1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,280 Welcome to the Classroom Narratives Healing and Education podcast, the space where education 2 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:12,080 meets resilience. I'm Joey Weisler, and in each episode, we dive deep into the personal stories 3 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:19,120 of educators, students, leaders, and frontline advocates who are navigating the complexities 4 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:24,800 of modern education. Whether you're just starting your teaching journey, or are a seasoned 5 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:31,040 professional looking for inspiration, we'll explore how to foster meaningful change, prevent burnout, 6 00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:36,160 and build trauma-informed communities in our schools. Now, let's take a seat at the front of 7 00:00:36,160 --> 00:00:42,000 the classroom and get started. Hey, welcome back to the podcast, everyone. Today, it is such a 8 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:48,320 privilege and honor to have Jen Rafferty on the show with us. And Jen Rafferty is an educator, 9 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:54,720 she is a speaker, and she is an author dedicated to transforming the way we approach teacher 10 00:00:54,720 --> 00:01:01,520 well-being and resilience within education. With 15 years of classroom experience, Jen is the founder 11 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:07,600 of Empowered Educator, which serves as a platform that provides research-based transformational 12 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:13,680 support to address teacher burnout and foster systemic long-term success within school communities. 13 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:18,960 As a certified emotional intelligence practitioner and current PhD candidate in educational 14 00:01:18,960 --> 00:01:24,560 psychology, Jen blends her expertise with her passion for social and emotional learning 15 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:32,720 to inspire educators to reconnect with their life. Also, her best-selling book called A Place in the 16 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:38,160 Staff, Finding Your Way as a Music Teacher, has empowered countless educators, and her popular 17 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:46,320 podcast, also called Take Notes with Jen Rafferty, ranks in the top 3% of all podcasts globally, 18 00:01:46,320 --> 00:01:52,240 where she shares insights on personal empowerment and well-being within education. In her 2022 TEDx 19 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:57,520 talk called Generational Change Begins with Empowered Teachers, Jen shares her powerful 20 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:02,560 message about how prioritizing educators' emotional health creates ripple effects 21 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:08,560 that transform classrooms and communities while attempting to break the quote-unquote 22 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:14,720 superhero narrative. Her dynamic keynotes, workshops, and professional development programs 23 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:19,840 are continuing to inspire school leaders and educators to embrace meaningful and sustainable 24 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:25,920 change, and Jen's work is a call to action for educators to prioritize themselves not just for 25 00:02:25,920 --> 00:02:30,960 their own benefit, but for the students and school communities they serve. So Jen, it is such an honor 26 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:35,760 to have you with us today. Welcome to the show. Hi, thank you so much for having me. Such a privilege 27 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:40,640 to have you with us. So Jen, I wanted to start by asking you to tell us about your platform, 28 00:02:40,640 --> 00:02:46,560 Empowered Educator, and also what was your journey in leading up to finding Empowered Educator? 29 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:53,360 Empowered Educator provides support that focuses on the social-emotional well-being of all of the 30 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:57,520 adults in schools, because we truly believe that the well-being of a school is dependent on the 31 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:07,120 well-being of its educators. And my journey was not a result of feeling burnout. I want to make 32 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:15,120 that very clear. I loved my teaching job. I taught music in central New York, and I really loved it. 33 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:20,800 I was a middle school teacher, and I was at the time right before COVID, you know, at the point 34 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:26,480 of my career, I was conducting honors choirs across New York State. I was presenting nationally 35 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:33,120 about adolescent cognitive development and creating responsive curriculum for the seventh grade 36 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:40,560 general music classroom and just living my best nerd life, trying to move the profession forward. 37 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:48,880 I really felt a strong responsibility to give back in that way. I've figured out some things 38 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:54,000 that were really working, and my love for research took me in really cool directions. And I felt 39 00:03:54,000 --> 00:04:00,640 that I needed to share what I learned and what was working. So that drive to support other teachers 40 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:07,040 was there throughout my entire career, and I loved connecting with other educators. 