“This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.” Teach Different with Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt.

Transcript

Dan (00:10)

Well, hello everybody. Welcome to the Teach Different podcast. We have a good little show for us today. We have Matthew Wood, who is our third guest, who was part of our spring pilot of our inaugural certification program for Teach Different. So he has agreed to come back and share more about himself. Why he got into teaching and maybe what he’s experienced with the teach different method what possibilities he might see in the future with it and then of course we’re gonna do a good old quote and Since all of us here on the podcast have used it multiple times we’ll just kind of flow into that when it makes sense after we get to know mad a little better and how we roll here at teach different. So I’m gonna pass the mic to Matthew just to maybe talk a little bit about your background, Matt, why you got into teaching, your passion and everything. And first of all, welcome. It’s great to see you back and looking forward to working with you in the future.

 

Matt Wood (01:14)

Yeah, thanks for having me guys. So you said starting off with the background of who I am and why am I here to quote Admiral Stockdale. I am a middle school teacher in the western suburbs of Chicago and have been lucky enough to stay at the same school now for 18 school years. Sometimes I get that number wrong, but I got it right. I made sure I did my math. I’ve always liked teaching. I was the kind of student when I was in elementary and middle school and high school who always kind of, in history in particular, sorry I should clarify, I’m a history teacher. I always had an interest in the stories of the people we were learning about and whether that was US history or world history I just found the human experience fascinating. And as far as the how did I translate that into teaching? I also was always a student who looked to my peers and helped them out if they were stuck. I was that reliable student who had his stuff done and the teachers would either use me as that seat buffer, which we all as teachers know we use. But they found I was more than a seat buffer. I was also really just motivated to make sure everyone kind of wasn’t lost and followed along. Some of that comes from the fact that my mom is a career teacher in special education. And she just kind of raised us to really always know that just because we know something doesn’t mean everyone does, and that it’s kind of our job to help everyone out. I think that’s part of why I ended up going to ISU. One of their mottos that they have displayed all over the place and on their crest is, Gladly, We Learn and Teach. And that’s a philosophy that drives the way I bring information to my students. It’s not a class where you’re selfishly hoarding information. It’s that you learn it to then teach somebody else what you found out. And I think that’s a core philosophy in the way I approach things. And I think that’s what drew me really to Teach Different is, a lot of the quotes in the program kind of hit on that theme of what we know this and what do we do with what we know? What’s the value in knowing things?

 

Steve (03:42)

Great, like you said, your mom was a teacher. Brothers and sisters?

 

Matt Wood (03:45)

Mm-hmm. Oh sure, yeah, I have an older sister. She dabbled in education, but she and I actually both had student teaching experiences in inner cities. Mine was inner city Chicago, hers was inner city Minneapolis. Yeah, Yeah, so I student taught at what is now known as Orr High School. No? You did?

 

Steve (04:00)

Where was yours in Chicago, Matt? I mean, that’s where my career was spent. Don’t say that. I taught it or yes.

 

Matt Wood (04:16)

So did you know, my gosh, I had his name a second ago.

 

Steve (04:22)

Well, look, I was 2012, 2013. was there very short period of time, but keep ask me.

 

Matt Wood (04:28)

Okay. I’m, hold on. I’m trying to think of his name. I would any other moment remember it but you saying you were there threw my brain totally off. I was there in 06.

 

Steve (04:42)

It’s okay. It’ll come to you.  six. Okay.

 

Matt Wood (04:47)

Who taught the AVID course and social studies? Big guy. 

 

Steve (04:52)

see, here’s the thing. When I got there, who, not there. He was not there. When I got there, they were taken over by AUSL,  Academy of Urban School Leadership. So I’m, I’m getting the sense that there was probably a big,  you know, change in the guard.

 

Matt Wood (04:54)

Marvin. Marvin Scott. Okay. Yep. Yep. I was there when they were under the bill in Melinda Gates Small Schools. So I was technically under Moe’s Vines Preparatory Academy. But it was my understanding that that funding didn’t last or something programmatic changed. They seem, as you had a few years there, they were always kind of being experimented with, is what I understood.

 

Steve (05:35)

I know what you mean. And that’s quite a place to get a student teaching, Matt. That’s interesting, do you have a way to sum up that experience? Right.

