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The Innovative Schools Podcast features conversations with authors, consultants, thought leaders and practicing educators working to improve K-12 schools around the world. These conversations include discussions on student mental and behavioral health, classroom behavior, school climate & culture, innovative teaching methods, student safety and more. Each episode provides an opportunity for administrators, teachers, counselors, social workers and others to learn about new insights and strategies for reaching and teaching students.
On this episode of the Innovative Schools Podcast, Will and I are sitting down with Devin Siebold, former teacher, current comedian, and we talk about how humor and laughter can create a safe space in your classroom. Come on, let's learn together. Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Innovative Schools Podcast. We're at the summit again, so it took me a minute to not say Innovative Schools I went to podcast.
Will:But Will? Hey, everybody. Hey, guys. And welcome back. I'm happy to be back.
Will:And this is a very special episode that I'm personally really excited about. But
Jordan:Why are you excited?
Will:I'm excited because this isn't, I'd say, a pretty typical episode. I don't wanna give away too much, you
Devin Siebold:know, I don't wanna say.
Jordan:I was gonna let
Will:you just go
Jordan:through the whole introduction, but
Will:No, you got it.
Jordan:Oh, okay. Cool. No, I'm excited too. We talked to a lot of professionals. This person is also a professional.
Jordan:I shouldn't say it that way. But professional more than one way. Yeah. I would say. But we get to talk to all these educators and things.
Jordan:And today, we have someone who I think kind of fits a realm of things that we've never really ventured into before.
Will:Mhmm.
Jordan:A former educator, also comedian, also professional development, speaker, all of these different things.
Devin Siebold:Mhmm.
Jordan:We have Devin Siebold with us.
Devin Siebold:Thank you for having me. Yeah.
Jordan:Hey, man. How's it going?
Devin Siebold:It's going great. Yes. Not a professional, but that's okay. You know? We all work on that.
Jordan:We're all a professional something.
Devin Siebold:Yeah. Yeah. Sure.
Will:That's what
Devin Siebold:you gotta think about it. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I do professional comedy. I was a teacher, you know, and this and I think that a lot of teachers are comedians. You know, a lot of them
Jordan:I feel like you have to be.
Devin Siebold:Gotta have one to roll with it. Yeah. It's such a there's a lot of really successful comedians that if you dig back in their past, they were probably a teacher at one point. And and you'll find that it's it's such an easy transition.
Jordan:I mean, kids give you so much content.
Devin Siebold:They give you content. They keep you thinking on your toes. And Yeah. You have to you have to find ways to laugh it off or you'll literally go insane. You're like, if you take it too if you take it too seriously Yeah.
Devin Siebold:It's just gonna eat you up, you know? But if you find ways to go, oh, you know, I'm gonna let that one roll off me and I'm gonna laugh about it and just go with it, then your day is gonna be a whole lot better. Absolutely. Mhmm.
Jordan:Well, let's before we get into all the economy, because that's a little bit more of your recent
Will:Mhmm.
Jordan:Venture, the things that you're doing. But let's let's go back a little bit into, maybe a little rapid fire. Sure. You were a teacher for how long?
Devin Siebold:Thirteen years. Title one schools down in Florida.
Jordan:Yeah. In Florida. What, grades or anything did you
Devin Siebold:Oh, little bit of everything. I started teaching at probably the the second worst time because, like, I think worst is probably COVID. There's a lot of teachers that started during COVID. Yeah. After a year, you know, they're suddenly on hybrid and Zooms and don't know what they're doing.
Devin Siebold:I get it. That was tough. I started teaching 2007, right at the beginning of the recession. And so I got hired in, and there was, you know, layoffs and rearrangements, and oh, we can't use you here, we can use you here. And it was also kind of a weird time because teaching was really popular.
Devin Siebold:Know, like early 2000s, like teacher was still like a dream career. I still think it is. It's just, you know, it's become more niche, like people really have to be passionate about it. Yeah, yeah. But it was kind of like you couldn't just go get a job wherever.
Devin Siebold:You know? My school district where I applied at, I mean, I was fighting for positions, and I remember going in for an interview, and they were like, Yeah, we're seeing like 30 people today. Nowadays, they'll be lucky to get two applicants, you know, for the same position. Yeah, so I was kind of a work where needed, you know. I taught sixth, then moved up to seventh, then moved up to eighth.
Devin Siebold:I taught intensive reading. I spent some time down elementary, did practicum and student teaching down in kindergarten, second grade, and moved up to high school seniors, taught government, economic, psychology one and two, US history, a little bit of everything. Even did substitute teaching for a while because, you know, you get laid off Yeah. During the height of the recession. And you're like, where do I go?