41 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:12,560 When COVID came around, teacher burnout, teacher frustration, teacher overwhelm was nothing new, 42 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:17,840 but we couldn't ignore it anymore during that time. And there was like a hot minute 43 00:04:17,840 --> 00:04:24,000 when everyone recognized that, and they were like, teachers are the best. Thank you so much 44 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:30,560 for everything. I don't know what we would do without you. And that faded away really quickly. 45 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:38,240 It was two seconds of fame, and that to me is profoundly sad. I'd have to sit with that a 46 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:44,960 little bit more to know why that faded so quickly. But what I do know is that the results of what 47 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:54,080 came afterwards, it's not a recipe for feeling good. And the kids are changing, the parents are 48 00:04:54,080 --> 00:05:03,280 changing, and 100% of us lived through a pandemic. And I'm not saying that as an excuse. I'm saying 49 00:05:03,280 --> 00:05:11,360 that as a reason to point to that we cannot continue to ignore the trauma that we all experience, 50 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:17,760 and yet continue to push through and carry on as if nothing's changed. And we seem to have one or 51 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:24,720 two tools in our tool belt, but they're not working for the current problem that exists. 52 00:05:25,280 --> 00:05:31,680 And so many of us are spinning our wheels about how to make change, how to improve, 53 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:37,520 but the old ways are not working anymore. And from where I'm standing, the biggest piece that's 54 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:47,040 missing is this emotional intelligence and connection to emotional needs that we've just 55 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:52,000 never developed the skillset for. And so we can't possibly be meeting our kids the way that they 56 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:57,600 need us. We don't have the language, and we're profoundly ill-equipped to do that right now. 57 00:05:57,600 --> 00:06:03,120 So I have not been in a middle school classroom since December 2019, meaning that I just missed 58 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:09,680 the pandemic by months. But I began teaching at the college level in January 2020. And even though 59 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:15,280 I only experienced being a college professor under normal conditions for less than 10 weeks, 60 00:06:15,280 --> 00:06:23,680 I still definitely recall this drastic change from spring 2020 to fall 2020 to fall 2022 to now fall 61 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:30,560 2024, seeing the needs of our students entirely reshaped. And it's challenging for us as educators 62 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:36,320 to become caretakers of those needs while also taking care of ourselves. And as you mentioned, 63 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:42,160 Jen, this becomes a big recipe for burnout. So I wanted to ask, what do you see as the root causes 64 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:48,080 for burnout among teachers in our field? And how can teachers work to reclaim their well-being 65 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:55,040 in the face of these instances? Well, I think one of the biggest contributors to this is the 66 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:59,920 superhero narrative that we all subscribe to. And this is what I talk a lot about in the 67 00:06:59,920 --> 00:07:08,960 TED talk. So many of us own this idea of being a superhero as part of our identity, where we can 68 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:17,520 do it all. And it's a really dangerous narrative. And one, by the way, that I myself subscribed to, 69 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:27,520 because it justified all of the chaos, that it allowed me to shape shift my boundaries. 70 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:34,400 Because if I was a superhero, then I could just handle it all. And so it didn't matter what was 71 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:43,040 happening around me. And that pressure is overwhelming. And if there is ever a time where 72 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:52,160 I am saying, this isn't OK, I'm not OK, well, then it doesn't align with the superhero narrative. 73 00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:57,360 Because if I really believe that about myself, then I should be able to do it. And if I don't, 74 00:07:57,360 --> 00:08:03,120 then I should be able to do it. And so then we spiral into this judgment and shame rollercoaster 75 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:10,320 that feels awful and never actually solves anything. And what's true is you're not a superhero. 