Overcoming The Aftermath of COVID-19 in Education with Anne Richter

Episode 027 — Overcoming the Aftermath of COVID-19 in Education with Anne Richter

 When COVID-19 disrupted classrooms, most people assumed school would eventually return to “normal.” But according to veteran teacher and education consultant Anne Richter, the real story is what happened after: rising student anxiety, weakened social skills, academic gaps, and a system still trying to catch up years later. In this episode of Overcoming Anything, host Anne Vryonides sits down with Anne to unpack what’s changed for students, teachers, and parents—and what it will take to truly recover.

 Anne Richter is a highly educated classroom teacher with multiple degrees from Columbia University and decades of experience in middle and high school education. She’s also the author of In Our Classrooms: A Veteran Teacher’s Guide to Taking Care of Your Students and Yourself, and the founder of InOurClassrooms.com, where she supports educators and districts through consulting, curriculum, and mentorship. Anne brings a grounded, compassionate perspective on post-COVID learning loss, device dependence, parent-teacher partnership, teacher burnout, and why “growth mindset” matters more than ever.

Key Takeaways
• Post-COVID “normal” doesn’t exist: student anxiety, social discomfort, and learning gaps are still showing up years later
• Parents can help more than they realize—by reducing devices, rebuilding curiosity, and creating low-pressure moments for real conversation
• Teachers are carrying new roles (mental/emotional triage + academics), and the future requires rigor, relationships, and healthy boundaries

Timestamps
• 00:00 — Introduction: the aftermath of COVID-19 in education (and why it’s still unfolding)
• 02:10 — Anne’s mantra: “It’s not what you were born with—it’s what you do with what you were born with”
• 05:10 — What changed most for students: anxiety, social cues, eye contact, and device dependence
• 09:20 — Academic impact: reading, writing, math levels—and why “catching up” is still happening
• 12:40 — What parents can do: curiosity-building, experiences, conversation, and device boundaries
• 16:10 — How to talk to teenagers: timing, low-pressure settings, and listening without reacting
• 20:15 — Conversation starters that actually work (beyond “How was your day?”)
• 23:20 — The portal problem: why micromanaging grades creates more pressure (and what to do instead)
• 27:10 — Teachers post-COVID: isolation, split classrooms, masked learning, and why many left the profession
• 32:10 — AI in school: the new challenge for learning, writing, and critical thinking
• 36:20 — School safety + social media: the pressure students are under now (and why it’s different than past generations)
• 41:30 — Moving forward: bringing back rigor, rebuilding connection, and restoring respect for the profession
• 46:10 — Anne’s reinvention: the five-year plan that led to a book + consulting businessfacebo
• 52:30 — Recommended book: Mindset by Carol Dweck (and the power of “YET”)

Connect with Anne Richter
• Anne’s website + consulting: https://inourclassrooms.com | Instagram | Facebook 

• In Our Classrooms: A Veteran Teacher’s Guide to Taking Care of Your Students and Yourself by Anne Richter https://a.co/d/06BQWiOr

Resources

• Mindset by Carol Dweck: https://a.co/d/0j743o0J

If this episode moved you, share it with someone who needs proof that it is never too late to rebuild a life, reclaim dignity, and make a meaningfu

Transcript

Speaker 0:00

Welcome to Overcoming Anything, the podcast where we dive deep into stories of resilience, transformation, and growth. I'm your host, Anne Vryonides, and today we have an incredible guest who's going to share insights. On overcoming the aftermath of COVID-19 and education. So joining me today is Ann Richter. She's a highly educated classroom teacher who holds multiple degrees from Columbia University and is very passionate about discussing the crisis and the impact of COVID-19 on both teachers and students. So welcome to the show, Anne.

Speaker 2 0:30

Thank you so much, Anne, for having me. It's a, it's all my pleasure.

Speaker 0:34

Aw, it's a pleasure to have you. So thank you. So before we dive in, I always love to ask, what's one quote or mantra that keeps you going during tough times?

