“You can break motivation barriers for disengaged students by recognizing that motivation is an investment decision. Students have time, attention, and effort, and they are making a decision every single day about whether they want to invest those things in our classrooms or in something else. Making your classroom worth investing in is about creating a space where students’ time, energy, and effort will be rewarded.” --Dr. Robyn Jackson
Join us as Robyn and I do a deep dive into her quote above. We’re tackling whether there is such thing as a kid who doesn’t want to learn, and then working through the 4 causes of student disengagement (instructional, institutional, interpersonal, and internal.) Robyn explains in-depth how teachers can identify and address each cause in practical, relatable ways.
We camp out for quite a while on the topic of interpersonal barriers, because there’s a powerful approach there which can be used to re-engage a reluctant learner. Robyn explains how to uncover students' primary will driver: purpose, mastery, autonomy, and belonging/connection. We discuss what each one means, and how you can incorporate these needs into your daily lessons in a way that reaches all your kids.
Feeding kids’ dominant will drivers is surprisingly simple once you understand the basic principle: in fact, just changing the wording you use when giving directions to kids can address the variety of will drivers in your classroom and increase the likelihood of engagement, and Robyn shares specific examples.
Motivation is a complex issue, and Robyn provides lots of concrete tools to solve the root problems permanently. This is not about quick tips and hacks: I promise if you can invest an hour of your time into learning the principles from this episode, it will forever change your teaching — Robyn’s work is just that powerful.
Don’t muddle through the rest of the year trying to use band-aid solutions with disengaged kids: it’s not too late for a breakthrough, and these simple, powerful principles can make a huge difference quickly.
Resources referenced in this episode:
Robyn’s previous Truth for Teachers interview on rude, disrespectful student attitudes
Robyn’s book, How to Motivate Reluctant Learners
Episode 5 of Robyn’s article and episode of School Leadership Reimagined (her podcast) called The most powerful way to motivate anybody.
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.
Lunch can be a surprisingly big stressor for teachers: figuring out what to pack, being scheduled for a 10:30 am lunch slot when you’re never quite hungry, having to scarf down a whole meal in 15 minutes or less, or not getting a break for lunch at all.
So, by popular request, this episode is all about ways to simplify and streamline. Some of the main strategies we’ll explore include:
Learn how to invest a bit of time in creating a simple plan, so that figuring out a healthy lunch is one less decision you have to make each day.
WARNING: This episode could be triggering for those with a history of eating disorders or other unhealthy relationships with food. I don’t discuss weight loss or restricting your nutritional intake, and this is a body-neutral episode, but the topic could bring up some issues around your relationship with food, particularly near the end when I’m talking about intermittent fasting and simplifying how many food choices you have for the purpose of making meal prep easier and faster. Please be kind to yourself as you’re listening, and focus on just the ideas that resonate with you and your body.
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 career options are available for teachers? Is it true that other industries don’t value education degrees or teaching experience? What else is possible when you feel like the “only” thing you know how to do is teach?
Daphne Williams of Teacher Career Coach is on this week’s episode to provide guidance to those who are considering a career move outside the classroom. Together, we destigmatize the desire to find another career, and help teachers process the unwarranted embarrassment and guilt that can come with leaving teaching.
You’ll also learn:
-Why teaching has prepared you for a multitude of other careers
-How to translate your experience from classroom to corporate so potential employers understand the value of your skills
-What types of industries frequently hire former teachers
-How (and when) to apply for positions in the 2020 job market
-How to find work when you live in a rural area or small town
-Why you should do the math on how much you’re making per hour when comparing your teaching salary to other fields
If you are looking for affordable support in transitioning out of the classroom, I’m proud to partner with Daphne as an affiliate of her Teacher Career Coach online course and networking group.
To learn more about the program, get Daphne’s free eBook with samples from the course and a list of the top jobs that hire teachers at teachercareercoach.com/truthforteachers.
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.
Sometimes a relatively minor issue — like students not remembering to put their names on their papers — can create an outsized reaction in us. That’s certainly been true for me — as a new teacher, I couldn’t believe I was having to remind the kids AGAIN to write the proper heading (yes, friends, on EVERY assignment).
The real source of my frustration wasn’t no-name papers, though. It was my belief that students should have internalized all classroom procedures early in the school year, and would therefore not need any more reminders after that.
Turns out, this expectation is neither factual nor realistic. It was my own secret rule — an expectation that only existed in my mind, but wasn’t true for everyone else around me.
Secret rules are the reason why the exact same behavior can elicit annoyance in one person, and not in another.
