In this episode, Jeff Gargas, the COO and co-founder of the Teach Better Team, tells us about his roller-coaster journey of being a college dropout, a rockstar and finally fulfilling his mission to students everywhere and changing the way they think about their education.

He shares about the struggles of the students with different learning styles and how they created a methodology that promises to leave no one behind the class.

"No one should be left behind. Every student deserves to be guided with full attention according to their learning style. Asking them what their challenges are is a big help in making progress and leading them to their success."

Important Links:

https://www.teachbetter.com

Cool Runnings

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffgargas/

3 Exceptional Takeaways:

• It allows students to get in what they need when they need it versus get in what we think they need when we think they need it.


• You have to figure out who you are and be self-aware. Be happy with the person you are not the title you have or the success you've shown.


• “Gold medals are an amazing thing but if you're not enough without them, you'll not be enough with them.”

Show Highlights:

2:42 - Who is Jeff Gargas?

Yeah, so I'm actually the co-founder of Teach Better and I operate us our CEO or Chief Operating Executive which really means that I do a little bit of everything. We're a small business. So we all wear a whole bunch of hats to do a lot of things but I'm also like the CFO and head of HR and marketing teams.

4:19 - What was Jeff's dream when he was a child?

Yes, I want to be a rockstar. I had bands and with the specific band that we were together for a while starting doing decently just on the very local scene and we had decided that we were going to put a paper label on our album….

5:30 - How he got into the professor position.

That's actually how I got into the professor position at Kent State University is that I actually taught in class in the music industry.

6:40 - His financial struggle and what he realized

We were struggling to make money and I promised myself that if ever got to a point where I thought even for a second about taking advantage of an artist, I was done and I was at the point where we just substitute going so much to make any kind of revenue.

7:31 - How he met his Teach Better co-founder

So it's kind of a weird story. So Chad Ostrowski is my co-founder with Teach Better. Back in the day I actually managed this band. He's a very talented rock drummer.

11:42 - Does his methodology fit into Common Core?

Yeah. So there's a lot of parts. So Teach better is like the overall brand. So again, so Teach Better mindset is really just a continual and relentless pursuit of being better for your students.

13:10 - What is the Grid Methodology?

The grid method is it's a methodology right? But it seems like for what you just said, you can both deal with the kids in class who are struggling and deal with the kids in class who are brilliant and moving far faster than anybody else because the Grid Method focuses on what each student is doing and not the class.

23:20 - What is their mission statement?

Yes, our mission is to help teachers create environments where every student thrives in the classroom. It's really basic and broad because that's just basic. That's what it is.

25:43 - How did they start building Teach Better

It's a long-term game and I mean when we first started, you know Chad and I work and we both had full-time jobs outside of that and we you know, we work in this from about 9 or 10 p.m. Until you know, one or two three am before we got up…….

35:22 - Biggest takeaway from the movie Cool Runnings

“Gold medals are an amazing thing but if you're not enough without them, you'll not be enough with them.”

Originally recorded 4/18/2019

Special Guest: Jeff Gargas.