SHS business teacher instructs her class, the world using YouTube

SHS business teacher instructs her class, the world using YouTube
With more than 200,000 views on YouTube, Scottsburg High School business teacher Tamah DePriest is not only teaching her students in the classroom, but she’s teaching people around the world.
“I never dreamed anyone outside of my class would watch these YouTube videos,” DePriest said.
What started as a way for her students to review the content she covered in class that day has now turned into nearly 1,500 subscribers. Viewers as far as Australia are even asking for accounting advice from the SHS teacher.
“At least once a week, someone is saying thank you so much for these videos,” DePriest said. “It makes it worthwhile — knowing that you helped somebody else.”
While the viewers of the videos see end result of the step-by-step instructions on how to conquer balance sheets, bank reconciliations, and other business-related transactions, the viewers do not see how much planning goes into DePriest’s lessons and classroom activities.
Every moment of DePriest’s day is used with precision. The veteran teacher of nearly three decades starts her day at 5:30 a.m.
“I utilize every minute,” DePriest said. “I am a good time manager.”
The mother of four — with two adult children and two elementary school-aged children — and grandmother of five starts her mornings with getting her children ready for school before arriving to work around 7:35 a.m. Once at SHS, she reviews her daily agenda, checks to make sure plans are perfectly in place, and makes photocopies of any resources she will need during the day, all while sipping a cup of tea.
As classes begin at 8:04 a.m., DePriest starts teaching her students about the ethics of business practices, how to record employer payroll taxes, and how to decide what future educational and career path to take.

She does many of her teaching activities while recording her screen. The screen recording shows viewers what she is presenting to her class. The final instructional video allows for any student, who missed class that day, to know what happened during class. It also allows for her students, who were not absent from class that day, to go back and review what she taught during the class period.
“I think it’s more authentic,” DePriest said about making the screen recordings as she is teaching them in class. “The technology has helped reduce in planning. Instead of sharing a video, I can give a link. In case of absence, I can leave a link [of the screen recording and other materials] on the daily agenda.”
After teaching part of her day, she uses the time during her planning period to prepare for the upcoming days and weeks of her classes. This semester, DePriest is teaching four different subjects, from Preparing for College and Careers to Accounting II.
When she is done with the school day and arrives home, DePriest spends her evenings helping students via email. She also works on any needs from her family’s business, a sporting and hunting magazine called, “Hounds and Hunting.” By being a business co-owner with her husband, DePriest is able to gain personal, real-life experience in the business world, and those lessons she learns as an entrepreneur, she can later share with her students. She not only teaches the content, but she experiences the content in the real world.
“Kids come back and say, ‘I’m an accountant because of you,’” DePriest said. “You think of this as your daily routine, and you have no impact, but you do.”
When she is not answering student emails or working for her family business, DePriest is watching her grandchildren while their parents are working in the evenings, and she is caring for her two elementary school-aged children.
“I love teaching,” DePriest said. “I try to make every kid see the value of education. I like the kids. I respect the kids. The kids know when they come into my classroom, we’re going to work.”
On Fridays, she spends two hours or more grading class assignments; on Saturdays, she spends time to planning even further than what she was able to do during her preparation period; and on Sundays, she is working on developing and refining her content that she teaches.
“Money is never a motivator for me,” DePriest said. “I am teaching at the same school I graduated from. I wanted to come back where I was making a difference.”
DePriest is making a difference whether she is in front of the classroom or she is in front of the camera. At Scott County School District 2, DePriest’s story is our story. Your story matters. You matter.