1 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:10,119 Welcome to the Teachers Need Teachers podcast, where we help new and beginning teachers 2 00:00:10,199 --> 00:00:15,960 navigate through those crazy first years of teaching so you can maintain your sanity and 3 00:00:16,399 --> 00:00:27,559 personal life. Here's your host, him Lapree. Welcome to the Teachers Need 4 00:00:27,559 --> 00:00:31,480 Teachers podcast, the podcast for teachers who don't want to just survive teaching. 5 00:00:31,559 --> 00:00:36,039 But actually, when I started teaching, I was a horrible teacher. In 6 00:00:36,079 --> 00:00:40,079 fact, I don't even know how I was able to keep my job continuously 7 00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:44,039 and never get laid off or I was never let go. I mean sometimes 8 00:00:44,079 --> 00:00:47,719 I would come to school without a plan at all and I would just wing 9 00:00:47,759 --> 00:00:51,280 it. And since I was in my twenties when I started my early twenties, 10 00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:54,280 I thought I was invincible. And sometimes I would come to school with 11 00:00:54,479 --> 00:00:59,280 barely any sleep and sometimes with a hangover. Yeah, I learned that lesson 12 00:00:59,359 --> 00:01:03,679 really fast. My saving grace was the fact that I knew that I was 13 00:01:03,719 --> 00:01:04,959 going to fail a lot, but at the same time I was going to 14 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:08,959 grow a lot. This despite the fact that I'm just kind of a perfectionist. 15 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:11,560 But I also knew that the only way that I was going to get 16 00:01:11,599 --> 00:01:15,560 better is if I tried and tried again. And fell and fell again. 17 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:21,480 I basically approached teaching like a scientist, where I would make a hypothesis about 18 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:23,680 how something was going to go, and then I went ahead and taught the 19 00:01:23,719 --> 00:01:26,840 class, or you can call that the experiment, and then I evaluated the 20 00:01:26,879 --> 00:01:32,319 results afterwards, and then from those evaluations, then I decided what I was 21 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:34,519 going to do next and how I was going to improve. In today's episode, 22 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:40,040 I'm going to be discussing teacher daily struggles that I have had to deal 23 00:01:40,079 --> 00:01:44,159 with since I started teaching, and that I actually really grew from and are 24 00:01:44,319 --> 00:01:48,239 grateful for. And I know that all of you have struggled with these at 25 00:01:48,319 --> 00:01:51,840 some point in teaching, and if you're just a brand new teacher going into 26 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:55,640 teaching, you need to be prepared for these because they are going to creep 27 00:01:55,719 --> 00:01:57,959 up, probably from day one. And so I'm going to tell you how 28 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:01,680 I survived these, how I overcame them, and how they've actually made me 29 00:02:01,799 --> 00:02:06,480 a better teacher. So the first teacher daily struggle that I've had to deal 30 00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:09,479 with over the years is being unprepared. Now, this, as I mentioned 31 00:02:09,479 --> 00:02:14,919 in the introduction, means coming in without a lesson or have you ever had 32 00:02:15,039 --> 00:02:17,240 a lesson planned, but you didn't have enough plans, so there was like 33 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:22,400 say, fifteen twenty thirty minutes still left in the class and you had nothing 34 00:02:22,439 --> 00:02:25,360 else to do. Or maybe on the flip side, a lesson took longer 35 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:29,719 than you had anticipated and so you didn't get through everything that you needed to 36 00:02:29,759 --> 00:02:32,080 do, so maybe you either just cut it short and didn't teach the rest 37 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:36,000 of the stuff, which could be cut of bad sometimes, or it had 38 00:02:36,039 --> 00:02:38,400 to bleed in into the next class's lesson. I've had that happened to me 39 00:02:38,599 --> 00:02:42,520 many times too. I can tell you were sure that there have been many 40 00:02:42,599 --> 00:02:46,879 many times over the past twenty two years when I would forget on the weekend 41 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:49,680 to plan out what I was going to do for the following week. At 42 00:02:49,719 --> 00:02:52,759 that point, I wasn't planning my lessons, you know, two or three 43 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:55,520 weeks in advance. I was going sometimes day by day, week by week, 44 00:02:55,599 --> 00:02:59,520 and I would just have to try to scramble and put something together, 45 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:01,400 and it was really really stressful for me, and I would just have to 46 00:03:01,439 --> 00:03:05,479 really figure out what I was going to do on the fly. So that's 47 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:08,919 actually the benefit of having been a bad planner in the past and not being 48 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:13,639 prepared as the fact that I learned how to pivot really quickly. I learned 49 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:15,439 how to flex that muscle where you have to figure out what you're going to 50 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:20,080 do in a matter