- Hello, everyone, welcome back to aka Teacher.
And today's episode, "Reading the Room."
[upbeat music]
I'm Daniel, and I'm here with my fellow co-hosts,
Shelton, Joanna, and Angie.
And we're gonna begin with a little check-in.
How are you all feeling about the first few days
or weeks of school?
What hat or hats have you worn this month?
- Oh, I'll start out.
Actually right now, I'm still feeling
really peaceful and encouraged.
I'm in the honeymoon phase, you know?
And it's literally a thing.
And not that things are gonna fall apart at all,
but things can be sometimes, really, especially,
like I said, peaceful and encouraging,
right at the beginning.
So I'm currently in the peaceful and encouraging stage,
in this school year opening.
- I'd say I'm in a building stage,
just building relationships, building a foundation
to endure what the year is gonna bring, whatever that is.
And yeah, just building, building.
- Dig it!
- So I think right now in these first few days,
I'm just excited to get to know new staff members,
getting excited to know new colleagues.
I've got a brand new teacher in the classroom
right next door to me that's on my science teaching team.
So I work with him pretty closely.
He's a brand new first year teacher and it's really fun
because he's good. - Hmm.
- And you can just like, you're looking at him do stuff,
hearing him talking with kids,
he's running a couple ideas by you and you're like,
"You were meant to be a teacher."
And that's really fun.
It's really fun to see somebody
who's also just enjoying themselves.
And, so yeah, it's been actually like really enjoyable
because it's fun to see someone who's kind of a natural
at this job and be like,
"Yes, I'm excited to hang out with you."
[all chuckling]
- Shelton, I hear the building.
I'm doing a lot of reading myself,
I feel like the hat is as a researcher.
We're always reading, we're always researching,
and doing a lot of reading around liberatory design
right now and trying to bring that into the work.
So we've all had a couple of weeks in the books.
And as you're reading the room,
whether it's of the classroom or of the school
or the community, how is everything going so far?
What is the vibe like in your classroom
or your school or your community right now?
- I think in my school right now,
everybody's I think ready for a fresh start.
This year feels different obviously
than like a bunch of years ago, but different than last year.
We wore masks last year until March at my school,
and it just feels like a little bit like,
huh, are you guys ready to have like a fresh new year?
And I can really feel that energy amongst the kids.
This year's seniors haven't had a normal year of school
since freshman, no, I think since eighth grade.
Do the math, is it since eighth grade?
I mean, do we count last year as normal?
- No. - I don't know that I would.
- No. - What's normal?
- I know, right?
But like, so like this year's seniors,
I feel like get this chance
to kind of really enjoy this school year.
It's kind of fun to watch freshmen come in
and they're like falling over each other
as they walk through the hallway.
And there's just like that energy that you see in school
where it's just like, everybody's ready to go
and nobody's crabby yet.
Joanna, I agree with you about that honeymoon phase.
The kids are still following the rules,
they're still up for it.
And "Oh, they said, wait, I'll wait," kind of thing.
And so, it is very honeymoon
because eventually the kids are like,
"I'm sick of your rules and I'm just doing what I want."
- Yeah, I rule. [laughing] - Yep, yep.
- Yeah.
I would say the word comes to mind, anticipation.
'Cause again, I'm all over the district,
so I get different things from different buildings,
but I'm ready.
- Oh, I think the vibe is, I think it's complicated actually
because yes, I see what you're talking about.
I feel from students actually kind of,
I feel students are a little polarized.
I think the majority are ready to be back
and I've noticed like, people are friendly.
Like I said, kids really are like, "Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi."
And it's really cute, and I love that; on the other hand,
if you're not feeling that, the polar opposite of that
is people who are really not okay and seem super fragile.
So I've seen some students who are super fragile.
So, that vibe is, so I'm kind of seeing like two extremes.
And then I think the complex part, I do think again,
is with staff of like,
we're not sure what the vibe's gonna be in terms of one,
right, a lot of people are new, like a lot at where I work.
And so it is like, I don't know you,
and of course I'm gonna extend
this professional benefit of the doubt, but I don't...
So there's a lot of new people and then in our district,
our superintendent announced on the second day
that he's a finalist to be a superintendent
in another district.
