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Can you tell us about yourself? 

"Hi, my name is Ben Beitzel. I'm a grace, a social ed teacher at Grace Stone middle school in Loganville, Georgia. I've been there five years. I'm the social studies curriculum lead and it's my fifth year teaching." 

If you could have any other job what would it be and why?

"I would be a writer if I wasn't a teacher. It's what I was before I became a teacher and I would do that if it paid all my bills and made me as a secure as I am now."  

How are kids and teaching different now than 30 years ago?

"Even with the pay, the teachers get kids these days are they have more demands and teachers, they expect more of them. They want them to sort of demonstrate their expertise as opposed to just blindly trusting that they're smart. I think that's what teachers are struggling to catch up with. So teachers, 30 years ago I had a problem with or had an easy time saying like, yeah, kids just, you know, they have to listen to me cause I'm smart and now kids are sort of more questioning, which I think is a good thing."

What would you tell someone who wants to become a teacher?

"If you were going to become a teacher right now, I'd tell you to make sure you liked it, make sure you've had other jobs. And understand that all jobs have good and bad parts to them and be prepared to do some work, but also be prepared to really, really enjoy parts of it."

What is one thing you would change to help kids learn better?

"And if I could change anything, I wish I could teach more and meet with adults less."