A Week of Joy, Imposter Syndrome, and Reflection

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 there's fine Jews striving and thriving and doing absolutely amazing. There's always something special in the air, the week leading up to winter break, a little buzz, a little excitement. The students are pretty fired up. And they turn up their energy a few notches as they are in full anticipation of what's to come. It's not just the students though, the adults in the building feel the same energy as well. And there's nothing like waking up on that last morning before break. You just have that little extra pep in your step in your walk in the school, and everyone is smiling. For us. It was pajama day. So everybody was decked out in their holiday pajamas. There were smiles all around. And several staff members had put together a coffee cart, and they were willing it around from classroom to classroom. There were teachers, they were gathered in small groups sharing a laugh, and decorations were hung on the walls to give it a festive feel. And then the bell rang, and holiday music came through the loudspeakers and the champions made their way to the classrooms. And it was just a great day. In my classroom, we made ornaments, we read the classics like The Polar Express and the Grinch. And my students, we went caroling into the main office and down to the cafeteria to the ladies that work so hard down there. And a colleague she dressed up as the Grinch. And she walked around the school spreading holiday cheer. And the students were doubling over laughing as she interacted with them. A phys ed teacher, he went around the school from room to room handing out a scooter to students that he purchased from his own money. And it was just a wonderful day. And I'm not gonna lie, that it felt good. When that final bell rang, at the end of the day, is that moment where you say goodbye to the students. And when the room is empty, you let out a big exhale, as you know, break is started. And obviously, every day can't be like this for many reasons. But our days can still be filled with joy. Our days can be filled with moments where we share a laugh with a colleague, where kind acts are happening all around, where laughter can fill the air. And in many ways they are, we just have to be intentional about looking for them. When we go into our schools and walk down the hallways, look for the joy that others are sharing. Listen to the learning that's taking place. Look for the smiles and the kind gestures that people are doing for one another. Notice what the students are doing right? Notice what our colleagues are doing right? We easily notice the things that we see them doing wrong. But make that conscious effort to see what they're doing right. See their strengths, see their shine, and imagine what it does our mental state, when we make that shift from focusing on what others are doing wrong to what they're doing right. Find appreciation for those little things. Maybe it's a small project that's hung on a wall, a hello from a student as they walk by, or maybe you see a colleague connecting with a student and lifting them up. There are very few days in our school year that are filled with the same buzz and excitement as the day before winter break. But there's joy in every day. There's laughter in every day. There's connection and learning and growing in our days. We just have to be conscious and intentional and being on the lookout for them and recognizing them. Now outside of enjoying the lead up to the break, I also had a moment of imposter syndrome this week, I've been blessed to be part of the road to awesome family. And on December 30, we're going to have a live event. And I'm going to be participating in a small part of it with four other individuals, where we're going to be talking about blogging and podcasting. Outside of seeing some of their social media posts. I didn't really know any of the individuals that I was going to be on with. And we met up on zoom this week, just so that we could introduce ourselves and build a little rapport before the event. And I'm not gonna lie. About an hour before we were meeting, imposter syndrome kicked in full throttle, my heart started beating a little faster, that anxiety was pumping through my veins. And my mind started speeding up. And it was just going all over the place. And this probably sounds extremely silly to you. But it's the truth that imposter syndrome was going full bore. Because honestly, I don't consider myself to be a great teacher. I'd say I'm perfectly average. I love the kids. And I show up for them every single day, and I pour everything I have into them. But I'm nothing out of the ordinary. And looking at the bios of these individuals. They're very distinguished. Many of them have prestigious awards. They have their doctorates, and they're just truly some rock stars. And I definitely felt a little unqualified, and I was getting inside my own hat. In about a half hour before we were to me, I knew I had to calm those nerves down. So I went upstairs, I turned on some music. And I was a teenager in the 90s. So I was brought up on some old school hip hop. So I put a little classic Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg on. And as I played it, I started doing some pull ups and some push ups. And then I paced back and forth. And I tried to play that conversation in my head, what I was gonna say, I thought about the possible topics that we might talk about, and how I could respond to them. I thought about questions that I would want to ask them. In about five minutes before we were going to meet up until I started focusing on my breathing, and taking deep breaths in through my nose and out through my mouth. And