76 00:08:10,320 --> 00:08:18,960 Superheroes are immortal and indestructible beings. And you are very much human. And in the 77 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:26,480 work that we do, we are heroes in so many ways. But we are human heroes. And we need to treat 78 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:34,880 humans like we do. And that means that we require basic human needs, like eating. I mean, how many 79 00:08:34,880 --> 00:08:39,600 teachers do you know that go throughout the day without eating, without drinking water, because 80 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:44,160 they feel as if they don't have time to go to the bathroom throughout the day, having a good night's 81 00:08:44,160 --> 00:08:52,240 sleep? These are basic human needs that we deny ourselves, because we equate our productivity 82 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:59,040 with our identity of being the superhero character. So I am unsubscribing to that. And I encourage 83 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:05,360 everyone who's listening, who that is resonating with, to unsubscribe and start asking yourself 84 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:13,200 some pretty confronting questions. What if I was able to put the armor down? And that could feel 85 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:18,640 very scary, which is why we do the work that we do at Empowered Educators, creating that sense of 86 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:24,560 safety and helping and guiding people to create that sense of safety for themselves without the 87 00:09:24,560 --> 00:09:30,160 armor. I can personally relate to the superhero narrative, especially during my opening years of 88 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:35,840 teaching. In the fall of 2018, I was teaching at the feeder school connected to one of the worst 89 00:09:35,840 --> 00:09:42,560 school tragedies in US history, which had occurred just six months earlier. That term, I worked 90 00:09:42,560 --> 00:09:47,760 closely with the children, siblings, neighbors, and friends of those directly affected by the 91 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:53,120 tragedy. And at the same time, I was also grappling with the profound loss of my friend to suicide. 92 00:09:53,840 --> 00:10:00,640 And I made myself a promise that semester that I would do whatever it took to take the pain out of 93 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:06,480 every child. And I remember while living with my family that term, my parents told me that they had 94 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:11,120 to hold their breath every time I would come home and put my key through the door, because they had 95 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:17,360 no idea what mood they would be walking into with my emotions from that school day, having been as 96 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:24,000 intent as the most miserable student I had worked with. I remember sending tips to the school social 97 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:31,360 worker for interventions left and right and seeing myself as a mandatory reporter. I also sometimes 98 00:10:31,360 --> 00:10:36,160 attempted to resolve student crises myself when maybe at times it would have been best for me to 99 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:41,200 stay a little bit less involved. Within a year, it came to the point where I was so overwhelmed, 100 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:46,640 attempting to stay subscribed to the superhero narrative, where I believed it was my job to 101 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:52,000 save every child. This realization that I could not sustain this narrative for the sake of my 102 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:57,360 health found me at what I recall to be one of the most disappointing and even lowest moments in my 103 00:10:57,360 --> 00:11:02,960 life. So I wanted to ask, what is the work that empowered educator is doing that is getting the 104 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:06,320 attention of teachers who are also facing this type of struggle? 105 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:17,120 It's not your job to save anyone. And I think so many of us go into teaching because we want to 106 00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:25,600 make a difference. We want to provide a vision of a future that doesn't exist yet for kids to grow 107 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:34,000 into their potential. But what happens so often is that, like you said, becomes your whole identity. 108 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:44,080 And it is, although well-meaning, very presumptuous to think that we can save someone else. And as 109 00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:49,680 teachers and educators listening to this, I know this might sound confronting in some way, but 110 00:11:49,680 --> 00:11:57,440 what's true is you can't actually make anyone do anything. The only person that you have any agency 111 00:11:57,440 --> 00:12:08,080 in changing is you. That is it. And so we spend so much time, energy, money, attention 112 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:14,960 into everything and everyone outside of ourselves. And then our wellbeing is affected then 113 00:12:15,520 --> 00:12:23,680 by everything outside of us and how you feel, how you show up, that's an inside game. 114 00:12:23,680 --> 00:12:33,040 And we become so disconnected from ourselves in the name of selflessness, in the name of education. 115 00:12:34,240 --> 00:12:43,680 And what kids actually need are adults in their lives who are authentically, fully expressed 116 00:12:43,680 --> 00:12:54,400 individuals. And that requires you to do introspective work. So what we do at Empowered Educator 117 00:12:54,400 --> 00:13:00,720 is first meet people where they are with their stress and their armor, because you're not learning 118 00:13:00,720 --> 00:13:08,480 anything if you're all armored up. And we actively go through some of the things that you're feeling 119 00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:13,440 are causing you stress, understanding the biology of what stress is doing inside of your life. 120 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:19,760 Inside of your brain and inside of your body and giving you your own flashlight so you can make 121 00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:25,360 the changes that you need to align with the person who you want to be. And that is actually how 122 00:13:25,360 --> 00:13:32,320 you're going to make impact. Thank you so much. And the work you are doing with