The Reset: Where We’ve Been & Where We’re Going

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The Bellringer Podcast | Season 2, Episode 1

The Reset: Where We've Been & Where We're Going

Theme: Reflect. Reset. Recharge.

🔔 Class is back in session!

After taking a well-deserved break, we're ringing in Season 2 of The Bellringer Podcast with a candid conversation about where life has taken us, what we've learned, and what's ahead. Join Jamese and Dorine as we catch up on new roles, career growth, summer adventures, and the lessons that have reshaped us both inside and outside the classroom.

This episode is all about hitting the reset button. We explore why educators often struggle to truly rest, whether summer professional development is worth it, and what authentic self-care looks like beyond the usual bubble baths and spa days. From setting healthy boundaries to protecting your peace and rediscovering who you are outside of teaching, we're having the conversations every educator needs before the new school year begins.

We'll also tackle one of the biggest summer debates:
Should teachers spend their break growing professionally—or give themselves permission to completely unplug?

Whether you're still soaking up summer or already preparing your classroom, this episode will leave you encouraged to reflect, reset, and recharge before the school year begins.

In this episode:

• Where we've been since Season 1
• Career updates and summer highlights
• Why teachers struggle to disconnect
• The summer professional development debate
• Teacher self-care beyond social media trends
• Setting boundaries for a healthier school year

Join the conversation!
Before summer ends, what's one thing you're doing to reset mentally, emotionally, or professionally? Share your thoughts in the comments—we'd love to hear from you!

🎧 Welcome back to The Bellringer Podcast. We're so glad you're here. Let's ring in Season 2 together!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

I'm Miss Jane and I'm Miss Durden. And welcome to the Bell Ringer. Class is officially infected.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Hey y'all, and welcome to season two. Yay! We're here. We here. It took us a while, but we're here. It's it's Miss Miss James, you know, her schedule just so hit the cow. But we are here. Welcome back to season two, y'all. Have y'all missed us? Let us know. I don't know how, but like just let us know if y'all missed us or not. Under the post, maybe on Facebook. Um, so today's episode. Since we've been gone for a while, this title is so befitting because it's called The Reset. Okay. Where we've been and where we're going. And if y'all didn't know, this is the Bell Ringer Podcast. I was so excited saying welcome back, but welcome to anyone. If this is your first time listening to our first episode of season two, we encourage you to go back and listen to last season because we be coming with the facts and the opinions. All right, so let's go ahead and dive into this episode. First off, well, y'all tell us if y'all missed us or not. So, uh, Miss James.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Yes, ma'am.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Tell us what you've been doing as a teacher. And I'm gonna let you talk about the other part later, but what have you been doing during this summer break?

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Yes, ma'am. I've been so excited about this summer break. This is a special summer break because not only did I transition to a new position at the end of the school year, this is my first summer off in about six years. I have worked every summer for the past six years, but this year I decided it was time to take a break. And when I say I've been taking a break, and we'll talk about that later when I talk about some self-care. But girl, I've really been taking a break. That means extra sleep. I've been going with just a vibe. I've been vibing. That's what I've been doing. That's what I've been doing, vibing, besides, you know, certain church commitments and family commitments and you know, motherhood too. I've been taking a break. Like I needed, I truly needed a break. And really in this space, I've been learning like it's okay to need a break, and it's okay to take one when you have the opportunity. And I think I needed it as I transitioned and really focusing more on my own purpose and the things that I want to do outside of the school setting.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

Okay, okay, we're here for it.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

We here for it, yes, ma'am. So I've really just been enjoying it.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

I'm glad y'all. She I get off and I'll tell y'all about this, but I get off work, it's 11 o'clock, so I'm still kind of up, and we knew we had to record in the a.m. Why is she still up at like two o'clock in the morning? See, I said, Oh, she really, really enjoying this break. Again, we're excited to be back. It's the summer, it's a reset. Season two, you can expect to learn and gain and dive into the life of teachers and what students should be doing during this break as well as parents. But we just want to give y'all a little, you know, insight on what these teachers are doing. So, season two, you can inspect five more great episodes, and you know, it's like a little summer breeze going on. So let me ask you this, and then I'm gonna start talking about my part. What what word can describe your summer right now? One word, one word.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

Um, one word, and I I'm using this word because I think every lately when someone's like, Hey, how are you? or how are you doing, how are you doing? You know what I've been saying? I'm lovely. Oh, lovely. Yes, I'm lovely. Like I'm bringing, I'm bringing all the chill summer vibes, and I really just been in a great space and relaxed. I'm so sorry, friend. So sorry.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