of seconds before your class falls apart. Because your class 51 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:23,199 knows when you don't have enough prepared and they know when you don't know what 52 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:27,520 you're going to do next. They understand when there's a lull in the lesson, 53 00:03:27,639 --> 00:03:30,840 and it doesn't really take much even if you have like the best of 54 00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:34,520 classes, it doesn't take much before if one person starts to talk to another 55 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:38,479 and then there's a lot of little mini conversations and the whole class just loses 56 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:42,439 it. But it took failing in this area multiple times to be able to 57 00:03:42,479 --> 00:03:45,919 just pivot in the lesson right away, or if something was thrown at me 58 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:47,520 that I had to teach right away, or let's say that there was a 59 00:03:47,639 --> 00:03:52,439 drill that I wasn't prepared for. I was able to think on the fly 60 00:03:52,639 --> 00:03:55,319 and know exactly what to do next and not lose my class. And I'm 61 00:03:55,319 --> 00:04:00,120 sure you've seen this with other teachers, where they just always seem cool and 62 00:04:00,159 --> 00:04:03,439 collected no matter what is happening around them. The fire alarm goes off or 63 00:04:03,479 --> 00:04:08,159 a student just seems to go crazy. They just seem to know what to 64 00:04:08,199 --> 00:04:11,719 do next, even though it's unexpected. How you learn to do that is 65 00:04:11,759 --> 00:04:15,319 by feeling as being prepared. So this leads me to my next teacher struggle, 66 00:04:15,399 --> 00:04:19,480 which is time management. So before I used to spend so much time 67 00:04:19,639 --> 00:04:24,839 looking for lessons or just going through every single step and a lesson and taking 68 00:04:24,879 --> 00:04:28,120 notes. And then also when I would grade, I would spend so much 69 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:31,879 time writing feedback, just really detailed feedback that students weren't even reading. Or 70 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:36,279 I'd write these long emails to apply to parents or to apply to my colleagues 71 00:04:36,399 --> 00:04:41,240 or administration. I just didn't have a good sense of how much time I 72 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:44,439 should spend on each task. And you might be guilty of this because you 73 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:47,680 feel like you had to do everything at two hundred percent. For some teachers, 74 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:51,160 it feels like this write of passage or it's just part of our job 75 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:56,920 to spend hours and hours grading and planning and replying to emails and things like 76 00:04:56,959 --> 00:05:01,000 that. But actually that's not necessarily the nor is it healthy. A lot 77 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:03,879 of the problem that I had, especially in my earlier years of teaching, 78 00:05:03,959 --> 00:05:08,040 was that I didn't have a system. I would show up to school and 79 00:05:08,079 --> 00:05:10,519 just go through my day, and when my prep would come, I would 80 00:05:10,519 --> 00:05:13,160 just kind of sit there and just look around, and the first thing that 81 00:05:13,199 --> 00:05:15,720 I saw, that's what I would start working on. But I didn't have 82 00:05:15,759 --> 00:05:17,959 a plan so that I knew what to do during my planning time, if 83 00:05:17,959 --> 00:05:21,120 that makes sense. I just sort of use the time and filled it with 84 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:25,879 whatever came to my mind first. But the problem with that is that you 85 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:30,720 were then leaving yourself open to running out of time and then spending your personal 86 00:05:30,759 --> 00:05:33,680 time on school related things, and we really want to minimize that as much 87 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:39,279 as possible. So the benefit of me going through so many years of wasting 88 00:05:39,319 --> 00:05:44,560 time and so many years of spending countless hours outside of school doing school related 89 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:47,720 work is that I finally figured out some systems and now I barely take home 90 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:53,319 any work and I pretty much stew the majority of my school related stuff while 91 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:57,560 I'm in school during school hours. And this is especially important if you have 92 00:05:57,639 --> 00:06:00,920 a teaching assignment where you don't have a planning period, you might have to 93 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:04,160 then spend some of your outside time working on school related stuff so that you 94 00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:06,800 don't fall behind. But if you're going to give up an hour of your 95 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:11,120 personal time, you want to make sure that you maximize that. So trying 96 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:14,639 out news systems will really help you figure out what's going to work for you 97 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:16,360 so that you can make the most of the time that you have. The 98 00:06:16,399 --> 00:06:20,160 next teacher