted for us. One that's one reason I went into gifted education is that as a gifted teacher, they do trust us more to let us write our own units and our own curriculum. And I, as a gifted teacher, have more freedom to teach what I want to, not necessarily what I wanna teach, but what I think the kids would benefit from. Whereas all of the general ed teachers, it's literally like, this is the unit plan that you have been given and you must teach it this way. These are your data goals.
Jere Chang:If you don't meet this exact data goals, you're not successful. And that's why I went into gifted so I wouldn't be as confined to that. I wish there was just more trust to let us practice our craft. Yeah. You know?
Kevin Stewart:Do you think it's trust from administration, trust from parents?
Jere Chang:All.
Kevin Stewart:All the above? And I'm
Jere Chang:and I'm not pointing my finger at anybody because I know administrators. I know they got people above them. They have boards. They have, you know, shareholders who have expectations and they got little checklists they gotta do. And and I and I work with some teachers.
Jere Chang:Some are amazing and some could improve a little bit. And I get that from an administrator point of view, that is also challenging. But at the same time, there are a lot of us out there, a lot who are killing it, who are working hard and dedicated and doing the things we're supposed to be doing. And I just wish there was more trust to let and hold the ones accountable who weren't. Absolutely.
Jere Chang:Absolutely. I hear my colleagues crying while they see teachers not doing what they're supposed to go blast them. If I'm not doing my job, I tell my principal, call me in your office, sit me down and say, you need to improve on X, Y, and Z period, and give me a chance to improve. But for those of us who are killing it, just let us keep doing it.
Kevin Stewart:Keep killing it. Absolutely. And I use this phrase in other things, but praise in public and correct in private.
Jere Chang:Absolutely.
Kevin Stewart:Think there are definitely, I think there's a lack of that. We're often quick to criticize and correct in public. You know, we see it happen, oh, we wanna do it. But we're often also very slow to praise in public. And when we see you in oh, man, you're doing a great job.
Kevin Stewart:Thanks for all your work. But, man, get it out there.
Jere Chang:Yeah. Just even just as simple in the hallway from a teacher point of view, if you're an administrator, just say, hey, miss Chang, I saw you dealing with that kid the other day. You nailed job too. Because I know that's a difficult child. You really handled that nicely.
Jere Chang:Just a little bitty things. It could be something as simple as like, Chang, your bulletin board looks nice. Just those little bitty serotonin boosters, you know, to just let me know if I'm having a bad day. Had this one administrator. We call him deans.
Jere Chang:She's basically assistant principal, and I'll be on duty and she nails it. She'll walk down and she'll just go, oh, Miss Chang, your shoes, they are giving something so simple, not even connected to my job. But it just gives me that little bitty boost of like, she saw me even though it's not related to what I do. Sure. Just a nice little positive interaction.
Jere Chang:It's like I was telling administrators this morning, some of the best things you can do for us is just say, hey, how are you in the hallway? Mhmm. Genuinely.
Kevin Stewart:Yeah. Miss Dean, you're killing it.
Jere Chang:Yeah.
Kevin Stewart:Thank you.
Jere Chang:And I know that every administrator cannot know like that I have two children and what my kids are involved in. I get that because they have a lot of staff members, but just those little things.
Kevin Stewart:Mhmm.
Jere Chang:I was just doing a survey, from my school and it was like, what could your administrators do to make you feel better? And it's gonna be different things from different people. Some teachers may want those tangible things post it, know, give me a teacher of the month, buy me a cup of coffee. For me, build relationships, Say, hey, how are you? Are you having a good day?
Jere Chang:Just taking the time to get to know me on a slight, not a real deep level. You don't have to invite me to dinner, but just a little deeper level.
Kevin Stewart:In fact, you may not even want to. Right.
Jere Chang:We're just going to get to know me, you know?
Kevin Stewart:Absolutely. Which is, I mean, it's a relationship.
Jere Chang:The thing they tell us to do with our students. The more you get to know your students, it's just going to make a difference. I'm gonna, if I work for you, and I know you on a deeper level, I'm more likely to comply. That conversation is going to be easier. Let's say I'm not doing my job well, or I'm slacking off.
Jere Chang:If you know me and you got to call me to the principal's office, first of all, when I get that first of all, principals, if you're watching anytime you text us and say you need to talk to us, and we're not in trouble, it needs to start out with you're not in trouble. If my principal messages me, she's like, hey, can you come by? I automatically think I'm going to be fired. And usually it's something like, hey, like, when's the field trip? You know, something so simple.
Jere Chang:But if you take the time to get to know me and you have to have that difficult conversation with me because I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing, that conversation is going to be easier to have. Because you know, man, you can just kind of keep it casual and real.
Kevin Stewart:But shouldn't we do that in just I'm just in life? I mean Absolutely. If we practice that in life, how much easier would it be on on our jobs?
Jere Chang:Yeah. Well, I think they call that critical conversations. Uh-huh. Yeah. I don't mind being critiqued.
Jere Chang:I don't mind being blasted. But, you know, it's just gonna be an easier conversation if you know me a little.
Kevin Stewart:And if I know that you care.
Jere Chang:That part too.
Kevin Stewart:If I know that you really care about what I'm doing, me as a person, my my work ethic that I put forth in the classroom, the the way I deal with kids, if you've taken time to really know that, then taking some criticism, taking some correction, because I messed up and you oh, yeah. Thanks for sharing that.
Jere Chang:Right.
Kevin Stewart:But you took time to know me beforehand.
Jere Chang:Exactly.
Kevin Stewart:What a what a novelty, not just in in the classroom, but in life.
Jere Chang:I know it's easier to be said than done. I said my first career path was administration and having those critical conversations. They're hard. You know? But So
Kevin Stewart:let's go there. What was, as administration, what was the hardest one of some of the harder things? I won't say what was the hardest thing you ever had to deal with, but what were were some of the harder things that you dealt with?
