Welcome to the Classroom Narratives Healing and Education Podcast, the space where education meets resilience.
I'm Dr. Joey Weisler, and in each episode, we dive deep into the personal stories of educators, students,
leaders, and frontline advocates who are navigating the complexities within modern education.
Whether you're just starting your teaching journey or are a seasoned professional looking for inspiration,
we'll explore how to foster meaningful change, prevent burnout, and build trauma-informed communities within our schools.
Now, let's take a seat at the front of the classroom as we get started.
All right, welcome back to the podcast, everyone.
For today's guest is Phil Januszewski, a tattoo-covered, highly energized chemistry and physics teacher,
and also a dynamic speaker and all-around motivator.
Phil is also the CEO of the Positive Growth Lounge,
and his mission is just to help educators thrive by leaning into their strengths and creating structure
that leads to less burnout and more impact.
So if you're ready to show up less tired and more inspired, let's dive into our conversation.
Phil, welcome to the show.
Joey, thank you so much. It's a pleasure and privilege to be here,
and I've truly been enjoying getting to know you and everything you stand for.
So pleasure's all mine, my friend.
Likewise. So I met Phil earlier this week when I joined the Positive Growth Lounge
and got to know a little bit more about the work that he's done with positive psychology.
And I'll mention for our listeners here that we're recording this in the weekend following
the seventh passing of the Stoneman Douglas tragedy.
And just being amongst Phil and his members, it really brought so much solace and even unity
to trying to get through what is always a tough anniversary.
So even though our listeners may not hear the show until April,
I wanted to say now in February how much of a pleasure it has been getting to know Phil
and moving forward with that headspace into the rest of my month going forward.
So thank you again for having me.
Of course, my friend. You're always welcome. Doors always open.
Absolutely. And we'll talk more about the Positive Growth Lounge later in today's conversation.
But to start with, Phil, you are a chemistry teacher.
And I mentioned that I don't usually have STEM educators on this program
because we're really a humanities-driven podcast.
And I always talk about, through my research, with this entanglement here with emotions
and writing and trauma of this and trauma of that.
And I'm so glad that Phil's here to join me today because I want him to put me in my place
on my own show and really trying to help me justify how did you get onto this journey of
working with high school chemistry, but also teaching these principles of positive psychology.
What do they mesh and entangle in the work that you do?
Yeah, thanks for asking. I think that, first of all, I've always been a very positive human,
naturally. So 50% of my genetic code, I would say a big thanks to for just being a naturally
positive human. And so when I brought energy into the classroom, though I love chemistry
and science, I always felt like number one was human connection. If I want my students
to succeed, if I want them to even give me a chance or pay attention to what I'm trying
to help them learn, then I have to earn their trust. I have to make sure that they can be
vulnerable enough to take risks and try to grow and make mistakes. And I think I always knew that
inherently that I need to make a human connection with them first. So for me, getting to know my
students, making them feel safe has always been a number one priority and very natural
and how I approach the classroom. Now, fast forward years later, this is my 20th school year
I've been teaching science. And during COVID, I saw a lot of an amazing humans, my coworkers
get really burned out, get cynical, maybe even jaded with the system and the expectations of
what education was at the time. And I too wasn't enjoying myself very much either. But I started
asking myself, what is it that allows me even when I'm not particularly happy or satisfied with the
way things are going, what allows me to stay hopeful? What allows me to push forward? What
allows me to bring energy and a smile to my students, even when it's not necessarily the
way I would like it to be going? And I had a friend, her name was Rose, who introduced me
to a book by Shawn Achor, it was called Big Potential. And she just said, I think with your
vibe and energy, I think you'd really like the book. So I started reading it. And that was
actually my first taste of positive psychology. So I started getting obsessed with looking into
the study of people who are happy, and realized that I just accidentally and naturally, Joey had
some of these natural responses to the world. And the more I dug into it and looked into it,
like the more it was backed by science. So I started saying, how can I start helping my students
more knowing this, and also adults in general, how can I make the world more aware of this?
