Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: Welcome, Mr. Gwen, to the BSD Panthers perspective podcast. My name is Madison and I'm in the sixth grade. One of your students, and Mr. Gwynn is a STEM teacher that teaches science, technology and engineering, math and mathematics for grades six through eight. He's our teacher that had taught. Taught us sixth grader. Where do pothos come from? And how can paper airplanes go far between the design. Thank you for being on our vic podcast and for. My question for you is why did you decide to choose this job?
[00:00:41] Speaker B: Well, first off, it's an honor to be here.
Thank you for having me. And to answer your question, why did I choose? So there's, I guess, two parts to the question, like teaching, but then also science.
I. I chose to be a teacher mainly because when I was growing up, I think my first.
Let me think the first black teacher I might have had was in high school. So there was. There was. Wasn't many people that looked like me. And then also, too, I kind of felt like there wasn't a lot of investment into who I was as a student. So I wanted to be that teacher that I wish I had when I was coming up in order to invest more in my kids and push them to do great things. But in terms of science, I think science is.
Maybe I'm biased, but I think it's one of the coolest subjects because it's kind of just the exploration of why for all things. So put those two together. I guess that answers the question of why I became a science teacher.
[00:01:55] Speaker A: Okay, Kiana, you have something to say?
[00:02:00] Speaker C: Hi, my name is Kiana, and I wanted to ask a question.
Why did you decide to teach science?
[00:02:08] Speaker B: Oh, I guess I kind of jumped the gun with that. But that's a great question, Kiana. Like I said, science is pretty cool because it's kind of like just understanding why in the world around us, you go outside and like we talked about in class, potholes. You look at a hole in the ground, you just ask why. Or if you look up at the sky, you see it's blue. Just ask why. That's really all science is. It's like being able to understand the reasons for a lot of the natural occurring things all around us, like, why does Mentos and soda explode? You know, stuff like that. So I always thought it was cool to be able to not only learn why for all these things, but then also pass that information on to y'all so when y'all grow up, y'all are just more informed about the world that you live in.
[00:02:55] Speaker A: Okay, anyone else okay.
[00:02:57] Speaker D: Hi, my name is Elsie and I'm in sixth grade. And my question for you is, I heard that you are retiring. So my question for you is, what is your job going to be after you leave?
[00:03:10] Speaker B: Did you hear that? Oh, okay. Well, thank you for that question, Elsie.
Well, first off, I will say that I truly enjoy people oftentimes. You know, all throughout history, everybody has been in search of the fountain of youth, right? Nobody wants to grow up, everybody wants to stay young. And I would argue that the only real fountain of youth is to hang out with kids, because y'all keep me young. So therefore, I would say I truly enjoy being a teacher, being your teacher, because of just what y'all exposed me to in terms of what's going on just in like the. The popular culture around the world. But with that being said, after I am done teaching, what I am probably going to go into is promoting the application that we use in class. I built that. So I designed that over the last three years. And it seems to be, you know, bring a lot of benefit to the students in class and the way they interact with the classroom environment. So I'm going to continue to develop that and try and allow other schools and other students to be able to interact with their environment inside their learning space the way that a lot of you have over the years.
[00:04:27] Speaker C: Okay, I want to ask another question.
Why do you think kids should have self esteem?
[00:04:35] Speaker B: Why should kids have self esteem?
[00:04:36] Speaker C: Why do you think they should have.
[00:04:39] Speaker B: I'm not sure who whose quote this is, but it's a. It's a pretty powerful quote. And I guess after this podcast I can look it up, but somebody once said, whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're probably right.
Say it again. Whether you think you can do something or whether you think you can't do something, you're probably right. So what that means is if you believe that you can do it, you just increased your chances of accomplishing it exponentially. But if you believe you can't do it, then you've decreased your chances exponentially. And I think a lot of that ties into your self esteem. So I feel like the better you feel about yourself, the more positive you feel about yourself, the more you feel that you can accomplish the things you set out to do, the greater the chance that you'll actually be able to be able to achieve great things in the world that you live in.
[00:05:31] Speaker A: Okay, I have a question for you.
Do you think this environment that you have experienced for, for a long time, do you Think that it's good for you.
[00:05:42] Speaker B: Is the environment good for me?
[00:05:43] Speaker A: Yeah, like, for, like, the school, your class wise and stuff like that.
[00:05:47] Speaker C: The question was supposed to admit is, do you think the kids.
[00:05:50] Speaker A: Yeah. It's respectful to you and your environment, teach.
[00:05:54] Speaker B: I think I offer kids a lot of grace.
I know some of y'all might think I might be a little strict on y'all.