Devin Siebold:Well, I'll just substitute teach. Yeah. And then after, like, one day of substitute teaching, you're like, never mind. I'm really gonna try to find something else. I'll see you.
Devin Siebold:So, yeah, substitute teaching was it's I think substitute teaching when you were a teacher is half the class just explaining to the kids that you were a teacher. You're like, no, you don't understand.
Jordan:Yeah. Actually know what I'm doing.
Devin Siebold:You don't understand.
Will:I really do this. Yeah.
Devin Siebold:I'm real I'm a real one. Like, it's I'm a you're like Pinocchio out there, you know? But, yeah, it's it's tough. But yeah. So I've I was literally all over the place.
Devin Siebold:Literally everything. School of the arts, public school, you know, a k through eight, high school and, even applied for private school and got hired but didn't end up taking that job. So, yeah, work where needed. When I wanted to teach, you know, so that's my thing. You know, it's like, you don't have any other options, you know?
Devin Siebold:What a resume.
Jordan:You're like the, who is that, Fitzpatrick in the NFL? Oh, yeah. Yeah. You went everywhere.
Devin Siebold:Just bouncing around. I'm like I'm like Lebron at the Sixers right now. Nobody saw that coming.
Jordan:You know? Well, there's a guy
Will:we work with who swears he knew it was gonna happen
Devin Siebold:Oh, no.
Will:He doesn't. Months ago. You know? But I think he yelled super loud as soon as he found out. Interruptive interview.
Jordan:So what was your favorite thing out of all of those?
Devin Siebold:I don't know. I don't know. I don't think teachers ever, like, really go, oh, this subject was my favorite thing or this age group was my favorite thing. You just have favorite years of groups of kids, people you work with, coworkers. I mean, it's like a a whole ecosystem that kind of contributes to that year.
Devin Siebold:Yeah. And I think that I think two thousand nine, twenty ten, I was just starting and teaching middle school, and it was one of those things where I I think that the bar in my head was so low, because it's like you always hear middle school's so bad. Oh, it smells so terrible. And so I started teaching middle school and I expected the worst. And I found some kids that really like needed loved, you know, needed some hope.
Devin Siebold:And like, then you're like, Oh my gosh, like here's what I've been wanting, is I've wanting kind of a blank canvas, you know? Yeah. And so you start, you can paint a little bit of a picture, I think, that way. And so I had some really great kids those years, and I was so fortunate because I taught sixth, and then the seventh grade teacher left, I moved up to seventh, and the eighth grade teacher left, so I moved up to eighth. So I had the same kids.
Jordan:You just moved up with them at reading? Yeah.
Devin Siebold:That's cool. That's cool. And it was really, really cool. And it was also a big learning curve because we had all three years had a different principal. And so you have different guidance, different viewpoints coming in.
Jordan:Yeah.
Devin Siebold:The school is under construction, so you have like a ton of challenges in the way suddenly you go from established beautiful classroom to portable to having to usher kids through construction sites and go now you're attending lunch with them just to be keep safe. And it was it was a lot of heavy, like, roll with the punches early on, but I think that's what and then we also had the recession then, So you the unknowns of not knowing if I was gonna have a job, you know, where the money was gonna come from, what was gonna happen with the economy, you know. It was just kind of I don't know. It was a a really cool experience at the time to kind of get all that, you know, life in one sitting, you know. Yeah.
Devin Siebold:You kinda get life thrown at you, and you take it, and you absorb it. Yeah. And sometimes it comes in little pieces. Sometimes they're like, hey, here's here's life. It's all on a platter.
Devin Siebold:Yeah.
Jordan:So you, taught, and then you just gathered a bunch of content and stories and said, I'm taking this to the road. How how did what you left the classroom.
Devin Siebold:So yeah. I left the I I left the classroom to go do the tour. That was essentially what it was, is I didn't leave the classroom just to like guess there was things that went on, you know, they don't school districts really at the time, I think now it's a little bit more lenient, but at the time, they did not like me having a following because it kind of put them under a microscope. Know, if I went online and I complained about something or I talked about something or even if I just general announcement, Hey, you know, man, it'd be really cool if teachers had support in this area. They saw it as a reflection of themselves, I might be talking I might also be talking about teachers that I get emails from in other districts, because I get them all the time, saying, Hey, we're struggling with this.
