The Ripple of a Kind Word | S1E14

In this closing episode, we explore how a single sentence from a teacher can echo for decades and quietly shape a student’s identity and future. Through two powerful visuals, a ripple on a calm lake and a three car train labeled past, present, and future, the conversation reveals how everyday language becomes evidence students use to decide who they are and what is possible. Personal stories and classroom truths show how labels shrink potential, while belief, grace, and intentional words expand it in lasting ways.

Listeners will gain practical insight into how to disconnect harmful narratives and replace them with new proof through specific praise, effort focused feedback, and language that separates behavior from identity. This episode honors educators as people who see hidden capacity and lead with love even when their work is misunderstood. If this message brought someone to mind, share it with them, subscribe to the show, leave a review, and reflect on this question. What words in your caboose are still shaping your steps today?

Step into growth and purpose! Discover my books and resources designed to help you lead, learn, and live with impact.

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//About

Cathy Tooley is the Founder & CEO of Tools for Success and a seasoned educator with over 40 years in K–12 classrooms and school leadership. From high school teacher to principal, Cathy has dedicated her life to supporting educators. In 2014, she launched Tools for Success to provide real, in-person instructional coaching—not just “PD in a box.” She’s the author of The Education System Is Broken, a national speaker, and a fierce advocate for teachers. Through this podcast, she’s spotlighting the ripple effect of great teaching.
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Transcript

Closing A Powerful Series

Cathy Tooley 0:00

I believe that. Most people cannot do what we do. They can't. They don't have it in them. And I don't mean disrespect to any other profession. I just know what it takes to do ours. Most people don't have what it takes to command a room like we do. But I want you to walk away from this series, understanding this. The ripple that you have is simply immeasurable. The difference you are

Gifts And Calling In Teaching

Cathy Tooley 0:28

making is unequatable. The love and confidence that you give students is simply unable to be rewarded. My Mercedes and Learjet, I have never bought. I don't have that house in the south of France. I do not walk into a restaurant and drop $25,000 and not think about it. I'll think about $25. But what I do have is this. I get to sit someday and look back at my life and know that hundreds of kids' lives are different. Because I was there. Because I was there. Just like you. Hi everybody, thanks for joining

The Lake Ripple Metaphor

Cathy Tooley 1:23

us again. Cathy Tooley. So we have been doing a series called The Ripple Effect of a Teacher, and we've come to a close. I'm this has been such a powerful series. I knew that it would be, not because of me, but because of the incredible educators that have been on this series with me. And I and I hope you've enjoyed it. I want to leave today with the words I really feel like the Lord pressed on my heart when I started them. I started this series grounded in Romans 12, 6 through 8, that says, we have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us. If it is your gift, if your gift is prophecy, then prophesy in accordance with your faith. If it is serving, then serve. And if it is in teaching, then teach. So I want to close it out by really talking about the ripple effect of teachers and what I meant when I very first started this, and what the Lord has so graciously allowed me to use my voice to give, and that is this. So I want you to, for just a second, close your eyes, and I want you to think about when you throw a rock into a lake. You know what I mean? Have you ever done that? And I don't care if it's a little

The Train: Past Present Future

Cathy Tooley 2:56

bitty rock or a great big boulder, and you watch the water make these ripples forever. The rock was right here. The rock was one place, one moment, one second, one hit. But the ripples can go hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of feet, depending on the calmness of the water. I'm sure there's science to that. Like what causes science teachers, you could probably use this as a lesson. What kind of ripple is created by what kind of dynamic of a rock? But whether it's a small ripple that only went on for, you know, 20, 40, 50 feet, or it's a ripple that went on for hundreds of feet, that's an educator. That's an educator. And I think we've been talking a lot during this series and off-camera about it's also so much as who we are as adults and humans, and parents, and wives, and husbands. The ripple effect of who we are impacts so many people around us. And as educators, the ripple effect of what you do every single day is simply immeasurable. So I want to leave you with a visual that I uh I use quite figured quite quite often. And it's a it's a train. I want you to think of a three-piece

Words That Shape Identity

Cathy Tooley 4:21

train with the head of the train here and the caboose of the train here and the middle of the train in the middle. In the front of the train is future, in the back of the train is past, and the middle of the train is present. So we have future, present, past, past, present, and future. The ripple effect creates this. Most of the things that most of us believe about ourselves today, we have evidence of in the caboose or the past of our lives. We've told stories on this show where I believed that I really believed that I was not a good math student in the present because I had countless teachers tell me, math probably isn't your strong suit, Kath. It's a good thing you're a language person. Um, I don't know that you should sort of pursue a career in math. I don't know that those teachers were necessarily intending to be mean, but what they were doing was filling my past that was impacting my present. Hence, I never pursued a career in the future that was in math. Do you see the ripple? Do you see the ripple effect? So, why I wanted to do this series and why I think it's so important for us as educators, as parents, as adults, as humans, to know is that our words have ripples. Our power and the way that we treat other

