Cassi Noack: 0:39

Welcome to the podcast. I am so, so excited that you're here. These first few episodes they're all designed just to help you get to know me a little bit better through some of the amazing teachers who I've worked with and who've had just a huge impact on my journey. So we're gonna be chatting with my teacher friends and as we go you're gonna see how each of them represents a major shift in my career as an educator. So we'll be having practical tips, talking about fun stories, reminiscing, maybe a few laughs, but each episode is designed to give you a peek into different phases of my teaching life, from those nerve-wracking first years to the big transitions and kind of everything in between. So my hope is that through these conversations you're going to find some inspiration, a few ideas to bring back to your own classroom. But I hope that you feel like you know me a little bit better by meeting some of the people that have been very instrumental in my life as a teacher.

Cassi Noack: 1:42

And today we are starting off with Tonya Dunn. She is seriously one of the funniest people I've ever met and just an absolute rock star when it comes to building relationships with students and with parents. So Tonya was actually my mentor teacher during my student teaching and, honestly, she's a big reason why I am the teacher that I am today. So we have some stories, some memories and some advice coming up and you won't want to miss out. So let's get started. Welcome, Tonya, to the podcast. So we're going to start with some rapid fire questions. Okay, so I'm going to take this or that and you just answer which ones for you Group work or independent study? Oh, group work, all right. Math or English, english Whiteboard markers or chalk.

Tonya Dunn: 2:40

That just shows my age. I'm going to go whiteboard markers. That just shows my age.

Cassi Noack: 2:44

I'm going to go. White board markers. Yeah, me too. Okay, classroom music classical or pop Classical. Okay, field trip or classroom project.

Tonya Dunn: 2:53

Oh classroom project.

Cassi Noack: 2:58

Yeah, because those field trips, I'll put it on the bus ever again. I wonder. Like farms Okay, summer break or winter break? Ever again, wonder Lake Farms Okay, summer break or winter break? Summer break, early dismissal or late arrival, early dismissal? I know your answer for this one Beach or mountain Beach?

Cassi Noack: 3:23

Read aloud or silent reading? Read aloud, oh my gosh, I knew you were going to say read aloud and I was thinking about there was a book, was it? Maybe it was because of Winn-Dixie, I don't remember, but there was a book you would read and it made all the kids cry. It was Shiloh. It was Shiloh. They would come to my class just like emotionally distraught from your read aloud. Okay, so let's move on to some actual questions so we can get to know you a little bit. Okay, so one of my first memories at Hostler, which was the school that I did my student teaching at, one of my first memories at Hostler, which was the school that I did my student teaching, at, one of my first memories of being there was a staff meeting going on in the library and everyone is hooping and hollering and cheering and screaming, and it was because you were just announced the teacher of the year. So when you were sitting there in that meeting, like what was going through your mind in that meeting?

Tonya Dunn: 4:32

Honestly, I had no idea. I I was looking around the room to say who was going to stand up and I had zero clue. And I remember standing up and Carol, you know, and Adriria giving me flowers, and I mean I just remember standing there speechless and like my team is yelling this is the first time we've ever heard you not be able to talk and I was like yeah, I did not expect that it was, that was. It was very exciting and I guess I have a friend to this day that somehow saw that sign outside of Osler and it was the. You know. You remember we did the barbecue teacher night and it was Tonya Wilson Dunn, or Tonya Wilson Dunn, teacher of the year. And then it said barbecue, spring Creek barbecue. And she always says I'm so glad that you're the teacher of the barbecue night, just messes with me. It was an honor. It was an honor. I mean I wasn't looking for it, but I'll take it.

Tonya Dunn: 5:35

I loved you know, loved my kids.

Cassi Noack: 5:37

I think it's a dream that teachers have, or maybe it's, I know, for me and some other teachers I know it's like that's one thing you work towards and strive towards is being honored and recognized for you know, working your butt off, yeah.

