Being Present, Community, and Finding Creative Sparks

What's going on everybody, I hope this finds you striving and thriving and doing absolutely amazing. My name is Brian Martin. I'm a second grade teacher and host of the teaching champions podcast. And today I'm going to try something new, a little experimentation, you might say. So they say that the average podcast listener typically listens to about seven different podcasts. And I'm a huge podcast fan, and listen to easily triple that number. And that was inspired by Brian carpenter. And if you don't know who Brian is, he's this amazing teacher out of Canada. He has his own podcast called Fresh air at five. And what he does is every morning, he takes a walk outside at five in the morning, he listens to a podcast, he reflects on it. And then he shares that learning through video and an audio recording, which he puts together into a podcast. And it's just such an awesome concept. He's learning, reflecting, he's then sharing that reflection with others. And through all of that he's lifting others up. And I thought this week, it would be a great time to share a few of the podcasts that are in my rotation, some lessons that I've learned, and hopefully expose you to a podcast that you might not be familiar with, because there's so many great voices out there. So definitely give these following podcasts a list. And since this is an episode that's motivated by Brian and his podcast, why don't we start with an episode from evolving with gratitude by Lanie Rao, in which Brian was a guest. And this episode came out on February 11. And Brian was talking about his one word for the year. And he said that his word for the year is presence, being present, being engaged, being focused, experiencing what's happening in the moment. And it's just such a great word. And it's something that probably every single one of us, could be a little bit better at. And when I was coaching basketball, we used to reference this by saying, beware your feeder. And we live in an age in a time where there's so much that has to get done, that there's a to do list that's never ending. We're always finishing up one thing and moving on to the next. We're trying to hit the standards and cover all the material inside our classrooms. And somewhere in the midst of all of this, we forget to be present. And we ended up missing out on some amazing moments. And you've all heard this quote before. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. But today is a gift. That's why they call it the president. And that's by Eleanor Roosevelt. In this week, remind yourself to really take that time and be present. Pay attention. Notice when your mind wanders, and then redirect it back to that current moment. Almost every single day. There's moments that when our head hits the pillow at night, we can look back, and we can smile about them. But we only have those moments, if we make sure that we're present for them. Another fantastic podcast that you might want to check out is aspire to lead by Josh stamper. And on February 5, he had Ashley Hubner on, and Ashley was actually on the teaching champions podcast episode 124. And she's truly such a wonderful person. And she was talking about her time as an instructional coach. And some of the things that you see when you step outside of your own classroom and actually talked about as an instructional coach, she had the opportunity to see people teach that before she never had the opportunity to see them work their magic, and she said she was just blown away by some of them. That there are some amazing teachers out there that have this amazing gift. And they've mastered this craft. But nobody knows about it. Because we get caught in our own silos. And these teachers, they might not recognize how truly great they are. And they don't go boasting about that to others. And it's not shared. And it's not seen unless you go see it. And how true is this, the very best PD that we could get more than likely could take place in your own school. Because there's great things happening in the classroom next to, there's great things happening in that classroom, across the hall from you. And then different grade levels, or content areas, there's great things taking place, it almost comes back to what Brian Carpenter was talking about when he mentioned about being present. Because we can learn so much from those around us. If we just take that time to listen, if we take that time to watch. If we take that time to just step back and be curious. And I work with some ladies that absolutely crush it. And anytime that I've had a question, and I've asked them, they've been so willing to help me out. And sometimes the very best ideas that I've gotten is from just walking around my building, and listening to the teaching that's taking place, seeing the projects that are on the walls and activities that others are doing. And I'll just say this, does it make us less of a teacher? If we go to others and show interest and curiosity about what they're doing? Or does it make us a better teacher, we're all doing some amazing things. And we can all learn from one another. But we have to get outside of our four walls of our own classrooms, and see what's taking place all around us. Another great podcast that you might want to check out is leaning into leadership by Dr. Dan Peppard. And recently he had Hal Bowman on as a guest, and how he travels around the country, training others and speaking to school districts. And Hal was talking about building up the culture and climate of the school. And he talked about that everyone in the school makes a difference, regardless of their job title. Because if you come into contact with a student, you have the opportunity to make a difference. And since it's a leadership podcast, he then went on to talk about how administrators really need to make measurement visible for their staff, that teachers need to see that the