Speaker 2 0:42

Yeah. The one that's my go-to is it's not what you were born with, it's what you do with what you were born with. Everybody's got something, I see it as a teacher. I, I see it as a mo as a parent. I see it as a daughter. I see it as a sister. And so everybody's got something. Sometimes you could see what somebody has. Most of the time you cannot, whether it's anxiety, whether it's. A learning disability, whether it's that you are great with math, but you hate math, whether it's. That you have some, maybe you're a culinary artist. And so it's not what you are given, it's what you do with what you're given. I, I've seen people who have been given everything possible, every opportunity, and they really don't take those opportunities. And I've seen people who have no opportunities. They make their own opportunities. And so I've always lived by that. Um, I've tried to instill that in my, in my own children. And every day in class I try to instill that with my students.

Speaker 1:38

So what is the secret to someone's success? Is it that grit that they have within them to create those opportunities based on their gift? Or what do you attribute their success or failure to, or not failure, but.

Speaker 2 1:52

I think it's a combination. I am a scientist at heart, DNA does play a role. I, I, you know, you science. So it does play a role. I think that. Your own motivation, your own determination your own ability to dream and be creative. Your own ability to use your imagination. Again, your own ability to be proactive in your own life. Your own ability to learn from when things don't actually go your way. And I think also the, your ability to think that. Everything can improve. You can get better at what you do. Nothing is really fixed in life. That tomorrow's a new day, there's a new chance, and that you have the power to make your life what you want it to be.

Speaker 2:39

Wow. I wish I had you as a teacher growing up because Oh, thank you. I would want to embody all of those characteristics. So your students are very lucky to have you. Yes. So let's dive into it. So what do you think has been the most challenging thing for teachers and students after COVID?

Speaker 2 2:55

Hmm. You know, it's funny because it. I think teachers and parents and administrators, and I think the world leaders thought that once COVID passed mm-hmm. Everything would go back to normal. There's no such thing as normal. We see a lot of the effects of COVID. There's so much anxiety among students now. There are so many emotional effects of COVID. There are, and then you add. Technology to that. So students have been, a, I'm gonna use the word addicted to their devices. So we see that personal relationships, social relationships are not what they used to be. We see that students are very uncomfortable even making eye to eye contact. Students cannot pick up on social socials anymore. And so those are some of the challenges that we face after COVID. A lot of their math and reading and writing levels are down after COVID. And so in a classroom, we're seeing the effects even five years out. Wow. And I know that you are, this podcast is called Overcoming, but even when you overcome something it's still with you somehow, whether positively or negatively.

Speaker 4:02

It's

Speaker 2 4:02

changed you somehow. Right. And so now in the classroom you know, teachers, we work with parents all of the time. So we are dealing with more social, emotional health issues, a lot of anxiety. We still have a lot of student absenteeism. We still have students who just can't really find their social niche in a school building. Combine that with academic. Rigor that was really thrown out of schools for a while and necessarily we're dealing with other issues. So there's a lot of catching up that we're doing now.

Speaker 4:32

Mm-hmm. So what do you think parents can do to help facilitate the catch up of this? Lack of skillset.

Speaker 2 4:37

Parents are partners with teachers. I teach middle and high school. My daughter teaches first grade.

Speaker 4:43

Oh.

Speaker 2 4:43

And, different, age groups require different things from parents. Somebody asked me the other day as a teacher, how do you instill. Motivation and curiosity and this inquisitiveness to learn. And I said, as the middle and high school teacher, a 17-year-old is sitting in front of me. They should have had that already. So I think that parents need to light that spark again. Taking their kids to museums, taking their kids to zoos, taking their kids to. Musical events, taking their kids, exposing their kids to absolutely everything. Putting down the devices, having conversations, talking about what's going on in the world, talking about how are you feeling, what can I do for you? Asking how their school day is. So I think parents really have to. Buy into this idea of education. And I think that parents, have so much on their plates right now that sometimes it's hard. Sometimes parents think, I'm sending my child off to school. That's the teacher's job. You know, our job is, my job is to teach them photosynthesis. But I need parents help. For them to be excited to learn about photosynthesis.

Speaker 5:51

Right. So since you're a high school teacher, so how do you, how would you suggest that parents really open up the doors, the conversation with teenagers?'cause typically it's hard to have a conversation with the teenager. Yeah. But now, without the, this lack of communication skills, social cues, putting the device down, what would you suggest to parents of high schoolers?