However. However, just to set the record straight, I look at that strictness as a gift. And the reason why I say that is because a lot of the stuff that y'all do, I did it too. Right. And I see myself in y'all when y'all do these things. And I understand your kids, like, kids just do sometimes a little senseless things, you know, but it's. It's all part of. It's all part of like being a child being, you know, curious and trying to push the boundaries. However, with all of that being said, I know I. Me, personally, there's two. There's two sides to Mr. Gwen. It's Mr. Gwen the teacher and Mr. Gwen the person. As Mr. Gwen the person, I get it. I probably did all the mischievous things that you do. Mr. Gwyn the teacher. They expect me to make sure that, you know, y'all follow directions. This and the third. So as much as I stay on top of y'all and I expect a lot out of y'all, I get it. I don't necessarily consider kids disrespectful in the sense of, you know, as if I don't know. I get it. I get it.
[00:07:10] Speaker C: Okay, the next question is, where. Where did you grow up?
[00:07:16] Speaker B: Where did I grow up? I'm from Ohio.
[00:07:17] Speaker A: So what part of, like, is there a part of?
[00:07:20] Speaker B: Oh, I'm from Dayton, Ohio. Oh, Cleveland. No, Cleveland's up north. I'm more like Southern. I'm closer to Kentucky or I was closer to Kentucky. So my parents, they were stationed at Ripat Air Force Base. They're military.
[00:07:33] Speaker C: So do you like where you grew up from?
[00:07:36] Speaker B: I appreciate a lot of the elements, you know, that Ohio has to offer. For one, it's a lot of space out there. It's a lot of nature out there, crazy out there.
I think it's crazy everywhere. But, I mean, I guess crazy is relative. It all depends on what you consider crazy.
[00:07:52] Speaker A: Is it, like, calm? Very calm there.
[00:07:55] Speaker B: Very calm. Like, you go outside, you can smell rainwater and hear crickets. I kind of miss that, but, you know.
Yeah, well, you know, the fortunate thing about growing up in the city, in New York, City is that if you ever decide to, like, leave New York City, the rest of the nation is, like, cheap compared to. So, I mean, you'll never run to a shock of how expensive things are. When I moved from Ohio out here, oh, my goodness. I couldn't wrap my mind around how expensive it was to live in Ohio.
[00:08:26] Speaker A: So it's. I mean, living in Ohio, it's cheap in Ohio, and it's more in, like, this kind of area.
[00:08:32] Speaker B: It's. It's cheaper almost everywhere outside of New York City. Like, y'all live in a very expensive place. So it took a lot for me to wrap my mind around, like, adjusting to the cost of living out here. But for y'all, if y'all were to leave, it'll almost be, like, a luxury that every place is, like, affordable.
[00:08:49] Speaker C: Do you think. If you like. Do you think if you didn't grow up in Ohio, would you be used to Brooklyn?
[00:08:56] Speaker B: I wasn't. When I first moved out here, I wasn't. It was too much for me.
Yeah. When I first moved out here, it was so overwhelming because our cities kind of look like Long Island. Has anybody ever been to Long Island?
[00:09:07] Speaker A: Yeah, I've been to. I lived in Long Island. It was very calm there.
[00:09:10] Speaker B: That's. Our cities in Ohio. Like, our cities are very, like, suburban compared to what y'all are used to. So your cities are so big and so many buildings, and it's a lot.
[00:09:20] Speaker A: Of very, like, louder stuff like that.
[00:09:22] Speaker B: Yeah, it was a lot. So I actually had to stay in Jersey because it was kind of like a halfway point between what I'm used to and New York City. And once I got used to Jersey, I was able to move into New York City.
[00:09:37] Speaker A: Okay, I have another question.
[00:09:39] Speaker D: I think somebody asked this, but I'm just gonna ask it anyway. When you were a child, what was your dream job?
[00:09:45] Speaker B: When I was a child, what was my dream job? I've had, like, two major dream jobs. One was, like, being a ninja, and I realized that probably wasn't gonna happen.
And then my other was being a writer, and I write music, so I wrote music for a pretty long time, and then.
[00:10:06] Speaker A: Okay, what kind of music?
[00:10:08] Speaker B: All types of music.
R B, pop, country, all that stuff.
[00:10:16] Speaker C: I wanted to ask another question. How does bones regrow?
[00:10:20] Speaker B: How do bones regrow?
[00:10:21] Speaker C: Break it. How does it connect?
[00:10:24] Speaker A: Yeah, like, connect to your body after.
[00:10:26] Speaker C: Like, you broke it and how much bones you broke.
