As we move into 2020, I’m sharing some very personal self-reflections about the course my life has taken over the past 10 years, and new insights I've had about who I am and what I need in order to thrive.
A few of the things I touch on in this stream-of-consciousness episode:
I wrap up by sharing the personal development work I want to focus on as the new decade begins.
I would love to hear your self-reflections and what you’ve learned about YOURSELF over the past decade! You can share with me and other Truth for Teachers listeners in our private Facebook community here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/truthforteachers/
Happy New Year! I'll be back with the next "official" episode on Jan 26th.
Jessica H. shares how she balances home and work: “I realized that being a good teacher came at a really high price for me, at the expense of my family, relationships, and health. One day I decided that that price was higher than I was willing to pay. So I asked, “If I were to thrive — not just survive, but thrive — in my professional life, what would that look like? What would I have to do (and stop doing) to thrive?”
I encourage you to listen for specific things Jessica’s done to create boundaries and consider how you could find approaches that work for you. We’re not prescribing a one-size-fits-all approach here. My hope is that Jessica’s story will inspire you to think outside the box and figure out a schedule that allows YOU to have clearer boundaries between home and work and more time for self-care.
If you want to learn more about the new 40 Hour Fast Track (a 6-week program I’m offering in January), go here: 40htw.com
Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion or, join our new podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.
The history of the weekend is a fascinating one, and author Katrina Onstad is here to tell us why (and how) workers’ rights have evolved over time. She shares the ancient concept of rest from working hours, and describes how the encroachment of work on our personal lives changed with industrialization, and changed again now that technology keeps us connected 24/7.
Katrina also shares some systemic changes we can make in schools to fight the culture of overwork, and shares practical things you can do to get the benefit of “the weekend effect” and maximize your time off to create a true break. To learn more, get Katrina's book, "The Weekend Effect: The Life-Changing Benefits of Taking Time Off and Challenging the Cult of Overwork."
Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion or, join our new podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.
Why does it take so long to test kids for special education services? What are you supposed to do in the meanwhile? And what exactly does the school psychologist do all day?
Dr. Rebecca Branstetter of The Thriving School Psychologist Collective is here to share the hilarious stories and inside scoop on the role of school psychs. They’re trained to do far more than just test kids, and your school psychologist can be a fantastic resource:
“School psychologists aren’t the gatekeepers to special education. We want to do so much more than just test. We want to be part of the school community. Think of us as your consultants and thought partners before you think of us as special education assessors”.
If you’ve ever been frustrated with the special education referral and testing process, listen in to discover what’s happening behind the scenes, and what you can do (with the support of your school psychologist) to help your students.
Click here to read the blog post and participate in the discussion or, join our new podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.
Do you have co-workers who are passive-aggressive, controlling, or even outright bullying others when you’re supposed to be collaborating?
Are you appalled at some of the things that come out of some coworkers’ mouths, but always feel caught off guard and aren’t sure how to respond?
This is an off-the-cuff episode where I’m speaking to you directly from the heart, giving the same advice I’d give to a friend. Listen in to hear some approaches I’ve used when communicating with difficult colleagues.
Click here to read the blog post and participate in the discussion or, join our new podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.
In this coaching call, a 25-year veteran teacher explores why it’s taking her so long to get out the door on Friday afternoons when she’s trying to plan for the following week. Rebecca shares, “I’m a really good teacher, but with as long as I take to plan lessons, I should be one of the best in the world!”
Together, we explore ways to streamline her planning process so she’s spending less time fitting the pieces together and hunting for good activities. We also examine her Friday afternoon routines to look for ways she might be wasting time, and try to find tasks she can move to other time periods to allow her to start her weekend at a decent hour.
Rebecca’s coaching call ends with 3 actionable takeaways, one for reducing the time spent planning lessons, one for prioritizing coworker conversations without staying late, and one for re-allocating work hours to make sure she’s out the door by 4 on Fridays.
Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion or, join our new podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.
Are you constantly losing instructional time to minor disruptions and off-task behavior? What if you shifted your focus from eliminating misbehavior and interruptions to maximizing learning time?
When the goal is to eliminate interruptions, you feel like you have to address every single one so it never happens again. When the goal is to maximize learning time, you can choose a more constructive response that keeps the majority of the class on-task.
This approach will reduce the wasted class time spent on lectures about the rules and arguing with kids over what you’ve told them to do. Here’s how to plan your responses in advance so you’re not constantly exploding in frustration over minor things.
Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion or, join our new podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.