Devin Siebold:Our our union's this, our, you know, this is going on. We're not fighting for pay increases here. I don't live there, but I'm like, you know, teachers need to know about it. So I'll do a video about it, and they took it very, you know, it was very much the MJ meme of I and I took that And they took it personally. And so I felt like there was a lot of pressure to kind of make the decision.
Devin Siebold:They were like, hey, you you can't just keep doing because it was I mean, I was one of the first I started making videos at the exact same time Eddie Vee did. And I mean, there was like no other. Like, there was a few others, Casey Mac, you know, throwing some videos out there on the Internet, but it we were some of the first that had like traction, millions of views. Yeah. And so it was before, you know, TikTok and even YouTube shorts or any of that.
Devin Siebold:I was throwing them on Facebook fifteen years ago, you know? So they were kinda new to all that, you know? Nowadays, they'll I don't know. There's a lot of influencers out there. Did you did
Jordan:you, like, set out to your comedy to be around education? Or is that just kinda how it happened?
Devin Siebold:I actually when I first started doing stand up, I did not want it to be about teaching, because I didn't want the two to kind of intersect. And then I just wrote a few jokes about it, and I was like, Let me see how it does. And one of the things that they say in comedy is, you know, you kind of really find your voice when you become authentically you, and you talk about the things that you know the best. And so once I started talking about that, then, like, the last willy went up, and I was like, okay. You know, before I was just kind of playing Yeah.
Devin Siebold:You know, this is me on stage saying what I think you guys will find funny. Now, it's kind of swapped to now I'm on stage telling you what I think is funny. And let's see if you vibe with that. And once you do that and they get you, then it's like, oh, that's like the perfect combination. So, yeah.
Jordan:What have you kinda seen as you made that transition? Or I guess like I guess this happens a lot
Devin Siebold:to me.
Jordan:No worries. I have, like, 17 questions, and I don't know which one I wanna pick and, like, go down. Mhmm. But, like, as you've moved out of the classroom, you've kinda found your footing in doing educational com or coming around teaching and education. Do you think like, how does that how does it just relate to, like, your, gosh.
Jordan:I am
Devin Siebold:so You're good.
Jordan:Ahead right now, dude. Oh my gosh. Basically, I don't wanna lead you, but, like, I see it as a service to teachers. Do you see it as the same thing? Like, that's where I wanna get to.
Devin Siebold:Thousand percent service to teachers. Thousand percent. You know, I talk about it when I do keynotes, is that I didn't have a lot of views until COVID hit, and teachers needed the laughter. And the views went through the roof. I had views prior, but it wasn't like I didn't see the impact of it.
Devin Siebold:And then I started getting messages from teachers and a lot of it was, Hey, man, I needed some good laughs, you know? And that's the crazy thing is I've been doing the tour with the teachers for four years and we consistently sell out, and they're like people will go, How do you consist you're hitting the same cities over and over again. And it's like, Man, these teachers just gotta laugh, you know? Yeah. Things are rough for them.
Devin Siebold:There's a lot of unknowns. I can't tell you how many teachers come up to me and go, This year was a tough one for us. I mean, like that exact verbiage, they'll come up and say, This year was really hard, and we need humor, you know? Even when I do keynotes, even when they'll reach out to me, they'll they'll be like, hey, we'd love to have you come to our school, and do a welcome back. We really need humor, you know?
Devin Siebold:Yeah. It's it's not even like a we'd like to laugh. It's like a I don't think you understand. We absolutely like it's a life or death thing, you know? So yes, it is a service, and that's the thing is, you know, comedy is 100% a service.
Devin Siebold:I never feel bad, you know? I go online, and if I'm selling a ticket to my comedy show and it's 15 or $20, I always tell them just think of it like a co pay because this is this is therapy. You know, like Yeah. We're
Jordan:That's good. That's true.
Devin Siebold:We're out here just trying to get through, you know? We're trying to survive.
Will:When you started to transition, sorry to cut you
Devin Siebold:off there.
Will:You're good. Or you kind of made that decision, did you feel like you were kind of supported in that decision, kind of stepping out of the classroom to go in the store and stuff?
Devin Siebold:Yes and no. I mean, initially, I was really, like, worried that I would be viewed as inauthentic, you know? And there was a few comments, like, early on where I stepped out, and I it was really, like, rough for in schools, and there was a few people, and I'd say, like, point 01%. But I'd see the comments come through where they're like, you don't speak for us anymore. You're not a teacher.
Devin Siebold:You know, you can't do teacher comedy. You're not a teacher.
Will:Yeah.
