Shownotes:
Are you ready for a breath of fresh air??? Bryon Carpenter is an educator working with kids at every age and stage teaching math, digital media design, and chemistry! In this very cool episode, Bryon reveals a personal decision he made as an adult that has made all the difference!
About Our Guest:
Husband, father, Christ-follower, teacher, chemist, outdoors, enthusiast, fisherman, content creator, podcaster, glad for the journey.
Website: Bryoncarpenter.com
Twitter: @bryoncar
About Lainie:
Lainie Rowell is an educator, international consultant, podcaster, and TEDx speaker. She is the lead author of Evolving Learner and a contributing author of Because of a Teacher. Her latest book, Evolving with Gratitude, was just released. An experienced teacher and district leader, her expertise includes learner-driven design, community building, online/blended learning, and professional learning. Learn more at linktr.ee/lainierowell.
Twitter - @LainieRowell
Instagram - @LainieRowell
Evolving with Gratitude, the book, is now available! Purchase here!
You can also get bulk orders for your staff (10 copies or more) at a discounted price! Just fill out the form linked below and someone will get back to you ASAP! bit.ly/ewgbulkdiscount
Transcript:
Lainie Rowell
Welcome to the Evolving with Gratitude Podcast. I'm your host, Lainie Rowell and I'm thankful you're here. Let's talk about ways to bring gratitude into our learning communities to nurture relationships, improve well being, and activate learning.
Lainie Rowell: Hello friends, thank you for being here. Thank you for listening. I am so happy to welcome Bryon Carpenter here. Thank you for being here, Bryon.
Bryon Carpenter: Thanks Lainie for having me. It's so good to be here today.
Lainie Rowell: This is one of those where we were having so much fun chatting before I was like, oh wait, we should probably hit record at some point.
So I'm super happy to be here with you. Yes. And a little jealous cuz in the pre-show I heard you're having brunch with some of my close friends, close as in I adore them, but physically not close to me, and I'm just super jealous that you're all gonna be together tomorrow. So I hope you, I hope you all have fun and send my love
Bryon Carpenter: I sure will. I'll pass along your love to everybody that I'm sitting around the table with for breakfast.
Lainie Rowell: So, so awesome. I'm gonna introduce you. It will not be close to enough, and I'm gonna ask you to add as much as you want because there is so much to you. And even just on the call, like learning even more about what your day-to-day is like.
Just before we hit record, I'm like, wow. So you teach in a virtual school, teaching all ages. Now I am a listener of your podcast and I don't know that I caught this. Like I, I knew that you got to be around all ages, but I don't know that I actually picked up on the fact that you teach all ages K to 12, which is remarkable. Super impressive.
Bryon Carpenter: Yep. Yep.
Lainie Rowell: And that you teach chemistry, math, digital media design. You are a very, very busy man. And on top of that, you also are a podcast host. I just said that cuz I'm a listener, but I want, I want you to fill in the blanks cuz there's a lot that I didn't get a chance to say. So welcome and what, what else do you want us to know about you?
Bryon Carpenter: All right, thanks , . Yeah, I'm a husband, father Christ follower. I am a teacher. I am a fly fisherman. I am a content creator, podcaster, and creativity is a big part of a lot of the things that I do. So that brings me a lot of joy in my life. So creativity's important and... Yeah, I have been teaching for 14 years.
Prior to that I was a research scientist at a pharmaceutical company and discovered after well, I got laid off because there was a hostile board takeover in a nasty situation, and I was able to walk through that process and observe it and feel the pain of that. But they offered me a job in Illinois and I decided I was gonna stay in British Columbia where we live because this is my home.
And you know, we had two children at the time. And it just was a better thing for us to stay here. So we've been here in British Columbia and I grew up in Calgary, Alberta. So I, I went to university there, Master's of CA Science there. And then we moved out here for the pharmacy job, pharmaceutical job.
And then I transitioned to becoming a teacher and which is best move of my life.
Lainie Rowell: I hear how fulfilling and how much joy this job brings you. Even though that's not to say that there aren't hard days, cuz I imagine there are .
Bryon Carpenter: Well, any job has hard days, right? So, you know, if it's all roses all the time, then are you being challenged, right?