[00:10:29] Speaker B: So there's. There's two, I guess, parts to that. So your body is a very.
So when you see, like, A robot. The body is, like, the most advanced creation, like, on the planet. Everything we build is almost mostly to robot.
[00:10:48] Speaker A: It's almost to, like, technology.
[00:10:50] Speaker B: It's almost to, you know, like, robots and all that stuff that we build. Our bodies are, like, what we're leaning, what we're trying to get at. Right. That's the goal. And your bodies have cells that are responsible for, like, regenerating damaged skin. So if you look at. Like, you look at your hand, if you cut your hand, the first thing it starts to do is bleed. And then when it bleeds, it coagulates. And when it coagulates, it starts sending blood and information to that area to start regenerating in the.
[00:11:18] Speaker A: You said what, like, your blood cells.
[00:11:20] Speaker B: Like, white blood cells are, like, part of, like, your immune system and whatnot. But the body has its way of isolating certain areas and then generating regenerating tissue there. And that's similar to, like, how your bones are. I know to a certain degree, your bones won't necessarily reheal the way they're supposed to, and that's why doctors will go in and they'll, like, put pins in and they'll realign it. But once that happens, the calcium deposits in your bones, they'll start to, I guess, to a certain degree, become active again, and they'll start to regenerate the bone tissue that makes up the hard shell of the bone, and it'll start to remend again, if that makes sense.
[00:12:03] Speaker A: Okay. One of my questions for you was, how does your hair.
How does your hair, like, form and then it comes out of your head? Like, how does your hair. Like, where does your hair come from?
[00:12:16] Speaker C: Where does your hair come from?
[00:12:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:18] Speaker B: So that's another interesting question. So, you know, your whole body is, like, covered in hair.
[00:12:23] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:23] Speaker B: Right.
With that hair, there's, like, little holes all over your body, kind of like pores, but they're different. Okay. Anybody ever heard of, like, a.
Well, you can't see them, but they're called, like, hair follicles.
[00:12:36] Speaker A: So they're like tiny hairs, but you.
[00:12:38] Speaker B: Like, they're tiny holes in your skin. It's called hair follicles.
[00:12:41] Speaker C: It's on your. On your.
[00:12:44] Speaker B: You may be able to see the holes a little bit better on your fingers, but the hole that the hair is coming out of. Yeah, that. Those are. Those are.
[00:12:50] Speaker A: Yeah. We had a really good argument about this. This is why we brought you in here to ask this question.
[00:12:56] Speaker B: So that hole is basically where the hair comes out of, but because it's so small, we really can't see that the bottom of that hole, there's kind of like an opening to where, like blood vessels and stuff, all that stuff goes into it and it stimulates that little region. And down at the very bottom of that hole, you have cells that are getting stimulated and they start to multiply. And the byproduct of that are proteins and those proteins. So let's say at the bottom of that hole, it creates, it divides a cell and it makes a protein. And those proteins stack on top of each other. And once so many of them stack up, it actually pushes up out of that hole and the material that gets pushed out of that hole.
[00:13:34] Speaker A: So the more the hair. And the more hair, the more proteins.
[00:13:38] Speaker B: That get stacked on top of each other, the more, the higher it pushes up. And once it gets, it forms into a hair, pushes out of those holes and that structure that pushes out, we call that hair. Yeah.
[00:13:48] Speaker C: Okay, so I have another question. Where does lava come from?
[00:13:52] Speaker B: Where does lava come.
[00:13:53] Speaker A: How does it form into, like a volcano?
[00:13:56] Speaker B: So where lava comes from? So there, there's, there are tectonic plates, and usually where those tectonic plates come together, there's holes or there's like space in between those. So whenever you see, like a volcano, what you're really seeing is usually where two tectonic plates are coming together. So I know in the, what is the Pacific Ocean, I think it's called, like Pacific Ring of Fire, you have a whole bunch of volcanoes that are like in a big circle. And really what that is is the intersection of two tectonic plates and there's lava pushing up. So to answer your question, where does lava come from? It's actually from like the inside of the Earth, and it's almost like a semi liquid version of rock. That is what's responsible for moving those plates around. So whenever, like, we have an earthquake, y'all remember the earthquake last year that we had here? Whenever you have an earthquake, it's because, similar to what Zamari's talking about, it's those kind of plates, they move. And when they move, they shake everything. Well, they're able to move because they sit on top of like a semi liquid substance that is pushing them apart and pushing them together. And when holes in those, those plates, which we call like the Earth's crust, when holes in those plates actually open up, sometimes lava can come through. And if enough pressure builds up, then you have like a volcanic eruption.
