Episode 100 Description
In our 100th episode of The Balance, I sit down with educator and bestselling author Matt Eicheldinger, whose heartwarming and relatable stories about small, everyday moments as a teacher have gone viral on Instagram and TikTok.
Matt shares his journey from classroom teacher to published author, offering insights into how these seemingly simple experiences have resonated with a wide audience and sparked meaningful conversations about education. Check out this episode to hear Matt’s inspiring story and discover how his experiences are making a big impact.
You can find all of Matt’s books on Amazon!
- Matt Sprouts and the Curse of the Ten Broken Toes (Volume 1)
- Matt Sprouts and the Day Nora Ate the Sun (Volume 2)
- Sticky Notes: Memorable Lessons from Ordinary Moments.
Listen Now!
Ai Generated Transcript
Dr. Catlin Tucker: [00:00:00] Welcome to this very special episode of The Balance. I’m Dr. Catlin Tucker, and this is the 100th episode. I cannot even express my gratitude to all the incredible people and educators who listen to the podcast every week, hear me interview interesting folks, talk about education, share strategies and tips.
This podcast would not be a podcast without listeners, so I just want to Thank you all for joining me and letting me be part of your week, your routine. So today I wanted to share a special educator with you and to celebrate this special 100th episode, I reached out to Matt Eicheldinger. I first stumbled on Matt’s work on Instagram.
I randomly saw a reel that he posted and the reel was just [00:01:00] this story of this interaction with a student. And as I was listening, I was just finding myself smiling and I decided to go down the rabbit hole. I immediately followed him and I started watching all of these reels, these simple stories about small moments.
that have these profound impacts on Matt, but also I assume on his students, and I realized they were having an impact on me. Social media, there’s so much kind of noise that I’m surrounded by. There’s a lot of negativity at times, even around education and from educators. And Matt’s positive stories, these reminders of why we do this challenging but important work were so meaningful for me that I decided to reach out.
Invite him on the podcast. I’m fortunate enough and we’re all fortunate enough that he said yes. And so I’m excited to talk about his journey in education, how he became an author and what he’s writing about, how he’s using social media. So [00:02:00] very pumped for this conversation.
Well, I’m so excited to have this conversation. I’m thrilled you said yes to this chat. And so I just would love for you to start by sharing with listeners. What initially inspired you to pursue a career in education? Was there like a specific moment or a person that kind of influenced your decision?
Matt Eicheldinger: Uh, it was kind of like a hap, I don’t want to say an accident, but that’s the best word that comes to mind is I was originally going to be an architect.
I had my school picked out. Um, I was a decent drawer in high school and I thought architects made money. So I was like, that’s probably what I should do. Um, but it was like a month before. School was out high school. Um, I started realizing like all the things that I do Naturally are working with kids like I do soccer camps and vacation Bible schools and the coaches and the leaders always put me with the Elementary kids.
They always put me with kindergarten and first grade. And so I started thinking [00:03:00] like, oh, maybe I should do something that like I’m naturally good at. And what I think I’m naturally good at is just hanging out with kids. Like I can be a little kid if I need to. And so my parents had bought me my first laptop for all of my architectural programs, and I was like, Hey, could we return that?
Cause I think I want to switch my major. Um, and then perhaps the other, the big. A bigger piece is, uh, both of my parents were really involved with helping adults with special needs. When I was growing up, my mom owned a dance studio in our small mountain town. And so I would help and assist with something called the new rhythms dance class, which was, um, for adults and kids with special needs mobility issues.
And then my, yeah, my father also managed a company. Um, where he would work with adults with special needs and bring them in and give them really simplistic jobs. And so I’d also assist them. So I just kind of grew up in an environment of like empathy and understanding and working with people. So that’s probably the bigger reason why I went into teaching is I just like working with people.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: Yeah. Well, and it [00:04:00] sounds like you were placed with those younger students and you’ve always been in elementary kind of teaching.
Matt Eicheldinger: I have taught sixth grade my entire career.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: Oh my gosh, that’s unusual.
Matt Eicheldinger: Yeah, I love it though. I would not, I would not choose anything else. I thought for one, at one point I’d go to high school.
So I went and observed a colleague and like, all those kids were taller than me. I didn’t like it. And then I went super young. I went and observed kindergarten and it was like, I was overwhelmed by how many things you’d have to keep track of, like bins and bins of stuff.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: I know. All the color folders, all the things.
Yeah.
Matt Eicheldinger: Yes. So sixth grade is my, is my comfort zone because they’re coming to a new school. I get to do some handholding still, but also teach them how to be independent. And I just feel like that’s my strength. I can do that.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: It’s so funny. Everybody has their like sweet spot because I was only high school and I was just 9th and 10th grade and I did teach 11th, 12th for like a year, but I was like, Nope, it’s just the freshmen and the sophomores.
