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Welcome to the Classroom Narratives Healing and Education Podcast, the space where education meets resilience.

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I'm Dr. Joey Weisler, and in each episode, we dive deep into the personal stories of educators, students,

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leaders, and frontline advocates who are navigating the complexities within modern education.

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Whether you're just starting your teaching journey or are a seasoned professional looking for inspiration,

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we'll explore how to foster meaningful change, prevent burnout, and build trauma-informed communities within our schools.

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Now, let's take a seat at the front of the classroom as we get started.

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Welcome to a very special and unique episode of the Classroom Narratives Podcast.

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This week, I'm honoring my own beloved grandmother, Francine Langer Weisler, as my guest.

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Francine Langer Weisler began her teaching career in New York City in 1947.

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Her 41-year-long legacy of a career, following a childhood during the Great Depression,

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was dedicated in excellency to elementary school instruction and principalship throughout New York City, particularly in the Bronx.

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Francine Langer Weisler, who was the oldest daughter in a family of six, having three younger brothers,

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was known for her charisma and humor, which always led to a commanding presence.

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She constantly laughed and made others laugh with her quick humor and inside jokes, along with her no-nonsense attitude.

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She always provided wisdom to her family, especially to her grandchildren.

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Francine passed away peacefully last year on January 30, 2024, just days before her 96th birthday.

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For those who are tuning into this segment here in February 2025,

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you are listening to an archived conversation between me and Grandma Fran back from March 2022,

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when she and I had a wonderful conversation about 20th century academia, which I asked her at the time if I can record and save.

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Grandma Fran serves as one of my earliest inspirations to follow a career in education.

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As I assemble this archived dialogue right from her New York City living room, where we recorded the segment and where I now live,

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I wish to thank you in advance for your listenership as I observe the one-year loss of Fran,

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while honoring what would have been her approaching 97th birthday.

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So sit and enjoy a special conversation as we step back to understand education before many of our own times.

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Welcome to the podcast, Grandma Fran.

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So what was it like for you to be a student during the Great Depression?

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What were your classmates like? What were your teachers like?

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Do you remember what even your own classrooms were like? And what was school about when you were growing up?

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Everybody was very poor. In the classroom, the ethnicity of the faculty, as I observe, came in waves.

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During the Depression, I had wonderful little friends. Nobody had anything.

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Nobody complained about anything. Nobody was jealous of anybody because nobody had anything.

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And whatever we were taught, we were able to follow through. We followed the teacher's instructions to a T.

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We were very obedient. Nobody acted out. And education was rigid, repetitive, and we learned.

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And that's the way it was. In school, nothing was expected of us except good learning habits and achievement.

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And on the outside, we were happy if we had a nice meal, if we had a warm hat.

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We were grateful for every little thing because there was just no money.

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And who or what actually inspired you to become a teacher?

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I think I wanted to become a teacher because I looked up to the teacher as somebody in charge.

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Somebody who was very smart. And I remember when I was in fourth grade,

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I had a teacher who brought her slides of her travels to school.

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And one of the slides showed her riding a camel. She was in the Middle East someplace, North Africa.

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And I said, someday I'm going to ride a camel. But like Miss Zemansky was her name.

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And I will be a teacher and I'll have my summers off as teachers did.

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And sure enough, one of our first trips was to Morocco. And the first thing I wanted to do was to go where they had camel rides.

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And I said, I want to get up on that camel and have a picture taken to remind me of my fourth grade and fourth grade teacher who inspired me to become a teacher.

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And sure enough, that picture hangs right in my den right today.

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And what were your first what first what year did you begin teaching?

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And what were your first couple of years of teaching?

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Like, what did you learn about even yourself as an educator in those opening years?

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I started I was too young to teach in New York City on the lower grade.

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And I was I had a certification to elementary school.

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I would have to be. I think.

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Wait a minute. Twenty one years old and I was 19 when I graduated from college.

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But to teach in New York City on the low grades to take the exam, you had to take an exam.

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You had to be 21. So somebody told me Yonkers, New York.

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You could get a job there and you didn't have to be 21.

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So I was like 19 and a half and I went to Yonkers and I got a job.

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And I had the slow sixth grade.

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The kids were 16 with 13 and I was 19.

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And I said, oh, I'll treat them like my brothers.

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It's going to be such a nice time.

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It was hell at the beginning at the beginning.

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Too familiar, too nice, too good.

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Didn't set the tone, did the wrong things.

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But then there was a loyalty there.

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And I would say in the middle of the year, the superintendent was coming to visit my classroom.

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And I told them the superintendent is coming.

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She's going to see how you are doing.

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And one smart Alex said to me, no, she's going to see how you are doing.

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Oh, I thought to myself I'm cooked.

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But I will tell you, they were so good and so receptive.

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Not anything out of place.

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So I must admit they were very loyal.

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It's a true story.

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So as a sidebar, it really begs the question as to why educators get caught up in this

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timeless fantasy of a perfect linear career from the start.

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And I would love to know what factors contributed to Fran's fantasy of an educator and how she

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was able to restructure her on paradigm.