[00:15:20] Speaker A: So, like, forming a volcano is like forming like an earthquake.
[00:15:23] Speaker B: So a volcano happens where you have. So when those plates come together, you have weak spots in there, Right. And when pressure builds up in some of those weak spots and it breaks open, then lava will come out. And when that lava cools, it forms a dome. And that's where the volcano comes from. But the lava is actually like the inside of the earth that moves those plates that cause those earthquakes.
[00:15:45] Speaker C: I have a funny topic that we need to talk about. You're always ready to give us lunch attention.
[00:15:49] Speaker A: Yeah. Like, every time we do something, you be putting a warning on the board.
[00:15:54] Speaker B: Do you know what the purpose of lunch tension is? It is to convince everybody else not to do it. It's not really for the kid that gets the lunch attention. It's more so for everybody else to say, I don't want lunch detention so I don't have to give out, like 5,000 of them. So if I. If I give a lunch detention to the first one that does it, maybe that might save me from having to give them out to, like, ten other kids.
[00:16:18] Speaker A: Oh.
Cause for me, in my opinion, I think whenever you give, like, for example, you be like, to like, Michelle, Donna, and Stephanie, you'd be like, oh.
You be like, oh, Donna, Michelle, and Stephanie, stop talking before I put you on the board. And they keep on doing it. And then you put them on the board. And then Stephanie's like, oh, my God, why? I'm on the board. So I'd be like.
I be like, you think I feel like you're strict, but you're still cool with it. If you don't listen like Mr. Gwen.
[00:16:57] Speaker C: You will trip out.
[00:16:58] Speaker B: Am I?
[00:17:00] Speaker A: Yeah. But, like, if you don't listen, you get on the board.
[00:17:04] Speaker B: We're like this. I. I think. Let me ask you this. How many of you in here right now have had lunch to tens with me this year?
[00:17:11] Speaker E: You gave me lunch.
[00:17:12] Speaker B: You've had lunch with me this year.
[00:17:14] Speaker A: Yeah, because she didn't do her work.
[00:17:16] Speaker B: Oh, that's different. You came. You. You came up to finish your work. But who got lunch attention for getting in trouble? Like, for doing something Zamari is. But you, I had you last year. So really, when we think about. On the grand scheme of things, none of y'all had lunch attention this year so far, yes, I have.
[00:17:31] Speaker F: Wait, I had lunch the day you took me in Texas. I don't know what I had it for, but you took me.
[00:17:37] Speaker B: Well, that's what I'm saying. But if you look at the, like, the odds we have, and then last.
[00:17:40] Speaker F: Year, you gave me detention because Kaden went like this on my shoulder. You said we was wrestling. You gave me 100 days.
[00:17:48] Speaker B: That's a lot of time. Did you do all 100 days?
[00:17:50] Speaker F: Nope.
[00:17:51] Speaker B: Well, there it is. Now.
[00:17:57] Speaker E: You told me if I was in that school long enough, I would have. I will have lunch detention until eighth grade.
[00:18:01] Speaker B: Are you in eighth grade now?
[00:18:03] Speaker E: Yeah, but I don't have lunch detention no more.
[00:18:06] Speaker B: Awesome job.
[00:18:07] Speaker F: And you told Gordon that he had infinity days. You had infinity days.
[00:18:11] Speaker B: That's very true.
[00:18:12] Speaker F: Sylvester had like 156 days.
[00:18:13] Speaker B: That's right. Gordon, are you, Are you still serving less attention?
[00:18:19] Speaker C: No.
[00:18:20] Speaker B: Thank you. So it sounds like the system works.
[00:18:24] Speaker A: When I hear like, when I hear three days, I'm like, okay. When I hear more than that, I'm like, no.
[00:18:31] Speaker C: Attention is not good. Because when you're not, you basically going to lunch to spend time with your friends and eat. But you can't even do that because you got lunch attention.
[00:18:38] Speaker A: Yeah, you cut. I. I'll come into class to be.
[00:18:40] Speaker C: Like, o. I feel like lunch separate.
[00:18:43] Speaker A: You be like separate.
[00:18:44] Speaker B: Would you. Would you prefer to be in lunch with your friends or lunch detention?
[00:18:47] Speaker A: Lunch with my friends.
[00:18:48] Speaker B: Right. So therefore, Therefore you will do whatever you need to do to stay out of lunch detention.
[00:18:54] Speaker C: I feel like lunch detention is a discipline for us. Not listening.
But the way how you do lunch is that like nobody ever want to be there.
[00:19:04] Speaker B: Well, I don't, I don't think like.
[00:19:05] Speaker C: When you get you, when you tell us we have lunch attention, you, we can't talk. We can't even look at each other.