Devin Siebold:And there was like this, like imposter syndrome kicks in. Is inauthentic, is this really, you know, something I should be doing, or should I leave the comedy up to the people that are teachers? And then I wouldn't even respond. I'd have like a 100 people respond in the comments and they go, be quiet. This guy is we he's every single day, I'm getting laughs out of this, and it's it's helping me, you know, and I'm currently teaching, and we fully support it.
Devin Siebold:So for every one that is critical of it, I'd just say there's a 100 that are supportive of it. So Mhmm.
Jordan:Why do you think right now, how education is right now, why do you think, that there's such a thirst for humor and for laughing?
Devin Siebold:Like, why
Jordan:are why are schools calling you and saying, we need to kick off this year with fun Yeah. With fun?
Devin Siebold:Stress relief, I think there's a lot of behavior issues. We really, I think, as a society, don't know what we're doing wrong. Some people point at, you know, the behavior issues increasing because of social media, you know, cell phones, lack of parenting. I've often said that, you know, a lot of it also has to do with the stress on the parents, you know? There's a whole new stress out there of you have to make more money, you have to work harder, you have to have two jobs.
Devin Siebold:There can't be one of you staying home and tackling the issues with the children. Then it's kind of a when you can, you know? And so I think there's a lot of issues at home, and I think that it's kind of used to be home and then teaching, home and then teaching. And now it's kind of like intertwined a little bit heavier. And now you're starting to see the bleed over from lack of parenting or issues with stress from unknowns, from kids that have, you know, online cyber bullying.
Devin Siebold:You know, it used to be like that kind of stuff was you'd log out, you know? When I first started teaching, we didn't have social media on our phones. And so they may have been getting bullied, but it was an at home thing. They'd log on the computer, and they'd have that. Now, I mean, mid class, you could have a kid in front of you going through a complete meltdown and a crisis in front of you, and you don't even know.
Will:No idea,
Devin Siebold:yeah. I mean, so I think there's just so many curveballs that we've just kind of thrown into the classroom, and that have taken away from the job of teaching. And so I think it's just becoming very hard for teachers to manage. Instead of just being a teacher anymore, now they are a behavior therapist, they're a interventionist, they're a mental health counselor, they're a parental, you know, views. Like, there's so much now that it's like, man, I need something, you know, I need And a here I am on my little island of, humor going, hey, why don't you swim out here for a little bit?
Devin Siebold:You know? Let's let's have a laugh and get you re centered, and then we'll get you back to the mainland and figure that out. Yeah.
Jordan:Yeah. I think that's so important, like that. I like how you said, like, island, like, swim out here Mhmm. For a minute and, like, just hang out.
Devin Siebold:Oh, yeah. Because I mean, that's the thing is I want it to be a disconnect. Yeah. That I really like, that hour and a half, you know, whatever they're at when they're at a comedy show or even when I'm doing keynotes. Like when I do keynotes, it's like, you're in the school, but I wanna take you out of the school for a second.
Devin Siebold:I want you to laugh. Have you ever, I mean, ever sat down at a staff meeting and gone, alright, so there's a stand up comedian here. I mean like, and then
Will:the people who are like, what?
Jordan:Well, starts off with a, we have a PD day tomorrow. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A stand up comedian.
Devin Siebold:They're expecting data day. And they're like, hey, by the way, we got a comic here and he's gonna show you how to laugh, not only how to laugh, but how to put more laughter into your classroom, how to put more laughter into your life. And you know, for just a few minutes, it's it's it's like they they I can see like drop off their face. They're like, oh, okay. You know?
Devin Siebold:Yeah.
Will:They just Yeah. Kinda like disarming a little bit.
Devin Siebold:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Jordan:So talking about so talking about since you helped us segue into, like, bringing laughter into the the classroom.
Devin Siebold:Mhmm.
Jordan:So what is, without giving everything away, I guess, like, let's talk a little bit about that, about bringing laughter into the classroom.
Devin Siebold:Sure. So I do I I do a keynote called Laughter in the Lesson. It is absolutely unlike any keynote in education today. I I think. I've not seen anything like it.
Devin Siebold:It's I've got the Trump hand. Sorry.
Jordan:If you're watching, you know. He described
Devin Siebold:it well. Yeah. But but I it's unlike any the reason I love it so much is because I sat down and I was asked forever, can you do a keynote? Can you do a keynote? And they offered me money like that I really wanted to take, but my pride wouldn't let me because I felt like I was gonna be faking it.
