May 2, 2023 • 31 mins
When a majority of students are willing and equipped to pursue goals with tenacity and attempt to solve problems without prodding and redirection, it frees the teacher up to focus on student who require more intervention. Mentally tough students have that ability. In this episode of #TMBS, I share 2 of 5 tips to help develop mentally tough students.
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(00:01):
Hello, and welcome to another editionof the Marvin Bird Show. I'm your
host, Marvin Bird. Here,we believe that teachers are leaders and as
a result, our purpose as alwaysis to equip teachers with information that they
can use and help them acquire skillsthat they can also use in order to
lead their students to success. I'mso glad that you're here today. We're
(00:24):
going to talk about mental toughness mentaltoughness to how to develop, how you
can develop mentally tough students, howyou can develop mentally tough students. And
when we talk about mental toughness,I think it's important for us to let's
establish first, let's establish a definition. Here's our definition when we talk about
(00:50):
mental toughness. This is from MentalToughnessinc. Dot Com. I like the
definition that they have here. Itis what is mental tough Mental toughness is
the ability to resist, manage,overcome doubts, worries, concerns, and
circumstances that prevent you from succeeding.Again, that definition, mental toughness is
(01:14):
the ability to resist, manage,and overcome doubts, worries, concerns,
and circumstances that prevent you from succeeding. We're going to touch on some things
in that definition that I want topull out for you, because when we
talk about mental toughness, mental toughnessis something that we admire in athletes,
(01:34):
musicians, leaders, and people throughouthistory that have done amazing things. They've
done amazing things and they've exhibited whatI just shared in that definition. Now
I want to do something different.You know, in terms of mental toughness,
we as a society, we lovemental toughness. We admire it.
(01:57):
It's just it's amazing to see ona large scale, especially when you're when
you're in movies and in TV shows, when you're being entertained, it's amazing.
But mental toughness, it also appliesto real life as well. It
also applies to real life. Andso in this episode, I'm gonna give
you five experiments, five things thatyou can try, Five things that you
(02:21):
can do with your students to helpdevelop mentally tough students. So I gonna
take you back to The Walking Dead. The Walking Dead. I'll never you
know, I'll never forget this scenein The Walking Dead. It's when Rick
(02:44):
and his and his his team,his crew, his group, they are
kidnapped. They're kidnapped, and they'replaced in this train car. They're locked
in this train car, and youknow, these are some pretty evil people.
These are cannibals that have actually kidnappedthem. And it's looking really,
(03:05):
really bad. And I believe thatthis was maybe a mid season finale or
maybe a season finale, but itwas like it was this this cliffhanger thing
because are good guys, they've beencaptured and it's not looking good. And
the main character, Rick Grimes,like his reaction to this situation, it's
(03:28):
just it's just amazing. So herehere check this out. I now what
(03:50):
the schooling the wrong people? Yousee what I'm saying. You see what
I'm saying. It looks looking throughlooking through the little crack say they're gonna
they're gonna feel real sorry. It'sjust like, what do you mean they're
(04:11):
gonna be sorry? You know you'rethe one who's kidnapped. You're outnumbered.
And then he just he did that. That pause was everything before after he's
he's asked the question, what doyou mean when they find out what?
And just that that pause and youjust see the other people's faces and you
can tell the people who knew themthe best are like, watch this or
(04:33):
whatever he's about to say, it'sgonna be awesome. They're screwing with the
wrong people and ladies and gentlemen.In the original when they filmed it,
he didn't say screwing, but Imean you get the you get the idea,
You get through the idea, throughthis, through this adversity, through
(04:54):
this tough situation. Let's go backto our definition the ability to resist,
manage, and overcome doubts, worries, concerns, and circumstances that prevent you
from succeeding. And what does thisall come back to? Ladies and gentlemen.
It all comes back to our discussionsabout mindset. It's the way that
(05:17):
you think. Because out of yourthinking come your actions. Student comes into
your room, oh, i've neverbeen good at social studies. Well,
what they're not going to be ableto outperform that thinking, and so there's
there's limited ability that there's limited opportunityto develop mental toughness within that student.
(05:44):
If they continue to hold onto thatthought, if they continue to give words
to that thought, it's going tobe very difficult for you to do what
you need to do in order tohelp them attain the ability to resist,
manage, and overcome doubts, worries, concerns, and circumstances that would prevent
them from succeeding. So there itis again, and in terms of our
(06:10):
work as leaders, so much ofit, so much of it when we
talk, you know, because thebig question is how do we motivate students
with The work begins in the mind. It's all in their thinking. And
that's why I'm spending so much timegiving you this information and focusing on these
(06:30):
topics because I want to share withyou experiments that you can try that could
possibly yield some results with that studentthat has been just really causing you to
dig down deep into your your yourbag of tools in order to help that
student learn and grow. I knowthat you haven't given up. I know
(06:53):
that you're doing the very best thatyou can, and I thank you for
being here now speaking of that.Before we get into these five ways to
help develop mentally tough students, Ido want to remind you that I have
just hit a bit of a milestone. I've I've finished editing my book and
(07:14):
I'm not sure when when we'll haveit, We'll have it come out.
My goal is the summer, orwe have a little bit of extra time
to do some PD on our own, So that's my goal. The goal
is for it to come out inthe summer. But I just wanted to
give you that update. The bookis it's it's coming out. I'm excited.