Lainie Rowell: Yeah. All right, my friend, this is where I'm gonna get to what many will say is the toughest question I ask , but the good news is there's no wrong answer. So I think that's like, I think it's kind of an easy question in that way.
There's no wrong answer. It's just what does gratitude mean to you?
Bryon Carpenter: Gratitude means to me I grew up in a, in a Christian home. And so growing up, going to church all the time and, you know, reading the Bible and there's a verse in First Thessalonians, chapter five, verse 16 to 18 that says, "Rejoice, always pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ for you." And so growing up, hearing that it was impressed on me by my parents to be grateful and to be grateful for every situation. And then as I became an adult, that significantly changed as it became a personal decision that I had to make every day.
You know? And so, becoming, you know, an adult made it important because it allowed me to process things that were challenging and hard. As we were talking prior to this, you know, I was talking about the snow outside and about getting around and the, the challenge of driving in the snow when we're not used to driving in the snow, it's a process to work through and to go, I am thankful that I'm here safely, you know?
Lainie Rowell: Mm-hmm.
Bryon Carpenter: The things that are challenging in life, like that hostile board takeover at the pharmaceutical company going, okay, had that not happened, I wouldn't have taken the step of faith to go, can I be a teacher? And I figured that I could, but I didn't know the education side directly because I had not ever...
I taught as a lab instructor, like a lab TA in university. But that was the closest that I had to like having to prepare curriculum and do things like that. So I knew I loved people, but I'm like, how hard is this gonna be? What's it gonna be like? And you know, that one year of, of teacher training before I became a teacher, that was challenging because we had two and a half kids during that time and not, we didn't have them, but you know, they, I was, had a family and a home and vehicles and stuff and responsibility, and it was, you know, harder than my Master's of science for that reason. You know, the master's of science was more technical and more demanding academically, but it was way easier because I didn't have the responsibility to go along with that..
Lainie Rowell: I hear you when you say responsibility. I think that has probably always been the biggest challenge for me as an educator, whether I'm working with kids or adults, is this moral obligation to always do the best for our learners, again, of any age. And so that can, that can come with some weight that comes with a lot of weight actually.
And so it's a blessing that we have. Ability to make the impact. But it can also be like, oh my gosh. So I really hear you when you're saying like, well, you know, getting my master's of science was difficult for the academic reasons. But this was a different kind of difficult, was it not what you expected when you got into the classroom?
Had you anticipated this or was it like, cause I don't know if you can anticipate what it's like until you're in it.
Bryon Carpenter: Well, No, I didn't. I, I didn't know what to expect. I knew what it was like to be a student and I, I'd seen teachers teach all my life, but I, I didn't know what it was like to have that responsibility of like, guiding and, and shaping young minds and affecting, you know, things that they think about themselves and going, okay, that's a responsibility.
Yeah, and just learning, learning about how to, how to do that and how to navigate that. So, Yeah.
Lainie Rowell: But you do it so well from what I can see when I hear you talk about your experience as a teacher and what it's like for you to be working with the kids, and it just seems like it's always it's not easy, but it's like I said, fulfilling and joyful for you and something that you're, you're glad that something that was not great led you to something great.
Bryon Carpenter: That's right. Exactly. So the definition that I'm gonna give you is that gratitude is a heart attitude of Thanksgiving. Right? And so that is something, a verb that I do that leads to joy. And so joy is something that is different than happiness. In my thought, happiness is a feeling. Joy is still an attitude of, of peacefulness of. happiness. But it's a lot to me, joy is bigger. It's a much smaller word, but it's a much bigger thing and more significant than being happy. I've heard people talk on podcasts about, you know, being happy and how happiness is, is so important, but I, I think that it can be fleeting and that, you know, chasing joy is a, is a much better pursuit for me.
Lainie Rowell: It's so interesting because the social scientists are always trying to pin down these definitions of what does joy versus happiness mean? And, and you know, obviously the first question I'm asking you is what does gratitude mean to you? And I think it's nice that we have the social scientists helping us come up with what they would consider their best definition, but then our, our own personal, everything that, you know, our religion, our culture, our values, like everything that we bring into it is gonna influence that. And it reminded me when you said the difference between joy and happiness... when I became a mom, one of one of my friends said, the days are long, but the years are short and being a parent is about joy, not happiness, and so kinda like you said, like the joy being the bigger thing. And so that was, that was the connection I made as you were talking about that. I wanna get into, if you're comfortable with it, you know, what is this looking like in your day-to-day, you know, experience and expressing gratitude.
