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Welcome to the Classroom Narratives Healing and Education Podcast, the space where education meets resilience.

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I'm Dr. Joey Weisler, and in each episode, we dive deep into the personal stories of educators, students,

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leaders, and frontline advocates who are navigating the complexities within modern education.

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Whether you're just starting your teaching journey or are a seasoned professional looking for inspiration,

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we'll explore how to foster meaningful change, prevent burnout, and build trauma-informed communities within our schools.

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Now, let's take a seat at the front of the classroom as we get started.

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All right, welcome back to the podcast, everyone.

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For today's guest is Phil Januszewski, a tattoo-covered, highly energized chemistry and physics teacher,

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and also a dynamic speaker and all-around motivator.

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Phil is also the CEO of the Positive Growth Lounge,

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and his mission is just to help educators thrive by leaning into their strengths and creating structure

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that leads to less burnout and more impact.

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So if you're ready to show up less tired and more inspired, let's dive into our conversation.

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Phil, welcome to the show.

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Joey, thank you so much. It's a pleasure and privilege to be here,

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and I've truly been enjoying getting to know you and everything you stand for.

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So pleasure's all mine, my friend.

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Likewise. So I met Phil earlier this week when I joined the Positive Growth Lounge

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and got to know a little bit more about the work that he's done with positive psychology.

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And I'll mention for our listeners here that we're recording this in the weekend following

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the seventh passing of the Stoneman Douglas tragedy.

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And just being amongst Phil and his members, it really brought so much solace and even unity

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to trying to get through what is always a tough anniversary.

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So even though our listeners may not hear the show until April,

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I wanted to say now in February how much of a pleasure it has been getting to know Phil

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and moving forward with that headspace into the rest of my month going forward.

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So thank you again for having me.

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Of course, my friend. You're always welcome. Doors always open.

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Absolutely. And we'll talk more about the Positive Growth Lounge later in today's conversation.

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But to start with, Phil, you are a chemistry teacher.

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And I mentioned that I don't usually have STEM educators on this program

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because we're really a humanities-driven podcast.

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And I always talk about, through my research, with this entanglement here with emotions

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and writing and trauma of this and trauma of that.

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And I'm so glad that Phil's here to join me today because I want him to put me in my place

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on my own show and really trying to help me justify how did you get onto this journey of

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working with high school chemistry, but also teaching these principles of positive psychology.

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What do they mesh and entangle in the work that you do?

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Yeah, thanks for asking. I think that, first of all, I've always been a very positive human,

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naturally. So 50% of my genetic code, I would say a big thanks to for just being a naturally

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positive human. And so when I brought energy into the classroom, though I love chemistry

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and science, I always felt like number one was human connection. If I want my students

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to succeed, if I want them to even give me a chance or pay attention to what I'm trying

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to help them learn, then I have to earn their trust. I have to make sure that they can be

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vulnerable enough to take risks and try to grow and make mistakes. And I think I always knew that

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inherently that I need to make a human connection with them first. So for me, getting to know my

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students, making them feel safe has always been a number one priority and very natural

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and how I approach the classroom. Now, fast forward years later, this is my 20th school year

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I've been teaching science. And during COVID, I saw a lot of an amazing humans, my coworkers

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get really burned out, get cynical, maybe even jaded with the system and the expectations of

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what education was at the time. And I too wasn't enjoying myself very much either. But I started

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asking myself, what is it that allows me even when I'm not particularly happy or satisfied with the

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way things are going, what allows me to stay hopeful? What allows me to push forward? What

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allows me to bring energy and a smile to my students, even when it's not necessarily the

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way I would like it to be going? And I had a friend, her name was Rose, who introduced me

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to a book by Shawn Achor, it was called Big Potential. And she just said, I think with your

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vibe and energy, I think you'd really like the book. So I started reading it. And that was

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actually my first taste of positive psychology. So I started getting obsessed with looking into

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the study of people who are happy, and realized that I just accidentally and naturally, Joey had

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some of these natural responses to the world. And the more I dug into it and looked into it,

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like the more it was backed by science. So I started saying, how can I start helping my students

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more knowing this, and also adults in general, how can I make the world more aware of this?

