Three Ways to Become a Better Educator

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. I finished up another good week at school, it was our second full week was really buckling down on all the classroom routines and procedures, getting the crew ready for the rest of the school year. And something pretty neat happened is I was walking in the school one day, my wife and I, we teach it the same building. And we had just gotten out of the car. And we were walking through the parking lot when a car pulls up next to us. And it's the father of one of the students that my wife had last year. And she had taught the remote classroom for her kindergarten students. And the gentleman rolls down his window. And he said, Mrs. Martin, I just want to thank you for everything that you did for my daughter last year, you made it so wonderful for it, my wife and I are just so appreciative of that. So thank you, this gentleman was so kind and so sincere in his praise, that his kindness filled me up. Now, when I see parents of students that I had last year, typically they roll up the windows and hit the gas. I'm just joking about that. But this gentleman's kindness was special. And I told her, you better hold on to that. And remember that each and every single one of us needs to hold on to those moments, those kind gestures, whether it's from the parents, of our students, from our colleagues, from our students, because what we do, it's not easy. And there are so many benefits and rewarding moments that we experience. But there's also a lot of tough moments when we're pushed. When frustration sets in. When we feel burnout. There's nights when we walk in tower homes, and it feels like you have 100 pounds on your back when you lay in bed. And you just stare up at the ceiling. Because you're worried about your students. This profession has all the fields. And that's why you have to be a collector of those good moments, those kind emails, those little gifts or notes that your students give you. And if you're at the elementary level is those cards and the drawings they give you. Or it might even be taking a mental snapshot of the special moments that happened throughout the day. Because you need to remind yourself of the joy that can be had and the difference that can be made in this profession. Because there's going to be those hard days. And you need those small reminders to help you get through those tough moments. So as we continue into the school year, collect those moments, be proud of them, hold on to them, and make sure that you revisit them from time to time. Before we get into the main subject of this podcast, I just want to share this thought with you. I was listening to Dr. Jody Carrington book kids these days. And Dr. Carrington had an awesome thought in it. And it's something that I have refer back to throughout the week. And she was talking about the students in our classrooms that demand a lot of our attention. She said, don't view those students as attention seeking, see them as connection seeking. And just that small change in perspective, it can change a whole lot and how you view that student and how we view our students, each and every single one of them. It matters and when I heard that, I just wanted to share it with you. So Let's get into it. Today I want to share with you some thoughts from someone who I consider to be the goat of speaking. And if you don't know what goat means, it's the greatest of all time. This gentleman is a legend. He has so many amazing insights. And his story is unreal. And he is someone who has faced a lot of adversity in his life. But he's overcome it. And he's impacted so many throughout the world, in his name to Les Brown. And he's a gentleman who had a young age was placed in special education. And he was labeled as mentally retarded. And he went beyond those labels, though. And he would go on to serve in the Ohio State Legislature. And eventually he moved in to speak today. He's known worldwide for his talks on human potential. Well, he tells the story of when he was a junior in high school. And he said that he went to a class looking for a friend. And as he walks in, the teacher sees him and he told him to go to the board and work out a problem unless said to the man, he said, Sir, I can't do that. I'm not one of your students. And the gentleman said, go up there and do it anyhow. And les said, everyone in the class started laughing. And they said, That's Leslie, he's di T. And the teacher said, What's DT? And all the students said, his brother's smart, but he's the dumb twin. And Les Brown respond. That's right, sir. I am. And he said, that teacher came from behind his desk, pointed at him and said, Don't you ever say that, again, someone's opinion of you doesn't have to become your reality. And Mr. Brown said, that was the beginning of a special relationship. And he said, he learned so many lessons from this gentleman. And he said, the three biggest that he learned was, number one, you have to change your mindset. You don't get in life, what you want, you get in life, what you are. Number two, practice, oh, q peak, only quality people. And number three, develop your communication skills. Once you open your mouth, you tell the world who you are. Now, let's unpack that, in the teaching world. The first lesson was, we don't get in life, what you want, you get in life, what you are. And that's the same for us. We're not necessarily the teacher, we want to be where the teacher that we are. And let me explain that for a second. And I'm only thinking about myself, when I say this, there's a teacher that I want to be that teacher that I envision I could be. And then there's that teacher that shows up. There are certain weaknesses, certain habits, certain tendencies that I have, that hold me back from being the educator that I want to