In this episode, Brett and Chad interview Tamara Hancock, a 4th year ELA teacher from Arizona. Tamara and the hosts became acquainted via TikTok. 

In her TikTok (@teachingmrsh), Tamara shares her life as a teacher in a video journal style that captures the rollercoaster emotions of a teacher. She also shares her classroom and pedagogy strategies.

Tamara has been a teacher for four years after transitioning from 16 years in the corporate world. 

She became "TikTok popular" as her daughter calls it when she posted a video on a dare.

Tamara defines standards-based grading and discusses the growth she saw in her students when she began breaking the standards into more manageable chunks and assessing for growth.

She gives advice to teachers who are forced to use scripted curriculum.

Advice for future and potential teachers.

Tamara emphasizes the need for teachers to show those outside of education both the positive and negative aspects of teaching. She is discusses toxic positivity as well as toxic negativity.

Reclaiming a passion for education requires educators to maintain a proper balance in their workload, work/life balance, and attitude. 

For more advice and some relatable, down-to-earth content, be sure to follow Tamara (@teachingmrsh) on TikTok.