So that really puts people in,
one, it causes them to question all the initiatives
because again, sadly a lot of times,
because the institution of education so far, like I said,
hasn't really been about a community vision
and it's largely tied to the individuals
who have decision-making power, people question that right away.
They're like, "Oh, so everything we talked about day one,
"maybe we're not doing," because they view the initiatives
as attached to this individual.
And so there's just question mark.
And then that, everybody knows their current position,
where they fall and anytime you're gonna get a new leader.
And we don't even know if we're getting a new leader yet,
but we're kind of like, "Well, he is a finalist,
so he is applying, so what does this mean?"
And so I think then that brings in
the complexities for staff.
And so we're working really hard, I think,
as colleagues to one another to remind ourselves,
it's really us; we work with the students.
No matter who comes and goes, we're here, we do this work.
And so that's why I say it's all complex.
- Yeah, Joanna, I appreciate you talking
about the complexity because it is, it is complex.
And I think when we're talking about all of what people
are bringing and checking in with people
and checking in with ourselves,
I think sometimes you hear this referred to
as the oxygen mask rule.
You put the oxygen mask on yourself first,
take care of yourself and then the person next to you.
But I think as educators, we very much wanna take care
of the people around us first
and sometimes to our own detriment.
And just kind of curious in all of your contexts,
how are you all checking in on yourself
and/or the people around you?
- That self-check is a daily thing for me,
like start my morning with a nice, little run
or some exercise, then I'll get some good music.
It's a party every morning at my house.
So I like to go with the flow until I have to be the flow.
So I like to keep that energy just in case I need it,
but just to focus on the intent for the day
and just staying on purpose.
I'm a firm believer in I'm here for a reason
and I'm doing my purpose,
so I like to stay intentional as much as I can.
- I would say right now for me,
the check-in's happening in two spaces.
So first for teachers, colleagues,
and then also with the kids.
I teach mostly juniors, so a lot of kids come back
for senior year asking me for letters of recommendation
from their junior year experience.
And so that's a fun opportunity for kids to come back
and for me to kind of hear about their summers,
hear about their classes.
But I do worry about kids a lot this time of year
because I don't know what it's like at other schools;
I'd actually would love to know.
But at our school, there's a very high number of kids
who take AP classes.
It's very much like, "You better be in four AP classes
your senior year, or you could go live under a bridge."
It seems like the high expectation is just so high.
And you're kind of like, I feel like I'm the mother
who knows better.
It's like, "I don't know if it's a good idea
you're taking five AP classes."
And they're like, "No, I want to, it'll be great.
Everything will be wonderful about it."
And you're like,
"I'm worried about how you're gonna feel in January."
And so there is that level of concern for the kids
when you're like,
you're biting off more than you could chew.
We see that with each other as adults,
but when you see that with a kid,
it's hard because kids might listen to you
or they might just totally be like,
"Well, she doesn't know how to get into college.
You have to do this."
And so I find myself worried about my kids
from that standpoint of like,
oh, I hope you're not doing more than you should already.
- I think part of the complexity
is a lot of the newness too.
And there's the challenges and opportunities
that come with a lot of the new relationship building
and culture building that needs to happen.
- All right, everyone, this next part of the podcast
is called "True Story" where we'll get a chance
to share a personal experience related to today's topic.
So I have a really good story.
It's Back to School night this week
and so it's Meet the Teacher.
All the parents come in, they walk their kids' schedules
and it goes from 7:00 pm to 9:09 pm.
It's super late night for all the teachers.
And parents walk their kids' schedules,
they spend about 10 minutes in every class,
and the teacher has 9 minutes and 30 seconds to be like,
"Hello, this is my class, this is who I am.
"This is what I teach, this is how I teach.
"These are the things your kids will be expected to do.
All right, bye!"
And one thing that my science teaching team
has really leaned in on is the concept of no homework.
We believe that homework is layered.
One of the things being it's an equity issue.
One of the things being that we have students
who are over-involved, we have students
who have higher levels of expectations at home,
or more responsibilities than maybe even I have
when I get home at the end of the day.
And they were just at school for seven hours,
like, let's take a break.
And so we are very big on, you're gonna work in class,
all class, we're not gonna have a bunch of free time,
but then you're not gonna have any homework.
And at the end of that little spiel with the kids,
a parent was like, "I totally disagree.
You should have homework, what's going on here?"
