A Marathon, a Student, and the Words We Speak

I'm Brian Martin, I'm a second grade teacher who find so much joy and fulfillment in what I do. Being in the classroom for almost 20 years, I know all about the time, effort and energy that you are continuously pouring into those you serve. That's why each week, I'm going to bring you an inspiring message to give you a little joy, and help fill your cup back up. Thank you for being here. And welcome to the teaching champions podcast. What's going on everybody, I hope this finds you striving and thriving and doing absolutely amazing. Today, I want to talk about a marathon a student in the words that we speak. Let's start off by talking about the marathon. I hit 40. And I decided that I wanted to run a marathon, cross it off the bucket list. So I put in all the training, race day comes, the race starts. And I absolutely crush it. At least the first 16 miles last 10. I was on that struggle bus. It wasn't pretty. But going one step at a time, I was able to finish and as miserable as those last 10 miles were, I have so many great memories from that experience. And one of my fondest memories was the people who are along the racecourse. They were amazing. And if you've never been to a marathon or never have run a marathon, then I suggest you do. Because the whole atmosphere is so supportive. The people there are kind, they're positive. Everybody's clapping and cheering for all the runners they're urging everybody on. And it's just such an awesome experience. And I'm going to come back to this in a minute. But let's talk about school for a second. Now, we all have areas that we're strong at. And it might be, you could be extremely strong at content instruction. You might be great at classroom management, or organization. And the one thing that I feel is my strong suit is my ability to connect with students and to form a bond with them to connect with them. And a few years ago, I had a young man in class. And from day one, we were definitely not seeing eye to eye. And each and every single day I would show up, try something new. And some days it would work. And some days it wouldn't. In the middle of the school year came. And we were still having our ups and downs, the end of the school year. And we were still had our struggles together. And to be honest, it still bothers me to this day, because that's a one student that will always stick out in my mind that I wasn't able to make a strong connection with. However, the one thing that I made sure of each and every single day is I always try my best to point out the areas that he excelled that to let him know his strengths. His shine has potential. I was wanting him to know that he was in a safe place that he was appreciated and loved. To be truthful. It wasn't easy. There were conversations that we had to come back and revisit. Because in the moment, I didn't phrase it the way I wish I would have. I didn't speak it in the tone that I wish I would have. But he needed to know about the greatness that was within him. And I share this in the story of my marathon together because the words that we speak and the words that we hear matter. You see, when I ran that marathon I mentioned the phenomenal people that were cheering all along the way. What I didn't mention was by the time I got to mile 21 I couldn't even acknowledge anyone. I had gotten sick a mile before I was having a hard time getting any water down. My legs were cramping. And I was in such a rough spot that I couldn't even look up because if I looked up saw how far I still had to go, it would have been too overwhelming. And I couldn't look at any of the people that were cheering for me, I couldn't look at the people that were handing out water. For me, it was just one foot in front of the other. looking directly in front of me, I probably look like the most miserable human being out there on the race course that day. But I heard all those people, their encouragement, their chairs, their compassion, their positivity that they were giving. And the one thing that I know is that if at any point along the way, someone would have shouted out that I couldn't do it. If they would have pointed out how bad I looked, or told me that I'd never finished, it would have crushed me, I would have given up right there, and then there would have been no way that I would have been able to finish. And our students, they're the same way. Their marathon though, it's a lot longer. It's a lot more draining and a lot more exhausting. And that young man that I mentioned, he's seen, and he's gone through things, and he's had to face things in his young life that I can't even begin to fathom. And in many ways, he has his head down, and he's just putting one foot in front of the other. And all the words of encouragement, all the words of praise. They were never really met with any gratitude. But he heard them. Maybe they help them keep putting one foot in front of the other. And your students hear you too. They hear your words. They hear your words of strength, of courage of caring, of love. knows, keep them moving. See our words, they can fill our students up, or it can break. So we want to be deliberate with our words, and be deliberate. When things are going great. And we need to be especially deliberate when things aren't going well. And understand, we're human. And then the moment we might not always say things we might not always phrase things the way we wish we would have. So no one we have to go back when we have to revisit a conversation. Because we always want to make sure that our champions hear what we truly want them to hear. Our words matter my friends. So make them count. They hear us, even if they don't acknowledge it, they hear us. So let's keep building them up. And I just want to say, thank you so much for your support. And for your time. Thank you for being part of this community. I appreciate you all so much. And please leave a review or rating, because it helps the podcast grow and helps more people see the podcast. And always remember, it doesn't matter whether they're from rural America to urban America, from Canada to Spain to Bahrain, we're on that same team. We're on that same mission. And we're always better together. My challenge for you this week, to pay attention to your words are the words that you speak to yourself. We're all running our own race, our own marathon. And there's going to be days when we're crushing it when we're moving right along. And there's going to be days when the best we can do is to stare down right at the road in front of us. And just keep putting one foot in front of the other. So show yourself some grace. Be Your biggest supporter, be the loudest voice the most positive voice in your head and show yourself some self love. All right. So keep being amazing everybody. And as we step out into this week, may you step into your strength, may you step into your shine, and let's build these champions up. Have a great week, everybody