work that they're doing the effort, the long hours, the heart and soul that they put into it, that it matters. And administrators definitely set the tone. And they can have such an impact on our days. But I come with the mindset that it's a must, that I do this for myself, that within the walls of my classroom, that I'm making sure that I take the time to look back and see the growth that the students are making, that I have systems in place where I can see, the students that I'm working with are making those gains. Because you need those reminders. You need to remember that the school year, it's a marathon and not a sprint. And you need to remember that there's abs and flows to the year. And you need to have systems in place where it's visible to you. The progress is happening within your classroom. And I know I get caught up all the time, in class thinking of everything that needs to be accomplished, how much more the students need to learn the areas where we're falling short. But then I take that moment. And I listen to one of my young champions read. And instead of thinking about how far we still have to go, I think back to September, and what they sounded like at the beginning of the year, and listening to what they sound like now. And it's just such a beautiful thing. And that's what gets you hyped about Teach. And you need to take those moments for yourself. You need to take those moments. And you also need to share those moments with your students. Just show them evidence of how far they've come and what they've achieved. Because that's going to benefit you. And it's going to benefit them. And if we're lucky enough to have leadership that does this for you, then that's fantastic. But it might not always happen. But we can make that happen for ourselves. So take time this week, and reflect on how far your students have come. The next show I want to share with you, it comes from the teach better team in this is an amazing community that's doing some extraordinary things. And they provide a ton of professional development and support for their community members. And I actually had the opportunity to be on their Sunday weekly Warm Up series with Brad Hughes and Ray Hewitt. And this can be seen if you join their Facebook community, or if you go to their YouTube channel. And during this episode, we were talking about community and supporting one another. And Ray talked about how not every day is going to be a great day, that there's gonna be some really tough moments. And we need to acknowledge them. And as a community, we can be there to lean on one another, to encourage to support one another. And this is such a wonderful point. When you're in the people business, and you lead with heart, and you're constantly investing in others, it's critical that you surround yourself with others that are going to fill you up. You need those people that are going to be willing to listen, you need those people that you can go to and bounce ideas off of. You need those people who are going to make you laugh, or those people that are going to be there to give advice when you need to hear. And we have to be intentional about finding that community. Because sometimes people can have the opposite effect on us as well. And they can feed those negative emotions. So seek out those uplifters those inspires. And those encouragers. And the last podcast that I want to share is a podcast. That's not an educational podcast. And if you're a coach, this is definitely one that I would suggest for you. But there's also a lot in the conversations that take place on this show that educators can learn from as well. And the podcast is the coaching new podcast with Brendon sir. And his guest on the show was Bob Starkey. And both of these gentlemen they're high level basketball coaches, between the two of them. They've had coaching experience at the NBA level, high level Division One, they've coached players that have gone into the NBA and WNBA. And they've been doing this for a really long time. And one thing coaches preach is being a lifelong learner, that no matter how long they've been coaching the game, that they're always trying to learn something new. And one huge takeaway that I had from this episode was coach Starkey said that he learns more from football coaches than he does from basketball coaches, and Coach sir, agreed with them. And they talked about the importance of looking outside of your specific craft, and looking into other areas, whether it be sports, business, etc. And see what you can take away and bring back to your own space. And that's such a great point. We can learn things from everywhere we go. So keep your eyes open, ears peeled. And always know that we can learn from everyone and everywhere. And some they may be what not to do, and others and maybe a spark a thought in your head and what you could do. Now, hopefully you found some value in this hopefully, in IDMs stop. Or in the very least, maybe you found a new podcast to check out. There's a lot of amazing people out there that are just doing some amazing things. And I'm gonna leave a link to all these podcasts in the show notes in this week, Be Where Your Feet are at. Be present. Embrace the moment, take a spin around your school and see the things that your colleagues are doing. And take a moment to remind yourself and your students of how far they've come work on building that community. And look outside the world of education in get those creative sparks. Thank you for being here, for being part of the teaching champions community, we support we encourage we lift each other up. And if you think someone would benefit from this message, please pass it on. And always remember, doesn't matter if 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. Keep being amazing, my friends, and as you go out into the week, May you step into strength, may you step into your shine, and let's build our champions. Have a great weekend.