Jere Chang:Gosh. Yeah. I'm like, can y'all edit this out? Sure.
Kevin Stewart:Sure. You don't hear the answer to this, we edited that.
Jere Chang:I was I worked in residence life at the University of Georgia, and I'm a lesbian. And that was and and that's come that becomes relevant relevant in just a minute. And I was over all the RAs, resident assistants in the dorm. It's like a nine foot apartment rise. And next to right adjacent in my apartment was a RA and he's he's a young gay college student, also relevant.
Jere Chang:And they would put little names on the door, like with their names on it, Jerry, Jerry, Jerry, like one would be a duck, one would be whatever. And one Saturday night, somebody lit his on fire and they had written a homophobic slur on his door. So this was way back when. And of course, we were all, oh my god, this is horrible. The the college papers started doing news articles about it, the police got involved.
Jere Chang:And, two weeks later, another arson thing on his door. Couple weeks later, another and I mean, when I say arson, the entire nine floor apartment building had to be like the fire department's coming. The last fire that did that they did, they whole door caught on fire. And I come running out of my apartment. There's just a big old fire and I put it out with a fire extinguisher.
Jere Chang:And the chief told me, he said if that fire had burned for one more minute, you know, there's cheap drop down ceilings they have in schools, it's like paper. He said if that had caught on fire, there's no way that everybody would have survived this fire. Okay. Long story short, the police start doing an investigation and the detectives are like staking out this situation. Okay?
Jere Chang:All we're coming together because it's all centered around homophobia. It was him.
Kevin Stewart:It was the guy himself doing it.
Jere Chang:He was the one setting once the police started doing the investigation, he was the one doing it. So I had to sit there and witness him get handcuffed and taken out. And so it was just hard to watch that. And then also so I had to be the leader to all the other RAs, like, you know, all this homophobic stuff's happening. It's tragic, but it was him.
Kevin Stewart:And then
Jere Chang:there was one more, this this other resident. This is all happening at University of Georgia. Go Bulldogs. This other young man had a suite and it was like a dorm room, a bathroom in a dorm room, and he was pooping on the toilet.
Kevin Stewart:Oh my.
Jere Chang:I told you this is my I have to edit. And so his suite mates went to the RA to complain that he was pooping on the toilet. So I'll tell the RA, was like, go deal with it. Go talk to the guy about pooping on the toilet. He's like, I'm not having this conversation.
Jere Chang:So I had to get this young 20 year old man to come to my apartment and ask him about pooping on the toilet. He comes and and they were telling me how nasty he was and he was just real dirty and stuff. He shows up at my apartment in a suit and tie, like, on Wall Street, right on my hoop. So he sits down and I'm like, hey, how how are things with your suitemates? And he's like, great.
Jere Chang:I was like, do you have any issues? No. Are you sure? He said, yeah. And I literally had to ask the shaman.
Jere Chang:I was like, well, according to them, you're leaving excrement. I couldn't even think of the word
Kevin Stewart:to say.
Jere Chang:Was on the toilet. And then he started like blaming them. And I was just like, look, dude, like, I don't care how you go to the bathroom. That's between you. I don't he's medically, but you got to clean up after yourself.
Jere Chang:And he ended up they ended up moving to a room by himself, but like having to have that having that and talking about a critical conversation. It was tough, you know? So that is both of those that came to mind, neither were really centered on like an employee not doing their job. There were still difficult conversations because in both of those situations, like I was the leader, I was expected. And I was young myself.
Jere Chang:I was only like 25 at the time, you know, trying to have these conversations. Yeah.
Kevin Stewart:So you went from adults pooping on the toilet to kids pooping on the Oh
Jere Chang:my god. Had a kindergartener play with a piece of doo doo during nap time. He was literally playing with it. So that yeah. I went from that to like, okay, that's cool.
Jere Chang:Wait. We don't do that at nap time. That's that's home play.
Kevin Stewart:There you go. Two two worlds.
Jere Chang:I said in my talk this morning when I was like, you know what's not boring? Teaching elementary school. Teaching kindergarten is it's not for the week and it's definitely not boring.
Kevin Stewart:So so it went from that. Mhmm. And you're now in special
Jere Chang:Gifted education.
Kevin Stewart:Gifted education. So what is are some of the challenging things you're facing in in that in that area?
Jere Chang:Okay. I believe that gifted education is the most misunderstood realm of education Because a lot of gifted kids are high achieving and well behaved. And I say that in quotes, but a lot of gifted kids, so gifted kids, so giftedness basically means you are accelerated in one content area and or the visual or performing arts. So a child can be gifted in creativity and have dyslexia and struggle in reading. And so you could then you can have twice exceptional gifted kids.
Jere Chang:So you can have a child who is gifted, but who has ADD, ADHD, autism, that's twice exceptional. And a lot of teachers who don't have experience in gifted education, they think that a gifted child is what we would call the perfect child. And not that I subscribe to that, but I'm talking about the well behaved, the highly motivated, raising their hands, sitting quietly. A lot lot of gifted kids are not like that. They're not highly motivated.
Jere Chang:That's why there's a whole hashtag called gifted burnout. Because when we give them this label, you got me talking.
Kevin Stewart:Yeah, no, go, go.
Jere Chang:Because once we give these kids these label and there's an expectation from parents, from teachers, from society that since they're gifted, they're supposed to be high achieving. You're supposed to go to Ivy League school, but they may not be motivated. They may be bored. They may not excel in math. And so I believe gifted is so misunderstood because of these things.
Jere Chang:So in my classroom, I try to see them for who they are, whether they have autism, whether they have ADHD, whether they're struggling in math, whether they're not motivated, whether they're bored, and just help them feel seen. And I see my students one day a week, and where I pull them out of their general ed classes and they come to me and a lot of people are like, oh, that's not fair. You're segregating them. They should be in the general education classes. But one thing I love to tell people, it's not that I'm such a great teacher that that day is so beautiful for It's the fact that they get to be together among their peers and we get to just nerd it out in there.