Choosing Lift Over Weight

Cathy Tooley 6:05

people and the way that we speak into other people and the things that we say about people are loading that caboose. It's loading them with words. Now we can load them with words that lift or words that drag that caboose down. But it will impact our present, ultimately creating an impact to our future. Thanks so much for joining the Tools for Success podcast. Every school faces challenges, things like disengage students, overwhelm teachers, and leaders stretched far too thin. At Tools for Success, we've been there too. Our team of licensed administrators and former teachers partner with schools to turn those challenges into growth. Through tailored professional development, we help teachers build confidence, leaders feel supported,

Pollyanna Or Evidence Of Hope

Cathy Tooley 6:59

and students thrive. Because at the end of the day, student success is what matters most. It starts with just one conversation. Schedule your complimentary consultation at toolsforsuccessindi.com. Now, back to our podcast. Many of my friends will tell you about me. I've heard it said all the time. Cathy's glass is so half full. Oh my goodness. She, I mean, you want to talk about glass half full. Um, even if it's raining, I will say things like, Well, we probably needed the rain, or the ducks are happy, or um, if it's storming, I used to tell my kids, oh, look, they're bowling up in heaven, or, you know, look, the lightning is now they're doing a light show up in heaven. And I know that I've been kind of teased or poked a lot in my life that um that I'm almost a poly Anna in the way that I see things. I don't think that's true. I think that my caboose has been filled in my life with words that have led me in my present to believe that my future is nothing but bright. I've been told things like from my father from as young as I can remember, you are limited to do only what you choose to be limited to do. You could be whatever you want to be. If you want to be the president of the United States, there may not have been a woman yet, but you could be the first. If you want to own a multi-million dollar company, your mom and I have never done that,

Hand-Selected To Teach

Cathy Tooley 8:20

but doesn't mean you can't. You are limited by only what you believe you are limited to do. And today, I'm sitting here in front of you as a common, normal, I'm no celebrity. Doing a podcast that I pray is bringing you some enlightenment and some teaching and some reflection as an educator or as a human. My caboose was filled with words like, you're beautiful and you're perfect, and you're right in God's eyes. I was taught the words from as young as I can remember that I was fearfully and wonderfully made, that I was hand sculpted. I remember hearing that he named and knows every hair on my head. A lot of hair. I remember the first time I heard Jesus prays for me. What? Jesus prays for me? That's what my caboose was filled with. So I live this life that I can do anything because when I look to the back, I have evidence that supports that it's true. That doesn't mean that I haven't fallen. That doesn't mean that I don't have negative things in my caboose. We used the math story teacher a few or a math teacher story a few minutes ago. Um I've been told lots of non-complimentary things to me. I used to get told all the time I talk too much. Let's take a moment while we're on a podcast and pause at the ultimate irony of that, shall we? Let's just pause at how ironic that is. Because what I want this series to be, what I pray this series to have been, what I know the Lord wanted this series to be for all of you listening is this. He hand selected teachers. I believe that. That is not a polygana

Love Grace And Forgiveness

Cathy Tooley 10:21

view. I believe that. Most people cannot do what we do. They can't. They don't have it in them. And I don't mean disrespect to any other profession. I just know what it takes to do ours. Most people don't have what it takes to command a room like we do. People look at us like, oh my gosh, I hear that all the time. Cathy, you command such a room. No educators command a room. That's just what we do. That's who we are in our DNA. Or not everyone can take that child who cannot learn, or the world says cannot learn, or society says can't be successful, and show them what success looked like, as you've heard some of my guests say. Not every person can walk in day after day after day, despite what the politicians, what Washington, and what the news media says we are, and still hold our head up high, put our chest out and say that's not true. I am hand-selected. Do you know that Jesus was a teacher? Now he was a carpenter, but Jesus taught. Every time he opened his mouth, he taught. And most of you watching this podcast who are educators teach every day. Some of you without even intentionally trying. You just open your mouth and teach. I just happen to be blessed enough to be in the right place at the right time with the right people that the Lord put in front of me that I get to now sit on the other side of a screen and teach you about being a teacher. But I want you to walk away from this series, understanding this. The ripple