[00:19:11] Speaker A: You even separated, we giggle.
[00:19:13] Speaker B: Let me ask you this, let me ask you this. If lunch detention was like lunch where you can hang out with your friends, would you ever want to leave?
[00:19:20] Speaker C: No.
[00:19:21] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly.
[00:19:21] Speaker B: So therefore it sounds.
[00:19:22] Speaker A: Because I don't want to be in the class.
[00:19:23] Speaker B: It sounds to me like it serves its purpose.
[00:19:27] Speaker E: Your lunch attention is deli.
[00:19:31] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:19:32] Speaker G: I have a question, Mr. Gwyn. Why you don't like to sit down when we're in class in science?
[00:19:38] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:19:38] Speaker A: Cause to be like, oh, scan the QR code. And you would just be standing there while we doing our work.
[00:19:43] Speaker B: Yeah, the reason why I don't sit down is when I sit down, I go to sleep.
[00:19:48] Speaker G: Wait, how you gonna go to sleep?
[00:19:51] Speaker E: Yeah, but you're not sleeping.
[00:19:54] Speaker B: I'm on my feet all day. So as soon as I get a break, I'm knocked out. Yeah. So I went to school for education. So I funny enough, everything that I don't know, I guess I was in school for a pretty decent amount of time. Cause I was just taking advantage of opportunities that didn't really, like, go towards graduation. So my first year, they had me down as a history major. And I wasn't going to school for history, so I did a whole year. That didn't count. Then, like, two years after that, I actually.
I took an opportunity to go study in Brazil. So I was living in Brazil for a little while, and I was doing genetics at a hospital.
And then when I got back, they said that that didn't count towards graduation either. That set me back. So, all in all, I did eight years.
[00:20:37] Speaker E: What was your favorite thing to do as a kid? And what is your favorite thing to do now? Except for give us lunch Attention.
[00:20:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:42] Speaker B: Well, that's number one. So I say number two. I'm just joking.
My favorite thing to do as a kid. I used to like Legos. I play. I like to build stuff.
[00:20:50] Speaker A: Was you a good child?
[00:20:52] Speaker B: No.
[00:20:52] Speaker A: Was you a good child?
[00:20:53] Speaker B: Was I a good child?
[00:20:54] Speaker C: Don't lie.
[00:20:54] Speaker B: And what. What standard are we comparing that to?
[00:20:56] Speaker A: Like, you could. Would you. Would you, like.
[00:20:59] Speaker E: Would you get suspended?
[00:20:59] Speaker F: Compare yourself to Sylvester?
[00:21:01] Speaker A: Yeah, compare yourself.
[00:21:02] Speaker C: Compare yourself to Kaden.
[00:21:04] Speaker B: Me, personally, I don't think. And I probably shouldn't say this because you're in school. You should operate at a certain standard. However, I don't necessarily think that your behavior is that bad.
[00:21:20] Speaker F: Compared to Ohio.
[00:21:21] Speaker B: Well, no, just compared to kids like y'all, so my attitude is great.
[00:21:25] Speaker F: Tell us stories from when he was teaching in Ohio.
[00:21:27] Speaker B: Oh, that was a rough bunch. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that was a rough bunch. Like, y'all aren't nothing like that. Yeah, y'all are more. So, like, y'all are more in line with what kids your age.
[00:21:39] Speaker C: I have a question.
What's the best. What's the best behaved class you ever had in this school?
[00:21:48] Speaker A: 602.
[00:21:48] Speaker F: 602.
[00:21:49] Speaker C: 802.
[00:21:49] Speaker B: However you want to interpret that answer.
[00:21:53] Speaker E: 802.
[00:21:54] Speaker B: I. I remember. I remember a few things. I know chicken is frango. I know. I know the scoopa. I know the scoopa. Excuse me. Scoop the scoop up.
No, I think Kali Sensa is what's called Uncle.
[00:22:10] Speaker G: Sensa is. Excuse me.
[00:22:11] Speaker A: Excuse me.
[00:22:11] Speaker B: The scoopa is.
[00:22:12] Speaker E: Honestly, I don't know.
[00:22:13] Speaker F: Is.
[00:22:14] Speaker B: Sorry, sorry. Scoop and then obrigado.
[00:22:17] Speaker G: Thank you.
[00:22:18] Speaker F: Yo, yo, yo.
[00:22:19] Speaker D: It's a wrap for the VSC Panthers perspective, featuring Mr. Gwen. And we'll see you guys again.
[00:22:26] Speaker C: Bye.
[00:22:27] Speaker A: Peace out.
