How To Survive The Classroom

Molly is MIA so Gerry and I spiral alone. I unpack the brutal pink-eye virus that made my eyes look like the Outbreak monkey movie, we reminisce about the increasingly unhinged list of movies teachers used to just put on in class, and I confess the time I got written up for leaving my journalism class to make copies while a documentary played. Then we play a game where Gerry guesses Molly’s answer...

Molly survived Homecoming Week and had her teacher heart crack open watching a real-deal dance circle break out on the floor, I recorded my audiobook and realized I made up words I now have to pronounce out loud, and Gerry pitched his co-authored book idea featuring Hulk Hands as essential classroom equipment and shoes as fully optional. We also ask the elementary teachers for help with my first g...

This week Molly joins us in a gold chain and Miami-bright shirt from Tourist Day of homecoming week, we spiral into the John Pork meme and Gen Alpha's weird chaos humor, debate what school spirit really means for teachers, and then stand on our chairs for Mr. Keating. We rank Dead Poets Society, wrestle with the ending, reflect on Robin Williams' legacy, and Gerry weighs in with a very strong opin...

Molly's back in sunglasses with a full-on teacher hangover, Gerry looks incredible (his words), and I've got a 50,000-student IU football tailgate story that involves a feverish six-year-old, a college guy leaning on our truck for an hour, and the Midwestern dads who live to direct parking lot traffic. We update on Scam Gate (the PSA is officially saving people), launch a new segment where we're b...

This week we're rereleasing my interview with Brooke Eby, who passed on October 1st after her powerful public fight with ALS. Brooke turned a terminal diagnosis into a platform for humor, visibility, and fundraising.  In this conversation we talk about her journey from her first limp at 29 to diagnosis at 33, the dating-with-a-cane content that put her on everyone's TikTok, why she worked so...

The three of us are diving into everything from the trending "cringe teacher" videos going around TikTok to my viral Edgar Allan Poe lip sync to the very real truth that cringe teachers are the ONLY teachers our students actually remember 20 years later. We also unpack the horror weekend of my life. An off-brand YMCA where I fell 20 inches off a box jump onto my back and no one came to help me, fo...

Hey teacher besties! This week I'm checking in with Molly on the aftermath of ScamGate, because you can't just get scammed that badly and not give the people an update. We also covered some very real scam PSAs, including the family "safe word" trick. Then Molly showed me this TikTok trend of students clowning on cringey teachers, and listen... it's a little humbling. Watching kids react to teacher...

Teacher besties, buckle up for this one, because Molly got scammed (and I mean SCAMMED) out of a shocking amount of cash in one of the most diabolical phone scams I've ever heard. We're talking a fake sheriff's department, a fake warrant for her arrest, and four and a half hours of driving between Walgreens, CVS, and Walmart. Molly walks us through the entire unhinged saga blow by blow, and hopefu...

Hey teacher besties, it's just me and Gerry this week since Molly's out, and we're covering a lot of ground. I got a review on my book that called out my millennial "hey besties" energy, which, fair. I also just got back from Boston, where I learned Paul Revere never actually said "the British are coming" and apparently moonlighted as a dentist between silversmithing gigs, which honestly explains...

Hey teacher besties, it's just me and Molly this week since Gerry's off doing a show, so consider this a girls' night. I'm coming off a genuinely rough first day back, because my mentor and work bestie of decades has retired, and I had to walk into work knowing she wouldn't be there. I'm now teaching her old class, trying to live up to a legacy I know I can't fully replace. We also do a very neces...

Hey teacher besties, we're starting this one off with a real crisis, because I just found out I might have lice after spending a week in California with my whole extended family, and I am spiraling. Somehow we end up debating whether chest hair can get lice, and we also give Gerry exactly 60 seconds to nerd out about his Marvel figure collection. Then we get into some real teacher chaos: my kids c...

Hey teacher besties, we are deep in back-to-school season! My kids are starting a brand new school after their old one shut down (yes, that's apparently a thing that can happen), and thanks to our vacation timing, they're going to miss their actual first day. Gerry and Molly assure me this is fine, and I'm choosing to believe them. We also get into Gerry's actual classroom rules, and guys, I would...

Hey teacher besties, buckle up because this one starts rough. Gerry left me a voicemail after last episode that I simply had to share with all of you, and it involves Jersey Mike's, a very close call, and some deeply unhinged bathroom habits I did not know existed until today. We fully unpack the fact that Gerry takes his shirt off to poop (sometimes his pants too), and then my own kid hops on to...