Devin Siebold:And then I, again, without giving too much away, I had this moment in standup comedy where I realized exactly how powerful humor is. And it's in this comedy club where I think it's such a weird thing, but people spend hundreds, even thousands of dollars to see their favorite comedian for an hour. You know, just to laugh. Like we spend so much money
Jordan:I just just wait to for Netflix special.
Devin Siebold:Yeah. Or the Netflix special. But you you really legitimately set aside time to laugh, and it's it's like, why? And so I go into the science behind the humor, where it comes from, why we seek out laughter, and then I go like into the realm of what if, you know, that science of healing, signaling safety to the kids, of creating this natural environment that we used to rely on humor to bring us together as community, and we still do, but we pay for it, and we gotta go sit in a comedy club. Why can't we just have some of that, even just a little bit of it in the classroom, and invite that in and see what kind of community the humor can create that way?
Devin Siebold:And so I dug into the research. I've spent a long time researching it, writing it, refining it, making it something that I knew teachers would truly love. And I mean, I think I've spoken probably 400 schools or conventions, and I've had anybody leave going, That was terrible, or That was not worth my time. They lit they leave, and I mean, I get messages months later going, I'm still thinking about it. I'm still thinking about And what it's like, that's just the coolest validation.
Devin Siebold:But also, it's the coolest thing to be in those moments with those teachers. Some schools message me, and they're
Jordan:like, don't
Devin Siebold:know if we can afford you. And I go, I'm not looking for a new Lamborghini. If you pay for my plane ticket and help me make a little bit to eat off of, I mean, do have bills, sure. But I've negotiated with the smallest of schools. I've been in North Dakota with a school of 12 teachers,
Will:you know, talking directly to them. And
Devin Siebold:I really just wanted to get that message out. So now it's something I'm proud of. And it's like, once you have that, it's like, oh, I wanna share it with everybody. You know, gotta get it out there. So yeah.
Jordan:I think I I just wanna take our our
Devin Siebold:My agent's gonna kill me by the way for saying that. But it's fine. Yeah. I I love what I do, you know.
Will:You're just like, he's truest.
Jordan:You do what?
Devin Siebold:Yeah. I know. But it's truly something I enjoy, you know, for sure. So if there's budgets there and, you know, like it's big conferences and they have sponsors and things, then yeah. But it's also like, hey, the little people will need some help, too.
Devin Siebold:You know, not everybody can go to a massive conference and spend all that money on hotels and tickets and stuff, and sometimes it's cool if I just fly you, you know?
Will:Yeah. I was just speaking with someone who was actually working with us, and she was saying that just to come out to a conference, she has to fill out a ton this is quote word for word, a ton of paperwork. Mhmm. And then she had to they they would have to create a presentation and present it to a group of people and then explain why they would go and then why they want to go, what they're going to look for, use it for. And then they go to the summit, then they come back and have to have a whole other presentation ready to present what they learned and all that stuff.
Will:And I'm just thinking, yeah, I feel like if you're saying that this thing is so useful and so utilized, you know, why would I why would I wanna deprive that of someone who could so use it? So it just makes perfect sense, and I love that you do that. That's great. Yeah. Yeah.
Devin Siebold:I enjoy I enjoy it. I really enjoy what I do, so yeah. And usually, I'm kind of of the pay it forward mentality. You know, I think that it, you know, there's been times where I've gone for next to nothing in some of these schools, and somebody will see me there, And then one time in particular, like a year later, somebody in that school got promoted to a big conference, they worked with them, and they were like, Oh, he should be our keynote. And so then it came back to me, and I was in this big conference and nice hotel, and you're making decent money.
Devin Siebold:And it's like, okay.
Jordan:Well, you know, maybe it was worth
Devin Siebold:it to go in the middle of Garden City, Kansas, you know? And Yeah. Yeah. But, yeah. It's it's it's, it's different.
Devin Siebold:I think that if you put good out in the world, the good comes back.
Jordan:Yeah. I completely agree with that. And I just think as we were talking about bringing comedy into the classroom or humor humor and laughing is like, I I just started thinking back by about, like, all the times where I had and I I love for our listeners and stuff to, like, try and do this and find this moment too of, like, those times where you've laughed so hard, your stomach hurts and your cheeks hurt and you're crying and you can't breathe. Like the whole thing just what that really felt internally. Like, not just like that laugh, but if you really think about like, I I can think back to moments where it was like stressful stuff going on and someone did something, someone said something, and that moment happened where we just couldn't stop laughing.
Jordan:And the release of all of that it makes Yeah. You
Devin Siebold:So good.