There are many many tools and skillsand stories in there. I believe
(07:41):
that are going to bring value toyou and equip and inspire you to do
even more than you're already doing,to even be creative and think of other
things and think outside the box ofother things that you can do to help
lead your students to success. SoI'm excited about that, and I'll keep
(08:03):
you updated on when that is goingto come out officially and then pre orders
as well. And so to thoseof you who have been supporting the work
that I do here, like spreadinghelping partner with me and spreading the message,
I appreciate you, all right,So let's get into this. Five
(08:26):
ways that you can help Five waysthat you can develop mentally tough students.
Number one is you have to showthem, have to show them the why.
They have to understand the why now. And this is different for every
student. It's different for every student. Sure, you know, we have
(08:48):
schools across the country and they've gotgreat teachers in them, great principles,
counselors, cafeteria workers. They're readyto go, they're ready to do the
thing, they're ready to do school. But unfortunately, unfortunately, there are
(09:09):
many students around the country that theyhaven't they haven't yet discovered the why.
They're personal why, and it's it'sit's sad to see it's it's sad to
see them them come to school.Throughout my career, I was just seeing
them come to school each and everyday, and you know, just knowing
(09:33):
that that they they're not exactly surewhy they need to do the things that
the teachers are asking them to doit. And it shows in maybe through
the conversation with them. They'll flyout say, I really, my parents
are making me come here. Itshows in the conversation, It shows in
the level of their work, theywhether or not they turn in their work.
(09:58):
Um, it shows and they'll sayit also shows itself and just overall
poor decisions where you just see thatstudents just don't understand the why, and
it's just it's really hard in order, it's hard to encourage someone to do
something if they don't really understand thewhy, Why am I doing this?
(10:22):
Why do I need to do Idon't get it. Because when when we
understand the why in anything that servesthat understanding serves as the firm foundation you
can build on that, you canbuild on that. And it's just amazing
when when students, when it doesclick with students, when they do finally
(10:46):
understand the why. It happened withme, you know, I was I
didn't fully get it until my freshmanyear in high school. I just I
just didn't get it. I justwanted to play games and and mess around,
and I just I really do owea lot of apologies to my teachers
(11:07):
throughout elementary school and especially middle school. Middle school, I was a terror,
and I just apologize. I'm justso sorry about that. But I
didn't understand why. I didn't havea firm foundation to build on. And
so without that firm foundation, Ifelt like the things that I was being
asked to do in class it wasmeaningless. It was meaningless, and so
(11:28):
I didn't see myself as building anything. So I didn't because I didn't have
a firm foundation to start with,and it's I think it goes back to
us as adults. We like toask this question, what's in it for
me? What? What am Igonna get? And you know, definitely,
(11:50):
no, it's not ideal. It'snot ideal that us as teachers would
have to do what we can tohelp students understand the why. Ideally,
Ideally, students they they've learned thatat home. That's just that's the ideal
(12:11):
situation where students that they children athome, they learn those lessons, they
learn the importance of education to themspecifically. You know, it's just it's
generic to say, oh, youneed to get an education, and I've
heard many students say that, butthey couldn't explain specifically what is an education
(12:35):
going to do for you? Whatis an education going to do for you
in terms of your why? Andif they can't explain that, it's going
to be very difficult. And soas teachers, what we need to do
is we need to It's not goingto happen overnight, So we need to
give them something that satisfies that appetiteof why am I doing this? What's
(12:58):
in it for me? What amI going to get out of this?
I'm not going to be doing thisin the real world. So here's um,
here's here's some things that I wantto share with you. What we
can do, what we can do. And I did this as well when
I was a teacher. I talkedabout it's not so much specifically the US
(13:22):
history that I'm teaching you, butit's how you set your brain, how
you set your mind to acquire theinformation, and not only acquire the information,
but do something with it. Thatis a skill that you're you're going
to need in any job. Andso that was that was really the point
(13:50):
that I tried to make with alot of students who who lacked that motivation,
who didn't have the why, andthat was a reason for the lack
of motivation. They just they didn'tunderstand the why. They didn't have something,
at least something to satisfy the appetite. And what I mean by that
(14:11):
is, at least I'm getting somethingout of this ninety minutes of being in
this classroom. And and what thatdoes because in every class, in every
class, and let me take astep back, the definition of study,
the definition of the words study,which is what students do in every class,
(14:35):
is the setting of the mind toacquire knowledge. It's the setting of
the mind to acquire knowledge, andthen then comes application of that information.
So you've got to acquire it.You've got to have it first. You've
(14:56):
got to have it so that youcan apply it. You've got to have
it so that you can apply it. Again, that's something that's that's a
skill that in many occupations people aregoing to need to understand how to do.
Those skills are worth it. Andagain that's the point to drive home
(15:18):
with those students that need something.They need something to satisfy that appetite.
And what you can do is youcan sprinkle it. You can sprinkle it
in your you can sprinkle it throughoutyour lessons. Um Let's say you have
a student who you know, theyjust they want to be a carpenter or
(15:41):
whatever. They want to be acarpenter, and they're in your science class.
You can say, hey, Johnny, this is how this is how
a carpenter might use this skill.I know this is this is my science
class or this is my art class. But Johnny, as a carpenter,
this is how a carpenter might usethis that I'm teaching you through science or
(16:03):
through art. I know this mightnot be interesting to you, but this
particular skill, you are going touse this as a carpenter one day.