You deserve it, you deserve it. So my word is that describes my summer, how's my summer been? What? What that's the word, and y'all like, what is she talking about? So I'm doing something completely different this summer. So I I'm not blessed to be a mom and I'm still single like a Pringle, but it's it's gonna happen one day. So I decided to use this singlehood time to really just work on myself and do the things that I know I'm not gonna do when I am yoked with someone. So if you all don't know, I travel, I love to travel and I dislike that. So I wanted a job, like I'm I've I'm always working and doing something. I think I had a summer break. I'll let y'all know whenever I had a summer break, I'm always doing something, but I just wanted to, so I have a job. I'm not gonna name the job because but I have a part-time job, and it's not in teaching, it is in retail, and I really love it. I wanted to do something where typically I work in the summer, work that first month. Because first of all, what summer? Because y'all may say, Oh my goodness, this episode coming out, you know, July 1. Well, yeah, I've been for a month. Well, technically, we didn't get out to June 9th, okay. So I worked a summer job in another district, and I get paid every two weeks. So I did that job. I finished that job on like June 26th, that last Friday, um, in June. And I knew this year I wanted to continue to make money, um, because I just wanted to be able to have more funds because I do travel. So, and I always take about I take one convention in May and one in July, and this year I'm deciding to go to Boole.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

Now, I did you know what I did last night? This is a side note. I um I changed my Instagram name. What is it? Ain't intellectual pearl. What is it? No, it's my name.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

You know what? I'm glad because I did that train years ago, and it I did that because I went to a the aka leadership conference, and I talked about branding. And so my Instagram handles and Facebook has always been my name, but I love it. Yeah, I love it.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

I was like, I am gonna say, and that's I guess the summer retail what we're talking about, like giving me the chance to work on rebranding and focus on the other things that I'm building and creating. I was like, I gotta let go of Intellectual Pearl. That was that has been my Instagram name since the night since April 18th, yeah, 2014.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Yeah, she still remembers.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Yeah, changed it.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

Oh thank you. I love it. Um, but so uh back to what I was saying. So basically, I have a job, I work in retail, I'm folding, and it's funny, you guys. Guess what? The best section I work so well in that they always keep putting me in kids. The second section is me, and it's only because I made a joke and I said, I need commission because anytime I'm in a men's section of the store, I'm always getting asked questions, and it's like if you go ahead, no, but it means one guy came in, but he's married. But it's I guess I'm like a little daughter, but I'm also like a little cute thing to look at, and so yeah, I'm loving that job. I thank God for that job. I always take him daily for that job. So that job literally got like my summer job. I worked in a different district, I do that throughout the school year. That is my travel money. I don't like debt, and I got loans, you know. So I'm paying off, I want to pay off my loans, and then I got goals that I want to do. So those are the checks that keep Jamise going, thanks to the Lord, to be able to travel and pay off debt, but still have my house and my main bills taken care of. So let's go into where we've been. So this is a lot. So, Miss James, give us a so currently, I'm still a teacher, so I'm not even gonna talk as much. So I'm still a teacher, but I'm gonna let y'all know, and it may be an episode we may do later on. I'm still putting myself out there and interviewing. Miss James has inspired me to not sit on my tail and just go ahead and press apply, just press apply. So I'm still a teacher, I'm loving it. So if everything goes according to plan, I will be teaching math in the fall because my teammate is expecting and will be on maternity leave the beginning of school year. So, uh true team, when we talked about it, either it was gonna be a sub teaching math, and then she would have to come back and then try to teach math and everything, or I can just teach math, and we don't have to worry about the children falling behind because she will be out, I believe, like August, September, Spring, September. That's a little joke. So that is going on right now, but I want to know, let's dive in deeper, Miss James. Why did you take a break?

SPEAKER_00 10:37

Oh no, wait, which break are we talking about?

