00:00.00 David Welcome back to segment 2 of a life insurance podcast episode 95 we're here with Isaac Russell aka Zeke Darwin I should probably start off why why is Zeke Darwin is it like a pen name. 00:10.50 Isaac Russell Not really I like baseball growing up my coaches always called me Zeke and then when I started posting on Tiktok. It was early on in the pandemic and I had no intentions of like my page getting big or anything and I really didn't want. 00:25.73 David Ah. 00:28.80 Isaac Russell Kids like looking up my name or anything so I was like all right I'll go with Zeke and then with Charles Darwin so I was like I'll just go Zeke Darwin and I think by the time I changed it to Zeke Darwin I was starting to post more about evolution. Um I think I did have like my normal Twitter handle for a while. 00:39.80 David Um. 00:45.15 Isaac Russell Um, but once kids started fighting it I changed it because I was like I don't want this to be like a personal account at all. 00:49.22 David Yeah I got you? Okay, cool that I wonder if I should use a different name on the internet but like that. 00:54.89 Isaac Russell No I actually I had one night where I don't remember what a video I did was but I I had I had made some people mad just like your typical people who get mad at my content and they started like posting videos of me with like. Like like nazi type stuff because I was teaching about evolution and stuff and that's when I was like okay I don't want these people searching my name and finding where I teach and like calling so like I didn't need that in my life so that was when I was like I will figure a different name. Yeah. 01:15.12 David Well. 01:23.86 David Um, that's nuts stupid whoa. So like like stitching videos with you and stuff like that or. 01:31.52 Isaac Russell Yeah, and like dueting them and I mean I I just blocked them pretty quickly because I didn't like I don't know that was kind of my first run-in as a teacher where it's like yeah I might need to stop this because like I like posting these videos but. 01:36.69 David Right. 01:49.54 Isaac Russell I Don't know if it was worth the headache of potentially having these people go in after me and after my job right. 01:56.50 David That's like my worst nightmare like wake up and check my phone and be like all right who added me today that is scary. 01:59.40 Isaac Russell Oh and it's always in the back of my head too like if I reply to a comment or something like I I spend a lot of time checking profiles just to like make sure this isn't one of my students who I'm like like it or like the people who like will just say. 02:10.97 David Ah. 02:15.35 Isaac Russell Stupid stuff about evolution and I just kind of troll them back. It's like all right I better go make sure that's not 1 of my students on here commenting or something. 02:20.53 David Yeah, well let's get more into Tiktok towards the end here but I'd be curious to know like what's it like teaching like in in middle school or like an eighth grade I guess you don't get compared to a nazi. 02:22.14 archpodnet Right. 02:34.27 Isaac Russell No no I don't I I was trying to think I but I don't think that's ever happened. So I don't get compared to nazis. Um, no I really enjoy it. Um, what I have found though and like is. I've kind of gone back and forth with it. I still love teaching just as much today as when I started honestly I love it a lot more I've gotten a lot more passionate about the stuff I teach? Um, but you do as a teacher and I feel like. All teachers are kind of feeling this right now like the time you actually get to spend teaching and preparing for teaching and like actually working on lessons. Um, it just dwindles and dwindles as we get kind of stretched more and more thin I mean i. I don't know how many times a week I lose my plan because I'm subbing for other teachers that are out right now in the sub shortage. So like when you get to teach It's awesome, but it's just there are so many other things constantly being like prioritized it feels like over the teaching and that can really get. Disheartening I think and really kind of drive. A lot of people down. 03:45.17 connor Yeah, this it this I mean I don't think teachers were treated super well before the pandemic but they are certainly not treated well in or least now during as the pandemic keeps going on. It seems like funding is going from every school. District in the states. Yeah yeah, like pal power to you for for sticking with it. 04:06.10 Isaac Russell Yeah, and and it is it. The thing that's the most different throughout the pandemic is like the funding was always an issue but like we made it work but like I think. People always kind of had a favorable view of teachers and over the last year or 2 it's just like you don't really get that feeling anymore like I've had local news stations that wanted to like do video do like a little segment on me as being a local teacher that's like teaching on Tiktok and it's like I don't want. Local people to know that I'm teaching so much evolution because like I don't know you just like you don't it's I don't know you're almost seen as an enemy I feel like a lot of the times to people when they find out that you are doing that. 04:57.70 connor Ah I was just gonna ask so I grew up in a place where science is generally accepted in Colorado it's just you know we never really had any issues with that. How difficult is it to teach science in a place that. 04:58.30 David Ah. 05:15.23 connor Might not be very accepting of science. 