Focus, Perspective, and a Reminder

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 I hope you're doing great. I'm enjoying a week of spring break right now, getting that nice r&r that we all need. And I was chuckling to myself, as I was thinking about the antidote for today's episode. And it was one of those moments that you look back on, you smile. And it also makes you have a deeper appreciation for the people that you work with. It was last day before spring break. And my students were coming out of phys ed. And I always asked the phys ed teacher, if you work the students heart, and my one little guy, he shouts out, I'm strong. I'm stronger than the gym teacher. And he looks at the gym teacher if he really meant business. Now this phys ed teachers are really solid athlete, I've competed with him and several triathlon sprints. And let me tell you, the only time that we see each other during the race is when we're at the starting line together, because he's always won the top finishers. He was gracious enough, though, to have a little fun in the moment. And he told the young man that they could have a sit up contest to five, they got on the ground, all the students gathered around them, and they started cranking the situps out 123 They were neck and neck for in the phys ed teacher hesitated a little bit. In my little champion got the fifth one, everybody around, started clapping and cheering. And my little Arnold Schwarzenegger jumped up. And he says, I told you, I told you, I was stronger than him. And he's are pacing back and forth, and puffing his chest out a little bit. Now, obviously, the self esteem lessons that we've been working on in class have been extremely successful. I'm pretty sure though, that I'm gonna have to circle back to the lessons on humility. This was a great moment, though, a great reminder that I work with some special individuals, you work with some special individuals. And we can get so caught up on the smallest of things that others do, little quirks that they might have. And that's what we end up seeing. That's what we end up focusing on. And that can cause us to miss out on some of the awesome things that our colleagues do. Be conscious of where you're putting your focus, it matters. And also let people know when they do good things. In that moment, I didn't give the phys ed teacher, his proper dip, as I was trying to corral all the youngsters, but I made sure to shoot him an email later to let him know what I saw to let him know that I appreciate him. Because people need to know. They need to know that the good things that they're doing is seen and appreciated. With being on spring break, it's also given me a chance to step back into breathe. And last week, Dr. Darren pepper talked about taking that balcony perspective, finding that time to zoom out and really look at the core things that are meaningful to taking that time to look taking that time to reflect on how you're doing in those areas, asking yourself what's going right. What's not going the way that I like, what do I need to do more of? And what do I need to do less of having this time to clear my head and do this without the pressure of the workweek has been unbelievably nice, because I don't know about you. But during the regular week, everything seems to be moving at such a fast pace. And there's moments where it seems like it is hard to keep the head above the water. So being able to have a few days to breathe, to relax and to look at things with a clear Your lens has been so nice. And for myself a few of the things that I've been looking at, obviously the academics, we have the core subjects reading, writing, math, how am I incorporating social studies and science into the day? I've also been looking at how can I incorporate more technology into the classroom? How can I strengthen that classroom culture? Because sometimes at this time of the year, the students have been around each other for so long, that it seems like there's starting to become little tiny cracks in that foundation of the classroom culture. So I'm thinking about ways that I can strengthen it. How can I reinforce those core values that are so important to our classroom? I've also been thinking about how can I gamify the classroom more and make it more engaging for the kids. And last, as we're slowly easing our way into the homestretch, I've been thinking about, what are some new things that I can try out in the classroom, different strategies, different techniques, different topics that I haven't done yet that maybe I want to experiment with, and see how they go. That being said, let me ask you, if you stepped out on that balcony today, and you look down at your class, what are some things that you would really be looking at? What are the key attributes that keep your classroom going, that you should audit? It's amazing what we can discover about ourselves, what we can discover about our classrooms. When we take that step back, we step out on that balcony, and we look at it from a different perspective. Now, outside of that, I don't have many new thoughts. This week, my district has been lucky enough to have two weeks off back to back. So I've batched all my podcasts together, before taking off for that second week, and letting my mind rest from school related things. With that being said, though, I want to share a story with you that I used on one of my earliest podcast, I heard it first by watching one of my favorite old school self improvement speakers, Dr. Wayne Dyer on YouTube. And it's just such a beautiful story. And it illustrates the power and the change in the difference that you make. And there is no better time than right now to remind yourself of everything that you do. This job that we have, there are tough moments, no doubt, there are stressful moments. Everybody is feeling a little burned out at this moment. But this job that we have is unbelievable. And it allows us the opportunity to leave an imprint and make that difference. And so many remember that when you hear this story. There's a story many years ago of an elementary teacher. Her name was Mrs. Thompson. And she stood in front of her fifth grade class on the very first day of school. And she told the children a lie. Lay most teachers she