So I just started really digging into all of it, and then finding small, tiny ways to inject it
into the classroom. I actually did a study my own last year, I had a random sample of my quizzes and
tests. At the very top of my samples of tests and quizzes, some of them, every third one had,
"please write three things you're grateful for", just at the top before they started their quiz or exam.
I never addressed it to the students. I never said anything, I didn't count it for points.
I just put it at the top and majority of students, believe it or not, because I got great kids,
they filled it in. And it was actually really nice to for me, on a selfish note to see what
they're grateful for. I learned that some of my students have very heavy faith based lifestyles.
Some of them are really close with their family. Some of them are really close with hobbies and
passions I didn't know about. But what I started doing is, according to research, if you start
with gratitude before an exam, it opens up your mind, you create a positive upward spiral. And
it's supposed to help with students thinking and problem solving better, they're less stressed.
And you know what I found is that there was actually a percentage difference in the average
for quizzes and tests that started with that gratitude piece. And honestly, I didn't believe
it when I read it. That's why I had to try it for myself. So it was things like that, that I thought,
wow, well, if the numbers don't lie, and I've heard it already through research, then what am
I going to do to make sure this is an everyday thing. So I try to be a role model for my students
expressing gratitude for my job I have for them being here. I always like to say when they leave
the classroom, hey, thanks for showing up today. Without you, I don't have a job. I need you. I
need you to keep coming back soon. And it gives them a little chuckle. But what I try to really
do is model that, that I'm grateful for every day I wake up, I'm excited to see them. And even if we
had a rough day yesterday, because of maybe our differences and what should have happened,
I let them know right away, like, I'm glad they're back. I'm glad they're here. Water under the bridge
from yesterday, every day is a new day. And because of that, I sincerely think my students
achieve at a high level. I think that I have very few problems and concerns with classroom management.
And I also have very rare on occasion, an upset parent who doesn't like the way I'm running things
or doesn't feel their child is supported, or doesn't feel like their kid is thriving because
of me. So because of this investment upfront, with a positive psychology mindset, it's really
made my job in a lot of ways easier, so that we can really get to what we're there for. And that's
to have fun and grow and learn together, and also connect on the human level. So positive psychology,
I owe a lot to, and I actually enjoyed it so much. I reached out and got a 64 hour course in
positive educated certification through the flourishing center, which is based off of so
many different areas of positive psych. But it was really cool to be with like-minded teachers
in a cohort setting, just looking to find ways to make their students happier and flourish more so
they could learn more. So that's kind of my journey on where I'm at and how that overlaps
with my style. So as you saw, like I still do my labs, I still have a regular chem class,
but it's like without them even realizing I'm trying to instill positive psychology.
That's a mic drop. That's an amazing journey, Phil. And it looks like most of the ways that
you've been able to engage your students is through your own science-based research,
of course, as a scientist. And I've been thinking about this as well. So when it comes to actually
running a chemistry class, how do you work to engage students in respectfully, what can be a
very dense and emotionally disconnecting subject for many of them? Yeah, I think that, you know,
there's so many cliches saying in education, right? Like they don't care until they know that you care.
And I don't care if that's a 42-year-old person you just met, a six-year-old, or what my case,
I have 15 and 16-year-olds mostly this year. I'm teaching all chem this year.
And I think once they realize that I'm not an act, that I'm genuine, that I'm really excited
and energized to be there, I think they trust me. And because of that, even on days when they're
not feeling the energy to think really, really hard, or even on days when it's a subject that
they might not be as passionate about as me, I think they go along with it because they love
and respect me enough to do it. And I try to reinforce that love too, especially when I hold
them accountable, when I have to call a student out because they're making the poor decision,
the wrong decision, or they're just not being their best self that they could give more.
I always tell them when I lean hard on them, I said, the reason I'm leaning hard on you
is not because I want you to feel bad about yourself. It's because I love you enough to
hold you accountable to the person you can be. And I said, so if you want to be upset or annoyed
or angry with me, you have every right to have that emotion. But at the end of the day, I want
you to know this isn't to belittle you, this is to make you better. And it's because I love you
that I'm willing to tell you as opposed to ignore it. So I just want you to sit with that, even
though you might not want to talk to me right now. And you know what? I think it does sink in for
a majority of students that I act out of love with accountability and set boundaries because I know
they're worth it and able to reach that level. So again, not everybody loves chem like me,
and I 100% you know what some topics I find quite dry and boring, but we get through it together
because of the relationship first. That's it. And I know that's corny, but you can't avoid it.