They’re my jam. I couldn’t do middle school. They just felt too [00:05:00] squirrelly and like little kid, but high school was where it was at. So it’s so funny how everybody has their kind of place that they gravitate to,
Matt Eicheldinger: right. It’s also interesting when you meet a teacher who’s done the opposite and has taught like every grade under the sun.
And you’re like, how do you. Yeah. You’re a jack of all trades. Like, yeah, how did
Dr. Catlin Tucker: you manage that? I know I go and coach in elementary classrooms and to your point, just the crazy of all the movement and the, you know, the stuff everywhere. I just, I don’t, they’re amazing. I don’t know how they do it
Matt Eicheldinger: truly.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: Yeah. So I found you on Instagram as many, many people have and. absolutely like fell in love with the stories, the reels that you share. Um, so I’m just curious, what led you to start sharing these kind of simple, yet they’re so powerful, these stories from your experience, interacting with students and teaching, like, did you expect them to have a wide appeal?
Like, what was, what was the inspiration?
Matt Eicheldinger: Um, yeah, no, not at all. I didn’t have any, any thought of it doing anything. Um, I’ll try and make it a long [00:06:00] story short. Um, so right before I started telling those stories, I had signed a book deal, which I had been pursuing for 15 years, a very long time. And, um, I’d never really had a chance to reflect on all of my stories before.
And for those listening, I’ve written things down every day from teaching for 15 years, just things I wanted to remember cute things, funny things, things that I thought were hard for myself or students. I just wrote it all down very messily. There’s never like, I don’t have like all these organized journals that are labeled and color coded.
Like it’s a disaster of memories. Um, but when I went on, I’m on leave right now. And on the first day of being on leave, I thought, well, I should probably start to try and grow a social media following. Um, what could I do that’s repeatable and easy? And I’ve always been a storyteller for my students. So I thought, well, maybe I’ll start just by telling people what teaching is actually like, like not complaining, just sharing a situation and how I handled it.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: And
Matt Eicheldinger: I shared my first story. which was called sticky notes, um, which is now the title of my [00:07:00] book. And that one went viral real quick. Um, but I’d gone viral before on Tik TOK and I didn’t like the attention that it gets you from companies and people who want to just kind of take advantage of you. So I didn’t tell another story for a couple of weeks.
And then I told a few more and they all started going viral. And I was like, man, I think I found a niche of like. Using like life lessons through the eyes of a kid, because that’s usually what my, my stories are. It’s here’s what I learned by watching and here’s how I think it might be applicable to you, the listener.
Um, so really it started with me being selfish of wanting to grow social media, but it quickly has become almost like therapeutic for me because I’ve never gotten a chance to really look back at my teaching career in depth and really sit and think about. these things that I captured. So, you know, most of the time when I tell a story, it’s me going into my box, pulling a story and, and posting it that day.
Like I I’m not prepping much days in advance. It’s really just, Hey, this is what I was looking [00:08:00] at today. And here’s what I learned. And maybe here’s something you can learn from it too.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: Yeah, no, I, you can tell they’ve feel so natural. It’s like you with a cup of coffee outside, just like telling the story.
And I have these moments where I almost feel like I get a little, you know, just like misty eyed because we’ve all had these like profound moments with kids. And I wish I had done a good job of writing some of them down because some of them are just so special or hard or just like kind of haunt me. So.
One of the things I love about your stories is that they really do shine this light on these small moments that have a big impact on you, probably on your students. So what, when you started, did you think that documenting these moments would like help you stay inspired? Did you expect them to inspire so many other teachers?
Because I will tell you there’s so much negativity online that when you stumble across something like the offerings that you provide, it just reminds like. me and I’m sure other educators [00:09:00] why we’re in this profession
Matt Eicheldinger: for sure. Well, when I started, I started teaching in 2009, not to date myself. And I was lucky enough to have a mentor teacher.
Now that I’ve been able to travel a little bit, I realized like that’s not normal and how unfortunate that is for new teachers coming into the profession. But at the time I had a new teacher, a new teacher mentor who told me you should write. Uh, reflection down after every lesson so that you can know what to change for the following year.
It’s good practice. And I tried for like two weeks. I had like a little journal and I just couldn’t do it. Like I, I, I joke when I go to conferences and stuff, that’s the first time I understood what teacher tired is. My first year teaching is like, you want the weighted blankets and you can’t think you just want to go home.
But I had to write something down. When I had my meeting with this mentor teacher and so I started writing just funny things down that kids did and I didn’t reflect on I just would write down like a sentence and that’s really how it began. I had no plans for any of it. Um, I had heard jokes from teachers saying like, Oh, you could write a book with all of your [00:10:00] stories, just like a common theme in education.
But I was just writing it down because I thought it was fun. Like there was no plan at all, but it changed from funny things. into things that were hard. And as I matured as a person, so did my entries, you know, like they, if you were to like put them out in chronical order, probably the first 5 percent are all just funny stuff that kids were saying, which is every day.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: Oh my gosh. Yeah. They’re hilarious. It’s every day.