 

Matt Wood (05:36)

Yeah. yeah! As a guy who grew up in the Western suburbs, I learned a lot more than just how to teach a class. I learned how to be a more open-minded person. I learned a lot of what I know about teaching students in poverty there. I specifically had a moment where I had a student asleep every day. I was working through that moment with my cooperating teacher and he said, Hey, you know, it’s okay to let him sleep. I’m like, okay. Tell me more. And he goes, that’s the only place they feel safe. This kid was homeless, rode the bus all night and had to stay awake to not get attacked or hurt. And so the fact that he was comfortable enough to let his guard down, and rest in my room. the teacher said, we’re going to let that happen. It’s not a philosophy I would apply to every kid who’s sleeping. But what it opened me up to is the idea that there’s a whole lot of unknowns about every person sitting in my seats. And assuming I know things is a bad path and a way to not help rapport. And he said, you know, take it as a challenge that when he’s awake, see what you can do, see where you can get him to go. And it was a really eye opening experience. But it’s neat that you you’ve had

 

Steve (07:02)

Yeah.

 

Matt Wood (07:10)

some connection there, but my sister’s experience in Minneapolis was not as positive. I think she got scared of the middle school mentality, whereas I was invigorated by it. I dig a challenge where she was like, hey, this isn’t as easy as I need it to be. like, it’s not genetic that we can teach. It’s just whether we got the…

 

Steve (07:31)

You know, good for her for learning it though and recognizing it early. I mean that I think some people stay in the profession maybe longer than they need to. I’m just throwing that out because it’s not an easy thing. I don’t have to tell you to my goodness. Yeah. That’s what people don’t realize, man. They don’t, they do not realize.

 

Matt Wood (07:40)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I’m only 40 and that’s how much gray hair I got. That’s how difficult the job can be. 

 

Steve (08:01)

You got contacted by Mary Ellen, correct? Back in the spring. Cause we went to her. don’t know if you know this, but we went to her and we said, Mary Ellen, we were going to pilot this program with a few teachers. We want the best. Like we just want people that you think would really appreciate this and enjoy it. And you know, up came your name and we got to meet you. I mean, it was really, really great.

 

Matt Wood (08:05)

Yeah! Mm-hmm. What?

 

Dan (08:25)

And Mary Ellen DeNeehls, by the way, our listeners don’t know who Mary Ellen DeNeehls is, but she’s a civic guru in Illinois who helped identify really talented teachers for our pilot in the spring. And Matt, you were one of them. So you came well recommended.

 

Matt Wood (08:28)

for here. Uh-huh. I credit Mary Ellen for the Renaissance in the way I think and teach. I was in my 13th year teaching, I think, when a shift sort of of my choosing and sort of not of my choosing occurred. I went from teaching eighth grade US history to basically building out of nothing a civics course for middle schools to meet the, at the time, impending middle school civics requirements. And it just so happened that as I was building that with a friend from my school, Ellen came into my sphere. Mary Ellen is someone I’ve always known. We teach in the same town, but our high school and middle schools are not the same district. like there were moments I’ve discussed things with her, but it was always as a collegial, hey, how’s it going up there? How are you doing down there? That sort of but she heard I was doing this. And she reached out and brought me into the circle of the, at the time the McCormick foundation was creating a series of coaching opportunities to help teachers throughout the state of Illinois, implement the civics mandate and understand it and interpret it to various districts who were asking for help. And it was through Mary Ellen that I met a whole lot of other awesome teachers who either had more experience in this opportunity or had their own challenges that we were all working through together. And it really was such a neat moment because going back to why I mentioned the 13 years, I felt the burnout happening. We were mentioning before we started stuff that if you do the same thing all the time, where’s your energy end up going? It’s that path of least resistance. And you get not lazy, but you get complacent about what you’re asking kids to do. And by completely changing the what I was teaching, it was an opportunity to also reinvent the how I was teaching it. So Mary Ellen was an excellent guide for that. And as that opportunity sundown, you guys showed up. You’re part two of the Renaissance and it’s been wonderful. I love it. And I think everybody, when they’re examining their careers, they should be looking for those moments of how to, how to keep it alive. How do you keep caring about what you do and the way you do it?

 

Steve (10:53)

That’s beautiful. How do you renew yourself? If you have some… Yeah, go ahead.

