1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:04,320 Welcome to the Teachers Need Teachers Podcasts, the podcast for teachers who don't want 2 00:00:04,320 --> 00:00:08,800 to just survive teaching but actually thrive. I'm your host, Kim Laprie, 3 00:00:08,839 --> 00:00:13,119 and I really appreciate you being with me here today. This topic has been 4 00:00:13,919 --> 00:00:18,760 ruminating on my mind because there's just a lot of things happening in my school 5 00:00:18,839 --> 00:00:24,719 right now, and it's definitely pertinent to any teacher, but especially new teachers, 6 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:30,000 and it's all about school politics. Maybe you're like me and you hate 7 00:00:30,079 --> 00:00:34,520 all things politics, but today we have to talk about them. If you've 8 00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:37,719 ever worked in a job, especially in a place of business, then you 9 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:42,600 have actually experienced workplace politics. You might have done your best to avoid them, 10 00:00:42,679 --> 00:00:46,320 especially if you were a less senior employee, but you may not have 11 00:00:46,439 --> 00:00:50,679 realized that you were actually always a part of it. Either you were someone 12 00:00:50,719 --> 00:00:55,679 who had the power or knowledge to make things happen, or you were a 13 00:00:55,880 --> 00:01:00,039 pawn that a more assertive person used to reach their goal. Sounds harsh, 14 00:01:00,079 --> 00:01:04,079 but that's just the reality. And now that you're in a career that you 15 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:07,879 may be in for the long haul, it's important to learn how to navigate 16 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:12,519 school politics. Even if you don't want anything to do with them, because 17 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:18,239 simply being passive about it could be the difference between loving your job and frankly 18 00:01:18,359 --> 00:01:22,719 getting screwed. So I'm going to cover how to survive school politics so that 19 00:01:22,799 --> 00:01:26,159 you can actually love the school that you teach at. So, just like 20 00:01:26,359 --> 00:01:32,879 in regular national politics, in school politics it involves around different groups and their 21 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:38,079 power dynamics. So some key stakeholders involved are the district that you work in, 22 00:01:38,359 --> 00:01:46,560 the school administrators, teachers, administrative staff, counselors, parents, and 23 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:49,359 of course students. I'm also missing some other school staff in there, but 24 00:01:49,719 --> 00:01:55,519 a lot of times these are quote unquote the power players, and obviously each 25 00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:59,599 group has a different priority. For example, a lot of times for a 26 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:02,359 big school district like the one that I teach in, they are of course 27 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:07,080 concerned about serving this community, but they also have to think about things like 28 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:14,879 fiscal responsibility and using taxpayer money, getting federal money, looking like a good 29 00:02:14,879 --> 00:02:17,240 district to attract more people to come here so that we can get more of 30 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:22,360 that federal money. And then when you trickle down to say the schools, 31 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:27,120 that's also a similar concern in terms of like fiscal responsibility and just making the 32 00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:30,800 school look good. So it makes the district look good. But also we 33 00:02:30,879 --> 00:02:35,680 want to pull in a lot of students so that we can get that money. 34 00:02:35,719 --> 00:02:38,960 We call it the ADA money. And then principles, of course, 35 00:02:38,039 --> 00:02:42,719 they want to look good running the school. They want to make sure that 36 00:02:42,719 --> 00:02:46,800 the school runs smoothly, that there are fewer parent complaints. And if a 37 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:51,400 principal is maybe trying to work up their way to work at the district level, 38 00:02:51,759 --> 00:02:53,919 then they're going to do things that make them look good, so that's 39 00:02:53,919 --> 00:02:58,439 going to be their priority. And then we have the teachers, you know 40 00:02:58,479 --> 00:03:02,080 what I mean. And so it's it's important to understand and to really be 41 00:03:02,199 --> 00:03:07,520 cognizant of the different priorities of all the power players within a school environment. 42 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:15,039 Understanding this will help you navigate the school politics more effectively because as you are 43 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:20,000 talking to these different people at these different levels, you're going to have to 44 00:03:20,599 --> 00:03:25,319 frame your message according to what their priorities and what their ultimate goals are. 45 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:30,000 For example, let's say that you want a particular teaching assignment because it's your 46 00:03:30,039 --> 00:03:32,879 favorite grade. Well, your principle might not care that it's your favorite grade. 