Tonya Dunn: 5:51

There are so many teachers in the building that are so incredibly deserving, and so you just kind of sit in the back seat and say why me over somebody like that? Yeah, you know it's okay. I mean I just I don't like to be I'm, I'm, I have a big personality, but I, I don't want recognition kind of aimed at me yeah, yeah, okay.

Cassi Noack: 6:16

so I think the reason I remember it so clearly of like just standing in that kindergarten hall and seeing the library and all the whatever it's because I was about to start my student teaching, like I think like the next day or maybe a couple of days after that with you, so I knew that I was like getting to go into a classroom with with a mentor teacher that is the teacher of the year, so I was really excited about you. Know what all I could learn from you and everything. So, thinking back to that, what, what made you decide to be a mentor teacher? Like why did you say yes to that? Sounds like extra work.

Tonya Dunn: 6:54

You know I was actually Carol came to me and asked me if I would be willing to to be a mentor teacher and I was like, yeah, I mean I've never done this before, but sure might as well. It's something I've never done. I'm always up for a challenge. I mean I expected to have you know, like this 19, 20 year old kid coming into my classroom who didn't know anything. And you came in and you were doing all these charts and the big things that you were drawing and putting things together and I was like, well, geez, she's better than I am.

Cassi Noack: 7:33

It's worth mentioning that even though I was student teaching, I had already been a teacher for several years at a private school and I just needed to get my certification, so I had to do student teaching. But I did have some, some experience and I think maybe that made it a little bit more challenging for the mentor, teacher and student teacher relationship as well, because I don't know.

Tonya Dunn: 7:58

I thought I feel like our relationship like immediately we hit it off, Our relationship like immediately we hit it off, we just were like immediate, just laughed, and the dynamics between us to me was like we were like sisters almost. I just had so much fun, so much fun and I learned a lot from you.

Cassi Noack: 8:23

I'm trying to think what that could possibly be. So if you could give a piece of advice to a student teacher so maybe they are, you know, 20 years old, 21 years old, and they're coming into the classroom scared I was scared of having experience Like what's one piece of advice you could tell them?

Tonya Dunn: 8:46

what's one piece of advice you could tell them? So I actually have just recently gone through this with my son's girlfriend, who graduated from A&M and is now teaching, and she would sit around the kitchen table while I'm cooking dinner and just ask me all sorts of questions. She's like what, what is your advice? What do you think I should do? What I said absorb, just absorb everything. Every teacher is going to have a different style. Every teacher is going to have a different approach. Every teacher is going to have different knowledge. Every teacher is going to have a different level of creativity. You can take the same lesson in three different language arts classes and watch it in a multitude of ways. And that's what I wanted her. I wanted her to make sure that she was going to other classrooms and experiencing every teacher. You know, and I think that's what when I was doing my student teaching, that's what my mentor teacher did for me. She's like I want you to go and observe. I want you to go down to you know, third grade.

Tonya Dunn: 9:49

I want you to go over here to this teacher. I want you to, I'm like. So I think that would be my biggest advice Absorb, always, learn and just never become complacent.

Cassi Noack: 10:02

That's good, complacent, that's good.

Cassi Noack: 10:10

So if I could give a piece of advice to mentor teachers, it would just be to allow the student teacher to do something.

Cassi Noack: 10:15

You know, I think that's where I was so blessed is that you let me come in and I know you had it Well, a couple of things. When I came into your classroom, it was towards star test time, so there was a lot of emphasis on everyone passing and everyone getting commended and you know, it was kind of like crunch time for that and there wasn't a lot of time to like give up for me. So that's looking back. I always, always appreciate that you didn't have a lot of time to give me to try things out, but you did it anyway and you were a perfectionist with your teaching and you knew what worked and what didn't work and instead of like forcing that to happen, you like took a chance and let me try things out. So that's what I would say to mentor teachers is maybe, you know, go alongside and walk alongside them and guide them and support them, but this is their only chance to try it with like crutches and then next year they're going to be thrown into thrown into the lion's den by themselves.