And we don't tell the parents all the reasonings
that I just shared with you guys, we're just like,
"Hey, we're gonna have your kid work really hard
all the time and then there'll be no homework, yay!"
And this parent was very adamant of like,
"I totally disagree.
I think that you should have homework."
And then he got up and he walked out of the room,
shaking his head.
And another parent while the guy was still in the room goes,
"Well, I really appreciate it, thank you."
[all laugh]
- At first I was like, oh, time to call Daniel
in the Office of Research and Innovation
to back you up on the homework.
- Well, and it's so hard because like all night,
all the parents are like,
"Oh, thank you, thank you for thinking about that.
Yes, thank you."
And then you have like one, two people
who kind of disagree with you
and then that's where your brain sits all the time.
But yeah, I'm curious about either
back to school night stories, beginning of the year stories,
or even how do we feel about homework?
- I don't know if I can say something specific
to that question, but back to your story,
makes me think about, I've shared that I do
an innovative alternative program.
And just anecdotal observation is,
dads struggle more with it than moms in terms of the idea
of how school could look different
and how expectations could be different.
And again, I'm not saying this to men across the board.
It just really has been something
that I help my students and their families work through.
Because in my world too, the kids will get accused
of taking the easy way out by asserting themselves
to find a program that actually meets their needs
and they feel comfortable and that they enjoy.
And so that made me think a little bit of that.
And even maybe Mad Dad could be reasoned with
and talked with, but it's more again how we take things in
ourselves at first, and we put it up against our own schema
of what is school, and so his response
versus the other response.
But, yeah, that's great, Angie,
that's a great, just a tiny, little idea
of we're really trying to do what's best
and make it work for everyone.
- I think something to note of the parent who walked out
shaking their head is they're shaking their head
because of a change that they disagree with,
which says to some extent
that what was happening before was working.
So whether it's homework or not,
and they might have not have spoken up about it before,
because it was working and we tend to speak up
when things aren't going our way.
But for how many of those things
that we think this needs to change
and we could do better, are actually working really well
for our families or for students?
That's something that came to mind
and I think I would wanna unpack it in two levels.
And number one is, what does the homework look like?
You know, in the case of the flipped classroom,
we kind of redefined what the homework actually looked like,
which tended to change people's minds
of whether or not it was useful at home,
which is connected to the second thing,
which is the purpose of homework.
So not only what is the student doing at home,
but what is the point of doing whatever activity
or task at home it is?
So I'd be interested to connect with that parent.
- Right, well, and I can't remember
if I've shared this with you guys or not before,
but one of the, I don't know, something that guides my work
is what I call the four domains of learning,
where we're really intentional in saying
that there's more to school than just academics.
That kids have the physical needs and emotional needs
and social needs as well as intellectual needs,
which we call academic, but really could just be, again,
intellectual curiosity, exploration, all of this stuff.
And right now, again, our current system is like,
everything is in the direction of one domain,
even though we know those other three domains
are needed to learn, and we actually could facilitate
within our schools.
And so when I think about homework, or in our program,
we get to say like, your homework actually
is going to bed on time, moving your body,
limiting your social media, being aware of things
that regulate your nervous system, so that when you return,
when you come here every day,
you're in a space to take this all in.
And so I know that's how we like to talk about it.
We talk about those other domains as the homework piece,
like yes, in school, we do a lot
of this traditional academic side,
and so, we can do these other things outside.
And anyway, I have my whole thing
about there's the four domains,
but right now our current structure and everything we do
is set up around one.
And if we could set up around all four of them
and balance those, we might have a different understanding
and we'd certainly have a different result.
- It sounds like, speaking to the purpose of homework,
you're saying the purpose of that particular homework
is to honor the whole child,
not just their academic development.
- Yeah.
Well, and I think that, so a lot of times,
I do think sometimes the way we react to things
comes out of a space of fear, and not fear like,
"Oh, I'm gonna get in a car accident," but like, worry.
And I have had this debate about homework with many people
over the course of maybe six years.
And for some people that I talk to
who seem to really live in this space of like,
"No, I want homework, homework is good."
I think they believe that homework equates to work ethic
and that like, "Oh, if my kid doesn't have homework,
they won't have a work ethic."
Or "I had so much homework and now I am very successful.
It's 'cause I did eight hours of homework every night."