Matt Eicheldinger: Um, but yeah, I did morph over time. Um, and it’s, I’m glad that it did.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: Yeah. Yeah. I want to talk. I want to go back because when I was checking out your website, you have this really interesting timeline about your journey as an author. And I love that you put this up there.
So you, I want you to just walk us through it, but this was not an easy process. And so tell the story of getting that first book published.
Matt Eicheldinger: Sure. Well, I’m glad you brought it up. I have that on my website because I think it. If people look at my platform at face value, they [00:11:00] think. Oh, big following then got book deal and I want to scream like it’s the opposite.
You guys don’t know my story. Um, so I’ve gotten really good at condensing this long story into short, so I’ll do my best. Um, so also in 2009 when I started teaching, all of my teacher friends had like unique qualities. Like there’s the singing teacher and the dancing teacher and I had nothing like I had nothing to incentivize kids except candy, which is not good practice.
And so, um, I happen to have a really good memory of my childhood. Um, and so I, I told my students, I’m like, Hey, if I tell you an embarrassing story about myself, will you guys do what I ask? And they’re like, we’ll see. So, so that day at the end of class,
Dr. Catlin Tucker: pretty
Matt Eicheldinger: embarrassing. Um, so I told my first story and they loved it.
They just ate it up. And so I developed something in my classroom called the story jar, which is these glass jars filled with slips of paper that have the title. Of a Mr. Eicheldinger embarrassing moment and so that’s my incentive and within [00:12:00] like A couple of weeks, I started to realize like I should write, I should actually go write these down in long form before I forget someday I will.
And so I went home when I was 21 and I started writing them down. And as I was doing it, I was like, well, maybe I could weave them into a book that would be kind of cool.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: And
Matt Eicheldinger: so I did, I called it the curse of 10 broken toes because yes, I have broken all 10 of my toes in various ways. Um, and then I printed it off and put it in my classroom.
Just to have, and I had one kid who wouldn’t read one day, he wouldn’t read anything we were doing. I was like, do you like my embarrassing stories? He’s like, yeah, I was like, here, read this. And over the next couple months, it kind of. Uh, became popular in our sixth grade cohort of kids and I printed more copies and then I thought, well, maybe I could actually like make a book like that would be cool.
How do you do that? And for those of you who don’t know, the way you do that traditionally is you send a letter to an agent in New York primarily and you say, Hey, my name is Matt Eicheldinger. I have this book called 10 broken toes. Would you like to read it? You don’t even send the book.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: And then you
Matt Eicheldinger: wait like three to six [00:13:00] months and then they say, I’m interested or I’m not.
And over the next decade, I only got nos, I sent letters every week for a very long time, and I would show my students these letters and I would tell them about my journey and I got really close in 2019, a very prominent agent in New York said, I’ll read your book, send it to me, I’ll get back to you in a week, and I didn’t sleep all week.
And then. I didn’t hear back from that person for eight weeks and at the eighth week they said, Hey, I didn’t read your book. Sorry.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: And
Matt Eicheldinger: yeah, it was heartbreaking. Yeah, it was absolutely heartbreaking. I thought for sure that was the moment. Um, But I had the data in front of me, like I had students who weren’t mine anymore.
It was so popular in a building that I knew kids liked it and it was helping reluctant readers. So I just needed a shot. And so I decided to take a risk and I made the book myself. I did pay to publish with a company here in the Twin Cities area. Um, I asked friends and family to buy the book before it existed.
I did a Kickstarter campaign. I raised enough to [00:14:00] print 2000 copies of hardback. Versions of the book and then I quickly realized how difficult it is to sell books. I went to every bookstore No one would take me
Dr. Catlin Tucker: like
Matt Eicheldinger: obviously like target walmart. They’re like, who are you? Wouldn’t listen, um independent bookstores, too I learned are really hesitant to take you depending on what your distribution is like um And so I started TikTok in the middle of the pandemic, um, because I was in a room by myself all year on a screen and I was going a little crazy in my room.
So I started making videos, just poking fun at myself, like mistakes I made in the classroom, silly things I did. And that helped me sell books and it sold so many that I started winning like international awards.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: And I was like,
Matt Eicheldinger: finally, someone will notice me. And two years go by, nobody, I don’t, I’d sold out all my books.
I had like 20 left in my basement because every time someone bought it, I had to go package and ship it. I used to buy.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: Stop it. Yeah. Doing all of that.
Matt Eicheldinger: Yeah. So if I got like an order of a hundred, my family. My little kids and [00:15:00] I, and my wife would make like a mass production line in our kitchen, handwrite all of them.
I would take them to the post office and because they’re media mail, they have to scan every one and you have to hit, it does not contain hazardous materials, takes hours. So I buy McDonald’s for all the workers and get there early. And uh, so I had 20 books left. I wasn’t going to ask people for money again.