Speaker 2 6:10

I think parents have to meet their kids when their kids wanna be met.

Speaker 6:15

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 6:15

So again, so many parents are working full-time, they come home. Sometimes families aren't even eating together. I think it's important that, parents set certain boundaries. Even one night a week, no devices at the table. And even if we bring in a pizza, we're all eating at the dinner table at the same time. And it doesn't have to be in the house. A lot of the times students, even with us teachers, they freeze up when they know we're digging, yeah. Ask your child, let's go take a walk. Let's come with me to walk the dog. Help me fold the laundry. Let's watch this movie together. Let's watch a video together. And so if it's in a more relaxed environment, I think students, young people are more. Apt to open up to their parents. Again, that begins in the early stages. It can't just happen when this, when, you know, when the daughter is hitting 17 and everything is just exploding around her. And so these relationships have to form very early on. Parents have to be proactive. Parents have to. Listen to their kids.

Speaker 7:12

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 7:12

And not always react to what their children are saying. Teachers we're good at that. Parents not so much. And I speak both as a teacher and as a parent. You have to be able to hear what your kid is going through and understand it because, my daughter, like I said, is in her early thirties. The experiences that kids are having today is nothing like my daughter had. My son is, is really only 27. The experiences that, you know, kids graduating high school now, nothing like my son experienced. And so every generation has their own issues and parents have to be open to sometimes just being that sounding board, just being that listening device for them. Because they have to build, that sense of trust. A student's not gonna open up to their parent if they think, the parent's just gonna fly off the handle. And so parents have to sometimes just sit and listen and, they could strategize in their own heads what the plan is here.

Speaker 8:08

Mm-hmm. But

Speaker 2 8:09

most of the times, young people like, like grownups, we just want somebody to listen. Sometimes, you're. Your child isn't expecting you to do anything about the situation. They just want a safe environment where they can tell somebody what's going on.

Speaker 8:24

And so do you have any suggestion conversation openers for parents to help facilitate these conversations?

Speaker 2 8:31

How was your day is very general. They should be general statements. How was your day? What's the best thing that happened to you today? What's the one thing you really don't wanna even talk about tonight with me? What do you think was most successful today? What is something that happened that you might like a do over? Is there anything that you are thinking of? Asking friends to do, how was your geometry test today? How are the tryouts for cheerleading? Just pretty much basic open questions. What's going well, what's not going well. Parents are pretty good at reading their own kids. Yeah. What I would suggest though is don't ask. The second they get into the door, don't ask the second they climb into the car, kids need time to wind down to digest what's happening during the day. Just as much as grownups do. And sometimes they need that space between school and home. You know, kids stay in school a lot longer than we did in my own school district. We have office hours, we have clubs, we have all kinds. Practices, you know, we have games. Our high school students go down and they work with our elementary school students so our students can be in our building by seven 15 in the morning, and they might be leaving our building by 5, 5 15. So they've had a long day in that building. And so just give them a little time, just to rest and relax and. And let them, especially in high school, start to make decisions that affect them. For example there's a lot more that's required of students. All of our students take advanced placement courses, here in New York. They get college credit for that, and kids don't wanna hear the minute they walk in, the mom or the dad or the grandma saying, go, you better get that essay done'cause I know it's due tomorrow. So let them make their own decisions. The other thing. In our district, and in most districts, parents can see in real time exactly what is happening in school. Every assignment is posted in a computer. Every parent has access to that. Every parent gets the, the ding when the teacher inputted the grades. Every teach, every parent knows when the, a push exam is. And so whereas. Stu, when I was in school, and even with my own kids, like I think I knew my, my, my own kids' teacher's names, but I, I wasn't able to follow their schedule and see what was due and see their grade sometimes before they even saw their grade because I had access to the phone. And so it's important that parents let. Their own, semi adult children start to make their own decisions. And if they don't get the a push essay in on time, that's a different discussion. There's never anything wrong with letting a student get not such a good grade you hear helicopter parents, lawn mower, parents, parents want their kids to succeed. They want them to be the best that they can be. There's something to be said for failing every once in a while. Because in a year or two they're gonna be going off to college and we hope the parents are not going to be those same helicopter or lawnmower parents. So kids really have to start to take their own initiative in, getting their assignments done, scheduling for their assignments, organizing their day, organizing their week to make sure that all of their responsibilities are done.

