33 Years of Teaching Taught Me This | Dan Tricarico, The Zen Teacher

Dan Tricarico has been teaching English at West Hills High School in San Diego for 33 years. Same school. Same classroom. And somewhere around year 20, he started burning out—with 10 more years to go before retirement.

Instead of quitting, he started writing. That writing became The Zen Teacher—a platform, two books, and a movement around teacher self-care that's been going for over a decade.

In this conversation, Dan shares the earned wisdom that kept him going: what he learned from a student teacher about Greek mythology, why 40 stories are sitting in those 40 desks, and how the Five S's—stillness, silence, space, subtraction, and slowing down—can make the job feel human again.

We also get into poetry, photography, hot chocolate walks,  ...