Empowered Educator 123 00:13:32,320 --> 00:13:38,880 is appreciated by schools everywhere. So your mission with Empowered Educator is to create 124 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:45,360 thriving school communities. And I wanted to ask, what does a truly thriving school look like to 125 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:53,680 you? And what actionable steps can schools take to move toward that vision? So I think that's 126 00:13:53,680 --> 00:13:59,120 really what I just described is everyone on campus, the adults on campus first, 127 00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:09,280 having the tools to be self aware, to self regulate, and to show up as their most authentic, 128 00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:18,960 fully expressed selves. That's how we thrive. And that provides fertile ground for our kids to see 129 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:27,440 examples of adults who are not living in perpetual states of exhaustion and frustration and burnout. 130 00:14:27,440 --> 00:14:37,280 And when kids see adults who hold boundaries, when kids see adults who are not shying away from a 131 00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:45,360 difficult or challenging conversation, when kids see adults who respond to their behavior choices 132 00:14:45,920 --> 00:14:52,800 with curiosity and compassion, that's when things really start to change for the next generation. 133 00:14:52,800 --> 00:15:00,640 And again, it all goes back to the individual because schools, organizations don't change until 134 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:07,040 people change. You mentioned the word self regulate. And I think that is a fundamental word 135 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:12,640 for educators to acknowledge and apply to their learning spaces. In my classrooms, self regulation 136 00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:18,640 involves lightly tapping on the brakes and allowing everyone to spend about 90 seconds just breathing 137 00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:24,400 together before regathering for whole group learning. So I wanted to ask what self regulation looks 138 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:29,760 like in the classrooms you have been a part of and what advice would you give to teachers as relates 139 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:36,800 to self regulating? Well, self regulation can look like anything that feels good for your nervous 140 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:42,400 system. First of all, you need to connect enough with your body so you recognize when you're in the 141 00:15:42,400 --> 00:15:50,480 dysregulated state because you will feel it before you even think it. But we're so used to ignoring 142 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:57,280 the messages from our body. It's often way too late by the time we realized how far dysregulated 143 00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:03,280 we are. So connecting to your body, noticing my heart is beating really fast. My shoulders are all 144 00:16:03,280 --> 00:16:07,760 crunched up. I'm sweating. I have this headache that won't go away. Noticing like what's happening 145 00:16:07,760 --> 00:16:14,720 here with curiosity, non-judgmental curiosity. And then the self regulation could be whatever 146 00:16:14,720 --> 00:16:20,000 your body needs. And connecting with it enough to have that dialogue with your body is really 147 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:28,080 important. What do I need right now is a question that educators hardly ever ask. They don't ask, 148 00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:33,600 what do I need right now? They ask what everyone else needs. What do I need right now? Sometimes 149 00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:40,640 it's going for a walk. Sometimes you need to shake it out and actually move that emotional energy 150 00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:46,960 throughout your body. Sometimes it's taking a pillow and smacking the couch a couple of times 151 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:52,160 as hard as you can. Sometimes it's breathing. Sometimes it's meditation. But there are some 152 00:16:52,160 --> 00:16:56,960 really messed up things that happen that you can't just breathe and meditate away. You actually need 153 00:16:56,960 --> 00:17:02,880 to physically, actively do something with your body. And then you can't just sit down and do 154 00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:09,840 something with your body to get rid of that emotional feeling because feelings happen in the 155 00:17:09,840 --> 00:17:16,640 body. This is why when you tell someone to calm down, it doesn't work because it's not in a place 156 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:25,680 that's cognitive. It's physical. I often get in my car sometimes and go down the highway and scream. 157 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:33,280 I think that's a great release that is a self-regulation strategy because sometimes it's 158 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:37,920 more stressful to sit down and meditate. I need to get that out of different kinds of way. So I do 159 00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:43,200 whatever my body calls. This morning I was just laying on the floor to have a feeling of being 160 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:49,360 grounded because that's what my body needed right then. And knowing yourself enough and practicing 161 00:17:49,360 --> 00:17:54,320 and connecting to your body enough to know, to ask that question, what do I need right now? And then 162 00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:59,920 something about empowered educator and our team is we're all practitioners. We practice every single 163 00:17:59,920 --> 00:18:06,880 