That was my one ask. I’m not going to ask you to buy something again, but I wanted advice from someone in the industry to tell me whether or not I should give up on my dream. Do I make the next one? Do I take it alone and print more books? Like, what do I do? What do I have to do to get noticed here?
And I was able to meet with an agent who said, send me your book. I don’t know what advice to give you until I read it. I’ll get back to you in seven days. That sound familiar? So I was like, this is over. That’s fine. And, uh, her name’s Danny Siegelbaum. She called me the next day and offered me representation.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: Wow.
Matt Eicheldinger: Yeah. Another catch though, uh, at the time she said there, there’s a catch. I only sell women’s nonfiction. And I was like, [00:16:00]
Dr. Catlin Tucker: you’re like, that’s not what this is. Yeah.
Matt Eicheldinger: Excuse me. It’s a male protagonist and I’m a male, like how does that fit your narrative? And she said, I think your idea is good. I think we’ll sell your idea. And we did. And we sold it to Andrews McNeil publishing, which is the same publisher as Calvin and Hobbes, which is the only thing I would read growing up.
So very full circle moment. Wow. And, um, I was still kind of a nobody to them, right? Like I, I had a successful independent book. Um, we, I drew a hundred pictures for the re release, which came out in March of last year and I released it and it became an instant New York Times, the bestseller.
So like 15 years down to like a span of like a couple of weeks and then having what every author is trying to obtain in their career is pretty surreal and I still don’t know how to handle it.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: Yeah,
Matt Eicheldinger: I don’t know what it, I don’t know what it means, um, but I’m very proud of my journey. Um, more so because I got to share it. Like I know at face value it probably seems like, oh, Matt pursued really hard by himself, but my story is one of. of one of people helping [00:17:00] me and giving me advice when I needed it or that shoulder when I needed it.
Um, so the Matt Sprout series is very much a book created by everyone in my opinion.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: Yeah. I, I think the thing that was so, that I loved is. Just the perseverance because you I think you said on their website. It was like 200 rejection letters before you were like, okay I’m taking matters into my own hands and then you had what you needed to fund at least that first Bunch in like 24 hours 48 hours.
It was like yeah, I was like what an amazing Story not just for you know Anybody who stumbled on your website to know like what this took, but also I love that you are sharing it with your students. This idea that like, if you’re passionate about something, it doesn’t always go smoothly and you have to keep trying.
Like I just, I love that.
Matt Eicheldinger: Thank you. And it’s been fun too. Now that I have a, you know, quite a few followers, kids find me and they remember the rejection letters. And that’s been the best part. They’re like that you did [00:18:00] it, you actually did it. And that’s like, man, talk about. a joyful experience to have a kid remember That you were sharing failures and now they get to see you meet success and, and yeah, the Kickstarter campaign, we raised over 10, 000 in less than 24 hours.
And I wish everyone could experience that type of love from their community because that’s who supported me as I just went to my community and I said, you guys know me, I’m going to try and make this book and it’s really fun now because I can go, they get to hold the original up and be like, I was a part of that.
And I think they really enjoyed doing something that. They saw giving back to their own community. Like they’re creating, they’re helping create a book for kids. So they’re getting not their money in return, but they’re getting an experience. And I think that’s kind of what helped propel me, uh, to through that Kickstarter.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: Yeah. Well, in preparation for this conversation, I read that book. Um, I half read, I half listened on audible. So if you are an audible listener, it’s awesome. And apparently Matt reads it. I didn’t even realize it was you.
Matt Eicheldinger: [00:19:00] Oh, I thought you meant the sticky notes. No. So the, the Matt Sprout’s book is a man named Barrett Letty.
And then I did sticky notes. Sorry for the confusion. No, no,
Dr. Catlin Tucker: no. I’m glad you clarified. Cause when you said you read it, I was like, it just didn’t sound like you, but maybe you just sound different. No sticky notes. I pre ordered that has to be on its way. Cause I know that just got released. What on the 15th.
Yeah. So very excited to get that one. But I read the curse of the 10 broken toes. So for anybody who is teaching, like, Upper elementary into like middle school. Can you just give us a little sneak peek into this book, which I know is largely grounded in your life experience, which is wild that all this crazy stuff happened to you.
So just give like a little bit of a book teaser for, because I know a lot of teachers in that grade range are like, I’m trying to find something to just spark the love of reading and kids are reluctant readers. So tell us a little bit about it.
Matt Eicheldinger: Sure. So when I sat down to write it, I wanted to fill it with the stories that seemed almost unbelievable because that’s what kids [00:20:00] love is when they think, Oh, that, that seems unbelievable, but it could happen to me.
Right. And so, um, the story is, is mostly autobiographical, I’d say 85 percent and it follows 12 year old Matt Sprouts, which is me just Matt Eicheldinger by Matt Eicheldinger is kind of a mouthful.
Matt Eicheldinger: so Matt Sprouts, uh, is me. I’ve actually been drawing that character since I was in third grade. I’ve been drawing myself like that.