When you are aware that everyone has their own set of secret rules, it becomes far less frustrating when people don’t follow yours. You realize they are not necessarily being inconsiderate, rude, or disrespectful.
In this episode, you’ll learn how to identify your own secret rules and how those conflict with the secret rules of the people around you. And, you’ll learn how to get curious rather than judgmental. Explore your secret rules, and consider what secret rules might be driving other people’s decision-making. This process will give you distance from the little stuff that’s bothering you so that you can be more at peace within yourself and with others.
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.
“Our end goal isn’t to be perfect consumers; it’s just to have a different mindset about our relationship with the world. In my classroom, the relationship to the planet that I'm modeling is what's going to have the biggest impact. That's what's going to stick with the kids more than one little tip or trick that I use for reducing waste.”
In this episode, you’ll hear 1st grade teacher Heidi Rose of Zero Waste Classroom share how she’s shifted her mindset and daily practices toward a greener teaching practice. You’ll learn small actionable steps you can take to raise students’ consciousness about their consumption and reduce the amount of trash generated in your classroom.
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.
We’ve all had moments where we lose our temper with students and pull rank to get them to comply. So how do you shift from micromanaging, controlling, and punishing students to supporting and guiding them? How do we learn to lead our students instead of ruling over them?
In this episode, I’ll share how the model of fear-based obedience begins at the top of the school system hierarchy. There are folks seated on invisible thrones who issue senseless mandates to teachers, who then follow suit, replicating that pattern to the powerless citizens of their classroom kingdoms.
That damaging pattern does not have to be replicated with YOUR students. I’ll share how to notice when you are attempting to rule over students from an invisible throne, and shift your approach without berating or judging yourself (which would only reinforce this same mentality of “bad behavior” which needs to be shamed or punished).
Learn how to recognize when you’re not responding to students from the wisest part of yourself, and become more conscious of the power dynamics in your classroom. This episode will empower you to build better connections with your students by shifting from making them respect your authority to modeling healthy leadership skills for them. If you'd like to discuss this topic (and many others) with us in the Fewer Things Better Book Club, conversations are kicking off now and the book club begins in March. Click here to learn more about the group and win a copy of the book: fewerthingsbetter.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.
How can you design learning experiences that help kids understand themselves and their place in the world? A 5th grade teacher shares how she creates inquiry experiences that help kids develop understandings about personal identity, bias, moving beyond a single story, and seeing what isn’t there (critically studying history).
I’ve asked Jess Lifshitz to come on the podcast because I love learning from her on Twitter, and I wanted to amplify her work so more teachers can use inquiry, reading, and writing to help students better understand create positive change in the world beyond the classroom.
Jess shares, “I’m constantly looking at the models around me of the humans that I want my students to grow up to be and asking, “What did they have to learn to be that kind of person?’ We see people stand up for strangers in the supermarket, and I think to myself, ’What was that person taught that allowed them to become the kind of adult that's going to stand up for someone else?’ Someone taught them those skills, and I can't assume that anybody else is teaching my students that. I need to make sure that those are things I'm working into my classroom so that my students can grow up to be the kinds of people that I want to share this world with.”
In this episode, you'll hear Jess share her lesson planning process, how she ties real-world lessons like these back to her standards and curriculum, and how she uses inquiry to support students in uncovering truths for themselves instead of being told what to think.
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.
You can’t just positive-think your way into confidence: real confidence comes as a result of consistently taking action, and seeing growth in yourself over time.
When I started my podcast 4 years ago, I wasn’t confident about it. At all. In fact, I was very self-conscious about my voice, my accent, my ideas, my theme song, my introduction. You name it, I doubted it.
And that’s how it should be — how can you be confident about something you’ve never done and aren’t great at yet? I didn’t have the confidence yet because I hadn’t yet built the capability.
But, I believed in my own ability to grow and improve. I knew I COULD have the capability if I kept showing up.
With each mediocre episode I worked so hard to produce, I got better at it. Things began to come easier to me, and I was happier with the end result. I saw my growth, and THAT’S what gave me my confidence as a podcast host.
In this episode, I share my encouragement to you: to build your confidence as a teacher by building your capability. Don’t try to manufacture confidence: build it by taking action.
Do the same things over and over until you get good at them or at least better at them, and then move on and try something else. Work toward mastery and depth, knowing that mastery always requires repetition.
Reflect each day on what you have grown in, and the things you have learned that day. Notice your progress in the smallest ways. As you start to pay attention to your own growth and recognize your accomplishments, you will build REAL and unshakeable confidence in your abilities as a teacher.
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.
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/.