“Men and women are far more alike than they are different. And yet in our society, all of the emphasis is put on the difference. Everybody feels anger, everybody feels sadness, and it makes no sense to be gendering these feelings. As a matter of fact, not only does it not make sense, it is definitively harmful to people and to society.”
“As girls, we are not taught to acknowledge or manage our anger so much as fear, ignore, hide, and transform it. Boys learn early on about anger, but far less about other feelings, which handicaps them—and society—in different ways. Socially discouraged from seeming feminine (in other words, being empathetic, vulnerable, and compassionate), their emotional alternatives often come down to withdrawal or aggressive expressions of anger. There's no reason why all children can't learn to be kind and considerate to other people in exactly the same way.”
“What would it mean to ungender our emotions? What would the world look like if all of us were allowed to experience and productively express the full range of our emotions without penalty?”
Listen in for more great take-aways from the interview I did with Soraya Chemaly, the best-selling author of the book “Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger.” We’re talking specifically about how these issues impact children in the classroom, and how her research can support educators in coping with the stresses of emotional labor that are inherent to teaching.
Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion or, join our new podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.
How much energy are you wasting complaining about or resisting reality? Radical acceptance can help you deal realistically with the facts of the situation (rather than the story you’re telling yourself about the facts) and sitting with the discomfort of the present moment instead of insisting it shouldn’t be happening.
Radical acceptance doesn’t mean you approve of the problems you’re facing or deem other people’s inappropriate behavior as okay. You don’t have to ignore your own needs, let people walk all over you, ignore a problem, or tell yourself it’s okay that something awful is happening or has happened to you.
Rather, it’s a principle you can practice to bravely see all that you are, and all that the people around you are. You can take constructive steps to improve working conditions while practicing radical acceptance of your current reality. You can change your self-talk from “I can’t believe this unfair thing is happening” to “It IS happening, and I accept that reality for the purpose of being able to address it in the healthiest, most productive way possible. What thoughts, words, and actions can I choose that will make things better?”
Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion or, join our new podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.
Jennifer Gonzalez of Cult of Pedagogy and I are breaking down misconceptions about what effective instruction really looks like. Listen in as we discuss the truths that often get buried among these myths:
MYTH #1: Traditional teaching methods should be replaced with more innovative, student-centered approaches.
MYTH #2: Lessons should be as creative and fun as possible to increase engagement.
MYTH #3: Including elements of students' cultures in your lessons is the best way to teach a diverse group of kids.
MYTH #4: Planning great lessons always takes a lot of time and preparation.
Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion or, join our new podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.
What happens when even looking at your to-do list makes you want to shut down? How do you get yourself re-energized when basic adulting feels like too much?
I’ve found it empowering to have a menu of choices — or a toolbox — I can go to when I experience those feelings. It’s a collection of strategies I can pick from which have worked in the past, so I can choose whichever one feels easiest to me at the time.
In this episode, I’m sharing 8 approaches that work for me:
Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion or, join our new podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.
The best way to help students be more empathetic and self-aware is for us to first develop these qualities in ourselves. Dr. Ilana Nankin has created wellness, yoga, and mindfulness resources specifically for teachers through her organization called Breathe for Change. Ilana is spearheading a movement of educators who want to embody principles of wellness and healthy socio-emotional development in order to teach those things to students authentically.
Listen in as she shares how teachers can get support in establishing or deepening practices of yoga, meditation, mindfulness, and other tools for well-being and carry those practices into the classroom.
Share your thoughts on the episode and collaborate with other listeners in our NEW private group on Facebook! Click here to join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/truthforteachers/. You can also leave a comment on the blog post/transcript for this episode here:http://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/truth-for-teachers-podcast/breathe-for-change-teacher-wellness/.
Your worldview shapes your classroom management and curriculum choices, whether consciously or not. Let’s examine and question the belief that “neutral” is the only ethical position for us to take, and interrogate whether being neutral is even possible in certain contexts.
To be true advocates for our students and have strong, authentic relationships with them, we have to fully embrace and support their identities, and be willing to take a stand when they are discriminated against, bullied, or marginalized.
Share your thoughts on the episode and collaborate with other listeners in our NEW private group on Facebook! Click here to join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/truthforteachers/.
You can also leave a comment on the blog post/transcript for this episode here: http://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/truth-for-teachers-podcast/neutral-politics-in-the-classroom/.
What if being your best in the classroom didn’t mean changing yourself or “fixing” things that are wrong with you?
What if you didn’t need gimmicks to hook students into your lessons, and the key to engagement was more about being interested rather than interesting?
Join educational consultant and author Dr. Gravity Goldberg as she shares what it means to “teach like yourself.” We’ll explore how to go from predicting failure to building on success, and tap into your personal power in the classroom.