Jere Chang:We get to be weird, quirky, creative, and gifted, And all those things in that moment for that day, for lack of a better word, they're just normal. And their guards get to come down and they just and it is just so beautiful to watch them, you know, interrupt, blur it out, ask and say things like, well, actually, miss Chang, and correct the teacher and the teacher not get mad at them. And then me clap back and say, well, actually.
Kevin Stewart:Actually. That's match for you.
Jere Chang:I just I love teaching gifted education. And I just feel like it's often misunderstood because people don't understand the nuances that come with it. It's not all perfect, but it's, I just love it.
Kevin Stewart:What are some of those nuances that come with it?
Jere Chang:Oh gosh, parents wanting that gifted label. That is the number one thing. I mean, I had a kid in first grade who didn't qualify for gifted education. And literally the parent is coming to my colleagues. So it's like, we're like a team of two and saying things like, my child will be going to Ivy League school and if they're not gifted, you're messing up their plan.
Jere Chang:This child is six years old. First of all, you do not have to have a gifted label to go to Harvard. Second of all, you don't need to go to Harvard to be successful. I started out at junior college. I consider myself somewhat successful.
Jere Chang:I'm able to pay my bills. Whatever, I have a nice family, life is good. But parents expect that gifted label and then just teachers thinking when kids are gifted that they're supposed to be like well behaved and perfect and they're not all like that.
Kevin Stewart:Why? What is it that parents feel like that label will give their children? What's the advantage?
Jere Chang:I don't know. It's like they feel like it's this gold star. My child is gifted. I have two kids and I brag, oh, look at my kid. He's playing the harp.
Jere Chang:Look at my kid. I mean, I get it. I love to brag about kids, brag about my kids. I think they're absolutely fabulous. But number one, it's their life to live, not me to live vicariously through my kids.
Jere Chang:Like, I love sports. Oh my god. Season tickets to the falcons. Sorry, like, we're horrible, but whatever. Anyway.
Kevin Stewart:Who is that?
Jere Chang:The falcon. I know. Right? I wish it would be better. I love the Georgia Bulldog.
Jere Chang:I just love sports. I went to a basketball, college on a basketball scholarship. Both of my sons hate sports and I wish more parents would let their kids do what they want to do. So you know what I'm doing? I'm at the harp recital.
Jere Chang:Yeah, go harp, go harp, get him. You know, he's playing the harp and it's beautiful.
Kevin Stewart:I don't
Jere Chang:know how to play. I can't even read music, but I wish more parents would just let their kids live their lives, you know, within reason. Yeah. And these parents sometimes have an expectation that they want their child to be gifted because it's going to give them more, I don't know, opportunities in life, But sometimes they're not gifted and that's okay. Not being gifted doesn't mean you can't, that you're not super smart, highly motivated.
Jere Chang:I would almost as a parent, prefer, it's easier I will say to have a non gifted child because one of my sons is highly gifted and he's able to think about things when he was five that most kids his age aren't. And that often comes with anxiety and a therapist and struggles because they're thinking about things that most of their peers are thinking about digging in the dirt, and my kids over here having an existential crisis, you know?
Kevin Stewart:And I'm like, look at my kid, he's mowing the lawn, he's gifted. Right. Doing a great job.
Jere Chang:Right, look, digging the dirt,
Kevin Stewart:you know? That's right, he's in the dirt. Right. So how do we, maybe what are some things that we can do that teachers could do to help that in the lives of parents? Because I think you're right.
Kevin Stewart:I think some of that maybe even stems from I didn't do it, I couldn't do it, so I want my kids to do it, and so I'm gonna really push for them, and it's what you're saying they're trying to project what their kids should do instead of allowing their kids to figure it out along the way and say, hey, I'm great at this, I really enjoy this, I wanna do the, what are some things that teachers could do to help encourage their parents, the parents of their students, to be able to say, hey, let's relax a little bit on that and
Jere Chang:Well, first of all, I'm not judging parents who advocate for their One thing when parents come in to me and they're asking me to explain gifted and explain the scores, I love when parents are able to be involved and I will that's my job to help you understand that. What we could do as teachers to help parents is just have more just ongoing communication. And if parents could be more receptive, we're in this together. Like if you ask any teacher, does any teacher want to call a parent and say your child is not meeting the standard, whether it's behavior? No, no teacher wants to make that phone call.
Jere Chang:I never want to call a parent and be like, your kid's struggling in X, Y, and Z, whether it's behavior or academic. And most parents don't want to receive that phone call. And so when I receive that phone call as a parent, I try to be open, like tell me what I need to do to help better help serve my child better. What can I do to help my kid help you? And again, it's just kind of like with administrators, we need to have these be open to these conversations.
Jere Chang:If parents are more open, not necessarily to fix the problem, because you can't always do that, but just to be open and honest. And if teachers could just take that step beyond the messaging apps, make those phone calls, pick up that phone. It's so easy now to rely on these little apps, not rely on AI to send you an email. To really pick up that phone, call the parents, say, let's talk. How can we help your child be successful?
Jere Chang:You know?
Kevin Stewart:That's good. That's good. Let's go back a minute to the gifted part. What are some thoughts that maybe you would share with teachers that are in general ed, that work with the gifted students but are in general ed to help them understand how to better work with the gifted students?
Jere Chang:Good question. First of all, just because a kid is gifted, like, one of the number one things teachers will say is, he didn't even remember his coat. How can he be gifted? And they'll say those little kinda like snarky comments in front of the kid. Well, first of all, like street smarts and giftedness, they're not there's no correlation there at all.
Jere Chang:Like, or he failed his math test. Why is he gifted? Instead of asking like, why is this child gifted or not gifted? Accepting the fact that they are because their test scores obviously got them in and just asking, if you have a gifted department, ask those teachers like how can I better because I have teachers who come to me, how can I better serve this kid? Do you have resources for me?