 

Matt Wood (11:07)

Yeah.

 

Dan (11:08)

For me, I was just gonna say for me, Matt, was, well, Teach Different was definitely a great revival beginning seven years ago, but even 15 years ago when I went to the district and I got a philosophy elective approved. And so that was exactly halfway through my career. It was the perfect reset. So I fullheartedly agree with that.

 

Matt Wood (11:24)

Thank you.

 

Steve (11:33)

And Matt, if you had to sum up what is it about teaching, you know, why is this your calling? What would you say? You’ve already alluded to some of the challenges, obviously. What would you say the reason you’re in here and you’re doing this?

 

Matt Wood (11:52)

I think it’s interesting, Dan, that Dan mentioned philosophy. I think I was an accidental philosopher, if there’s such a thing. was something that I started realizing if we’re just in the business and history classes, for example, of names and dates and places, that would be why people get turned off. But once you flip it to a philosophical explanation of how does the past do anything for us? And this is where TeachDifference use of quotes is really useful, as it makes us the humanities then. It’s where in some communities you’re starting to see social studies slide under the humanities director’s attention because we are using the human experience to better understand our own. So getting to that philosophy, Steve, of like what keeps me… Sorry, could you restart? I got all excited about philosophy.

 

Steve (12:49)

And it’s going to fit perfectly because I just asked what keeps you in the profession? Like what motivates you to deal with the youth?

 

Matt Wood (12:58)

Yeah. Yeah. So, there we go. Getting back to that. I like that kids don’t have the world experiences that make adults so jaded to talk about this stuff. You think a lot of adults you encounter, I include my own family circle in this, and they, we all come at the topics of today with very different experiences and opinions. I keep close friends who don’t agree with me. like that. I think that helps the conversation be interesting. And so I think when we look at kids exploring topics that our history brings, I think kids have such a sometimes naive, but super valuable perspective on how the world works and how we should treat each other. And it’s an investment I’m absolutely willing to put my energy and career into. And I do that with my own sons. I have three boys and the conversations that happen in our household and my wife’s an English teacher, we just are constantly asking why. And I think why not have to be the angsty teenager, although that happens. Why do I get on the lawn? It happened this morning in my house. And the answer is, of course, is because the grass is long. But depending on the context that we provide, that why in, get some awesome conversations and kids are completely capable of that when trusted, when rapport exists and when we empower them to think like we as adults should think. And I think that’s why I really like teaching. They haven’t gotten tired of their why yet. They have a new version of it every time we talk about stuff.

 

Steve (14:47)

Yeah. Yeah. And they give the new perspective that you had no idea existed out there. And that rapport you refer to Matt, you can’t teach that in the education departments at the universities. When people are wanting to get into the profession to know what you have to set up to really get learning occurring.

 

Matt Wood (14:54)

Mm-hmm.

 

Steve (15:14)

It’s so, it’s such an eye opener and how important it is the relationship building. I think a lot of people just don’t realize that we’re psychologists. We’re counselors. You know, we’re trying to be in a room full of people that are not going to be motivated to do something just because they’re in that class, but it’s going to come down to humans. Like you said in the video, Matt, I don’t know if you’ve seen a copy of our testimonial video from the pilot program yet. I’m going to send it to you after this. You kick things off in the video. you meant, it was beautiful. Cause you mentioned the Sybil, you know, in addition to just the philosophy and the curriculum, it’s how you treat other people. That’s really what you’re learning by a good conversation. So that’s beautiful.

 

Matt Wood (15:53)

Good choice.  Mm-hmm. Well, thank you.

 

Dan (16:11)

Yeah, yeah, it’s, you can’t teach without a relationship of some sort. And that’s something you learn on the job. I think you realize that on the job. All right, are we ready to jump into the quote?

 

Matt Wood (16:15)

Mm-hmm. Yep. Let’s do it!

 

Steve (16:25)

Do it!

 

Dan (16:26)

Here we go. It’s a little bit of a longer one, so we’ll all have to remember maybe to repeat it as we talk about it. Attributed to Teddy Roosevelt, and the original quote, this original quote came from a speech he gave on August 31st, 1910 in Kansas. He called it the New Nationalism Speech. Here we go.

 

Matt Wood (16:26)

Sure.

