The Power of Lighting Up For Your Students

I'm Brian Martin, 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. It was another great week. And it was a good week for some reflection. And I definitely took some time over the course of the week to really look at how things are going in the classroom. And I'm going to continue to do that over the weekend. Because that's how we grow right? taking that step back, looking at things that are going well, things that we need to improve upon, looking at ways that we can implement new things into our classroom, and taking a deep look and seeing areas that we're falling short. And it's not always the most enjoyable thing. It can make us self conscious, it can make us insecure. But it doesn't have to be that way. We're on this journey. And life is just one constant feedback loop. And whether it's in our professional life, our personal life, we learn, we grow, and we move on. But think about human nature and how society pushes back on learning from our mistakes. I connected with an awesome educator this week. And she said she had a discussion with some of her students to try and shift their mindset from not trying because they were afraid to fail, or they're afraid to get it wrong. And it was tough. And she's so right. Think about how many of us whether we want to admit it or not, may avoid things because we're afraid of failing, or how we might be perceived by others. That's why we need to have those conversations every single day. And they need to start at the youngest level. And they need to know that our relationship with failure is important that we should celebrate our mistakes just as much as we celebrate our successes, because it's all a part of the learning process. In my class, we start the day off with a little mantra, and I'm at second grade. So we call ourselves the superstar scholars. And the very first line of our mantra is, every single day, the superstar scholars make mistakes. And there's so much more to that mantra. But I want my students to have that seed planted in their head 180 times the first thing that we make mistakes, and that that's a good thing. And that was at the forefront of my mind this week. But creating and fostering and affirming the mindset that mistakes are a good thing is so important. But let's shift gears a little bit here. We talked about being on the lookout for those joyful moments. This week, I was on break, and I was doing some work in my desk. And the nurses office is right across from my room. And by the way, how amazing are the school nurses the load that they have to take on right now. It's unbelievable. And they're doing some amazing things. It was a nurses birthday, and my door was open. And I hear someone go into her office and say when you're not busy, we really need you to come to our room. And you could hear it a low urgency in the person's voice. So the mind starts thinking what must be going on. And the nurse steps out into the hallway in the voices of our class full of kindergarteners erupt in a course of happy birthday. And I sat on my desk and I smile and you could hear the joy in the nurses voice as she thanked the class. You see those small little things, even when they don't involve us, they can breathe fresh air into you. And they're happening all around us. So it's important that we're on the lookout for them. And a side note to this, think about the culture that that teacher of those kindergarten students is creating in the building. taking a few minutes to celebrate someone in the school, having her students help spread that joy. What that teaches them, it's powerful. Now today, we're gonna dive into some thoughts from Dr. Jody character. And if you don't know who she is, she's an absolutely amazing woman. She's a psychologist and author, a speaker. If you listen to her on interviews, you just feel her energy and passion. And I took a deep dive into Dr. Harrington's work this week. So I listened to a bunch of podcasts that she was on. And she's the real deal. And she was just dropping gem after gem and I'm going to share a few of these with you. And one of the biggest gems that she dropped was she talked about the light up factor, how you respond students when they first come into your presence. Now think about your own life. How does it feel when you walk up to someone and their face lights up? When they welcome you with a smile, you hear the joy in their voice when they speak to you? It feels good, right? Now think about the times that you come up to someone, and they treat you with indifference or worse. If they basically ignore you, if they act like they don't care that has an effect on you. It has an effect on our relationship with that individual. Now think about those students who you greet in your classroom? Do you greet them with a smile? Do you acknowledge them? Do you show them that they're seen heard and valued. And that doesn't just go for the students who we have a strong bandwidth, we need to light up for those quiet students, as well as those loud ones. We need to light up for the students that are high achievers, and those who haven't found their stride yet. We need to light up for those that we have a strong connection with, and those who we don't. Why? Because every champion matters, because relationships can be made. relationships can be broken in our initial reaction. And how many times is educators have we heard that one of the most important ways that will predict a student's success on a class is the relationship that they have with that teacher and their students. We're going to come to school, we're gonna come to your class, in your light up your enthusiasm to