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So I just started really digging into all of it, and then finding small, tiny ways to inject it

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into the classroom. I actually did a study my own last year, I had a random sample of my quizzes and

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tests. At the very top of my samples of tests and quizzes, some of them, every third one had,

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"please write three things you're grateful for", just at the top before they started their quiz or exam.

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I never addressed it to the students. I never said anything, I didn't count it for points.

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I just put it at the top and majority of students, believe it or not, because I got great kids,

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they filled it in. And it was actually really nice to for me, on a selfish note to see what

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they're grateful for. I learned that some of my students have very heavy faith based lifestyles.

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Some of them are really close with their family. Some of them are really close with hobbies and

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passions I didn't know about. But what I started doing is, according to research, if you start

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with gratitude before an exam, it opens up your mind, you create a positive upward spiral. And

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it's supposed to help with students thinking and problem solving better, they're less stressed.

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And you know what I found is that there was actually a percentage difference in the average

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for quizzes and tests that started with that gratitude piece. And honestly, I didn't believe

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it when I read it. That's why I had to try it for myself. So it was things like that, that I thought,

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wow, well, if the numbers don't lie, and I've heard it already through research, then what am

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I going to do to make sure this is an everyday thing. So I try to be a role model for my students

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expressing gratitude for my job I have for them being here. I always like to say when they leave

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the classroom, hey, thanks for showing up today. Without you, I don't have a job. I need you. I

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need you to keep coming back soon. And it gives them a little chuckle. But what I try to really

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do is model that, that I'm grateful for every day I wake up, I'm excited to see them. And even if we

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had a rough day yesterday, because of maybe our differences and what should have happened,

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I let them know right away, like, I'm glad they're back. I'm glad they're here. Water under the bridge

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from yesterday, every day is a new day. And because of that, I sincerely think my students

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achieve at a high level. I think that I have very few problems and concerns with classroom management.

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And I also have very rare on occasion, an upset parent who doesn't like the way I'm running things

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or doesn't feel their child is supported, or doesn't feel like their kid is thriving because

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of me. So because of this investment upfront, with a positive psychology mindset, it's really

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made my job in a lot of ways easier, so that we can really get to what we're there for. And that's

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to have fun and grow and learn together, and also connect on the human level. So positive psychology,

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I owe a lot to, and I actually enjoyed it so much. I reached out and got a 64 hour course in

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positive educated certification through the flourishing center, which is based off of so

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many different areas of positive psych. But it was really cool to be with like-minded teachers

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in a cohort setting, just looking to find ways to make their students happier and flourish more so

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they could learn more. So that's kind of my journey on where I'm at and how that overlaps

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with my style. So as you saw, like I still do my labs, I still have a regular chem class,

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but it's like without them even realizing I'm trying to instill positive psychology.

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That's a mic drop. That's an amazing journey, Phil. And it looks like most of the ways that

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you've been able to engage your students is through your own science-based research,

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of course, as a scientist. And I've been thinking about this as well. So when it comes to actually

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running a chemistry class, how do you work to engage students in respectfully, what can be a

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very dense and emotionally disconnecting subject for many of them? Yeah, I think that, you know,

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there's so many cliches saying in education, right? Like they don't care until they know that you care.

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And I don't care if that's a 42-year-old person you just met, a six-year-old, or what my case,

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I have 15 and 16-year-olds mostly this year. I'm teaching all chem this year.

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And I think once they realize that I'm not an act, that I'm genuine, that I'm really excited

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and energized to be there, I think they trust me. And because of that, even on days when they're

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not feeling the energy to think really, really hard, or even on days when it's a subject that

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they might not be as passionate about as me, I think they go along with it because they love

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and respect me enough to do it. And I try to reinforce that love too, especially when I hold

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them accountable, when I have to call a student out because they're making the poor decision,

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the wrong decision, or they're just not being their best self that they could give more.

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I always tell them when I lean hard on them, I said, the reason I'm leaning hard on you

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is not because I want you to feel bad about yourself. It's because I love you enough to

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hold you accountable to the person you can be. And I said, so if you want to be upset or annoyed

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or angry with me, you have every right to have that emotion. But at the end of the day, I want

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you to know this isn't to belittle you, this is to make you better. And it's because I love you

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that I'm willing to tell you as opposed to ignore it. So I just want you to sit with that, even

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though you might not want to talk to me right now. And you know what? I think it does sink in for

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a majority of students that I act out of love with accountability and set boundaries because I know

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they're worth it and able to reach that level. So again, not everybody loves chem like me,

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and I 100% you know what some topics I find quite dry and boring, but we get through it together

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because of the relationship first. That's it. And I know that's corny, but you can't avoid it.

