Tylan Bailey will inspire you! Tylan was a school custodian for 23 years, held another job for eleven years during that same time period, experienced homelessness more than once, and then enrolled at Georgia State University in Atlanta. Through dedication, commitment, and the support of his home family and work family, Tylan is now a teacher of physical education at Briar Vista Elementary School in DeKalb County, Georgia. A thoughtful, consistent approach to challenges, opportunities, and goals characterize Tylan’s outlook on human potential, and serve as a springboard for everything he accomplishes, including what his students learn. If you need a reminder about turning a vision into a reality, or if you want to celebrate the great teachers that tirelessly prepare the next generation of leaders, you will want to hear Tylan share some of his story.
SHOW NOTES:
3:00 – deciding to be a teacher when in middle school
4:10 – as a teenage dad, deciding to be a good father
6:00 – your support system is your true family
6:40 – fairness, love, respect – Hightower family and blood family
7:50 – homeless, couch surfing, and fourteen schools
8:20 – road to success is very hard
8:35 – choices, decisions, and consequences – life!
9:45 – June 2, 2017 – everything changes
10:45 – delivering newspapers for the AJC, seven days a week, eleven years
11:40 – Be More! – be a teacher
12:45 – managing priorities – keep the main thing the main thing
13:25 – if you want to gain, you have to take some things away
14:40 – if you bring work home, home can become work
16:30 – doing something for myself, for the first time
17:00 – this is meant for me because it’s happening to me
17:30 – I never thought I would be on anyone’s podcast
17:50 – meet your blessing halfway
19:40 – Mr. Ron Kitchens
20:20 – students, technology, and physical activity
21:45 – favorite sports
23:15 – involving all students in physical education – opportunities to learn and lead
24:45 – stamina – custodian and PE teacher
25:30 – communicating with students- providing guidance and encouragement
26:15 – anything you set your mind to, you can do it
26:25 – if you want good, you can have good
26:45 – minimal surprises, but with kindergarten…
27:45 – seeing growth and development of students
28:30- teaching or learning, which is most important?
29:10 – great teachers listen and learn
29:50 – other teachers – Ms. Stanford, Ms. Sherwood, Ms. Ware, Ms. Peeples, Ms. Dumars, Ms. Wilson
31:20 – if you want something, go after it
32:00 – thanks for listening to my story
Links:
GSU PETE (Physical Education Teacher Education) department
Good Morning America – ABC news
Steve on Watch (show, Steve Harvey)
David Reynolds (00:11):
What matters most in learning the challenge, the thrill, the benefits, interacting with other people or something else entirely. What is the connection between leading and learning? Does change drive learning or does learning drive change? What's more important, teaching or learning? Is everyone a leader, a learner, a teacher want answers? Listen in as we address these intriguing issues through commentary and with guests who share their thinking and tell us their stories. Lead, learn, change.
Tylan Bailey (00:54):
I'm talking to you. I'm on your podcast. Like I never thought I would be on anyone's podcast. I was homeless. My family was homeless at times. You know, couch surfers, staying with family members. I attended 14 different schools between kindergarten through high school. I could be more than just a custodian. I could be more than just a father. I can be what I always wanted to be. And that be more is that being a teacher, my blessings are gonna come to me cuz I'm, I'm going for it. As long as you are willing to learn, willing to listen, take constructive criticism, you can become a great teacher.
David Reynolds (01:41):
Today's guest on Lead Learn Change is Tylan Bailey. Tylan, thanks for taking your valuable time to speak with us today.
Tylan Bailey (01:49):
Thank you for having me.
David Reynolds (01:51):
Tylan. As you know, I contacted you after reading some notes from a PAGE colleague about a state board of education meeting where I learned about your path from school custodian to professional educator, a teacher of physical education to the students at Breyer Vista Elementary School in Georgia, DeKalb County. Naturally that atypical career path was a point of interest and also connected with the custodian piece because that's the job I held during my final year of college when I was preparing to be a teacher. I enjoyed reading as well about how you had to juggle work and parenting in school when you were pursuing your degree. I read articles online and watched a few videos and my immediate thought was, I have got to talk with this guy. So with that as a quick backdrop to our conversation today, please tell our listeners when you decided you wanted to teach, because my understanding is that that wasn't a decision you made at 39 when you enrolled at Georgia State University. So go back as far as you wish and share your thinking and your timing and the motivation for this journey that you've been on.