And to me, I'm like, work ethic begins at home
in your community or you have good work ethic
probably because when you were six,
your parents made you help clear the table every night.
Homework assigned by me randomly in a science class
isn't going to suddenly make your child a hard worker.
And the reverse, it's not going to suddenly
make your kid a bum if there isn't any.
And so I sometimes wonder if that's where it stems from.
It's just like this concern
that if they're given an easy way out,
then they're never gonna work hard again.
- Well, and there kind of always is a misunderstanding
of even childhood and child development.
So like, what is the work of a child
and how do we encourage that and support that
inside and outside of school?
What should be the work of a 6 year old,
versus a 9 year old, versus a 12 year old,
versus a 15 year old?
Things to think about.
- So let's say to advocate for homework,
let's say two reasons could be to establish
this home and school connection.
And that homework can be that way to tie the two together,
so they don't seem like they're completely different domains
that you go to school and you're one person
and you go home and you're a different person.
Or you go to school and there's certain expectations
or a certain work ethic and you go home
and there's a different one.
So could the purpose of homework be establishing
a home-to-school or school-to-home connection?
Or another possibility is sort of connected to work ethic,
and this idea that we espouse of lifelong learning.
Well, if we wanna learn throughout our entire lives,
shouldn't we be learning throughout our entire day?
And does homework keep us rooted
to that value of lifelong learning?
- Daniel, you're getting real deep.
- Wow, I'm literally writing this down
like I'm in a professional development.
- I wanted to, but I got stuck, that was deep.
Yeah, that was deep, can you say that one more time please?
- The lifelong learner one for real.
- Yeah, for the people in the back, say it one more time.
- Yeah, homework potentially being the connection
between home and school or the purpose of homework
being a connection to the value of lifelong learning.
- That's different, you said it a little different
because I felt a little different.
- That was the short version. - I felt it now, I love that.
- It was like, lifelong learner, day long learner.
I'm gonna learn my whole life,
I'm gonna learn throughout my day.
- All my day, yes.
- Well, and that's also really looking at it too,
Daniel, in the asset sense, which in our current structures,
homework is actually looked at in a deficit sense.
In terms of this is something that I'm really, again,
deliberate about when I think of home-school connections.
I say to a lot of the families I'm working with,
school is a source of stress because it's constantly
just bringing forward to you what your child is not doing.
And then you're fighting over school
instead of really, again, truly connected
and joining over school and your child's development.
So actually I was just at my daughter's volleyball game
the other day and her grandma was there,
and she's just asking grandma questions.
So she is just like, "How's Nia doing in school,
how's her grades?"
And I'm like,
"Do you know, I never check my children's grades?"
I don't log into any of those systems.
I never have and I never will.
- Why not, if you don't mind me asking?
- Because they're running their own lives.
It is their education.
It is not my thing to monitor and force them to comply.
They have to develop their own sense of self
and responsibility.
And I have found that that comes,
and again, and it's not a source of stress
and it's just kind of gone along.
So yeah, people may think, I'm a teacher
and yet I'm the anti-teacher.
Yeah, I don't check grades, I don't bother my kids.
- But do you worry about,
because my mom was the exact same way, but she was like,
"I don't worry, I see them working all the time.
"I mean, they're obviously doing stuff.
I'm not worried." - You know there's two things,
there's one, actually there's two things.
One, yeah, I'm not that worried, and two, you can't trust it.
These automated grade systems, you can have an A
and 15 minutes later, you got an F or the other way.
And so that's part of it, that you really can't trust it.
And you know what, that really came to light for me
when I was running one of my diversity clubs
and the partner that I was running it with,
he really believed like,
oh, in order for us to take the kids out,
we got to check their grades.
And if their grades stink, they can't come on the thing.
And I was like, do you know how these grades,
and he was a school psychologist.
So he wasn't a classroom teacher.
And I was like, do you know, it's inaccurate.
It's not that it's inaccurate, you guys know what I'm saying?
Like, it changes in the moment and there's lots of mistakes.
And yet then that's why I don't check as a parent either,
because then you set me up for a fight with,
you know what I mean?
Like, it's like, ding, ding, ding,
you currently have a zero or whatever.
And then my daughter's like, "Mom, I did turn it in."
Like, again, no, this is not
what I want school to be between us.