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If they don't like you, if they don't respect you, if they don't connect with you, if they don't see

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you as a human, and they don't think that you see them as a human, then it doesn't matter how exciting

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of a lesson you're teaching. I don't think they're going to truly listen.

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You reminded me of Rita Pearson and her Ted talk about every student needs a champion.

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She says that students are not going to learn from teachers that they don't like. And if you

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flip that narrative, of course, students will more than likely learn from teachers who they do like.

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And I'll also give a shout out to here as well, Ms. Rebecca Hoyumpa, my tenth grade chemistry teacher.

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I was not a scientist in high school. I was very English and history and psychology and behavior,

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and all of the humanities were my strong suits. And even though chem was a class that I really had to

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do a lot of work in in order to make sure that I was successful, I'm still so grateful for Ms.

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Hoyumpa because we had that partnership where it was seventh period, last hour of the day,

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and I would take, I kid you not, 25 minutes to pack up after that bell ring. And she would just

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sit there with me for 25 minutes every single day after school just to chat and get to know me and

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invest in me and show that she was present and she cared. And because she saw me as that human,

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I did so well in her class. And now that was 14 years ago. And I'm still in touch with her today.

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She's one of my dearest friends. She was like my academic mother during that time. So a big

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thanks to Rebecca Hoyumpa and other educators everywhere who make that investment. Yep, Phil's

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snapping, who make those investments to show that they care about their students no matter what

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they're teaching. And Phil, we also had this conversation around the academy about educators

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who struggle with stress and burnout. Now I'll also mention Ms. Hoyumpa, when I was her student,

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when I said to her that one day I want to become a teacher, she laughed at me and she said,

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"oh, no!". And it's because she knew that this struggle of stress and burnout was so prevalent

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and she really did not want to see that happen to me. P.S. Ms. Hoyumpa, it happened and she knows

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because we talked about it. And what are some of the strategies that you've learned from positive

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psychology that have helped teachers not just survive, but also flourish within the profession?

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Yeah, I'd love to look upstream. I think that for a lot of us, education is our idea.

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It's our identity. And because of that, there's almost this martyr mentality that you have to

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give your all and die on the hill for the students first. And I think I give a lot to my students

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and I don't think many of my students would say I should be giving a lot more. But I do look upstream

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at how I take care of my personal life so that I can then show up to work and be more resilient,

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more energized, more positive and more happy. So when I love to keynote and workshop with adult

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givers like educators, I love to tell them first that you need to figure out and remind yourself

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of the things that you love to do, your errs. And I learned this through my positive psychology

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certification. Your -er's are the things you are and do that energize you, that you love. So I am

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a teacher, but I'm also a father, a brother, a music listener, weightlifter. I'm a baker, I'm a

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cooker, I'm a creator, I'm a speaker, I'm a networker. I'm a lot of -er's. And all those

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-er's I just mentioned are different than the other errs we have to do. Like I'm a bill payer,

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which is great, but doesn't energize me. I'm a reader, I'm a learner, I'm a lot of things.

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So the more we know our errs is important because then the next step, which a lot of us don't do is

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givers because we don't pour into ourselves enough, is how do I schedule that into my day every single

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day? Now I'm a very rigid and structured gentleman. I get up at a certain time every day, Monday through

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Friday, I have a set schedule and I'm not here to tell you how to run your life or schedule or what

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time to get up, but I am here to tell you that if you don't schedule in the good stuff in your life,

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other people and other things will schedule your life for you. Now what good are we to the world

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if we are living a life that someone else planned for us? What good are we to the world if we aren't

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getting our -er's in every single day? And I'm not talking about hours of it, Joey. I'm talking about

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the fact that for me I wake up early so that I can work out because that fills me up and energizes

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me. I love to learn every day, so I'm listening to an audiobook on the way to work every day.

