Intro: Welcome to the Teacher Interview Podcast. I’m your host, Wes Kriesel. I work as Director of Innovation and Instructional Support in Fullerton School District, and every week we sit down and get to know a teacher better. My goal is to learn what drives and guides teachers, especially when venturing into that risky territory of trying something new. Join me. Today on the Teacher Interview Podcast, Matt Mankiewicz takes my spot as Matt Mankiewicz and he talks to Heather Rios, who teaches sixth grade at Richmond Elementary.

Matt Mankiewicz: So, welcome to the Teacher Interview Podcast. I am not Wes Kriesel like normal. However, my name is Matt Mankiewicz and I am joined in here by Mrs. Heather Rios.

Heather Rios: Hello.

Matt Mankiewicz: Hi, there. How are you doing today?

Heather Rios: Good. How are you?

Matt Mankiewicz: I’m well, thank you. So, we’re just going to jump right into it here, and I’m just going to ask you to begin by telling us, how did you get into teaching?

Heather Rios: Oh, man. I think it’s that cliché story of I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. When I was younger, I was always teacher’s pet, always wanted to like, “What can I help you with? Can I organize your books for you?” that kind of stuff. I went to Orangethorpe Elementary School and we had programs like peer tutors and PALs and I always wanted to sign up, and I just kind of knew I always wanted to work with kids. I used to make my little cousin listen to my lessons. Whatever I learned, I would teach to her. It’s just that thing. I just always knew. I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. And so, all through school, I pursued it. Through high school: I was in the Future Teachers Club. College: I went straight in child development knowing I wanted to be a teacher, straight into credential program. So, it’s just, I don’t know, it’s just always in me.

Matt Mankiewicz: Very cool. So, you went to Orangethorpe, so you’re a Fullerton kid?

Heather Rios: I am, Fullerton through and through.

Matt Mankiewicz: All right. So then, which junior high?

Heather Rios: Orangethorpe Elementary, Nicolas Junior High, Fullerton High School, Cal State Fullerton.

Matt Mankiewicz: Fullerton High School right here.

Heather Rios: Right.

Matt Mankiewicz: That’s right. All right, very cool. And then, student-taught here in Fullerton?

Heather Rios: I student-taught at Valencia Park, and then I was hired – right out of the credential program, I did one year back at Orangethorpe. So, my first year teaching, I actually got to teach back at the school I went to. I shared with Suzanne Walker for fourth grade, and then after that year I was hired at Richman and I’ve been there ever since.

Matt Mankiewicz: Very cool. What grades?

Heather Rios: Fourth grade at Orangethorpe and sixth grade at Richman.

Matt Mankiewicz: Cool. So, student teaching, a lot of people say student teaching doesn’t do anything to prepare you for that real-life experience of being in a classroom by yourself. Would you agree with that?

Heather Rios: No, I think it prepared me quite a bit. Mine was different because I did kindergarten in third grade and I’ve had phenomenal master teachers. I had Juliana Nam and Lara Lewis, both phenomenal. But, kindergarten and third grade, and then hired in sixth grade, I was like, “Hoo!” But, I mean, it prepares you, but there’s nothing like the real deal. There’s nothing like walking into that room the first day, all those kids are yours, and it’s showtime.

Matt Mankiewicz: Absolutely.

Heather Rios: So, it prepares you to an extent, and then it’s a whole new ballgame.

Matt Mankiewicz: Showtime is a good word for it.

Heather Rios: Yeah.

Matt Mankiewicz: Is there any lesson or experience possibly from like kindergarten that stands out in your mind or something that you’ll never forget or maybe just knocked your socks off those first few weeks of student teaching?

Heather Rios: Kindergarten is when I realized that you’re not just a teacher. You wear so many different hats. You kind of have to be mom. Some days, you have to be a nurse. Some days, you just have to start with, “How are you today?” before you can go into teaching, and I definitely learned that in kindergarten because they need you. They need you a lot. And what’s funny is that my colleagues and I relate that straight to sixth grade, and I’m like, “They need you just as much in different ways, but they need you, not as a teacher necessarily, but they just need you,” which is the biggest lesson I learned from student-teaching.

