Thank you so much! It was February 2017 when I took a day off school to “figure out” how to publish this podcast. I started by telling the story of “Sue and Mrs. Scruggs” and I had no idea what I was doing. I only knew that a 5-day-a-week podcast where teachers, administrators, and those who love kids could get a quick idea every day could be a really good service to education. There are so many amazing stories of teachers, and most of them are too busy or just not called to have a podcast. I didn’t want another “talking head” show, as I just wanted to interview people!
So, this episode is not only a thank you, but it is also my son asking me questions. I let John, my son and editor, take this show where he wanted. He asked some pretty personal questions but that was ok. It is good to get the personal stories behind all of it, and here you go.
I’m so glad I get to do this work. I appreciate all of you who listen, share the show with your friends, and suggest people to come on. Without you, I wouldn’t have a show. So, if you want to hear some stories and motivations behind the show, celebrate with us for episode 1000.
I also need to say thank you to my husband, Kip, son, John, and my daughter, Susan (she did advertising for me for a while). And our oldest son, James, has also rooted for the show. It is a family project and has blessed us so very much. And speaking of sponsors, thank you to all of the companies who have sponsored the show through the years. You have made it possible, and I’m excited about the many companies who I’m talking to now about sponsoring future weeks of the show.
OK, I guess I haven’t thanked the academy yet (ha ha), but this isn’t about the academy but about teachers and kids. I love teaching and love students and love getting to bring the stories that can help all of us be better. Thanks again. And I will see you later, educator!
John Davis is Vicki’s youngest son and the producer and editor for both the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast and Cool Cat Teacher Talk. What a gift of a remarkable young man who not only shares his gifts but his perspective and so openly talks about his dyslexia and how he sees the world. I love working with John.
This transcript was generated using AI and has been reviewed by humans for accuracy. Minor errors or artifacts may remain but I worked my best to find any issues with the transcript as I reviewed the show. – Vicki
Announcer: (00:00) This is the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast with your host, Vicki Davis.
John Davis: (00:04) Hello. Today is 1,000 episodes of 10 Minute Teacher, so we’re doing something a bit special. I will be your host today. I’m John Davis, and we will be interviewing Vicki Davis. Say hello.
Vicki Davis: (00:18) Thanks for having me on the show. It’s kind of like our show now, isn’t it, John?
John Davis: (00:22) I’m holding the show hostage.
Vicki Davis: (00:23) Hopefully not. But we are celebrating 1,000 episodes. For all of you who have listened since episode number one, February of 2017, thanks for listening to the show. Hey, in February 2027, it’ll also be 10 years, so we wouldn’t have a show if all of you hadn’t listened to it. So we’re so grateful.
John Davis: (00:46) So we’re going to start off. If this is the only 10 Minute Teacher someone ever listens to, what do you want them to know?
Vicki Davis: (00:53) Teaching is important. Kids are amazing masterpieces made for good works. We all have a purpose. When you’re a remarkable teacher and you do your very best, you can not only improve a child’s tomorrow, but you can make a big difference in their today. So I just want to encourage and help teachers know that they can do it. When a lot of folks started following me, that instead of picking up a megaphone, I’d rather pick up a mirror and shine the bright light on all the remarkable educators out there who work hard to make this profession just the best on the planet.
John Davis: (01:31) You’ve always pointed back to God, but what has your faith done for your work, teaching, podcasting, radio show?
Vicki Davis: (01:42) You know the story, John, when I was a little girl, started in about halfway through fifth grade, through about halfway through ninth grade, I was the one that the whole class made fun of, they called me names. I won’t repeat those because I don’t let those live rent-free in my head. Just all these hurtful things. And it was hard because I felt like I was made to be a leader. I even had a tape recorder back then. Called it Recording Vicki, and I would record my family at the holidays because I just love interviewing people. I think people are awesome, and I love people. And it didn’t make any sense to me why people would just choose to be mean. But the fact is that people are mean, and I needed to learn to be strong and stand up for the truth, even when people criticize me. Now, when I was in seventh grade, that’s when I finally read my Bible all the way through, really understood what I believed. God really worked on my faith. Jesus became my best friend, really took every single thing that those kids said and prayed for the opposite. I asked God to make me attractive. I asked God to let me be first in my class, to let me be a leader and to have common sense and to be a writer. I didn’t pray about podcasting because I didn’t even fathom that podcasting could exist. But over the next years, God allowed me to be first in my class, both in high school and at Georgia Tech in my major. Yes, won beauty pageants, but the common sense that all these people choose to listen and that I’m able to be helpful with interviewing. My mom made me memorize Ephesians 2:10 that we are God’s masterpiece, created for good works in Christ Jesus before time began. My classroom is called Masterpiece Theater. I believe part of the works that I’m made for is that I’m really good at understanding new technology. I’ve been using technology since your grandpa brought home a computer when I was seven, an old TRS-80. I believe that we all have a purpose. And sometimes that purpose may be just to have an amazing dinner for your dad and your siblings when y’all come home in a home of peace and joy where we laugh and have fun, or mentoring somebody. Sometimes that purpose is that we are allowed to have a platform. People will say, I want to be an influencer. Well, I always say, well, influence people to do what? If I could choose that for me, it would be to influence people to be