thing that we teach, which is why I share. Yeah, this morning I was lying on the hardwood floor to 164 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:12,000 get that sense of grounding that my body was so desperately needing so I can show up to this 165 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:16,880 conversation feeling regulated. That's the whole point. I'm responsible for how I show up. 166 00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:23,280 There's a difference we can acknowledge as a means to self-care and self-regulation where 167 00:18:23,280 --> 00:18:30,880 self-care involves the things we do to restore our well-being and self-regulation involves being more 168 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:36,880 in tune to our own bodies. And I think what's so important about regulation is that students are 169 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:42,320 able to easily pick up on a dysregulated teacher and correct me if I'm wrong, but a dysregulated 170 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:47,840 teacher who then dysregulates the environment ultimately makes student learning outcomes near 171 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:53,840 impossible during that window of instruction. I don't know that I would say it's impossible, 172 00:18:53,840 --> 00:19:00,080 but I would say that the type of learning that happens is definitely affected. We all co-regulate 173 00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:07,520 with each other. So while you described students can see when a teacher is dysregulated, it's more 174 00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:14,320 of a feeling. You feel someone's energy when they walk into a room before they even open their mouth. 175 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:17,600 You actually described it yourself earlier when you're saying you would turn the key and your 176 00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:21,040 parents would be like, oh my gosh, and you probably wouldn't even have to say anything and they would 177 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:29,200 recognize the kind of mood that you were in. And so we are able to experience someone's emotional 178 00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:36,720 frequency and their emotional state just by being in the same room. And as a teacher, you get to 179 00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:43,840 co-regulate with your students. They're co-regulating with you and your emotional state gets to be your 180 00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:49,600 priority because that's what shifts everything else. I shared this story, you know, I travel a 181 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:55,680 lot and I'm on a plane a lot and often there's some turbulence. I'm okay on the plane at this point. I'm 182 00:19:55,680 --> 00:20:02,400 not one to lose it, but it's uncomfortable. However, there was this one plane ride that I was on where 183 00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:08,960 the turbulence was a little bit more than I would be used to. And I'm doing all the strategies. I'm 184 00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:14,800 calming down my nervous system, but I'm still feeling like this low hum of anxiety. And I look 185 00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:20,880 at the flight attendant and she's like on her phone, like not really paying attention to what's 186 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:26,800 going on. And what I realized was like, oh, okay, like she's the person in charge here and she's 187 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:36,800 fine. And I was able to borrow her calm and I was fine. And that's very much the job of the teacher 188 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:41,600 in that classroom is that kids are going to come in dysregulated for all sorts of reasons. What 189 00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:45,840 happens at home, what happens on the schoolyard. They just took a test and they were insured. Their 190 00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:49,120 friend texted something that they were, you know, or shared something on Snapchat and now everyone 191 00:20:49,120 --> 00:20:55,920 knows they're all dysregulated. It is your job to prioritize your regulation so you can make the 192 00:20:55,920 --> 00:21:03,200 biggest impact in your classroom. So Jen, I have to take a moment to read an Instagram post that 193 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:08,160 you made yesterday that is really even helping me as we near the end of our academic semester here 194 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:15,280 at the time that we are recording this. The post you made said, your worth does not equal your 195 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:23,680 productivity. You are not your work. And it can be really easy, especially for educators, to conflate 196 00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:31,600 your identity with your career. The truth is that you are so much more. And when you realize that 197 00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:38,640 you don't have to prove your worth through your productivity, you can breathe more easily, relax 198 00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:45,920 more, sleep better, and be more present with the people that you love instead of hustling, grinding, 199 00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:52,480 and wearing your badge of honor of how stressed and busy you really are. So I wanted to ask, 200 00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:58,640 what are some ways that teachers can continue to prove their worth throughout their careers 201 00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:05,600 without losing themselves? Yeah, this is a big question because this is also