This is Simple. I'm Tish Oxen Rider.

Hey friends, in this episode I'm chatting with contributing writer and managing editor of the Art of Simple, Andrea Debink, where as always

we're talking about what we wrote about this week. Andrea's already talked on the pod

before about how she's getting more and more into nature.

Well, she always has since she was a kid, but even more so recently as an adult where she's

been embracing the side of her even as a city dweller.

So in this chat she talks about what she's been learning about the importance of learning the names of

things like flowers, trees, frogs, you know, the stuff we usually drive by and don't think about.

Andrea gets into the why of why paying attention to these things is important,

and she also gets into the how, giving us some practical tips and tools so that we can get

into this wherever we live. And then this week I wrote about what I've been

learning about myself having successfully finished a year of teaching high school English for the very first time.

Well, almost, there's still a few weeks of the school year left.

Since I wrote more about my inward journey of what it was like to say yes to something I thought

I'd never say yes to you. I thought it'd be fun here on the pod to talk about the

broader more social side of what I've learned after a year of teaching high school

English. I am still very much a beginner here and will continue to learn as I keep going

Lord willing and boy howdy do I have a new found respect for you full-time teachers listening?

I mean, I already did, but wow, am I so much more aware of how much weight your role carries?

So, I chat with Andrea about the beautiful thing that is the high school

English classroom. And then in the third segment, because of weird somewhat

boring logistics that I won't get into here.

...