Tylan Bailey (02:57):
I originally decided that I wanted to teach back when I was in, I wanna say middle school. It might have been even earlier, but I can definitely remember middle school being that time where I wanted to teach. And oddly enough I thought I wanted to teach kindergarten
David Reynolds (03:24):
Things happen between middle school and becoming a teacher. And one of those things that I heard you mention on one of the interviews I watched was that you're a teenage dad and what I want to note about that chapter of life is what made the difference for you to commit to that component of life and take it really seriously and keep a focus during some of that, those challenging seasons of life. And if you wanna give a shout out to your four kids, you're welcome to do that.
Tylan Bailey (03:53):
Well, before I even answer that question, I'll say hello to Yazman, Tylan, Jr., Jayla and Dylan, those are my four kids. They range in the age of 25 to seven. So that's a big stretch. Yeah. But it, it goes back to that time of my life, uh, when I, I decided to make that commitment. That's because I was, I would say, you know, my, my father was absent in my life. So I, I decided like to make that commitment to my child a while before, even before I had kids. I always say if I become a father, I was gonna make that commitment. You know, spending one day with my child is more than that one day that I spent with my father, my biological father. So it started, you know, that process of thinking of being a father of I ever got to that point in which that point came that I was going to be the best father I can be. And by me wanting to be the best father I can be, I didn't wanna leave my child behind. So that's why that traditional route of going to college, that had a very big detour. Sure. So that was the main reason why I had this atypical story of being a college graduate.
David Reynolds (05:00):
It sounds like you placed your personal ambitions behind family as far as priorities go.
Tylan Bailey (05:09):
Yes.
David Reynolds (05:10):
So start with family. And I know your wife is Arica, is that correct?
Tylan Bailey (05:14):
Yes. Arica,
David Reynolds (05:15):
Yes. She's a literacy coach, if I'm not mistaken. She's also an educator.
Tylan Bailey (05:19):
Yes. She's also an, she actually sees a second grade teacher now because they have some, you know, the right sizing and in the school system. So she, she went back into the classroom after so many years. But she's actually a second grade teacher now.
David Reynolds (05:33):
Well, there's another Tylan, David similarity custodians. My wife was a second grade teacher. There's at least two right there. Yeah. And, and juggling school and work at the same time and two jobs. Actually did that for a while too. Like you did. And we'll talk about that later with you throwing papers for 11 years. I heard you mention your Hightower family also. So I know your biological family, your wife and your kids, very important to you. But also the Hightower, the school where you served as custodian for 23 years. What role does family play you think in somebody's success? And that's any kind of family.
Tylan Bailey (06:12):
I look at a family as your true support system. Anywhere that you're supported or you support anybody. That's how I look at family. The advice that they give you, the everyday encouragement. There's a lot of times that it seems like I spent more time in at that school at High Tower than, you know, I come home and, and it's time to go to sleep
David Reynolds (07:04):
Tylan Bailey (07:48):
This is one thing that I can go back and say. The, the main reason why I, I tell people, I I wasn't supposed to be in a position or consider quote unquote in a position because I had family struggles. I was homeless, my family was homeless at time, you know, couch surfers, staying with family members. Uh, I attended 14 different schools between kindergarten through high school. Alright. Yeah. So that's, when I say those things about not supposed to be here at this point, no, I wasn't expected to be. That role to my success was very hard. You know, I would be at a school for two months maybe, and I'm off to another school meeting different people, new teachers, new faces. Even though my circumstances weren't the best at the time. Like, I, I took it upon myself to say, all right, I can still have an opportunity to learn.