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Why did you take a well the break of like not doing because you said you didn't do anything, you haven't been able to do nothing for like years. You didn't teach. I mean, the only break you can't take is you know being a mom.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

So the the right, um really, because this is um this is really a transit transition season for me. Like when I feel like I'm like I thought I was walking in my purpose for real, but no, right now I'm truly walking in my purpose, and God is really leading me into who He has called me to be. And so, you know, actually this year we were still recording and we knew that I was that I had a new job, but the world didn't know that I had a new job. And for a while now, I've wanted to um, you know, exit the classroom and step into a different position and certain things. I've uh I've applied for some things and didn't hear anything back. Or one position, I don't even know if you know this, one position I applied for like a year or two ago, um, it was with the State Department. And you know, I really knew it as far as technology. And you know, I was wondering, I was like, why haven't I heard back from them? And then when I looked, I looked back, my facts didn't go through. Oh wow, and I was like, I was like, you know what, not right now. And I just kept like, it just wasn't the time. And so a particular, a particular job opening came up. I applied. This was in February, so we were already, we were getting ready for testing. And so I still knew, and I still knew and I know that God wanted me to like go ahead and apply. Because by the time I applied, the week was over, I was interviewing. And that following week, I had the job. It was just a really um tough transitional period because I have been, and you know, as teachers, we're committed. So we're committed when we are with no matter how much we complain or how things are going, we're truly committed to our students. And so that put me in a position where I'm like, oh, it's February. I have a new job. Like, do I go now? Do I go later? Like, what's gonna happen? And so I did say, you know, during testing, and I just know the move wasn't anything personal because I loved my, I love what I what I was doing, I love teaching. Um, but I know I'm called to grader. And I know that I know that the gifts I have align more with, you know, an admin type position. And so it's time for me to step out. And now I'm a curriculum coach. And I just knew with me transit with me transitioning, like changing school, like it's a lot of changes at one time. So me changing schools, me stepping into a new position, I want the summer off, and I also want as I grow, I also want to explore the other things that I'm led to do. So, girl, you know, I've been on it. Like every I started a balloon business, I released the prayer journal.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

Yes, I was just about to ask. I saw the book, yes, um, a prayer journal.

SPEAKER_00 13:47

And so to me, working is different, and I don't have to always dedicate my full like a full eight hours to you know clocking in and being a certain place. Like there are other things that I want to do. I want to be a business owner, I want to own successful businesses, so I also need to create the space. So I also need to create the space to do so. And you know, I feel like, girl, as teachers, we sometimes get into, oh, we need the money, we need the money. Because you know, the pay ain't the pay ain't hidden for real. But when we manage what we have and we learn like multiple avenues to earn income, it will be it would be better. Like, you know, I think it's great for you to take on a new job in retail and you're enjoying it. Because sometimes we get caught up in, oh, it's a summer camp, let me work. Oh, it's um, oh, if I'm this coordinator, I get this much money, let me do that. Oh, if I'm the um liaison for this for this event, let me earn, let me do that so I can earn more money. But we are we stretch ourselves thin to earn a little bit of change at the end of the month, right? Yes, but you know, waiting at the end of the month for the little bit of change that we receive when there are so many other opportunities that we can, you know, take on and use our gifts in different spaces. And so, yeah, this is a lovely break, and I'm just opening up my mind and taking on different things.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

I can say I love it. I because if you watch the I'm sorry, not watched, but listen to the first episode. Um, you know, me and Miss James met because you know, it was really divine, because our um college as admissions, like what college admissions person is really gonna like like she had two built-in best friends and they could have been roommate, but I guess he saw fit or the Lord placed on his heart to put us together because you know, and so we were college roommates, and so all I can think about is when I see like Miss James now, I just I'm about to cry, and you know, I don't I'm not the cry of the friendship. Jesus, but I just really think about how I was always like on the go and in church and just doing things and working in youth ministry, and I had issues too, but um that was something I know I kept on like pressing my way in what we call serving. So to see her serving now, and she didn't tell me she was doing a prayer journal. So when I saw that drop, I was like, Oh my goodness, and where can we buy this prayer journal?

SPEAKER_00 16:30

Amazon. She on Amazon, the prayers of a single working mommy, yes.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

So make sure y'all, you know, go out and support. I need to reshare it on my page again. So that's why I mean you said a whole uh a whole lot because I think that is one of the reasons why we're teachers, but we wanted this avenue of a podcast, and so we are not just one-dimensional, we are multi-dimensional, multi-faceted, all the multi, yes, you know, girls, you know, young women. Oh, we're not really young, no more. We in our 30s, exactly. So it's just I don't know, something about being 30, it just adds volume to your hips. Yeah, I don't know. It's just somebody being 30. Because they always say when you turn 30, something clicks, and so I feel like you're doing it right. I'm not about to do this. I worked hard in my 20s, and then I think with me, it's it's almost like the opposite of like, let me crank it up. I was crank one, but let me crank it up one more time because I'm I'm living this, I'm claiming that I'm gonna be living a soft life, and I'll be able to use my administrative skills and my podcasting skills to be a great wife and mother one day.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Absolutely, girl, and I'm with you on the cranking it up, but I just want to crank it up and be soft at the same time, and I don't want to be out of breath and sweaty, right? Drenched in sweat from cranking it up. Oh no, see, you got I want to crank it up and look pretty.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