Yeah. And so, um, the book follows this 11 year old boy, Matt. And on the first day of summer vacation, he accidentally trips his neighbor and she breaks her collarbone, which actually happened. It was an accident. Um, but
Dr. Catlin Tucker: then he,
Matt Eicheldinger: uh, Jenna.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: Jenna, Jenna. Okay. Yeah. Uh,
Matt Eicheldinger: and Matt feels like this overwhelming sense of something and he doesn’t know what it is and his mom calls it guilt, but all of his friends say it’s the curse.
Oh, it’s the curse, this hometown myth. And so most of the book, Matt’s trying to figure out. All these bad things are happening to him, breaking toes amidst other things, and he can’t decide, is [00:21:00] this life getting back at me? Is this the curse? Or is this just happenstance? And, you know, there’s a lot of other things woven in there.
There’s, there’s funny scenes that have nothing to do with broken toes, but there’s friendships that change. He, uh, ends up getting a girlfriend, not predicted, and I try and weave in some life lessons in there too. Um, and the second and third books that are coming out have a lot more life lessons than the first, but my, my hope with the first book is that when the kids read that opening chapter of Matt breaking a collarbone, they’re like, Oh my gosh, I.
I can read something like this. Like, this is okay. And it is. It’s a fun book. And it’s fun to see how it’s resonated with reluctant readers.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: Yeah. Even when I first started it, the scene you paint of like watching the cartoons in the morning and the cereal and being like crazy all over the couch. I was like, this was me and my sister every Saturday morning before my parents got up.
So I can definitely imagine it’s super relatable for lots of people. Um, So I, [00:22:00] I know, and you kind of mentioned this, you have kids who have, you were their teacher, they come back, they kind of find you online. So you, given how, you know, popular your Instagram account is, are there any like funny or interesting moments where Students have found you online and kind of responded to some of the stories you tell.
I know I, I would often have high school students when I was teaching who would find like my Twitter account and come and we would have these hilarious exchanges. So I was just curious because I know you teach a younger group of students, but have you had those moments?
Matt Eicheldinger: I’ve had plenty of moments.
Luckily no one has, um, No one has recognized themselves in a story, and that’s my goal is I change names. Occasionally, I’ll change the place if I need to give it another layer of privacy, but I don’t want a kid to realize it’s them if I haven’t gotten permission from them. So that’s why, you know, the stories that I tell are pretty uplifting.
They would never feel embarrassed but now that I have the following to have, I have a lot of kids reach out and remind me of [00:23:00] things that they might remember that I might not necessarily do it. So I just had, uh, Uh, former student who’s now an adult reach out the other day and she’s like, do you remember when we were, you were teaching and like your phone started ringing, but you couldn’t find it.
And it was because your colleague threw it up in your ceiling tiles. And he did that because you put his markers in jello and she was, that was, yeah, we were having a prank war. And she said that was like the best way to start middle school is these two goofy teachers just having fun. Um, yeah, but on a, I guess the only other person, um, I tell a story.
About one of my students who passed away and that’s not even the focal point of the story. It’s an, it’s important. Um, she passed away suddenly. I found out of course, right before students walk in the door,
Dr. Catlin Tucker: right?
Matt Eicheldinger: And one of those students, the first student who walks through the door, um, looked at me and he goes, what’s wrong?
You always greet me at the door. Something’s wrong. And he just knew. And that kid reached out to me and said, I know that story. That’s me, isn’t it? And I was like, it, it is you. [00:24:00] And that was really powerful because. Um, I don’t think people understand like the close bond you have with kids in such a short amount of time that kid gets it, like that kid understood.
And so I’m, you know, I get DMs every once in a while from other students who, um, have, we have shared experiences, but no, none that recognize themselves in the story.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: Yeah. No, I can imagine. I didn’t even really think about that. That line you have to walk between telling the story, but not wanting to like tell a story that’s so specific that a student might see themselves in it.
Matt Eicheldinger: Yes. And there are, there’s a lot of stories that I have that will just never be told because I, there’s no way I could protect the student privacy and it’s too, I don’t want to say it’s too bad, but I do feel like some of those stories that. I can’t share would help a lot of people and help people understand the predicaments that teachers are put in sometimes when you’re trying to do what’s best for the kid and the parent.
And sometimes those things don’t match, not because you don’t want them to, but, um, maybe someday I’ll find a way, but right now I just, I keep those in my box.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: [00:25:00] Yeah, and what is the response been generally from teachers because I I got to imagine you hear a whole bunch from educators online
Matt Eicheldinger: Yeah, yeah, that’s been really fun So I have never been able to travel really I could travel but I’ve not for been a traveler and now that I get To go to conferences and do some keynotes.