Jordan:All that stuff. And just so like, while we're talking about this stuff, I I think it's just important, like, as you're listening to like put yourself in those shoes and remember, yeah, I remember laughing so hard that everything just seemed to melt away. Like everything was okay for thirty seconds.
Devin Siebold:And that's but But that's the science. So it's funny you say that because that's actually exactly what I talk about is the science behind that of why you feel that way. And truthfully, it's just because laughter laughter is earliest humans' way of communicating safety to one another. It was before all language. We have a few things inside of us that we recognize universally, just sounds.
Devin Siebold:And babies happen to survive, you know, adults things like that. Recognize them, but laughter is the way in which the earliest humans communicated safety. Laughter and screams, I talk about it in the keynote,
Will:but screams and fear, you
Devin Siebold:know, if you were to scream, you know fear. If you heard laughter, you know, Oh, it's okay. Everything's fine. And that's universal. You don't have to know English.
Devin Siebold:You don't have to know any language. That's true. Exactly. And newborn babies have that in them. So, but I talk about how how we're we can create that feeling of safety, that feeling of, Oh, it really it melts away, you know?
Devin Siebold:By just adding just a tiniest bit of humor into the into the schools, into the classroom, and and and generate that that feeling. Yeah.
Jordan:Yeah. And like taking that into like, we as we work with a lot of, presenters and we talk to teachers as we're here in the summit Mhmm. And they're just talking about different things. And like, we have sessions on, like, trauma informed practices and things like that. It's just like, what that laughter if you think about those moments where you had that deep laugh and like what that did for you and what it can do for your students
Devin Siebold:Mhmm.
Jordan:That are coming in with whatever it is into the classroom.
Devin Siebold:Are you have you been in one of my keynotes? Because you're talking so much about it. Sorry. Yeah. No.
Devin Siebold:It's perfectly fine. But yeah. I talk all about that.
Jordan:No. I well, I find it really important myself of like Incredibly important. Having fun with my own kids. Mhmm. And I think, you know, I've also just I've I've worked with the summit for seven years or something like that.
Jordan:Like, so there's a lot of things that, like I pick up and use with with my kids as well. But, so that's just that helps me. Yeah. You know, understand. But like just thinking about those kids that come in and who knows what's going on at home.
Jordan:Everyone has something that's that's going on at home, and then they come in and you need to teach them multiplication tables or, you know, how to structure a sentence or anything like that. But like having a little bit of that laughter to help them, like, know you're in a safe space. Oh, yeah. Like, you're you're good. Like, you can kinda lower the guards a little bit, and then let's let's help you you learn, I think, is critically important.
Devin Siebold:We seek out laughter just in times of of pain and turmoil. And I mean, I think everybody in the the universe when COVID hit, we started watching comedy specials.
Jordan:Ted Lasso?
Devin Siebold:Yeah. Todd Lasso. Ted Lasso was my was the
Jordan:There's my one for the this episode.
Devin Siebold:Joe Exotic. Joe Exotic.
Jordan:Oh my gosh. Yes.
Devin Siebold:But all that stuff during COVID, you know, some of your favorite comedians, you look up, Matt Reif, Nate Bargassee, all of them, they were unknowns, and then COVID hit, and, TikTok blew up because we just needed a laugh. We did there was so much fear and unknown, and I don't know, you know? But the laughter hit and and it goes up. That's cool. We seek it.
Will:Kinda switching gears a little bit. If you were to meet someone or maybe you have had this situation a 100 times already, If
Devin Siebold:if I were to come
Will:to you as a teacher and say, hey, I'm kinda thinking about pursuing, you know, comedy on the side or kinda moving into speaking more in this way, like, would you tell them or what have you told people?
Devin Siebold:I've had a few teachers that have asked me, and a few have asked me to help them, and I've I've guided them. I've worked with some teachers that were just starting in comedy, and it it is really, important to just write stuff down. Mhmm. And also just remember, you don't wanna punch down. You know?
Devin Siebold:You wanna there's a lot of things we don't like as teachers, you know? You have that parent that you're dealing with, and you're like, oh, I really hate that parent. Let me write this down. Maybe not. Maybe not.
Devin Siebold:Maybe not. Not write about that specific parent, but maybe write about your interactions with parents and how you feel and, you know, some of the the wildest things you're asked to do, you know? Generic stuff. Don't get so incredibly specific that, you know Yeah. Yeah.