So it's just sprinkling those things inthere and just multiple occupations. Hey,
this is this is how a firefightermay use this. This is how um,
(16:26):
a spy in the CIA may mayuse this particular skill that we're that
I'm teaching you right now. Justthrow it out there and just show them
that there there are there are numerousopportunities for them to to to learn and
grow and excel, set them upfor success in their future careers because of
(16:51):
the work that they're doing in yourclassroom. And then it's just gonna it's
just gonna blow their mind when theyrealize, Oh, I didn't even I
didn't even realize that I'm getting thatout of this class. I don't even
like social studies. I don't likehistory at all, but I'm getting that
skill again showing them the why,or at least giving giving something that satisfies
(17:11):
the appetite to know why. What'sin this for me? What's in this
for me? All right? Sothat's that's number one. That's number one.
Number two, it's in the habits. And then as as we go
(17:32):
through these things again, you're gonnasee that it's all about what's going on
up here. So again number two, it's in the habits. It's in
the habits. It's in the habits. And what I mean by that,
what I mean by that is justthat's where change comes from. That's where
change in actions come from. That'swhere changing thinking comes from. Because remember
(17:57):
our definition mental toughness the ability toresist, manage, and overcome doubts,
worries, concerns, and circumstances thatprevent you from succeeding, that prevent you
from succeeding in order to be there, in order to have that mental toughness.
Another word that goes with that isbelieve. You've just people who are
(18:25):
mentally tough. They believe in themselves, they believe in their abilities, and
they have that belief because they havethe habits. They have the habits,
they can do the small things consistentlybecause it's it's it's when you master the
small things that's where we get weget great change because we have multiple opportunities
(18:53):
because we're doing the small things.We're doing the small things well. And
and what I like, as Iwas doing the research for this I think
I kind of I realized that it'swhen we talk about motivation as teachers,
like the student is not motivated.Students not motivated, and the question is
(19:18):
how do I motivate this student?How do I motivate this student? And
it's tough, it really is,you know. I of course I haven't
fully succeeded with all the students thatI've come across with I have definitely tried
my best. And what do wesay. We exhaust all of our tools
(19:38):
and once we've done that, wetry to get some more. So it's
it's difficult. But check this outwhen we talk about it's in the habits,
I wonder if if it's through faithfulif we can achieve, if we
can get students to achieve or committo faithfulness and habits, then we've motive
(20:00):
evated them. Once again, Ifwe can get them to achieve faithfulness and
habits, then we've we've achieved alevel of motivation. Faithfulness in habits then
well then we've achieved a level ofmotivation, and then you know what,
then we have to expel less energyin order to get them redirected and do
(20:26):
the things that they need to do. Here's what I mean by this.
Here's what I mean by this.Let's say and and this this comes from
and I'm gonna sign up for thenewsletter and then you'll get all of my
sources from from this podcast because thisis from James Clear. James Clear,
(20:52):
he does a lot of work,um regarding regarding habits, Okay, regarding
habits and motivation. So I gotthis from him and his book which I
can't think of right now, buthe wrote a great book and again I
link that in you'll see that inthe newsletters. Sign up for that you
get all of these sources. Buthis book is a really good book.
(21:17):
To start the year off with thebook which name I can't remember it,
so anyways, so think of thinkof it like this when we talk about
achieving faithfulness in your habits, andthat's equivalent to motivation. So let's say
someone has a goal of they wantto work out more. You know,
(21:37):
Okay, they want to they wantto work out more. They're not they're
not really specific with the goal,but they just know that ultimately they want
to they want to lose some weight. Okay, Okay, Well it starts
like this, get up early onMondays. That's it right there. That's
the habits. That's the habit youtry to get to a specific goal.
But the habit is this, justget up early on Mondays. Just get
(22:02):
up early on Mondays instead of gettingup at seven like you usually do,
get up at six. That's it. Just for one to two weeks,
you're getting up. You're getting upat six on Mondays. Okay, that's
good, you've developed that habit.Okay, I'm up at six on Mondays.
(22:22):
Here we go. Next up,put your work clothes on. Put
your workout clothes on. Okay,wake up at six. Okay, I've
got that. Now I'm putting onmy workout clothes. Okay, all right,
I got on workout clothes. Dothat for Just do that four week.
Okay, you've been getting up earlyfor three weeks, and for the
(22:48):
last week you've been getting up earlyand putting on your workout clothes. Okay,
all right, okay, this ispretty good. Next, after a
week of putting on your workout clothes, that next week, go for a
light walk. Oh okay. Soby week four of this journey, you're
(23:10):
not only getting up early, you'renot only putting on your workout clothes.
Now we're going for a light walk. Okay, Wow, okay, let's
let's okay, you're you're this habit, you've got this habit, you've acquired
this, you're doing the thing.Okay, now maybe you're doing that.
Let's let's go for let's say forlet's say about week seven of this week
(23:36):
seven of this experiment. All right, I got a target heart rate.
Let's let's make our target heart rateone twenty. Okay, one twenty.
That's that's our target. That's ourtarget heart rate. Wow. Okay,
So now you've got to do somedifferent things in order to get your get
your heart rate to hit that,to hit that, hit that mark.
