Teacher's Ed with Edward DeShazer
In today's world, being a teacher and educator can be empowering, inspiring, and rewarding. Educating the next generation can also be exhausting, frustrating, and disheartening. Teacher's Ed was created to motivate, encourage, and uplift teachers and educators to inspire you for the week ahead.
Teachers Ed is where the best and brightest in education come to be inspired, to learn, to connect, and to grow.
Teacher's Ed with Edward DeShazer
Fostering a Connected School Environment
Ever wondered how small gestures can make a big impact in the classroom? Join me, Edward DeShazer, as I promise to reveal the transformative power of being consistently present and practicing active listening with your students. Listen to stories that showcase how simple actions, like greeting students at the door or dedicating five minutes to open conversations, can lay the groundwork for a supportive and trusting classroom community. Additionally, I’ll introduce you to the concept of micro breaks—those short pauses throughout the day that can help educators recharge and bring their best selves to their students.
As we navigate the journey of nurturing school community spirit, I'll share insights on the importance of self-care, not just for educators but for students too. Discover how believing in yourself and the people around you can foster a more connected and supportive school environment. I'll provide tips on how to contribute to this growth and connection, culminating in a motivational reminder to stay inspired, stay connected, and continue your personal and professional growth. This episode is packed with practical insights and reflections to empower educators to make a lasting impact in their schools.
www.EdwardDeShazer.org
Welcome back to the Teachers Ed podcast, the place where the best and brightest in education come to be inspired, to connect, to learn and to grow. Excuse me, as always, I'm your host, edward DeShazer, and today we are focusing on a topic at the heart of teaching, and that is building stronger relationships with your students Relationships, if anyone's ever heard me speak, relationships are the foundation of everything that we do as educators. They are what turn classrooms into communities and challenges into opportunities. Sounds like a rap bar, but today's episode, I'm going to give you two tips and two strategies to help you deepen connection with your students. Plus, I want to give you the self-care tip that's in the middle, to just ensure that you are bringing the best version of yourself to the classroom and to the school on a day-to-day basis. So let's begin. Number one tip. Number one we have to be consistently present. And what do I mean by that? Building meaningful relationships with students starts with being consistently present, and it's not just about physically being in the room, even though it's critical, like if you're not there on a Tuesday, I would say if you're not there on a Tuesday, you don't get Tuesday back, but it's about showing students that you are there for them in every sense of that word. A couple ways that we can practice. Our presence is greeting students at the door, first and foremost, whether it is a smile, a fist bump, a quick how are you doing today. These small moments really set the connection for the day. Number two is active listening. You know when a student is speaking to us, I want us to stop what we're doing. Give them your full and undivided attention. It really will show your students that what they are saying to you matters. And then the third tip is being engaged during lessons. You know, moving around the room. You can't teach from your desk. You got to move around the room, ask questions, making eye contact with your students. I want you to really make sure your students know that you are fully engaged in the learning experience for them, and doing this consistently is the key aspect. When students know that they can count on you to show up for them, not just when things are easy, but also when things get hard. That is where you start to really build trust and where you build respect.
Speaker 1:One time I worked with a teacher. I don't work with them anymore, but we started every single morning with five minutes of open conversation time with the students. This was some years back and they were having challenges in the classroom and this was on every Monday. We would come back after the weekend and I would spend five minutes in the classroom the weekend and I would spend five minutes in the classroom and it was just asking them to highlight you know what were some of your highlights from the weekend and really just to talk about what was on their minds. And it didn't take much time but it created a sense of safety and community in that classroom and I'd done trainings where we do classroom circles and you know all those things. But this was just a simple way where they didn't have to circle up, they just sat at their desks and we just said we're starting our Monday. Let's talk about some of the things that happened over the weekend. It was a great way to get our students connecting and to just talking about what was going on. Sometimes there were some things, some difficult things our students were going on. Now it gave the teacher an opportunity to know, like you know what, that student had a challenging weekend. This may be why we see some of the behaviors that we're seeing. So I want anyone listening to Take our second and pause for reflection.
Speaker 1:I want us to think about our own classroom. How can you be more consistently present for your students this week? School leaders, how can you be more consistently present for your staff this week? What small actions can we take to show them that we are truly there for them? So I want to reflect on that Again. I'm big and I said this last episode I'm big on intentionality, and I want us to be intentional. I want to give you actionable steps. So I need you to make sure, when we take these moments to reflect, that you are really taking a second to reflect. Where can I do this at least one time? I don't think that we can listen to these episodes or anything that we get from professional development and just do it all at once, but if we make little steps a day at a time, that is where the true growth will come from.
Speaker 1:With these teaching tips that I give you on a weekly basis, and before I dive into the self-care teaching tip, I want to remind you about the Be Well Teacher Academy. The Be Well Teacher Academy is an online community that was created for educators like you, to help you recharge, help you find balance and help you stay inspired. We will have monthly self-care workshops, we'll have guided meditation, we'll have reflective practices and, most importantly, you will have a supportive community of educators who understand the challenges that you are facing. The first 250 members get lifetime free access. At the time of this recording, we are over halfway there, so visit BeWellTeachercom to secure your spot. The courses and classes launch January 1st, but you can register today.