Speaker 11:41

So do you think it's better to not micromanage on a day by day basis and then just check the online grades like once a week? So you're abreast of what's going on, but you're not like totally on top of them. Is that what you would suggest?

Speaker 2 11:54

Yes, absolutely. As teachers, we have access so we can see how many times the student checks their portals and how many times their parents check their portals and for how long. And I have seen that some parents check their children's portal every hour on the hour and no. Yeah. And that's not healthy either, And so give them a little space. Check the portal once a week. You can ask your son or daughter, what assignment are you working on? There's, I am a advocate for, like the family room for homework. When my own children were young, they were doing their homework, I was doing my homework. Or, my kids did their homework at the dining room table. I would be washing the dishes., You don't wanna isolate them. You wanna make it somewhat enjoyable and fun, so you wanna stay close by. But no, micromanaging creates a whole other host of issues. It puts tremendous pressure on students. And students have enough tremendous pressure nowadays.

Speaker 12:52

So how has COVID impacted teachers?'cause we talked about students. What's the impact on teachers and their way of doing things?

Speaker 2 13:00

Yeah. When COVID first hit and we were out from that initial March to June, we thought that was really bad. We were sent home. If you were lucky enough, you had a device. Every student had a device, and pretty much within a few days we were. Teaching them through the computer. When we came back the following year, most school districts were on a split schedule. So you had half of the students in front of you live, you had the other half on your computer, still the students were behind plexiglass partitions. Everyone was masked. Schedules were staggered. Students ate in the c in the gym rather 10 feet apart in chairs. Teachers were not allowed to congregate. We were very isolated. Some student, some teachers just up and left in that moment of time. So the year after the initial. Lockdown was much harder than the first few months.

Speaker 13:52

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 13:52

There are still students who teachers only know by their eyes because they were completely masked for an entire year.

Speaker 14:00

Wow.

Speaker 2 14:00

And so that was very, very, very difficult. In addition, we segued from teaching live and in person. Using paper, using notebooks to computer based. Learning. So again, every student has a device. And so a lot of what we do now is really through computers. And, the veteran teachers didn't understand it, didn't wanna understand it, didn't think it was the best way for students to learn. And so a lot of those teachers actually retired. In fact, statistics show that, the past few years, more teachers have left the profession not for retirement, but for other reasons. Combine that with teachers who now had to triage for social, emotional, mental issues. Like I said, anxiety among students. Was and still is rampant. And sometimes teachers view their role as just to teach photosynthesis or just to teach the quadratic equations. They don't see us as taking care of the whole child. And so that's another change in education. And if teachers are not comfortable with that they're not staying in education. So those were some of the issues. We have very, now very young teachers who have a totally different mindset as to what a teacher is. Forget about taking care of the whole child. Young teachers tend to think that. Students are their friends and they're buddies and and some classrooms are a much more relaxed environment and that's not that great for students either, so young teachers are having a lot of difficulty with classroom management, classroom behaviors of students parental communication. The veteran teachers are dealing with certain. Issues. And the young teachers and the new teachers are dealing with other sorts of issues.

Speaker 15:37

So what do we do moving forward?

Speaker 2 15:39

Yeah. What do we do moving forward? That's a very good question.

Speaker 15:42

Maybe it's a broad question, so you can just take any angle you want.

Speaker 2 15:46

It's a really good question. I think a couple of things have to happen. One, academic rigor must come back. It's back to a certain extent, but it's not back all the way. Our kids are only as successful as as what they're mastering really.

Speaker 16:00

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 16:00

And so we need to make sure that our young people can read at least on grade level, can do basic math, can do more complicated math and so. C can write cohesive essays, can write letters can actually physically write. And so those sorts of academic standards must come back. And that starts in the early grades.