Tylan Bailey (08:42):
And I was once told by an uncle that life is about choices, decisions, and consequences. All right. And that was as easy as someone could have ever told me how life is. All right. So I took that as if I have choices, my decision is gonna determine which way I go or how everything turns out for me. So I live by that. I, I preach that I, I say preach, I preach that to, to anybody that will listen. I've always said that to my own kids or I tell it to, you know, the grownups, I tell it to the grown people as well. Life is about choice and decision and consequences. And that's what was able to help me get where I am now. Because I look at it before I decide on anything. If something's presented to me, I think about the pros and cons, you know, even if it's just like a business decision. I look at it from the pros and cons, cons, situation. And that's what it's all about for me.
David Reynolds (09:41):
You mentioned decisions, Tyler, and I'm gonna mention a date which had a decision attached to it. I heard you quote the date June 2nd, 2017, and I know that's gonna resonate with you. What is the significance of that date?
Tylan Bailey (09:55):
Yeah, so
David Reynolds (10:39):
You said stop working just then, but you didn't really mean stop working, did you? You meant stop working one job. Is that right?
Tylan Bailey (10:44):
Stop. Yes. I said stop working, but it was stop working. That, that one job that seems like a million jobs, that that job was delivering newspaper for the Atlanta journey and Constitution, which we know in, in Atlanta as the AJC. Right. Uh, delivered there for 11 years. I delivered newspaper 11 years, seven days a week, getting up every day, seven days a week at 3:00 AM between three and 4:00 AM every, every day for 11 years. That was like a, a big relief for me.
David Reynolds (11:17):
Yeah, because after that early rise time, you also had to go to work at school during that same 11 year period cuz you had to overlap during that 23 years at Hightower. Yes. Okay. I mentioned a date. I'm gonna mention another phrase, six letters, two words, Be More.
Tylan Bailey (11:37):
Yes.
David Reynolds (11:38):
You've used that as a guide of sorts for your forward-looking approach and your day-to-day life. Tell us about the Be More.
Tylan Bailey (11:45):
That Be More came about. It's, it's all like, so funny how it works. So the date of June 2nd and that timeframe at my church, they had to sign up, um, that says be more, it has other stuff, but I just took in the be more as a way like, all right, I can be more than just a custodian. I can be more than just a father. I can be what I've always wanted to be. And that be more is that being a teacher. And that's what how I took it. Like the, the be more just, it just resonated with me. It just, it just soaked into me and it's like, all right, this is my time. And so everything just happened the way it's supposed to happen.
David Reynolds (12:26):
If somebody listening right now is a little bit overwhelmed and they feel that they have too much to do, what advice would you share with them about managing time and setting and keeping priorities? You've got a lot of experience doing that and doing it well.
Tylan Bailey (12:42):
It's like a old saying and you know, I've heard many of times, and you keep the main thing, the main thing, uh, meaning like whatever you want for you yourself or you know, want, you want the best for yourself. If you keep that at the top of your goal or keep that insight as you move forward, you won't worry about the time. You won't worry about how how you're gonna get there. You just, you just know that you want to be there and you know, you gotta know what it takes to get to where you want to go. So you gotta learn how to manage your time and you gotta understand that you gotta have takeaways. Just like you want to gain, you gotta take away some things. So when you take those things away and you start to realize like you have more time than you actually think, you, you do, you have that sign. You just take those little small things away. You might take it, like, for me it was sports. I had to say I love sports, I love watching sports, I love going to the venues. I had to take those things away to be able to make sure I, I get to where I wanna be. And then in the end it'll come back to you once you reach your goal.
David Reynolds (13:47):
So you mentioned something in one of your interviews. It was really subtle and very quick. It was about you and your wife setting priorities and separating home life from work time because you would both come home and you decided we need to have a guideline, a rule of sorts, a way that we operate to cut this off at some point. And I almost chuckled when I saw that piece because that's another similarity because my wife and I were both first year teachers together. So when she was a first year teacher, so was I. And we found out pretty quickly we didn't do it in advance like you two might have done, but we found out that, hey, we've gotta have a little stopping point here while we don't talk about work. And we put that down because it can really be very consuming with what you have to prep for for school. Mm-hmm.