47 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:37,840 The district might not care that it's your favorite grade. What really matters 48 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:42,759 to them is how does it affect their end goal. Also important to recognize 49 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:47,000 within the structure is favoritism and you know, sometimes even nepotism, because that 50 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:51,759 will also affect you in the long run. So, for example, if 51 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:55,319 you are a favorite of your principle or even the district, then more opportunities 52 00:03:55,319 --> 00:04:00,199 are going to be available to you, which seems obvious. And on the 53 00:04:00,199 --> 00:04:03,159 flip side, if you are someone who isn't a favorite, or maybe you 54 00:04:03,199 --> 00:04:06,919 decide that you're someone who wants to fly under the radar, then things like 55 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:13,960 teaching assignments, classrooms, resources, funding, things like that may not be 56 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:16,319 as available to you. So if you've been teaching a while, then this 57 00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:20,480 is all obvious. If you're new, it may not seem as obvious because 58 00:04:20,519 --> 00:04:24,720 you just haven't had any experience with this, But it's just good to know 59 00:04:24,879 --> 00:04:29,680 and be aware. So this goes along with understanding the school culture in your 60 00:04:29,759 --> 00:04:32,839 particular school. After I got myself settled into a new school, I would 61 00:04:32,839 --> 00:04:38,160 want to understand the culture and sort of those unwritten rules. For example, 62 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:42,560 you might be surprised by how little power your principle might have. They may 63 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:46,879 actually just be a puppet for the district. They may just be implementing any 64 00:04:46,959 --> 00:04:50,240 kind of initiatives that the district wants, and they don't really have any say, 65 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:56,240 and they're just basically a manager, whereas in some other schools, principles 66 00:04:56,319 --> 00:05:00,199 have a lot of power in terms of hiring and firing and spending money. 67 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:03,600 So it's up to you to figure that out when you get to your new 68 00:05:03,639 --> 00:05:10,160 school. I've seen schools where counselors have an outsize influence on decision making. 69 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:16,279 They can actually determine teaching assignment sometimes or who gets which types of classes or 70 00:05:16,519 --> 00:05:20,839 students. It was just really surprising to me to hear and actually in some 71 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:28,040 cases experience just how much power counselors have, especially because of their working relationship 72 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:32,560 with the principle. In other schools, the principal secretary is actually a gate 73 00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:38,839 keeper and can determine whether or not the principle even is aware of your concerns. 74 00:05:39,199 --> 00:05:43,240 And in certain communities, the PTA can have a lot of influence, 75 00:05:43,319 --> 00:05:46,680 especially because they do so much fundraising, and they can actually have power in 76 00:05:46,759 --> 00:05:51,600 terms of how many is spent or even have influence on things like events, 77 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:58,600 policies, and other aspects of school life. So it's important to learn about 78 00:05:58,639 --> 00:06:00,399 all of this, and one of the best way to do that is to 79 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:04,399 observe and talk to people, and of course, something that we hate to 80 00:06:04,399 --> 00:06:10,759 hear build relationships. A lot of times when we talk about building relationships, 81 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:14,199 it's someone telling us that we need to build relationships with students, which is 82 00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:18,439 just so obvious and sometimes insulting to hear. But you also have to build 83 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:24,439 relationships with other adults, and if anything, I think that sometimes working with 84 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:28,199 the adults is a lot harder than working with the students. So you want 85 00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:32,600 to build positive relationships with your colleagues and administrators and the other staff that work 86 00:06:32,639 --> 00:06:36,000 in the school. Definitely the custodians. I'm going to tell you right now, 87 00:06:36,279 --> 00:06:41,639 building good relationships with a custodian that cleans your room is key. You 88 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:44,839 want that stinky thing out of your room, or you want them to take 89 00:06:44,839 --> 00:06:47,759 care of that mouse that's hiding under your desk, You want to be nice 90 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:53,639 to them. So basically, you need to leverage these relationships when problems arise. 