It’s really cool to see how my stories just help other people remember theirs And I try and give like tips and tricks to do and see what I’ve seen without having to write it down for 15 years, but I’m learning that it doesn’t take much for a story to really unlock a lot of your hidden memories. So that’s been the best part is when I talk to educators, whether it’s via Instagram or in person, that’s the most common thing I hear is, Oh my gosh, this helped me remember something that I’ve forgotten.
And I’m going to go write it down because I never want to forget.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: Yeah, well, and in this moment, because so much of the work I do is around how do we support teachers and making this work feel more engaging and rewarding and [00:26:00] sustainable because so many teachers are feeling just pretty beaten down and burnt out and disillusioned with all of the expectations and the pressures and the challenges of teaching in this moment.
And I have to imagine that these are just such wonderful reminders of really why we got into this, which is to connect with students and inspire this level of learning and build relationships with them. But in the day to day, I can imagine it’s easy to focus on the things that are challenging instead of remembering these like moments where we have this really important impact.
Matt Eicheldinger: Absolutely. Part of my talk that I’ve been giving is I think in our profession, Education specific teachers end up only holding on to a handful of stories because they’re, you’re repeated stories. They’re the ones you tell over happy hour or to parents when they say, what’s it like being a teacher? And you tell a funny quirk story and there’s nothing wrong with those stories that you hold on to.
But I think you just. And we tend to forget all the other ones. And also we’re a profession where we make hundreds of decisions in a given hour and we have hundreds of small moments in a [00:27:00] given class. And when you have that many, you kind of prioritize the ones that are causing fires, right? I’m going to make sure the class runs smoothly.
And so if you’re not, you know, paying attention and looking for moments like this, I think you just tend to not see them.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: Yeah. Yeah. I love that you’re, when you’d go out and talk, that you’re really helping to kind of inspire or remind people of their own stories. I think that’s so powerful or maybe even just inspiring them to be on the lookout for those moments and like memory, like memorize them or remember more of them.
Yeah. So, your new book, uh, Sticky Notes, Memorable Lessons from Ordinary Moments, comes, or just came out, so I should be getting mine any time. Oh, thank you. Um, yeah, I’m excited, and I assume this is based on these stories that I’ve been watching you tell, is that correct?
Matt Eicheldinger: That’s correct. So, when I pitched the concept of the book to my publisher, I said, I want to tell stories But I want to tell them extremely short.
I don’t want to write paragraph upon [00:28:00] paragraph of a story Almost like chicken soup for the kid’s soul. Remember those books? I didn’t want it to feel like that I wanted to get at the heart of the story really quick and so, um, they were uh, I was lucky enough to where they said yes And so the book sticky notes is filled with about a hundred stories.
I’d say just over half are ones I’ve told already on Instagram for people who just don’t know me. Um, and then the other half are brand new to listeners who do know me. Um, and I, I tried to mix it up. I put in stories that are funny. Some are. I tried to really cast a wide net on the experiences we have in the classroom, and most of the stories are just me as the observer.
It’s, it’s rarely me that’s taking action or inaction. It’s just, I’m watching these things take place in my room. Here’s what the kids are doing, and here’s the lesson I learned through the eyes of child. And I’ve found that it’s so much more powerful when it’s kids doing it because it’s so much more genuine.
And it’s so impulsive that it has to be genuine. Like there’s [00:29:00] no time for these kids to think about their repercussions of their actions, especially in middle school. So many of these stories, um, do. They do make me cry when I tell them whether they’re joyful or sad because I remember what it was like to watch it.
And, um, that’s the response I’m getting from people who have read the book already. They’re like, you had me laughing one page and the next one I was literally sobbing and Good. That was my hope is that it would tug at your heartstrings a little bit. Um, so I’m enjoying watching the feedback come in. I was quite nervous because there’s not a lot of books out there that do really, really short stories.
I mean, I think each story is probably less than two paragraphs.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: Yeah. Well, because I can go into Amazon and see the like sneak peek. And so I was able to see a couple of them. And first, I think writing a story that condensed is way harder than writing a story that would go on for pages. But there’s something, you know, I think.
Sometimes as strange as it seems, because [00:30:00] I think a lot of us got into education, like I said, because we care about students who want to inspire this, like love of learning, but we get so focused and I’m super guilty of this on the content and the subject matter and what we’re supposed to get through and teach.
And so easy to like overlook that there are these little humans having their whole complex experience in our classrooms. And I think at least a couple that I read that I was able to preview online, I was just like, this is. such a moment of reminder, their humanness, that they are these individuals and they struggle and they have joy and they’re silly and let’s like not lose focus of that, you know?
Matt Eicheldinger: Absolutely. And that’s one thing. That’s one thing I think I’m good at, which is why sixth grade has been such a good fit for me is we like to say when kids are coming into sixth grade, they’re trying on all sorts of hats.
Am I going to be remembered as the athlete? Hat. Am I going to wear the class clown hat?Like who am I?
I like to think I help kids navigate and show them the opportunities that are in front of them. [00:31:00] Um, I think I’m an okay English teacher and writing teacher. I think I’m probably better now that I’ve gone through the publishing world a little bit. Um, but I think I’m really good at Doing what you said, just helping kids grow up and navigate life.