Tylan Bailey (14:42):
When you start to bring work home. Home is not home anymore. It becomes work. So it, it seems like you are working even when your home. So we had to like get that established, like, okay, we can talk about work all day long. All right, but when are we gonna talk about home? When are we gonna talk about home? So when are we going to have time to like entertain ourself? No, laugh about, because if you bring the work home, you had a bad day. Or even if you had a good day, you want to keep talking about work. We are at home now. Let's have a good day at home. Let's make something happen at home. Or we talk about home at work. Or if you just keep, you know, you keep the work where it's supposed to be. A lot of times when you bring that home, you burn out. That's all that's on your mind. If you just got work on your mind all the time, you’re gonna start to dread going to work. You gonna dread the people that you work with and we didn't want that to happen. And then you dread, you know, you become unhappy at home and that lingers on at home because if you bring in your, your, your situation for work, that that may have made you upset home, it may kind of spill over at the house and then you're not happy at home either. So that's, that's never good.
David Reynolds (16:01):
Was that easy for you and Arica to do? Or was it difficult?
Tylan Bailey (16:05):
It was easy once we realized like we have to have our time. This is like having kids. You gotta have, you gotta have time for you, for your wife. She has to have time for her husband cuz we have to have make our time, we have to have our, our dates, right? So you gotta have your home time away from work. It was so easy to make sure that we separated the two.
David Reynolds (16:27):
When you were working these two jobs, did you ever imagine being a guest on Steve Harvey's show or being on YouTube or the CBS evening news or ABC's Good Morning America getting gifts and trips to Disneyland?
Tylan Bailey (16:42):
No, it seemed like it all came at one time, right? And I never had those thoughts, like, yeah, this is gonna be a viral moment or this is gonna be a national, I'm getting national exposure. I was just putting myself first for the first time really doing something that I wanted to do. And then when those opportunities came, those surprises and appearances, I was like, oh wow. Like I'm going to take it in because it's, I guess it's meant for me because it's happening to me. And I looked back on it and I'm like, wow, I actually had those opportunities, those appearances on these shows and people treat me like I was a celebrity at, you know, I, I just took it all in. I still get goosebumps when I just, like, right now I got a like couple goosebumps on my arm. Like, that actually did happen. It actually happened. And like now I'm talking to, I'm talking to you, I'm on your podcast. Like, I never thought I would be on anyone's podcast. I'm on your podcast
David Reynolds (17:35):
Tylan Bailey (17:53):
Like I mentioned earlier, I had those circumstances of being homeless, uh, time or two and you know, going to all these different schools. Uh, so as I, you know, as I got older and and that phrase actually came about once I started started school, once I returned, once I got to Georgia State. Um, and I just started thinking about it like, man, like the blessings that we all want. Um, we wanted just to come to us, all right, you just, like, you wanted just to fall outta the sky. Like, I need a hundred dollars today, all right, hundred dollars, don't fall outta the sky, but maybe if I go work at a job, all right? Or just do something, go apply for a job. Maybe they have a hundred dollars signing bonus, but I had to go there to do it, to to for it to come to me.
Tylan Bailey (18:43):
And so that situation, uh, uh, uh, and that, that saying came about like, all right, I wanna be blessed. Uh, I want my blessings to come to me and I'm meeting it halfway. All right, my blessings are gonna come to me cuz I'm, I'm going for it. Even though it might feel like I'm going all the way to it, but it is, it is actually meeting me because I'm taking those steps towards it. And so that's why I came up with it. You gotta meet your blessings halfway. Like I said, on Good Morning America, oftentimes we, we want those blessings, but we just sit back and we like, oh man, this a hundred dollars is gonna fall out of the sky. This is going, I'm gonna walk down the street and it's going to be right at my feet. But no, you gotta just take those steps, those proper steps to get where you want to be. And, and then you, you'll see that the blessings was just come to come to you.
David Reynolds (19:37):
You have a former teacher, Mr. Ron Kitchens who really inspired you and yeah, he surprised you on the Steve Harvey show and you got to see him again. Is he the reason you landed on physical education PE as a specialty or is it just because you really love sports or something else?