And so anyway, I was started by saying like,
Daniel was talking about homework in the asset sense,
but there is so much,
especially with automated grading systems
that puts it in the deficit sense.
And so, oh yeah, there could be a whole re-looking
and redesigning of again,
what are we connecting with parents over and in what way?
Is it in strength ways, is it in deficit ways?
We've also been,
the kids have been clearing out their email accounts,
you know, it's the new school year.
And literally, they have thousands of things
in their email that are just like class notifications
that you can only then ignore.
You know what I mean?
If your thing is just dinging all the time.
So again, it's like, put this thing in between us.
It's kind of separated us from the purpose
and value of learning.
- We could go so much deeper into grades.
We could have a whole podcast about grades.
- Oh, yeah! - Not today though.
Daniel, did you have back to school night
with your own kids or Joanna?
- We've not had back to school night,
but we've had initial conferences with teachers
and just a lot of those first
beginning of the year interactions.
And one of them was the other day
and I was coming straight from work
and there was a ton of unexpected traffic
and I was late to pick up my kids.
And they're five and seven and a half,
they're in elementary school,
and my daughter just started kindergarten.
And if I'm late, they're gonna start to worry.
And I was really stressing out,
the traffic was stressing me out.
And so I called the school and I just said,
"It's Daniel and I'm running late because of this traffic."
And trying to get a message to the teachers.
And the response was,
"Well, you've called the school nurse,
"but this is a great place to call, instead of the office."
And instead of redirecting me, the school nurse,
she took my message very calmly and said,
"Who are their teachers?
"And okay, oh, there's someone here with a bloody nose,
but look, I'm gonna keep talking with you."
And just you could tell, handling so much on her end.
And I think I got there maybe five minutes late,
but I was in a panic.
- Yeah, it's a terrible feeling.
- And just to be met with that calmness,
that reassurance to someone who was dealing
with their own emergencies at the school.
Again, I think when we mentioned this before,
and I think it was in the last episode,
but putting the focus on those that are still in school.
Just a huge appreciation to those who are in schools
and doing the work for kids and also as parents at home,
trying to make it all work.
- Now it's time to move on
to our "Look Back" segment of the show.
Okay, if we take a pause for the cause
and take a look back on reflection avenue
on what's been going well in our practices this year,
or some things you need to work on,
or some wisdom you learn,
do any of any of you have anything that's going well,
some wisdom or something you need to work on?
- I'll jump back in.
I've been, just something I think is going well
and it's really feeding off the energy of others,
but really staying energized and staying creative.
It's a space, I think whenever I fall out of it,
something is not going well, and whether it's in my personal
or professional life, what are the creative ventures
that I'm seeking?
And I think always, seeking that,
going after that is going well.
Something to work on, I think, I just gave a shout-out
to the school nurse and I think I hold those appreciations
in my head most of the time, but just practicing
that daily gratitude to those around me.
I think it's important, especially now
that everyone around us, they're hearing
those words of affirmation,
they're seeing you take action to help them out.
And yeah, really just practicing daily gratitude
is something that I'm working on.
- My going well is actually something really specific,
but I'll share it.
And again, I'll always talk like, I'm like, gosh,
I hope this makes sense to you guys.
But within my program, I have these philosophies
that endure, but what I love about, you know,
how I approach it evolves over time.
So I have these things called the productive worker traits,
which are kind of our standards in assessment
and they're very, again, external.
They're the things you see, like attendance and punctuality,
how organized are you?
How do you go about completing tasks?
And so, it goes on, but there's something very external
in productive worker traits.
And then there's something very internal,
which is regulation versus dysregulation
and helping kids see,
understand just their own nervous system
and how it's working and how it's feeling.
And I used to, and so those are like foundations,
they're foundational understandings.
And so something that I think I'm doing really good at
is integrating those more and helping the kids see
how they're integrated.
And yeah, it was something,
so just this week I was like, "Aha!"
And just the way I was explaining it to them.
So again, a lot of, right, seasoned teaching is not like,
I'm thinking about what I'm gonna say a week ago.
You're in the moment, you're taking it all in,
you're registering.
You can see what people are vibing with.
And so that just felt really good.
My explanation, and then the connection
the kids I could see had with that
and then we did some write up after
and then reading that it did really come through.