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Unfortunately, that question was not asked during this conversation.

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But from knowing my grandmother as well as my own teachers, I feel that teachers tend

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to make their jobs look much easier as they're in front of their own students.

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But I can say that in my first year of teaching that I was certainly not that way and approached

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my own classroom with extreme vulnerability.

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And our other conversations on this podcast will also serve to think about that a little

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bit further.

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So as you grew as an educator, tell us about your time instructing, especially during World

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War II.

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Who were your colleagues?

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What were your students like?

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What were their parents like?

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What was the school you worked for like and how about its neighborhood as well?

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How was your administration?

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What was academia about?

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And what did you learn about the profession that helped you grow as a person?

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Were any of your revelations during your career shocking or was everything to be expected?

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Well, firstly, after spending two years in the first school in New York, I told you about

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Yonkers.

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Then at 21, I took the exam for New York City.

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And it happened that most of practically all of my friends from Hunter, when they were

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appointed, they were older than I, so they were appointed before I was.

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They took the exam before I did.

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And they were sent to Harlem.

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And I said, if I get sent to Harlem, I'm staying in Yonkers.

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Well, as it turned out, I did comparatively well.

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I scored higher than most people.

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And maybe because of my score, I was not assigned to Harlem.

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I was assigned to a school about 10 blocks from my house.

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So I was very happy about that.

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The children were Italian, coming from Italian immigrants.

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Now there's little Italy in today's environment.

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Parents were very cooperative, very cooperative.

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And I was a little loose.

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I brought in the, I guess they called it the progressive method you learn by doing.

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Yeah.

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And it was really the Dewey method.

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And the superintendent of schools from New York City was coming.

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And my principal said, I'm taking her into Ms. Langer's room first.

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Ms. Langer will schmouse her up because I had a background.

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Because I had a background in the progressive method in Yonkers.

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So I had all kinds of signs and all kinds of things that Dewey was promoting in his

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theories about education.

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Yes.

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She came and she was very pleased with what she saw of course.

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And that was it.

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It was second grade, but the kids mostly Jewish.

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They were very eager to learn.

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But there were a couple in there that needed help.

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A good social worker would have helped out one of the kids.

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But we didn't have those educational aids available to us.

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So we managed.

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And it really went along without any kind of untoward incidents.

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A little discipline here, a little discipline there.

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The parents were cooperative.

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There were no parents who were angry.

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We didn't have angry parents that I knew of.

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And so it went.

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And so if a child didn't behave, you could tell the parent or you could try and handle

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it yourself.

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And you worked it out.

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And when the child went on to the next grade, there were no big problems.

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The problems really came later on with the narcotics.

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Narcotics was a big thing.

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And of course it impacted on children.

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But everything has a way.

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They say a problem that's not resolved, there is a resolution by it being evolved.

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It just happens.

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If you don't resolve the problem at that moment, chances are 

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the problem resolves itself through an evolutionary step by step change

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kind of process.

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And that's really what it was after that.

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It was very good with parents.

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And teachers had very good relations.

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The narcotics came in that entered into the picture.

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I mean there were multi-factors that entered in, that enters, I shouldn't say entered, still

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enters to this day, that enters into the education that spills over into the schools.

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A kid comes from a home, whether it's this, that, or the other thing, it has to have an

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influence over that child.

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And the child brings it to school.

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That's it.

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How would you describe your leadership style and what do you consider made you an effective

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leader?

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I remember the first day I took over the school was in a mess and I called a meeting

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and I said, just one moment, remember this.

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Do not interpret kindness for weakness.

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And if you think you're going to get away with anything,

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I may seem very kind and I am, but I am not weak.

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And that kind of set a tone, also, so they knew I wanted something on a professional level and

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wouldn't accept less.

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Throughout your career as an educator, you have consistently been a pillar of strength,

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courage and charisma through your own leadership.

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But what was an experience that made you feel stalemated during your career, if at all?

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And what did you learn from those moments?

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Okay, and my door was open and sometimes kids would wander in after school if they didn't

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go to the program, they'd come in.

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And I was very receptive and I would listen to whatever complaints or remarks or what

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their day went or how their feelings were, but it was really few and far between.

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But one day this kid comes in, a nice kid and I liked him very much.

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He did get into difficulty and we were talking and I don't know how the subject came around,

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but he was telling me a little bit about his life.

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And we had a number of children in foster care and he said to me, you don't know what

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it's like to be a foster child.

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And to this day, I become emotional about it, to think of the deep hurt that this child

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must have gone through.

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And yet I kind of thought I knew the foster mother who was a very nice lady, but it was

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probably just a separation from his own family.

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But it was the one thing that made me think this is it.

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There's no more I can do and I'm retiring.

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But I think we need more social workers.

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I really do.

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Absolutely.

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Honest to goodness social workers, not those that are looking to see what is behind the

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mystery behind the veil.

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No, no.

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Interact with the child in the here and now.

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How do you feel and what is making you feel that way should be the guiding light.

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And then try to get to the solution.

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Absolutely.

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Can you share one of your funniest memories throughout your career?