Tylan Bailey (19:55):
I can say he's one of the reasons, yes. He, he's definitely one of the reasons as I decided to go back to school and you know, like I said before, I, I originally in my mind I thought I was gonna do kindergarten, then I said I was going to do special ed. And as it got to that point where I was, I got to Georgia State, I was like, it's, it's PE that I need PE because I started seeing the technology taking over, like working in the school. You start to see the students like around you. It's like these kids are, you know, they're not as active at when I was a child. And so I was like, that might be what I, what I need to do. Be a PE teacher, get these kids off this technology. Cause you know, the tablets, the phones in the computers, laptops are taking over and if I can do my part where they start to enjoy it, like maybe even they put the laptop down or the, the tablet for 30 minutes and go outside and play.
Tylan Bailey (20:49):
Cause I taught him a game or, or I did something for him. I feel like I'll be doing my part. And that's why I started to think about it. And then, you know, when I was in high school, coach Kitchens was, he was, he was actually my PE teacher twice. He's my PE teacher went at one of the elementary schools I went to, and then he was a PE teacher at one of the high schools I went to. So I saw him, you know, when I was seventh grade and then I saw him again when I was 10th, 11th grade. And you know, seeing him and seeing how he worked, how he treated the students, how he treated his colleagues, how his colleagues treated him, I, I started seeing like that's, you know, that's a guy that I can look up to. As I got into the, the PE major, I just started thinking about, you know, how he treated students and you know, how he treated people. And that motivated me even more like, okay, this is somebody I can look up to. I can follow that path of how to treat students and how to treat other people.
David Reynolds (21:43):
I'm curious, now you're talking about sports again Tylan, what, do you have a favorite sport or is that a tough call cuz you like so many of them?
Tylan Bailey (21:51):
I can say I have a, I have a favorite sport and it's basketball and it's funny, I'm a die hard Falcons fan and I, and I actually became a, a season ticket holder for the very first time this year because you know, I, I can afford it now
David Reynolds (22:40):
Well there's similarity number four because basketball is my all time favorite sport to play. I absolutely love. I don't care if I'm by myself. Yeah.
Tylan Bailey (22:49):
Yes.
David Reynolds (22:50):
Just whatever. Just if you've got a ball in a bucket somewhere, it's just a great game.
Tylan Bailey (22:54):
Yeah, exactly.
David Reynolds (22:55):
How do you support your kids' varied interests in different things because they all don't love basketball or different sports? How do you tailor things in your classroom so that all your kids benefit from what you do in pe?
Tylan Bailey (23:09):
One thing that Georgia State taught me and shout out to the professors at Georgia State, they, they were great actually. They were awesome that the skills, you know, we focus on the skills in PE but sometimes you have to focus on like the cognitive stuff, like the rules and the ones that don't have the skills, you know, all the, the top-notch skills you want to teach 'em the basic skills of course, but at a certain point they kind of peek out. You can see it very early and you teach those kids those rules and you let them become like the coach. They're gonna know the rules, they're gonna be the referee. So that's the way I try to approach it. What maybe they, they don't have those skills. Like some of the students that are, that have those, those, I call 'em top-notch skills, but they can be a referee, they can be a coach, they can be the manager of the team where they make sure, you know everybody who they pick the teams. So I, I try to differentiate that enough so that I know that even though they're not getting all the skills, they getting the basic skills but when it comes down to it, they can, alright, coach taught me the rules to basketball. They taught me that you can't use two hands to dribble. He taught me how to dribble between my legs or he taught me that you can't foul. So those type of things I look at like those are also the opportunities to learn in pe.
David Reynolds (24:35):
Were there any lessons that you learned in your custodial work that apply to what you're doing now? It might be work ethic, it might be something else unexpected. I'm just curious if you've seen any transfer of work across those two very different sectors?
Tylan Bailey (24:53):
Oh yeah. You know, one thing I always say is the stamina
David Reynolds (25:58):
Sure. All right. That sounds like that feeds into the Hightower principal's decision to ask you to give the commencement address to the fifth grade students this past year because the message I'm guessing was exactly what you just shared. You've done a great job, make good choices, that sort of thing. Is that correct? Anything to add to that?