Speaker 16:22

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 16:22

Some states, like New York, our governor has put into practice that there are no devices anymore in schools, personal devices. So cell phones are locked away all day. That's great. And actually our students are doing very well with that. At lunchtime the kids used to be sitting out on the field, heads down on their devices. And now we see the kids are speaking again, talking again, doing exercise outside. So that's great. So academic rigor, less reliance on devices. Parents have to understand that academic rigor is back. Kids need to come to school. They need to come to school on time. They need to be prepared. And that if there's an issue with that, parents and teachers have to work together, to make sure that their child is being the best that they can be. From the teacher's point of view. Teachers, all teachers need to understand that we now treat the entire child, the whole child. Because if the child is not, if the child is too anxious, if the child is not connecting with the teacher, the child is not going to get anything out of that lesson. And it's true that we do triage. I greet my students outside the door every period, and I see 150 students every day. So that's a big workload. And I can tell if a student is. Is good to go or not so good to go. And I take care of that right in that moment. I let everybody else in and I just keep them outside for a minute. Is everything good? Did you have breakfast? Did you have lunch? Did you have a fight with mom on the way to school? Yes I did. You know what? Why don't you go down and talk to the guidance counselor for five minutes? So we do treat the whole child. We need to be connected to our students. We need to go, teachers have to go to their sports games. We need to go to their shows. We need to go to their debate meets. They need to see that we are vested in them so that they can be invested in us and so they can be invested in the content area. Young teachers have to really have mentors of veteran teachers. You can't teach if you have no classroom management. We have connections to students, but we're not their friends. I know that might sound very strange,

Speaker 18:27

but No, it doesn't. It makes sense. No, it,

Speaker 2 18:29

yes. And so I think there's a little bit of improvement in. All different areas, you know? In most states, there's a state education department. They tell teachers what to teach. It's not up to us. I think that teachers need to be celebrated. We were celebrated during COVID. Up. We really were, we showed up. Now we're not really celebrated that much anymore. I think the general public thinks that, Ms. Richter just walks into a classroom and decides to teach whatever she wants about science on that given day. And that is not, how it works. And I think the profession of teaching has to gain a little luster back. Valid point, teachers, used to be very respected and now not so much. And so I, again, I think it's a little bit of everything.

Speaker 19:09

And what do you think has been the big impact on, students in terms of AI and then also school safety? Because if we look at the past 10 years, you have the onset of ai, you have like school shootings, which you and I didn't grow up with, and then you had COVID in there. So like you said, there's anxiety, there's all this stuff.

Speaker 2 19:30

Yeah. I. Technology is great. Technology has so many advances, but technology has a lot of disadvantages too. Technology has allowed people to give technology has allowed people's voices to be heard, right? And in many positive ways, but in some very negative ways. And so the rise of technology you see the rise of school shootings, and I will tell you that we, in, in my school, we train for school shootings. We have protocols. And protocols are constantly changing. If a fire alarm goes off and the students first look to us. And,'cause we know when it's a planned, fire drill. And if they see in our eyes, that's not a planned fire drill. They become panicked as do we. Because we've learned in our school shooting trainings that sometimes fire drills have something to do with school shootings.

Speaker 20:20

Right.

Speaker 2 20:21

That is pervasive. It hangs over us every single day. Something has to be done about that. In terms of ai, so high school students use AI now in my experience in our school, a lot of our high school English teachers have difficulty because the AI is doing the student's work. They're using AI instead of them themselves writing their essays. I try to make the point that researching is not, going into Google and using that very first top, AI recommendation there. Ai. And so as a teacher, we had a faculty meeting yesterday and there were different AI companies that came to. Plead their product, so to speak. So again there's good in technology and not so good in technology. AI is here to stay. It's not going anywhere. Technology is here to stay, I think, in the future, just like cell phone usage. I think in the future we will look back and we'll say. Maybe AI took some of the rigor away from students again. And so teachers have to be very adep at being able to see what the student is producing and what AI is producing.

Speaker 21:25

So what do you wish that parents knew about? Say, for example, high school students today, what do you wish parents knew and what would you suggest in terms of how they could be better parents to high schoolers?

Speaker 2 21:37

It's hard to be a high school student today. They're under enormous pressure. Social media has created an environment where nobody feels that they are good enough.