Jere Chang:Most gifted teachers, if a teacher comes to me and say, because we don't test until first grade, well, we test in kindergarten, but they can't start until first grade. Which means kindergarten kids don't receive gifted services at our school, they can't. But oftentimes the kindergarten teachers will come to me and they'll say, Hey, Miss Chang, I got this kid and like, I don't know what to do. They're really creative or they're reading these chapter books and they're way beyond the phonics that I'm teaching. Do you have any resources for me?
Jere Chang:I always say yes. And if you don't have a gifted department, Google is your friend. You know, many things that when I have kids that maybe like when autism started becoming more, have an education, I grew up sit down, be quiet. There's no diagnoses at all. And when these ADHD or like oppositional defiance disorder, things that I hadn't heard of, I'm like, okay, don't know about ODD.
Jere Chang:What is this? It's a quick Google search. Oh, okay, this is what this means. I had a kid one year who had PANDAS. I don't remember the acronym, but it causes some like tics and things like that.
Jere Chang:I didn't know a lot about it. And I went in and I just read about it. I was like, oh, how can I then I'm like, how can I better serve this kid? You know, we're always learning and growing and trust me, we are overworked, but I never stop trying to grow and change. And that's where I think teachers can help gifted kids.
Jere Chang:You know, it's just to keep learning, ask those questions. If you have the resources in your school, tap into those.
Kevin Stewart:What are some things that they could look for or maybe some resources that you could share that they could tap into?
Jere Chang:Me?
Kevin Stewart:Yes, absolutely.
Jere Chang:I mean, honestly, this is what they say about giftedness oftentimes. Let's say a kid is gifted in math. Not just because they're gifted in math doesn't mean they're gifted in language. So a high achieving kid is gonna be somebody let's say you're a high achieving kid and you are highly motivated and you're paying attention, I may have to teach you a math concept like five or six times. Oftentimes a gifted kid is going to walk into my room and they're already going to know the concept.
Jere Chang:Or I say it once and now they understand it. I don't make my kids show their work in math. And teachers get so mad at me. They're like, Oh, when they get to calculus, they're going to have to show all the steps. If they're so gifted in math, like my son, and first grade, I could be like, what's 24 times 17?
Jere Chang:I still can't do that in my head, but he could. And I'd be on the phone and I'd be like, yeah, that's right. Why does he need to show his work for six plus two in kindergarten? And I can assure you that when he starts taking calculus in high school, and he needs to show, he'll probably be able to figure out how to show the steps that he's not gonna be like, Oh, I never had to show my steps in kindergarten. It's just understanding that these kids, A, they're smarter than us.
Jere Chang:Do you know how many times I say that in my classroom? I tell my students, y'all are smarter than me. Y'all have higher IQs. I know more because I've had a forty year lead on I've this had forty more years of learning. So at this moment, I know more than y'all.
Jere Chang:But trust me, when you're adults, you're gonna be running circles around me. That's okay. It doesn't make me not smart. And so when these kids come to us, like literally smarter than us, it doesn't mean I'm bad. Like, I had a kid the other day asked me how to spell simultaneously.
Jere Chang:I was like, girl, don't know.
Kevin Stewart:Google it. Say, hold on. Let me check my phone
Jere Chang:real quick. Right. She's like, how do you know? She's in second grade. I was like, what are doing using that word?
Jere Chang:How do you know this word? And she knew I'm always joking around. She's like, I don't know. I just know this word. I was like, that's awesome.
Jere Chang:But I don't know how to spell it. So I wrote it on a post it note just trying to be quick because we're rushing. I was like, think this is right. She goes, what do you mean you think? And I said, I don't know.
Jere Chang:You came to the wrong person. She's like, you're literally my teacher. You're the only adult here. And I was like, well, let's look it up. So we looked it up.
Jere Chang:And I was like, nailed it. It was right. And it's just understanding and celebrating the fact that these kids are smarter than us. And that's okay. I think that's the biggest thing teachers don't like is when these kids show that they're smarter than us.
Jere Chang:And some of us like you were talking about the, presenter in agriculture. And sometimes they come across in ways as arrogant and they don't really mean to be, I would describe it more as non filtered because they're children. So when they come in knowing stuff, like they're just excited. You know. I had a girl and she was super brilliant on the solar system.
Jere Chang:That was her hyper And she was being what one one would describe as mean to the other children, second grade. And she didn't mean to be. And I'm I'm using that word as a second grade point of view. And so I reached out to her mom and I was like, hey, I'm having struggles, you know, with with your daughter and she's know, the kids are perceiving her as being mean the way she talks to them. The mom wrote me back, she said, oh my God, thank you for this.
Jere Chang:Because I'm struggling with her at home with her siblings. She's like, what can we do? And I said, let me role play with her a little bit. So I would keep her after class and I'm not gonna say the child's name, I'll call her Sarah, that's not her name. And I said, okay, Sarah, we're gonna role play and I'm gonna say something really wrong about the solar system and you have to correct me because I don't wanna take away your shine.
Jere Chang:Like, you wanna Yeah. Go ahead, brag, show off your smarts. But you gotta try to do it without hurting my feelings. And she's like, oh god. Okay.
Jere Chang:Let's go. And so I was like, oh gosh, I just love Mars, that blue planet that's third from the sun like that. Uh-huh. And you could just see her like twitching and she'd instead of just me being her and she'd go, well, actually, miss Chang, those are kid gifted kids favorite words were actually, Mars is red, and it's the fourth planet. And I'm like, that's great.
Jere Chang:So you corrected me, but you didn't go like, dumb, Ms. Chang, you're so dumb. Everybody knows that Mars is red. So it's just kinda like, you're allowed to do it. But let's think about the other person receiving it.
Jere Chang:So that's
Kevin Stewart:That's awesome. That's
Jere Chang:a And it it helped, you know, because the girl was having trouble making friends. The mom was struggling with her at home. She was a nice, delightful kid. She just didn't have that filter that that comes naturally from for other kids.