You got your little girl. I like I took or people say, You really were? I'm like, Well, I was like, Um this one guy that I know he came to my job, not he didn't know I worked there, and he was like, Oh, you really work here? And I was just like, Well, I want to let people know, like, I'm not married, I don't have a pain, I don't have a child, so I'm gonna just go ahead and do it. I don't expect to do this forever though. Um, but I like it, like I really do like going to work, and no, going to my other job made me realize like when you come out of teaching, it's just so many little things that I for one, I feel like a person that at my job people could come to talk to. But when I do my job, some of them didn't even believe that I was 32 years old when I told them, so it's like I'm in a new position, but it's it's amazing how I can see the leaders or I can see like who who's gonna be a team lead, or or just giving um speaking life into people. Like it's this one guy, and he's black, but he's a team lead, he's like 20 years old. Every time I see him, I'm like, hey my king, that's excellence right there. Because he he worked there for a year and he's a leader, so I let him know, like, you're a leader. Don't think just because you work this job and you are it's just oh well. Anybody not anybody can do that, like you work hard and you show people that you do that. And I love talking to, and I I love this part, um, talking to like some of the girls in our um area, and or some of the even some of the guys, and like, okay, what you out of school for? What you what you from? Like a lot of them go to so in Birmingham, a lot of them go to UAB and they work downtown, or like this one girl was like, I'm trying to go back. I was like, Yes, go back. She was like, I was in that part time where they weren't telling people to really go to college. I said, Oh, you graduated 2020. She was like, 2021, and I was like, But go back, you can. So I loved doing that until one point I was fixing, I was in an area and I had to fix like the shoes, so I was there for the majority of my time. And I when I tell you a lot of people of the young, the young crowd, um, but they're like 21, 18 to like 24, they always like, where were you today? I didn't, they they kept saying you were here, but I didn't see you. And I was like, Oh, y'all really care. So I I like being able, like I get it, I don't want to work, but I like when I get there, I love having the conversations, yeah, with them and talking to them about oh, what you study in? Because if I had somebody tell me, like, I feel like I had good mentors in college, not really, I had good examples, I didn't really have mentors, people to talk to. Because sometimes I wish I could go back and peel back the layer of I think me and Michael were talking about this, like our Miss Miles College and the Miss Mouse Colleges that came out afterwards, like and SGA. We knew we wanted to expire us aspire to positions like that and titles like that, but sometimes I wish like now I wish I could go back and ask like what was going through your mind, or like what did you do? Because to us, you were perfect, but you know, and I just think it's just our area of transpar transparency. So let's move on. We in season two, we caught up. So let's talk about something every educator is trying to figure out this summer. So, Miss James, you want to lead us into the next segment?

SPEAKER_00 21:31

Yes, ma'am, the summer reset because it is so important, it is so important within all your things. I don't care if you're working whether you're working summer school or you decided to take a break or if you're exploring other avenues, it's so important to actually risk. And we've talked about that before, but I truly believe that you cannot you cannot show up if you're not pouring into yourself. Like there is no way, it's not possible.

unknown 21:59

We're

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Only human, like you can't continue to pour if you're pouring out, pouring out and pouring out. How are you feeling yourself? You cannot you can't continue to do that. So it isn't it is so important. I think for teachers, it's sometimes hard to disconnect because education can be so continuous. If that makes sense, even when you know, even during the school year, when you clock out, there are things that carry over. Even during the summer, there are things, there are things that carry over. And really, honestly, when teachers are ready for the school year to end, but when the school year ends, typically what are you doing? You're preparing for the next. You automatically go into preparing for the next. What is your room going to look like? What materials are you going to use? Um, your seating arrangement. Some teachers spend, I know some teachers who have their classrooms ready before the report date. I'm talking about full fully decked out before um the report date. And so it can truly be hard to disconnect because you can become so entangled in what you're doing. And so I don't want people to um have this misconception. If we're supposed to, you're supposed to love what you do, right? You're supposed to love it, but we have to do it in a healthy way. It's there's no way that you can continue to pour out and pour out and then expect to show up and expect to run the same. No, you have to reset, you have to recharge. So to me, I think even um, let's see, one thing I started now last summer, I worked last summer, but that was when I really started like toning in on the importance of self-care. And last I had a self-care summer. Like I made sure, like, you know, paying attention to my eating habits and um working out, going hiking, getting sunlight. Like we have to just be conscious and decide what a healthy summer can look like for ourselves. Like what, like what makes you happy? What do you need? What do you need to relax? Do you need to go for a walk? Do you need to go out for coffee? Do you need to have, you know, a monthly date with your besties? Or um, if you're dating, do you need to have make sure you're implementing date nights? Like a healthy summer to me is making choices that refill you, not constantly pull out of you. And so it really depends. It really depends on the person.