And as I always say, you're welcome to take this in any direction you want. Personal, professional, both. You know, what does it look like with kids, peers, the world, all of the above.
Bryon Carpenter: Mm-hmm. . All right. My one word for 2022, and I've been doing one word for probably about the past four years or so, and a couple years ago it was appreciate, so that was my one word, which gets into like gratitude practices and making sure that I'm paying attention to those around me and being appreciative of the things.
People and the, the stuff, right? And so this past year, my one word was presence. And that's about being right here where I am fully engaged in my now with whomever I'm here with. So like you right now, Lainie, pushing away any distractions, right? And so being able to focus and be present so that I can be fully engaged with whoever I'm with. And I experience what's happening at the moment in time. Right? You know, we've got a camera on Zoom right now recording our conversation and typically many times I'll have my phone out recording what is happening and people are like, Carpenter, put your phone down because like you're missing it.
And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. I got it. We'll watch it later again and again, and again and again. Right? Yeah. You know , my phone, it can be a distraction to others, but for me it allows me to capture, it's a capturing device. I'm not on it doing other things at that time.
I'm like using it as a camera and being present. So, it's about enjoying what's happening at that moment in time.
Lainie Rowell: I like how you're distinguishing between... because it, this is very subtle, but I think a lot of people would say, if you're looking at a device, you're probably being distracted.
Bryon Carpenter: Yes.
Lainie Rowell: Well, that's because of course the device is designed it's the attention game. Every app's trying to get your attention. But that you're talking about like, well, no, I'm being super present. I'm not task switching. Like I am being present in this reflection that I'm doing live as I'm, I'm thinking of like your podcast when you're walking and you're reflecting.
Bryon Carpenter: Yes.
Lainie Rowell: And then you go back and listen to that and you reflect on the reflecting and it's like very meta. Very meta. I love it. And, and that's one of the reasons why I have continued this podcast. Originally, I was gonna make this a very short series and only do you know so many episodes. But I just love the process of being able to have this conversation, like you said, where we're present together and I'm fully engaged in this.
And then I'm also gonna get to go back and listen to it multiple times and I will, I'll listen to it at least a few times cuz I'll check one for audio and I'll make sure the transcript's good and then the day it comes out I always listen to it again.
Tell us more about your podcast cuz I actually see this as a very public display of gratitude.
Bryon Carpenter: All right, so my podcast is FreshAirAtFive, and it started off, I think it was in April of 2019 or 18 or something like that, as #FreshAirAtFive. So that's all one word. I started using that hashtag and you can, you can pick up on this story. If you go to my website, Bryon carpenter.com. And in there I've got a, why am I you doing this podcast? Or what's FreshAirAtFive about? And it started with me being impressed by Sarah Johnson of The In Awe Podcast and Balance Like a Pirate. And her and Jessica Kaine and Jessica Johnson wrote a book called Bounce Like a Pirate and my very first podcasting recording experience was with Tim Cavey back about probably four years ago, maybe five It was a lot. It was a while ago, and Sarah's episode was the episode right after mine, and I hadn't listened to a lot of educational podcasts to that point, but Tim reached out to me and said, Hey, you wanna be on my podcast?
And I'm like, Who, me, little old me. I'm like, well, I, okay. And so I, I recorded and then I listened to Sarah's podcast and I was like so fired up by what she said that I'm like, oh, I'm gonna go buy her book. And so I went and bought the. And the book started collecting dust because that's what books in my house do because I'm not a reader.
And they started collecting dust, which unfortunately, so you know, it was like four months later that I picked the book up and thought, you know, I should probably read this book because it was about work and life balance. And I'm like, well, this is a teeter-totter and you know, if I can get that figured out, then it's a whole lot better.