 

Dan (16:50)

This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in. I’ll repeat it one more time. This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in. Attributed to Teddy Roosevelt. Well, Matt, do you want to get first crack at the claim? What would you kind of, what’s this getting at in your own words?

 

Matt Wood (17:23)

Gosh, you do know me starting means I might not be quiet for a while. So, gosh, I’m thinking about this quote since yesterday. A couple thoughts come to mind about it, but his claim in particular is the we. That it’s we make it a good place for all of us. Not a wish, not a hope, not a random chance that it’s It’s to quote his other stuff. It’s the man in the arena. It’s the idea that If we want the world we live in to be something worth continuing and passing on to another generation, something we have to step up and do that. That’s how I read this quote at a first glance. But of course, I’m open to hearing other thoughts and involving my understanding from there. I think really, harkening back to something I didn’t mention, a theater background I had when I was in high school and early college. Theater is always about what’s the word that you’re accentuating, where do you put the emphasis? And if we’re imagining Teddy saying this in front of a crowd, that we make it is the strongest piece of his claim.

 

Steve (18:39)

Right? He said mic drop!

 

Matt Wood (18:40)

I shut it down. Whoo.

 

Dan (18:42)

Love it. This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in. I like that read on it, Matt. I think that’s great to focus on what’s the most important word. Sometimes in these quotes, I ask the kids in your claim, what do you think the most important word is that you focus on?

 

Matt Wood (18:51)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

 

Dan (19:11)

this lends itself to that. I’m thinking about the individual and the community when I read this. It will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in. So we have to, one way to think of the claim maybe is that we have to treat individuals. If the way we treat individuals is really the message we’re sending to the community. You know, if you treat someone poorly within a community, you are in a sense making it so that the community itself is unhealthy. It’s not just the individual you’re mistreating, it’s the whole group. And I like that way of thinking about the individual in the community. That was my first thought.

 

Matt Wood (20:09)

Yeah, that’s the Brothers Keeper concept.

 

Steve (20:13)

I had a game, Matt, I would play right near the birth of this method when we would get a quote up there and it would be a little longer than normal. This one is on the longer side. So I would play it, the game with this quote. The game is simple. You put the quote up and you get them in groups and you challenge the groups to rewrite the quote, in as few words as possible, retaining the meaning. And the other groups got to vote whether or not it actually was comprehensive once people gave their responses. It’s a really good writing exercise and a focused thinking exercise forces them to understand and confront what the thing is trying to say. I played around and did that and I got a good country for one must be good for all. just as a quick way to understand this. And my sense of this claim is that we can’t leave people out of justice and happiness. There’s no such, there’s nothing good about a few people doing well and having that be a good society. Like you have to measure it by how everyone is doing. And I’m thinking of a Martin Luther King speech right now which I’m gonna let you guys talk. And once I get the, once I remember what he said, he talked about this directly, like, go ahead.

 

Dan (21:57)

I got it. letter from a Birmingham jail. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

 

Steve (22:12)

That was not it, but better, because it’s quicker. I just remembered it. Here it is. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. What affects all others directly affects all others indirectly. For some strange reason, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. The rich man.

 

Dan (22:15)

Hahaha

 

Steve (22:41)

can never be what he ought to be till the poor man is what he ought to be. I don’t know why I remembered that one, but it’s.

 

Dan (22:50)

That’s flooding the zone there. It’s great.

 

Matt Wood (22:52)

Well…

 

Steve (22:54)

Would ya?

 

Matt Wood (22:54)

I think Steve, you’ve created another game I would consider on top of this is after you’ve paraphrased it. Are there other quotes in your sphere that you find say something similar? I was thinking not only of the biblical Brothers Keepers concept, but the Lorax, which is just a wonderful story on so many fronts about responsibilities civically. But the quote from Dr. Seuss’s lorax was, unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, sorry, cares a whole awful lot, nothing’s going to get better. It’s not. I feel like it’s living in the same sphere as Teddy. And I was trying to remember if Frederick Douglass had also said something similar to all of this, but I might be conflating quotes, but I think that’s where these kinds of quotes are so fun and engaging. They’re more aware of modern concepts of this than we are with their music and art and whatever they’re engaged in. It’d be interesting to see what they have heard from their generational speakers. Is there anybody out there saying this same sort of stuff today? And that begins a whole new conversation of why are they or why aren’t they? What’s happening now is either continuing what Teddy talked about or that explains why it’s not being discussed anymore. It’d be neat.