daily struggle that I've had to deal with for quite some time is 99 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:25,120 planning and teaching a bad lesson. So this is different from the first struggle 100 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:28,839 where I'm unprepared, because this one is where I wrote a bad lesson, 101 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:31,839 or while delivering a lesson it didn't go so well. Of course, this 102 00:06:31,879 --> 00:06:35,560 has happened many, many times, especially when I made that transition from teaching 103 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:41,000 band to teaching English, because breaking down a lesson is very different when you're 104 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:45,040 trying to do reading and writing and grammar and all that compared to teaching a 105 00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:47,079 student how to play an instrument. So it was really hard for me in 106 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:51,040 the beginning. My lessons are really boring. I followed exactly what the textbook 107 00:06:51,079 --> 00:06:55,000 told me to do, but the kids could tell that I didn't know what 108 00:06:55,079 --> 00:06:58,639 I was doing, and so the way that I delivered my lesson was pretty 109 00:06:58,759 --> 00:07:01,920 robotic. Also, sometimes you write a lesson or create materials for the students 110 00:07:01,959 --> 00:07:05,800 that don't actually help them learn, And as you're going through it with them 111 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:10,160 and kids aren't getting it, you get really frustrated because you're like, why 112 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:13,439 aren't they understanding this? And then later on you come to find out after 113 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:16,120 some reflection, it's because the worksheet was bad. Orn there were times when 114 00:07:16,199 --> 00:07:20,120 I just didn't read the room and I couldn't tell that kids weren't getting it, 115 00:07:20,199 --> 00:07:23,680 and so then I would get frustrated when it was time for them to 116 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:28,120 answer out and I hadn't explained the concept well enough to them in order for 117 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:30,759 them to really be able to work with the concept or to be able to 118 00:07:30,759 --> 00:07:32,720 discuss it with each other, and definitely not enough for them to answer out 119 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:36,959 in class. So it took me failing in that way multiple times for me 120 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:41,240 to realize that you do have to check in with the students. You do 121 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:44,800 have to make sure that they're paying attention. Sometimes I talk too much and 122 00:07:44,839 --> 00:07:48,160 they're getting really bored and so much information has just gone over their head because 123 00:07:48,319 --> 00:07:53,000 I keep yacking on and on. So then I was able to adjust how 124 00:07:53,040 --> 00:07:56,560 I teach so that that doesn't happen anymore. And the students stay a lot 125 00:07:56,600 --> 00:08:01,120 more engaged. But if I hadn't failed by boring the kids or creating bad 126 00:08:01,199 --> 00:08:03,879 materials and bad lessons, I never would have gotten better as a teacher. 127 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:07,519 And this ties in with my next teacher daily struggle, which is bad classroom 128 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:13,480 management. I don't know anyone who has had perfect classroom management from the get 129 00:08:13,519 --> 00:08:16,439 go, or even perfect classroom management at all. We all at some point 130 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:22,600 struggle with classroom management in terms of keeping our kids engaged, keeping them on 131 00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:26,839 task, and keeping them from going crazy in class. This past year has 132 00:08:26,879 --> 00:08:30,079 definitely been a struggle for so many teachers. But I can tell you, 133 00:08:30,079 --> 00:08:33,279 guys that I've gone through the gamut of different ways that I've handled classroom management, 134 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:35,679 and in the beginning, a lot of them didn't work. When I 135 00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:39,759 started out teaching, I wanted to be the fun teacher because I wanted to 136 00:08:39,759 --> 00:08:43,919 be accepted and liked by my students. So I was little more loose in 137 00:08:43,039 --> 00:08:48,399 terms of my rules and implementing my rules, and I was a little too 138 00:08:48,519 --> 00:08:50,559 nice to them because I thought that if they liked me, then they would 139 00:08:50,559 --> 00:08:54,720 listen to me. I came to find out that this actually doesn't work in 140 00:08:54,759 --> 00:08:58,159 the long run. Sure in the beginning, if students like you, then 141 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:01,200 they were willing to listen to you. But when they start to get out 142 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:05,159 of hand and you really have to lay down the law because they're being inappropriate 143 00:09:05,279 --> 00:09:07,200 or they're not focusing and you can't get through the lesson. Now they just 144 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:11,840 look at you like what's wrong with her? And then they don't want to 145 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:15,679 