But she says, no. It's about actually four things. Your personal, professional, your positional, and your passion, and keeping those things in balance and in check with one another. And so that was kind of the, the impetus for working out this balance thing and getting exercise and taking care of myself. And I started going to the gym, but when I went to the gym, I just listened to music in my head and I was like not learning anything.
And I'd run, and then that became difficult because if I didn't get there by 5:00 AM., but five after five, it threw my morning off, right? And threw the routine off. And I'm like, well, I can do, I can start walking on my own around my neighborhood. And I live in a hilly area and so lots of hills and I and I can listen to podcasts.
So I started listening to podcasts and I learned that, you know, If I reach out to a podcaster, they might go, Hey, thanks for listening. Right? And, and have this kind of connection and a way of me saying, thank you for taking the time to do that thing. That takes effort to create a podcast episode so that others can hear it.
And then, I started doing that and I was like, Hey, you guys gotta listen to this podcast because it impacted me. And, and one thing, led to another. I was just using graphics that at that time, like graphic design images so I could get more than 240 characters into a post. I can get a whole bunch more than I could put on the picture.
Mm-hmm. , right? And so that picture and then Jeff Garas of Teach Better Team was like one time he said, Hey, and if you, maybe if you use a selfie video, like I learned about selfie videos, you can put videos on Twitter. Oh, I could get a whole lot more words that way. So I started recording selfie videos and putting them on Twitter on the daily of what I was listening to with hashtag FreshAirAtFive.
That led into, @FreshAirAtFive, the tag, because someone else that I listened to said, Hey Bryon, you should probably go get that tag for all the Instagram and everything. So for branding purposes, have that at your disposal. You might not need it right now, but go get it. And I did that led to me posting with at @FreshAirAtFive on Twitter.
My dailies every. . And then it was two years ago, almost right about now, that Chris Nessi of House of EdTech, he called me out on his podcast and said, Bryon Carpenter, you need to start a podcast. And I said, thought to myself, what am I gonna talk about? Like, I'm just a guy that walks around and I, this is what I do, right?
And I'm like, oh, okay. I gotta get a theme. I gotta get like, you know, Evolving with Gratitude. No, that's Lainie, she's gonna use that in the future. No, it's like things like that. And I'm like, what's the...? How's this gonna work? Right. And he says, you know what? You're already doing it. He met with me over Zoom one Christmas and spent a couple and a half hours with me over Zoom and taught me how to use Audacity, how to take my video chunks and put them into Audacity to get the audio out so that I could build a podcast episode over the course of a week, you know, and post at one time.
You know, I'm super thankful for Chris for being bold and going Carpenter, you gotta do this. Right? And, and it's about it's about us challenging one another to, you know, better things, right? You know, I want to make people better after they've spent time with me, you know, and if they're, they're not better after they've spent time with me than what was I doing?
How was I making an impact on them, right? Yeah. You know, and so the whole thing is that I listen to these podcasts and then I hold my phone up and I record, and I, I say, thank you for what you've done, and I have a grateful heart for that. I reflect on how that's applicable to my space and how I'm growing.
And honestly, it's, it's, My podcast is about me getting up and getting some exercise so that I'm not wasting my day. It's about me learning something and doing professional development that's free and fantastic. And about saying thank you. And you know, encouraging others to listen to podcasts, right?
And so, That's what the whole thing is for me is about. And as you know we just crossed over episode 100 of FreshAirAtFive, which like blows my brain that I've been doing this for like a hundred weeks and there's been only about two or three weeks in that past a hundred that I didn't actually record that week.
Right. Like, . You know, like today I didn't go out for my walk because I can't walk down the sidewalk. There's too much snow I could put my snowshoes on, but that's way too much effort at minus 25 . So I will listen to something and then I'll record to get the content out there and to be connecting and stay current with the podcast that I listen to.
But overall, you know it. And I titled that episode, episode 100. The grateful for the journey. Grateful for this journey, you know, and this journey of podcasting. You know, when we pressed send on that very first podcast of, you know, in January of 2020 with Chris Nessi, he was there with me and he's like, okay, Carpenter pushed the button.
I'm like, ah, I gotta push the button. He goes, you gotta push the button. And so I push the button and you know, it's one little step after another that gets you to where you're at much later, and you're like, wow, that's incredible.