If they don't like you, if they don't respect you, if they don't connect with you, if they don't see
you as a human, and they don't think that you see them as a human, then it doesn't matter how exciting
of a lesson you're teaching. I don't think they're going to truly listen.
You reminded me of Rita Pearson and her Ted talk about every student needs a champion.
She says that students are not going to learn from teachers that they don't like. And if you
flip that narrative, of course, students will more than likely learn from teachers who they do like.
And I'll also give a shout out to here as well, Ms. Rebecca Hoyumpa, my tenth grade chemistry teacher.
I was not a scientist in high school. I was very English and history and psychology and behavior,
and all of the humanities were my strong suits. And even though chem was a class that I really had to
do a lot of work in in order to make sure that I was successful, I'm still so grateful for Ms.
Hoyumpa because we had that partnership where it was seventh period, last hour of the day,
and I would take, I kid you not, 25 minutes to pack up after that bell ring. And she would just
sit there with me for 25 minutes every single day after school just to chat and get to know me and
invest in me and show that she was present and she cared. And because she saw me as that human,
I did so well in her class. And now that was 14 years ago. And I'm still in touch with her today.
She's one of my dearest friends. She was like my academic mother during that time. So a big
thanks to Rebecca Hoyumpa and other educators everywhere who make that investment. Yep, Phil's
snapping, who make those investments to show that they care about their students no matter what
they're teaching. And Phil, we also had this conversation around the academy about educators
who struggle with stress and burnout. Now I'll also mention Ms. Hoyumpa, when I was her student,
when I said to her that one day I want to become a teacher, she laughed at me and she said,
"oh, no!". And it's because she knew that this struggle of stress and burnout was so prevalent
and she really did not want to see that happen to me. P.S. Ms. Hoyumpa, it happened and she knows
because we talked about it. And what are some of the strategies that you've learned from positive
psychology that have helped teachers not just survive, but also flourish within the profession?
Yeah, I'd love to look upstream. I think that for a lot of us, education is our idea.
It's our identity. And because of that, there's almost this martyr mentality that you have to
give your all and die on the hill for the students first. And I think I give a lot to my students
and I don't think many of my students would say I should be giving a lot more. But I do look upstream
at how I take care of my personal life so that I can then show up to work and be more resilient,
more energized, more positive and more happy. So when I love to keynote and workshop with adult
givers like educators, I love to tell them first that you need to figure out and remind yourself
of the things that you love to do, your errs. And I learned this through my positive psychology
certification. Your -er's are the things you are and do that energize you, that you love. So I am
a teacher, but I'm also a father, a brother, a music listener, weightlifter. I'm a baker, I'm a
cooker, I'm a creator, I'm a speaker, I'm a networker. I'm a lot of -er's. And all those
-er's I just mentioned are different than the other errs we have to do. Like I'm a bill payer,
which is great, but doesn't energize me. I'm a reader, I'm a learner, I'm a lot of things.
So the more we know our errs is important because then the next step, which a lot of us don't do is
givers because we don't pour into ourselves enough, is how do I schedule that into my day every single
day? Now I'm a very rigid and structured gentleman. I get up at a certain time every day, Monday through
Friday, I have a set schedule and I'm not here to tell you how to run your life or schedule or what
time to get up, but I am here to tell you that if you don't schedule in the good stuff in your life,
other people and other things will schedule your life for you. Now what good are we to the world
if we are living a life that someone else planned for us? What good are we to the world if we aren't
getting our -er's in every single day? And I'm not talking about hours of it, Joey. I'm talking about
the fact that for me I wake up early so that I can work out because that fills me up and energizes
me. I love to learn every day, so I'm listening to an audiobook on the way to work every day.