SPEAKER_02 24:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:38

Yeah, it truly depends on the person. You know, yesterday I ended up in Starbucks. I was in Starbucks. And like I have, I'll grab Starbucks, you know, when I'm off ago. The girl took my computer, my journal, and I went and sat in Starbucks. I was like, it feels it just feels good to just take a moment and to, you know, journal, reflect, and have a moment. And so it's really like um as educators, ask yourself, when is the last time that I took a moment for myself?

SPEAKER_01 25:09

That's good.

SPEAKER_00 25:10

Like when is the last moment that you did that? And I think some people we have this thing like, Oh, I gotta always do something. I have to constantly, I have to constantly do, I have to constantly show up. And if I'm not, then I'm lazy or I'm not being productive. Risk is productive, right? Am I saying be a couch potato every single day? No, but rest is productive, so just be intentional. So, uh, Miss Durden, what are some things you think you've or maybe this conversation might be like, Wait, okay, I need to do some stuff. Have you done some things to take care of yourself?

SPEAKER_01 25:51

Okay, so this may sound so weird. I don't really um I don't really watch TV. For one, we know how TV is now, so I don't really stream, so no, I have not seen the new Tyler Perry movie. Um, and I do watch like sometimes, if it's okay, uh reality TV. So what I've been doing, because I've still been having to thankfully, my job required me to get to work. Like my planning was 11:30 to 1. So some days I can get there at 12:30. Some days I can show up right at 12:59, one o'clock, walk in the door, get started, and then I would go to my other job, which happened right afterwards. So my my time was like one to 11 o'clock. So I was sleeping in because at the end of school year, like I was getting off at 11 and trying to be back at work at 7:45, 7:50-ish. So um things I've been doing, it may sound different. I do like what you said about Starbucks. If I can find time, because I'm about to get ready to go out of town, so I'm about to pack and do all this other stuff, and I gotta print, but I like that idea of just sitting in there. I've been dreaming of going back to the library, but something that I have been doing is like putting my time towards what I want to do, so I get to watch TV, yeah, and I just watch it, y'all. Like because I it's something that I don't get a chance to do uh a lot. Because I would come home, oftentimes I would just sit during the school year, and then you know, I'm checked out, like I'm teaching a whole different content in the fall, and you're talking about um classroom dancing stuff. I'm checked out, that's a part of my self-care. It'll get there, and I think about those years, I remember like school. We had to report back like August 2nd, something like that one time. This was years ago, and I was so happy to have my classroom done like a week before. Like, I can't I was coming back in July. Where would I be? Like my vacations or trips is one week of July. So I'm so if y'all don't know, so I'm gonna always put the travel and stuff first. I'm going to Baltimore and then I'm going to Vegas. They're conferences, but they are two in one. So I'm doing that. So those are some things that I'm doing, but I'm definitely going to check into like rest because I'm still I'm still working. But I get what I kind of get what you're saying because I did that this year for inner like intercession. I got to take a break and I didn't work. I didn't do anything but go to Disney World.

SPEAKER_00 28:53

So you know what you're a mom. Yeah. But you know, you're a mom, like vacation is it worked.

SPEAKER_01 29:03

I'm sorry, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:04

Yeah, pretty much. It's it's work.

SPEAKER_01 29:07

Because I said that when we went, I was like, Oh, I gotta come back to this because I can't do this. I can't, I gotta do that myself.

SPEAKER_00 29:12

Yeah, you gotta go without kids sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

It's yeah, and and I you know what was amazing, and I we didn't talk about this when I went back by myself. I said, I'm not talking, like I'm literally riding the rides and smiling and stuff, but I'm like, I'm not talking for like eight hours.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

Yeah, I have nobody to talk to, so I just don't know, we went to Disney World together last year. Yeah, that's where, and then Jamise went again herself.