Tonya Dunn: 11:21

Well, I don't think there's a teacher out there that has not had an or not taught an assignment that didn't pan out the way they thought it was going to. I mean, it happens. Some are fantastic lessons and some are kind of flops. Some you keep for the next year, some you have to tweak and modify. But you, you always had such a great energy with the kids and I'm like I just knew you were. I knew that you were an overachiever. You know you were going to come in and have things prepared. It was more like a Broadway show. When you've been so, I don't I don't regret letting cutting the reins loose. I feel like that's how you learn.

Cassi Noack: 12:09

Yeah, I definitely learned, especially coming from private school and moving into public school, because in my private school we had a very scripted classical curriculum that was basically workbook like dominated. So every day we did the next page in the English book and then the next page in the math book, so there wasn't any freedom or anything to teach. And now all of a sudden in public school it was like make it student, like a student owned and interesting and fun. So it was cool to get to do all that.

Tonya Dunn: 12:40

And then you walk into my room with all my kids laying all over the floor doing their activities. Yep.

Cassi Noack: 12:49

Okay, so the student teaching and was fun, but then there was the whole matter of getting a job. So you know, you do the student teaching so that you can, you know, get a job teaching. And the coolest thing ever and the coolest part about the story is that I ended up getting to be teacher partners with Tonya the next year. I got to teach math and she was my ELA counterpart, so we did our student teaching in the spring and then in the next fall it was on. So my question is like what kind of strings did you pull to make that, to make that happen?

Tonya Dunn: 13:35

I did not. They were actually shuffling teachers around. Now. Originally I started off in fifth grade. I've taught third, fourth and fifth grade. The bulk of my career was fourth grade.

Tonya Dunn: 13:46

I love to teach writing. I love to teach reading, obviously, and I took over for a teacher in fifth grade for a half a year, where she went up somewhere in the district I think she was becoming an assistant principal or principal, so I was hired midstream. I wasn't even planning on going back to teaching. I was staying home with raising my child and then he was in elementary school at Hostler and I was doing some library shelving and they found out I was a certified teacher, asked me if I would do some tutoring for ARI AMI. I did that for a few weeks and then we found out this teacher was leaving and they came to me and asked me to fill in for the rest of the school year. I was like, okay, I can do it, am I? I did that for a few weeks and then we found out this teacher was leaving and they came to me and asked me to fill in for the rest of the school year. I was like, okay, I can do it. So I did and I stayed up there for a couple about two and a half years and then, you know, susie wanted to leave fourth grade.

Tonya Dunn: 14:37

She was the fourth grade writing. It can be daunting and it can be exhausting and so she wanted to change and so she went up there and I moved down, so we just flip-flopped and then we needed to hire somebody else, and I think they were shifting teachers around and Carol liked to build teams based on how well people mesh together and even though you know, carly and I were great partners together, she, she got moved to fifth and they brought you in and Carol came to tell me. Carol and Chris came to tell me and I was like, oh my gosh, I was in tears, I was so happy.

Cassi Noack: 15:15

So the day that I found out I was at the theater with my daughter. Callie is a theater, she's a theater kid, and so we were always at the theater. So I got the call while I was at rehearsal with her and I ran out into the parking lot and just kind of milled around the whole time I was on the phone. I think we talked for like 30 minutes and to this day when I go to that theater I see that spot where I was milling around and standing and it takes me right back to like that, like the thrill of getting that call and finding out that is still literally every time I go to that theater.

Tonya Dunn: 15:50

I'm like that makes my heart. That's the spot. I love it. I love it.

Cassi Noack: 15:55

We were good together yep, at least some of my favorite years ever in teaching. Okay. So when you have a teaching partner though you do have to like work, you have to work closely with them. So what is a piece of advice that you would give to someone who's maybe going departmentalized? Maybe they were self-contained, like I know. There were plenty of times where you were gracious and like let me keep the kids longer, like when we were doing market days, or sometimes, even if, like, a test is running long, you have to kind of give and take. So what's some advice for you as a team member, as a partner?