Speaker 1:Now let's talk about a self-care practice that is perfect for the busy educator. The busy educator With someone's listening like isn't that every educator here? That is every educator, but the busy educator like yourself. The practice that I want us to talk about today is micro breaks. Micro breaks are short yet intentional pauses you take throughout the day to recharge, even if it's just two to three minutes. It doesn't have to be 30 minutes, because we know you don't have 30 minutes. Two to three minutes you can take. Breaks that you can take. A day will help. You will help shift your energy and help shift your focus. A couple ways that you can take these breaks. Number one is in between classes get up, move around, stand up, roll your shoulders out, take some deep breaths before your next students arrive. If you are someone that has a self-contained classroom and you're, like my students are always here just getting up between transition periods, letting your students know, hey, let's take a few minutes, let's just move around, let's encouraging your students to take this along with you so they can understand what is going on. But it gives you an opportunity to not be stuck sitting, not be stuck in one position, but it just gives you that movement.
Speaker 1:Number two drink water, mindfully Making sure that we take a moment to really drink the drinking water. Part of it is we get so busy, we get dehydrated, but we have to be intentional with our water consumption. It is a simple way for you to reset, a simple way for you to hydrate, and oftentimes I know you're probably eight cups of coffee and that actually dehydrates you. It may help you feel greater in the morning, but then you need to get that water consumption up throughout the day and that water is critical to a happy and to a healthy teacher. And the last one is just step outside for some fresh air, even if it's just one or two minutes, especially for those that are I'm in Wisconsin, especially for those that are up in my area, where seasonal depression is a real thing. We go, get to work at 7 am, it's dark. You leave at 4 pm, it's dark. So just taking a moment in the middle of the day to just get outside and get some fresh air, it can help lift your mood and it can really help to re-energize you. And I really want us to remember that micro breaks are a tiny reset for your day, even if it's just one to two minutes to breathe, to stretch, to sip water. That can help you recharge and help you show up stronger for your students. And these pauses are not wasted time. They're investments in your ability to stay present and for you to stay engaged.
Speaker 1:So now we'll transition out into our final tip, and the final tip that I have for you is to show genuine interest in your students' life. Students thrive when they feel seen, when they feel valued, and the best way to show them that you matter is by taking interest in their lives outside of the classroom. School leaders hear this and I want you just to swap out the word students for your teachers. Teachers thrive when they feel valued, when they feel seen, and one of the best ways to show teachers that they matter is by taking an interest in their lives outside of the school, outside of their classrooms. A couple of ways that we can do that for school leaders and for teachers. Number one is ask questions. Find out who your staff is, find out who your students are, Ask them what their favorite hobby is, ask them what they did over the weekend. We need to show the people in our schools that we care about them as people, not just as students, or as people, not just as teachers.
Speaker 1:Number two 10 student events. I talk about this all the time. If it is possible, show up to your student events. It's critical. If it is possible, show up to their football games or basketball games or performances, their violins, the orchestra, the play, even if it's just once, those leave lasting impressions on your students. When your staff is celebrating a milestone and they invite you to their barbecue to their birthday, make a second to show up if you're able to. That goes a long way to show them that they are not just a staff member, they're not just a number in a school. They are someone that is valuable to you as a person.
Speaker 1:And the last and final tip is a follow-up. If a student or staff member mentions something that they're excited about, I want us to take a second to check in afterwards See how it went. This applies not only for the school leaders, but this applies to the staff. Take time or, I'm sorry, this applies to the school leaders. So I really want us to take time to learn about our teachers, take time to learn about their lives outside of work and them. Knowing that you care about them as an individual is where you can really start to build that deep trust and that deep morale of a school. And the reflection that I have for us today that I want us to pause on is you know where and what is one small action that you can take to show your students or colleagues that you are interested in their lives? A little curiosity goes a long way in building stronger relationships. And as I wrap up, I think we're probably right around the 11, 12-minute mark.
Speaker 1:Again, I just want to thank you for taking time out for joining me. If you have not, please like this. On whatever platform you're listening, please take a moment and subscribe, and please post on your Instagram story and tag me. I want to get this podcast in front of as many educators. My goal is to just continue on a week-to-week basis to bring value to the lives of teachers and educators across the world. So I just thank you.
Speaker 1:You that is listening right now. I thank you for taking this 15 minutes out of your week. There's so many other things you could be doing with this time, so I am always honored and I'm always humbled that you take this time to spend listening to me talk and ramble and just joining me on a week-to-week basis, and I want us to remember that when you take care of yourself and those around you, you are building a stronger, more connected school community. I want to encourage you to keep believing in your students. I want you to keep believing in your colleagues and, most importantly, I want you to keep believing in yourself. Until next time, stay inspired, stay connected and keep growing. Thank you, bye.