05:18.20 Isaac Russell It depends. Um, usually there's really no issues with it I'll have I've always had kids who will come in and they'll be like my aunt said that that's a lie or like my grandma said that's not how it works and it's the end of the day they. I think most of the time know that I'm not lying to them and they kind of are having fun with it. Um, but it can get hard when you do have like tough parents who kind of take it to another level and I've definitely had like meet the teacher nights where it turns into like like. This year literally we were doing it out like against the wall because we didn't want everyone in the rooms constantly with covid protocol and I don't know just kind of had 1 parent just barking at me about how like trying to challenge me and like. Just the the typical kind of creationist talking points that are they think like debunk evolution just like going at me with them and it's like like late like we could go in there and I could work on the whiteboard and kind of debunk all of those claims pretty quickly. But it's just I don't know it's. It is hard because I don't know it's a weird situation because you also like so much of the issues in Kansas that I face anyways like I don't have many people that complain about climate change I don't think they really know that we're talking about it all that much. But when it comes to evolution like because religion gets put into that corner and you always want to be respectful, especially as a teacher like you get put into some really really hard spots. Um, and I think throughout the pandemic I've kind of changed with how I deal with that. Even like when kids kind of put you on the spot. Whereas it used to be like yeah you know that's that's one way of thinking like maybe that's the way it is to where now it's just like I don't do that anymore. It's like well. You can believe that but I'm teaching science and like this is the science. This isn't debated. This is consensus like I don't know it's it's a pain that you really shouldn't have to deal with as a teacher like you're always like even right now during the segment I'm like trying to. 07:29.85 David Sure. 07:35.72 Isaac Russell Use my words wisely because like I don't know you got to dance around it. So so carefully. 07:40.46 David Yeah, um, ah Carlton can probably speak to this too like we were just talking about this the other day we get emails that are like you know you said this or that that's wrong or like we'll get like ones about here's how the pyramids are actually built and like that's stuff that we can just ignore. Um, but like you got to you know deal with like that that sucks I'm sorry. 08:01.43 Isaac Russell Yeah, and I mean that is also I think one of the reasons I got so into evolution because I mean we can kind of throw this in with that part because I think it gets to the Kansas part like I do have the Westboro Baptist church right down the street and that is something we deal with in Kansas and as like a. Teacher not only teaching evolution but teaching it publicly right down the street. Um, again, that's why I have to be so careful with my words because like before we go any further. Their whole thing is they're all lawyers so they will sue if you say anything that they can sue for. Um, but it's something we have to deal with in Kansas and it's kind of crazy that we have to deal with it honestly I guess that's kind of the bottom line is like it's crazy that in the year Twenty Twenty Two we're still talking about this here. 08:55.00 David Yeah, um, dang we had a guy on here evolution soup on Instagram and yeah, yeah, he's a cool dude Mark yeah star wars nerd like through and through a star trek I think too. Um. 09:03.73 Isaac Russell I've seen some of his Youtube videos I like those. 09:05.98 archpodnet And marks a cold cat. The. 09:14.68 David But yeah, he he talks about like dealing with people like on the street in London that are saying this and that and he'll challenge them and stuff. But um. 09:21.45 archpodnet I think I think my video with him is probably his most hated video on his Youtube channel people despise that because I I said I basically asked his audience to respect indigenous beliefs and that science doesn't always have to come first and people lost their. 09:26.54 David And oh yeah, well what? what happened with that. 09:40.43 archpodnet Frickin' minds. 09:40.34 David I right? I remember that now. But yeah, those comments were rough. Um, ah so I guess I mean I I went to high school in the south and I live here right now too. Evolution like in in where I live in Nashville. It's like the bluest part of Tennessee for a year and I grew up in New York so it was like never really had to deal with it. Ah, like what they just taught us evolution in Eighth grade as if it was like you know, fact as it is but then in Tennessee in high school. We had a teacher who was like all right today. We're gonna talk about the e-word and like I know and he like started it off by saying he doesn't believe in it but he has to teach it and I just was like oh my god like this is crazy to me. Yeah. 10:24.47 Isaac Russell It It is a scary amount of teachers that are still kind of that way about it like I I was looking at I don't I don't remember the numbers but it was like I don't know there. There was a higher percentage than you would think of like biology teachers and stuff who don't believe in evolution and. I Know it's anecdotal but in the comments section all the time on those videos I'll have people who were like yeah my teacher you know they made it very clear that they just taught it because they had to and it's just like yeah I don't know that hurts us in the long run I think. 10:53.54 David Wow. Um. 10:56.40 archpodnet I see in and in my experience like in middle school elementary school and like growing up in Virginia like it wasn't like we always. The science was fine but like you got to history class and learn about the war of northern aggression. That's where things got wonky but science is always I never had a a teacher be like no I don't believe in evolution but I have to teach it like it was. You know fine like I think my biology teacher in my sophomore year of high school used to work at the Bethesda Virology Labs and he was like all right? We're gonna learn this. You're gonna learn the hell out of it and we're like all right? Mr Vale sounds good man. 11:26.98 Isaac Russell I Think a lot of it really depends on where you're teaching because like like where I'm from so like where I've told you I've said I'm from a small town and we had it for like. Less than a week. We had a couple days on evolution and I imagine that's because the teacher you know doesn't want to deal with and especially in a small town where everyone knows you. You don't want to be seen as like the even though she went to my church like you'd be seen as the atheist out to get. Religion to a decent proportion