listen and they resent you. And then I went to the other extreme where 146 00:09:15,679 --> 00:09:20,759 I was too strict with them and very unbending and inflexible, and students just 147 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:22,919 didn't like me in general. Now for that, I didn't like that feeling 148 00:09:22,919 --> 00:09:26,720 either, because they like to interact with the kids, and I also know 149 00:09:26,799 --> 00:09:28,840 that when they don't like me, there's always going to be some kid who 150 00:09:28,919 --> 00:09:33,440 wants to rebel and not listen to me just for the sake of the fact 151 00:09:33,519 --> 00:09:35,519 that he or she doesn't like me. Also, over the years, I 152 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:39,000 learned things like, you shouldn't turn your back to the class for very long 153 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:43,679 because that's when all the shenanigans happen. And he also has to just be 154 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:46,960 able to read the room like I was talking about in terms of delivering a 155 00:09:46,039 --> 00:09:50,320 lesson. So these are failures that I've had over the years that I'm actually 156 00:09:50,399 --> 00:09:54,600 really really grateful for because it's made it so that I can keep my class 157 00:09:54,679 --> 00:09:58,679 in control but really really engaged and we have a good time together. But 158 00:09:58,720 --> 00:10:01,919 when it's time to get down to work, they are more than willing to 159 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:07,279 work. Or comes a point with time after failing and observing your class that 160 00:10:07,519 --> 00:10:11,639 you're going to be able to predict student behaviors before they even happen, and 161 00:10:11,679 --> 00:10:15,440 you can do things to avoid anything from even starting up at all. So, 162 00:10:15,519 --> 00:10:18,759 for example, if you have one student who wants to throw something away 163 00:10:18,759 --> 00:10:22,440 and it's across the room, you could be proactive by the trash can to 164 00:10:22,519 --> 00:10:24,000 them. That way, they don't have to go and talk to their friends 165 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:28,960 on the way they are. Things like that the next teacher daily struggle dealing 166 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:33,799 with parents. Now I'm going to make a whole other video about how to 167 00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:37,159 deal with parents and how to best be proactive with them as well. But 168 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:41,039 this is something that also took some time, and actually it didn't really hit 169 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:45,000 me how to do this very well until I myself became a parent. In 170 00:10:45,080 --> 00:10:48,840 the beginning, when you get emails from parents that are upset about something that 171 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:52,639 you said or that you did or something that's happening in class, or complaining 172 00:10:52,639 --> 00:10:56,080 about a student's grade. We can get defensive because we feel like we're being 173 00:10:56,120 --> 00:11:01,200 personally attacked. But I found after a while that they're not exactly attacking me 174 00:11:01,519 --> 00:11:03,960 as much as they're trying to help out their students. So, you know, 175 00:11:05,039 --> 00:11:07,320 if they feel like their student is being picked on by you, then 176 00:11:07,519 --> 00:11:11,559 what they're trying to do is defend their student. They're trying to stand up 177 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:13,360 for their child. And yes, and may feel like it's an attack on 178 00:11:13,399 --> 00:11:16,360 you, but what they really want is for their students to not be picked 179 00:11:16,399 --> 00:11:20,720 on anymore. Same thing. Let's say that they're being bullied in class and 180 00:11:20,759 --> 00:11:24,000 the parent feels like you're not doing anything about it. What they really want 181 00:11:24,039 --> 00:11:26,080 is for their child to not be bullied. So after a while of reading 182 00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:31,200 these emails or having discussions with parents, I finally realize that I had to 183 00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:33,919 look at the situation from their eyes. Now, I can't control what kind 184 00:11:33,919 --> 00:11:37,600 of parent they are, how much they enforce consequences or anything like that at 185 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:41,519 home. The only thing that I control is how I react to the parents. 186 00:11:41,559 --> 00:11:46,519 And I found that the less reactive and defensive that I am, then 187 00:11:46,559 --> 00:11:50,120 the better the situation ends up. I also learned that starting out the year 188 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:54,279 really warm and communicating with the parents as much as possible makes it so that 189 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:56,639 parents aren't in the dark and they don't feel caught off guard. Granted, 190 00:11:56,720 --> 00:12:00,960 not all parents will read the emails or the message that you send out, 191 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:03,240 but at least you can say that you did communicate with them, and so 192 00:12:03,279 --> 00:12:07,840 when they come back to you or your principles saying I didn't know about this, 193 00:12:07,919 --> 00:12:11,039 who can tell them exactly when you inform them about it, And it's 194 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:13,399 