91 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:57,160 And it doesn't mean that you're going to be fake, but it's nice 92 00:06:57,199 --> 00:07:00,639 to have people who you can lean on, and of course going to want 93 00:07:00,639 --> 00:07:02,639 to lean on you, and that's just part of the give and take of 94 00:07:02,959 --> 00:07:06,600 being a good colleague. It's nice to have people who are in your corner 95 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:12,360 to advocate for you, especially when decisions are being made about you and when 96 00:07:12,399 --> 00:07:15,680 things get tough. So it's really important to learn about who the key players 97 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:19,920 are, as I mentioned earlier, so that you can know who you need 98 00:07:19,959 --> 00:07:25,639 to get past, especially if they're certain gatekeepers or certain people who really have 99 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:28,800 a lot of influence in your school, and a lot of that is through 100 00:07:28,839 --> 00:07:33,319 building relationships. This means that you're going to have to show genuine interest in 101 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:38,600 others. It seems so simple, but I know people who just like to 102 00:07:38,639 --> 00:07:42,720 talk about themselves. That's not really going to help you build relationships with other 103 00:07:42,759 --> 00:07:46,240 people if you're always trying to find a way to talk about yourself. I'd 104 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:49,839 also participate in activities. For example, if there's a special event or luncheon 105 00:07:49,879 --> 00:07:55,680 that's going on, then attend. If a teacher is throwing a baby or 106 00:07:55,720 --> 00:08:00,319 bridal shower for one of your colleagues, attend. Like maybe you're not that 107 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:05,240 type of person who likes to socialize a lot, I'm not gonna lie. 108 00:08:05,319 --> 00:08:07,519 I'm not. I'm more of an introvert, I'm kind of boring. I'm 109 00:08:07,519 --> 00:08:11,399 a homebody. But if they're doing something at school and it's just like during 110 00:08:11,399 --> 00:08:16,480 your lunchtime or maybe for a little bit after school, it's really not going 111 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:20,120 to kill you to go. That really goes far in terms of building relationships 112 00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:24,040 with people and also offering to help when you can. For example, one 113 00:08:24,079 --> 00:08:28,759 of my colleagues was having a baby and it was right before one of our 114 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:31,960 breaks, and no one had thought about throwing her baby shower because she was 115 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:37,159 a newer teacher. And I am not someone who likes to entertain other people, 116 00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:41,440 or I don't like to have parties or dinners or anything like that. 117 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:45,360 I don't mind going out and meeting with people, but I'm just not that 118 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:48,559 person. But I pulled it together and decided that she needed to have a 119 00:08:48,559 --> 00:08:52,039 baby shower, that she should have one because pretty much every other pregnant mother 120 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:56,120 in her school has had one, and just because she's new, I didn't 121 00:08:56,120 --> 00:08:58,720 want her to feel left out. So I organized with all of the other 122 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:01,720 peopleople who are good at that kind of stuff, and we threw her a 123 00:09:01,759 --> 00:09:07,159 really nice baby shower. And so I'm building relationships with all these other people. 124 00:09:07,679 --> 00:09:09,600 I don't necessarily hang out with any of them outside of school, but 125 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:13,080 it makes me feel good to do that for someone, and I know that 126 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:18,159 in the long run it's good in terms of the school politics. And trust 127 00:09:18,159 --> 00:09:20,720 me, as someone who's more introverted, it's exhausting to do these types of 128 00:09:20,759 --> 00:09:26,679 social things. I prefer to eat lunch alone just because I need that time 129 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:31,200 to turn my brain off. But I definitely think in the beginning, especially 130 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:33,679 when you're a newer teacher, it's important to try to eat lunch with your 131 00:09:33,679 --> 00:09:39,559 colleagues and build those alliances and to really listen and learn. That way, 132 00:09:39,759 --> 00:09:43,200 you know who you need to be strategic with, because someday they could really 133 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:46,159 help you in a pinch, and it could be the difference between wanting to 134 