Hey teacher besties! This week is a big one because Molly is officially, permanently part of the podcast now, so it's me, Gerry, and Molly for the long haul. I catch you all up on the first ever Teacher Talk Sycamore Summit I hosted (mimosas, a rage room dream for next year, and Gaspar Randazzo doing a fully clean set), and then we get into some real teacher talk: professional development horror s...

We are BACK, teacher besties, and I have SO much to catch you up on. It's the season three premiere of How to Survive the Classroom, and Gerry has arrived with a NEW nose ring, a PASSED edTPA, and a very concerning number of years since his last dentist appointment. Buckle up. We recap Gerry's full edTPA journey and then get into a real conversation kicked off by my 100-year-old grandpa, who was a...

ORDER MY NEW BOOK (AVAILABLE NOW)!!! — https://bit.ly/49CZ5A0⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Teacher besties, we made it. This is the season finale of How to Survive the Classroom, and we're going out with a BIG one. Gerry has NEWS, he submitted his edTPA. Like, two hours before the Pacific Time deadline news. (He fully Patoka'd it.) He walks me through his 4 Ps of marketing lesson plan, we trauma-bond over watching...

ORDER MY NEW BOOK (AVAILABLE NOW)!!! — https://bit.ly/49CZ5A0⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ It is officially summer, teacher besties, and I have made a HUGE mistake. I decided I wasn't going to pay for summer camp this year, which means I'm home with my own children, who can apparently sense when I'm overstimulated and somehow get closer AND louder. This week's How to Survive the Classroom is a wide-ranging chat th...

ORDER MY NEW BOOK (AVAILABLE NOW)!!! — https://bit.ly/49CZ5A0⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Gerry and I are joined by Funny AF top six finalist and stand-up comedian Winston Hodges, who, before he was making Kevin Hart, Chelsea Handler, and Kumail Nanjiani laugh on Netflix, spent four years teaching at a school for kids on the autism spectrum in Virginia. Winston shares some of the wildest classroom stories I've he...

ORDER MY NEW BOOK (AVAILABLE NOW)!!! — https://bit.ly/49CZ5A0⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ I bombed a comedy show in New Orleans this weekend, and Gerry and I are unpacking every chaotic detail on this week's How to Survive the Classroom, from the venue surprise-merging me with another show, to the broken mic, to me literally apologizing to Kevin Hart in my anxiety dream that night. Then we finally dive into the C...

ORDER MY NEW BOOK (AVAILABLE NOW)!!! — https://bit.ly/49CZ5A0⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Are these new teacher red flags or green flags? This week we play a back-to-school hallway game ranking the behaviors that tell you exactly what kind of colleague you're dealing with, from Bitmoji classrooms to teachers who don't drink caffeine to anyone clickety-clacking down the hallway in stiletto heels. Then we get into...

ORDER MY NEW BOOK (AVAILABLE NOW)!!! — https://bit.ly/49CZ5A0⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Have you ever booking a show in New York City only to realize there are so many comedy giants there that you can barely sell a dozen tickets ? Because that is exactly the humbling moment I’m bonding over with today's guest, the insanely talented Steven Rogers! Steven works with absolute legends like Nate Bargatze and Brian R...

ORDER MY NEW BOOK (AVAILABLE NOW)!!! — https://bit.ly/49CZ5A0⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ I’m wrapping up my semester and Gerry is surviving quarter four, but honestly, we’re both just exhausted from a weekend of comedy. Gerry has been out here opening for Joe Dombrowski and doing guest spots with Josh Johnson from The Daily Show, no big deal! We’re getting real about the "success through failure" mindset and how...

ORDER MY NEW BOOK (AVAILABLE NOW)!!! — https://bit.ly/49CZ5A0⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ We are back with part two of our Mother's Day special, and this time the spotlight is on Gerry’s mom, Melanie Potoka!. Not only is she the woman who raised Gerry, but she’s also a fellow educator who’s been in the game for 10 years teaching fifth-grade math and science. Melanie drops some major truth bombs about Gerry’s chil...

ORDER MY NEW BOOK (AVAILABLE NOW)!!! — https://bit.ly/49CZ5A0⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ I have a very special guest today, the woman, the myth, the legend: my mom, Candi Neal (aka Mama Neal). Mama Neal is here to spill all the tea on what I was really like before the PhD and let's just say, eighth grade was a "spicy" season. From my mom literally snitching on my dress code violations to the principal to her cal...

PRE-ORDER MY NEW BOOK (OUT MAY 5, 2026)!!! — ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/43BquPd⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The box finally arrived. My book is officially here! I’ve worked on it for years, but now that I’m holding it, I’m having a total crisis.. I can’t even look at the pages without feeling nauseous.. Gerry, of course, thinks I should just popcorn read it to my students like it's a fifth-grade class and car...