Matt Mankiewicz: Very cool, very cool. Well, let’s just jump into some quotes we have here. Wes talked to a few of the people you know, some people you work with. I’m going to go to this one first because this one just strikes me as the most interesting. He talked to Kristen Holm, your principal at Richmond, and he asked her for one word to describe you. You want to take a guess? Do you know what it is?

Heather Rios: I have no idea.

Matt Mankiewicz: Okay. She said UNICORN, in all caps. So, what’s the story there?

Heather Rios: My classroom is pink and unicorns, and I love unicorns. I just love that it’s like the whole “be yourself” message, like, “If you’re a unicorn, be a unicorn. Embrace yourself. It doesn’t matter what you like, what you’re into, what other people think, be yourself.” And so, I wish I would have—my keys are right over there, bright pink with “I love unicorns” from Despicable Me all over. I have a big unicorn poster. It’s not a unicorn, but I have a big poster in my room of like all the zebras with a giraffe sticking out of it, saying, “Be yourself!” So, I just encourage, especially in sixth grade. I mean, they can be so self-conscious. They can be so worried about what other people think and focused on that, where I just want to tell them, “You know, relax. Be yourself. If you like this and nobody else does, embrace it. Try and get other people into it.” So, how funny.

Matt Mankiewicz: I love it, I love it. So, you talked about your affinity for pink and, Heather…

Heather Rios: Uh-huh.

Matt Mankiewicz: She wrote all her answers in pink.

Heather Rios: Aw. She’s so sweet.

Matt Mankiewicz: She said, “Ask Heather why.” So, talk to me about how you have to care for kids, right?

Heather Rios: Mm-hmm.

Matt Mankiewicz: One of the things that we asked Mrs. Holm was, “What’s a moment where Heather is just being Heather?” and she talked about a student you had in your class that was straight from Mexico, didn’t speak much. You want to tell us about this kid?

Heather Rios: Mm-hmm. She came to me this year, so I have her this year. She came on the second day of school, so she’s pretty much been with me the whole year, and zero English. I mean, she knew how to say hi and that was it. And luckily, I know a little bit of Spanish. I took Spanish all through college. My husband is from Mexico. His family’s from Mexico. So…

Matt Mankiewicz: Sounds like you know more than just a little bit, right?

Heather Rios: Yeah. I can hold a conversation with her, and I tell her every day like, “You’re teaching me just as much as I’m teaching you.” And we walk out to the back gate together every day when she leaves and she starts with, she looks at me and she goes, “How are you?” And I go, “Good. How are you?” And she’ll try and remember little phrases I taught her, like, “The grass is green.” I go, “Yes!” So, she’s so sweet and, really, she’s teaching me so much about myself. She’s teaching me patience. She’s teaching me Spanish. I mean, she’s so wonderful and I feel like I was very lucky to get her in my class.

Matt Mankiewicz: So, you talked about how she’s teaching you as much as you’re teaching her.

Heather Rios: Mm-hmm.

Matt Mankiewicz: That’s obviously, I think we all agree, a powerful message for kids. Do you see that affecting her and her daily, the way she goes about herself in her classroom?

Heather Rios: I think so. I mean, about the first month or so, she was very reserved. She didn’t want people to know that she didn’t speak English. She was embarrassed by it, I think. But, now that I’ve made it so like, “Can you tell me what this is?” you can see her smile. She likes to show me things and say the word in Spanish, and it just kind of like shifted that in her where she’s not embarrassed by it anymore. She embraces it, which is like my biggest philosophy.

Matt Mankiewicz: Cool, cool. Do you have other kids in class that speak Spanish?

Heather Rios: Yes, the majority of my class are English language learners. So, I find myself, when I get in a conversation with my student that doesn’t speak English, you can see us both pause and we’re like, “Oh.” There’s a disconnect on this word, and I’ll turn to like someone and go, “Can you help me?” And they’re all so lovely and they all will help in, and there’s a couple of girls that, well, before I even say anything, like I’ll give explanations in English and they’ll turn around and whisper it to her in Spanish. So, all the girls and all the kids in my class have really taken her under their wing, and she’s kind of like moving along with us just at her own pace.