I love to learn as well, so I'm reading before bed, which helps me get to sleep at night because I am
a sleeper. I want to get seven and a half hours of sleep every night. I am a father and love my
children. How do I build that in? Well, because I'm creative and I like to cook and I like to be with
my children. My kids do their homework in the kitchen while I'm cooking. I'm helping them, I'm
creating, I'm being a father, a teacher, and also a creator. So I found little tweaks in my life every
single day that by the time I lay my head down at night, it's been filled with things that allow me
to flourish and feel alive and the things, Joey, that we have to do every day that deplete us.
For me, it's grading labs. I love giving labs. I love teaching. I despise grading even though feedback
is so important. I just don't enjoy it and it depletes me, but I build that in at a certain
time every day so that I have a positive mental bank so that when I deplete from that thing that
I'm doing that doesn't energize me, I still have plenty in the bank. So I think a lot of us go
through life and we're just trying to survive and exist, but if we put a little bit of intention and
thought in front, it can make a huge difference on how we show up to our life and we look forward
to it even more and we create that positive upward spiral where I feel empowered, I feel more
energized, I feel more positive, and then once we get to that place where we're feeling good,
then the best part happens. Then we can truly lean into the people we are. We're givers.
How do we give to the world? We all have a gift in our own unique way. Maybe for me,
it's cooking and creating. Maybe it's human connection. Maybe for you, Joey, it's the written
word that you love to do, right? Or all of the amazing people you've met through this podcast
that you link like-minded people together. We all have our little gifts that don't cost a lot of
money and to us, don't feel like we're spending a lot of energy. In fact, it energizes us to give
those gifts. We start living our life like that. We can do everything better because we're not
becoming jaded or cynical or worn down, but we're actually energizing ourselves and empowering
ourselves. And I think that once we get that mentality, even when every single day your
schedule won't go perfectly, when you lay down at night, you'll realize just how many beautiful
things you did today. Even when there was a wrench in your plans, you still did a hell of a lot of
good things that make you feel great. And I think that's the way you were able to be resilient,
show up your best self, be more adaptable and flexible, and still enjoy your life,
even when tough things come your way. Yeah, I know that in my first year of teaching,
I was going home crying every night as early as mid-September. And by December, I didn't stick
around. And it's because I was never taught, like we don't talk about this in any form of pre-training
as to how to give to yourself first. Because when you become that giver and making that a priority
onto your own being, then I feel like the rest of it really does, as you say, still energizes you
when it comes into place. Like I know I was teaching seven classes every semester just in
the past couple of years while doing my dissertation, 300 page project. And the way I got that done in
18 months was by every single night, I had 25 minutes, that's all I needed, just to go inside
and watch "This Is Us" or something to just stimulate my mind. This is not like, you know,
Netflix and sit back and play on the phone, mind-numbing experience. It was a really
engaging opportunity for me to go away from the work, but still keep my brain stimulated to
appreciate and reflect on what I did that day. And it kept me going for the next day as well. So
finding those little opportunities to just give back to our own minds seems like the most important
thing that we can do. And when you start to reward yourself and even prioritize that idea of taking
care of the mind first, I wanted to ask, how do you also incorporate positive psychology principles
in your own classrooms to help your students with resiliency, motivation, and giving them a love
for learning? Yeah, I think first and foremost, as an educator, we model all the things we would
eventually like our students to pick up. So a positive mindset to embrace our mistakes and
talk about, oh, yes, good catch, I made a mistake there, how are we going to move forward and fix it?
So I think us as educators need to be the model for everything we hope that they'll become and
to expect and realize that they won't be as far as we are. They're younger than us, they haven't
experienced as much. So we have to allow them time and grace. But by showing yourself time and grace,
I think they learn that without even realizing it. I also try to build it into my actual class
schedule, like a growth mindset and learning from your mistakes. So for me, every unit I have has a
series of quizzes, and then finally, a unit test, what I do is build in the point system to show
them just how valuable it is from learning from your mistakes. So when they get a quiz, I tell them
this isn't just a grade, the grade means nothing. What's important about a quiz is for you now know
officially, what do you and don't you know that you're supposed to? And can you now learn from
the mistakes for the next quiz that builds off it to eventually the exam? So the way I tell them,
and I dangle the carrot a little bit, and I'm fully aware of this is, but it works. If they score
higher on their unit test than any of their unit quizzes, so say they got 70% on their quizzes,
which is great, seven out of 10, and then they rock a 90% on the test, all their quizzes from
the units that are lower than 90% now become 90%. And I tell them my argument is if by the end of
the unit, you know 90% of my material that I've asked you to know, and really understand, then
why wouldn't your grade for the unit and assessments reflect that? And what I'm saying is that I know
you care about your grade and you want to do well, and I'm glad that you want to do well.