Tonya Dunn: 16:33

Yeah, Well, I think you have to first respect your team and each person individually. You have to understand that everybody has a different personality, a different take, a different way to teach and I think you have to respect all of that. I think you have to like each other and if you've got a Debbie Downer, which you know, occasionally you'll have one here and there, but for the most part, you know the teams that I've been on. I've always been very blessed and I just think you have to kind of be flexible. You just have to be flexible. You have to be giving, because there's going to be a time when you need to take and I think that's so important to understand like when you were teaching and you were like, oh my gosh, is there any way you can give me a little bit of extra time? Of course I can. I mean, I'll go sit down and do read-a-lot with my kids. I don't. I'd read some scary novels and you know, get them scared before they came to you.

Cassi Noack: 17:32

So or or sad, or extra levy. Okay, so that is great advice. And I, there was only one year that I I didn't have a partner and I can say the year that I was self-contained was at Hossler and it was hard. It was so hard. So I think having an having a partner is a real blessing and, you know, just remembering the value that they give to you, I think that helps make it easier to be more flexible and more giving toward them, because they're doing a lot for you as well.

Cassi Noack: 18:09

Okay, so let's move on to a little bit more uh, sort of fun questions. Okay, so, like, think about teaching fads, like things that initiatives and stuff that we had to do and go through throughout the years. Is there any that you can think of that you hated when everybody else loved, or that you loved and everybody else hated, like. One thing that comes to my mind about this is I remember your classroom. You had all those thinking maps like posted on on the wall. Like in my memory this is probably not right, but in my memory you had like 20 thinking maps posted and I just remember thinking as the math teacher like what the heck are these? But everybody loved them and used them so much and I think by the time I was self-contained, like we didn't even mention thinking maps. So it was something like that.

Tonya Dunn: 19:03

Yeah, I think for me I've watched writing evolve, teaching writing, and in fourth grade it's tough. Your kids are on such a broad spectrum of writing. You've got some that really struggle, you've got some that are, you know, learning along the way, and then you've got some that are just naturally gifted writers. And so, for me, every year we would do continuing education. It was always learning different, different to teach new, different ways of writing, and and so things were always evolving with the writing. Yeah, where you just got one concept mastered with your kids and you feel like you got it down pat. Then the district says, okay, we're going to wipe that out and we're going to try this now, and yes now.

Tonya Dunn: 19:55

I just mastered that skill so and now it's been taken, so I don't know. I think I just went into workshops and just was like, oh, that's a good idea. I really like that, you know, and like walking in. I learned what in one workshop like teaching your kids to become committed to their writing. And I remember it was the year that my son was in fourth grade and he was across the hall from me. They were doing something where they had to switch classes and normally he was in the other mod but he was across the diagonal and I came in with my veil on and my flowers to the wedding march to teach my kids to make a vow that they were going to commit to their writing. Oh, I love that.

Tonya Dunn: 20:37

My son about died. He's like mommy, you can't do things like that ever again. I'm like you, just stay in your lane. My kids love me and we are on a journey to write. So I think that was that was my biggest thing, just me having to adapt, and things that I felt like worked, that kind of got pulled out from underneath us and then changed. So that was always my biggest thing.

Cassi Noack: 21:04

I love that, and now I wonder how many people are hearing this and are going to do the same thing with their. They're going to be pulling out their, their wedding veils, and I learned it in a workshop. I didn't come up with it but I love to.

Tonya Dunn: 21:16

I love to incorporate new ideas. I'm new ideas. Teachers are always learning. You have to be open-minded.

Cassi Noack: 21:20

Yeah, okay. So another thing I remember about you and you did mention it already is kids kind of laid out on the floor reading or doing their work. But another thing I remember about your classroom is it was always kind of dark and there was always music. Like they got to work with the lights off and the music on. So how did you figure out that, like what made you try that, and how did you, you know, kind of figure out that worked for your?