Devin Siebold:That's the only thing is sometimes I feel like, teacher comedians really want to let it out, which is perfectly fine, but, it's like maybe don't say that. You know, maybe maybe just like kinda talk about your job and the frustrations and things like that. But, you know, if you start to get specific, it's not it's not gonna be a good good route. You know, you have to decide, are you actually looking for laughter or do you need a therapist? Yeah.
Devin Siebold:Because there's there's two different routes. You really
Will:need a therapist.
Devin Siebold:Maybe both. Yeah. Yeah.
Jordan:I need both takes. You
Will:got something else? No. Okay.
Jordan:I was just gonna pivot into this fun little book.
Devin Siebold:Yeah. It's called The Teacher in the Wild. It's about seeing your teacher in public when you're a kid.
Jordan:This is fun.
Devin Siebold:It is fun. I love that book and true story. I'll let you guys break the news, but I I actually have a second book that will be out in December too. I didn't know that. This is a Teacher of the Wild.
Devin Siebold:It's about seeing your teacher out in the real world. Yeah. And, you know, when kids see us I thought
Jordan:they didn't exist out there.
Devin Siebold:Yeah. They make the the you know, and that's the thing is it's all about this kid who sees their teacher and they're like, there's no way they're out here.
Jordan:There's no way.
Devin Siebold:Like there's gotta be something else. Maybe there's aliens. Maybe there, that can't be them. Maybe they were kidnapped, you know, And, and so it's, it's very humorous just about that particular scenario.
Jordan:It is fun. My favorite page is so you can see which one I'm talking about.
Devin Siebold:Yeah. The description of the teachers.
Jordan:Yeah. Of the teachers. And it can't be the teacher because she doesn't have a tight high bun.
Devin Siebold:Yep. Or a dress on.
Will:A dress on.
Jordan:Yeah. She's wearing flat shoes.
Devin Siebold:Yeah. That never happens. Remember seeing my teachers out, and you're like, wait a minute. You know, like, they just they look so different, and they're like, there's no way. Even
Jordan:just You live at the school.
Devin Siebold:I don't know what Exactly.
Will:I thought when we leave at 03:00, the lights turn off, and you just put your head down and shut Yeah.
Devin Siebold:Just kinda pull the Duracell battery out of your back and just charge it for the So next
Jordan:is did you have this moment as a
Devin Siebold:kid? Yeah.
Jordan:Or is this
Devin Siebold:just Absolutely. And and I had the moment, but also as a teacher This is not a true story. Yeah. But also as a teacher, you see the kids out. And I mean, they will look at you like like you're sitting in the middle of a zoo.
Devin Siebold:Mhmm. And you're and they can't come past like a certain point. They're like, is that them? It's like, hey, how's it going? They're like, no.
Devin Siebold:You know, it's just it is very unusual. Even seeing students and it's weird because it it never goes away. I taught students that they're like, I taught started teaching when I was 21, and I had students that were like 18, 19 years old, only two years different. So I have some that are in approaching 40 years old, you know? Yeah.
Devin Siebold:And and they're in their 30 and they're they're looking at me and they're like, Oh, is that mister Siebold? It's like, dude, you're 37 years old. Just come up and say hello. We're friends on Facebook. What do you do?
Devin Siebold:Talk to them. Yep.
Will:When you were, I guess, a kid or the teacher, did you ever were you the one to to go and say hi? Or were you like, oh, please don't see me.
Jordan:Please don't Oh,
Devin Siebold:I was completely avoidant of my teachers out in public. Yeah. But it's hard because I was six six. True story. I'm I'm tall.
Devin Siebold:I'm six six, but I was this tall when I turned 12. Really? Yeah. I had a really early growth spurt. So, six six when you're 12, you It's stick hard to hide.
Devin Siebold:Yeah. Know, they'll they'll find you. Wow.
Jordan:Yeah. I remember my my son who's, six now, maybe. Yeah. Six. A couple years ago.
Jordan:He's in preschool and saw his teacher out.
Devin Siebold:Mhmm.
Jordan:And he I mean, he was like, I I know you, but not in this context. Like, I don't know. At the grocery store? Like, no. You don't belong here.
Devin Siebold:And you're, like, waiting for them to give you orders or, like, you know Yeah. To scold you, like, You expect
Will:them to be, like, hello. And you're supposed to be, like, do the same greeting, like, me paper.
Devin Siebold:Where's your homework? Yeah. Stuff like that. Yeah. It's always weird.
Devin Siebold:So you
Jordan:have another, like, another kid's book or
Devin Siebold:another book? Yeah. Kid's book. Same illustrator, Izzy Bee. He's got his own publishing company now, and we've been working together for now a year and a half, two years on a book.