see them, maybe the only time that they see and feel someone being happy to see them throughout that entire day. And one thing that Dr. Carrington stresses is that relationships, no no hierarchy, that it doesn't matter what role we have in the school. If we have contact with a student, then we form a relationship positive or negative. And it doesn't matter if your teacher and administrator, a teaching assistant, the nurse, a secretary, a custodian, those relationships, no, no hierarchy. And all US can light up when we see those champions. All of us can fill those champions up. A second gem that Dr. Carrington referenced in almost every interview that she did was a quote from ROM das that says, we're just walking each other home. Such a beautiful quote, and Dr. Carrington goes on to talk about helping each other. She talks about when those students have emotionally lost it and have become dysregulated that we're there to help them and show them the path back to a regulated state. And that involves patience. It involves love, care, guidance, and that's why our team structure school is so important. every adult plays a role in this, showing those champions who are struggling in the path, equipping them with tools to handle those hard moments in guiding them along that journey is key. Is that easy? No. It's hard. But if we don't show them if we don't teach them these skills, Who will? And think about these champions? After they've come back to a regulated state? How do we welcome back those champions into our classroom? How do you make them feel? How do you let them know you still care about them, those champions can feel that. And another thing that we have to make sure we do is that we have to support each other as a staff as well. You know, we talked about so much about being there for the students, but we have to be there for each other. It's essential for all of us, that we have that support system that understands what happens within a school so that we can support each other, we need those people that we can laugh with, that will encourage us that will pick us up that will be there when we need it. And we need to be that for others as well. A third thing that Dr. Carrington talks about, is always be aware that kids can't give away anything they've never received. Think about that. Every student walks into your classroom, and they carry their own struggles and burdens. And we don't know what happens when they go home. And for some of these champions, they may not receive patients, they may have never seen what empathy looks like. And the world that they've grown up in may look completely different than the world that you grew up in. So we have to model empathy, we have to model love, we have to model patients for them, we have to show them what that looks like. We have to show them what forgiveness and compassion looks like. If our champions have never seen it. If they've never experienced it, then how are they supposed to be? If we keep that in the forefront of our minds, it can help us understand why we see some of the behaviors that we do. It can also be a reminder to us that we need to display and model those as well. Another thing that Dr. Carrington always talks about is teachers well being. And she says it's important that you remember how much you matter to so many, from your families, to your friends, to your colleagues, to your students, you mean so much to so many. And we can often forget that. When we're younger, we're reminded so often of how much we mean to others. But as we get older, we don't hear it as much. And sometimes we forget, you might forget how much you're loved. You might forget how much you bring to others, you might forget how much of a difference you make for some money. So it's important that you take some time and that you remind yourself that there are people around you that care about you know the value that you add to their lives. There are so many that feel fulfilled after they've connected with you. So take time daily, and remind yourself of this. Because when we feel loved when we feel valued, think about how much stronger is a person you feel. And the last gem that I'm going to share from Dr. Carrington has nothing to do with school. But if you get anything from today's podcast, I hope you hold on to this. And I hope you take it with you. And one of her interviews she references a quote from author Mitch Albom, and the quote goes, death is the end of a life, not the end of relationship. And how true is this? All of us at some point or another in our journeys, we're going to deal with the passing of a loved one. And it's important to remember that they're still there within you. They're there in the very fabric that makes you who you are. So always remember that. Always remember that death is the end of a life. It's not the end of a relationship. That's all I got for you today. Like I said, check the podcast list in the show notes and check out Dr. Jody Carrington. She's a real deal and you'll be happy that you did. Thank you for being here and supporting the podcast. I truly appreciate your time. The teaching champions community is all about supporting, encouraging and lifting each other up and if you think someone will benefit from this message, I truly appreciate it if you'd share it. Also, subscribing, leaving a review or rating the podcast helps reach more amazing educators. 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 pay attention to how you light up to those in your life. Make it a point to show them that you're happy to see them reflect and see how it strengthens those relationships. 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.