00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:48,639 stay at your school and just leave teaching altogether. However, we also have 135 00:09:48,759 --> 00:09:54,799 to navigate clicks and other groups, and you've probably experienced this, either being 136 00:09:54,879 --> 00:09:58,919 part of one or unfortunately on the outside of one. These cannot be of 137 00:10:00,679 --> 00:10:03,799 and sometimes it really sucks. When I was teaching band, I didn't really 138 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:09,080 have like a group that I hung out with because I taught intellective and the 139 00:10:09,159 --> 00:10:13,360 core teachers kind of hung out with their subject matter colleagues. And also my 140 00:10:13,399 --> 00:10:16,480 classroom was really far away and it wasn't until I made friends with one of 141 00:10:16,559 --> 00:10:20,480 the English teachers and she just dragged me to the lunch room and it was 142 00:10:20,559 --> 00:10:24,960 so eye opening for me. But also I knew that I wasn't part of 143 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:28,519 the click and it was kind of awkward at first until I started to make 144 00:10:28,559 --> 00:10:33,080 more friends. But part of at least being friendly with people, whether or 145 00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:37,919 not you're in the clique, it really helps in terms of knowing who are 146 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:41,799 the decision makers or who has like the principal's ear or the counselor's ear. 147 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:46,279 But I know it's really hard to break into one. There could be a 148 00:10:46,279 --> 00:10:48,200 lot of reasons why you can't break into one, and I definitely know that 149 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:52,919 agism plays a huge part. I hate to say that, and it sucks, 150 00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:56,120 but you know, people of similar age and interests, they just tend 151 00:10:56,200 --> 00:11:00,799 to gravitate towards each other. You might not even care about being in one, 152 00:11:00,919 --> 00:11:03,440 or even really want to be in one of these cliques. I'm just 153 00:11:03,480 --> 00:11:07,159 saying that it can help. It can help in terms of forming allies, 154 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:13,000 and it was hard when I switched schools after being at one school for a 155 00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:16,480 really long time because everybody already had their established cliques. But I just found 156 00:11:16,519 --> 00:11:22,720 that just being friendly to people and being genuinely interested in what is going on 157 00:11:22,759 --> 00:11:26,320 in their life, or being genuinely interested when they're sharing something, and just 158 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:30,080 trying to get to know my other colleagues, it went really far in terms 159 00:11:30,159 --> 00:11:33,360 of forming alliances. And again, you're going to need those. Trust me. 160 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:37,879 All of this relationship building that you've been doing will help you leverage for 161 00:11:39,080 --> 00:11:41,519 success. Now, let's say that you want to teach a particular grade. 162 00:11:41,559 --> 00:11:46,240 Maybe you're stuck in fourth grade because that's the only grade that they had open 163 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:50,080 when you applied, but you were hoping for kindergarten. Then you want to 164 00:11:50,120 --> 00:11:54,840 identify who are the decision makers, who actually has an influence on the various 165 00:11:54,879 --> 00:12:00,440 teaching assignments. A lot of times it's not just the principal who's making these 166 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:03,399 decisions. For example, in my school, yes it's the principle, but 167 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:07,639 it's also department heads, and it's also counselors. So who's in charge and 168 00:12:07,679 --> 00:12:11,559 who can you start having the conversations with ahead of time so that you can 169 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:16,799 plant that seed. This doesn't work if you haven't built any relationships though, 170 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:18,720 and then when you build your case, you want to frame it in a 171 00:12:18,759 --> 00:12:24,080 way that is going to help that person who you're speaking to reach their goal. 172 00:12:24,279 --> 00:12:28,440 For example, if you're trying to teach math eight and you currently teach 173 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:31,120 seventh grade math, you're going to want to talk to the math department head 174 00:12:31,279 --> 00:12:35,879 and try to figure out what their end goal is when they're recommending who teaches 175 00:12:35,919 --> 00:12:41,279 what. Sometimes they see that one grade just is not working for them and 176 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:45,919 that maybe they need to switch to another grade, and so they're just trying 177 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:50,159 to make it so that everyone is placed somewhere where they can do the most 178 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:52,759 good and do the least damage. So how can you fit into that? 179 