So that was something that I was feeling really good about,
and right, 'cause it gets at that thing Shelton that you said
that the kids need in a previous episode
where they're asking for those internals.
Where again, instead of looking at attendance
and punctuality as like, are you here and are you on time?
Simply, that's the external.
The internal of well, who are you getting here for?
And why are you coming and how does that make you feel,
all that kind of stuff. - Yes.
- So I was feeling really good about that.
And then something I think still, always to work on is,
again, I do a program where often people are in need.
And so I do get calls from desperate parents,
you know, who can be like, "My kid is in this situation
and they have to get here immediately."
And not being able to operate like that,
because you really kind of can't either.
And I could talk about that at length in another episode,
in terms of like, how do you really move someone
through the stages of change
so that they will be successful in a new environment?
But it is still something I struggle with
because like right, as a human and as a parent,
I'm relating to you, you're suffering,
your child is suffering.
And so how I take on those, like I think I do good
in the phone calls and giving hope
and still making the connection,
but I do carry like, right, I'll feel it.
I hang up the phone and I feel your hurt too.
And so that's always something that, is just,
I don't know if I get better at,
but it's something that I'm like, ugh, it's in me,
I feel bad. [laughs]
- Yeah, no, that's deep.
People don't realize how we carry that,
'cause energy is tangible and especially when you care,
you just carry a lot of that too,
when you don't think about it.
So yeah, Angie, you got a...?
- Well, I guess I'll keep mind kind of quick
and just focus on where I wanna grow.
It kind of goes back to what Daniel was saying
and that's really acknowledging the gratitude
and those impressive moments.
And already with all the kind of the group work that we do,
community building, you can always really see kids
who are definitely just a top-notch kid.
They're helping maybe a student who has a disability,
they're patient, they're already showing
leadership in a group.
And the thing I wanna make sure
that I'm really intentional about is sending
a couple emails home or calling a couple people
and just saying like, "Hey, your daughter's awesome.
"I can already tell; it is day four
"and she's already a leader.
Thanks for raising a nice kid."
- That's huge.
- And so doing that right away, that's my goal.
- Awesome, awesome.
Thank you; it's important to reflect sometime,
'cause you got to look back to see where you come from
and know where you're going and to give you a perspective
of your journey as a whole, so appreciate those stories.
- All right, so we are at our "Pass the Mic" session
of our podcast, and today we have a story
coming in from Tracy.
And so thank you Tracy, for connecting with aka Teacher
and to my fellow podcasters,
listen up and then tell me what you think.
Here's what Tracy has to say.
"There are some really tough kids where I teach
"and it's so hard to be by yourself in a classroom
"when the student needs support.
"They could be destroying your classroom,
"flipping over bookcases or throwing chairs
"and garbage cans across the room.
"In those cases, I ask for help immediately and often,
"not just like calling for help from the office,
"but also making sure you get on your principal's schedule
"to talk about what exactly the student needs
"to be successful, what things you've already tried
"that haven't worked.
"And once there's a plan, even if it's not perfect,
"making sure everyone involved understands the plan,
"right down to the music teacher or the lunch supervisor.
"Try not to take any of that high adrenaline
"and stress home.
"If you have a student who has extreme needs,
"that is not the year to work late or come in on weekends.
"As hard as it may be to have a classroom
"that isn't as beautiful as a catalog page
"or super polished lesson plans for the day,
"focus on your mental well-being first.
"If you get screamed at all day,
"it is okay to just get some ice cream for dinner
and veg out that night."
So hearing Tracy's story, just some reactions like,
can you relate?
What does it make you think about?
What do you think about her perspective?
- This used to be my life about four years ago.
I used to work at a particular school,
this kid had special needs and every, I would say 20 minutes
the whole day, like I knew the times he would explode.
He would just jump up on the table, throw stuff around,
threaten to cut his hair, the class have to evacuate.
So, and that's what in the last episode I was talking about.
I get a different role at school and I understand
the bigger picture for teachers.
So that's when I'm aware of those kind of situations
and I go take care of the situation as much as I can,
at least 'cause some, you need professionals
'cause of whatever details you got to do,
but at least to talk to the kid and give him support
because behavior is communication.
So I know that kid, he's crying out for some attention.
So communication, some love, so whatever I can do
in that moment to take the energy off of that teacher,
everything she explained, that's what I try to do.
But again, like so much respect for you teachers.
