Celebrate, Create, and Play Inside the Classroom

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 the host of the teaching champions podcast. And I just want to say, thank you for being here. I appreciate you. This week, I want to share a few things with you. And it all stems from a few things I saw something that I read. And first, though, I want to talk about something that I heard this week. And it was a big week for us here in New York, because they drop the state mandate for maths. So on Wednesday, all of our students could show up without maths. And I'm sitting in my classroom on Tuesday, and the door was open, I was on break. And I was working on some papers. And I heard an adult walking down the hallway with this young lady. And they were talking about on how the following day that the students would no longer have to wear masks. And this young lady who was younger than my second grader, so she had to be a kindergartener, or a first grader in this beautiful, strong, little voice, she explained that she was still going to be wearing her maths that her mother wanted her to wear her mask. And she said, this was strength. She said this with love, with no hesitation whatsoever. And when I heard that, I lifted my head from my papers. And it really made me step back and think in that moment. And this, I want to start off by saying, isn't a debate about maths, it's not whatsoever. This is about a debate about stepping back, and being aware of what we give off to our students. Because I know there was a lot of students that were really excited to not have to wear masks anymore. But there were also some who were still going to show up. And it made me think about what message do I give off to those students who are going to show up. And maybe they're only going to be the only person inside that room that has that mask on. And it made me think about how courageous those students are going to have to be. In part of my class, we have a little mantra every single morning. And at the end of it, we always say together that we always accept we respect, and that we celebrate. Each and every single one of us in a school should be a place where we celebrate one another, a place where there's a lot of joy. And we got to make sure that we don't alienate that we don't make certain students, certain adults feel uncomfortable, like they don't belong. And this young lady, she reminded me that she reminded me that I have to be consciously aware that not everybody is going to line up with the majority. She made me be aware that I have to check my thinking, check the words that I use the energy I give off to different things. And right now it was maths, but there's always going to be something tomorrow is going to bring his own challenges and the next day is going to bring others and it's important that we make sure that all of our students feel accepted, feel respected, and feel celebrated. Just take time, step back. Think about what we're giving off. Think about whether or not any of our actions or words are alienating any of our students. And we would never do this consciously. But sometimes it ends up happening. So just auditing ourselves and checking ourselves because there's going to be times when a strong amazing champion is on the other side of the majority, where they're going to show up. And they might be the only one. And we got to make sure that they feel that acceptance, that they feel respected. And the day feels celebrated as well. Now let's talk about a few things that I saw this week, they were pretty awesome. And the one good thing about social media is, there's a lot of positive people out there, there's a lot of people doing some amazing things, things that we can take inspiration from. And I was flipping through Twitter this week, and I ran across two individuals that are absolutely crushing it. And they inspired me. And I'll leave their information in the show notes if you want to connect with them. And the first one was Melissa Hayes, and she's an amazing educator at the primary level. And as I was going through her Twitter feed, I saw something that absolutely captivated my attention. And it was all about how we choose to celebrate Mondays. And in her post, she had a picture of this poster that her students made for an individual in their building. Because for her, she celebrates a different staff member, every single Monday. And I thought, what an amazing idea, celebrating Mondays, bringing your students into this. And a few things that I love about this. Number one, it creates energy and excitement for the students when they roll in on Monday, knowing that they're going to celebrate an adult in their building. A second thing is just about that joy of celebrating others. And think about what that's teaching the students that we can find joy, that we can find fulfillment when we celebrate others. Another thing is think about that school culture. And what Mrs. Hayes is doing, to build up that school culture. Because when we celebrate others, we make that a joyous place to be, we make that a positive place to be and think about the ripple effect. Because as we celebrate one person, and then we put a smile on that person's face, and we filled them up with a little positive energy. What do we think that person's going to give off to others in the building? Just a fantastic way to start the Monday's off fantastic lessons for her students. Another educator that I came across, that is doing some great things, is a gentleman by the name of Brian Aikens. And he posted these three by five cards, and they were all laid out. And on the three by five cards. One half it said, Am gratitude. And on the other half pm wins. And they were all filled in. And he was talking about how great the past week was. And this is awesome. Because on our just a personal level, think about what he's doing to build the intention for the day starting the day off, filling out that gratitude, and then ending the day filling out those wins, the things that were accomplished, the things that we should be proud of, because how many times do we get to the end of the day, and we feel like we haven't done anything? Well, we forget the progress that we made. So by keeping track of it, and then by going over and looking back over, he can see the great things that he has done. And what I love is he says that he does this practice with his students as well. Teaching them from an early age, the importance of gratitude, the importance of daily thinking about the things that we've been blessed with in our life. But he's also teaching his students to keep track of their wins, to keep track of the things that they've accomplished. Making that progress visible for them, having them develop a routine, where they're focusing on what they're achieving daily. It's important, it's important that they see that and that's an act Every that our students should be doing. And that's an activity that we should be doing. So think about how we can be like Melissa, and Brian, what are ways that we can celebrate Mondays in our school? And what are some ways that we can make a gratitude practice and a practice of celebrating our wins available for our students as well. The last thing I want to talk about is a chapter from Elena Aguilar his book onward. And in this book, she's broken it up in the chapters for each month of the year. And this month was all about ways that we can build resilience through playing creativity. And she says that as adults, we can get bogged down with commitments to do stressors of daily life that we forget to play. And it's easy to forget to let our guard down and have that fun, to give ourselves permission to have that emotional release. And Dr. Stuart Brown, who studies play, he says is all around us. Yet it goes mostly unnoticed or unappreciated until it's missed. And it might seem surprising, until you consider everything that constitute play, play as art, plays, books, it's movies, music, comedy, it's flirting and daydreaming. And play is important, because it releases endorphins. It boosts our productivity and happiness. It fosters creativity. It strengthens relationships. So make some time to sing, to draw, to be around people who make you laugh, to take a bike ride, but no specific destination to walk through nature to find that joy. And Ilana Aguilar also says that we should create because there's so much inside of each and every single one of us. And often we let our fear hold us back. We let other people's opinions the fear of what they may think. hold us back. And Mrs. Aguilar encourages us to let go of those inhibitions to create things that we've been yearning to create, to release what we've had inside of us. Because when we explore creativity, we unlock new ideas. It breathes inspiration into our life. And we can take that into our classroom. Think about ways you can incorporate play into your day. Think about ways that you can allow your students to embrace their creativity, their uniqueness, how we can make the walls of our classroom, a place where it fuels creativity, a place where our students are celebrated. And last, Mrs. Aguilar references Angeles area, who's an archaeologist and Angeles said that in many traditional cultures, when a person is ill, they would go to healer. And a healer would ask them for question. When did you stop singing? When did you stop dancing? When did you stop sitting still? When did you stop telling your story? And my challenge for you this week, is to take some time and think about how can we create a classroom where we have celebrations. Create a classroom where we're thinking about gratitude, where we celebrate the wins? And how do we create a classroom where every student is seen, where we embrace that courage? And how do we make the walls of our class a place where our students can come, they can create, they can play and they can have fun. I also want to challenge you on a personal level. This week, make sure you take some time to sing. Make sure you take some time to dance. take that time to sit still. And take that time to keep telling your story. Thank you for being here for being part of the teaching champions community. I appreciate your time. And always remember the teaching champions community. We encourage we support we lift each other up. And if you think someone will benefit from this message, I'd appreciate it if you could share it with them. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast. So new episodes will show right up to you. And now 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 as we go on to this week, may you step into your strength, may you step into your shine, and let's build our champions up. Have a great week, everybody