Episode 5 - December 16th, 2025

The speaker, Mrs. G, announces a shorter episode due to preparing for a holiday market. Proceeds support children and communities in Texas. She emphasizes community-led education, the need for engagement beyond traditional methods, and the importance of building trust with families. Mrs. G aims to create a supportive environment for families and communities through her podcast and events. She encourages questions and engagement from listeners and emphasizes the goal of helping families feel supported. Mrs. G expresses gratitude for the support and looks forward to the new year. Hey everybody, Mrs. G here, just hopping on to let y'all know today's episode will be just a tad bit shorter than it, only because we are getting ready for our holiday market and I am so excited! I hope to see you all there. The proceeds that Chester County Bookshop makes from this market goes towards supporting children through what I use as a growth ad and growing this business to support communities across Texas. We hope to see you there. Details are available at our social media pages and on our website at www.MrsGManyFloyd.com Again that is www.MrsGManyFloyd.com We hope to see you all there. Have a great amazing rest of your week and great holiday weekend and I hope you enjoyed today's episode. Love ya! Bye! Hey everyone, welcome back to No Filter Living with Mrs. G and I'm Mrs. G. If you've been listening for a while, thank you for being here and growing with us today. If you're newer, I'm really glad you found your way in. We're a few episodes in now and I wanted to pause, not because the work is slowing down, but because it's deepening. Before we move further, I enter into conversations about advocacy, literacy, and systems. I want to come back to the foundation that holds all of it together, community-led education. Part one, what has changed and what hasn't? Education has changed a lot. Technology has changed, policies have changed, expectations have changed, but one thing hasn't. Schools are being asked to do more with less. Less staff, less support, less time, and somehow still expected to meet every child's individual needs. I know what that looks like, not in theory, but in real classes. I've seen what happens when one teacher is expected to manage academic instruction, behavior, emotional regulation, documentation, testing, parent communication, and intervention all at once. And then not to mention what they've got going on at home. When systems lose capacity, community becomes even more critical. And when community is missing, everyone feels it, teachers, families, and especially the kids. Part two, my traditional classroom didn't work for me. Here's something I don't always say out loud. Traditional school classrooms did not work for me growing up. A lot of what I learned and a lot of how I learned it came from my own research, curiosity, and figuring things out on my own, and that stayed with me. So when I became a teacher, I carried that awareness into the classroom. As I planned lessons, I constantly asked myself, what would third grade me have wanted to know? What would fourth grade me have been interested in? What would have made this click instead of confuse me? I took whatever we were learning and broke it down to a level I knew my students could understand, and then I helped them load it into their own knowledge. Not memorize it, not repeat it, but own it. Part three, engagement is more than participation. Here's another truth that doesn't get talked about enough. A lot of educators are never really shown how to get students truly engaged. Most instructional methods scratch the surface. They check boxes, they meet pacing guides, but they don't always stick. I always tried to design lessons that students could take with them, lessons that made sense beyond the test, beyond the grade level, beyond that one year, because when learning sticks, it builds confidence, and confidence carries kids from grade to grade. Lesson four, why I built outside the system. What I'm trying to build now, and how I'm doing it, is rooted in trust. We're introducing ourselves to the community through markets, books, conversations, and presence. Not contracts first, not paperwork first, not authority first, trust first. We want families to feel comfortable, to know they can count on us, to know their child's best interest is always the priority, and the top priority at that. Events are not just events, they're introductions, they're relationship building, they're how community begins to feel safe again, and trust the adults that want to help their families and their children. Part five, what happens when community works together? I see what happens when a community works together, instead of against each other, because that's what my own community used to be. Families looked out for one another, schools were part of the neighborhood, education reflected shared values, and I want to help bring that back. Not just here, but anywhere families want their education systems rooted in their core values again. This isn't about nostalgia, it's about remembering what worked and rebuilding it with intention. Perfect. Why I'm inviting your questions, this is also why I've been asking for your podcast questions and topic suggestions. Let me do the legwork for you. Ask what you're afraid to ask, ask what you don't understand, ask what no one has explained clearly. I'll answer honestly, no filter, none. You'll be able to drop questions anonymously at my, anonymously, I always have such trouble saying that word and my students know it, drop questions anonymously at our markets or fill out the Google form on my website. I want this podcast to be for you all. I want to answer the questions, I want to help, I want to bring this company across Texas to help any family or community that feels they need a change. Again, this podcast isn't just me talking at you, this company isn't me just showing you and expecting you to know it. It's a conversation, it's growth, it's teamwork, and I want it to reflect what you all, you families, actually need. Closing, community-led education isn't idealistic, it's realistic, it's responsive, and it's necessary. This podcast and everything connected to it will always come back to one question, does this help families more, feel more supportive or more alone? And does it? Does this all help you feel more supportive, more alone, or targeted? Because I promise you that everything I am doing is in the best interest of our children. Thank you for trusting this space, thank you for trusting me, and I hope to see you at our next episode at our next market! Please, please, please go out and support us. I really hope you have an amazing week and holiday break, but Mrs. G is going on vacation y'all, so podcasts will be up on YouTube and on my website, but I will see y'all in the new year! I hope y'all have an amazing holiday break, I love you all so much, thank you for supporting Mrs. G in her dream and her passion project, and please, please, please be safe and love one another, and be kind to everyone, and do good. I love you all, have a great holiday break, happy new year, this is Mrs. G with No Filter Living, have a great rest of your December, see y'all in January 2021, bye everyone, bye!