Tonya Dunn: 21:48

class. Wow, so a little bit of a backstory. When I was in elementary school I was in we had three reading groups. We had the red, the yellow and the green, and I was in the red group. Well, it doesn't take a dummy to figure out that red means stop. And then there were the snails and we had the puppies, and then we had the cheetahs and I was obviously in the snail group. You know, that's the way they did it back in the day, and I was always very I don't know, let's put it this way I did not want to read out loud to the in the class. I did not want to be picked on to read, I did not want to read a book at home. And then my mom bought me a series. It was the sweet Valley high series.

Tonya Dunn: 22:36

She bought me one book and my mom and dad were avid readers, so I always saw them reading and my mom just bought this book, had some twins on the front and she spent it on the kitchen counter and I looked at it and I just she said that's for you if you want it I said okay, took it up to my room, went in my closet with a lamp and I read this book and I loved it.

Tonya Dunn: 22:58

And I read it in just a couple of days and I gave it to my mom and I said, can I have another one? I said this says it's a series. So she went back to the bookstore and got me two more. I read those immediately and then I said, okay, I'm all done. She went back and bought the rest of the series. She's like I'm not going back and forth to the bookstore, you know, every other day.

Tonya Dunn: 23:15

So for me, even even when I would grade papers in my classroom, I just love lamp white. I'm not a big overhead lighting person. I love lamp white. To me it's very soft, it's very soothing, it's very comfortable, it feels very homely, it feels like a bedroom, you know, or a lazy living room, and so for me it was just something that was very natural. I love to play classical music because it was very calming to my kids. And then I just told him you know, look, I don't care where you read. You know, I had butterfly chairs and I had beanbags, and I don't care where you go, I don't care if you're under your desk, I don't care what you do, as long as you're reading. And then you know I'd have a kid come to me and say I don't really like this book. I said then abandon it, not ban it, abandon. And so they were like was that okay? A hundred percent.

Tonya Dunn: 24:11

I read all the time on my Kindle and if I download a sample and I don't like it, it's out. I have to be, I have to be connected to it. And so for fourth grade, my biggest thing was teaching a love of reading. That's why, hence, I started with Shiloh. They say never do a whole group book with your students. Well, you know what? I was reading that book to my kids and we were all sitting in a circle and everybody had a copy and we all read that book. As I read it, they could hear the dialect, they could hear the character, they could hear the emotions, they could hear how to read the book. And I think that that was the most important thing for me Set the mood and make them feel comfortable and not sitting in a desk. Just nobody wants to. I don't sit in a desk to read.

Tonya Dunn: 24:57

I mean, do you, when you're reading for pleasure, do you? Are you reading in a in a, in a barstool on your counter? It just doesn't make any sense to me. Yeah, but for me that was just very natural, organic, let them. Let them be relaxed.

Cassi Noack: 25:14

You know, like flex, the whole flexible seating movement came a few years after that and it was that's exactly. You know what you were doing before anyone else really was.

Tonya Dunn: 25:24

So that's just, I don't know about that flexible seating. I've heard all about that with the balls and hoppy, hoppy all over the place.

Cassi Noack: 25:32

Yeah, I mean it's not as big as it was at one time because I think, you know, people took it to the extremes and it did become balls and all that, but behind it is exactly what you were saying Make a place that's comfortable for students to learn, so that they want to learn and school feels you know something that is a part of them and something that's more fun. Okay, so one thing that I always have admired about you and this goes for, you know, the students, the teachers, the parents it's you have a really special way of like building relationships with, with the people that are in your lives, especially your students. So what's one tip for a teacher that they could do to help, you know, build a relationship with their kids?

Tonya Dunn: 26:19

You know, I think it was a learning experience for me. I don't, obviously. I don't think I had that my first year of teaching, my first year of teaching, I would have done so many things differently. I feel like I had to be empathetic to my students. I had to be sympathetic to my students. I had to understand that their home life might be quite different from another student. You know, I've had a lot of different students in a lot of different situations over the years and not pleasant situations.