(24:00):
So you see as you go onand on and on, getting up early,
that's no problem, that's no problem. You've been doing that. And
as you continue to go, ohgood, put workout clothes on. I
can put I can do that.Now we're going for a light walk.
Now we're we're maintaining a specific heartrate. And then you see as you
(24:22):
continue, you can say, hm, we did this on Monday. Now
let's add Wednesdays. We'll do iton Mondays and Wednesdays. So you see
the victory there in simply changing habits, simply changing, simply monitoring, monitoring
(24:44):
and adding habits. And it's notin this scenario that I gave you.
It's not all at once, it'snot all at once. It's just little
by little. Oh, Johnny,you came to class on time. Thank
you, Johnny. Can you canyou make it two days in a row?
Oh Johnny? Yeah, you've madeit two days in a row.
Okay, can you make it threedays in a row? Who? Johnny?
(25:08):
You've been on fire? Johnny?Now, Johnny, I appreciate what
you're doing. I love what you'redoing, like this is this is nice?
Now, Johnny? Can you inaddition to because you've made a habit,
you've been coming to class one time, and I appreciate that. I'm
so glad that you're here. Ioften have to redirect you, but I'm
(25:33):
glad that you're here. You don'tsay that part to Johnny, but it's
just like you. You know,we're trying. We're trying to get Johnny
to develop new habits, so wepraise them for the small victories. Is
coming to class one time? Now, Johnny. On top of that,
let's add something else. Let's addlet's add you're prepared. Okay, you've
(25:56):
you've got you, You've got yourchromebook and your chromebook is charged. Johnny,
please bring a charge chromebook. You'vegot your chromebook and your chromebook is
charged. Okay, Let's let's seeif we can do that for next week.
Let's let's see if we can hitthat mark. Can we do that,
Johnny? Can we add that?Yeah, Johnny, I know you
can do it. All right,So it works like that. And again,
(26:18):
I know it's the small things,but just imagine if you've got a
student who is just really pulling onyour redirection skills and they're kind of interrupting
the flow of your lesson because ofthese redirections, I think this is a
worthwhile experiment to try with that studentget them on a winning streak. Maybe
(26:41):
if you can, I don't know, you know, ask see if you
can get some see if you canget some money. It's tell you tell
your principle. Hey, I'm trying. I'm trying to experiment. I want
to get this student motivated, soI need a few external rewards so I
can use the external to ultimate leagueget to the internal. Because with these
(27:03):
habits, with the scenario that Igave you, with the workout, is
that person going to lose weight ultimately? Yes, absolutely, because now they've
worked up I stopped at they've workedup to Mondays and Wednesdays, they're getting
up early, they're going on they'rethey're going on a walk if they're getting
there, getting their heart rate up, and they're holding it there for a
(27:26):
specific set time and so those arethose are good things. So it's all
in the habits. It's it's allin the habits and setting students up for
a winning street, winning street.Because simply put, if if if someone
(27:51):
doesn't take step one, they're notgoing to take step two, they're not
going to take step three, fouror five. You've got to start.
You've got to start somewhere. You'vegot to start somewhere. And again,
it's not ideal that we that insome cases we are going to be that
(28:11):
source of motivation for students. Weare, we are going to be that
source. We're gonna be We're gonnabe that opportunity for kids to develop mental
toughness. Yeah, that's it.That's that's it right there. It's gonna
come from you. You're going tobe the adults, the the the the
(28:34):
adult in their lives that that isreally focused on helping them develop that mental
toughness. You're going to be thesource. Again, it's not ideal,
but this is this is what wehave and as leaders. As leaders,
we accept the situation for what itis, though it may not be ideal,
(28:59):
but we're problem solvers. We finda way, We find a way.
So also when we talk about habits, I also did a couple of
episodes about habits of the mind,Habits of the mind, and I really
encourage you to check that out becauseI also released the resource on that as
well. Because that's where the battlefieldis. The battlefield is in the mind.
(29:25):
It's in the mind. It's helpingstudents acquire, helping students acquire and
have that right mindset. And whenwe talk about mindset, mindset is something
that happens on a continuous basis.It's you're always because when we talk about
setting, you always have to setyour mind. That's why we use terms
(29:45):
like get your mind right or you'renot thinking straight. It's because we always
have to. We have to becognizant of the way that we're thinking.
And that's what you need to teachyour students. And again, it's not
ideal, but I mean, asstudents, they come to school to learn,
(30:07):
and you know, as teachers,we are charged with teaching a little
bit of everything, right. Youknow, we teach about we teach a
content, but we also teach lifeskills as well. And I believe that
this is part of it. AndI believe that when we when we spend
time on this, when we learnthese things, when we learn about when
we learn about leadership, we arelearning about how to respond to our students
(30:34):
in a way that's going to assistthem in a way that's going to help
them set their mind so that whenthey come up against adversity, they know
how to respond. So I promisedyou five, but I only gave you
two. I promise you five,but only gave you two. Well,
that's because we're about thirty minutes,and that's that's as much. That's as
(30:59):
long as I want to make eachepisode. So we'll go over three through
five in the next episode of theMarvin Bird Show. Before I get out
of here, I do want toremind you of the website Marvinbird dot com.