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We had a teacher who was really very stern to the male teacher, to the point of lunacy,

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but okay.

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They made him, the motto is those who can teach and those who can't teach, teach gym.

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Anyway, this teacher used to set off on, look at the contract, I think, not really, but

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things would come up and he would set into effect a grievance.

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He was the biggest pest to a principal because he would find a grievance in everything and

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if he couldn't find people who were afraid

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to go to the principal would go to him and say, hey, do you know that?

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Whatever it was.

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Anyway, one day after being made a gym teacher, he was playing ball with the kids or the kids

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were playing kickball or whatever and the ball went into his head and he fell to the

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floor in the gym.

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And of course, an ambulance came, the gym was up on the sixth floor, all gyms are, they're never

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in the basement someplace, and an ambulance was called and he was put on a gurney.

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And a colleague came to me laughing and he said, I just saw the funniest thing.

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I said, what did you see?

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He said, they took away AG.

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He's on a gurney.

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And a kid ran up to the gurney and said, "Mr. G, Mr. G, are we going to have gym today?"

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It shows the innocence.

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I'll never forget that story.

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Every time I think of it and I want something to laugh about, that's the story.

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Gym overrode everything.

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What about your time beyond the classroom?

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What did you do as an administrator or a leader and how did your classroom skills transfer

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into that part of your career?

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Well, beyond the classroom, not very much.

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When I was working full time, but I'll tell you what I did after I retired.

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After I retired, I was told principals were given a budget and within the budget,

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I don't know if they had extra money, I don't know where they got it from, but it was in the budget.

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And they would ask me to come in and do certain things on certain days

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to help out within the school.

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Well, I decided one day, I went to the principal.

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I said, listen, there's a teacher in this school who's very interested in the arts and drama

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and theater.

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And I think that children have a lot to learn and that these children never get the opportunity

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to go to the theater, never ever.

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Lehman College on Friday at that time had presentations,

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dance, drama, music, open to the public.

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So I said to the principal, there is a teacher who's very interested in the arts.

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What I would like to do is take a couple of children, three, five, up to five children,

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four children, take them to Lehman College, show them what a performance is,

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give them a play bill, introduce them to theater.

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And I want to take it from a certain class because I know that

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teacher is interested in that and she will follow through.

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Now, in retrospect, that was a big responsibility.

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My husband was coming, grandpa was coming, and I told him, bring chocolate donuts.

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Went down to the lunchroom, saved the milk for five children.

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And we would take five children in the car, take them to Lehman, to the cafeteria,

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where they would have their donuts and milk, upstairs to see the performance with their play bill,

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with their program.

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And then they would go back to their classroom and discuss it with the teacher.

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I didn't follow up on that.

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But I managed to get through the whole class by the end of the school year.

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And to me, that was a terrific thing.

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It was also the nuttiest thing I can ever think of.

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From the principal's point of view, he was a lunatic to allow me to do this.

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And from my point of view, I was a lunatic for taking on this responsibility.

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I prefer to say innovative.

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But you know, I contacted the parents.

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I did everything I was supposed to do.

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Contacted the parents, said, this is what I'm doing.

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If you have any objection, I will not take your child.

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And not one parent said to me, no, don't do it with my child.

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They all got their chance and they had a little introduction into theater.

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And so just reflecting on like the latter part of your career, even into retirement,

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what can you still say about the students that you keep in touch with, if any of them?

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And if you sat down with one of your students today,

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what would be a timeless memory that you would have about them?

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I just have timeless memories about all students.

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I have met a couple, not students, but student teachers, new teachers coming in that I have

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mentored, and I have met them at a place for retired teachers where they give courses and

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they play bridge and they have activities for teachers who are retired.

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And I can show you cards that teachers sent me when I retired.

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Oh, wow.

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 thanking me for taking the time.

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One word, I could never have gotten through it without you.

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So I'm gratified.

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I feel I did my job on both ends and it was not a job.

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It was a calling.

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 That's what I always say.

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And I enjoyed it very much.

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Absolutely.

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What do you understand about how education works today in 2022?

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I really think that there are too many cooks spoiling the broth, too many hands in the pot.

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Everybody feels that he or she is an expert and you don't know who you are,

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what you can do, how you can do it until you get there.

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That to me is the sign of a good teacher who can walk into a room, look around, gauge the needs,

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and say, I'm ready to go.

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Thank you for joining us for this exclusive Archive Legacy interview.

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It was a sentimental opportunity to laugh, cry, and reminisce alongside Grandma Fran.

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And I hope that this segment has given you even the simplest taste of who she was

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and the life she carried with incredible honor.

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As our season continues, stick around to hear from our innovative leaders and extraordinary educators

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who are working to make a difference in education one conversation at a time.

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Thank you for joining us on the Classroom Narratives Healing in Education podcast.

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If today's episode inspired you or made you think differently, I'd love to hear from you.

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Drop a comment or review wherever you listen to podcasts and stay connected with us

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on the at Classroom Narratives podcast over Instagram and Facebook.

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Remember, together we can transform our scars into stars in education one conversation at a time.