Speaker 21:49

Oh,

Speaker 2 21:50

felt that, yeah, whether it's physical beauty, whether it's a, athletic prowess, whether it's mental acuity social media has done great harm to our nation's youth, definitely high school students. And that's a big issue. And. And we see the changes in young people. I've never seen so many, younger students getting their hair done and dyed and even cosmetic procedures, which is just bizarre to me. Yes. Bizarre to me. And then you have to realize that. Parents have to sign off on cosmetic procedures. And so the parents tie into that. And then of course, you have the medical profession that's doing these medical procedures on 16 year olds. So that's a tremendous issue. So for parents to understand that social media is driving that, and so figure out a way to really decrease social media. In your kid's life, so that's one of the issues. The other issue is that everything now is up 22 notches, to get into a college, it's so much more competitive when you get to college. It amazes me, we have a teacher whose daughter is going off to co so she's choosing a college now, and she'll be going off in September. And now, they have to hire a dorm decorator. A dorm decorator. They go in and they decorate the girls' dorms. Wow. So that's a whole other level. They have dorm parties where it's like a bridal shower, but you. You bring all your girlfriends over to, to show them what you're putting in your dorm. Everything is just up a notch. Pro we have prompt proposals. That's a whole other, and I wanna say that so much has just gotten out of hand, but this just puts more and more pressure. On our high school students. And I'm saying, and I think that the guys feel it really just as much as the girls feel it the pressure on them. And we're not even talking about like academic or scholastics or what they wanna achieve in life. It is just so much harder to be a young person today. And so I think parents have to give their kids a little leeway with that. Definitely try your very best to figure out ways with your own child really how to cut down on social media, put the devices away at the very least. The teachers in my building, we tell our girls all the time, you understand people don't actually look like that. You know that there are filters on social media and

Speaker 24:09

Right.

Speaker 2 24:10

They don't look like that. But the girl, young people today, they believe what they see, and so it's doing so much damage, just so much incredible damage to young people who are wonderful and perfect in their own bodies and in their own minds. And, it goes back to my quote. Everybody's got something.

Speaker 24:29

Yes. And

Speaker 2 24:29

These young people, they don't think that, I don't know Sabrina Carpenter has anything because to her, to them, she's perfect. But they do have things and they're touched up and they're, everything has a filter on it. And so it's just so hard for young people today. So I think parents and teachers really have to work together to, to really, dampen that, that whole social media craze that, that young people are just so caught up in.

Speaker 24:54

Yeah, I agree a hundred percent. So what life lessons did you learn going through COVID and like these new. Challenges in teaching the past few years?

Speaker 2 25:03

Well, when I came back that following year, I thought I had it. By then I had been teaching for 30 years. I said, I can't handle this. I can't handle this. And so I slowly, I literally emptied my entire classroom of. Of all my files, all my curriculum, of everything. And it took me a long time to really sit and plan out my next five years. And I took walks and I love the beach and I love my mindfulness exercises. And I, I actually mapped out a five year plan. I said, what have I been doing for the past 30 years?

Speaker 25:35

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 25:36

What do I wanna keep? And then what might I wanna do in the future? And I realized, one, I wanted to write a book about my teaching experiences. Two, I wanted to be a resource for new and veteran teachers and I wanted to start my own consulting business.

Speaker 25:50

Wow. And

Speaker 2 25:51

Yeah. Yeah, it's been a busy five years. I did a lot of research, a lot of research. I researched authors. I friended authors on Facebook. I went to every author event in my community here just to listen to them and listened to the process and listen to how they got books published. I did a lot of research on. Educational consulting firms. I did a lot of research on how to form my own LLC. And at the start of COVID, I actually started to journal, because that's one of my mindful practices, Uhhuh and I realized after a year of journaling, I said, I think I have a book here.

Speaker 26:25

Wow.

Speaker 2 26:26

The soul, I did not tell, not even my children. My son, who was a senior in college, he came home he missed his graduation because his college graduation because of COVID. And I would lock myself in my room and he would always wonder, what is she doing in there? And I was taking my journal and turning it into a manuscript.