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I love to learn as well, so I'm reading before bed, which helps me get to sleep at night because I am

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a sleeper. I want to get seven and a half hours of sleep every night. I am a father and love my

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children. How do I build that in? Well, because I'm creative and I like to cook and I like to be with

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my children. My kids do their homework in the kitchen while I'm cooking. I'm helping them, I'm

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creating, I'm being a father, a teacher, and also a creator. So I found little tweaks in my life every

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single day that by the time I lay my head down at night, it's been filled with things that allow me

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to flourish and feel alive and the things, Joey, that we have to do every day that deplete us.

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For me, it's grading labs. I love giving labs. I love teaching. I despise grading even though feedback

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is so important. I just don't enjoy it and it depletes me, but I build that in at a certain

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time every day so that I have a positive mental bank so that when I deplete from that thing that

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I'm doing that doesn't energize me, I still have plenty in the bank. So I think a lot of us go

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through life and we're just trying to survive and exist, but if we put a little bit of intention and

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thought in front, it can make a huge difference on how we show up to our life and we look forward

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to it even more and we create that positive upward spiral where I feel empowered, I feel more

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energized, I feel more positive, and then once we get to that place where we're feeling good,

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then the best part happens. Then we can truly lean into the people we are. We're givers.

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How do we give to the world? We all have a gift in our own unique way. Maybe for me,

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it's cooking and creating. Maybe it's human connection. Maybe for you, Joey, it's the written

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word that you love to do, right? Or all of the amazing people you've met through this podcast

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that you link like-minded people together. We all have our little gifts that don't cost a lot of

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money and to us, don't feel like we're spending a lot of energy. In fact, it energizes us to give

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those gifts. We start living our life like that. We can do everything better because we're not

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becoming jaded or cynical or worn down, but we're actually energizing ourselves and empowering

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ourselves. And I think that once we get that mentality, even when every single day your

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schedule won't go perfectly, when you lay down at night, you'll realize just how many beautiful

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things you did today. Even when there was a wrench in your plans, you still did a hell of a lot of

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good things that make you feel great. And I think that's the way you were able to be resilient,

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show up your best self, be more adaptable and flexible, and still enjoy your life,

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even when tough things come your way. Yeah, I know that in my first year of teaching,

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I was going home crying every night as early as mid-September. And by December, I didn't stick

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around. And it's because I was never taught, like we don't talk about this in any form of pre-training

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as to how to give to yourself first. Because when you become that giver and making that a priority

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onto your own being, then I feel like the rest of it really does, as you say, still energizes you

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when it comes into place. Like I know I was teaching seven classes every semester just in

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the past couple of years while doing my dissertation, 300 page project. And the way I got that done in

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18 months was by every single night, I had 25 minutes, that's all I needed, just to go inside

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and watch "This Is Us" or something to just stimulate my mind. This is not like, you know,

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Netflix and sit back and play on the phone, mind-numbing experience. It was a really

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engaging opportunity for me to go away from the work, but still keep my brain stimulated to

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appreciate and reflect on what I did that day. And it kept me going for the next day as well. So

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finding those little opportunities to just give back to our own minds seems like the most important

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thing that we can do. And when you start to reward yourself and even prioritize that idea of taking

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care of the mind first, I wanted to ask, how do you also incorporate positive psychology principles

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in your own classrooms to help your students with resiliency, motivation, and giving them a love

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for learning? Yeah, I think first and foremost, as an educator, we model all the things we would

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eventually like our students to pick up. So a positive mindset to embrace our mistakes and

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talk about, oh, yes, good catch, I made a mistake there, how are we going to move forward and fix it?

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So I think us as educators need to be the model for everything we hope that they'll become and

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to expect and realize that they won't be as far as we are. They're younger than us, they haven't

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experienced as much. So we have to allow them time and grace. But by showing yourself time and grace,

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I think they learn that without even realizing it. I also try to build it into my actual class

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schedule, like a growth mindset and learning from your mistakes. So for me, every unit I have has a

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series of quizzes, and then finally, a unit test, what I do is build in the point system to show

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them just how valuable it is from learning from your mistakes. So when they get a quiz, I tell them

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this isn't just a grade, the grade means nothing. What's important about a quiz is for you now know

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officially, what do you and don't you know that you're supposed to? And can you now learn from

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the mistakes for the next quiz that builds off it to eventually the exam? So the way I tell them,

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and I dangle the carrot a little bit, and I'm fully aware of this is, but it works. If they score

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higher on their unit test than any of their unit quizzes, so say they got 70% on their quizzes,

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which is great, seven out of 10, and then they rock a 90% on the test, all their quizzes from

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the units that are lower than 90% now become 90%. And I tell them my argument is if by the end of

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the unit, you know 90% of my material that I've asked you to know, and really understand, then

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why wouldn't your grade for the unit and assessments reflect that? And what I'm saying is that I know

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you care about your grade and you want to do well, and I'm glad that you want to do well.