 

Dan (24:29)

That’s great.

 

Steve (24:31)

Absolutely.

 

Dan (24:33)

thinking also of an immediate kind of in your face example of this, if you were to bring this up in class and that is the classroom itself, you know, apply this quote to this classroom community. This classroom will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in and maybe to help them think of the claim in the context of how do we treat each other in this space? How does that connect?

 

Matt Wood (24:55)

Mm-hmm. Yeah. man, you’re talking like week one conversations.

 

Dan (25:06)

Yeah.

 

Matt Wood (25:08)

Love it.

 

Steve (25:09)

That’s, let’s go Conor claim. Let’s go counterclaim because I just had, well, another quote that’s back to the claim. I am because you are our African proverb. This is a statement here that’s very, if you had to align it to the political spectrum and who might say this, you’re probably left of center with a comment like this, this idea that We’re all the same in a way and that we need to look after each other. I don’t want to use any big political words with this, but this is one of those quotes. Push back against this. What’s the best? way to disagree with what this is saying. The country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.

 

Matt Wood (25:58)

Yeah. Gosh. Well, it’s funny you bring up thinking it could exist largely on a left spectrum statement. I think there’s something into this where the right side’s philosophy isn’t necessarily that different. It’s just the idea of what makes us able to live in a good place, what’s considered good. I’d say on the right side, there’s often the argument that regulation prohibits certain things from growing in a natural direction. It’s where, again, conversationally, I think it’s where we sometimes see that split of left and right is this idea that one side has the good intention and the other doesn’t. And it’s not necessarily how people end up on the left or right. And it comes down to what do they think is best for everybody? You think about, spacing out their name, the particular group of them. Yeah.

 

Steve (27:12)

Well, why, while you’re thinking, Matt, you just did the essential question in my mind. What does good mean? What is a good place? Because if that can be answered, you’re right. This could be something that someone on the left, someone on the right could agree with. If you can agree on what a good place is.

 

Dan (27:20)

What is good?

 

Matt Wood (27:20)

Okay. So, I’m going to finish this with a few words.

 

Dan (27:35)

So if a good place is a place where there’s no, no one’s regulating what you’re doing, there’s a lot of freedom and autonomy. Well, then it seems like it’s more right of center. So I’m getting, I think I’m getting your train of thinking.

 

Matt Wood (27:51)

Yeah. and then it swings it back to, well, when regulation doesn’t exist, what happens when we have someone who’s a misanthrope or who doesn’t have the same values and they’re what’s good for them isn’t good for the whole, but they’re living their best life. It’s it that brings up that question of why regulate anything? I always try to get the kids to think about regulation in the form of speed limits because they’re the most common one middle schoolers are going to see, whether they totally understand because they don’t drive or not. That’s not necessarily the point. But we ask them why do they think school zones are so heavily regulated on speed? Why 20 miles an hour? In particular, when you think about a car going 90 miles an hour, it’s making a lot of noise. It’s going to scare people. They’re not going to go on the road hearing 90 miles an hour going past. But there’s also the truth that that 90 mile an hour car is making a choice for someone who maybe can’t hear or can’t react fast enough or who gets paralyzed by fear and ends up stuck in the street and now inevitable physics is going to occur. Like that concept is that regulation is going to help more people than hurt. And suddenly we start to see that wheel turn in their brain of, okay, not all regulations are bad. Right. Because we also know not all people are good. And so there has to be guardrails to some extent of accepting responsibility, community living. We choose to live near people. Therefore, we have to kind of concede some of our freedoms in some areas to accommodate all the different ways that we view what is free, what makes us free. And I think that’s where the national conversation gets muddy, is people hold fast to their right and everyone’s wrong. And that’s not a way to approach a conversation. That’s a way to make fights happen and to have sides chosen. But it’s not what Teddy’s talking about. It’s not what Dr. King was talking about or even the Lorax, I think.

 

Steve (30:04)

Yeah. What if the good place is the survival of the fittest? And that’s your idea of what a good place is. There’s no room for regulation there. That’s more of you do the most you can do. And I guess you take the most you can take for yourself. And that’s what good is. Government is nothing but a limitation.