And that’s so much of school that I do think we tend to lose focus on when we get stuck on test scores and state standards. It’s like, yeah, but that kid that came to class, he made a friend today and he didn’t have any friends a week ago. And now he’s smiling like that’s, that’s a bigger, you remember when you went to school and they said like the best part of you being a teacher would be the light bulb moment when you see a kid get a concept.
Um, that is true for listeners who might not be in education. Like it’s cool when a kid finally gets a concept. Um, but man, there’s so many other moments that outshine those in my opinion of just kids, uh, being genuine and, uh, Yeah. Yeah. I
Dr. Catlin Tucker: love that. So I know you said that they can make you emotional, so I feel a little bad asking you this, but just for anybody who hasn’t seen one of your stories online, [00:32:00] who hasn’t, you know, picked up this book yet, could you share like one of your favorite sticky notes stories or favorite moments, um, just so they can get like a taste of it?
Matt Eicheldinger: Well, man, I don’t know. There’s such a wide net. Do you want me to tell like an emotional one like a hat? Like I don’t know what kind of story should the listeners get?
Dr. Catlin Tucker: I don’t know. I I I think you choose I it could be emotional but it could also be like a little sweet funny moment because there are those two that are touching
Matt Eicheldinger: Okay You’re going to have to cut a long pause here while I think about which one to tell.
Um, I’ll tell this one because it caught me off guard. It’s one of my favorite stories. Hopefully I can tell it succinctly. I haven’t told in a while. Um, so I was, I was teaching sixth grade and one of our students, uh, their sibling passed away from cancer. It was a really long battle. It was really hard.
And our students, uh, Stayed out of school for about a month, uh, as her sister passed away. And during the reentry of school, the student of ours sent us an email and said, Hey, when I come back, I [00:33:00] don’t want to talk about it. Don’t bring it up. Don’t ask me how I’m doing. I just want to be at school. And that’s hard as a teacher because you love these kids and you want to show them they care.
And so when a kid says, don’t show me that can be tough, but you have to respect what they’re going through. And so the kid came back. Um, we didn’t mention anything, just rolled her right back into the routine. Um, but very shortly after, about a week later, uh, this kid, um, was sitting in class, wasn’t looking very comfortable and then came up to me and said, can I borrow this chair?
It’s an empty chair next to my desk. I was like, yeah, absolutely. And she brought it over to her desk and it just sat there. She didn’t put her feet up on it. She didn’t place her books. It just sat next to her. And then at the end of class, she brought it back up to me and said, Can I use this chair tomorrow?
It helped me feel better. It was then I didn’t really, I really understood that that chair wasn’t as empty as I thought it was.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: Mm hmm.
Matt Eicheldinger: And, uh, and she did. She used it every day for a couple weeks. And no one asked, and I didn’t ask, but I knew exactly why she was using it.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: Oh my [00:34:00] gosh.
Matt Eicheldinger: So, yeah, it’s those types of stories that You could easily lose sight of if you are really caught up in trying to keep the kid from running out of your room or, you know, putting out all the other fires.
Um, yeah, but that story is special.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: Yeah, no, it’s a really good story. Um, all right. So I’m going to pull it together. Um, so I know you’re out on tour, um, kind of sharing about your book. So, and you’ve got. Two more that are coming that are follow ups to the 10 broken toes. So just tell us a little bit about what’s up next for you.
What are you focused on now? Anything that listeners can kind of be on the lookout for?
Matt Eicheldinger: Yeah, well, I joke that I don’t know what I’m doing. So most days I open up my computer and I see what I’m doing. But no, I’ve got. Three books out right now. So there’s the original Matt Sprouts book and then the sequel, which is called Matt Sprouts.
And the Day Nora Ate the Sun. Mm-hmm . Which is way less autobiographical. Okay. Sticky Notes just came out. And then this summer, the third book in the Matt Sprouts series comes out. And then in the fall, [00:35:00] um, a book I’m really excited for is called Holes in My Underwear, . And it’s, uh, it’s a compilation of illustrated poetry because as you know, oftentimes in education you don’t have.
The materials or curriculum that you need to teach. So you have to go find it. And I’ve never been one to go find it. I usually just make it. And so I made poetry for kids for 15 years and middle schoolers will tell you exactly what they think about it. And so it’s not just 15 years of poetry. It’s 15 years of highly vetted poetry, thoughtful thinkers, you know, and so that one comes out in the fall.
I’m really, it’s going to look very similar to Shel Silverstein. And I’m excited. And then, you know, after that, I’m actively pitching book ideas to my publisher, um, hopefully we’ll have something to announce soon. Um, but in the meantime, I probably do what you do. I look at my inquiries and see what public speaking opportunities there are.