of the people in that town. So like I think that has a lot to do with it and like with where I'm at in topeka I asked before I became like before my first year there I'm like how do you deal with the evolution unit here and they kind of told me like. 11:57.27 David I. 12:12.88 Isaac Russell You've got to either cover it really well or just kind of be careful, get the bare basics in because they had had people in the past like try to record you as if you're doing something wrong and ah or like stuff like that and that's that's why that's. Why I really did get into evolution in the first place like I went and started watching Pbs eons and stuff and was like if I'm going to teach this here I need to be confident if one of these people comes up to me on the street or at a basketball game where I'm coaching and does what they do. 12:41.70 David Yeah, um, this might deviate from the script of it here but like is that what feels yield feels you to do the tiktoks that you do like as you said it was like used to be evolution heavy in the beginning. 12:55.96 Isaac Russell Yeah, ah absolutely um, especially early on and especially where I'm at like it was a big motivating factor to like where you see so many people try to get you not to teach evolution and it's just like all right? Let's let's do this and that's kind of. My thing with Tiktok is like if you get little short videos in and just sprinkle the evolution and like you're going to be reaching a lot of people. Um and a lot of people who. Are probably getting taught curriculums that like purposefully don't teach evolution so I kind of saw it as a way to just like I don't know try to make it more accessible to kids who really don't even realize they're missing out on it because I don't know I think it's super fascinating and I don't know it sucks at so many kids. Are like pushed away from the entire field from such a young age. 13:51.10 archpodnet And yeah I think one of my most like wellicipd lectures because I teach like intro to archeology here at su boulder and like we do we cover like the course of human history starting with evolution hominins and like we do this skull lab where we have like 10 hominid skulls and then also. Human skull a chimpanzee skull and then I usually throw a gigantopithecus for shits and giggles and like see if I'm like a couple of these don't belong. Can you guess which one it is and it's like clearly it should be the Jogangantopithecus but when they actually get to interact with like casts of hominid skulls and actually get to see like the changes in their hands between. A forensist ephrikais and the oustetralopithecine family like then like things start lighting up where I'm like no look at where the spine connects and you can see how it's moving down and like then they're like oh this is starting to track a little bit easier and. 14:42.26 Isaac Russell Yeah, for sure and that's something that I actually wanted to do and I've reached out a few times over the last year to the people who like run our 3 d printer at our school and just haven't gone anywhere but any teachers listening to this like you can find the 3 d kind of casts for those goals. They're like made accessible for you to teach with I think you can download a lot of them free online and like that's something I've wanted to do because then you can like have them there like you said and let the kids kind of physically look at them and manipulate them and I think it was like a lot of the actual. 15:06.65 David Whoa. 15:19.82 Isaac Russell Stuff they've published. They've started kind of making into that open access and you can find it out there. You can't like sell it that was one thing I thought about doing I was like oh that'd be super cool to buy a 3 d printer and sell these things and I realize you can't do that. But I think you can just make them for use in your classroom. 15:37.20 connor Yeah, well I think I I was just go ahead. David I just gonna say okay I was just gonna say that I think one's it I was gonna say that I think it's really interesting the different forms of media that. 15:40.91 David I I was gonna eager. 15:42.58 archpodnet That one of you go. 15:56.16 connor You can teach in doing labs or anything or even tiktoks now because you can reach that generation I feel like this the zoomers or whatever you're calling them. Gen z is a generation that spends a lot of time on Tiktok social media things like that and that is this just becomes a better out. Way to reach those kids because I don't know if traditional teaching methods are as effective as say showing a cool video a 1 minute and thirty second video on Tiktok you know to be honest. 16:26.94 Isaac Russell 100 % like with with my teaching like I became a teacher because like I want to teach like I'm passionate about teaching and if it weren't for the Tiktok right now like I do the best I can at my school but with everything going on I just. Don't feel like I would be feeling like I'm getting that much out of it because like I'm working hard but like these kids have so much going on. They don't care about school right now and even the ones that do they're in and out with quarantine constantly. So like you you never feel like you're reaching them all that much. But. 16:59.90 David Damn. 17:04.50 Isaac Russell Tiktok has really helped me with that because like where I don't necessarily feel like I'm doing as much good with the school which I mean I know I am I'm there for them and everything it's just it's that feeling I do get that from the Tiktok still where it's like I am making a difference right now like a lot of kids are seeing this and like. Feel like what I needed growing up was to realize that like the science was still being done stuff is being published every day we're finding new stuff. So like I feel like a lot of people are being exposed to that without even realizing that when they watch those little 1 to 2 minute videos so I don't know that's kind of where I get a lot of my fuel to keep teaching right now through this pandemic for sure. 17:46.41 archpodnet Absolutely man, we'll keep going on doing the good work and with that we'll be right back with segment 3 of episode 95 a life and runs podcast here with Isaac Russell