a positive force in the life of the children that are in their life, whether it’s one child and you choose to read a book every night, or whether it’s just encouraging and helpful and listening, but also understanding that we can’t always fix the problems. Bullying happens. It doesn’t make it okay. Problems happen. Injuries happen. Life happens. Life is full of problems. But it’s also full of overcoming and opportunities. The song that. My ministers of music, Seth Brasher and Mark Willard, allowed us to use on the Cool Cat Teacher Talk radio and TV show that you produce every week, John, is the song God of the Impossible. And if you listen to that song, I feel like that’s the story of my life. Because since we started the 10 Minute Teacher, I’ve broken my foot, couldn’t walk for eight weeks, and it was doubtful if I would learn to walk again. I lost two inches of my face to skin cancer. The doctor told me, you’re going to be deformed the rest of your life, and there’s nothing I could do. Miraculously, a year later, he’s like, Vicki, you actually look pretty good. He’s like, this is remarkable. I don’t know how this happened. Or whether it’s missing my parents who raised me to speak and to be different and my mom to be a teacher and to love kids. And she encouraged me. Every morning, I pray, I read my Bible, I seek God, I ask Him what to do. There’s a verse, John 15:5, that if we abide in Him and Him in us, we will bear much fruit, but apart from Him we can do nothing. And so everything that I have, I have to give credit to God and Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. This show is not usually about faith, although faith undergirds everything I do. I’m just grateful that I get to do this. It almost makes me cry, like I’m doing right now, that I get to interview the most remarkable educators on the planet, that now the radio and TV show, Cool Cat Teacher Talk. Is in Canada and the UK and Northern Ireland and all over the U.S. And the Nielsen’s from last March, it was a million people a week were listening to that show. The example I always use with my students is that I can see a rope and I can see it hanging down, but I’m not going to hope in a rope because that rope may not be tied to anything. Question is, what’s the rope tied to? And when your rope is tied to the immovable God of the universe, and I know some people will stop and unsubscribe to me right now as they hear me say that. And that’s okay, because I respect and appreciate the choice all of us have to have our faith that we have. But I also, I know Jesus, and I know God, and He’s more real to me than all the folks out there, and He’s called me to this. And if He wants me to keep doing it, He’s going to make it possible. It’s not my faith. It’s about what my faith is tied to, and it’s tied to the immovable God of the universe. And I’m really passionate about helping us use artificial intelligence and technology in a way that helps humans thrive, because I believe that ultimately human thriving is supposed to be what all of this is about while we’re here on this earth, as well as honoring God.
John Davis: (07:24) Out of all the interviews, stories, and all the speaking events that you’ve done, what is something that has changed your outlook the most in regards to education?
Vicki Davis: (07:33) I think that it is how many truly remarkable, incredible educators are out there who love kids, who don’t do it for the attention. Even a lot of famous book authors who just slave away all by themselves doing this work, trying to reach kids, how much love there is for kids. Yes, how hard teaching is. The work isn’t done in the soundbites that you see on TikTok or Facebook or YouTube. The work is done in the hard places, the day in, the day out, the reading every day to your grandchild or the working every day for kids. There are so many remarkable people who love kids doing incredible things. And I just want to take all those ideas of what teachers are doing. And the more teachers I can interview, the better. Like if I could interview 10,000 teachers, I think that would be a remarkable contribution. I may not get to 10,000, but we’re well over 1,000 interviews. And I also go way beyond 10 minutes all the time. The credit goes to John and then his dad before him and Vicky Morgan, who also edited the show over the season of actually getting these episodes down to 10 minutes. But I want us to have the discipline to cut down the interviews, not because we’re trying to edit content, but cut it down and do that service to teachers so that they can get the biggest takeaways. When they listen, they can go, oh, I can use this tomorrow in my classroom.
John Davis: (09:03) As we finish up, is there any advice or stories that you wish you just didn’t listen to a particular piece of advice that someone gave you at some point?
Vicki Davis: (09:13) I’ve had a couple times where people have told me that I could not do what I was doing, that I shouldn’t be on social media, that who would want to listen to me, just the negative voices that I’ve also had to overcome. People have always said my technology classes weren’t real. And they said just because all the kids made A’s and B’s meant I wasn’t really teaching. And I’ve always rejected that. When I saw all of those kids ace that really hard standardized AP Computer Science Principles test, it was like, you know what, all of this stuff that I’ve been learning on the shows and interviewing these people, it works. You can have a fun classroom that also teaches to standard, that also is excellent, that works hard, that has a great time and loves each other’s company. The biggest mistakes I’ve made have been when I got sucked into TikTok, doom scrolled, the negative, the fussing, but I’m going to feature and talk about the love, the goodness, the hope, the joy, and the importance of teaching until everybody either stops listening or I can’t do it anymore. I’m really grateful for the thousand episodes. Every one of those is a gift. There have been so many times that I don’t even know how we got the show out. A big joy has been putting together this show every week. I’m just grateful I get to do this. It’s part of who I am and my mission in life. I still can’t believe people choose to listen. And I’m just really grateful, John.
Announcer: (10:43) Thank you for tuning in. 10 Minute Teacher Podcast. Join us here every weekday and subscribe to the Classroom Matters newsletter. See you later, educator.