Matt Mankiewicz: Sure. That’s cool. So, do you feel like she has changed the dynamic in your classroom? You said everyone’s kind of moving along, helping her as well.

Heather Rios: Mm-hmm.

Matt Mankiewicz: You think that sort of helps build, foster a camaraderie or something?

Heather Rios: I think so. It definitely, yeah, builds a little community with us. They’re not just focused on themselves. The fact that they don’t even have to be told to help her—they just do it on their own—anymore, I mean that in itself is amazing. So, I definitely think she has kind of shifted that and made us more like a little family in there, which is awesome.

Matt Mankiewicz: That’s cool. So, family that’s a good word to use. Very cool. So, let’s see. Kristen had mentioned that you had bought some books for her in Spanish, some Spanish books.

Heather Rios: Mm-hmm.

Matt Mankiewicz: Tell us about that.

Heather Rios: So, my library, it was only books in English, and I feel like I have a pretty good-sized classroom library but none of the books were in Spanish. And so, I was like, “Oh, what are we going to do?” So, I went right on to Scholastic book orders [00:09:21 because I had this classic book order account], and I just found anything I could in Spanish. And they have like American girl books, they had Dork Diaries, they had some graphic novels, and what was nice is that some of the books that we bought in Spanish I also had in English. And so, we were able to put both of them on her table and she would read the one in Spanish and then the one in English, and it was just an exact copy. And so, she loved that. And so, it meant so much to me when I saw her expression when she saw that, “Look, we have Spanish books!” because she was excited to read those. I mean, she likes reading books in English, but she’s not at the point yet where she can quite comprehend them. So, having those books in Spanish was really, really meaningful for her.

Matt Mankiewicz: And that can make, I mean, things like that, it can make SSR so lonely and ostracizing, and the point of reading is to read and enjoy it. So, that’s awesome that she can still have that experience in there and not just be all about “learning my words,” right?

Heather Rios: Exactly, especially because when we do reading workshop, they all are in their independent books during silent reading, and I had some books that were at like a first grade/kindergarten level and she was reading those ones, which were books that she could understand. But, she’s starting to get embarrassed by those because everybody else is in a chapter book and she’s sitting in a picture book, and she’s like, “I’m a sixth grader. I don’t want a picture book.” So, I think having that novel, just like everybody else was, was kind of like a confidence booster for her, too.

Matt Mankiewicz: Absolutely, absolutely. Cool. So, you talked when you were talking about becoming a teacher how you used to always play teacher, and that’s a story that your mom actually told and she basically told the same story you told, but just reading what your mom wrote about it, it’s very obvious how proud she is of you and proud of the fact that you are a teacher. And she says you love each and every one of your students regardless of the challenges they bring to class, and, “She leads with respect and expects respect in return from her students and that students leave her class knowing that a teacher believed in them.”

Heather Rios: Aw.

Matt Mankiewicz: So, it sounds like family is very…

Heather Rios: Very important.

Matt Mankiewicz: Absolutely. So, do you think that played into your decision to become a teacher at all or…?

Heather Rios: Absolutely.

Matt Mankiewicz: Experiences from Mom, Dad, anyone else that sort of steered you in that direction, does something jump out at you?

Heather Rios: Absolutely. When I was at Orangethorpe, my mom worked at Orangethorpe. So, she started out working there. Her name’s Heidi. She’s in the district, Heidi Harris. She started working at Orangethorpe just as the new supervisor, and then just having her there all the time was awesome. And then, as I moved to through the years, she moved into the tech position and she was always in the library. And so, seeing her every day in school with me and then going home and doing homework with her, she just really pushed education and showed how important education was, and she was always like my backbone going all through school, through college especially when I was trying to figure out classes and how to pursue education and all this. She was there for me every step of the way because she knew how important it was to me, and it was just as equally important to her. So, she was a huge influence for me since day one.

Matt Mankiewicz: So, so interesting that that’s your perspective on it because it sounds like you talk about how much support she had for you and how she’s always behind you, because the word she used to describe you was determined, which makes it sound like it’s all you and she was just along for the ride.