Share your thoughts on the episode and collaborate with other listeners in our NEW private group on Facebook! Click here to join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/truthforteachers/. You can also leave a comment on the blog post/transcript for this episode:http://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/truth-for-teachers-podcast/authentic-teaching/
Our automatic reactions — the things we say to kids without even realizing the words are coming out of our mouths — are usually things we’ve heard from other adults. Often our parents or our teachers said those things to us.
We can make a conscious choice to change the script by examining the ineffective and unhelpful things we say to kids. In this episode, I'm sharing 5 of the phrases I'm most embarrassed about using in my classroom, and what was more effective for me to say instead.
Share your thoughts on the episode and collaborate with other listeners in our NEW private group on Facebook! Click here to join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/truthforteachers/
You can also leave a comment on the blog post/transcript for this episode here: https://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/truth-for-teachers-podcast/unhelpful-things-teachers-say/
Workshop-style teaching generally has four basic parts: an opening, mini-lesson, work time, and debriefing. You can use the workshop model with ANY age of students and ANY subject area. My guest today is going to do a deep dive into an ELA or reading workshop model. This is most commonly used in grades 1-5 but kindergarten can also follow the model, and it works well at the secondary level.
A lot of what we discuss should be helpful no matter what subject you’re using it for:
Listen for practical advice from Jen Bengel, the owner and creator of Out of This World Literacy™️. She has spent 10 years in public schools as an elementary teacher and a literacy coach, and has spent the last 7 years as a full-time curriculum developer and professional developer. Jen trained under Irene Fountas at Lesley University and specializes in creating literacy curriculum and provides online professional development for teachers.
Share your thoughts on the episode and collaborate with other listeners in our NEW private group on Facebook! Click here to join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/truthforteachers/. You can also leave a comment on the blog post/transcript for this episode: http://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/truth-for-teachers-podcast/the-workshop-model-jen-bengel/. To get the freebie from Jen Bengel mentioned in the episode, click here: freefromjen.com.
The new school year is a fresh start, and the perfect time to let go of old stories and thought patterns that aren't serving you well. You can examine the stories you're telling yourself to see if they're really true, and decide if the stories you’re choosing are making your work feel more or less stressful.
In this episode, you'll learn how to train yourself to differentiate between the facts and the story you’re telling yourself about the facts. When you get locked into one story, practice asking yourself, "What else might be true about this situation? What might be happening that I haven’t considered yet?” Through this process, you can choose the stories that help you rather than discourage you.
Share your thoughts on the episode and collaborate with other listeners in our NEW private group on Facebook! Click here to join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/truthforteachers/. You can also leave a comment on the blog post/transcript for this episode here: http://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/truth-for-teachers-podcast/change-the-story-you-tell-yourself/.
In the last episode of our self-development summer podcast series, we’re talking about living with PURPOSE. This is not just about the things you want to do or accomplish. Living with purpose is also about recognizing and appreciating what you’ve already done, and making time for just being, rather than always rushing forward to accomplish the Next Big Thing.
If you missed our special summer series emails, it’s not too late to get them. I’ll send you one written message to go with each of the 4 podcast episodes. The emails are designed to be short, powerful reminders to help you make the most of your summer break. Just click here to sign up:
https://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/truth-for-teachers-podcast/summer-2019-series/
And if you want to participate in the NEW Truth for Teachers Podcast Community on Facebook, join here:
We’re taking a break from school-related topics as we continue our special summer series. These 4 episodes in June and July are designed to be a short time together for us to reflect, think deeply, and go big picture.
In this episode, we’re talking about AUTHENTICITY. Is it time to get real with yourself that there are certain things you’re just not going to pressure yourself to do? Are you conforming to outside expectations about what’s most important, or determining those things for yourself?
Make sure you sign up for the special summer series emails! There’s one written message to go with each of the 4 podcast episodes. The emails are designed to be short, powerful reminders to help you make the most of your summer break. Just click here to sign up:
https://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/truth-for-teachers-podcast/summer-2019-series/
Also: there are just a few more days to join the 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club. It’s a great community of teachers who are focused on what matters most, and you’ll get all the resources and support you need for living and teaching with intentionality. Last chance is July 15th! Sign up here: 40htw.com.
"There can't be any large-scale revolution until there's a personal revolution, on an individual level. It's got to happen inside first." --Jim Morrison
Take a break this summer from thinking about work, and let’s do some big picture reflection on life together. In part two of this summer series, we’re talking about ALIGNMENT, and what it means to live in alignment with what you really believe and who you really are. We'll talk about doing our part (imperfectly) to make the world the place we believe it should be.