Like a lot of people, they just don't realize
some of the things you go through.
And like I say, that was my life.
When I would go to this school, I literally, work out clothes,
I'm literally running down the hallway, sweating
and you just know.
So I can definitely feel where that teacher is coming from
and much respect to her and keep eating your ice cream.
[all laugh]
- I think something I hear in Tracy's story is something
that I would imagine resonates with many teachers
and school staff right now.
And it's that Tracy's tried a lot of things
and tried multiple strategies, different approaches,
and really exhausted her toolkit.
And whether it's the pandemic, I think a lot of educators
are saying, "I've tried everything that used to work
and it's not working."
And what do we do when we reach in for another tool
or reach in a bag of tricks for something else
and there's nothing there?
And we reach out to those around us
and they've tried it as well?
I think it's just a really tough situation to be in.
And we start using some phrases,
one that I heard that I kind of wanna unpack
and it's that phrase of tough students.
And I think I've learned when I hear myself saying
that the student is tough or a certain person is tough,
to take a step back, not only for myself,
but to take a step back and to think about
what systemically is happening here?
Whether it's in terms of the whole child,
or what systemic pressures might there be on this child,
because maybe it's a tough system that they're dealing with
and what might be there?
And I've learned, it just leads to new insights
and potentially a different perspective to view the child.
- Well, and I hear what you're really talking about
is the difference between is behavior something we deal with
or is it something we understand?
And depending on how you look at it
and not just you again as the individual, because right,
teachers are out here figuring it out.
But again, how everything is set up
is more on how do you deal with behavior
than versus how do we understand behavior,
and then when we understand that, then what we can do.
I also am assuming that Tracy's dealing with,
it sounds like an elementary story.
Not sure, but I just hear that--
- I've seen that same story in the high school.
- Oh, okay, but I was gonna say, I hear a lot of this
from my elementary friends.
And so I don't have personal experience with that,
but I just have heard the same things from,
and then just how distressing it is to everyone.
- Yeah, I had a student a few years ago
who was on the autism spectrum and nonverbal.
And I can remember,
it was literally the first day of school
and he's pacing around the room and you can tell
the other kids in the room are kind of like,
"Whoa, what is happening right now?"
And even my armpits were getting a little sweaty,
just trying to decide, okay, I set the tone right now
with how I decide to reply.
Like, what am I gonna say?
Am I gonna acknowledge it?
Am I gonna pretend like things are normal?
What am I gonna do?
And finally, I was just like,
"Who's tired, anybody tired?"
Everybody's kind of half acknowledging what I'm saying.
I was like, "I'm really tired.
"And you know what, this student, he's tired too,
"but he doesn't have the ability to just say,
"'I'm really tired.'"
"And so he's got that energy that he's getting out right now
"by moving about the room and he's still our classmate,
"and he's feeling the exact same way you are.
"He just can't express it the same way,
"and we're gonna continue learning
"and hopefully we can all make sure
"that he feels more relaxed
and that we can make this a place for everybody to learn."
And so hats off to Tracy, 'cause I have been there too
with the sweaty pits, trying to decide what to do next.
And it's all, who knows what to do at that time?
We're just doing our best, one more tool in that toolbox.
- Right, and yet there's one aspect of Tracy's story
that I worry about, the whole part about like how again,
it goes into you and then you are eating ice cream
and vegging out that night, and how that has the potential
to impact the people you love and your space.
And so again, just makes me think
about how do we make a healthier space for everybody
while we're at work so that when we come out of it...
I feel Tracy in terms of we've got our coping mechanisms,
but there's something that I hear about it
in terms of as professionals, there's just still work to do.
So, thank you very much, Tracy, for sending in that story,
gave us a lot to think about
and talk about, much appreciated.
- Yeah, absolutely, thank you, Tracy.
And thank you to everyone for listening.
As we wrap up this episode, we want to remind you
that whether you're a pre-service, early career,
or veteran teacher, we want to hear from you.
We want to hear your questions.
We wanna hear your stories.
You can record a voice memo or you can type it up
and send it to education@pbswisconsin.org
and make sure you put aka Teacher in the subject line.
We also wanna invite you to visit
the aka Teacher podcast website
to find helpful resources connected to today's episode.
Thank you again for listening and we'll see you next time.
[upbeat music]