be, and being honest about where we're at, and where we want to go. I don't think it's a bad thing. Shouldn't we all be striving to be a little bit better. And if you're listening to the podcast, you're passionate about education, and you believe in getting better. So having honest conversations with ourselves, about the educator, that we want to be in the educator that we are, is important, because it allows us to come up with a plan and goals to strive for. And just a side note, that goes for every area of life as well. We're not necessarily the friend, we want to be with a friend we are. We're not necessarily the husband or wife that we want to be with a spouse that we are. So being honest with yourself, auditing yourself. And at the same time, showing yourself a little grace, when you audit yourself isn't a good thing. It allows us to set goals for us to strive to be and understand we're always a work in progress. Now the second point was practice. Oh q, p. And France. This is a big one. Only quality people think right now. Who are the people that you're allowing to take space in your mind the people you serve. Surround yourself with should be lifting you up, filling you up with joy, challenging you, making you a better version of yourself and so much more. And whether we realize it or not, the people that we surround ourselves with, they affect us. And there's no greater time in education than right now to really focus on who we spend our time with. You know, every single school has something going on, there's great things that are happening in all of our schools. And there are things that can be improved upon. And both are easy to see. And the question is, where do you put your focus? Where's your energy going towards? Are the people that you're surrounding yourself with only seeing the negative? Are they using their words to focus on putting down school programs, on colleagues, or maybe even on their students? Or do they spend their time talking about what's going right? the good things that are happening all around the good things about their colleagues and speaking greatness, about their champions, take a little time and think about those conversations, and how they affect you. And I connected with an awesome educator this past week, and she said that she eats lunch with two other colleagues. And after they finish eating before they start the afternoon, they share three things that they're grateful for, so that they can help recenter themselves and remind themselves about the joy that there is in the day. Now, how awesome is this? These are some people that I want to be around. And imagine if your lunch crew took some time before starting the afternoon off, to reflect and appreciate just life in general. That is putting yourself in the right mindset for whatever the rest of the day brings. And you don't need a lunch crew to do this, you can do this on your own as well. You know, take a minute, do some deep breathing, focus on the blessings we have. You do this on the good days. And you do this. Even more importantly, on those tough days. It's good to recenter ourselves. Just a big shout out to that awesome educator for sharing that. And lesson number three is hone those communication skills. Because once we speak, the world knows who we are. And we could spend a lot of time on this one. But let's just zero in on how we speak to our students. Think about the words we speak to them. Because the words we speak, they have such power. And we're constantly planting seeds in our students mind. And this can be in a positive way, or in a negative way. And that's why I shared Dr. Jody characters quote earlier, where we can see those students who are attention seeking as connection seeking. Because how we view them affects how we speak to them. And sometimes those students who are seeking a lot of attention, they may not always get the best feedback. And I try to hold firm, and that we use our words, not to tell our students what they are. But to truly use our words to tell our students what they can become. It was the words from one teacher that truly changed les Brown's life. And in turn, he affected so many others. And the words that we speak into our students may not only affect their life, but also all the lives that are champions will go out there and touch. So every day, make those words count. Because when we speak, we let the world know who we are. And if you want some great motivation, just go to YouTube type in Les Brown. And like I said, in my mind, he's the goat of the speaking world. So it's definitely worth a listen to. I just want to thank you for being here for being part of the teaching champions community. We encourage we support we lift each other up, and I truly appreciate if you could share this podcast with other educators. The whole goal of this podcast is to continue to grow a community of individuals that finds joy in education, but also understands the importance of being there for one another of supporting one another in a village Lifting each other up and encouraging one another. If you could share this, I'd greatly appreciate it. 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 do a little reflection on the great moments that you've had as a teacher, take a walk down memory lane. If you collected things over the years, take a quick look back. You need to remind yourself of the impact and the difference that you've made, and look to collect more of those as the weeks go on, even if it's just a mental snapshot that you can hold on to, because those reminders are important. They're important on the good days, and they're invaluable on those difficult days. Keep being amazing, my friends, and as we go out into the week, may you step into your strength may step into your shine, and let's build our champions up. Have a great week, everybody.