 

Matt Wood (30:08)

Hmm.

 

Dan (30:29)

Yep.

 

Steve (30:32)

Which ironically, know, our founding fathers would agree, you know, the power can’t be trusted without a check. That was John Adams. I mean, they acknowledged that. But again, if you’re not reading into the philosophy of our government, you might think that what you’re saying is so, you know, revolutionary, but they seem to have thought through this stuff.

 

Dan (30:56)

This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in. So back to the counterclaim, you can work with this. This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for the deserving to live in. Those who deserve it, those who are worthy of it, who work hard.

 

Matt Wood (31:16)

contributors, right?

 

Steve (31:20)

work hard, who work hard, who are industrious.

 

Dan (31:24)

And if we take care of those people, then it will be a good place for any of us to live in.

 

Steve (31:28)

Property owners.

 

Matt Wood (31:31)

Right. I think I find counterclaims like that one tricky because fundamentally just if I were a dog, my hackles would be up. It doesn’t jive with my worldview, but I suppose it’s got its place in a lot of things. I mean, that 1980s movie Greed is Good.

 

Dan (31:33)

Ooh.

 

Matt Wood (31:59)

I mean, they make the argument, but it’s an antithetical one. like, is it? We’re playing it out to really show you it’s not necessarily the philosophy that makes a full and good life. But there we go back to what makes life good. For some people it is just your wealth and be like a dragon and hoard it. My philosophy is much less tangible. Information is my wealth that I’ll hoard. I like knowing things, but also not selfishly. Know things, to share things, to be that light in the cave of, hey, come see it a different way.

 

Dan (32:37)

Yeah. And obviously, I didn’t agree with what I had just said, and you didn’t think I did anyway, but it’s interesting. I don’t know if you do this, Matt, with your students, but I coax them to articulate things they don’t agree with, almost to let them hear themselves say it, because it puts them in a different space of thinking and it opens up

 

Matt Wood (32:44)

right, right. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

 

Dan (33:05)

you know, even more of a commitment to their original claim, but it’s seen differently because your opposing view has been aired. It’s kind of a psychology, actually.

 

Matt Wood (33:15)

Absolutely. I think it may be talked about this, when we did our pilot that it does prey on the middle schoolers fear of being on the outside to do the counterclaim. So it got to practice it opportunity. But what’s really neat is when we peel that onion of why does saying that counterclaim make you uncomfortable? And how does that help you understand what our social philosophy really is? Like if you make this statement, get mine while I can and too bad if you don’t, and you go, but I feel gross about that. Hey, now we know what our general philosophy is that we built stuff on, that we live in. That’s where that light bulb of wait, we do live in a civic responsible, civically responsible society. Whether we think about it daily or not, we know what doesn’t sound right and we know what sounds wrong and counterclaims are a neat exercise in exploring that philosophy for sure.

 

Steve (34:28)

I’m trying to think of another essential question. I like you going right to that good word. Cause this is feeling like equal opportunity. You know, the country will not be a good place unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in. It’s like there’s our, as long as we have an equal opportunity, is what I’m thinking. But I, anybody, have another, essential question?

 

Matt Wood (34:35)

Thank you. Mm-hmm.

 

Steve (34:58)

I’m trying to think.

 

Matt Wood (34:59)

Is fairness an indicator of good?

 

Steve (35:04)

Great, right, or is that just an unnecessary compromise? Because you’re not letting the strong or the capable shine. That’s a great one, Matt.

 

Dan (35:16)

So how about, should we prioritize the community over the individual?

 

Matt Wood (35:24)

Mm-hmm. Yep. And what happens if the community’s needs hurt an individual? How do we wrestle with that? When we think about quarantine back in, well, five years ago, a lot of individuals were hurt by that, didn’t like that, were mad about that. But if it was a community need, is it necessary? And how do you balance that? How do you make sure fairness and need

 

Steve (35:38)

There you go.

 

Matt Wood (35:54)

are worked into the equation.

 

Dan (35:58)

It’s great when I taught you history, Matt, I did it through 10 questions that they answered. This was 15 years ago. So my brain was already thinking Teach Different before we even came up with this. But one of the questions was the Puritan question. How do we balance the needs of the individual with the needs of the community? And how does that play out through American history? So similar, kind of similar in spirit to what you just said.