00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:56,679 How can you help them out? But if you see that they're trying to 180 00:12:56,679 --> 00:13:00,159 meet a need and they're stuck, you could bring up your strengths and how 181 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:03,960 you would be a really good fit in that role. But I definitely wouldn't 182 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:07,200 throw your other colleagues under the bus because that's going to bite you in the 183 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:09,120 butt later on. They're probably going to find out, and it might be 184 00:13:09,159 --> 00:13:16,120 a series of different conversations with different decision makers, framing it from again their 185 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:20,080 goals and needs that will eventually get you to what it is that you want. 186 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:24,679 You just got to be patient. Like navigating school politics can really take 187 00:13:24,720 --> 00:13:28,759 time, and you might have to start planning that seed early on in the 188 00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:31,960 year. Now, sometimes we have to take one for the team. It's 189 00:13:33,039 --> 00:13:35,679 kind of that I'll scratch your back and then you scratch my type of a 190 00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:41,320 deal. So you might have to volunteer for maybe a less desirable committee, 191 00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:46,759 or maybe for one year you take a teaching assignment that isn't ideal, but 192 00:13:46,279 --> 00:13:50,120 you can have that conversation of well, I know that so and so is 193 00:13:50,159 --> 00:13:54,159 going to be on leave this year, so I'll take that position for the 194 00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:58,120 year, but then I would love for the following year to be teaching this 195 00:13:58,559 --> 00:14:01,120 That could really help out your princes figure out what to do just for this 196 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:07,039 next school year, and that'll really go far later on in terms of when 197 00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:11,279 they're making the decisions for the year after that. It just demonstrates your commitment 198 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:16,240 to the school and just really builds goodwill with your administrator and possibly your colleagues, 199 00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:20,240 and of course, when the opportunity to raises, you get to cash 200 00:14:20,279 --> 00:14:22,480 in on that good will. This actually worked for me because we had a 201 00:14:22,519 --> 00:14:28,320 first year teacher who had been traveling classrooms. And that's really rough when you're 202 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:31,759 a first year teacher, like you want to have your own room. You're 203 00:14:31,759 --> 00:14:35,559 really excited to decorate and do things like that. And I felt really bad 204 00:14:35,639 --> 00:14:39,600 for them, and so what I did is I actually gave up my classroom 205 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:45,960 and I became the traveling teacher. I knew that doing this wouldn't be too 206 00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:48,720 tough, because I mean, I'm established, I can teach anywhere in any 207 00:14:48,759 --> 00:14:54,559 classroom, honestly, especially because we are mainly online. The kids have their 208 00:14:54,600 --> 00:14:56,320 iPads, so it wasn't that big of a deal to me. But I 209 00:14:56,320 --> 00:15:01,879 also knew that I would use this later on. And so then that new 210 00:15:01,919 --> 00:15:05,679 teacher took my classroom and was able to decorate and fill the bookshelves with books 211 00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:09,080 that they had acquired, and they really loved it, and they just got 212 00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:13,279 to be in one spot. And I traveled only for one year, and 213 00:15:13,320 --> 00:15:18,600 then the following year, a better and nicer classroom in a better area opened 214 00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:22,399 up. And because I had taken one for the team, your principal is 215 00:15:22,440 --> 00:15:26,759 more than happy to give that one to me. Now you may have done 216 00:15:26,799 --> 00:15:31,320 all of this relationship building and leveraging, but you know conflicts are going to 217 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:33,919 rise. You obviously can't avoid that in any workplace. And this is when 218 00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:37,919 you'll really see the power of politics come into play because you're going to see 219 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:43,919 different factions and it can get ugly. There'll be alliances, possible backstabbing, 220 00:15:45,279 --> 00:15:50,840 people throwing each other under the bus. It's like this huge episode of Survivor 221 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:54,679 or squid Games. In this case, if you were not directly involved, 222 00:15:54,720 --> 00:16:00,200 I encourage you, especially as a newer teacher, to stay neutral. You 223 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:04,200 are Switzerland. I would avoid taking sides as much as possible, Like, 224 00:16:04,519 --> 00:16:11,279 be supportive of your team, your allies, the people that you've created these 225 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:15,879 relationships with. But remember that as a newer teacher, you are being watched 226 00:16:15,919 --> 00:16:22,639 by the powers that be until you have tenure or some kind of seniority. 