SPEAKER_02 29:45

And you know what?

SPEAKER_00 29:46

I've been um planning to go to the beach, and I told Nova I wanted to take her to the beach, and she says, She was like, Are you gonna play with me? While we're there, I'm like, Oh, I was like, I gotta play on vacation, or do I wanna or do I wanna just you know bring other children so that they can all play together? But I'm like, that's more work, right?

SPEAKER_01 30:10

Yeah, I realized having my nephew there, that probably did help a little bit. Um give it me time. Um girl, now I'm about to plan another vacation. I'm gonna go somewhere else. That's why I got the jobs. So but no, I can't shout out to all the moms, shout out to the parents, the dads, who we all have to go to the. I saw so many crash outs being there by myself, and then I think myself, oh, I probably was crashing out too.

SPEAKER_00 30:40

You did one or two one or two times if I it was some crash outs because I was like, What?

SPEAKER_01 30:46

And if and it's and it's like just the heavy space on earth, but um, so do we want to go into what we got about this professional development? You've been taking professional development. We're in the next part, the next segment.

SPEAKER_00 30:58

Um professional development, have I? So I have not yet. I haven't. And let me tell you why I am in a couple weeks in July during our end of the year professional development. Girl, I won I won like the ticket, I won tickets to the to the tech conference. Oh the downtown hosted by Ed Farm. Yeah, I was looking at the ticket. I was reviewing the ticket prices like $75, $85 um to attend the dates, and I won tickets to those, and I am becoming more and more interested in tech. Like, I don't know. I'm just unlocking, just unlocking um other avenues. And I was like, ooh, that would be interesting to me for not only um education but in ministry as well. So I was like, oh, I want to go um and learn more, um, planning ahead, you know, just planning ahead um preparation because this is I am stepping in fully into a new position. I spent um about a month and a couple weeks as a curriculum coach. So this will be my first year um going full in. So really, you know, preparing for that because I'm ready, I'm ready to service and assist and support teachers. That's what I'm the most excited about. I guess we spent so much time, you know, talking about everything that teachers deal with, and as far as us experiencing it, I can't wait to be a support. I'm I'm really I'm really excited about that. So professional development as far as um education, a little a little bit. I'm not going all over the place um for professional development, but I don't know about you, but girl, tech is taking over. We gotta utilize it. That's the one. And I feel like PD, it can be different, like as far as us using our time and going and checking in different places. Um Google is free. Google is free, utilizing resources, you know, learning things to um grow your crafts and grow your interests, it looks differently. So I don't think, but do I think that a teacher should spend a lot of the summer growing professionally? No, I think it's more important to unplug. But if you're constantly growing, you know, constantly growing or seeking growth throughout the year, then I think that helps too. Because if you're doing that throughout the year, summertime, you may just want to slide to the mega conference.

SPEAKER_01 33:41

Right. I um I definitely have been professionally developed for the last uh 10 years of teaching. And quick story, my certification expired, so I had to get renewed. So, unlike the 50 hours I just needed, I needed 100 hours within the last two years, even though I had about 400 hours in my entire 10 years of teaching. Another long story cut short. If you're listening, you're like, how 10 years and she so once I received my I received my master's almost like the right before my ex uh certification would have expired. So that prolonged my uh certification, so I didn't have to do that. Then we also entered a pandemic, so my license literally did not expire until last year, and people who name shall remain nameless messed it up. So, anyways, I had to like hurry up and get a lot of professional development in. That's why I'm so professionally developed out because to try to get a hundred hours, which I had, and because it was like between these last two years, so you I'm looking at 2023, 2025, and I'm like 50 hours short, so you do the math. Thankfully, I went to Mega, and Mega alone was like double-digit worth of hours, but yes, I definitely had to get like 20 other hours, so I I encourage professional development, I encourage it two times. Do it when you first get out of school and do it towards the end. Mega Conference, which is in the state of Alabama, is a great conference to go to, and also if you just want to get away and go to Mobile. Um, I did mega last year, thanks to my awesome, amazing leader. The only leader I have had that insisted that I go to mega conference, and but this year I cannot go because I will be in Vegas. That's okay.