Devin Siebold:It's called Teacher's Last Nerve, and it's about kids who have heard the teacher mention that they were under last nerve like over and over again, but they've never seen it. And they they think of it as a thing, and they don't know where it is, so they decide to go on a quest to draw it out in the open. They wanna see the last Awesome. I love that. They they wanna find it and discover it and see what it's all about.
Devin Siebold:So they go to know you know, it's kind of, the way it's gonna be is it's a book that's fun, but it's also a way of describing some of the stuff you shouldn't do in the classroom, you know, and ways in which the rules can be broken. And we also have a plush of the nerve that we designed because it's a thing in the So it's gonna be kind of like an elf on the shelf. Okay. For teachers where they can have the nerve, but it's hidden. Like if they start to find
Jordan:You gotta find it. Teacher's last nerve.
Devin Siebold:The nerve might make its appearance. Like appearance. You don't wanna- That's wonderful. Yeah. So, we worked really hard on it and it looks awesome.
Devin Siebold:And he he was amazing with the illustrations, and it's it's gonna be hopefully out in December. We're waiting on the the plushies, so
Jordan:Yeah.
Will:That's all. Gotcha. Gotcha. And where where can they find that? Where can we look for it?
Devin Siebold:Oh, yeah. I'll post it on my socials, I'll Shane, that's what
Will:I got you. We did not
Jordan:I know. Plug all these things. I just think they're awesome.
Devin Siebold:Yeah. Yeah. Izzy Bee, my illustrator, he actually published some pictures of the nerve and of the book ahead of time.
Will:Okay.
Devin Siebold:And just little previews into it as he was working on it. So you can see stuff there too. Great.
Will:Great. Yeah. We'll link your socials and stuff in there because we we don't wanna, you know, limit resources in any way, you know, to educate her. So we'll put that in there. That's great.
Jordan:That's cool.
Devin Siebold:Awesome.
Jordan:Okay. We're winding down.
Will:Okay.
Jordan:But I got I have one request
Devin Siebold:Okay.
Jordan:If you would. We have this camera over here.
Devin Siebold:Mhmm.
Jordan:It's just on you. You were in the classroom. You're out of the classroom, but and you and you deeply value educators and teachers and wanna make them laugh. I'm not gonna tell you to say something funny in the camera, could you take a minute and just give them a little encouragement or something to our educators that are listening
Devin Siebold:Sure.
Jordan:For them.
Devin Siebold:Teachers, I know you're out there. I can hear you crying through the camera. It's, just wipe the mascara from your face and and understand that unfortunately, the summer's already over. This is starting very badly. Summer's almost up.
Devin Siebold:You got, you know, school just around the corner. Some of you even back a little bit early. But guess what? This is gonna be the best year ever. I just have faith in it.
Devin Siebold:You're you're already here. So that's the first step. You've found the people that obviously want you to succeed. You got the humor because you got me. And hopefully, you'll have amazing classes.
Devin Siebold:You'll have amazing administrators. If not, just petition to get them fired. That's all you gotta do. And no, hopefully everything works well for you. And I know the parents are gonna be great, and and everything is going to be the best year ever.
Devin Siebold:So I I really hope that for you.
Jordan:That's wonderful. Devin, thank you so much Thank you. For joining us.
Devin Siebold:Thanks for
Jordan:having joining Will and I Mhmm. On this. I had a good time.
Will:I had a great
Jordan:time. I laughed. Thank you. I'm looking forward to hearing your keynote later
Devin Siebold:Yeah.
Jordan:For sure.
Devin Siebold:Mhmm. Well, you already did it. No. Just kidding. Oh, no.
Will:He did some good parts
Devin Siebold:of it, but I've got a lot more.
Will:He's gonna sue you later for Oh, gosh.
Jordan:But Thank you for being here.
Devin Siebold:Will, thank you
Jordan:for being here. Listeners and everyone, thank you for listening to this episode of the Innovative Schools Podcast. As always, we wanna remind you guys that we know how hard it is to be an educator, especially today, and in all the things that you have to do, to be an educator and to just take some time to take care of yourself. Go laugh. Go watch your favorite show that makes you laugh.
Jordan:Read your book. Follow your favorite Internet personality that makes you laugh. Any of those different things. Take some time to laugh and enjoy life, and then share that laughter with your students to help them grow and learn, everything that they possibly can. Thanks for joining us.
Jordan:We'll see you on the next episode. See you guys.