Um, but in between all that work stuff, since I’m on leave, it’s been really nice just to enjoy the [00:36:00] time of not having teacher fog, I get to. You know, Sunday nights. I’m not less than planning. I should say every night. I’m not less than planning. Um, I get to watch my kids go on the bus. Something I never got to do.
I go on walks with my wife almost daily. These are things that, um, would be really hard to let go of when my leave is done. And so a common question I get is, Oh, you’re not going back to teaching, are you? And my answer is, I have no idea. My leave is still another year. It’s a three to five year leave. Um, I’m enjoying being on the other side of education where I get to create for kids.
And so I’ve never felt out of education. I do school visits at least once a week. Um, so yeah, for listeners, um, I’m traveling a little bit. I’m doing conferences, author visits, writing, just a smattering every day of something new, but it’s been enjoyable.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: That’s awesome. Well, I mean, if and when you do go back to the classroom, I think your point earlier about kind of sharing your journey with students.
I remember when I was writing my [00:37:00] first book and I was teaching full time, I would literally, Gosh, how did you do it?
Dr. Catlin Tucker: I, a lot of late nights and early mornings, like I had to wake up at like 4 a. m. Because once my kiddos got up at like six, it was done. All the quiet was over in our house until they went to bed.
But I would just, uh, like literally post, I would pin up my drafts of chapters and Every edited draft and they would circle the classroom. And my whole point was just the editing process is basically never done there. Even when you publish, it’s not perfect. And there are all these wonderful lessons that we learn going through these experiences that when we are with students, I think make us even better teachers.
So I’m glad you get to enjoy some of these other things and grow and stretch. Yeah, I think that’s awesome. Okay, so I always end my conversations with the exact same question and it sounds like maybe you already gave us a preview because you’re doing all these wonderful things on leave. But are there like tips and maybe even [00:38:00] dipping back into when you were teaching full time, you clearly have a family, you’re juggling a million things, like routines, strategies, anything that helped you try to at least strive for something that felt like a healthy work life balance?
Matt Eicheldinger: for sure. Um, it’s funny, I think I learned this a little too late. I think if I would’ve learned it earlier, I wouldn’t have felt as much burnout as I did right before I went on leave. And that’s just to slow down. The kids will be fine. I always felt this need to keep pace with my colleagues.
Mm-hmm . You know, be within a couple lessons of them.
I can’t get too far behind or too far ahead. And really what I found was if I go at my speed, if I am comfortable and I am relaxed, it translates into better learning for the kids. If I am feeling rushed and I’m feeling like we need to get something done, kids feel stressed. Just like your own children emulate you when you’re at home.
If you’re upset, your kids get a little cranky. If you’re joyful, your kids are at same thing for being a public school teacher or any teacher, I should say, um, is you just need to learn to slow down a little bit. And I know [00:39:00] that’s hard as a teacher. We have a lot to get through, but not feeling like you have to keep pace with everybody else.
That’s my biggest tip and something that I would, yeah, I would think about going back a lot.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: I love that because there is so much pressure to move at this rapid clip, keep up with the pacing guide or to your point, like the other teachers in your grade level, but racing through things in a way that like you’re not comfortable with you, you’re not feeling like good about and you know your students are is, oh, I’ve been there.
That’s the worst feeling. Yeah.
Matt Eicheldinger: Yeah. So I don’t know. I don’t have too much advice, but that’s the one that I’ve learned for me, for me.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: No, I love it. I love it. Well, thank you so much, Matt. I appreciate you taking time out of your schedule to have this conversation. I hope everybody checks you out on Instagram.
These stories are so inspiring, um, and you can find all those books online. So I will have those in the show notes as well. So thank you again. I appreciate it.
Matt Eicheldinger: Thank you. This is wonderful. Appreciate it.
Dr. Catlin Tucker: [00:40:00] I love this conversation. I’m so glad I reached out to Matt to see if he would join me for a chat on the podcast. I don’t usually reach out to folks on social media who I’ve never met, but I just connected so deeply with his stories. He seemed like such a genuine person and I picked up his. book. Uh, The Curse of Ten Broken Toes and read it because I was curious and I love, uh, literature for younger readers and younger students and so just really excited to be able to chat with him about his experience and his journey.
I love his perseverance in getting his book published and building an audience and I love that he’s putting something out into the world that is so positive and hopefully reminds us as educators why we got into this work and why it’s so incredibly valuable because I know it’s challenging but these small moments are just these great reminders of why we’re here, why we do this work, why we kind of, you know, [00:41:00] get up every morning.
So just really appreciate this conversation. As always, I want to thank you guys for joining me for this episode. I cannot encourage you enough to go find Matt. on Instagram or TikTok. Check out some of his stories. You can, um, look in the show notes for links to all of his books and his website. And if you have any questions or comments or feedback for me, you can find me online.
I’m on, uh, Twitter or X at Catlin underscore Tucker, Instagram at Catlin Tucker, or you can find me on my website, catlintucker. com. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week.
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