Make sure you sign up for the special summer series emails! There’s one written message to go with each of the 4 podcast episodes. The emails are designed to be short, powerful reminders to help you make the most of your summer break. Just click here to sign up:
https://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/truth-for-teachers-podcast/summer-2019-series/
Also: the 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club is open for early bird access (with early bird bonuses) from now through June 30th! Learn more or sign up here: 40htw.com.
In this special 4 part summer series, we're focused on self-development instead of professional development. Every other week in June and July, I’ll bring you a short episode to help you focus on what matters most. I’ll also share some things that have been on my heart that might be otherwise off-topic for a teaching podcast.
If you normally listen to the podcast on 1.25 or 1.5 speed, I encourage you to go down to 1.0 for these 4 summer episodes. This series is not about consuming as much information as fast as possible — which is certainly a fine goal in other contexts. This series is about savoring the time, and being present with yourself for each moment of it.
Let this be a short time together to reflect, think deeply, and go big picture. We’ll explore a different word each time.
In part one, we’re talking about PRESENCE through immersion in both silence and healing sounds. How can you create short, regular rituals in your life where you enjoy the benefits of silence, and experience sounds that are calming?
You’ll get to experience a few moments of “sound therapy” in this episode and discover how to use sounds and silence to help you experience more presence this summer. Don’t let your summer fly by because you were rushing from one activity to the next! Time seems to slow down when we are truly present, and even a few moments of practicing presence each day can give you a sense of peace and gratitude.
I encourage you to sign up for the special summer series emails. There’s one written message to go with each of the 4 podcast episodes.
The emails are designed to be short, powerful reminders to help you make the most of your summer break. If you want to receive them, click here:
https://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/truth-for-teachers-podcast/summer-2019-series/
This is the last episode of Season 9! I want to leave you with a short and sweet message to help you get more enjoyment out of your summer break.
The summer seems to stretch ahead of us endlessly now, but we all know how quickly it will actually fly by.
So, I’ll share a bit about my summer plans, and then tell you about 5 traps I’ll be working to avoid — and that I hope you’ll be aware of, too — in order to slow down, be present, and rejuvenate before fall.
There will also be a summer 4 part podcast series I'm releasing this summer that is non-teaching related! Learn more about sign up by the biweekly messages here: https://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/truth-for-teachers-podcast/summer-2019-series/
If you want to take my free intentional connectivity challenge mentioned in this episode, click here: https://bit.ly/2rt67zP
You can also get on the wait list to join the 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club this summer: 40htw.com
Click here to read or share the transcript and audio or participate in the discussion.
Kim Lepre is a 7th grade English teacher and the founder of the Teachers Need Teachers podcast. She’s also a Beginning Teacher Mentor and Ed Tech Specialist in her district, and a Level 2 Google Certified Educator.
How has Kim managed to make time for all of that?
She made a significant reduction in her workload during her 13th year of teaching. That’s when she joined The 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club.
I’ve invited Kim on the podcast to tell you exactly what she changed in her mindset and habits to allow her to reclaim around 15 hours a week, which she now uses to support other educators, spend time with her family, take care of her physical health by regularly working out, and a number of other activities that really mean a lot to her.
I think you’ll get a lot of practical, actionable advice from Kim!
Click here to read or share the transcript and audio or participate in the discussion.
What happens when you spend more time with other people’s kids than your own? Parenting guilt is real, and there’s no easy solution when it seems like family gets short-changed when you focus on students, but students get shortchanged when you focus on family.
In this episode, we’ll explore what creates mom guilt and dad guilt, and how those two things can manifest differently. We’ll also talk about how the unrealistic standards placed on parents can make it feel like you’re never doing enough.
Learn how to make choices from a place of compassion, both for yourself as a parent, and for your students’ parents (rather than assuming you need to compensate for the things you believe they should be doing but aren’t).
Then you’ll hear directly from 4 teachers who have found solutions and created clear boundaries between family and work.
Click here to read or share the transcript and audio or participate in the discussion.
I think there comes a time for many educators to re-evaluate whether the work they’re doing is something they’d like to continue. You might wonder:
These are incredibly tough questions to answer, particularly when you see teaching as your “calling” and life’s purpose as many of us do. You don’t quit a calling, right? To even consider doing so can feel like a personal failure, as if you don’t care enough about your students and couldn’t hack it anymore in the classroom. If that’s how you’re feeling, this episode will help you remove the guilt or limiting beliefs you might be holding currently, so that the right answer for YOU can reveal itself. Want to get in touch? Let me what know what kind of resources or support you wish you had around this topic:
Click here to read or share the transcript and audio or participate in the discussion.