this really helped calm my nerves. I logged on, and these individuals were awesome. They were warm and friendly. They were extremely welcoming. And it was great to meet some new people. And I'm going to be real with you though. There was a moment where I was in my own head. And I was worried about how I was coming across to them. But I caught myself. And I made it a point to stop worrying about myself. Because that ego was talking. And I made a mindset shift, to look at this as an opportunity to connect, to learn and to grow from these people. When I came from that place, it was great. And I just have to say I can't wait to connect with these people. Again, this may have seemed very silly to you to get worked up over just meeting a group of people. But if you're ever gonna be in a situation where you're feeling that imposter syndrome start to creep up. Maybe there's something you can use from this, whether it's movement, listening to some music, visualizing the conversation beforehand, all those little things can help and remembering to keep our ego in check. And come from a place of curiosity, and look to connect and to grow. Hopefully these struggles can help you out. And the last topic that I want to touch upon today is three questions that we can ask ourselves while we're having this downtime over break. And reflection is one of the greatest ways that we can grow. I've always found that, yes, I reflect during the workweek. But there's so much going on. There's so much hustling and bustling, and there's mental fatigue. And it's really hard to do some deep reflection when the school weeks and full bore. And at some point over break. Maybe just take a few minutes and ponder these three questions. First, what is going good for you at school so far? What is work? Where are your successes coming from? Are there certain strategies, routines, activities? You're finding to be more successful than others. As you identify those, think about how you might be able to transfer over some of these into areas where you're not finding as much success. And this leads into the second question, what are the areas that you want to improve upon? I know for myself, when I started the school year, there were certain strategies and routines that I've done in the past that I don't see as being best practice anymore. And I was making a conscious effort at the beginning of the school year not to do this. But as we've gotten deeper and deeper into the school year, there's certain things that I've been seeing myself, do more and more of that need to go. And after this week, I'm making a conscious effort to once again use these strategies that are effective, less, and incorporate more of the best practices into my daily routine. And the final question to ponder is one that I got from Jay Shetty, his podcast. And he said, as we go into the new year, don't be goal setting. He said, We should be growth setting, being intentional about the areas in which you want to grow this year, creating a plan and working towards becoming a better version of yourself. And I know for me, my plan is to spend 10 to 15 minutes, five days a week taking a deeper dive into the science reading. There's a lot of best practices that I need to learn about, and incorporate them more into my day. So ask yourself, what do I need to grow at this year? We talked about a lot today on this podcast, from finding that joy in your day, being intentional, and looking out for it, acknowledging it, embracing it, celebrating it to some coping mechanisms that we can use when anxiety and imposter syndrome starts to run wild. And finally, we talk about some questions that we can ponder over this week to help us grow. And if you're available on Thursday, December 30, I would like to invite you to the pep rally leaning into leadership put on by the road awesome, is going to be live streamed on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, the event is free, and there's going to be some prizes given away. And you can register at rode to awesome dotnet. I'm going to leave the link in the show notes. It should be a great time. And I would love to meet up with you there. And thank you for being part of the teaching champions community, I appreciate you. This community supports and encourages and lifts each other up. And if you think someone will benefit from this message, I would be grateful if you could share, also giving the podcast a rating. And a review helps the podcast grow. And we're just trying to help as many educators as possible. And always remember, whether you're from rural America, to urban America, to Canada, to Spain to Bahrain, we're all on that same team. We're all on that same mission. And we're always better together. And my challenge for you this week, is to share your joy. We all have joy inside of us. And you have things that are unique to you. Things that you do that bring out the best in people, things that make others feel seen, make others feel heard, make others feel valued. You do things that bring laughter and happiness into our world. I have a colleague in my building that has a whiteboard outside of her classroom. And every day, she writes an inspirational message for her students and the colleagues to see. And I make sure that I walk by her classroom every single day just to see the message and it's out of my way, and it's something small, but you see, small things add up. And by doing this, my friend is spreading a little joy each and every single day with something small that you can do to spread a little joy each day. Keep being amazing, my friends, and as we go out into the week, May you step into your strength, may you step into your shine and build our champions up. Have a great week everybody