Lainie Rowell: I so appreciate all the shout outs that you just gave there especially to Chris Nessie for getting you to do this.
And I have to say, I consider myself a podcast aficionado, I listen to podcasts every single day. And I listen to so many different podcasts and I just think that your format is so creative and it feels to me like creativity and gratitude is like a through line through your whole life. I mean, you even said earlier it's a personal decision as an adult to be grateful, even though that was already given to you, foundationally from your family.
Mm-hmm. , like you consciously made this choice. And I will say my early twenties was probably when I was the most entitled, the least grateful. And I don't know what it was, but just I felt like the world like owed me some stuff and I was like, everything's so hard. Why is everything so hard? And now I look back and I'm like, oh my gosh, that was so easy.
Like I had it so easy. What will I look back in 20 years and go, oh my gosh, it's so easy now. And so it kind of gave me a different perspective especially when I started doing this deeper dive in gratitude. So, mm-hmm. That I love that you do this podcast. I do listen which is I've heard a lot of your episodes and I just thank you for doing it.
I thank you as not just a podcaster, but as an educator, I am such a fan of learning through this, and you have connected me to other podcasts that I didn't know about. Mm-hmm. . And so you've helped me. And like I said, I'm an aficionado. Like it's not like I've never. I need anyone telling me what podcast to listen to.
The list is long. The library is full. Yes, but you have turned me onto new ones and I am very grateful for that.
Bryon Carpenter: Well, that, that's part of the point, is that, you know what, I can share what I'm learning and it's not about me, it's about other people and what they're doing. And you know, if you can go and listen to Tom Shimmer and be inspired by the things that he's doing and, you know, change your grading practice as a result of that, then go do that, right?
Mm-hmm. , or if you need some tech ideas, you can go listen to Chris Nessie and you know, Eric Geis and Nick Johnson on their podcasts. And so I, I could list a whole bunch here and I'm not...
Lainie Rowell: I know. I'm like, are you trying to sneak in more shout outs. I feel like this whole episode to shout out .
Bryon Carpenter: Yeah, well,
Lainie Rowell: 'not mad at it.
Bryon Carpenter: No, no. So you know what? And it's about making us... we're better together. Right? You know, if, if we can be in community, even in this kind of ethereal, you are somewhere and I'm a different place, but we can connect, and now we're having this conversation today as a result of just me listening to your podcast and you listening to my podcast that you're like, Bryon be on my podcast and I'm like, wow. You know, so it's, it's, it's pretty surreal. It's it's an interesting kind of meta thing. Mm-hmm. that, you know, I think is important. So for me, it's important. I hope people find value in it. I've got one listener that has listened to every episode and you know, she's in Southern Alberta and you know, it's not about the numbers.
I look at my numbers and go, oh, I wish they were bigger, you know, but then that's me just being prideful, right? Going, okay. If I'm making a difference for one person, then that's what matters.
Lainie Rowell: It is. I think I would maybe say it that you, you might, and this is just me. You can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think as a podcaster, we care about the numbers just because we're trying to lift other people up. Mm-hmm. , and we're trying to amplify them as much as possible. So when we have good numbers for an episode, we're like, oh, I got that person to this many people. In your case , I got those podcasts, these people getting a new audience to them. And so it's like, to me it feels very other facing and altruistic and not so much. I mean, yes, there's, there's a little bit of our brain going, did we do it? Did we do it?
Bryon Carpenter: I know, right?
Lainie Rowell: But I'm not making any money on podcasting.
Bryon Carpenter: Nope.
Lainie Rowell: I don't think you've monetized yours.
Bryon Carpenter: Nope.
Lainie Rowell: It is purely a passion project for us both. So I, I think we just want to get the people's voices out there, we wanted, like you said, be better together.
Bryon Carpenter: Yeah, exactly. Yes.
Lainie Rowell: Okay my friend, I know I gotta let you go soon. You are technically on winter break and this will come out in the new year, so I'm excited. And another reason I keep having this podcast going is cuz I just wanna be able to chat with people. So it seems like a great excuse.
Bryon Carpenter: Fantastic.
Lainie Rowell: Come chat with me,
Bryon Carpenter: Exactly, exactly.