 

Matt Wood (36:04)

Nice. Yep. Mm-hmm. 

 

Dan (36:25)

Theodore Roosevelt, this country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in. Here, I just got this. is an actual from the speech from which this quote was derived. Roosevelt said, the welfare of each of us is dependent fundamentally on the welfare of all of us. This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us. So someone added a good place, which is interesting, you know, when they… 

 

Matt Wood (37:10)

How does it, so it’s what the original didn’t have a good place. The original is just not a place for any of us.

 

Dan (37:11)

Maria, say that. The original did not, well actually, no I’m sorry, the original did have a good place. I got it. That is consistent.

 

Matt Wood (37:21)

Okay. So what was the change? I missed that, I think.

 

Dan (37:25)

actually, it looks almost identical with just a couple word choices, the same. This is pretty, pretty, you know, legitimately the same Teddy Roosevelt.

 

Matt Wood (37:38)

That’s that fun, that fun history conundrum of what do they say versus what do they write? Like the Gettysburg Address has four different drafts and each one is slightly different. And the question is like, was it a continuing of the editing process or is it just that what was heard in a crowd of 10,000 where there’s no microphone was different than what was actually read and said? And like, why do we do that with important people and statements. Is it because we want the person to be more valuable to the narrative we want to believe? Or is it because the person actually had a direct hand in making that change? That’s kind of a neat, neat rabbit hole to go down.

 

Steve (38:24)

That’s interesting there. I didn’t even know there were four versions of the Gettysburg Address.

 

Matt Wood (38:26)

Mm-hmm. Yep. Yeah, he hand wrote them after the fact, because he had his draft that was very in process. Although I read something, I forget which author was explaining this. When you, when Lincoln arrived in Gettysburg, the speech was written and it was after it was done. No one had expectations. It would be anything. In fact, his two and a half minute speech met those people’s expectation of oh, that’s it but it was as people pondered and thought about the words and Edward Everett, who was the guy who spoke for like three hours before Lincoln was the one who first acknowledged to Lincoln, you nailed it. And so suddenly people, I’m definitely paraphrasing, cause I think Everett was a wordy guy, kind of like myself. But as people asked for copies, Link is like,

 

Dan (39:06)

Mm-hmm. Killed it.

 

Matt Wood (39:24)

Okay, here’s mine. And then someone said, I want a copy too. And he had to recreate it. And just kind of a fun little moment before video captured every moment and gesture. It was subjective. It was absolutely up for scrutiny and editing and Lincoln’s link. I’m going back. Sorry, I apologize. Totally divergent here. I think that’s what draws me to Lincoln so frequently is he’s such an interesting character who America decided after he died that he was important. That when he was alive, he mattered to a lot of people, but was also seen almost as evenly a joke to professional politicians and people who also wanted power, but he did it so much better than them that they were embarrassed at the time to admit he was good at it. And it wasn’t until he died and the American canonization of Lincoln as the preeminent leader since Washington occurred. It was in those moments that we started to see people come up with these little colloquialisms and ways that he communicated. And it’s fascinating because no president before him cared about the common man understanding them, except maybe Jackson. The rest of them knew they were speaking to elites. They knew they were speaking to lawyers and they were good with that. But Lincoln’s persona and the evidence we have of him are just so fascinatingly human in a position that is often seen as above that. It’s just neat. I like that guy.

 

Dan (40:57)

Yeah, yeah, he’s awesome. He, Roosevelt, Washington, the pantheon of Mount Rushmore figures. Well, Matt, this was really great. I appreciate your diving into the quote with us and more broadly your participation in Teach Different and what we’re trying to do in education, doing something a little

 

Steve (41:02)

Thinking is the best.

 

Matt Wood (41:04)

Yep

 

Dan (41:25)

It shouldn’t seem unique. We should always be thinking deeply and critically analyzing things and listening and empathizing and developing trust and good conversation and dialogue. But a lot of times we just don’t do this as teachers. And this is a chance with Teach Different to be better at that. And so we’re just so happy that you’re on the bus with us to do it.

 

Matt Wood (41:50)

Thanks for giving me the ticket to take the ride.

 

Steve (41:54)

Absolutely, thank you so much. Take care.