But more importantly, if you now look at your quizzes as opportunities, as speed bumps, to truly
see where you're at, where you're weak, and where you're strong, it can entice you and encourage you
to know, all right, if I learn from my mistakes, I can still change this grade, which actually means
very little right now, but the value of a quiz is to really self-assess what I do and don't know.
So I try to drill that throughout constantly, that learning is messy, that learning is never
going to be perfect, and then I tell them that I am not perfect, nor will I ever claim to be perfect.
I make mistakes every day and I say, you know what, you guys correct me, and I bet you don't even
realize it. You don't think about me being imperfect, but you're so much harder on yourself.
If you don't expect me to be perfect, why do you expect yourself? And then I always say, now that
doesn't mean that you don't try your best. I strive for perfection, fully knowing I'll never get there,
but that doesn't mean I'm not trying for that Mount Rushmore to be someone that is at a high level,
but always we're striving to move forward and that's what learning is. We're all at our own pace,
but if we know where we're at and we know where we're going, we're always going to continue to
improve. So I feel like things like that, where we have those discussions, but it's also actually
built into my course, I feel like, and I hope, I can't really say whether or not it sticks.
I don't have any research on that, but I really hope that sticks with them, that they know, like,
hey, I'm going to learn from this. I know where I'm at, but I know where I'm headed forward and
onward and upward. Well, I'll mention as a testimony to your students from, well, for me,
this was 15 years ago. My high school math department had the same policy where they would
give two quizzes for every unit and then they would give a test. And if your test score came out to be
higher than those quiz grades, then they will all be superseded. And I think for me as a student,
where again, I'm not a STEM-based student, that was not where my mind was strong in those areas,
it made me feel more regulated when it came forward to the assessments and knowing that it was just
more of a practice opportunity rather than something that I would be penalized for.
Yeah, I would agree 100%. I tell them too, when you're 35, no one is going to ask you what grade
you got on this quiz. No one is going to care. And then I say, that doesn't mean I don't want
you to try your best, but I also want you to know that this grade doesn't define you. And if you
don't like the grade you get, then just self-reflect. Did you slack off? Did you not prepare properly?
Did you overestimate yourself? It's good and important to think about. If you don't like
where you're at, what changes are you going to make the next time? So again, I'm trying to life
coach them, but through looking at it through quizzes and the grades, but I truly hope that
some of those skills stick and they apply it elsewhere. But again, who knows, right? We just
plant the seeds and we hope they grow. Hope for the best. Yeah. I love how you mentioned that term
of trying to life coach your students because the process that you've taken on it, I've done it in
my own classrooms as well. I think it really continues to strengthen that idea of seeing our
students as people over numbers and working alongside them and accommodating what could be
their fears and I'll even say inadequacies in a way that helps reshape and coach them to become
good people. And they'll remember that as they move forward to continue on that chain
when they graduate and become successful humans as well. Yeah. Well said. Thank you.
So I wanted to also ask if you could share more about your work with the Positive Growth Lounge
and how other students and educators can integrate this positivity into their daily routines. And
what are some other projects that you've been up to that we can learn more about through you?
Oh, thank you for asking, Doc. First of all, the Positive Growth Lounge is a virtual membership
for educators that I created. I felt like if you think about the teachers lounge, when you go in
and you lean on others and they're your people, sometimes it's easy for the teachers lounge to
turn negative, right? We have a negative bias brain. It's easy to complain. And I thought,
is there a way for me to create a space strictly for educators who want to maintain and stay
positive about education, but also need support because of so many things they get thrown at
every day? Is there a way for me to create that space? So I created the Positive Growth Lounge
in October of 2023. And what it is is just we meet virtually two Wednesdays a month, simply to meet
up for 40 minutes on Zoom and dive into each other, support each other, hear about our struggles.
