Teacher's Secret How I Transformed My Classroom
One question from another teacher changed the direction of my career: “What are you doing differently?” I didn't know the answer. Finding it eventually led me to YouTube, podcasting, and a mission to help other teachers recognize their strengths, build better classrooms, and make teaching a career they can sustain.
9/8/2026
One Question Changed Everything
About five years ago, another teacher was sitting in the back of my classroom watching my students work.
At one point, he looked at me and basically asked:
“What are you doing here?”
I didn't understand what he meant.
He explained that some of these same students could be extremely difficult in other classrooms. But here they were, sitting down, working, and engaged.
Then came the question that stuck with me:
“What are you doing differently?”
My answer wasn't very impressive.
I didn't know.
I'd been teaching for so long that many of the things I did had become automatic. I wasn't consciously thinking about how I started class, encouraged participation, handled behavior, or kept students engaged.
I just did it.
But that weekend, I couldn't stop thinking about his question.
I started breaking my teaching apart piece by piece.
🏫 What happens when students enter my classroom?
🧠 How do I keep them engaged?
🔁 How do I respond to behavior?
💪 How do I get students to perform?
And I started wondering whether some of what I'd learned over the years could help other teachers.
That's eventually what led me toward YouTube.
There was just one problem.
I'm an introvert.
Putting my face and voice online was—and still is—uncomfortable. Even after doing this for five years, editing myself can make me cringe.
Before I started, I reached out to educator and YouTuber CJ Reynolds. I wasn't even sure he'd respond.
He did.
And he gave me advice I've never forgotten:
“Your ordinary is somebody else's extraordinary.”
Think about that.
Something you do every day without thinking may be incredibly difficult for somebody else.
Maybe it's the way you connect with students. Maybe it's how organized you are. Maybe it's your classroom routines. Maybe it's your ability to explain complicated ideas.
What you take for granted may actually be your gift.
CJ later gave me another idea I love.
You can't change the entire world.
But you can sweep your front porch.
You can affect your classroom. Your family. Your neighborhood. Your small piece of the world.
That's what I'm trying to do.
Teaching is incredibly difficult, and far too many teachers don't make it very long in this profession. We aren't just teaching content. On any given day, teachers can feel like nurses, counselors, parents, janitors, and a dozen other things.
That's why I've decided to go all-in.
The YouTube videos, the podcast, the blogs—all of it comes back to one mission:
Help teachers build classrooms where they can succeed and make teaching a career they can actually sustain.
And it all started because somebody sitting in the back of my classroom asked:
“What are you doing differently?”
👉 Watch the full video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV_2Uco3iag&list=UULFQOIbqNhb_gseSVU6bE3uUA