As a first grade teacher in the thick of the COVID-19, Scotty Burkhardt’s approach has been to underwhelm rather than overwhelm. Since the start of the pandemic, Scotty has witnessed firsthand how difficult online learning has been for his own kids, especially when teachers decide to pile on extra work. Scotty explains that you never know what resources kids have access to at home, so he has made a concerted effort to avoid overwhelming his students and their parents during an already stressful time.

While Scotty originally pursued a corporate career after graduating from Chico State, he soon found that this trajectory just didn’t align with his goals. He ultimately went back to school for a teaching degree, following in the footsteps of his mom, a Kindergarten teacher of 28 years. Scotty is also a father to three kids: Madison, Jack and Ethan. Scotty explains that becoming a parent has allowed him to empathize much more with his students’ parents and has resulted in his a laidback and understanding teaching approach.

Tune into this week’s episode of Bathtime 2 Boardroom for a conversation with Scotty about teaching and parenting during the age of COVID. Learn why Scotty’s house has always been the neighborhood hub, the unexpected educational benefits that have arisen from the pandemic, and why Scotty swears by his #OlukaiSandals, both in and out of the classroom.

Quotes

• “Being a middle school kid, being a high school kid, being a college kid, you just want to hang out, and if you don’t have a safe place to hang out, then you’re going to find an unsafe place to hang out. And I feel like you’re going to get into more risqué things because you just have a place.” (05:57-06:13)

• “[During COVID] I think everyone learned how important school is. I think a lot of people just valued school as, ‘My kid learns some history and learns how to add,’ and it’s like that’s kind of the cherry on top….They learn community, they learn how to build, they learn how to make decisions, they learn how to problem solve, they learn how to deal with adversity….and then maybe they might learn something about the Civil War that they may or may not remember.” (12:37-13:06)

• “As a teacher, you’ve got one side that tells you you’re doing too much, and then you have the other side telling you you’re doing too little.” (16:54-17:00)

• “My mantra was I was like, ‘I’m going to underwhelm this year because I certainly don’t want to overwhelm.’” (29:50-29:57)

• “Go slow, so that you can go fast….We sometimes get in this zone, we get these spreadsheets, we get these pacing guides, and we just start running with these kids. And we ask these kids that have never run a mile, in a sense, to run five miles. And it’s like what are we doing here? We’re doing them a disservice.”  (41:30-41:58)

Links

Learn more about Braniac Foods:

• Website: https://brainiacfoods.com/

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• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brainiackids/

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