Cassi Noack: 26:53

It's a little heartbreaking.

Tonya Dunn: 26:55

But my thing is, if I can't connect with my students, they're not going to trust me to guide them, to lead them, to teach them, and so I always have a had a very open mind and I left my personality on the table like that. What you see, is what you get with me and my kids. We laughed all the time. You know, we, we did. It wasn't like we were goofing around, but we, I listened to my kids. I listened to them If they had something to say, if I had something to share. You may have one that's afraid to answer and you have to embrace that answer to encourage them to branch out a little bit more. So I don't know, I just just, I guess, understand that you have to be compassionate.

Cassi Noack: 27:49

Yeah, compassionate, that's one, that's a good word to sum it all up, because if you are, then you're going to treat them the way that you would want to be treated.

Tonya Dunn: 28:00

They feel it. They feel it. I mean, they know if you've, if you've got a harsh personality and and you're just constantly set out, you know they get it, you know they're they. Just their personalities bloom a little bit, so to speak.

Cassi Noack: 28:17

Yeah, it is. That's a cool thing is when you see a student in one class with one teacher and you perceive them a certain way in that classroom and then when you see them in a different classroom or with a different teacher and they're totally different. It's a testament to how, to, how, like I guess, just being more open, lets kids be themselves and you can see well, I think we're like that as adults.

Tonya Dunn: 28:42

I mean, I don't you know, I I have a very small circle of friends that I connect with and those are my people, and those are my people that I trust, and so I feel like that's you have to develop that in the classroom as well. Yeah, I agree okay.

Cassi Noack: 28:59

So after you, like after a long day of teaching, what would you do? What's your perfect way to like, unwind, like after you've been teaching all day and you just got to get out of there? I?

Tonya Dunn: 29:11

I I came home, I graded papers, I worked on more lesson plans. I answered parents' emails.

Cassi Noack: 29:17

I mean, it didn't end.

Tonya Dunn: 29:18

That was the that was part of the grueling process of being an educator is that people have this assumption that you are there from you know, seven to three or whatever, and then your day is over, your summers are, you know, free, and that's just not the way it was. I didn't. Most teachers don't get those that time to relax and truly, you know, just do what they want. I have laundry to do, I have dinner to cook, I've got a child to feed, I've got. You know, that was a tough. That was a tough balance was a tough balance if, in an ideal situation, you know, grab a book and a glass of wine and go sit down and, you know, just decompress. I think anytime I read, it just takes me to a different place.

Cassi Noack: 30:05

so I, I kind of I don't know. I just I feel like there's this big push towards self-care, especially since COVID and teachers have worked so hard and students have gotten more challenging. But we talk about self-care a lot, but to be a good teacher, or good in quotes, there are things that you have to do and you're not always provided, or you're hardly ever provided, with the time in class to do those things. So you have to decide, like, am I going to do these things so I can be the best teacher? Or, you know, am I going to take time for myself? And I think that you know it's really, really important to find that balance or else you're just going to quit, because if you can't find somewhere in the middle, it's almost impossible to sustain doing all the things that you're kind of expected to do. So I like that you said that, instead of just, you know, saying like, oh, I unwind with a glass of wine and a book, like a lot of us don't get to unwind.

Tonya Dunn: 31:03

No, no, it's. It's not realistic. And my, my, probably will be my future daughter-in-law. She's on her first year of teaching and she's only been there for like three days and she came in the other day and said I'm going to take a nap. She's exhausted, you know, but it's, it is. It's. It's the continuing education through the summer and then then building and creating new activities that you learned, because then you're not going to remember them.

Tonya Dunn: 31:31

but you've got the summertime to work on building those, and then I would be adding new novel units to my, you know, to my repertoire of teaching. It was it's a, it's a never ending battle.