Heather Rios: Yeah, determined is a very good word. Sometimes I’m a little too determined and too hard on myself.

Matt Mankiewicz: Tell us about that.

Heather Rios: It’s kind of like one of those things where I set my mind on something and I want it done no matter what, and sometimes I need to—my mom especially reminds myself like, “Just let it go. Let it go. It’s okay.” And so, she’s really helped me with that, like to kind of just take a step back sometimes, like, “Don’t take it so seriously. You’ll get there.”

Matt Mankiewicz: So, do you feel like that determination now has ever led you to any big successes in your classroom?

Heather Rios: Absolutely. Last year, actually, I had a student that was kind of one of the more difficult students. He is one of those that had like a track record between all the teachers and everybody kind of knew his name.

Matt Mankiewicz: Sure.

Heather Rios: And so, when he was in fifth grade, I told him everyone, I was like, “He will be in my class,” because I was determined.

Matt Mankiewicz: So, you’re asking for him?

Heather Rios: Yes.

Matt Mankiewicz: Okay.

Heather Rios: I was like, “I want him,” and it was a challenge. It was probably one of my biggest challenges all year, and by the end of the year, because I stuck with it so bad and I made him know, I was like, “I’m not giving up on you. My mind is stuck on this and you will make a turnaround,” and by the end of the year he did and I was, I mean, it brought me to tears at the end of the year. He would go out of his way to sit with somebody that just maybe didn’t have as many friends and that was something he would have never done at the beginning of fifth grade, and I pulled him aside and I just broke down. And for him to see me crying, I was like, “I can’t believe this. I am so proud of you,” and I think it was because I was so determined not to give up on him. I mean, that was my biggest success story to this day.

Matt Mankiewicz: I love that. That sounds like, so obviously, building relationships with your kids is a strength of yours and something that you seem to put importance on, but to tell a kid, “I’m not giving up on you,” and then to see his teacher cry tears of joy over him…

Heather Rios: He laughed at me.

Matt Mankiewicz: Sure, you know, that might be the male “I’m uncomfortable with my emotions” thing. That’s got to be a good feeling for the poor kid.

Heather Rios: He was, yeah.

Matt Mankiewicz: And it’s so cool that you’re willing to let sort of peel back the layers and show that side of yourself and that vulnerability. That’s got to be touching even if he doesn’t quite understand it fully now.

Heather Rios: I think he did because he kind of gave me that laugh like, “I know this is a good moment, but my teacher’s crying.”

Matt Mankiewicz: That’s right. “Okay, Mrs. Rios.” I love it. Okay, so moving on to one of your coworkers, Ivy Ninofranco, we asked her about a story and she talked about how she was on the panel that interviewed you for your job here in Fullerton. And I’m a bit of a germophobe, so reading your story, I thought, “Oh, I respect this lady.” Tell us about your first interview here at Fullerton.

Heather Rios: Oh, goodness. Okay. So, this was about five years ago, I interviewed at Richman. This is when I got the position, thankfully. They called me. They said my interview was going to be at whatever, like a Friday, and two days before I came down with a horrible cold. I mean, I lost my voice, which I did this week again, ironically. Thankfully, I have my voice back today. But, I came down with a horrible cold, and I was like, “I can’t skip my interview. I have to go.” So, I went in. I think I had like a big box of tissues. I had hand sanitizer. I sat as far away from everybody. I refused to shake anybody’s hand. I’m like, “I promise I’m not being rude. I just don’t want to get any…” And it was the end of the school year, so I’m like, you guys were going off to your summer vacation, the last thing I want to do is get everybody sick before you go. But, it was definitely memorable. A couple of the people, because this was a panel interview, brought it up during the schoolyear after I got [00:16:25 unintelligible], “I remember when you came in with your bottle of hand sanitizer.”

Matt Mankiewicz: She said it wasn’t just a bottle of hand sanitizer but it was a rather large bottle of hand sanitizer.

Heather Rios: Yes.

Matt Mankiewicz: So, you brought enough for the whole group. You came to share.

Heather Rios: I did. I did.

Matt Mankiewicz: That’s great. I love that. When we asked her for a word, she described you as passionate.