SPEAKER_00 35:49

That's who I went with. That's who I that's the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 35:52

We gotta get him, we gotta get him on here. But even though I'm teaching math, I'm going to my 11th year and I've been kind of supporting math for the last two years. So, but other professional development is you know, it's not limited to just like school. Um, we talk about church and ministry. So I grew up in the Church of God in Christ, and I still affiliate, even though my church is not Church of God in Christ, it's cool gospel. But there we have these churches have conferences that are honestly a fraction of the cost that it costs to go to a conference and learn some of the material. So one thing I'm doing, and I forget, and I just don't tell people. So I judge so Church of God in Christ is about seven million in counting the largest African-American um Pentecostal, well, African-American church, and so about seven million members that can be documented all around the world. I am that's why I'm going to Baltimore, Maryland. So I judged the virtual STEM fair, which was amazing. I got to judge the I was the elementary, uh elementary um kind of like specialists because they were younger kids, because some people that's a whole thing in teaching. People that teach like seventh grade or up, they don't know how to work with K through C. I'm like, it's what so I love that. So I get to judge that, and then I conduct a math Olympiad test, which in the state of Alabama, we don't really we just call like a math test or the math team, but you know, in other states they have math tests that have strategic, um, you know, deep um dive into deep concepts type of test. And so that was something I have this is something I've been doing for the past three years. So I make the third through sixth grade test, and so I do two tests with one for third and fourth, one for fifth and sixth grade. So I don't, but there it's technically an international competition, and so I work in that area, but in that they have robotics this year, they have the entrepreneur um seminar, they're gonna do like a shark tank um kind of concept with invention, but then they have like a lot of classes that I can take on just how to be uh a great youth leader, a great praise dancer. These are things that I I'm already doing, but then that stuff can transfer in the classroom, how to manage church finances. If I learn how to manage church finances, that help me in my own finances. So so that's that's a little plug, that's a little plug. But I do that every year, so that to me that's professional development, as well as I'm gonna lead this right here. I went to the Church of God in Christ International Women's Convention, and they have classes on if you want to be an author, steps to being a published author, and they have classes like single mom, do you need help, like some like seminar, yeah, and company. I love it. So all that to me is prepared and development.

SPEAKER_00 38:58

Go ahead. Absolutely, and probably and it's more engaged, you know, just when it's presented differently outside of the it, like outside of the educational realm, right? Where you can still grow and you can come back and apply it. That's pretty cool. I'm going to my first church conference in October. I'm going to the stretch conference in DC. So I'm excited.

SPEAKER_01 39:19

Oh, DC.

SPEAKER_00 39:20

I'll let you know how it is to continue to grow, you know, just grow and learn.

SPEAKER_01 39:24

And we're going on intercession week.

SPEAKER_00 39:26

I love it. Is that intercession week? Yeah, it is. It is intercession week. I will I would be going anyway, even if it wasn't. Yeah. Um, but that's exciting. Um, and then as we go into the last segment, teacher self-care, girl, I think it's everything we've really talked about. Right. Like we've really everything that we've talked about, being conscious of our mental health. Um everything.

SPEAKER_01 39:54

Go to charge.

SPEAKER_00 39:56

It's it's really like taking charge of your mental health, um, acknowledging it. Um, and if we talk about faith, building your building your community, uh, your church home, if you don't have a church home, um, building that community, get a church home. Um, you know, just building your community, building a village around you, whether it's from church, your home, um, your family, your friends, like-minded people who understand what you're going through. Um, also setting boundaries for yourself, putting limits on the things that you do. Like, don't continue to watch yourself go above and beyond and run on E. Like, we want you to be filled, be happy, be healthy so that you can be prosperous. Like you really have to, you really have to make sure that you are on top of these things. Um, working those finances, honestly, determining like if you're gonna run up a check in this, you know, within the school system and work all the you know, the summer schools, if you want to explore other avenues as far as businesses, maybe stepping into a different field, like you said, you stepped into retail and you're enjoying it. Um, finding out what works for you. That's what that's what it's really all about. And to me, I think self-exploration, like when you do take the when you do take the time to not only just pour into yourself, but plan for yourself, plan for yourself, like write it down, make it plain. Like, what are you going to do to advance yourself and to grow? Come on, Habakkuk, come on, write it down, make it plain, yes, but like we have to do, we have to do these things to continue like to take care of ourselves, right?