really on them if they didn't get the message. But I've had my share 195 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:20,440 of angry parents sending emails or messages, parent conferences, and you know, 196 00:12:20,759 --> 00:12:22,960 honestly, I know that they just want to work things out and they just 197 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:28,200 want to be heard. But I personally don't want to even have to bother 198 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:30,799 with them. I don't want to be hassled. So I do everything in 199 00:12:30,799 --> 00:12:33,799 my power to just not have angry parents, something that I just learned along 200 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:39,840 the way. Similarly, I've had my share of bad administrators and not so 201 00:12:39,960 --> 00:12:43,080 great colleagues, and I'm sure that you're already in the situation. It would 202 00:12:43,080 --> 00:12:48,080 be great if all of the administrators out there, and all of our colleagues 203 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:50,919 were just amazing positive teachers who are just looking out for the kids and not 204 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:54,440 for their own interest would just be so harmonious. But we know that that's 205 00:12:54,519 --> 00:12:58,679 not really how it works. I mean, a school runs just like it 206 00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:01,559 does any other business in terms of having people who are at the top and 207 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:05,120 the rest of us who aren't, and we just have to deal with a 208 00:13:05,159 --> 00:13:09,120 lot of weird personalities. Have you seen the office Just because we're in a 209 00:13:09,159 --> 00:13:13,600 school, that doesn't mean that office politics doesn't happen in our schools. And 210 00:13:13,639 --> 00:13:16,799 so learning how to navigate that has been something that I've had to really work 211 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:20,879 on because I tend to be a little more meek, and I tend to 212 00:13:20,919 --> 00:13:22,919 be someone who just kind of like lets other people get away with things, 213 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:26,759 and after a while I learned that I was resenting them, and it was 214 00:13:26,799 --> 00:13:30,720 affecting how I showed up in school as a leader and how I showed up 215 00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:33,559 for my students as well. So one thing that I've learned is how to 216 00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:37,639 be diplomatic and really work with my administrator, whether or not I like them. 217 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:41,000 In fact, there's been quite a few administrators that I didn't like but 218 00:13:41,159 --> 00:13:45,559 all of them like me. Does that mean I kiss their butt? No? 219 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:48,840 But I do want to have a working relationship with them. I do 220 00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:52,320 want them to think favorably of me, because that way, when I need 221 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:56,879 something that is going to benefit my students or benefit my department, or benefit 222 00:13:56,919 --> 00:14:01,759 the school, they are more willing to listen to me. If you constantly 223 00:14:01,960 --> 00:14:05,679 attack or confront or do anything negative like that with your administrator, whether it's 224 00:14:05,679 --> 00:14:09,679 the principle or assistant principle, they are going to be on the defensive and 225 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:13,159 they're less likely to want to work with you, even though it's something that 226 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:18,879 could benefit lots of people. I've learned, not necessarily through my own experience, 227 00:14:18,919 --> 00:14:22,320 but from observing some of my colleagues, that the more confrontationally you are 228 00:14:22,440 --> 00:14:26,360 with administration, the less you can actually accomplish or get away with at school. 229 00:14:26,519 --> 00:14:31,679 And finally, the teacher daily struggle that I actually struggle with a little 230 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:35,639 less now is stress. The biggest lesson that I've learned in terms of stress 231 00:14:35,919 --> 00:14:41,120 is that you just want to focus on the things that you can control and 232 00:14:41,279 --> 00:14:45,879 affect. So I've spent all kinds of time worrying about all kinds of things. 233 00:14:45,960 --> 00:14:48,879 My students and their home life. Colleagues who are being great teachers are 234 00:14:50,039 --> 00:14:52,919 not so great teachers, or administrators who I feel like are being vindictive or 235 00:14:52,919 --> 00:14:56,360 aren't running this show right. I mean, there's so many things that could 236 00:14:56,399 --> 00:15:01,039 stress you out at school, test scores, things like that. But I 237 00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:05,600 can only focus and control the things that are within my sphere, So that's 238 00:15:05,679 --> 00:15:09,120 what I worry about. I only worry about the things that I can personally 239 00:15:09,159 --> 00:15:13,480 affect and control. So if a parent doesn't like me through maybe no fault 240 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:16,039 of my own, or even if it is something that I did, I 241 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:18,559 can't change that. I can't worry about that. I can just try to 242 00:15:18,639 --> 00:15:22,639 be as diplomatic as I can. But at the end of the day, 243 00:15:22,679 --> 00:15:24,279 if they don't like me, they don't like me. Same thing with a 244 00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:28,320 student. If a student doesn't like me, that's fine. I'm not going 245 00:15:28,399 --> 00:15:31,519 to be hurt about it just because they don't like me. But I am 246 00:15:31,559 --> 00:15:33,879 going to just focus on the students who do like me. And when that 247 00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:37,600 student that doesn't like me, if they don't interact in a positive way with 248 00:15:37,639 --> 00:15:41,759 me, I'm not going to treat them any differently because they're just a kid, 249 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:43,399 right, I'm not going to sit there and take it personally. Now, 250 00:15:43,399 --> 00:15:46,519 there have been colleagues throughout the years that I haven't appreciated. And what 251 00:15:46,559 --> 00:15:48,879 do I do when I see them? Do I scal in their face? 252 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:52,200 Do I get all up in their face about something that they said or did? 253 00:15:52,279 --> 00:15:56,240 No, I'm pleasant with them. It's not that I'm being too faced. 254 00:15:56,360 --> 00:16:00,159 Is that I don't see a point in being unpleasant with them. What 255 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:03,639 is that going to accomplish. If I'm trying to change them or try to 256 00:16:03,720 --> 00:16:06,799 change the way they act or think, then I shouldn't hold my breath because 257 00:16:06,799 --> 00:16:11,120 you can't change people, but I can change myself. I can control how 258 00:16:11,159 --> 00:16:15,519 I react to them. And that has just made school a lot lot less 259 00:16:15,559 --> 00:16:18,159 stressful for me. If students don't do so well on an assessment and my 260 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:22,679 administrator comes and talks to me about it because they should have done better, 261 00:16:22,919 --> 00:16:25,480 I'm not going to get upset at the students. I'm not going to get 262 00:16:25,559 --> 00:16:27,799 upset at my administrator. I'm just going to try to do better next time. 263 00:16:27,919 --> 00:16:32,279 And that's all that I can do. And if the administrator doesn't appreciate 264 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:34,600 that or doesn't like it, then I can go or I can suck it 265 00:16:34,679 --> 00:16:37,720 up and stay. The one thing though, that I do sometimes get sucked 266 00:16:37,759 --> 00:16:42,360 up into is just drama. I don't know why I hear about drama or 267 00:16:42,399 --> 00:16:47,000 I get sucked up into drama. I actually mentioned that in a video about 268 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:48,960 how things have been really hard for me lately, because sometimes I do get 269 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:52,600 sucked up into that a politics at school, and that's the kind of stuff 270 00:16:52,639 --> 00:16:57,039 that stresses me out. And I really should just be sitting back and relaxing 271 00:16:57,200 --> 00:17:00,679 and not worrying about it because a lot of time is the things that cause 272 00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:04,039 the drama have nothing to do with me, So why am I getting stressed 273 00:17:04,079 --> 00:17:08,279 out? So I'm sure that you're struggling with some of these and you're maybe 274 00:17:08,319 --> 00:17:11,119 you're wondering, is there something wrong with me? Is it going to get 275 00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:15,480 better? There's nothing wrong with you. We all go through this and we 276 00:17:15,519 --> 00:17:18,079 all have to learn the hard way how to get through it. But just 277 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:22,240 know that as long as you're learning from it and you're getting better and you're 278 00:17:22,279 --> 00:17:25,839 growing, things are going to get easier and you're going to become an amazing 279 00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:29,799 teacher. You just have to believe that there's a reason why this is happening 280 00:17:29,839 --> 00:17:33,480 for you or happening to you, and then you just got to move forward 281 00:17:33,839 --> 00:17:37,960 and do better. So how many of these have you struggled with just this 282 00:17:37,039 --> 00:17:41,839 past week. I love to hear about that, because I can tell you 283 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:45,319 right now that I still struggle with some of them. Most of them I 284 00:17:45,559 --> 00:17:48,200 figured out, but from time to time I still have to deal with things 285 00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:52,160 like classroom bad, classroom management because I dropped the ball or I wasn't paying 286 00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:56,839 attention, or time management. Sometimes I just I'm not using my time to 287 00:17:56,920 --> 00:18:00,519 the best of my abilities. So you know, these are things that you 288 00:18:00,559 --> 00:18:03,880 have to constantly work on over and over again, but with time it gets 289 00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:07,480 better. Thanks for hanging out with me today, you guys, and I 290 00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:11,920 will see you next week. Thanks for listening to The Teachers Need Teachers podcast. 291 00:18:12,319 --> 00:18:18,079 Love this episode, Head over to Apple podcast or Google Play to subscribe, 292 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:18,799 rate and leave a review.