Marvinbird dot com. There you'll findmy blog. Those posts. They'll
take maybe five minutes are less toget through start your day or even during
(31:22):
your planning. Our checking those checking, those checking a post out, skimming,
going through it, acquiring skill,learning new information that you can use
to lead your students to success.Well, that's it. Thank you so
much for listening, thank you somuch for watching, And until we get
until we meet again. Please don'tforget that teachers are leaders
Hello, and welcome to another editionof the Marvin Bird Show. I'm your
host, Marvin Bird. Here,we believe that teachers are leaders and as
a result, our purpose as alwaysis to equip teachers with information that they
can use and help them acquire skillsthat they can also use in order to
lead their students to success. I'mso glad that you're here today. We're
(00:24):
going to talk about mental toughness mentaltoughness to how to develop, how you
can develop mentally tough students, howyou can develop mentally tough students. And
when we talk about mental toughness,I think it's important for us to let's
establish first, let's establish a definition. Here's our definition when we talk about
(00:50):
mental toughness. This is from MentalToughnessinc. Dot Com. I like the
definition that they have here. Itis what is mental tough Mental toughness is
the ability to resist, manage,overcome doubts, worries, concerns, and
circumstances that prevent you from succeeding.Again, that definition, mental toughness is
(01:14):
the ability to resist, manage,and overcome doubts, worries, concerns,
and circumstances that prevent you from succeeding. We're going to touch on some things
in that definition that I want topull out for you, because when we
talk about mental toughness, mental toughnessis something that we admire in athletes,
(01:34):
musicians, leaders, and people throughouthistory that have done amazing things. They've
done amazing things and they've exhibited whatI just shared in that definition. Now
I want to do something different.You know, in terms of mental toughness,
we as a society, we lovemental toughness. We admire it.
(01:57):
It's just it's amazing to see ona large scale, especially when you're when
you're in movies and in TV shows, when you're being entertained, it's amazing.
But mental toughness, it also appliesto real life as well. It
also applies to real life. Andso in this episode, I'm gonna give
you five experiments, five things thatyou can try, Five things that you
(02:21):
can do with your students to helpdevelop mentally tough students. So I gonna
take you back to The Walking Dead. The Walking Dead. I'll never you
know, I'll never forget this scenein The Walking Dead. It's when Rick
(02:44):
and his and his his team,his crew, his group, they are
kidnapped. They're kidnapped, and they'replaced in this train car. They're locked
in this train car, and youknow, these are some pretty evil people.
These are cannibals that have actually kidnappedthem. And it's looking really,
(03:05):
really bad. And I believe thatthis was maybe a mid season finale or
maybe a season finale, but itwas like it was this this cliffhanger thing
because are good guys, they've beencaptured and it's not looking good. And
the main character, Rick Grimes,like his reaction to this situation, it's
(03:28):
just it's just amazing. So herehere check this out. I now what
(03:50):
the schooling the wrong people? Yousee what I'm saying. You see what
I'm saying. It looks looking throughlooking through the little crack say they're gonna
they're gonna feel real sorry. It'sjust like, what do you mean they're
(04:11):
gonna be sorry? You know you'rethe one who's kidnapped. You're outnumbered.
And then he just he did that. That pause was everything before after he's
he's asked the question, what doyou mean when they find out what?
And just that that pause and youjust see the other people's faces and you
can tell the people who knew themthe best are like, watch this or
(04:33):
whatever he's about to say, it'sgonna be awesome. They're screwing with the
wrong people and ladies and gentlemen.In the original when they filmed it,
he didn't say screwing, but Imean you get the you get the idea,
You get through the idea, throughthis, through this adversity, through
(04:54):
this tough situation. Let's go backto our definition the ability to resist,
manage, and overcome doubts, worries, concerns, and circumstances that prevent you
from succeeding. And what does thisall come back to? Ladies and gentlemen.
It all comes back to our discussionsabout mindset. It's the way that
(05:17):
you think. Because out of yourthinking come your actions. Student comes into
your room, oh, i've neverbeen good at social studies. Well,
what they're not going to be ableto outperform that thinking, and so there's
there's limited ability that there's limited opportunityto develop mental toughness within that student.
(05:44):
If they continue to hold onto thatthought, if they continue to give words
to that thought, it's going tobe very difficult for you to do what
you need to do in order tohelp them attain the ability to resist,
manage, and overcome doubts, worries, concerns, and circumstances that would prevent
them from succeeding. So there itis again, and in terms of our
(06:10):
work as leaders, so much ofit, so much of it when we
talk, you know, because thebig question is how do we motivate students
with The work begins in the mind. It's all in their thinking. And
that's why I'm spending so much timegiving you this information and focusing on these
(06:30):
topics because I want to share withyou experiments that you can try that could
possibly yield some results with that studentthat has been just really causing you to
dig down deep into your your yourbag of tools in order to help that
student learn and grow. I knowthat you haven't given up. I know
(06:53):
that you're doing the very best thatyou can, and I thank you for
being here now speaking of that.Before we get into these five ways to
help develop mentally tough students, Ido want to remind you that I have
just hit a bit of a milestone. I've I've finished editing my book and
(07:14):
I'm not sure when when we'll haveit, We'll have it come out.
My goal is the summer, orwe have a little bit of extra time
to do some PD on our own, So that's my goal. The goal
is for it to come out inthe summer. But I just wanted to
give you that update. The bookis it's it's coming out. I'm excited.