Heather Rios: Oh. That was nice.

Matt Mankiewicz: Do you feel like that’s a predictable answer or are you surprised by that?

Heather Rios: No. I think she’s pretty spot on, yeah. I think she’s referring to my passion for the kids. It’s just all about the kids, I mean for her as well, for all of us at our school. It’s just all about the kids and, like you said, we won’t give up on them. And some of our kids at our school need a little extra love and they come from rough backgrounds, and we make it known that, “We are there for you no matter what. We are there for you.”

Matt Mankiewicz: That’s the building block for the year right there.

Heather Rios: Mm-hmm.

Matt Mankiewicz: You guys like to go to Coffee Bean, I see.

Heather Rios: We do. Coffee Bean Wednesdays.

Matt Mankiewicz: I see. Coffee Bean Wednesday. And do you like to tie mathematics into your iced tea order here?

Heather Rios: Yeah. We have jokes with the kids and we’ll like—oh, I can’t even think of one. But yeah, we always try and—because we include the kids a lot in our conversations and just silly little jokes, and we do math jokes and we’ll do statistics jokes. Because with the sixth graders, they all know the Internet lingo, so we do a lot of hashtags with them. So, we’ll do like #coffeebeanwednesday. As the kids leave, we’ll do like, Ivy will ask me, “Do you want Coffee Bean?” and we teach statistics and probability in sixth grade, so we’ll go #notastatisticalquestion, #onlyoneanswer. The kids think it’s, first, they roll their eyes at us, but then they think it’s funny.

Matt Mankiewicz: But, at least, they know what a statistical question is, right?

Heather Rios: Exactly.

Matt Mankiewicz: Absolutely.

Heather Rios: Only one answer.

Matt Mankiewicz: It’s real life right there. I love that. Also, you guys have a Koo Koo Kanga Roo affinity as well.

Heather Rios: We do. We love Koo Koo Kanga Roo.

Matt Mankiewicz: So, you guys are big GoNoodlers, right?

Heather Rios: We are.

Matt Mankiewicz: Okay.

Heather Rios: We do Pop See Ko and we have a Pop See Ko dance-off with the sixth graders. The first step is getting them to do it because the first reaction is always like, “What is this? This is for little kids?” I’m like, “No, no, no, this is for all of us.” But then, eventually, because we have three sixth-grade classes, and so we’ll all train on the Pop See Ko dance.

Matt Mankiewicz: You’ll train on it.

Heather Rios: We’ll train on it.

Matt Mankiewicz: Okay.

Heather Rios: So, it’s intense training.

Matt Mankiewicz: So, it’s like, competitive Koo Koo Kanga Roo here.

Heather Rios: It is.

Matt Mankiewicz: Okay.

Heather Rios: And then, we usually take them outside, and it’s funny because the PE teachers are right in front of the sixth grade portables and so they’ll play it, and every once in a while they’ll play Pop See Ko and then they’ll just break out into a huge dance battle between all the sixth-grade classes. It’s so much fun.

Matt Mankiewicz: I love that. The final person that Wes talked to was Shalimar, from your school site as well, right?

Heather Rios: Mm-hmm.

Matt Mankiewicz: Wes asked her to describe you in one word and she put in all capitals LOYAL.

Heather Rios: Hmm. Shalimar.

Matt Mankiewicz: Do you guys have some history there?

Heather Rios: We do. So, back when I was in undergrad, in college, I had to do observation hours and classroom hours. It was before student-teaching even, and I just put my resume out to a bunch of different schools, a bunch of different districts, and I happened to be picked up by Richman. Never had been to Richmond. I mean, I went to Orangethorpe, but I didn’t really know Richman. And so, I was picked up by Richman and I was placed with Sarah Cooper and Shalimar Licona. Didn’t know either of them. I walked in and we just, like the first day, we were instantly just attracted to each other and we’re like, “This is going to be a friendship.” And so, I ended up doing three years with both of them in kindergarten because at the time Sarah taught kindergarten, so my observation hours was Sarah. And then, I did RTI with Shalimar at the time, and I learned so much from both of them and just developed such great friendships with both of them. And they were the ones that encouraged me to apply to the position at Richman, which thankfully I got hired. And, I mean, Shalimar was my BTSA mentor for two years and we just got so close. She ended up, she was a bridesmaid in my wedding, and she’s just an amazing person and I have learned so much from Shalimar.

