Two Versions of Me & One Really Boring Paper that Cost me $26,000
There are two versions of me.
One of them spent hours locked in a room every night writing a doctoral dissertation so academically rigid it would make C-SPAN fall asleep.
I had to strip every ounce of Tylerness outta my writing. It felt like I was Demi Moore from Ghosts, and other people’s peer-reviewed research was my Patrick Swayze.
No metaphors, no pop culture references, no rogue squirrel thoughts scurrying across the page, NO HARRY POTTER! Just straight facts and citations, boi. 🎓😢
But here's the thing...
While I was knee-deep in APA formatting and rewriting the same paragraph 14 times so it would sound “academic” and have none of my “opinion,” I found myself craving an outlet like a charger at Disney.
I needed that creative outlet so bad, during writing that dissertation, I literally wrote an entire book.
That’s right.
While I was crafting a super boring paper that would (eventually) live forever on a college library website... I was also writing The Baller Teacher Playbook. A book where I do as much Tyler as was allowed by law. Weaving in pop culture, lil jokey jokes, and raw honesty like I was a less clever Tony Stark without the financial backing.
Those two projects? Totally different rivers. But both flow from the same source.
Why do I tell you this?
Because you, my friend, are doing the exact same thing every day in your classroom.
Sure, you teach the curriculum. You check boxes. You align with standards. That’s important. But don’t forget…the most powerful thing you bring into your classroom is YOU.
Your stories. Your references. Your inside jokes. Your weird TV shows you watched VHS tapes and love for Hermione Granger and your love/hate relationship with Kahoot. That’s the stuff your students remember years after they’ve walked across that stage.
They don’t just need a Jetson’s style robot spewing the curriculum from 8am to 3:30pm. If that’s all it takes, YouTube or ChatGPT or a dusty old DVD player could replace us all.
But they can't.
Because what you bring into the classroom, your ability to respond to their fears, gaps in learning, and absolutely unhinged questions, is what makes you irreplaceable. You help students realize they can learn and be themselves. When they see you being authentically you, it gives them permission to do the same.
That’s the real work.
That’s the real win.
Keep being you.
You’re the kind of human that makes classrooms matter.
Love,
Dr. Tyler Tarver
- Author, The Baller Teacher Playbook
- Author, Super Boring Yet Super Fancy $26,000 paper (my cost, not yours 😂)
P.S. On a COMPLETELY unrelated note, Summer trainings dropping the next few weeks!! Join the Honor Roll to knock out dat Summer PD Hours with me virtually (or tell someone to bring me to your school non-virtually 😁)!! 🤜🏽💥🤛🏽