There are many many tools and skillsand stories in there. I believe
(07:41):
that are going to bring value toyou and equip and inspire you to do
even more than you're already doing,to even be creative and think of other
things and think outside the box ofother things that you can do to help
lead your students to success. SoI'm excited about that, and I'll keep
(08:03):
you updated on when that is goingto come out officially and then pre orders
as well. And so to thoseof you who have been supporting the work
that I do here, like spreadinghelping partner with me and spreading the message,
I appreciate you, all right,So let's get into this. Five
(08:26):
ways that you can help Five waysthat you can develop mentally tough students.
Number one is you have to showthem, have to show them the why.
They have to understand the why now. And this is different for every
student. It's different for every student. Sure, you know, we have
(08:48):
schools across the country and they've gotgreat teachers in them, great principles,
counselors, cafeteria workers. They're readyto go, they're ready to do the
thing, they're ready to do school. But unfortunately, unfortunately, there are
(09:09):
many students around the country that theyhaven't they haven't yet discovered the why.
They're personal why, and it's it'sit's sad to see it's it's sad to
see them them come to school.Throughout my career, I was just seeing
them come to school each and everyday, and you know, just knowing
(09:33):
that that they they're not exactly surewhy they need to do the things that
the teachers are asking them to doit. And it shows in maybe through
the conversation with them. They'll flyout say, I really, my parents
are making me come here. Itshows in the conversation, It shows in
the level of their work, theywhether or not they turn in their work.
(09:58):
Um, it shows and they'll sayit also shows itself and just overall
poor decisions where you just see thatstudents just don't understand the why, and
it's just it's really hard in order, it's hard to encourage someone to do
something if they don't really understand thewhy, Why am I doing this?
(10:22):
Why do I need to do Idon't get it. Because when when we
understand the why in anything that servesthat understanding serves as the firm foundation you
can build on that, you canbuild on that. And it's just amazing
when when students, when it doesclick with students, when they do finally
(10:46):
understand the why. It happened withme, you know, I was I
didn't fully get it until my freshmanyear in high school. I just I
just didn't get it. I justwanted to play games and and mess around,
and I just I really do owea lot of apologies to my teachers
(11:07):
throughout elementary school and especially middle school. Middle school, I was a terror,
and I just apologize. I'm justso sorry about that. But I
didn't understand why. I didn't havea firm foundation to build on. And
so without that firm foundation, Ifelt like the things that I was being
asked to do in class it wasmeaningless. It was meaningless, and so
(11:28):
I didn't see myself as building anything. So I didn't because I didn't have
a firm foundation to start with,and it's I think it goes back to
us as adults. We like toask this question, what's in it for
me? What? What am Igonna get? And you know, definitely,
(11:50):
no, it's not ideal. It'snot ideal that us as teachers would
have to do what we can tohelp students understand the why. Ideally,
Ideally, students they they've learned thatat home. That's just that's the ideal
(12:11):
situation where students that they children athome, they learn those lessons, they
learn the importance of education to themspecifically. You know, it's just it's
generic to say, oh, youneed to get an education, and I've
heard many students say that, butthey couldn't explain specifically what is an education
(12:35):
going to do for you? Whatis an education going to do for you
in terms of your why? Andif they can't explain that, it's going
to be very difficult. And soas teachers, what we need to do
is we need to It's not goingto happen overnight, So we need to
give them something that satisfies that appetiteof why am I doing this? What's
(12:58):
in it for me? What amI going to get out of this?
I'm not going to be doing thisin the real world. So here's um,
here's here's some things that I wantto share with you. What we
can do, what we can do. And I did this as well when
I was a teacher. I talkedabout it's not so much specifically the US
(13:22):
history that I'm teaching you, butit's how you set your brain, how
you set your mind to acquire theinformation, and not only acquire the information,
but do something with it. Thatis a skill that you're you're going
to need in any job. Andso that was that was really the point
(13:50):
that I tried to make with alot of students who who lacked that motivation,
who didn't have the why, andthat was a reason for the lack
of motivation. They just they didn'tunderstand the why. They didn't have something,
at least something to satisfy the appetite. And what I mean by that
(14:11):
is, at least I'm getting somethingout of this ninety minutes of being in
this classroom. And and what thatdoes because in every class, in every
class, and let me take astep back, the definition of study,
the definition of the words study,which is what students do in every class,
(14:35):
is the setting of the mind toacquire knowledge. It's the setting of
the mind to acquire knowledge, andthen then comes application of that information.
So you've got to acquire it.You've got to have it first. You've
(14:56):
got to have it so that youcan apply it. You've got to have
it so that you can apply it. Again, that's something that's that's a
skill that in many occupations people aregoing to need to understand how to do.
Those skills are worth it. Andagain that's the point to drive home
(15:18):
with those students that need something.They need something to satisfy that appetite.
And what you can do is youcan sprinkle it. You can sprinkle it
in your you can sprinkle it throughoutyour lessons. Um Let's say you have
a student who you know, theyjust they want to be a carpenter or
(15:41):
whatever. They want to be acarpenter, and they're in your science class.
You can say, hey, Johnny, this is how this is how
a carpenter might use this skill.I know this is this is my science
class or this is my art class. But Johnny, as a carpenter,
this is how a carpenter might usethis that I'm teaching you through science or
(16:03):
through art. I know this mightnot be interesting to you, but this
particular skill, you are going touse this as a carpenter one day.