Lainie Rowell: You seem so cool online. I wanna talk to you in, in real time, so this has been awesome. I wanna give you an opportunity to give. I mean, I'm gonna try not to be a real hard ass here, excuse my language, but I feel like there've already been a lot of shoutouts, so I'm gonna encourage you to keep it under control.
No, I can't even do that. I can't even say it with a straight face. As many shoutouts as you want. Go for it.
Bryon Carpenter: All right, so my shout outs are actually not podcasters that I've listened to recently or anybody in my recent space, but I'm gonna shout out my former principal Brad Hutchinson, who is also my next door neighbor.
And as I was looking at training to become a teacher. And just wondering what that was. It was a cold October night. I walked over to his house, knocked on his door. Him and his wife invited me in and we sat on the couch for an hour and talked about education and why they do what they do, and like just that open doorness, you know, and he was my boss for 12 years and just, it made a big difference for me.
So that's Brad Hutchinson, and then one more, this is my research colleague. He was the PhD that invited me to organic chemistry lab and was there, he was also the instructor for second year organic chemistry. And I remember sitting around with him talking education speak and you know, like how do we normalize all the grades across all the labs because you know, there were some TAs that cared and others that could c could care less.
And how do we know the good ones from the bad ones? And I'm like, wow, that's a, you're talking to me about that. And I guess you think I'm a good one. I hope so. You know, and so Ian Hunt he's at the University of Calgary and he's teaching organic chemistry there and making a difference in students' lives out.
Lainie Rowell: Oh, that's wonderful. I appreciate all the shout outs and I. See so much in you. And again, that's why I wanted to have you on here. I wanted to chat with you live and get this opportunity to make a more personal connection. Not that we don't have personal connections online, but it just feels like it's an extra touchpoint, if you will.
So I'm, I'm really happy to have had this conversation with you and I thank you for your time. Stay safe in that crazy snow . And you said it was negative 25 celsius. I cannot do the conversion for the Americans.
Bryon Carpenter: That's, that's about, I think, minus 25 Fahrenheit as well. So it's pretty cold.
Lainie Rowell: What?
Bryon Carpenter: It's cold. Yes. Oh, it's snappy outside. So, and I don't even live in like, normal Canada. I live in like the tropical part of Canada, where this is a, this is a, they call this a, an extreme weather event. It's not normal winter, you know, so our normal winter's like, you know, above freezing, so maybe 40 degrees and raining all the time as opposed to snowing. Yes.
Lainie Rowell: I might have to borrow that. That you live in Tropical Canada. That's the best thing I've ever heard.
Bryon Carpenter: Yeah.
Lainie Rowell: That's so awesome, my friend. Okay, well again, thank you for your time. How can people reach out to you? I know you've given the hashtag for FreshAirAtFive, but let's get it all out there again and I'll make sure it's in the show notes too.
Bryon Carpenter: All right, so the hashtag for the podcast is at FreshAirAtFive, all one word, and f i v e at the end. The one that's better is @BryonCar, b r y o n c a r, on Twitter. And it is, that's, I'm on Twitter. I don't spend a lot of time other places. I do have a. website, BryonCarpenter.com. And I occasionally post a blog there, but it's a connection spot if you'd like.
So reach out to me on Twitter. That's the best way. DM me if you want. And yes, that's me.
Lainie Rowell: So you got BryonCarpenter.com. This is where it's helpful that you're, Bryon is spelled a little bit differently.
Bryon Carpenter: Exactly. And that started back in my very first year of teaching, going, I think I could have a website.
That might be important. And I started blended learning as a result of that inadvertently, because I put my content out there for students and they'd be away sick and they'd come back with their work done. And then I'm like, how'd you do that? Well, I went to the website.
I'm like, there you go. So.
Lainie Rowell: That's amazing. Trailblazer, you friend. All right, we'll have a wonderful rest of 2022 and I know people will be listening in 2023, and thank you for those of you listening.
Bryon Carpenter: All right, thanks all.
Lainie Rowell
If you're grateful for this episode, please be sure to subscribe today. And if you're feeling really thankful, please go to Apple podcasts to submit a review so other educators know the value. One last thing. Please connect on social media using the hashtag #EvolvingWithGratitude to share your gratitude stories.