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But more importantly, if you now look at your quizzes as opportunities, as speed bumps, to truly

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see where you're at, where you're weak, and where you're strong, it can entice you and encourage you

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to know, all right, if I learn from my mistakes, I can still change this grade, which actually means

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very little right now, but the value of a quiz is to really self-assess what I do and don't know.

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So I try to drill that throughout constantly, that learning is messy, that learning is never

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going to be perfect, and then I tell them that I am not perfect, nor will I ever claim to be perfect.

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I make mistakes every day and I say, you know what, you guys correct me, and I bet you don't even

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realize it. You don't think about me being imperfect, but you're so much harder on yourself.

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If you don't expect me to be perfect, why do you expect yourself? And then I always say, now that

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doesn't mean that you don't try your best. I strive for perfection, fully knowing I'll never get there,

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but that doesn't mean I'm not trying for that Mount Rushmore to be someone that is at a high level,

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but always we're striving to move forward and that's what learning is. We're all at our own pace,

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but if we know where we're at and we know where we're going, we're always going to continue to

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improve. So I feel like things like that, where we have those discussions, but it's also actually

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built into my course, I feel like, and I hope, I can't really say whether or not it sticks.

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I don't have any research on that, but I really hope that sticks with them, that they know, like,

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hey, I'm going to learn from this. I know where I'm at, but I know where I'm headed forward and

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onward and upward. Well, I'll mention as a testimony to your students from, well, for me,

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this was 15 years ago. My high school math department had the same policy where they would

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give two quizzes for every unit and then they would give a test. And if your test score came out to be

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higher than those quiz grades, then they will all be superseded. And I think for me as a student,

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where again, I'm not a STEM-based student, that was not where my mind was strong in those areas,

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it made me feel more regulated when it came forward to the assessments and knowing that it was just

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more of a practice opportunity rather than something that I would be penalized for.

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Yeah, I would agree 100%. I tell them too, when you're 35, no one is going to ask you what grade

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you got on this quiz. No one is going to care. And then I say, that doesn't mean I don't want

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you to try your best, but I also want you to know that this grade doesn't define you. And if you

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don't like the grade you get, then just self-reflect. Did you slack off? Did you not prepare properly?

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Did you overestimate yourself? It's good and important to think about. If you don't like

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where you're at, what changes are you going to make the next time? So again, I'm trying to life

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coach them, but through looking at it through quizzes and the grades, but I truly hope that

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some of those skills stick and they apply it elsewhere. But again, who knows, right? We just

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plant the seeds and we hope they grow. Hope for the best. Yeah. I love how you mentioned that term

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of trying to life coach your students because the process that you've taken on it, I've done it in

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my own classrooms as well. I think it really continues to strengthen that idea of seeing our

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students as people over numbers and working alongside them and accommodating what could be

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their fears and I'll even say inadequacies in a way that helps reshape and coach them to become

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good people. And they'll remember that as they move forward to continue on that chain

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when they graduate and become successful humans as well. Yeah. Well said. Thank you.

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So I wanted to also ask if you could share more about your work with the Positive Growth Lounge

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and how other students and educators can integrate this positivity into their daily routines. And

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what are some other projects that you've been up to that we can learn more about through you?

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Oh, thank you for asking, Doc. First of all, the Positive Growth Lounge is a virtual membership

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for educators that I created. I felt like if you think about the teachers lounge, when you go in

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and you lean on others and they're your people, sometimes it's easy for the teachers lounge to

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turn negative, right? We have a negative bias brain. It's easy to complain. And I thought,

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is there a way for me to create a space strictly for educators who want to maintain and stay

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positive about education, but also need support because of so many things they get thrown at

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every day? Is there a way for me to create that space? So I created the Positive Growth Lounge

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in October of 2023. And what it is is just we meet virtually two Wednesdays a month, simply to meet

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up for 40 minutes on Zoom and dive into each other, support each other, hear about our struggles.