Matt Mankiewicz: So, it’s interesting that you mentioned she was your bridesmaid at your wedding. So, she was asked, “Is there a moment where you were just being you?” And she said, “At her wedding, the best man said that he knew she was a perfect fit for his best friend, the groom, when he saw how caring and kind she was to him, the best man, when he shared with her some troubling family news.” So, I’m seeing this pop up in all the people we talk to and all the stories that it just seems like love and caring and compassion just radiate out of you.

Heather Rios: Aw. Thank you.

Matt Mankiewicz: And it’s obvious sitting here with you as well for the last 22 minutes or whatever. Tell us a little bit about that. You obviously don’t have to go in specifics about this guy’s problems, but…

Heather Rios: It was actually the very first time, so my husband’s best friend was the best man, and the very first time I met him was he was kind of sharing he was going through a hard time, and I didn’t know him. I just knew my husband, not my husband at the time but eventually we got married.

Matt Mankiewicz: We know what you’re saying. Okay.

Heather Rios: But, and I just felt for him. He was talking about problems with his family and just issues. I mean, every family goes through tough times, and so I just wanted to be there for him and like, “I care about [00:21:55 Anthony,] so obviously I’m going to care about you,” and I just wanted to make sure he knew there’s somebody in his corner. And it was very nice when he brought that up at the wedding to just kind of show that it meant something to him.

Matt Mankiewicz: Yeah. How long have you been married?

Heather Rios: We just hit our one-year anniversary in June.

Matt Mankiewicz: Oh, okay. All right.

Heather Rios: So, we got married last summer.

Matt Mankiewicz: Very cool. Happy belated anniversary.

Heather Rios: Thank you.

Matt Mankiewicz: All right. So, we’ll leave this here with a little bonus question from Shalimar. She said, “Heather grows and loves more and values others and puts kids first. She is who I would love to be some day.”

Heather Rios: Oh, Shalimar. I would love to be Shalimar one day. She is seriously my role model. She embodies everything I want to be as a teacher and everything I try to be as a teacher, and I look up to her so much and I learned so much from her, and just I learned how to be a teacher and I learned how to be a person with the students from her. Just seeing her relationships with her students has pushed me to be a better person.

Matt Mankiewicz: I love how you put that, she taught you how to be a person with your students. So, what’s the difference between being a person with your students and being a teacher with your students?

Heather Rios: It’s kind of what I mentioned earlier, how before you can even start teaching them, you have to say, “How are you today?”

Matt Mankiewicz: Sure.

Heather Rios: And, I mean, Ivy and [00:23:13 Tiff] and I, my colleagues, we talk about that all the time because with some of the backgrounds of our students, I mean, they don’t want to learn statistics today. They want a meal. They want somewhere warm to be. And so, you just have to be a person. You have to show them, “I’m not just here to teach you how to read or teach you math. I’m here to be here for you, to help you succeed,” and, I mean, I think that’s really what teaching is all about.

Matt Mankiewicz: Got to give them those basic needs first.

Heather Rios: Mm-hmm.

Matt Mankiewicz: Well, it sounds like your kids have the perfect person leading their classroom and looking out for them and taking care of them.

Heather Rios: [00:23:49 unintelligible]

Matt Mankiewicz: You’re welcome. You’re very welcome. It’s not just me who thinks that, lots of other people, too. So, Mrs. Heather Rios, thank you for joining us on the Teacher Interview Podcast.

Heather Rios: Thank you.

Matt Mankiewicz: And it’s been awesome talking to you and just hearing about how you go through life, loving and learning and making everyone’s life better as you meet them.

Heather Rios: Oh, thank you.

Matt Mankiewicz: So, have a great rest of your day. Thanks for joining us.

Heather Rios: Thank you. You, too.

Matt Mankiewicz: Absolutely.

Outro: This has been the Teacher Interview Podcast. Thank you for joining us.

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