looked at her students and she said that she loved them all the same. But that was impossible, because they're in the front row slumped in the seat with a little boy named Teddy Stoddard. and Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before. And she noticed that he didn't play well with the other children. His clothes are messy, and he constantly needed a bath. And at times, Teddy could be unpleasant. And it got to a point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his paper with a broad red pen, and then putting a big F at the top of his papers. At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught. She was required to review each child's past records, and she put Teddy's off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise. Teddy's first grade teacher wrote Teddy's a bright child with a wonderful laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners. He's a joy to be around his second grade teacher row. Teddy's an excellent student and well liked by his classmates, but he's troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle. His third grade teacher wrote his mother's death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn't show much interest in him and his home life will soon affect him. If stumped steps aren't taken. Teddy's fourth grade teacher wrote, Teddy is withdrawn, and he doesn't show much interest in school. He doesn't have many friends, and sometimes he sleeps in class. By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for tatties. His present was clumsily wrapped in heavy brown paper that he had gotten from a grocery bag. And Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the others. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one quarter full of perfume. But she stifled the children's laughter when she explained how pretty the bracelet was putting it up and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day, just long enough to say, Mrs. Thompson. You smell just like my mom used to. After the children left, she cried for at least an hour. And that very day, she quit teaching, reading, writing and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach children, Mrs. Thompson pay particular attention to Teddy, and as she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. And by the end of the year, Teddy became one of the smartest children in class in this spider lie that she would love all the children the same. Teddy became one of her teacher's pet. A year later, she found a note under her door from Teddy, telling her that she was still the best teacher he had ever had in his whole life. Six years went by, before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school third in his class, and she was still the best teacher they had ever had in his whole life. Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things have been tough at times, he'd stayed in school and had stuck it out and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors, he assured Mrs. Thompson, that she was still the best and his favorite teacher that he had ever had in his whole life. Then four more years passed, and yet another letter came. This time, he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and his favorite teacher that he had ever had. But now, his name was a little longer. The letter was signed, Dr. Theodore Stoddard. The story doesn't end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said that he'd met this girl, and he was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago. And he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit in the place at the wedding, and that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom. Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what? She wore the bracelet, the one with the rhinestones that were missing. And she made sure that she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together. They hugged each other. And Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson's ears. Thank you, Mrs. Thompson, for believing in me. Thank you for making me feel important, and showing me that I can make a difference. And Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes whisper back. She said, Teddy. You have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I can make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met you. That story right there is so good. And there's so much truth to that. And when it talked about that Christmas Day, with those rhinestone bracelets in the perfume and sitting there in the school in her classroom, and the tears running down her face. That that was the moment that she decided that she was going to stop teaching math and reading and arithmetic. And she decided that she was going to start teaching children. That's huge. And that's what we all do. Because when You see them for who they are, when you see them for who they can be, when you invest in them, when you guide them, when you believe in them, when you show them, that you won't give up on them, you make that difference, my friends. My challenge for you this week is to breathe, just breathe. When this comes out, your spring break will more than likely be over. And you're gonna be easing in to that final stretch of school. And it's been a long haul, but you've done it. You and your students have come a long way. You've created moments of learning, you've created moments of connection, moments of joy moments that you and your students will never forget. You've done that. So brief, there's still work to be done. But before you know, you're going to be saying goodbye to your champions, enrolling into summer vacation. So breathe, and keep doing great things. Thank you for being here for being part of the teaching champions community. I appreciate you. And if you think anybody would benefit from this message, I'd appreciate it greatly. If you could share it with them. It's all about just trying to pick everybody up, put a little joy, remind people of the great things that are happening all around us. The teaching champions community, we encourage we support we lift each other up. 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. 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 let's build our champions up. Have a great week, everybody