a little attention to what they’re saying, kids have the ability to synthesize so much information. THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION With everything teachers have to face and deal with in 2026, Gates says she worries about the longevity of teachers. Not only are teachers having to deal with long working hours or small paychecks, but they also are concerned about the state of education. If a person becomes a teacher not because it’s a calling but because they didn’t really know what to do for a career, they’ll figure out they’re not making enough money, and the work is more demanding than advertised. “I’m just scared that people are going to work for three years and then dip out, which means you’re not going to get any teachers like me that can pull stuff out of their back pocket all day long, that know how to deal with behaviors, like I know how to do it,” ex- plains Gates. “I have magic tricks all the time, but these three year teachers are not going to be able to come up with the magic tricks. So I’m worried—they’ve got to either pay teachers more, or make the workload less. Or you’re not going to have good teachers.”
tunities to start conversations with their kids.
different lessons, there are so many papers to grade and lessons to be planned. Once she goes home, she has to go right back to work, either to finish up things from that day or get ready for the next. “I’m the funny teacher. What I used to say to the kids was like, ‘Look at this gorgeous worksheet I made for you, and I really was thoughtful.’ But I go, ‘I did this when I wasn’t…’ and the kids would always say, ‘When you weren’t getting paid,’ because they needed to know that I’m doing all this extra stuff for them.” STRENGTH IN KIDS Despite the trials of teaching, and kids strug- gling to have resilience or strong attention spans, Gates says there is a positive note to social media. With their access to YouTube and educational programs, she explains that kids have an impressive background knowl- edge of topics that surprise even her. “I always tell the parents, like I do deal with these five- to seven-year-old bodies, but I treat them as adults,” says Aggarwal. “They have such an amazing audacity to imagine, and they’re so empathetic.” She adds that adults tend to ignore what kids are dreaming about or just brush off their conversations as childish. But if people pay
As for parents reaching out, Gates recom- mends keeping it brief. She says she uses bullet points in her weekly emails and recom- mends parents also heed to using brief com- munication because of all the texts, emails, and communications people get every day. THE REALITIES TEACHERS FACE IN SCHOOLS TODAY “I’ve always said, the thing you think I do all day, I do for about 10 percent of my day,” Gates laughs. People tend to think of teachers standing at the front of the classroom, teaching kids information all day. Or maybe you picture teachers at their desk grading papers in be- tween classes. In reality, teachers are forced to work long hours outside of their scheduled 8-4 just to get everything done. “Parents have no idea what the reality of a school day looks like,” says Aggarwal. “That is why I use a talking points app where every other day I put some pictures with a prompt- ing question.” Not only that, but there’s no time to do other work, like creating lessons or grading papers or projects, until the kids are gone. Gates explains that because she teaches so many
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