Speaker 26:42

Oh, I love it. A year,

Speaker 2 26:43

it took a year for me to turn my journal into a manuscript. And then I said to my kids, I wrote a manuscript and they were so excited for me.

Speaker 26:51

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 26:51

Then I started to find, I tried to find a, an agent. Nobody would touch me because I'm a nobody. I'm a nobody. And then I just started to send the manuscript to publishing companies.

Speaker 27:02

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 27:02

And, actually the first agent I sent my manuscript to said I, I would not. Your work of nonfiction memoir, self-help is not what I deal with. But don't stop until that book is published because you do Oh, I love it. A voice. You have a voice.

Speaker 27:17

Yeah.

Speaker 2 27:18

I like your process and I like your voice so. Then publishing people started sending me names of people in other publishing houses.

Speaker 27:26

Ah, that's great.

Speaker 2 27:27

So got an inn and then I finally found my publisher and we published the book. So, you know, you can check that off. I did start my own consulting business, so you can check that off. So it's been a very, very, very exciting five years. I'm still teaching. I expect to teach for another five years or so. But I know that in my future I'll still be consulting, I'll still be writing curriculum for districts. So the lesson that I learned was it's always good to reevaluate where you are. And usually crises spur you to do that. Yes. Some teachers just left the profession and I'm not quite sure what they do now, but I didn't wanna leave the profession. I love what I do. I love being with children. I love writing curriculum, I love mentoring other teachers, but I needed to find a different outlet for it. And so again, I did the research. I made my five year plan. And I look at my book and I'm simply amazed, I'm on podcasts and I'm simply amazed. And it's just, it's been a really cool journey for me. It's been such a cool journey for me.

Speaker 28:29

I love it. I love your evolution and your commitment to keep going. Like you're like, I still have more juice left in the tank. Like I've got more things to accomplish. And I

Speaker 2 28:39

do. I definitely do. I love

Speaker 28:40

that. I always like to ask, is there a book other than your own that helped you on your journey that you can recommend to our listeners? Yeah.

Speaker 2 28:46

Um, it, it's used extensively in education, but the book is actually called Mindset and it's by Carol Dweck. And it does tie into my, my, my mantra really of, it's not what you're born with, it's what you do with what you're born with. I have, in my classroom, I have an eight foot word yet. YET. And when the kids say to me, Ms. Richter, I don't know what I'm doing with this microscope. I say, you don't know what you're doing with it yet. Because, a growth mindset is that acknowledgement that you can get better, you can learn new skills, you can go on a new pathway. You're not restricted really by anything. And this idea of mindset, you are in charge of your own mindset. Nobody else can tell you that you can't do it, that you're not good enough, that you're not smart enough, that you're not bright enough, that you're not pretty enough, that nobody can tell you that. And so Carol Dweck walks you through this fixed mindset. And specific strategies on how to change your fixed mindset into this growth mindset. And I think everybody can benefit by that, whether you're 13, whether you're 75 years old.

Speaker 29:51

I love that. I actually have that book. I haven't read it yet, but I'm gonna pull it off the shelf. Oh God, you inspired me to do so. Oh my

Speaker 2 29:57

god, it's such a wonderful it. It's such a wonderful book, and I think everybody should have that on their books self.

Speaker 30:03

I love it. This has been such an enlightening conversation. So where can people follow you? What's the name of your book? Where can they find your book? Great. And where can they learn more about what you do and your consulting services?

Speaker 2 30:14

Great. So the name of my book is In Our Classrooms, A Veteran Teacher's Guide to Taking Care of Your Students and Yourself. You can purchase it anywhere. Books are sold. Any bookstore online, Amazon online. I'm on Instagram and on Facebook in our classrooms. And in our classrooms, dot com ties directly to my consulting business. So I say check it out. It doesn't just apply to teachers. I think there are a lot of life lessons there that's for everybody and parents and students and teachers alike.

Speaker 30:43

I love it. Thank you for your great advice. We will link all that down below in show notes

Speaker 2 30:48

and I

Speaker 30:48

appreciate your time and if you found this episode helpful, please share it with someone who might be facing a similar challenge and needs to hear this message of hope, understanding and what's going on in the current educational system. So don't forget to subscribe and I'll see you next time on overcoming Anything.