Cassi Noack: 31:45

Yeah, teacher is the hardest job, even though you know there are a lot of things to love about it. But it's hard to to kind of stay focused on those things that you can love about it. Okay, so you're retired from teaching now, but if you were to go back into the education system, into the school, in any capacity, what role would you most want?

Tonya Dunn: 32:11

I would go right back to fourth grade language arts.

Cassi Noack: 32:12

What role would you most want? I?

Tonya Dunn: 32:14

would go right back to fourth grade. Language arts A hundred percent. Oh girl, there's something about I've never had a desire to be any kind of administration. I'm not. I'm not that kind of leader. I'm a leader I feel in the classroom with children, but I'm not a leader of I don't want to be a leader of adults. I don't. That's not where my heart was. I would go right back. I mean, the teaching writing into me was grueling, but it was my favorite part and teaching kids to love to read. I still have kids on Facebook that their parents follow me. Now they follow me. They're graduating from college and they're like Ms Dunn. You, just you know. Thank you so much for everything. Thank you so much for everything. We appreciate you and you're you know I love to read because of you, and so that's rewarding. That's rewarding.

Cassi Noack: 33:07

Yeah, it's also hard. You picked the grade level. I think fourth grade ELA is one of in elementary school anyway.

Tonya Dunn: 33:16

I don't want the littles. That's too much for me. I'm not a. It takes a very special kind of teacher to teach the little bitties. I can't do that back to school season.

Cassi Noack: 33:35

So we're gonna end with a tip for for people that are listening is there any kind of like activity or lesson or anything like that that you would do towards the beginning of the year that your students loved and that you loved and so that you just kind of did it?

Tonya Dunn: 33:46

we did the obligatory, you know getting to know you activities and you know we did the obligatory. You know getting to know you activities and you know we did the cursive names where they colored all around their names.

Cassi Noack: 33:58

I'm glad you said that, because that whenever I was writing this question, that's kind of one of the things that I had in my mind is that I always remembered those. Maybe you can say what it was and like why the loved it so much.

Tonya Dunn: 34:13

The whole team, our whole team did it, so I didn't come up with it. I want to clarify that I didn't come up with it. It's just when I got to fourth grade that was something they already did and it was almost a little therapeutic for the kids. But we took a piece of white construction paper the large 11 by 17 or whatever the size is, and we would take a Sharpie and write their name in person. So say, I would write Tonya across mine and then you, you know, when you take the crayon and you color it in short, little layers all the way around, then you do another row on top of that and another row on top of that. So we would do the one color around, you do it all the way around your name like yellow, and then you would take another color. You'd go all the way around and it almost becomes like a sunburst off of the page. And then we just laminated them.

Tonya Dunn: 35:02

We put them up on the wall and they stayed up there all year and the kids love to see their, their artwork and they love to see their projects up. So so that was one thing and really the other thing was from day one, you know, I would grab a you know, deep and dark and dangerous, and from Mary Downing Hahn, and every day, at the end of the day, I read to my kids and I would leave them on a cliffhanger and it was ghost stories. But she is a children's author. Let me, I'm not reading Stephen King to the kids. She is a children's, she's a children's author. She's a wonderful author and my kids loved. They were like oh, everybody clean up, get your stuff ready, get your backpacks put on your desk, and everybody sit on the floor and they're all sitting around and they were just so ready to hear the next chapter.

Cassi Noack: 35:55

I feel like I remember you reading one of those books because I can picture the cover and it was like maybe like a house in the background and like a ghostly figure more closer to the front. That's it. Yeah, the kids love that one.

Tonya Dunn: 36:08

Yeah, they love it, but I mean it's, you know, it's kind of crossing over to different genres and teaching them. You know, you may like a funny story or you might like, you know, to read about sports if you're an athlete, or you might, you know, like to read about spiders or whatever. But it was just kind of broadening their horizon a little bit and showing them that there are other different, there are other genres out there that can intrigue you. Yeah, yeah, and that was the big thing.