So it's just sprinkling those things inthere and just multiple occupations. Hey,
this is this is how a firefightermay use this. This is how um,
(16:26):
a spy in the CIA may mayuse this particular skill that we're that
I'm teaching you right now. Justthrow it out there and just show them
that there there are there are numerousopportunities for them to to to learn and
grow and excel, set them upfor success in their future careers because of
(16:51):
the work that they're doing in yourclassroom. And then it's just gonna it's
just gonna blow their mind when theyrealize, Oh, I didn't even I
didn't even realize that I'm getting thatout of this class. I don't even
like social studies. I don't likehistory at all, but I'm getting that
skill again showing them the why,or at least giving giving something that satisfies
(17:11):
the appetite to know why. What'sin this for me? What's in this
for me? All right? Sothat's that's number one. That's number one.
Number two, it's in the habits. And then as as we go
(17:32):
through these things again, you're gonnasee that it's all about what's going on
up here. So again number two, it's in the habits. It's in
the habits. It's in the habits. And what I mean by that,
what I mean by that is justthat's where change comes from. That's where
change in actions come from. That'swhere changing thinking comes from. Because remember
(17:57):
our definition mental toughness the ability toresist, manage, and overcome doubts,
worries, concerns, and circumstances thatprevent you from succeeding, that prevent you
from succeeding in order to be there, in order to have that mental toughness.
Another word that goes with that isbelieve. You've just people who are
(18:25):
mentally tough. They believe in themselves, they believe in their abilities, and
they have that belief because they havethe habits. They have the habits,
they can do the small things consistentlybecause it's it's it's when you master the
small things that's where we get weget great change because we have multiple opportunities
(18:53):
because we're doing the small things.We're doing the small things well. And
and what I like, as Iwas doing the research for this I think
I kind of I realized that it'swhen we talk about motivation as teachers,
like the student is not motivated.Students not motivated, and the question is
(19:18):
how do I motivate this student?How do I motivate this student? And
it's tough, it really is,you know. I of course I haven't
fully succeeded with all the students thatI've come across with I have definitely tried
my best. And what do wesay. We exhaust all of our tools
(19:38):
and once we've done that, wetry to get some more. So it's
it's difficult. But check this outwhen we talk about it's in the habits,
I wonder if if it's through faithfulif we can achieve, if we
can get students to achieve or committo faithfulness and habits, then we've motive
(20:00):
evated them. Once again, Ifwe can get them to achieve faithfulness and
habits, then we've we've achieved alevel of motivation. Faithfulness in habits then
well then we've achieved a level ofmotivation, and then you know what,
then we have to expel less energyin order to get them redirected and do
(20:26):
the things that they need to do. Here's what I mean by this.
Here's what I mean by this.Let's say and and this this comes from
and I'm gonna sign up for thenewsletter and then you'll get all of my
sources from from this podcast because thisis from James Clear. James Clear,
(20:52):
he does a lot of work,um regarding regarding habits, Okay, regarding
habits and motivation. So I gotthis from him and his book which I
can't think of right now, buthe wrote a great book and again I
link that in you'll see that inthe newsletters. Sign up for that you
get all of these sources. Buthis book is a really good book.
(21:17):
To start the year off with thebook which name I can't remember it,
so anyways, so think of thinkof it like this when we talk about
achieving faithfulness in your habits, andthat's equivalent to motivation. So let's say
someone has a goal of they wantto work out more. You know,
(21:37):
Okay, they want to they wantto work out more. They're not they're
not really specific with the goal,but they just know that ultimately they want
to they want to lose some weight. Okay, Okay, Well it starts
like this, get up early onMondays. That's it right there. That's
the habits. That's the habit youtry to get to a specific goal.
But the habit is this, justget up early on Mondays. Just get
(22:02):
up early on Mondays instead of gettingup at seven like you usually do,
get up at six. That's it. Just for one to two weeks,
you're getting up. You're getting upat six on Mondays. Okay, that's
good, you've developed that habit.Okay, I'm up at six on Mondays.
(22:22):
Here we go. Next up,put your work clothes on. Put
your workout clothes on. Okay,wake up at six. Okay, I've
got that. Now I'm putting onmy workout clothes. Okay, all right,
I got on workout clothes. Dothat for Just do that four week.
Okay, you've been getting up earlyfor three weeks, and for the
(22:48):
last week you've been getting up earlyand putting on your workout clothes. Okay,
all right, okay, this ispretty good. Next, after a
week of putting on your workout clothes, that next week, go for a
light walk. Oh okay. Soby week four of this journey, you're
(23:10):
not only getting up early, you'renot only putting on your workout clothes.
Now we're going for a light walk. Okay, Wow, okay, let's
let's okay, you're you're this habit, you've got this habit, you've acquired
this, you're doing the thing.Okay, now maybe you're doing that.
Let's let's go for let's say forlet's say about week seven of this week
(23:36):
seven of this experiment. All right, I got a target heart rate.
Let's let's make our target heart rateone twenty. Okay, one twenty.
That's that's our target. That's ourtarget heart rate. Wow. Okay,
So now you've got to do somedifferent things in order to get your get
your heart rate to hit that,to hit that, hit that mark.
(24:00):
So you see as you go onand on and on, getting up early,
that's no problem, that's no problem. You've been doing that. And
as you continue to go, ohgood, put workout clothes on. I
can put I can do that.Now we're going for a light walk.