SPEAKER_01 41:38

Because teaching, I think now, because I've stepped out of doing some in education, even when I'm in church, like I was teaching part, like everything always came back to children. And one thing I love about working in retail, like, so we have to fold the clothes and make sure they look nice, like, yeah. I don't really shout out to the people that don't just leave a miss at like the folding tables and the hanging stuff, like we have to size stuff because everything goes back to marketing. So I just want to put that out there. And I worked on Father's Day, and all the wives and the children, y'all messed up the sections and bought these little shirts. You can tell because men go in, they just grab the shirt, they go. Y'all have messed up that section. We're going on two weeks since it was since Father's Day, but anyways, that's why they they brought them back too. I just want to let y'all know they brought them gifts back. But a mess, you get to leave. One thing I love is that when I clock out at 11 o'clock, or whenever I clock out, you leave it there. I'm not thinking about are the shirts folded, are they hung up? Once I leave, and so this has shown me like that's why I can tell people, hey, don't stress about this job because the place I work at, they already got the back to school section up. And why have I found myself going on the aisle or in another section, like I call it the 135 section, looking at the stuff, like, oh, I can use that? Uh-uh. Um so teaching really is a job that it's a it's a it's this man, and he did this whole post about how like elementary teachers get on my nerves because you get your friend as a contractor to come in and they build an ice cream truck, and it's like, oh, we can do ice cream truck after fractions, and then you get like a little corner area, and you build a scratch scrape, you're like, Oh, this is the reading of and I'm like, No, that we really do go all out in decorating and doing stuff, and we like, oh, we can use this. Like, I saw Lucky Charms, I was like, Oh, yeah, I could get Lucky Charms, and yeah, you you so it is a 24 hour job, and I'm gonna just be real, my teammate had wrote me, um, and I forgot to write that. So my bad if she's listening. Um, I literally forgot the a parent reached out. It's the summertime and the parent reached out. Parents don't reach out in the summer, like unless it's an emergency. But it's this is what the world says. Oh, this is why it's good to be a teacher because you get three months off. We don't, especially of I got out June 9th was my last day, and we go. I know we go back like July 31st because I got faculty retreat. Like whatever day we go back, I know I go back two days early. And open house sometimes that's a whole different thing. Open house is sometimes right before school starts, so or right before teachers have to come because I want y'all to realize this whatever date you go back, teachers have to go back sometimes three to four days, five days earlier. I just want y'all to realize that. So if we go back August 1st, teachers are probably back in that building July 27th. But I digress, but yeah, get read a book. I know that's some things that I want to do, you know. I I'm doing my breaks, I like doing things that I don't get to do during the school year, so like reading a book, which I think I'm about to go to Starbucks and read a book.

SPEAKER_00 45:19

I love it for you, girl. Yes, I love it, but yeah, if I you know, pick up a book, work out, I don't know, try a new recipe. That's the thing I'm doing today. I'm like, what should I cook today? Or I want something like so I might try something new.

SPEAKER_01 45:39

I don't know Taco Bell, Sonic, yeah. Try try shameless plugs, shameless snacks. It is a the whole is candy, but the whole bag is like at most 12 grams of sugar. Like, I have been looking at some of this, like low sugar, zero sugar, like snacks. Yeah, they so good. Really?

SPEAKER_00 46:11

Well, I guess we're gonna have to have a snack episode because I'm gonna go into whatever.

SPEAKER_01 46:15

Because I'm about to tell my students no more, no more Pepsi's diet mountu. If you need a if you need a soda, diet mound.

SPEAKER_00 46:24

Oh go ahead. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You're so funny, but yes, I love it. You know, but just and even having the time to look into help, like healthier options, or what can you, what can you really eat to improve your health. So I love all of that. So I think just finding our identity outside of the classroom, outside of the school, learning, you know, learning who we are and what we want to do beyond those four walls, beyond those four walls. Um, so just make sure that you are, you know, enjoying yourself, getting some rest, taking care of yourself, finding time to pour into yourself. Like don't let the summer end without you doing something for you. I want you to, we want you to reset mentally, emotionally, or professionally. Just take the time for yourself because it is so important, and we want you to be your best you.

SPEAKER_02 47:24

Yay.

SPEAKER_00 47:24

And in closing, this was season two, episode one, the reset, where we've been and where we're going. We can't wait to keep talking to y'all this season. Bye. And in closing, I'm Miss James.

SPEAKER_01 47:46

And I'm Miss Durden.

SPEAKER_00 47:47

Thank you for listening to the Bell Ringer. Class is officially in session.

SPEAKER_01 47:52

Don't be late.