Three hours after the students have left on the last day of school, Shaun and Kevin discuss plans for next year, notes of appreciation for students, and how they used their manliness to help a 1st grade teacher move her kiva to her new school. Also class pets, both living and plush.

Featured teacher strategy: Class notes. As Maya Angelou said, “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Shaun explains how he learned through trial and error to write notes of appreciation that his students truly value.

Shout-outs: Departing 6th grade team lead Madi Hamilton, head custodian Nancy Keele.

As Tolkien famously wrote and EleMANtary co-host Kevin Klein has unwittingly lived, Not all who wander are lost. Hear how Kevin found his home teaching elementary, a journey involving 8 years of college at 3 universities, teen residential treatment centers, Australian chicken processing plants and Catholic schools, taekwondo, obscure Modernist poetry, old-school World Book encyclopedias, and Kip Dynamite.

As the child of two educators, Shaun decided early on that he wanted to be a teacher too. But his road wasn’t easy: in this episode he talks about the academic struggles, financial constraints, and social discouragement he faced from a very young age until well into his teaching career. If a hero is someone who never stops working to overcome challenges, this dude wears a cape.

Tim Goodman is a legendary 3rd grade teacher at Saratoga Shores Elementary. In this Part 1 episode, he relates his humble beginnings as a undergraduate prospective dentist and the college job that led him to 20 years of classroom stardom. He also explains how puppets help kids emotional regulation, social skills, and academic content.

Join hosts Shaun Brady (a 2nd-generation male elementary teacher!) and Kevin Klein (a convert from college composition and HS English) as they track one of the educational landscape's rarest species: the male elementary teacher. Starting with themselves.