Measuring Impact Beyond Classrooms

Cathy Tooley 12:20

that you have is simply immeasurable. The difference you are making is unequatable. The love and confidence that you give students is simply unable to be rewarded. The difference you're making in our world, not just your classroom, because remember that ripple? That student's going to leave your classroom. They're going to be a better husband, a better wife, a better friend, a better colleague, a better person, because of those words, those kind words that you put in that caboose that fed their present that now determines their future. So to anyone watching this podcast, and you think, well, Caddy, I got some words in that caboose that were not good. I didn't have a father like yours. I didn't necessarily experience teachers like yours. I didn't necessarily um have experiences in schools like you did. It wasn't a good experience for me. And the words that are in that caboose are not ones that would lift me into my future. Then here's my invitation to you. Ready? Disconnect it. Disconnect it. Disconnected. Because you are who you are, in front of a classroom, running a building, in whatever capacity you are in schools, or as a parent, or as a human, or as an as a being on this earth, put here to do one thing and one thing only. God said, Of all the things I give you, the greatest of these is love. Love one another as I have loved you. So my ripple effect prayer of this podcast is that you love those kids, even on the days when it's not real easy. And you know which kid I'm talking about. He just came to your mind. Let go, let it go for a minute. Ready? Let it go, let it go. That you love those

Share The Message Forward

Cathy Tooley 14:39

kids as he loves you. That you offer grace to those kids as he offers grace to you. That you forgive those kids, because they're kids, as he forgives you. That even no matter what kind words or words were put in that caboose of your train, that you look towards your future knowing that the words that he gave you is you are my teacher. I have hand selected you to teach my children. Not everyone gets that career. Not everyone is blessed enough to walk a day in that career, let alone, as you've seen from my guests, the multitudes, hundreds of years of experience that have come across these episodes. And that whether you're a brand new teacher and you're walking into your classroom for your very first time and you're thinking to yourself, what did I agree to, especially when you see your paycheck for the first time? Please don't look at it for a long time. Because my daddy used to say to me, When you make more money, you spend more money. And we were able to raise a family. Um, my Mercedes and Learjet, I have never bought. Um, I don't have that house in the south of France. I do not walk into a restaurant and drop $25,000 and not think about it. I think about $25. But what I do have is this. I get to sit someday and look back at my life and know that hundreds of kids' lives are different. Because I was there. Because I was there, just like you. How many people get to say that? How many people get to say that ripple effect that we have? How

Owning Your Origin Story

Cathy Tooley 16:39

many people get to look at the most successful person and know they have a teacher story? Thanks for listening to Tools for Success Podcast. What if one minute could change your day? A gentle walk, the new faith-based journal by our founder, Cathy Tooley, offers one prompt, one prayer, one small step closer to God. Start your gentle walk today. Learn more and get your copy by visiting Warren Publishing in the link below. Now back to the podcast. Look at the person that we admire the most, the one on the television and making the money and on the screen. And they had a teacher. They had a you. They had a you who, in their caboose, told them where they are today. Because they took what you said, they carried it into their present, and now it's created a future.

Stewarding Gifts In Service

Cathy Tooley 17:38

Because of you. How many people get to say that? Not many. Not many. So I want to thank you for whether you've watched one episode or all 15 or 16 of them. I don't remember how many there were, but all of them. My ask of you is this. I don't know. I said this when we very first started the episodes what the Lord intends to do with this. I don't know. I have no idea. Sometimes I think I know what's going on. And then he remembers that, you know, he's got that whole almighty thing and God thing, and we just don't know. And I don't like that. I want you to know I don't like that. But what I do know is this. I

Gratitude And Next Series Tease

Cathy Tooley 18:14

know that he wanted this podcast made. And he set these words the ripple effect of a teacher on my heart. And so I don't know who's watching this, why they're watching this, but what I do know is this. If you're watching this right now, or any of the episodes that you have watched in this series, I want you to think about that teacher, that administrator, that parent, that adult, that human that needs to hear this. And my ask is to share it with them. Not because of me, but because it may be just the person that we were supposed to tape that episode for. And because you shared it and you put it out there, it reached the intended audience. We've all seen in our lives, folks, the it's amazing when you get to stand back, especially when you're a little older or seasoned as I am, and you get to look back and look at how God moved things to put things to where you are now. And you realize that that started weeks, months, years ago, to be sitting in that moment right there, to be where you are in a classroom today. I told you the story. Mine started when I was as young as I can remember. Some of you it started after you'd been a mom for 10 years and you went back to school. Some of you it started when you'd been at a couple dead end jobs that you didn't like and you thought, I've always wanted to teach. Why don't I go teach? I don't know what your story is, but what I do know is you have one. I want you to sit back and think of the ripple that God had to create in your own story to get you in front of his children. And once you really get a hold of your own ripple, you really begin to understand the ripple that you're impacting with so many other students. So I want to leave you with the same verse that I started this with, and it's from Peter 410 that says each of you should use whatever gift you've received. Let me say that again. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace in various forms. Teaching is one of those forms. So I want to end by saying thanking you for watching or for listening to however you on whatever channels you're watching or listening this from. And thank you so much for making the difference that you do every day. God bless everybody.