Now we're we're maintaining a specific heartrate. And then you see as you
(24:22):
continue, you can say, hm, we did this on Monday. Now
let's add Wednesdays. We'll do iton Mondays and Wednesdays. So you see
the victory there in simply changing habits, simply changing, simply monitoring, monitoring
(24:44):
and adding habits. And it's notin this scenario that I gave you.
It's not all at once, it'snot all at once. It's just little
by little. Oh, Johnny,you came to class on time. Thank
you, Johnny. Can you canyou make it two days in a row?
Oh Johnny? Yeah, you've madeit two days in a row.
Okay, can you make it threedays in a row? Who? Johnny?
(25:08):
You've been on fire? Johnny?Now, Johnny, I appreciate what
you're doing. I love what you'redoing, like this is this is nice?
Now, Johnny? Can you inaddition to because you've made a habit,
you've been coming to class one time, and I appreciate that. I'm
so glad that you're here. Ioften have to redirect you, but I'm
(25:33):
glad that you're here. You don'tsay that part to Johnny, but it's
just like you. You know,we're trying. We're trying to get Johnny
to develop new habits, so wepraise them for the small victories. Is
coming to class one time? Now, Johnny. On top of that,
let's add something else. Let's addlet's add you're prepared. Okay, you've
(25:56):
you've got you, You've got yourchromebook and your chromebook is charged. Johnny,
please bring a charge chromebook. You'vegot your chromebook and your chromebook is
charged. Okay, Let's let's seeif we can do that for next week.
Let's let's see if we can hitthat mark. Can we do that,
Johnny? Can we add that?Yeah, Johnny, I know you
can do it. All right,So it works like that. And again,
(26:18):
I know it's the small things,but just imagine if you've got a
student who is just really pulling onyour redirection skills and they're kind of interrupting
the flow of your lesson because ofthese redirections, I think this is a
worthwhile experiment to try with that studentget them on a winning streak. Maybe
(26:41):
if you can, I don't know, you know, ask see if you
can get some see if you canget some money. It's tell you tell
your principle. Hey, I'm trying. I'm trying to experiment. I want
to get this student motivated, soI need a few external rewards so I
can use the external to ultimate leagueget to the internal. Because with these
(27:03):
habits, with the scenario that Igave you, with the workout, is
that person going to lose weight ultimately? Yes, absolutely, because now they've
worked up I stopped at they've workedup to Mondays and Wednesdays, they're getting
up early, they're going on they'rethey're going on a walk if they're getting
there, getting their heart rate up, and they're holding it there for a
(27:26):
specific set time and so those arethose are good things. So it's all
in the habits. It's it's allin the habits and setting students up for
a winning street, winning street.Because simply put, if if if someone
(27:51):
doesn't take step one, they're notgoing to take step two, they're not
going to take step three, fouror five. You've got to start.
You've got to start somewhere. You'vegot to start somewhere. And again,
it's not ideal that we that insome cases we are going to be that
(28:11):
source of motivation for students. Weare, we are going to be that
source. We're gonna be We're gonnabe that opportunity for kids to develop mental
toughness. Yeah, that's it.That's that's it right there. It's gonna
come from you. You're going tobe the adults, the the the the
(28:34):
adult in their lives that that isreally focused on helping them develop that mental
toughness. You're going to be thesource. Again, it's not ideal,
but this is this is what wehave and as leaders. As leaders,
we accept the situation for what itis, though it may not be ideal,
(28:59):
but we're problem solvers. We finda way, We find a way.
So also when we talk about habits, I also did a couple of
episodes about habits of the mind,Habits of the mind, and I really
encourage you to check that out becauseI also released the resource on that as
well. Because that's where the battlefieldis. The battlefield is in the mind.
(29:25):
It's in the mind. It's helpingstudents acquire, helping students acquire and
have that right mindset. And whenwe talk about mindset, mindset is something
that happens on a continuous basis.It's you're always because when we talk about
setting, you always have to setyour mind. That's why we use terms
(29:45):
like get your mind right or you'renot thinking straight. It's because we always
have to. We have to becognizant of the way that we're thinking.
And that's what you need to teachyour students. And again, it's not
ideal, but I mean, asstudents, they come to school to learn,
(30:07):
and you know, as teachers,we are charged with teaching a little
bit of everything, right. Youknow, we teach about we teach a
content, but we also teach lifeskills as well. And I believe that
this is part of it. AndI believe that when we when we spend
time on this, when we learnthese things, when we learn about when
we learn about leadership, we arelearning about how to respond to our students
(30:34):
in a way that's going to assistthem in a way that's going to help
them set their mind so that whenthey come up against adversity, they know
how to respond. So I promisedyou five, but I only gave you
two. I promise you five,but only gave you two. Well,
that's because we're about thirty minutes,and that's that's as much. That's as
(30:59):
long as I want to make eachepisode. So we'll go over three through
five in the next episode of theMarvin Bird Show. Before I get out
of here, I do want toremind you of the website Marvinbird dot com.
Marvinbird dot com. There you'll findmy blog. Those posts. They'll
take maybe five minutes are less toget through start your day or even during
(31:22):
your planning. Our checking those checking, those checking a post out, skimming,
going through it, acquiring skill,learning new information that you can use
to lead your students to success.Well, that's it. Thank you so
much for listening, thank you somuch for watching, And until we get
until we meet again. Please don'tforget that teachers are leaders
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