But at the end of every Positive Growth Lounge family meetup, I always bring one positive psychology
topic up so that we can learn and grow together. And it's just a moment for self-reflection. It's
just a moment for us to look at where are we at and where could we be going? And it's very informal.
It's very relaxed. So think of it like the teachers lounge, but it's really about family. And we try
to stay pretty darn positive. So we do that. And I love to bring in guest speakers because as we all
know, different points of view, different ideas are so valuable to hear. Even if we don't believe
them or agree with them, it's good to hear other people's points of view and perspectives. So
it's been a passion project of mine that I truly love. And it's created this tight-knit group and
family that I truly appreciate. And Joey, I know you jumped in on Wednesday, just a couple days
ago, and I think you saw it. It's a very small, intimate group that we are vulnerable, honest,
transparent, support each other, but also have a positive tone to it of this is where we're at,
but what can we do to make the best possible outcome? What can we do to make our lives and
our students' lives better? So I'm so grateful that that came to fruition and that it's slowly
bringing new positive humans into our family so that when they're able, they can jump on and
fill their cup up. It's a really great thing. Absolutely. And I can also attest that when I was
working at some of my former schools, I made this connection and that the happiest teachers that
raised me as a student, I learned once I worked alongside them, were the ones who stayed out of
the teacher's lounge. And when I attended the Positive Growth Lounge with Phil this past week,
I noticed that it was a space where everybody was able to just feel seen from whatever was going on
that week. We just acknowledged it, said, hey, this happened. What do I do next? And we all just
validated each other and felt seen. And when I attended my actual teacher's lounge at work,
when I was working at my former schools and schools after that, I realized that
there was a different narrative, which I regret that I got wrapped up in pretty quickly,
but I was still able to make close colleagues just from knowing who they were. So I'm grateful to
those individuals as well. But for the Positive Growth Lounge, it's definitely a way to validate
each other and build up a family, as you said. So thank you again for welcoming me into your latest
space. And are there other projects that you're looking at as well currently that other educators
can know about or get involved with or learn more about you? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, besides the
Positive Growth Lounge, and by the way, anyone who hears this that's somehow related to the education
field, they're always welcome to come in as a guest, simply to check it out and see if we're
their kind of people and if it's their kind of energy. So that is always an open invitation.
We're very positive people, by the way. Yeah, yeah. If you're if you're super negative,
we might be very annoying. We might not be your people. But with that saying, I also love to
another project that I work on is I love to be a public speaker. So I am a keynote speaker and
workshop provider in the education space. So I love to lift up adult givers like educators
to help them thrive instead of just survive. So that is something I truly love to do and is a
growing passion of mine. And especially with the world right now, feeling very polarized in the
country, I feel more love is needed than ever. And I feel really called to be a contributor to
helping bridge that gap between people that might not be seeing eye to eye and to start reminding
us of all the things we do have in common. And that once we start taking better care of ourselves,
we can really start to open our mind to other ideas, other people and be better at tolerating
being more open minded and being more resilient. So I'm really called to do that. And then another
project, something I've been working on since 2013. I'm a youth speaker with my best friend,
Matt, we're called MMP presentations. And we love pouring into youth and help build their confidence
so they can open their mind up to a positive mindset and all the opportunities that lie in
front of them in public education. So the reason I mentioned that is just if you're ever called to
lift up your school family or your students, please feel free to reach out. I'd love to
help pour into either to make a positive impact and positive ripples in that school family and
community. Wonderful. And we'll have that information in our show notes as well that we can also find
on Phil's website. Thank you again for that as well. So Phil, what a great conversation this has
been. You are reminding us that teaching is not just about surviving, but it is also about thriving.
So thank you again to those who tuned into our content today and be sure to share and leave a
review wherever you listen to podcasts. And thank you again for listening. We'll catch you next time
right here on the show. Thank you for joining us on the Classroom Narratives Healing and Education
podcast. If today's episode inspired you or made you think differently, I'd love to hear from you.
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