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But at the end of every Positive Growth Lounge family meetup, I always bring one positive psychology

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topic up so that we can learn and grow together. And it's just a moment for self-reflection. It's

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just a moment for us to look at where are we at and where could we be going? And it's very informal.

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It's very relaxed. So think of it like the teachers lounge, but it's really about family. And we try

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to stay pretty darn positive. So we do that. And I love to bring in guest speakers because as we all

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know, different points of view, different ideas are so valuable to hear. Even if we don't believe

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them or agree with them, it's good to hear other people's points of view and perspectives. So

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it's been a passion project of mine that I truly love. And it's created this tight-knit group and

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family that I truly appreciate. And Joey, I know you jumped in on Wednesday, just a couple days

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ago, and I think you saw it. It's a very small, intimate group that we are vulnerable, honest,

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transparent, support each other, but also have a positive tone to it of this is where we're at,

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but what can we do to make the best possible outcome? What can we do to make our lives and

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our students' lives better? So I'm so grateful that that came to fruition and that it's slowly

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bringing new positive humans into our family so that when they're able, they can jump on and

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fill their cup up. It's a really great thing. Absolutely. And I can also attest that when I was

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working at some of my former schools, I made this connection and that the happiest teachers that

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raised me as a student, I learned once I worked alongside them, were the ones who stayed out of

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the teacher's lounge. And when I attended the Positive Growth Lounge with Phil this past week,

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I noticed that it was a space where everybody was able to just feel seen from whatever was going on

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that week. We just acknowledged it, said, hey, this happened. What do I do next? And we all just

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validated each other and felt seen. And when I attended my actual teacher's lounge at work,

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when I was working at my former schools and schools after that, I realized that

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there was a different narrative, which I regret that I got wrapped up in pretty quickly,

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but I was still able to make close colleagues just from knowing who they were. So I'm grateful to

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those individuals as well. But for the Positive Growth Lounge, it's definitely a way to validate

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each other and build up a family, as you said. So thank you again for welcoming me into your latest

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space. And are there other projects that you're looking at as well currently that other educators

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can know about or get involved with or learn more about you? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, besides the

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Positive Growth Lounge, and by the way, anyone who hears this that's somehow related to the education

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field, they're always welcome to come in as a guest, simply to check it out and see if we're

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their kind of people and if it's their kind of energy. So that is always an open invitation.

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We're very positive people, by the way. Yeah, yeah. If you're if you're super negative,

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we might be very annoying. We might not be your people. But with that saying, I also love to

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another project that I work on is I love to be a public speaker. So I am a keynote speaker and

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workshop provider in the education space. So I love to lift up adult givers like educators

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to help them thrive instead of just survive. So that is something I truly love to do and is a

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growing passion of mine. And especially with the world right now, feeling very polarized in the

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country, I feel more love is needed than ever. And I feel really called to be a contributor to

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helping bridge that gap between people that might not be seeing eye to eye and to start reminding

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us of all the things we do have in common. And that once we start taking better care of ourselves,

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we can really start to open our mind to other ideas, other people and be better at tolerating

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being more open minded and being more resilient. So I'm really called to do that. And then another

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project, something I've been working on since 2013. I'm a youth speaker with my best friend,

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Matt, we're called MMP presentations. And we love pouring into youth and help build their confidence

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so they can open their mind up to a positive mindset and all the opportunities that lie in

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front of them in public education. So the reason I mentioned that is just if you're ever called to

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lift up your school family or your students, please feel free to reach out. I'd love to

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help pour into either to make a positive impact and positive ripples in that school family and

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community. Wonderful. And we'll have that information in our show notes as well that we can also find

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on Phil's website. Thank you again for that as well. So Phil, what a great conversation this has

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been. You are reminding us that teaching is not just about surviving, but it is also about thriving.

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So thank you again to those who tuned into our content today and be sure to share and leave a

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review wherever you listen to podcasts. And thank you again for listening. We'll catch you next time

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right here on the show. Thank you for joining us on the Classroom Narratives Healing and Education

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podcast. If today's episode inspired you or made you think differently, I'd love to hear from you.

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Drop a comment or review wherever you listen to podcasts and stay connected with us on the

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at Classroom Narratives podcast over Instagram and Facebook. Remember, together we can transform

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our scars into stars in education, one conversation at a time.