Kevin Stewart:And you did it in a way that didn't make her feel stupid or or feel like, oh, I'm an awful person because
Jere Chang:I I mean, would joke. I'm like, okay, y'all, I'm gonna teach about the solar system today. We're gonna do, Saturn. And I would joke about, I'm gonna go home and take a nap and Sarah's gonna teach the class. And they would just all laugh because Sarah knew more than I did about Saturn.
Jere Chang:She really did. I'm not wrong. And that was it's humbling as a teacher to have a seven year old know more than you. Know?
Kevin Stewart:Kinda like your son teaching the Titanic. Yeah. Exactly. The lesson on Titanic.
Jere Chang:Kids do this. They lock into these subjects and they learn a lot. And I can't know about everything. So yeah, she was totally smarter than me on the solar system. And I just leaned into it.
Jere Chang:Was like, Madeline, you got anything else to add? She's like, yeah, you miss this. You miss this. And finally, I'd be like, okay. You gotta stop talking because it's time to go to lunch.
Kevin Stewart:Oh, I really miss half the whole
Jere Chang:school or something.
Kevin Stewart:Which my it's interacting with my son Mhmm. In third grade. So clarification, I'm horrible at math. My son in third grade comes home with a question, but it was what you were saying about not he knew the answer. He just wasn't sure how the teacher was trying to explain to get to this answer because in his head he knew how to get there.
Kevin Stewart:And so he was trying to figure all that out, he was like, Dad, can you help me with this? And I'm looking at it thinking,
Jere Chang:You're like, Carry the four.
Kevin Stewart:Yeah. I have no idea how they're wanting to do this So I had to use psychology to say, well son, what did your teacher tell you to do?
Jere Chang:Oh, okay.
Kevin Stewart:And did you read the book? And what does the book And so ended up helping just psychology, with psychology helping him figure out on his own what he had already learned. But that frustration that I know what the answer is and why can't I just do it to get the answer if the answer's right? So it's a
Jere Chang:Now I will tell my students when we're doing math, for example, I say this, because sometimes they'll just bring me the answer. I say, if you bring me the answer, I'm cool with that. But if it's wrong, I can't help you. And they look at me, they're like, do you mean you can't help us? I'm like, because I don't know your process.
Jere Chang:I don't know where you went wrong. So if you want, if you're not quite sure if you want me to be able to help you, you got to show me at least how you got to this answer. Or you got to be able to articulate it and explain it to me. If you can do that, then I know where you went wrong. But if it's right, I can have kids, I'll put a before I even sit down to take a break here, here.
Jere Chang:There's just one girl now in third grade. I'm like, go to the other side before the kids are done with the first side. She's done with the backside. I'm like, girl, can I just go home and so you can teach for a day and I can just rest? I mean, everything I give her, everything.
Jere Chang:Boom. Boom. And that's the gifted class. Yeah. I can't imagine her gen ed teacher trying to deal with her.
Jere Chang:She's brilliant. She's amazing. I just let her run with it.
Kevin Stewart:So you did, so you're still how many years now you've been with working with gifted?
Jere Chang:Twelve ish years, probably. Yeah, so I did, university administration, then I did high school ESOL.
Kevin Stewart:Okay.
Jere Chang:And then I went to a dual language school, kindergarten and first. Then I went to my school, probably did, I wanna say ten ish years, give or take general ed first and second grade. And then I went over to gifted ten ish years. I forget it exactly. Gifted ed.
Jere Chang:And I used to do first through fifth and now I do first through third.
Kevin Stewart:Okay. And in all of that, let's get the higher ed.
Jere Chang:Okay.
Kevin Stewart:Let's go to K through 12. Has there been a student that you can remember, you don't have to say their name, but a student that you can remember that really transformed your life because of the person that they were?
Jere Chang:Oh, wow. That's a good question. Oh my god. There's so many. It was like the story I told this morning about the young man where I made the mistake, and I told him he was being a butt Mhmm.
Jere Chang:Knowing that he would appreciate the joke in first grade. But the little girl in the corner of the classroom like clutching her pearls going, Oh, you shouldn't use that language in the class, Ms. Chang and then having to like reframe my humor. He in first grade was a complicated child. He was highly gifted, but he was in my gen ed class.
Jere Chang:And anytime something didn't come easily for him, he would melt down, have a tantrum, whatever you want call it. I mean, like big feelings, screaming, you know, it was tough. It was a tough year. And I never gave up because I knew I saw potential in this kid. And he's the kid who left our school probably in about the eighth grade.
Jere Chang:Then his mom invited me to lunch with him brunch with her. Him And he told me of all the coaches and teachers that he had had, I made the biggest impact on his life. And now he's at university and just doing really, really well. And I know I am just a snapshot of the coaches and teachers in his life. But the fact that he came back to me and said, you made an impact on my life that is life changing from my point of view.
Jere Chang:And it's just like, wow, like he, you know, I just when you if I hadn't had that part of the story, would have just saw a complicated kid that I didn't give up on and yeah, he went to college, you know, okay. Yeah. Okay. Whatever you went to college for him to come back and be like, no, You really had an impact on me. Like, I appreciate that.
Kevin Stewart:Did he did he share what it was now later on in life
Jere Chang:I that really made a said, what did I do? He said, miss Chang, you treated me like a person. And it was not, I don't know, I don't want be all dramatic and be like, it was a bad moment. But it really was. It was like that kind of moment when I realized that kids are not centered around data.
Jere Chang:It's not a test score. It's not a curriculum, not one child in all my years of teaching has ever come back to me and said, God, Ms. Chang, that data chart, man, you got me to my target. That was great. That curriculum you wrote.
Jere Chang:And I mean, I'd work hard ancient Egypt solar system, that curriculum, man, slept. No, they always come back like, God, Ms. Chang, I just felt seen in your classroom, I could just be myself. All kinds of kids come through my classroom, regardless of how their family votes, regardless of how they worship, regardless of what kind of family dynamic, money, all that stuff. And any kid who comes in my classroom, regardless if if it aligns with my beliefs and my life, I'm gonna cheer for all of them.