how our society is 202 00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:17,040 built, right? Work harder, do better, make more money, success, that's your identity. And we are 203 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:28,480 falling victim to yet another narrative. And if your worth is always connected to your productivity, 204 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:38,640 well then anytime you're taking a break or a pause or resting, well, how does that align within your 205 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:48,480 identity of productivity? It doesn't. So again, there's shame and judgment, and we speak so 206 00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:55,120 negatively about ourselves when we're resting, and we're not actually getting the benefits of 207 00:22:55,120 --> 00:23:02,880 resting if we're shaming ourselves for it anyway. And we consistently brag about how little sleep 208 00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:12,560 we've been on and how busy we are, as if that gives us space in this world and say, hey, look at me, 209 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:22,800 I have value, I'm worthy to be in this room, and it's just BS. You are worthy because you woke up 210 00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:31,760 this morning, and your productivity has absolutely nothing to do with your work. There's a great book 211 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:41,840 by Dr. Devon Price, who wrote, Laziness Does Not Exist. It's a fabulous read, and it really speaks 212 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:50,960 to how as a society we look at laziness, resting, and how it contradicts everything we think we know 213 00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:57,200 about what's important. And what's so interesting is when you really sit down with people and ask 214 00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:06,960 them what's important, they talk about things like family, friends, connections, relationships, 215 00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:14,880 and very rarely do you hear someone be like, oh, my work, my working, my 40, 50, 60, 70 hour work 216 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:22,880 week is really important to me. So there's this disconnect, there's this incongruence that I'm 217 00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:29,040 always really curious about when I see these incongruences, because why do we believe one thing 218 00:24:29,840 --> 00:24:39,120 but behave another? Well, because the belief of productivity is so much stronger than what we're 219 00:24:39,120 --> 00:24:46,160 saying we really value. And finding ways to create that congruence is also something we guide people 220 00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:50,480 and help people do through Empowered Educator, because when you're living a life with alignment 221 00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:55,280 and incongruence, that's when you're actually able to start to move the needle forward to do the 222 00:24:55,280 --> 00:25:00,320 things you want to do in this world. Definitely. And you're reminding me, even that same first year 223 00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:05,600 teaching I had on the side of my board just for fun and for giggles and pleasure, I had what I 224 00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:09,440 called my sleep counter, where every single day I'd walk in the room and I'd update and let the 225 00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:13,920 students know how many hours of sleep I got that night. It was usually four, that was an average 226 00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:18,880 number, and we'd go be like, woohoo, Mr. Weiser got four hours tonight, yay. So if it was like 227 00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:24,640 five to five and a half, that was like, wow, he hibernated, what happened? And I think once or 228 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:28,880 twice it came in on three and a half. You're like, oh, come on, you could have done better than that. 229 00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:34,160 And obviously it caught up to me very quickly by the time I burned out. And when I reached that 230 00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:40,960 burnout, I realized that we live, like you're alluding to Jen, in this very matrix-based society 231 00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:50,240 where we all have these constructed standards that we expect people to fall into a cycle of exhaustion. 232 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:57,520 And once they get there, we no longer know how to take care of the exhausted. And that's how we run. 233 00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:01,920 And I believe that through Empowered Educator, you're working so hard to change that narrative. 234 00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:06,480 So I wanted to say thank you for all the work that you're doing to break down those standards 235 00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:09,920 and help people thrive. I think that's what thriving really is all about. 236 00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:14,080 100%. Yeah. Thank you for saying that. I received that. 237 00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:21,680 Absolutely. And I wanted to ask Jen, in terms of what schools look like and what education looks 238 00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:26,640 like, I know that this is a very challenging question for my guests, but I always like to kind 239 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:30,960 of take a little bit from everybody and see if we could actually make this recipe come to life. 240 00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:35,120 What would you say is a secret ingredient to the secret sauce, if you will, 241 00:26:35,120 --> 00:26:40,240 and actually thriving in education? You know, from where I'm standing, 242 00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:47,440 the secret sauce, the secret sauce, you know, as I was even saying that it's so big. 243 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:54,240 There are so many structural and fundamental problems within our public education system. 