Cassi Noack: 36:34

I definitely think that that the kid's favorite thing, the favorite part of the whole day, was always the read alouds. They love that.

Tonya Dunn: 36:43

I think so. You know, you think that in fourth grade, nine and 10 years old, that they don't want to be read to. I'm like, oh my gosh, yes, they do, yes, they do.

Cassi Noack: 36:53

But I mean, we're adults and we still like to be read to, in a sense, like well, I mean, I listen to audio books all the time and and even you know, when I'm scrolling TikTok, some of the ones I sit and listen to are the most or is someone kind of telling a story? So you know it's human nature?

Tonya Dunn: 37:11

I think I think so, and you know it's human nature. I think I think so, and you know it's something that I I always love to do. I hated leaving the classroom, but it was time. You know we were moving and Hunter needed transportation and and it was just, it just made sense and you know everybody's like you could go back and sub. I'm like, oh, I could it's not's.

Cassi Noack: 37:34

it's not quite the same as having your own class either.

Tonya Dunn: 37:36

No, it's not, it's not, but you know I enjoyed it. I feel like this was what I was put here for. I feel like I've touched a lot of students' lives and I'm not afraid to say that I don't mean to sound like I'm, you know, bragging or anything else, because I think that every teacher out there has touched students lives and multiple. So it's, it's a very rewarding career. It's exhausting. Yeah it can be emotional, but it's, it was rewarding and it was. I can't imagine really doing anything, anything different.

Cassi Noack: 38:13

Every day was a different day.

Tonya Dunn: 38:14

It was like you said earlier. You know we were chatting and it every day was a different day. And I laugh about our nurse saying you need to be more specific on your nurse notes when you're sending a kid down here and I'm like okay, so-and-so, kicked, so-and-so in the head. And now he has a headache and is crying on the floor, and it's just. Every day was something different.

Cassi Noack: 38:47

Well, working with other teachers that you love and admire makes the job awesome we always talk about the kids with other teachers that you love and admire makes the job awesome. You know that's a. We always talk about the kids, but the teachers are just as big of a part of you know. It's your life, it's your work life, those you know. It's a huge part of your life. And if you're blessed to have people you know that you like and that make you laugh I know I've never laughed more than the years that we worked together and sitting in the like all the, all the inside jokes and all of that. So I'm so glad and thankful that you came on to the podcast for this episode because I really wanted to introduce myself in a way that people can really get to know me and and see where I'm coming from and I think you are.

Cassi Noack: 39:32

You know a big part of my origin story and to where, like, where I'm at right now is so different from where I was when I met you. But it was just the beginning. The beginning I had no idea what was in store and I still have no idea what's in store in the future from now. But but looking back on that. It's definitely one of my favorite eras of my life, you know. Looking back, I mean, yeah, there were hard days, but overall the sense is like those were the good old days and so I'm so thankful that you came on today and I know everyone enjoyed listening to you because, um, you're very engaging and funny and well, I'm I just have to say, know, I'm so proud of you.

Tonya Dunn: 40:14

I've watched, you know, your younger daughter grow up and sing in my classroom all over the place, and you know so I feel like I'm blessed to be a part of your journey, but I'm so proud of what you've done and your accomplishments. I always knew that this would be just the start for you, always knew that this would be just the start for you and I love that you have taken this to a whole new level to help other educators out there. You know it's hard to create content and the time of everything. So the fact that you're able to create that content for people and they can go in and, just, you know, grab a lesson and do this, I mean it's a game changer. It is a game changer and I hope more educators utilize those services because teachers are talented and creative and they've tried these activities and they've tried all these different things. It's just I'm so proud of you and I'm thankful that you chose me to be on your podcast.

Cassi Noack: 41:17

Oh well, thank you so much, and I mean the whole purpose of this podcast is to sort of be like a mentor in some kind of way to to other teachers that are just listening in. So I definitely learned from the best. So thank you.