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Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers

The podcast designed to speak encouragement and truth into the minds and hearts of educators, and get you informed and energized for the week ahead.
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Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers
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Now displaying: May, 2021
May 16, 2021

LAST EPISODE OF SEASON 13!

Education is in a time of transition. We’re not quite to the point of post-pandemic teaching, but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Moving forward, there’s going to be a lot of talk about what expectations to keep and what to let go of, and it’s critical to reflect:

  • What parts of pre-pandemic teaching do we want to return to?
  • What parts of remote and hybrid learning are here to stay?
  • What do we want the future of education to look like?

The summer plan I’m suggesting in this episode to help you regroup includes 3 elements:

  1. A mental vacation (taking a break from thinking about work)
  2. Reflecting on what you learned about yourself and your teaching
  3. Daydreaming and reimagining the future 

We all need a time of recovery and preparation between school years. And this summer, it's going to be more essential and than ever before to process how the past year has shaped our identities…not only as educators, but as humans.

Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion or, join our podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.

Learn more about the 40 Hour Workweek, 40 Hour Leadership for administrators, and 40 Hour Instructional Coaches.

May 9, 2021

There’s a big focus now on the teacher attrition and shortage crisis. So what does that mean for the teachers that stay? How can schools keep their best teachers and attract more folks to the profession?

I believe there are leadership principles that any administrator can internalize and apply to immediately help their faculty feel better supported and create more manageable expectations.

I’m going to share some of these solutions in today’s episode, through the lens of what teachers have told me they wish their administrators understood:

  1. Teachers are craving autonomy and respect for their professional judgment.
  2. Teachers need uninterrupted planning time in order to be at their best for students.
  3. Teachers need administrators to have their backs, and support them when their professionalism is undermined.
  4. Teachers need school leaders to provide the necessary support and resources for students to be successful, OR adjust expectations to align with reality.
  5. An organized, efficient school leadership team with clear priorities has a tremendous positive impact on the entire school.

When you believe that it’s possible — and desirable — for educators to do a great job for kids AND center their own work/life balance, that belief will color how you perceive your school’s operations. You will naturally filter all information and decision-making through that perception, and make decisions based on sustainable practices rather than urgent stop-gap measures. 

If you’d like to see systemic changes in the way your school operates, I’ll be releasing the new 40 Hour Leadership program for principals, APs, and other school leaders this summer. Click here to learn more: https://join.40htw.com/leadership

Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion or, join our podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.

May 2, 2021

What made teaching easier and more sustainable this school year, and how can we carry those principles over into next year?

Those are the questions I'm exploring in this podcast episode with my guest, Amy Stohs. She is currently a 2nd grade teacher in Northern Virginia, and was named Teacher of the Year in 2019 while she was teaching 6th grade.

Amy’s experience is unique in that she has now taught both elementary AND middle school in a pandemic, so she’s experienced the challenges of working with both younger and older students in face-to-face and hybrid learning.

Her experience is also unique in that she’s been an active participant in my 40 Hour Teacher Workweek program for the last few years, and I’ve been really impressed by the ideas and resources she shares in that community.

So at the start of this school year, I reached out to Amy and asked her to join the 40 Hour team, and help create the adaptations for the program for remote and hybrid learning. If you’re part of 40 Hour or the 40 Hour Grad Program and you’ve loved the remote/hybrid bonuses, you’re about to hear directly from the teacher who brainstormed them with me.

Amy’s going to share 7 principles that helped simplify her teaching and make her work more sustainable:

  • Do what HAS to get done, not what you WANT to get done.
  • Backward design your classroom management: figure out the goal, then decide what action steps will get you there.
  • Go slow to go fast.
  • Instead of always doing your best, ask “What do I have to give today?”
  • When you’ve tried it all, try one thing.
  • Shift focus from finding something new and different to doubling down on what we know kids need.
  • Look for moments of joy and find the fun.

Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion or, join our podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.

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