Jere Chang:I'm rooting for all the kids. And a lot of people, you know, as an openly, like, gay teacher living in living in a progressive area, a lot of people make assumptions about me and I'm like, no, I'm rooting for all the kids. I don't care who your dad voted for. Don't care who your mom voted for. I don't care where you worship if you don't worship.
Jere Chang:I want all the kids to win. Absolutely. Yeah, was a little soapbox, wasn't it?
Kevin Stewart:No, that no. Which is got passion
Jere Chang:I about literally have a whole talk about inclusion and a lot of people think that when you're an inclusive teacher, that's like coded word for woke, and that you only care about like woke issues. I'm like, no, I'm running for all the kids. You know, I had a third grader one year who we had a governor race in Georgia, Stacey Abrams and Brian Kemp. Stacey Abrams was the Democratic candidate, Brian Kemp was a Republican candidate. We had a mock election, live in a progressive area, Stacey Abrams won by a landslide.
Jere Chang:Then we had the real election and Brian Kemp won. Okay, cool. So the next day, go to pick up my gifted kids and I'm gonna I'm definitely not gonna say names. I'll call her Lucy. Lucy's sobbing.
Jere Chang:And I'm like, what's wrong with Lucy? And I'm like, Lucy, what's going on? She goes, all these kids are being mean to me. They say that my dad's horrible and evil because he voted for Brian Kemp. And I was like, okay, let's go talk to the kids.
Jere Chang:So we get downstairs. And I'm like, do you care if I talk to these kids? And she's kinda like, I think she was also making assumptions about me. Know, I said, no, no, no, no, these kids are being mean to you. I'm not gonna tolerate that.
Jere Chang:Like, don't care who your dad voted for. She's like, yeah, you know how kids love when other kids get in trouble. She's like, you're gonna go fuss to the other kids? I was like, yes, I'm gonna fuss to the other kids. She's like, go, miss Chang.
Jere Chang:Like, go fuss to the kids. So we go in the classroom and I'm like, let's talk about the election. No teacher wants to say that.
Kevin Stewart:Exactly. Exactly. Let's deal with politics.
Jere Chang:No, but we should. We should have these conversations in class, especially in 2026. There's just so much like animosity going on. I was like, let's talk about it. And I was like, first of all, y'all are in third grade, your passion and your drive for political stuff in this country is awesome.
Jere Chang:Keep doing it because as I get older, I'm passing the torch to y'all and y'all get 18. Please go vote. I was like, but let's talk about Lucy. And the seven of them started, her dad voted for Brian Kim. I was like, I know, could chill out.
Jere Chang:And I was like, when y'all are old, I hope you can find a platform that's important for you that makes you wanna go vote for your cause. I do the same thing. I don't share who I vote for in my class for obvious reasons. I was like, I'm a very passionate voter. I have a lot of political things that align with my beliefs and my values as an American and I hope y'all do the same.
Jere Chang:But all year, Lucy has been your friend. And just because her family voted differently from you and your family doesn't mean y'all need to like have her in tears over here. So let's think about how would you want somebody to treat you if your family voted differently. And then I was like, look, y'all wanna hear who all my family voted for because y'all be throwing eggs at me too. Was like, we don't do that.
Jere Chang:And that was and I don't think people realize that teachers should be rooting for all the kids, like all of them. So
Kevin Stewart:And so what are some maybe three or four things that you could share with with teachers across the board, or people who are gonna watch this podcast, teachers, administrators, whoever it is, that you could say, you know what? I've learned over all the years that I've been doing this, these are just really three, four basic things that we can do to help kids feel dignified.
Jere Chang:Okay. Make sure all kids are seen. The kids who are weird, different, marginalized. Gave me the God, this was amazing. Somebody said during pre planning week, put all the pictures of all the students in the cafeteria, just like a little picture, and give every staff member one of those page of dots.
Jere Chang:And if you know the kid or you've had a conversation with that kid, walk around all the pictures and put a dot on that kid and then look around at all the kids and all the kids who don't have a lot of dots, those are the kids you need to know. And as a gifted teacher, it's easy for me to stay in my lane and only teach my gifted kids. So I strive to go talk to the kids who are struggling academically, who may be in special ed services. And I'll go down there and just kind of bust them, hey, what are y'all doing? And they all know me because social media.
Jere Chang:I'll talk to them about like basketball or shoes or just just something not even school related, is to get to know all the kids and just root for all the kids. That's my biggest thing is making just that's that's the one thing. Another thing oh, now you got me started.
Kevin Stewart:Go ahead.
Jere Chang:Love yourself. Like I said this morning, if as an educator, if you don't love yourself, you can't give the students the best version of you, not only for the kids, but for us. You are allowed to be the teacher who is data driven, rigorous, hardworking, but you can also be the teacher who cannot wait to go on that cruise for spring break, you're counting down to the summer. You I'm supposed to be in school today. I got to come to New York.
Jere Chang:Thank you by the way for that. And like some people will be like, oh, you should be in the classroom, but I got to do this. Absolutely. And that's a great thing. It's so much fun.
Jere Chang:My family's up here. We're going to go see a show tonight. And teachers are allowed to live our lives beyond teaching. So love all those kids and love yourself. Those are my two things.
Kevin Stewart:You don't have three.
Jere Chang:And don't be afraid of parents.
Kevin Stewart:There's your third one.
Jere Chang:I mean, again, I say a lot of stuff in my talks. When I had a parent come to me and like say something rude, and I didn't say everything I thought because then I would lose my job. I'm gonna stand up for myself. You are not gonna come in here and talk to me that way. I had a parent one year in second grade, he brought me this big file, was like a fishing box thing, just full of stuff from first grade.