227 00:16:22,159 --> 00:16:26,720 If you're really vocal about the side that you pick, that could bite you 228 00:16:26,759 --> 00:16:29,639 in the butt later on. I mean, it sucks, but it could 229 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:33,480 be your job on the line. So yes, be emotionally supportive to the 230 00:16:33,559 --> 00:16:37,879 people that aren't in your team. But at the same time, I definitely 231 00:16:37,919 --> 00:16:42,960 wouldn't do anything that's going to make administration mad. In the end. School 232 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:47,759 politics suck and all we want to do is just focus on our students, 233 00:16:47,799 --> 00:16:51,279 and I get that. However, we also have to think about ourselves and 234 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:55,480 our well being, especially our mental and emotional wellbeing. A lot of that 235 00:16:55,759 --> 00:17:00,039 depends on things like our teaching assignment, our classroom, classroom resources, you 236 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:04,519 know what I mean, And to get the most ideal teaching environment for you. 237 00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:10,839 Understanding and leveraging school politics is really going to go a long way. 238 00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:12,960 I know you don't want to have to do this. It can feel gross 239 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:15,759 because you're like, I don't want to have to play the game. But 240 00:17:15,799 --> 00:17:19,000 the people who don't play the game and who just want to fly under the 241 00:17:19,119 --> 00:17:23,359 radar, they just kind of get whatever's left over. They get forgotten, 242 00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:27,680 they get passed over, they get pushed around. It's that teacher who might 243 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:33,960 get bumped to a different grade every single year because there haven't leveraged any relationships. 244 00:17:33,319 --> 00:17:37,440 You might think that the person who's the most vocal and who's the squeaky 245 00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:41,640 wheel and gets really indignant about it, gets what they want. But a 246 00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:45,559 lot of times it's the people who have taken the time to patiently work on 247 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:52,200 relationships that in the end are happiest. Then really get what serves them the 248 00:17:52,240 --> 00:17:56,640 best. And honestly, when we're happy, our students are happy too because 249 00:17:56,720 --> 00:18:00,000 they can feed off of our positive energy. But when you hate teaching assignment, 250 00:18:00,359 --> 00:18:04,440 you hate your classroom, you hate everything that's going on in your school, 251 00:18:04,720 --> 00:18:08,039 your kids feel that too and they react in a certain way. So 252 00:18:08,359 --> 00:18:12,319 while it made you feel gross to do all of this political stuff, in 253 00:18:12,359 --> 00:18:15,960 the end, it just helps you like teaching more and stay in the career. 254 00:18:17,240 --> 00:18:18,799 So remember, as a newer teacher or maybe just new to a school, 255 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:23,319 just be observant of your school's culture. Build relationships with your colleagues, 256 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:29,079 administrators, and even parents. These allies can help you advocate for your needs 257 00:18:29,079 --> 00:18:34,000 and your student success. Remember that professionalism and data driven requests go a really 258 00:18:34,039 --> 00:18:38,039 long way, and don't let politics distract you. Just keep your passion for 259 00:18:38,319 --> 00:18:41,960 teaching your students at the forefront of your mind. So I hope that this 260 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:48,160 was iOpening for you, especially as a newer teacher. It's something that you'll 261 00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:52,880 get over time, but I just wanted to give you a heads up so 262 00:18:52,039 --> 00:18:57,160 you can start building those relationships in your school. Big shout out to my 263 00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:03,359 Facebook group if you want to comment on anything in this particular episode, then 264 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:07,119 go ahead and join it. I have a link in the show notes and 265 00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:10,400 you can go over there and say hi and ask questions. You can also 266 00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:15,079 reach out to me and you can also just reach out to me at kimat 267 00:19:15,079 --> 00:19:18,039 teachersned teachers dot com. Thanks for hanging out with me today and I will 268 00:19:18,079 --> 00:19:19,279 see you next time.