244 00:26:55,120 --> 00:27:03,120 Kids are falling through the cracks. Kids are not feeling supported right now, especially 245 00:27:03,120 --> 00:27:14,000 the mental health crisis is out of control. And it's really easy to point fingers out, 246 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:21,200 but I just, I have to keep going back to this one thing. The secret sauce is looking in the mirror 247 00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:25,360 because organizations don't change until people change. I said that already before. I'm going to 248 00:27:25,360 --> 00:27:33,600 say it again. And until each individual starts to realize their own agency, starts to realize that 249 00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:42,080 they have the ability to walk into these spaces, feeling empowered to actually make decisions and 250 00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:49,520 have conversations that are not coming from a place of stress and survival. That's when we really 251 00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:57,600 start to see change. So the secret sauce is get in front of a mirror, do the work, do the work. 252 00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:04,880 And yeah, it's not easy and yeah, it feels hard sometimes, but this is what's going to make the 253 00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:08,080 change. Everyone says that they want. Definitely. It's like that narrative that 254 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:12,640 we cannot pour from an empty cup. Therefore we need to improve ourselves before we help others 255 00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:18,320 improve as well. Where can our viewers go to learn more about empowered educator and how to 256 00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:24,320 stay connected with what you do? If you take a look at the webpage, empowerededucator.com, 257 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:28,400 and you go to the resources page, there are a ton of free resources on there for you to get your 258 00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:33,760 feet wet and to kind of dabble a little bit in some of the work that we do. And we always have 259 00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:39,760 workshops and classes going on all of the time. So if you go to the workshop page, you'll see that 260 00:28:39,760 --> 00:28:45,360 we have lots of asynchronous classes, self-paced classes and live synchronous classes. 261 00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:50,720 Lots of different opportunities to get involved because what we do here is truly look at whole 262 00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:55,600 school communities. It is not just the teachers. It is not just the principals. It is the office 263 00:28:55,600 --> 00:29:00,720 staff. It is the paraprofessionals. It is the TAs. It's the bus drivers. It's the school nurses. 264 00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:06,800 It's the cafeteria staff and it's the parents because we need to have holistic language, 265 00:29:06,800 --> 00:29:15,440 universal language, universal work that really lays a solid foundation for these kids to grow. 266 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:18,400 And we've seen it. We've seen the change happen. It's pretty amazing. 267 00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:23,440 Thank you so much for that. And Jen, I wanted to go ahead and also thank you for sharing your 268 00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:28,800 wisdom and passion with us today in our dialogue and just share with all of our viewers based upon 269 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:33,440 my interactions that your work with the empowered educator is not only transforming the lives of 270 00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:38,800 teachers, but also trying to show what's important within our entire school-based communities. 271 00:29:38,800 --> 00:29:43,920 And again, to our listeners, I'm so inspired by all the work that Jen is doing because truly she 272 00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:48,400 is a movement. So I would love you to go ahead and learn more about what she does through 273 00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:54,400 empowerededucator.com. You can find a link to her website in our show notes and also be sure to 274 00:29:54,400 --> 00:30:00,640 tune into her own podcast, Take Notes. And remember that creating change starts with one empowered 275 00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:06,480 step at a time. Until next time, let's keep the conversation going as we empower others 276 00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:11,200 while using our voices to make a difference. Thank you for joining us on the Classroom 277 00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:16,400 Narratives Healing and Education podcast. If today's episode inspired you or made you think 278 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:21,920 differently, I'd love to hear from you. Drop a comment or review wherever you listen to podcasts 279 00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:27,280 and stay connected with us on the at Classroom Narratives podcast over Instagram and Facebook. 280 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:34,640 Remember, together we can transform our scars into stars in education, one conversation at a time.