Jere Chang:And I had heard about this dad and he was real intimidated. He didn't respect teachers and he just always talked over you and things like that. He walks in. I was like, what is that? He's like, oh, it's all my kids work from first grade.
Jere Chang:I said, I don't need to see that. Just just I was matching his energy. He's like, what do you mean? I was like, your kid's been in my class three minutes. I can already tell you he's high achieving, he's gifted, he's accelerated in math, and he's gonna do absolutely great this year.
Jere Chang:None of that stuff he did in first grade is gonna have an effect on the way I teach him. I'm gonna teach him like I do all these other kids, close it up. And he was like, okay. The man follows me now on Facebook, his kids in college doing very well, loves me the whole rest of the year. You know, I was like, I got this, you know.
Kevin Stewart:Stand up for yourself.
Jere Chang:I mean, within reason. Yeah. Trust me, there's lot of inside thoughts that I don't say to parents sometimes, but I will be like, no, like absolutely not.
Kevin Stewart:And the truth is there could be, I mean, you know this very well more than I do, that there's probably parents that if we took time or dealing with stuff themselves that Absolutely. They come in with that because of what they're having to deal with.
Jere Chang:Right, watched the teacher, she took a phone call, I mean, a Zoom call in my classroom from a parent because she needed a quiet space and they had had indoor recess. And so she's like, can I take this call in your room? I'm like, sure, I'm over there eating lunch, well, her headphones wouldn't connect. So now I get to hear this phone call between this teacher and these parents. I'm not involved in this situation at all.
Jere Chang:This teacher is a young teacher, not as much experience as me. And I was appalled at how these parents were talking to her. I don't want to share too much of the conversation, obviously, FERPA and things like that, but they were just talking down to her. I literally started making cue cards and I was like, say less, don't respond. I was like, the less you say, the less.
Jere Chang:And they kept on and they kept on. When that call ended, I was like, I got you. I went to admin myself and I was like, I don't know who these parents are, but we need to have a conversation. They are treating her horribly, disrespectful. I said I was shocked and I went to bat for her.
Jere Chang:So I wanna tell young teachers, find a mentor like me who's old, who's not telling you how to do your job or we used to do it better back in 1990, whatever, but who's supporting you and passing the torch to you. Stand up for yourself, love yourself. Yeah. That's it.
Kevin Stewart:That's good. Yeah. That's good.
Jere Chang:Oh, you asked me a question. I'm like, I'm not gonna say that much. Then I'm like, I got a lot to say. Keep
Kevin Stewart:talking. Yeah. Right. So I wanna, in the end, close with two questions. But before we get there, basketball.
Kevin Stewart:I didn't realize you went to the scholarship.
Jere Chang:Okay. At junior college. Don't say don't connect with know.
Kevin Stewart:I mean, there's more than a lot of people get. Mean, junior college. I'd have been happy just to get any kind of scholarship to community college.
Jere Chang:Well, first of all, my biggest flex is that I was little miss Sugar Hill when I was 10 years old.
Kevin Stewart:There you go.
Jere Chang:First of all, grew up in Sugar Hill, Georgia. There was nothing else. You played basketball, football, pageants, and cheerleaded, which I cheerleaded one year, I was terrible. And then yeah, I played basketball my whole life and I got a little scholarship to go to junior college and I hated it. Because when you were a college athlete, now imagine this, this was like before WNBA.
Jere Chang:So from my point of view, this is like there's no more beyond. There's no aspiring for a career. Like, that's it. That's a pretty low level, if you will. It's not division and I'm not trying to humble myself, but really it is.
Jere Chang:Factually, it's it's not division one. It's it's not like gonna be a career or anything like that. They own you. Oh my god. You go workout in the morning, then you go to class, then you have to practice practice, then you gotta look at your playbook, then the coach calls you.
Jere Chang:I mean, is I cannot even begin. I wish people gave more respect to athletes. I mean, I know they get a lot of money and they can some of them can be like, come on, like, dude, really? You don't need $2,000,000 whatever. But it is hard work.
Jere Chang:I lasted one year and I was like, yeah, was a baller, two guard right here.
Kevin Stewart:Two guard.
Jere Chang:Two guard. That's about all I could do is hit threes. I tried to rebound once my first, like my first game in college. Big old girl, she brings that ball down. She's like six four, six five, and I'm out in a while.
Jere Chang:I'm real scrappy. Like, I know I have this persona online that I'm real sweet. I'm scrappy. She comes down, bam, she elbows me, busts the chin open, I got blood gushing everywhere. And the coach took me out for like a minute.
Jere Chang:This is actually really funny. Put me back in the game. This was before blood was bad. Blood
Kevin Stewart:was alright.
Jere Chang:He put me back in and blood's gushing everywhere. We were playing in Columbus College and we had a drive to Truett McConnell College in the North Georgia Mountains. I lived in Sugar Hill. On the way home, no cell phones, we had to get gas in a town called Suwanee, which is adjacent to Sugar Hill. He's like, gosh, Beard.
Jere Chang:That was my maiden name. Beard, guess you need to go get some stitches. Doesn't your mama live around here? I said, yes, sir. She does.
Jere Chang:And he goes, can you just call her on that pay phone and maybe she can come get you and take you to get stitches? No lie. I said, sure, get a quarter, call my mom. Mom, I'm up here in Suwanee at the gas station. Coach just dropped me off.
Jere Chang:Can you come get me to take me to get some stitches? No questions asked. I'll be up there in a minute didn't get mad at it. He leaves. And I'm sitting in this gas station with some man, like 09:00 at night.
Jere Chang:My mom comes and gets me takes me to get soda, drives me back to college the next day. This is why times are so different now. This is why I don't coach. People ask me why don't you coach? And I'm like, because the way that I would coach would get me fired.
Kevin Stewart:Leave the kid at the gas station. Yes.
Jere Chang:I mean, it was a whole different time. Yeah. Former basketball player. A lot of that stuff's actually in my book.
Kevin Stewart:Is it really?