Tylan Bailey (26:17):
I always tell 'em no, no, anything you set your mind to, you can do it if you want. Good. You can have good, you know, by the time you reach eight, nine years old, you know, right from wrong,
David Reynolds (26:39):
What is your biggest surprise as a first year teacher? You're there now, you are expecting it, anticipating this job and now you're in that role. What are the surprises?
Tylan Bailey (26:50):
Oh, oh, see you. You know what's funny, I didn't really have many surprises. It felt kind of weird that I didn't have surprises. I think the biggest, I would say, alright, let me go back. The biggest surprise probably would been, I just thought I was gonna have kindergarten under control.
David Reynolds (27:41):
Oh, that's a great answer. Yeah. What are your favorite things about the job now that you're there?
Tylan Bailey (27:46):
My favorite is seeing the growth and the development of the students. Given that I, I've, I had a year under my belt now seeing from August of last year to November of this year, seeing that what you couldn't do last year, you’re going to do it and do it three times better. So just seeing that growth, even today in my class, I was doing some teaching kindergartners,
David Reynolds (28:27):
Shift deep philosophical question. What's more important? Teaching or learning?
Tylan Bailey (28:36):
Learning is always more important for me. I'm a very inquisitive person. I, I would say learning is more, more important because even if no one's there to teach you, you still can learn. Because a lot of the stuff that, the knowledge that I gained, I wasn't really taught it. I learned it on my own. As long as you stay inquisitive, you stay willing to learn. That's, that's more important for me.
David Reynolds (29:06):
What makes a teacher a great teacher?
Tylan Bailey (29:10):
Oh, I like that one. A great teacher is, is always gonna listen. All right. We want students to listen. You gotta be able to listen and you gotta go back to, you gotta continue to learn. I tell everybody like, I'm still learning to be a teacher. I'm a teacher, you know, by profession, but I'm still learning to be a teacher. So as long as you are willing to learn, willing to listen, take constructive criticism, you can become a great teacher.
David Reynolds (29:41):
In addition to Mr. Kitchens, is there another great teacher or two you want to thank or mention?
Tylan Bailey (29:48):
Ah, there's so many, like, I've forgotten names because I went to 14 different schools, but whew, I've forgotten names. I can say that two of the main schools that I went to that I remember that I spent, uh, more time with Indian Creek Elementary in DeKalb County, Georgia and Medlock Elementary in DeKalb County, Georgia. And at Indian Creek, they were elementary, but uh, it was a Miss Stanford, Ms.Sherwood and Ms. Sherwood, she was like one of those mother figures that you had to learn how to listen and follow directions. So I, I'll never forget her. It was a Ms. Ware. Who else? A Miss Peoples. Yeah. So at Indian, Indian Creek, I would say those name. Oh, oh, Miss Dumars. Miss Dumars, my first grade teacher, I, I'll never forget her. She was a nice kind lady and that Medlock. It was, uh, Ms. Wilson. She was a stern teacher, but she was fair. I like, I, I love people that are stern but fair. I love people to this day. Like if you are fair, I'm all for it. If you say yes to me today and say no to, to me tomorrow, but you're doing the same thing with everyone else, I'm fine with that. So yeah. At Medlock it was Ms. Wilson and those other teachers at Indian Creek.
David Reynolds (31:14):
Is there anything else that you want to mention or something you wish I had asked that you want to provide an answer for?
Tylan Bailey (31:23):
I just wanna say that if you want something and you really want it, you think it's gonna be life changing for you, go after it go forward. And that goes back to me meeting your blessing halfway. I always just say what's meant for you will be for you.
David Reynolds (31:44):
Tylan. I wanna thank you for giving us a glimpse into your world and for providing us with some really thought-provoking material on how to maximize your potential and, and dream big and succeed. Really appreciate it.
Tylan Bailey (31:57):
I appreciate you having me and I appreciate everybody listening, listen to my story and if my story inspires, let it inspires And just go f go for what, what you want in life.
David Reynolds (32:11):
Well, it's been a pleasure speaking with you. Have a great day. That's all for today. Thanks for listening. You can email me at lead learn change icloud.com. Have a great day. Until next time, go lead, go learn, go make a change. Go.