Jere Chang:Mhmm. It's a basketball story.
Kevin Stewart:So your book is coming out. Yep. That's a good good segue. Way to do that. I know.
Kevin Stewart:It's a good segue, but that was not even planned. I know,
Jere Chang:my troubles just would be so
Kevin Stewart:accurate I'm right gonna work it in. I'm gonna help you on this one. So the name of your book?
Jere Chang:Becoming the Teacher I Lessons in Radical Kindness and Resilience.
Kevin Stewart:And that's coming out when?
Jere Chang:May 19. It's available for preorder.
Kevin Stewart:Okay. Where can they do it?
Jere Chang:Oh god, all the stuff. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books A Million, Independent, things like that.
Kevin Stewart:And where what all is it gonna touch on?
Jere Chang:It's actually it's kinda like a two part book. It's kinda cool. The first part is like autobiographical. I, just like my son, hated school, hated it. I left my school my senior year because I hated.
Jere Chang:And these are people that my mom graduated from my high school, my three older siblings graduated from my high school. I was a square peg in a round hole, hated it. So my senior year, I changed high schools and this teacher, Ms. Edwards, my AP English teacher, which I had no business being in that class, that's the whole stories in my book too. She saw me for the first time as a smart person and she was life changing.
Jere Chang:And then it segues into strategies for teaching, like how thrive in teaching, how to take care of yourself using humor, seeing children, building relationships, all that stuff.
Kevin Stewart:Amazing. Yeah. Go get our book.
Jere Chang:Go get it.
Kevin Stewart:Go order it today.
Jere Chang:The link in bio.
Kevin Stewart:So, that's right. Follow the link below.
Jere Chang:Right.
Kevin Stewart:So last two questions. First of all, if there's any advice that you've learned over all these years, anything that has really stuck with you, and more specifically, maybe something that you feel like, hey, I failed drastically at this, but I learned one of my greatest life lessons out of that failure, what would that be?
Jere Chang:Stop comparing yourself to other people. It's amazing. People will look at me and I like, do these meet and greets and it's so humbling. I don't know. This woman was just sobbing to meet me.
Jere Chang:And when I hugged her, she was just trembling. But yet I compare myself to other people and I'm like, I'm not doing as many talks as that person. I need to write another book. I've never been teacher of the year. I've never done this.
Jere Chang:And even though like people look at me and they're like, wow, you're so successful. When I look at myself and I hate when I do this, I compare myself to other people and I'm like, no, I'm failing, I'm failing. I'm constantly putting myself down. And I want to get to that point to where I stopped comparing myself to other people and just appreciate what I have done. And I think so many of us do that.
Jere Chang:We look at other teachers whose data is better, or they got teacher of the year and you didn't, or their administrations like clapping for them and not you. And as an extrovert, that's really hard for me because I love external gratification. And sometimes when I don't get that, I feel like I'm failing. So I'm still working through it. I'm just being honest.
Kevin Stewart:Which I could. Yeah. I wanna be able to land this. As Jordan on the other podcast, they land the plane. Yeah.
Kevin Stewart:But we could talk a lot more about that, just that thought. I mean,
Jere Chang:Sugar Hill, Georgia, I could talk all day on the front porch in a glass of sweet tea.
Kevin Stewart:A steak and a knife and a glass of tea. Little Ricky Skaggs.
Jere Chang:I know, right, I can tell, that's one thing, yeah.
Kevin Stewart:But the last question is if you could, and I was asking somebody on another podcast, if you could create a billboard and the billboard would allow you to say anything you wanted to say, you could put anything you wanted on that billboard, what would you wanna say to the world, even more specifically the world of education? What would you want to say and why?
Jere Chang:It's good. That I'm very well known for saying it's good. I did these lunch print videos and it happened organically and I would just feel like it's good, It's good. And it's become this whole merch kind of fun thing. It's so simple.
Jere Chang:And I don't mean that in a toxic positivity way because sometimes when I say it's good, things are not going well and things are going poorly. But just like when things are like going, not going well in my life or in society or in our country, and I look to the young people and I have hope in them, like passing the torch to them and some of these kids that I teach, I have so much hope in the kids that I teach that I really do believe at the end of the day, no matter how bad things get, whether it's my life personally, my family's life or somebody that I love, my state, my country, the universe, whatever, I have hope that it is going to be good no matter how things are going. And sometimes that's hard to live by.
Kevin Stewart:Yeah.
Jere Chang:It
Kevin Stewart:is. It's a tough thing to live by and work out in your own life. And at the end of the day, that hope that it's good.
Jere Chang:It is. Yeah, that's good. Keep it simple. It's going
Kevin Stewart:be good. And the kids we're working with That are
Jere Chang:one, one quote I shared this morning from my grandma, don't let other people design your journey. And again, it's kind of adjacent, me looking for that external gratification. I'm constantly having to tell myself, stop worrying about what those people want. Stop trying to design your journey and just be happy in what you are doing.
Kevin Stewart:Thank you. Well, you. Thank you for having me. Awesome. Thank you for being with us.
Jere Chang:I appreciate it.
Kevin Stewart:Wanna encourage those of you that are watching, those teachers, check her out. Where can they follow you? You're all over the place. I mean, can follow you everywhere. Yeah.
Kevin Stewart:Google it.
Jere Chang:My at is misschangifted.
Kevin Stewart:Yeah. Misschangifted. Follow her, check her out. Administrators, superintendents, if you're watching, have her. Have her come to your district.
Kevin Stewart:She does a phenomenal job, will encourage your district, will help you in any way she can. And thank you for making a difference in the lives of kids and believing in them. Thanks for being able to say, Hey, at the end of the day, I'm glad you're in my class and it's good.
Jere Chang:It's good. Thank you.
Kevin Stewart:Thanks.
Jere Chang:I appreciate it.
Kevin Stewart:See you next time. Thanks for joining us. And, let's learn together. Continue learning. Have a great day.